COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET AMOS

Book 1

AMOS was a goatherd, and in pastoral customs and laws brought up; and he made his abode in the desert to the south of the land of the Jews, which extends as far as the borders of the Indian sea, and stretches into the land of the Persians, and countless barbarian tribes graze upon it, and it is very well-suited to be able to feed flocks of sheep; for it is good for pasture and wide and crowned with various kinds of grass. And Amos was from the village of Tekoa, situated at the very feet of the desert. And since he was a good man, and a worker of all gentleness, he was immediately enriched with the spirit of prophecy, and he prophesied not in Jerusa- lem, but while still among the flocks themselves, at the beginning of his customary and practiced concerns, then also having arrived in Bethel itself. For Tekoa was not so much under the kingdom of Judah, but under that of Ephraim. That the accounts we have given concerning these things are true, you will observe effortlessly, and you will be fully informed by his own words; for he prophesied in Bethel, as I said, saying that the altars of laughter would be destroyed, and the rites of Israel would be made desolate; and adding to these, "And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword." But the priest of Bethel; this was Amaziah; gnashed his teeth at the Prophet. Then he sends to Jeroboam king of Israel saying "Amos makes conspiracies against you "in the midst of the house of Israel, the land is not able to bear "all his words; because thus says Amos: By "a sword Jeroboam shall die, and Israel a captive "shall be led away from his land. and Amaziah said to "Amos: O seer, go, depart into the land of Judah, and there "live, and there you shall prophesy. But at Bethel no longer "continue to prophesy, for it is the king's sanctuary, "and it is the king's house; and Amos answered and said "to Amaziah: I was not a prophet, nor a son of a pro- "phet, but I was a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit, and "the Lord took me from the sheep, and the Lord said to "me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel." He was taken, then, from the flocks, and he prophesied in Bethel, where the first Jeroboam, son of Nebat, also set up a golden calf. And I think it is somehow useful to note that the Amos who was the father of Isaiah was a different person. But what and on what subjects at all were the words from him, by taking up the matters before us we will clarify as much as possible. The words of Amos, which were in Accarim of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Jerusalem. These, he says, are the words of the prophecy of Amos from Tekoa, which were in Accarim. But it must be known that the Hebrew version does not know this word at all, that is, 'in Accarim'; for they have only said, 'The words of Amos from Tekoa.' But the other interpreters, instead of 'in Accarim,' have put, 'among the herdsmen.' These, therefore, he says, are the words of Amos from Tekoa, which came at the time of still shepherding, and in the very sheepfolds. And concerning Jerusalem itself he says he did not so much hear, but rather saw the words. For God made the things themselves manifest and virtually present to the holy prophets along with the revelations, so that the words seemed to have become somehow visible, with the vision of things that would come to pass perhaps running concurrently with what God might say. However, this is worthy of investigation: for how could anyone think that the words came concerning Jerusalem alone, when through the voice of the same prophet God accuses both Judah and Israel? For he said again, "Thus says the Lord: For the three "impieties of the sons of Judah, and for the four, I will not turn "them away, because they rejected the "law of the Lord, and did not keep his commandments. "And their vanities which they made led them astray, "after which their fathers followed; "and I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations "of Jerusalem." Then, following these things, "Thus says the Lord: "For the three impieties of Israel, and for the four, "I will not turn him away." And having brought forward the manners of their sin, he threatened terrible things, and his discourse has a very great rebuke against both. How then could the words be understood as having been for Jerusalem, when God says, "I will send "a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem." What, then, will be the manner of our defense? Come, let us consider. We say, then, that it is the custom of the holy prophets, sometimes to distinctly call the two tribes in Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin, Israel, and at other times again to name the ten other tribes in Samaria Israel, that is, Ephraim, but most often they do not distinguish. And since all are of the blood of Israel, so also they name the twelve tribes. But if they should wish perhaps to signify to us the entire Synagogue of the Jews, we will find them no longer using the name of Jerusalem in a restricted sense. The words of the prophecy of Amos, then, were concerning the whole multitude of the Jews, both that in Jerusalem and that in Samaria; but how they might be concerning them, it is necessary to say. Therefore, the manner of our defense is twofold. For first, he has introduced the God of all recounting the sins of the Synagogue of the Jews; then having announced beforehand the things that would be against them, And he added to these things the good things that come from gentleness, and that in due time there would be a great sparing of them and a renewal to their original state. For Amos himself said again, as from the person of God, "Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says "the Lord. For, behold, I command, and I will sift among all "the nations the house of Israel, as one sifts in "a sieve, and not a fragment shall fall upon the earth." He necessarily also foretells the coming redemption through Christ, and that they will pass over to a renewal, and will be in a state of well-being, as God has mercy on them. And he spoke thus again, "In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is "fallen, and I will rebuild its fallen parts, and "I will raise up its ruins, and I will rebuild "it as in the days of old." Therefore, the words are concerning Jerusalem. And in another way, they might reasonably be understood to be concerning her. For Syria and the kings of Damascus, and not a few of the neighboring nations, ravaged the land of the Jews, at different times different ones rising up and devastating it, carrying off plunder, and doing things out of unrestrained anger, so that they came into extreme misery. Therefore, to all these who had sacked her, the Prophet introduced God threatening desolation, and said they would be punished for their unholy deeds. Therefore, on behalf of Jeru- salem, or rather, on behalf of the whole congregation of the Jews, were the words of Amos spoken. And we shall know this clearly by examining the times of the prophecy; for it is written next: In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. But I suppose someone will say, 'And what is the benefit for those who read this, to have to examine curiously, and very minutely, the times of the reigns of those just named, I mean Uzziah and also Jeroboam?' And to this we say that the matter is necessary, as it contains within itself the whole circumstance, as it were, of the prophecy, as if in birth pangs. For he threatens destruction and uprisings and conflagrations to Syria and Damascus and to the barbarians dwelling near Judea, and from this came the beginning of his divine oracles. Therefore it is necessary to learn the reasons why the times of the reigns were added, what and how many things were accomplished by each, how he lived, and what is worthy of hearing in both. Having turned aside, then, into apostasy, both Israel and Judah were disciplined in many ways. For when the rulers of Damascus and the Syrians would run down and besiege them, they plundered the lands among them; and when, in turn, the Moabites and Idumeans, the Gergesenes and Elamites, the Azotians and the inhabitants of Accaron were maltreating Samaria, and indeed also the kingdom of Judah, using unbridled impulses and an insatiable will, and being driven to extremes of rage; and indeed we shall find that they have done this in various ways; for instance, when Ahab was king of Samaria and over Israel. And it is written thus in the third book of Kings, "And the son of Ader gathered "all his force, and went up and besieged "Samaria, and thirty-two kings with him and "every horse and chariot; and they went up and besieged "Samaria and made war against it." See then that the king of Damascus, that is, Ader, made allies against Israel, thirty-two other rulers of the neighboring nations, and thus made war on the land. But also in the times of Joash king of Judah, Hazael the Syrian made war on Jerusalem. And it is written again in the fourth book of Kings, "Then Hazael "king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and "captured it. And Hazael set his "face to go up to Jerusalem. And Joash king "of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and "Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers and kings "of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things and all the the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went up from Jerusalem." For they did such things according to divine wrath, since Israel had offended, by turning away exceedingly and being terribly excited about the worship of idols. But the foreigners, when they conquered, were insulting the glory of God. For the wretched ones thought to themselves that the hand that helped them had grown weak, and they have dared to behave insolently against the glory of God. And so the Syrians, having grown weak, when Ader was briefly besieging Samaria, made a false pretext for their cowardice, saying, "The God of Israel is a God of mountains and not a God of valleys." For they thought that those of Israel had conquered because God was able to save only in the mountains or on the hills. 'We have been defeated, then,' they say, 'because the God of Israel is a God of mountains; but if we could join battle on the bare plains, we would certainly overcome them, since the God of Israel is weak in the valleys.' But these are charges of Hellenic delusion, and the terrible unguarded speech of those who do not know the true God by nature. Therefore, God who is all-powerful was indignant with the foreigners, and very rightly so, because even when conquering Israel, as I said, they offered thank-offerings to their own gods, and talking nonsense they thought they had prevailed even over God Himself. As time went on after the reign of Ahab, and of certain others in between and in succession, a king was proclaimed over Israel in Samaria, Jeroboam, another besides the first, who was the son of Nebat, but his namesake and of like mind and impious. But in the times of his reign the compassionate God at last pitied Israel, who was weighed down by unbearable hardship, and He freed them from their troubles through the hand of Jeroboam, although he was exceedingly wicked and an apostate. For he so prevailed over the foreigners, as even to recover again cities that had been taken away from them in the times of past kings, and to subject them to his own scepters, and to inflict very many evils on those who had formerly conquered. For it is written about him in the fourth book of Kings: "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash began to reign over Israel in Samaria for forty-one years; and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. For he restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, and that they were reduced to a few, confined and destitute and abandoned, and there was no one to help Israel. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the seed of Israel from under heaven; and he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his mighty deeds, how he waged war, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?" Behold, he says clearly that those of Israel were afflicted, with no one to save them, so that they were few and scattered; yet that they were saved from the hand of Jeroboam. And he has put 'from the hand' instead of 'by the hand'. For he himself was not the one crushing Israel, but rather fighting for and defending it; and he recovered Damascus, and won back the border of Israel and performed many mighty deeds. While Jeroboam was reigning, Azariah, also called Uzziah, is anointed king over Judah in Jerusalem. who was no less burdensome to the nations, and vigorously pressing upon those who had ravaged Judea. For he was a pious and God-loving man. But when he had prevailed over the enemies, with God permitting him to conquer, he became sick with arrogance, and went by his own commands to that it was necessary then also to act as a priest to God, and indeed he dared to go up to the divine altar itself, and to offer incense. But immediately God rebuked him. For he was marked with leprosy, a terrible and incurable affliction, so that as one unclean according to the law he might be sent out of Jerusalem, and might cease then both from acting as a priest to God, and from the sacred rite he had unlawfully practiced, and from defiling the divine temple. And the sacred Scripture spoke thus concerning him in the fourth of Kingdoms: "In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. Except the high places he did not remove, because the people were sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. And the Lord touched the king, and he was a leper until the day of his death." And these things are in Kingdoms, but in the second of Chronicles a leaner narrative is given concerning these things. It is as follows: "And all the people of the land took Uzziah, and he was sixteen years old and they made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, he restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. And he was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of the Lord, in his days he sought the Lord, and the Lord made him prosper. And he went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath and the walls of Jabneh and the walls of Ashdod, and he built cities in Ashdod, and among the Philistines the Lord made him strong, against the Philistines and against the Arabs who dwelt upon the rock, and against the Meunites. And the Meunites gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name was known as far as the entrance of Egypt, because he was exceedingly strong." Then it says next concerning him: "And he did wrong against the Lord his God, and he entered into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. And they stood up against Uzziah the king and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense; go out from the sanctuary, because you have rebelled against the Lord; and this will not be for your glory from the Lord God. And Uzziah was enraged, and in his hand was the censer to burn incense in the temple; and while he was enraged with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, above the altar of incense. And the chief priest and the priests turned to him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they hurried him out from there, and indeed he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had rebuked him." Concerning Uzziah's being made a leper, these things suffice; but that he became a mighty man, and campaigned against the lands of the Philistines, and became so great in strength as to build cities among them, and to impose tribute, and to bring under his own scepters those who were once very proud, the sacred Scripture has taught sufficiently. Therefore, since the prophetic word has introduced to us at the beginning the future desolation of the Philistines, the memory of the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam has become necessary, for they were conquered through them, as we have at least said before. We know, therefore, that Damascus was also burned by the hand of the Assyrians, and the tribes of the Philistines were no less ravaged. But since it is of these those things being later, we will of necessity attach to the times of both Jeroboam and Uzziah the things that happened to the foreigners, and no less to the leaders of the Assyrians themselves. And since the Prophet has added "Two years before the earthquake," we have necessarily also made mention of Uzziah being struck with leprosy. For since he dared to act as a priest unlawfully, he was struck with leprosy when God reproved him, and Jerusalem was shaken by an earthquake, and through this it was clear to those at that time that God was indicating his own wrath. And he said, The Lord has spoken from Zion, and from Jerusalem he has given his voice, and the pastures of the shepherds have mourned, and the top of Carmel has withered. In these words the whole purpose of the prophecy is revealed to us, and the force of what is set forth might reasonably be understood as a kind of definition and preface of the entire oracle, overshadowed by great obscurity. For the word is composed as from a likeness and a metaphor, and as from what is wont to happen to the well-rooted summits of mountains, or sometimes also to the bare plains. For mountains, though luxuriant with thickets and woods, and plains again, crowned with much and abundant grass, when some destructive thing or perhaps a plague, or another of the maladies from the air, unexpectedly wither. In this way human affairs also fail, and sometimes bitter and unbearable calamities strike cities and countries, destroying and corrupting both small and great. For what would an enemy's sword spare, or, let us say, a plague, utterly cutting down both the one distinguished in wealth and glories and powers, and the obscure and downtrodden? Therefore, the word has now become for the Prophet especially fitting to his accustomed ways. For he was, as I said, a goatherd, and the trope is made as from the fact that the pastures of the flocks are often destroyed. What then is the truer meaning of what has been said? He says the Lord spoke from Zion, as from his own place, and from Jerusalem, as from that which was allotted to him; for the incorporeal is not in a place. But since that famous temple was in Jerusalem, the place somehow seemed to be his own, at least according to the supposition of the ancients who still had small thoughts about God. But instead of "spoke," the Hebrew version has put "roared," that is, he bellowed, in the manner of lions. When this happened, he says, the pastures of the flocks mourned; and by "pastures of the flocks" he means the nations of the foreigners, as being subject to certain shepherds, their own rulers, who lead and carry the people under their hand to whatever they please. Therefore they mourned, that is, they have been in dejection and in every evil; for mourning happens for the dead. And the cause of their calamity was that God roared down, and as it were threatened destruction. "For a lion," he says, "will roar, and who will not be afraid?" But not only did the pastures of the flocks mourn, but in addition to this the top of Carmel also withered; and by "the top of Carmel" he means Jerusalem. For Carmel is a mountain situated in the country of the Jews, on which also Elijah the Tishbite dwelt. And often the whole land of the Jews is signified by the name of Carmel. Such is what was said by God through the voice of another prophet to the sons of Israel: "And I brought you into Carmel to eat "its good things and its fruits, and you entered "and defiled my land, and you made my inheritance "an abomination." Since, therefore, Jerusalem was named the most notable and distinguished of the other cities in Judaea, he calls it the top of Carmel, as being lifted up in glory, as excelling in pre-eminence, as conspicuous beyond the others, on account of having the divine temple, and the kings from the tribe of Judah who reigned at various times. But it is the custom of the holy prophets to hide their words providentially in obscurities, because of the unbridled impulses of the hearers. For they would not have they tolerated those speaking openly, very much stirred up to audacity, and rebuking the holy prophets and saying, “But speak to us and announce to us another delusion.” And the Lord said, “For the three impieties of Damascus and for the four I will not turn away from it, because they sawed with iron saws the pregnant women of Gilead. And I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the foundations of the son of Hadad. And I will break the bars of Damascus, and I will destroy the inhabitants from the plain of On, and cut off a tribe from the men of Harran, and the renowned people of Syria shall be taken captive, says the Lord.” The divine Moses marvels at God as both good and long-suffering, and very rightly. For since Israel had made a calf in the wilderness, and said foolishly, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,” he had necessarily offended. But since God threatened to destroy them completely, then Moses fell down and besought, and indeed persuaded the Creator to remit the punishment for those who had sinned, he offered up songs of thanksgiving, saying, “The Lord God is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and very merciful and true, and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquities and injustices and sins, and will not clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” The peoples of the Jews did not understand this correctly. For they thought God to be so harsh and implacable and long in wrath, as to bring the faults of the fathers upon the children’s children. And so mocking this very thing, they would say, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge.” For this reason God says to the prophet Ezekiel, “Son of man, what is this parable to you in Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge’? As I live, says the Lord, this parable shall no longer be spoken in Israel. For all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son, they are mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. And the son shall not bear the sin of his father, nor shall the father bear the sin of his son.” For how is the Lord of all still long-suffering and very merciful and true, if He does not remit sins, and cleanse the guilty, but rather extends His indignation to the third and fourth generation? What then is the meaning? He is, as I said, both long-suffering and incomparably good, and does not immediately bring punishment upon those who have sinned. But He postpones it, even to a second generation, so that perhaps some intervening repentance might check His wrath. But if this should not happen, and the third and fourth from the first should be caught in the same, or even worse evils, and be found to be imitators of their ancestors' impiety, then indeed, then at last He brings the punishments, bestowing upon the generation a sufficient long-suffering for those who have already passed; this is the visiting of the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Does He not then say, having been long-suffering with Damascus many times, shall I not at last be indignant, and very rightly, for three and four sins? For what have they done? Many other things indeed. Yet they will pay the penalty for their excessive cruelty. For I will turn away from them, because they sawed with iron saws the pregnant women of Gilead. Now Gilead is a small city of Judea, situated on the border of the land of the Palestinians. The Syrians captured this beforehand, and destroyed it with complete ruin, cutting with iron saws the pregnant women, and together with the infants melting away the raw embryos of women. But the iron saws he calls the wheels of the wagons, with which it is the custom for the Syrians to thresh the grain on the threshing-floor. And so somewhere God also says through the voice of Isaiah to the Synagogue of the Jews, “Behold, I have made you as the wheels of a threshing-wagon, new, saw-toothed.” Therefore, it is similar As if he were to say, for instance, to Damascus: I will determine your judgment, for what you have threshed and crushed those in Gilead, so as not even to spare those still in the womb, to whom mercy from all follows and is owed. That some from Damascus treated the people of Israel cruelly and savagely, you may learn effortlessly by paying attention to the words of the prophet Elisha. For he arrived in Damascus. And when he met Hazael, while Hadad was still sick, "The man of God," it says, "wept, and Hazael said, 'Why does my lord weep?' And he said, 'Because I know what evil things you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will send up in fire, and their chosen men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.'" Since Damascus has done these things against Gilead, and rather against the whole land of the Jews, he threatens to burn down the house of Hazael and Hadad, and to break the bars of Damascus. These things were done partly and at times by Uzziah and Jeroboam; for they themselves also took Syria and conquered it by force; and as time went on, also by the king of the Assyrians. Then he says, and I will destroy inhabitants from the plain of On. On the prophets call Bethel, in which the accursed Jeroboam set up the golden calf. But from that time on it was their custom to call every idolatrous land so. Therefore, the inhabitants in the land and plain of On, that is, of vanities, which is idols; for so the others have interpreted; I will destroy and cut off, he says, and I will cut down no less also a tribe from the men of Harran, which is a town somewhere surely bordering Damascus, having most warlike inhabitants. And he says that the renowned people of Syria will be taken captive. By renowned, he means either the one greatly famous, or the mercenary and one gathered to them for assistance; for, as I said, they would hire their foreign neighbors when campaigning against the land of the Jews; or renowned means the one called from outside and a sojourner. For it must be known that the Hebrew version, instead of "people of Syria," says "of Cyrene"; for the Syrians are colonists of the Cyrenians. And we remember that, as is written again in the fourth book of Kingdoms, Ahaz was reigning over Jerusalem, and Pekah and Rezin, the kings of Syria and Damascus, went up against Jerusalem, laying waste the cities of Judah under it. And since Ahaz, reigning over Judah, was in unbearable fear, he hired Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian with money for assistance. "And the king of the Assyrians," it says, "heard him, and the king of the Assyrians went up to Damascus and captured it, and carried it away captive, and put Rezin to death." Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Gaza, and for the four, I will not turn them away, because they took captive a captivity of Solomon, to shut them up in Edom. And I will send a fire upon the walls of Gaza, and it shall devour its foundations. And I will destroy the inhabitants from Ashdod, and a tribe shall be taken from Ashkelon, and I will bring my hand upon Ekron, and the remnant of the foreigners shall perish, says the Lord. I think it necessary before all else to say this, that neither the Hebrew version, nor indeed that of the others, mentions Solomon, but the Hebrews have said, "Because they took them captive," while the others have added, instead of "of Solomon," "a complete" or "perfect" one. But we will necessarily follow the writing of the seventy. Gaza is therefore accused; this is a city of the Philistines, which is now Palestine; as having taken captive a captivity of Solomon, to shut them up in Edom. And if we understand it thus, as at least the other interpreters have published, they have not made an ordinary devastation against Judea, but having taken a sufficient number of captives, they have given them into the hand of the Edomites. The Idumaeans, though descended from the blood of Esau, have always held hostile thoughts toward those of Israel, with whom the Gazites and the Azotians and the Ascalonites, and those of the so-called Accaron and some others of the foreigners, cooperating and becoming allies, prepared to take the cities of Judea by force. But if indeed, according to the writing of the seventy, we should say that they took captive the captivity of Solomon, it is necessary to understand that somehow. For Solomon was a most powerful and all-mighty king, and he so ruled over the neighboring nations that he even built many cities among them, and in them established Israel, with Hiram giving them to him. And it is so written in the second of Chronicles: "And it came to pass after twenty years in which Solomon had built "the house of the Lord and his own house, and the "cities which Hiram gave to Solomon, Solomon built them "and settled there the sons of Israel. And Solomon came "to Emath Soba, and prevailed against it, and "built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the "fortified cities he built in Hamath." And again, after other things: "And whatever Solomon desired according to his desire "to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in "all his kingdom. All the people that were left of "the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and "the Hivite and the Jebusite, who are not of Is-"rael, were from their sons left after "them in the land, whom the sons of Israel did not destroy, "and Solomon brought them up for tribute unto this day." Therefore, having allied themselves with those from Idumaea, the Gazites and Azotians and the rest have destroyed these cities, namely those named after Solomon, so that they no longer lie under the kingdom of Judah, but are assigned, as it were, to the unholy leaders of the Moabites. For this reason, he says Gaza will be consumed by fire along with the others, and the Azotians and the tribe of Ascalon will be utterly destroyed, and Accaron will fall under the hand of the smiter; and with them the remnant of the foreigners will certainly be destroyed together. For it is likely that they have served as mercenaries, and some of the neighboring barbarians have been called for aid. It is seen, therefore, to be a grievous thing and full of all danger, to conspire with the wicked and to love to be armed against those beloved by God, and to persecute saints. For even if they sometimes suffer on account of their stumblings, being disciplined by God, yet he will not utterly neglect those who are his own; and having disciplined them usefully, he will cast into destruction the vessels of wrath, that is, those who rushed against them with unbridled anger, surely according to that which was well said to Babylon concerning the sons of Israel: "I gave them "into your hands, but you showed them no mercy." For the excess of torment from those who were commanded to do this is exceedingly displeasing even to an indignant God. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away from it, because they delivered up the captivity of Solomon to Idumaea, and did not remember the covenant of brothers. And I will send a fire upon the walls of Tyre, and it shall devour its foundations. But the Tyrians again, in addition to those from Damascus, and indeed also the Azotians, the Gazites and Ascalonites, and those from Accaron, having surpassed the forbearance befitting God, and having been conquered, in a way, by the excess of their impieties, will be subjected to wrath, at least according to the meaning of the oracle, and will endure the ultimate punishment of all. And the charge against them is that they delivered up the captivity of Solomon to Idumaea, and being unmindful of the very covenant of brothers. What, then, the captivity of Solomon is, the argument has sufficiently shown us; but how it was delivered up to Idumaea, and by the Tyrians, it is necessary to say. For having enslaved a number not easy to count of those from Judah and Israel, they have sold to the Idumeans. But they, having made their blood brothers and free men from of old into the portion of captives, both oppressed them with the bitter yoke of slavery and forced them to live by the laws of the Greeks, the wretches all but mocking the glory of God, as though He had neither preserved for them the freedom from their fathers, nor indeed had the strength to grant them a state of well-being. And so the God of all says through the voice of another prophet, accusing not moderately those who shut up the captivity of Solomon into Idumea. "And "what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all Galilee "of the foreigners? Are you rendering a recompense to me, or "are you bearing a grudge against me? Swiftly and speedily I will "return your recompense upon your heads, for "what you took, my silver and my gold, and my "choice and beautiful things you brought into your temples, "and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel you "sold to the sons of the Greeks, that you might drive them out from "their borders." Now a border, as it were, of those of Israel, is Judea in a bodily sense, but the law in a spiritual sense, outside of which they have come to be, being unnaturally sold to the sons of the Greeks. The Tyrians have done this, along with the others, having forgotten the covenant of the brothers itself. And this might be understood by us in three ways. For who are the brothers, and what is the covenant, come let us say, being guided by the sacred writings to the thoughts on this matter. Hiram, who was king of the Tyrians at the time, was one of the most beloved friends of the divine David; then after him he became beloved to Solomon, so as to make covenants of unanimity with him, to cooperate with him in all things, and to contribute the necessary care while he was completing the divine temple. And he brought very many gifts, and he himself also gained even greater and richer ones. Therefore, he either says that, that the Tyrians made war on Israel, forgetting the covenant of the brothers out of love, who had come to such a disposition and affection, that they seemed to be even of the same blood; or that the Idumeans, having descended from Esau, were brothers to those of Israel, but made war, having had no regard for the covenant of the brothers. For Esau had hostile and enemy thoughts against Jacob, being grieved in the beginning on account of the birthright; but when he was departing from the hearth of Laban at the proper time, and wishing to return home again with both his wives and children, he met him as a brother. For they embraced and kissed one another, and spoke what was fitting for friends, and treading upon their old difference, they made covenants of harmony and peace. But they were in this state. But the Tyrians, forgetting the covenant of the brothers, pitted the clans against each other, and persuaded them to hold their blood brothers as slaves, rendering the Idumeans far too strong over the vanquished by their own conspiracies. And if indeed someone should say this also of the Moabites themselves, who were of the blood of Lot, that the Tyrians violated the covenant of brothers, it is clear that it means the one from Abraham to Lot. For since the herdsmen of both fought, "Abram said to Lot," he says, "Let there be no strife between me and you, and between my "herdsmen and between your herdsmen, for we are "brother men." Therefore, for this reason he says it will be justly burned, and shaken from its very foundations. For "You shall not be with the majority for evil" is useful everywhere. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Idumea, and for the four, I will not turn them away, because they pursued their brother with the sword. The word now passes to the Idumean himself, that is, those of Esau, and it says very well that they too will be subjected to the consequences of wrath. For they made war on Israel, who was their brother, and did not shrink from raising the insolent and savage sword against those who were near and of their blood, not of the law having been mindful of nature, not having been mindful of anything human, but accustomed to conquering those outside and most hostile with enmities against brothers, and perhaps being very proud of this. Therefore let them hear from us too, "Why do you boast in wickedness, O mighty one?" And it might be said of them, and very appropriately, "Whose glory is in their "shame." For what it was better to love to put as far away as possible, these things indeed honoring with an utterly wicked judgment, they will hear again, "Woe "to those who call evil good and good evil, who "put darkness for light and light for darkness, who say "the bitter is sweet and the sweet is bitter." And he ravaged a womb upon the earth. The crimes of the Idumeans are usefully enumerated, and he goes back to Esau himself, showing them to be of low birth and sprung from an unholy father, so that we might perhaps understand that which is obliquely indicated through the voice of Isaiah, "For from the seed of serpents shall come forth the offspring of asps." He narrates, therefore, that their forefather Esau also almost ravaged the good things that had come to him from the womb and birth, and cast down to the earth the dignity of the birthright, deeming the thing worthy of almost no account for the sake of bodily food; for he sought a pottage of lentils, and having received it, he gave up the gift of nature. "For this reason," it says, "his name was called Edom;" which is, earthy, whence, I think, those descended from him are henceforth called Idumeans. Therefore the dignity from birth and womb he ravaged, it says, to the earth; he exchanged it for an earthy thing. They would be held liable for the same crimes who put the enjoyment of carnal things before spiritual things, and choose temporary things instead of eternal things, and things that are shaken instead of things that are not shaken, and despising the glory that is from God, but having most unwisely preferred the splendid things among men, which also, like shadows, pass by those who possess them. And very usefully the divine Paul cries out, "Lest there be any "fornicator," he says, "or profane person like Esau, who for one "meal sold his birthright." And he has seized his terror for a testimony. He again mentions another matter, able to slander the Idumean, as having always been awkward and wicked, and most hostile and warlike to those of his own blood. It is written, then, in Numbers, "And Moses sent "messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, Thus "says your brother Israel: You know all the "hardship that has found us; and our fathers went down "into Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt many "days, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our "fathers. And we cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard "our voice and sending an angel "brought us out of Egypt; and now we are in Kadesh, a city "on part of your border; we will pass through your "land; we will not pass through fields or through vineyards, "nor will we drink water from your cistern; by the king's highway we will "go; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left, until "we have passed through your borders. And Edom said to him, You "shall not pass through me; but if not, I will come out against you in "war. And the sons of Israel say to him, "We will go along the mountain; and if I and my cattle drink of your water, "I will give you a price, but "it is no matter; we will go along the mountain. "But he said, You shall not pass through me. And Edom came out to "meet them with a heavy host and with a strong hand. And "Edom was not willing to allow Israel to pass through "his borders, and Israel turned away from him." Observe then again in these things, how terrible and beyond all reason are the crimes of lack of affection. For Israel did not ask for water from Edom without payment, but he was in arms, and drew up for battle, and having begrudged them passage alone, and having proceeded to this point of awkwardness was convicted, that if Israel had not turned away, he would not even have spared their blood. He has seized, therefore, his terror for a testimony. For they indeed they refused and drew back, fearing to make war, so that they might not seem to neglect love towards their brothers; but he made their drawing back, or rather their cowardice in this matter, which he also signifies by the name of dread, a pretext for a harsh protest against them. For he threatened plainly, that if he would not depart from the borders belonging to him, he would go out against him and make war henceforth. Therefore Edom was without love for his kinsman, and not moderately guilty of the charge of brother-hating; for this reason he was justly also hated by God; "For God is love," according to the voice of John, "and he who abides in love, abides in God." Therefore he who has chosen to live without love is not in God; how could he be? But he will rather lie outside of intimacy with God. And his anger he kept for a victory; and I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the foundations of her walls. This is indeed the third transgression of Esau. For his anger, clearly fierce towards enmity and impiety, he kept for a victory, that is, for complete victory, and to the very end. For he in no way ceased from his impious undertakings, although, as I have already said, Esau had departed from that ancient impiety, and no longer sought to kill Jacob, but rather changed to gentleness and brotherly love. For when he returned from the hearth of Laban, he embraced him with weeping; and somehow tears are always wont to be shed even in times of extreme joy; but those descended from him were exceedingly harsh, in the awkwardness of their ways surpassing even the wickedness of their forefather. But it is true, that in every way and altogether "The ways of the resentful lead to death." For this reason he also says I will send a fire upon Teman; this is a metropolis of Idumea; and it shall devour the foundations of her walls; for it has been burned by conquering enemies, and Teman has perished along with the others. Hating brothers will therefore end in fire and flames, and rising up against those of one's own blood, or even those gathered into unity and one-mindedness from spiritual kinship; but the boasts of love are free from such evils. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away from them, because they ripped open the pregnant women of the Gileadites, that they might enlarge their borders. And I will kindle a fire upon the walls of Rabbah, and it shall devour her foundations with shouting in the day of war, and it shall be shaken in the day of her consummation, and their kings shall go into captivity, their priests and their princes together, says the Lord. The savagery of the Damascenes is also recorded in the case of the Ammonites. For they too killed the pregnant women of the Gileadites, not in defense of some others, nor indeed lending their wrath to foreigners, but for themselves, so that they might have a wider domain, and the borders of their kingdom extending very far, with all the land of the Jews laid waste, and those of Israel completely overthrown, as though God had suffered powerlessness, and He who promised to save, and to show Himself invincible to those who wish to make war, had truly grown weak. So then, having also captured the cities, they dared to mock the protecting God, and to the falsely-named gods they lit thank-offerings and sang victory odes. For this reason He says that Rabbah will be burned; this too is a metropolis of the land of the Ammonites; and He says that it will perish with a shout, that is, with the Babylonians shouting their war-cry against it. For they have taken it with a whole army, with Nebuchadnezzar overrunning the land of the Ammonites. And they shall go as captives, he says, the subjects together with their rulers, and those appointed to serve their own gods, having no help from them. For what could a deaf idol do, or how could it help anyone? And the proponents of the heresies are like those who cut open pregnant women, so that they might enlarge the borders of them. For in order that they may appear to be leaders of many, they do violence to wretched souls, and by deceptions from their words they cause them to miscarry a faith that is, as it were, raw and unfulfilled, speaking to them perverted things, and belching out things "from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord." For no one says, "Jesus is Lord," except "in the Holy Spirit," nor "Jesus is anathema" except in Beelzebul. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Moab, and for the four, I will not turn away from it, because they burned the bones of the king of Idumea to lime. And I will send a fire upon Moab, and it will devour the foundations of their cities, and Moab will die in weakness, with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet. And I will destroy the judge from her midst, and I will kill all her rulers with her, says the Lord. The Moabites again have acted impiously, not moderately, so as to drive even them beyond the inherent gentleness and forbearance of the God of all. But their accusation is the sin against the dead; I mean the burning of the bones of the king of Idumea; and burning them in such a way as to finally reduce them to dust and lime. What then is the crime? Hatred and inhumanity and unbridled savagery against those of Israel. For one might say that the bones of the aforementioned king were burned for no other reason than solely on account of those of Israel. And since the story is clear, I will relate it briefly. It is written in the fourth of the kingdoms "And it came to pass after the death of Ahab that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. And King Joram went out on that day from Samaria and mustered Israel, and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me against Moab to war? And he said, I will go up; I am as you are, as your people are my people, as your horses are my horses. And he said, By what way shall I go up? And he said, By the way of the wilderness of Edom. And the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went, and they made a circuit of a seven days' journey; and there was no water for the camp nor for the cattle that were at their feet." Observe, therefore, how the king of Edom, that is, of Idumea, also took up arms with the kings; and since they were in want of water, they sent for the blessed prophet Elisha, and they begged that what they sought might be given from God. When this happened, the Moabites were captured; for it is written again after other things, "And Israel rose up and struck Moab, and they fled from before them. And they went in, advancing and striking Moab, and they overthrew the cities, and on every good portion of land each man threw his stone and filled it, and they stopped up every spring of water, and cut down every good tree, until only the stones of the wall were left torn down." Therefore, those from Moab, being enraged that those of Israel had at times conquered, while the king of Edom aided them and marched with them, since they could not otherwise harm a dead man, they sinned against his remains, consuming them with fire, not even sparing his bones any longer, adding, as it were, to the destroyed of Israel the one who had from time to time been their helper. Therefore, their cities will be burned, and He says they themselves will perish in weakness, not wasting away by disease, nor consumed by common ailments, but with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet, that is, as in war and battle; and He threatens that also judges and rulers and all her leaders will perish together with those under them. For they were in charge of counsel and enterprises, and of the whole impiety they were surely the instigators to the others. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of the sons of Judah, and for the four, I will not turn away from them, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and His commandments they have not kept, and their vanities which they made have led them astray, which their fathers followed after them; and I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem.To the lawless nations has also been added the one instructed by the law, that is, Judah; for the Judge is no respecter of persons. That He endured him while he was always sinning, and persevered for a long time, is shown by the fact that He was moved only at the third and indeed also the fourth sin. And yet it was surely necessary, as is reasonable, to allot to the other nations, since they do not have the divine law, a more abundant gentleness, and to lavish upon them the length of His forgiveness, but to demand punishment for indifference immediately from Israel, since he was nourished in the divine commandments and was not ignorant of the profitable path, but He endured even those who knew the law as if they did not know it. But when He at last beheld them carried away to the limit of wickedness and of awkward reasonings, then He says He will send the fire upon Jerusalem itself, and consume even to its very foundations the city that is so brilliant and renowned. And the crimes of those of Israel are very many; but most of all God blames them for following the errors of their fathers. For the ones still yoked to the greed of the Egyptians, and nourished in their customs and laws, kindled their worship for a calf; but the others, having escaped that most wretched slavery, and being instructed in many ways by the divine commandments so as to know clearly what is pleasing to God, were caught going backwards, and being dragged down into the error of their fathers, and perhaps even fearing as unseemly not to be seen in equal evils. For they too have worshipped the golden heifers. And the cause of such impiety for them has been that they rejected the law of the Lord, and were unwilling to keep His commandments. Therefore, as long as we are keepers of the law and lovers of God, and are diligent to keep the commandments, we shall be found wise and sagacious, and knowledgeable of every virtue, and indeed enriched in all such things. But having inclined toward indifference, and having disregarded the divine laws, we shall hereafter be carried about by every wind, deprived of the best mind and understanding. And we shall be "portions for foxes," with the unclean spirits dragging us this way and that. Rightly and wisely, therefore, does the divine David sing concerning every righteous man, "The law of his God is in his heart, and "his steps shall not be tripped." Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away from him, because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals, those who trample on the dust of the earth. He does not leave him unpunished, but rather subjects to punishments Israel, that is, the tribes in Samaria. And that they themselves, sinning unguardedly, have all but consumed the tranquility owed by God to the weak, the turning away for three and four sins would show, which having suffered they must necessarily be subjected to terrible things, and be in every evil. Therefore, the divine David, fearing this thing, and knowing it to be a cause of destruction, implored, saying, "Do not turn Your face from me, and "do not turn away in wrath from Your servant." For wrath always follows, and, as it were, accompanies the turnings away. And what are the crimes of those of Israel, he clearly states. For they have sold, he says, the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, that is, they did not endure to speak rightly and justly, and to render for each of those being judged the justice that accords with the law. But if it happened that a man was righteous, sober and gentle, modest and unboastful; for such a one would be understood as both righteous and poor, or poor in spirit; being brought to judgment by one of the more powerful, this man is sold to his enemies, although the law clearly proclaimed, "You shall not take "person in judgment;" and again, "You shall not slay the innocent and the just." For the one entrusted with judging is certainly established in the order of God, to whom alone judging is proper. "For there is one lawgiver and judge," according to the voice of the saint. Therefore, the one who falsifies the account of justice and shows partiality will certainly insult the divine dignity, and offends God who says, "Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every one to his "brother." He accuses them, therefore, of selling the just and the poor to their enemies, and of being accustomed to doing this for the sake of a few and most worthless gains, which would scarcely suffice for those who received them for the purchase of sandals. But it was far better, having chosen to honor righteousness and what is pleasing to God, to be intoxicated rather with the honors from Him, and indeed to have the wealth that comes from a good reputation. "For a good name," he says, "is to be chosen rather than great riches." It should be known that through the voice of Isaiah He says something like this to the mother of the Jews, that is, Jerusalem: "Your silver is dross; your wine merchants mix wine with water; your princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving gifts, seeking rewards, not judging the fatherless, and not attending to the case of the widow;" and again through the voice of Jeremiah, "Her leaders judged for a reward." It is therefore everywhere accursed not to render judgment that is right and blameless, but in a burdensome manner and discredited by its inequality. And they struck the heads of the poor with their fists. He clearly reproaches and accuses them of oppression and greed, as being unholy and merciless, and those whom it was better to deem worthy of care and to choose to honor, and to love to restore with assistance out of love, they were accustomed, on the contrary, to do wrong, wasting away with unbearable and bitter sorrows those who are burdened with poverty. But our Lord Jesus Christ records what is done to them as done to His own person. For He says, "Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to Me." Therefore, we shall offend God in no small measure, by taking advantage of the weak and "striking the humble with fists," as it is written, and embittering with sorrows those who are weighed down by poverty, although we ought rather to extend to them the hand of mutual love. "For poverty," he says, "humbles a man, but the hands of the diligent make rich;" and the disciple of Christ also writes somewhere that "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." And they have turned aside the way of the humble. You will understand this in two ways: for either it means that they have thought arrogant things, and have come to such a measure of God-hated arrogance, as to reject even brothers, unless they are swimming in wealth and have splendid possessions, and to go with hatred, as it were, and in the same way as those who have not excessively practiced the passion of love of money, who are also humble, thrusting away the vain turmoil of life; or else, that having become teachers and leaders of the people, they pervert the way of the weaker, that is, of the humble, it being clear that these do not of themselves have an accurate knowledge of what is expedient, but rather adhere to the voices of their instructors. And the multitude of this kind is very great. For some live rather un-curiously and in simplicity, and depend on the voice or instruction of their teachers, and whatever way they learn is good, they love exceedingly. Therefore, the wise and God-loving among those allotted to lead show the straight path, by which, rushing along, they achieve a life pleasing to God. But those who have thought little of the divine law pervert the way of the humble, causing them to be outside of what is reasonable and truly fitting; such as Jeroboam did, having persuaded them to worship the man-made heifers; and having turned them away from the path that is straight and of the good, I mean of being devoted to the God and Lord who is so by nature and in truth. They turn aside from the way of the humble, those who do not hesitate to say to the one who is simple in mind, "Come with us, share in "unjust blood." They also turn aside from the way of the humble, those who twist the correctness of ecclesiastical dogmas to what seems right to them, persuading the mind of the more simple to go down a crooked and perverse path; and for indeed there is nothing right among them, but rather distorted and unseemly little sayings, and compositions of words, full of impiety and ignorance alike. And a son and his father went in to the same girl, so that they might profane the name of their God. He again accuses them for passionate and unrestrained pleasures, and has shown them to be neglectful of all decency in this one trespass. For it was better to be master of the passions and to overcome improper and loathsome pleasure and to cut off desires, and having resolved to rebuke the wills of the flesh and persuading to be still the law that rages in our members. But they were far behind such brilliant virtue, and were perhaps defeated by the passions of the flesh. Then how is it not wise, even in shameful things, to choose the better, and to consider that it is of the most exceedingly improper things for a son to leap upon his father's bed, and for a father to delight in raging unholily upon his son's very bed, and to choose to commit a terrible deed, which even without the law through Moses nature knows to be shameful, and deems worthy to condemn with movements of wrath? And indeed Reuben, having wronged his father's bed, offended not moderately; and the divine Paul was exceedingly indignant about such a thing being done by some; and these were Corinthians, to whom he also writes, saying, "It is actually reported that there is "fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, "that a man has his father's wife." But he did not stop his indignation at this; but he delivered the one who had done it "to Satan for the destruction of the flesh." Therefore, those who are guilty of such offenses profane the name of their God. And we do not say, by any means, that they imputed profanation and impurity to the divine nature. For how could they, or from where? But rather they cause the God of all to be blasphemed, as being a ruler of profane peoples. And indeed He said somewhere to the Jews, "Because of you my name is blasphemed continually "among the Gentiles." For just as those who live rightly are said to sanctify God, so also would those who practice an unclean and inglorious way of life be understood to profane Him. And binding their garments with ropes they made curtains next to the altar, and they drank wine from false accusations in the house of their God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, teaching that the divine temples ought to be maintained for no other reason than to glorify in them the God of all, and to make the worship that is fitting for him, once rebuked the Jewish merchants; for they were bringing into the temple sheep and oxen and doves; and indeed, "making a whip "of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, saying, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."'" And the sacred writing noted, "His "disciples remembered that it was written, 'The zeal for your house will consume "me.'" And the divine Paul also rebuked some who were accustomed to daring such things; for he writes thus: "Do you not have "houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church "of God and humiliate those who have nothing?" Therefore, it is seen to be unprofitable everywhere to dare to misuse the divine houses, as if they were common and belonged privately to each person. For where would the reverence due to God still be kept, if we serve the pleasures of the flesh in his sight? and in those places where we ought to be seen as radiant through solemnity, to be laughed at there, slipping into what is unseemly, and willing to do what is not right? which indeed he does not permit some to do without blame, and very rightly so. For they did not, he says, keep the altar free from hangings, but having fallen under them, they dared to get drunk and to fulfill the works of pleasure, so that they might also hear God saying clearly, “And I am a witness, says the Lord.” From what sort of absurdities would a drunken man abstain, whose mind is deranged and is prone to every kind of evil whatsoever? For the God of all sees even "the things in darkness," according to what is written, and nothing at all is unseen by him; but it seems somehow that the things in churches especially are done by us as if he were almost present and watching. And if it is truly most shameful, and has the ultimate condemnation from the law, to get drunk at all, how is it not beyond all description tending towards depravity, for such people to be seen even in the churches themselves? And what is still more burdensome, if the things for luxury are collected from unjust and wicked gains? Those who do this will hear God saying clearly, “Is my house a den of robbers?” Therefore, the crimes of others will be of great benefit to us, and through the things by which others have stumbled, we will become better, if we avoid their ways. For the temperate would reasonably be safer, if indeed they wished to live according to the law, if they chose not to emulate the wicked. But if it were said to Judah, that is, the two tribes in Jerusalem, Binding their garments with cords they made hangings next to the altar, the argument would rightly hold to the interpretation just now stated by us. But if indeed the offense were also brought against Israel, I would say that not in the house of him who is God by nature and in truth, nor next to the altar were the tents woven by means of the hangings, that is, the things of drunkenness were done, but in the house of their god, that he might mean Baal, or some other of those made into the form of an idol by human invention. How then could it still be counted as a crime for Israel, to be in a house of idols, perhaps, and beside the profane altar itself to get drunk with wine and weave tents? Because they have honored these things, and made the temples of their supposed gods workshops of drunkenness as well as of every shameful pleasure, although it was necessary rather to desire to worship God purely and with all sanctity, and to enter the house that is truly holy, and to consider the altar venerable. But they, eager to consider things so venerable and admirable as nothing, having honored things far more shameful, even dared to act insolently towards their own gods, trampling everywhere on the divine dignity, and fearlessly insulting the glory fitting for the one and only God by nature, when having also placed it upon those falsely named, they endured to esteem it of no account. But I destroyed the Amorite from before them, whose height was like the height of a cedar, and he was strong as an oak; and I dried up his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Do you see how he then shows them to be impiously insulting and choosing to despise, and him whom they ought rather to delight with songs of thanksgiving and with obedience in every single thing, they have chosen most foolishly and senselessly to grieve, because of their exceedingly great awkwardness of manners, and to drive to forgetfulness the good things they have suffered? For I, he says, destroyed the Amorite from before them; that is, I brought down the barbarian races, signified perhaps by the one Amorite, as being hard and rather coarse; I prepared to conquer the one who was so overgrown and unbreakable, so as to seem now somehow to be raised to the height of a cedar, and to imitate the strength of the exceedingly sturdy oak. For there was no other but I alone, he says, who withered him, and struck him down to the roots, and almost dried up his fruit. For since he has spoken as if about a tree, the discourse plausibly persists in the figure, and says that the harm came to its root, and that in this way the fruit also was destroyed. For the wood in the forests would not die in any other way, except in this manner. For that they were destroyed, when those from Israel, the Amorites and Hivites, Girgashites and Perizzites and Jebusites, with God clearly fighting alongside, no one would doubt. Bitter therefore it is to despise Christ, who gave us [the power] "to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy," who destroys those who resist, and subdues the stronger; "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And we have conquered all of these in Christ. And if we are to grieve our own Savior and Redeemer by turning aside to laziness, we will be at a loss, I know, for a reason and a pretext able to deliver us from punishment and fire. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you about in the desert for forty years, that you might inherit the land of the Amorites. He clearly explains what He said, and as if the discourse were going backwards, He reveals in brief the things from the beginning to the end. For I delivered them from slavery, He says, and freed them from the greed of the Egyptians; and I nourished them in the desert, sending down the manna to them from above, and in a manner befitting God sending forth springs of water, and from the steep rock bestowing outflows of unexpected streams. And the toil of their journey was not for small things, but so that they might inherit the land of the Amorites, which was promised to their fathers. But they have slipped into such stupidity, as perhaps not even to know my love and philanthropy towards them. It is necessary, therefore, for us who are in Christ through faith to remember, that we too have been freed from slavery, and just as from Egypt we have moved into the desert, that is, into a wide and truly most pure way of life, unmixed with what is worse, I mean, the Evangelical way; we have been enriched with the bread from heaven, the one giving life to the world. For we are strengthened in Christ, and we have had springs of pure waters in the writings of the holy Apostles; for thus also the prophet Isaiah named them, saying, "And draw water with joy from the springs of salvation." And what could the springs of salvation be, rather than surely those who send forth for us the saving and life-giving word, and evangelize the mystery of Christ, and initiate into the mysteries all under heaven. And I took of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for sanctification. Are not these things so, O sons of Israel? says the Lord. And you gave the sanctified ones wine to drink, and you commanded the prophets, saying, You shall not prophesy. It is a great matter for reproach and for condemnation for every evil to be, as it were, charged with ingratitude by God, who distributes to us all things, both those for glory and those sufficient for life. For although there were many nations throughout the world, He made Israel alone the chosen one, and to this glory God then called and raised him, so that some, those who loved a holy and most lawful life, were even adorned with the dignity of prophecy, and the young men among them were taken for sanctification, that is, those more mature in mind and having intellectual strength. For some were sanctified according to the law, those called Nazirites, letting the hair of their head grow for the Lord, abstaining from wine and the things from it—I mean vinegar and grapes and raisins and grapestones—and keeping very far away from dead bodies. And the discourse concerning these things is deep. Nevertheless, God honored them, both as prophets, as I said, and by raising up some of them to be sanctified typologically. But they, rejecting in an unseemly way this so brilliant and admirable glory, gave wine to drink to the sanctified ones, that is, those who had upon themselves a vow of sanctification. For they persuaded them to despise sanctification itself, surely saying that the law of God is absolutely nothing, and that for men to wish to be sanctified and to fulfill the customary rites for this purpose is useless. For even if the law was in shadows, yet it was not entirely deprived of the doctrines of truth; for the form of piety flashes forth in its types. But to rebuke the holy prophets themselves belongs to those who completely shake off the word of God, and who do not endure to be instructed, and who are ignorant that they have been honored, since, being from among them, they were taken up for communion with God. And he further asks in their midst and says, Are not these things so, O sons of Israel, says the Lord? Is it so, he says, that you will determine what is false even of such manifest matters? Will God need witnesses to convict you, who have chosen to slander such evident things? Therefore one must be sanctified, and with a steadfast mind attend to God, not admitting the opinions of the wicked. "For evil communications corrupt good manners," and the words of pleasure-lovers carry one away from sanctification and all reasonableness. Therefore we shall rather adhere to the voices of those who speak for God, to whom the Savior himself also bears witness, saying, "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Therefore, behold, I roll beneath you, in the way that a cart full of stubble rolls. It was the custom for the ancients to transport by carts the things from the fields and whatever fills the threshing floor, and this practice is preserved to this day among those who inhabit the land of the east and of the west. And the wheels roll together with the axles, the wood creaking heavily and gratingly, and the loads placed upon them all but crying out. Therefore I myself, he says, the Master of all, will be as the thing that rolls under the cart, that is, the axle; for it, as I said, rolls the wheels with itself, having them fixed and fitted to it. And I will cry out as if against the impious, no longer being able to bear the grievous burden of their transgressions. "For they have rejected the law of the Lord, and his commandments they have not kept, but their vanities, which their fathers made, have led them astray," and they have forgotten me, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, who destroyed the Amorite from before their face, who took from their sons for prophets and from their young men for consecration. But I have honored them, but they themselves have descended to such an evil counsel, as to "bind their garments with cords, to make curtains next to the altar, and to drink wine from false accusations in the house of their God," and to give "the consecrated ones wine to drink, and to command the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" Therefore, being all but laden with such impieties of yours, like an axle under a cart that is full of stubble and sheaves, I will make the loudest outcry. And what harm will come from this, or what sufferings will again befall them, he makes clear immediately in what follows. However, it is necessary to say this, that it is truly a terrible thing to provoke God, and to finally slip into such wickedness that our sin becomes unbearable to him, even though by nature he is exceedingly gracious, good, and gentle. Therefore, one must by all means refrain from loving to offend him; but if anything should happen and one should suffer a human failing, one must not be seen to delay in repentance, nor indeed allow one's faults to grow, but rather, using a sobriety befitting a saint, to draw them back, and to hasten to transport the ailing mind to what is better. For in this way God will be forbearing, and since he is good, he will bestow his mercy. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength, and the warrior shall not save his life, and the archer shall not stand, and he that is swift of foot shall not be delivered, nor shall the horseman save his life, and he will find his heart in mighty deeds; the naked shall be pursued in that day, says the Lord. Nothing will save, he says, in the days of wrath those who have offended; not swiftness of foot will deliver the swiftest runner from evils; not strength of body the one who is strong; nor military experience the one who knows tactics and has practiced archery excellently and is admired for it; useless to those who use them is both the swiftness of horses, and in addition to this, knowing the cavalry battle. but each of these, he says, will find his own heart in dominions, that is, overpowered by fears and yielding without a fight to those who wish to lay waste the victory. For then there will be cowardice among those of Israel, and such dominion of the Babylonians, that even the unarmed man will be able to pursue, that is, to prevail over those in arms, even if one of the Babylonians is without a breastplate; and the unarmed and unequipped man will be able to pursue those in full armor. Therefore, when God shakes down into weakness those whom he chooses to harm, nothing could help. And this I think is what is said to us in another way through the voice of the psalmist: "He will not delight in the strength of the horse; nor is he pleased with the "legs of a man," and again, "A horse is a vain thing for "safety, neither shall he be saved by his great strength." For such things are completely useless, if God does not contend with them. For he is the Lord of hosts, who gives sinews to the weakened, and enervates those who have grieved him, and with him "one shall chase a thousand, and two in turn shall move "ten thousand," and a great and countless multitude will be consumed by perhaps two or three resisting them, unless God defends.

Book 2

Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O house of Israel, and against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: Only you have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. The word might be understood as having come against all of Israel, no longer taking Judah and Ephraim in part, but with the whole race gathered as if into one; for every tribe of Israel was brought up from Egypt. Therefore, with none being left out, he commands them to hear the things from God. And what were these things? For there are countless, he says, cities and countries throughout the whole world under heaven, and those in them are beyond number, but you from Israel out of all I have made chosen, I made myself manifest through many wonders, I delivered you from bitter and unbearable slavery, I declared you enviable and thrice-blessed, I have instructed you by law for what is pleasing to me, I have fortified you with my assistance, and I have brought you into the land promised to the fathers. But since you alone, he says, out of all who have been deemed worthy of so conspicuous a grace have not ceased grieving and have offended in many ways, for this reason I will henceforth demand of you an account of your folly, I will no longer tolerate those who sin and have an unreproved inclination for this. Therefore, to despise God and to disregard the master's will is a cause of destruction for anyone henceforth who has known him, or has been known by him, in the manner of spiritual kinship. And indeed the most wise Paul writes to those from the nations called through faith, who then suffer from weakness, and are eager to go backward as it were, saying: "But now that you have come to know God, "or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the "weak and poor elements of the world, whose slaves you want to be once "more?" For the Creator knew them even before faith; for he is ignorant of absolutely nothing that exists; but in these things, as I said, knowledge would very well signify spiritual kinship. If Will two walk together at all, unless they know one another? Deep is the riddle and dim the saying; nevertheless, we will speak as we are able. He therefore accused Israel, because "they commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" And for what reason they recklessly rebuked the voices of the saints, it is necessary to say. For since they were announcing the grim things that would come from wrath, and the things through which it was likely for sinners to become better, fearing perhaps the outcome of what was spoken, they practiced resistance and opposed them, those who were accustomed to leading astray the mind of the common folk to what was not fitting, and deceiving those yoked under them. For they rebuked the prophets, but they accepted the deceivers, as though they were going on the straight path. Therefore, through the voice of Isaiah, God says, "My people, those who call you blessed lead you astray and confuse the path of your feet." And Amaziah the priest of Bethel also rebuked Amos the Prophet, saying, "O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and live there and prophesy there, but in Bethel you shall no longer prophesy again." But those who opposed the prophets, out of very great awkwardness and terrible perversity, fabricated a convenient pretext for their resistance, saying this: "The Lord has not sent you." He therefore accuses them, because they claimed that the prophets from Him did not convey words from above and from God; but rather they thought that things were being uttered from their own opinion, and that they were speaking things different from what seemed good to the Lord of all. For this reason He says, O foolish and senseless ones, will any of you become friends and walk the same path of life, not having known yourselves, or rather one another; that is, unless they have seen one another to be of the same character and like-minded? "For every creature loves its like, and a man will cleave to his like." And if this is true, how could I have accepted the prophets, as it were, into friendship and love, being holy Myself, if they too had not become holy? How then do you persecute the saints, to whom I have entrusted My words, whom I have accepted as good, as it were walking the same road of My wills? For whatever I might wish, this is also their will. Therefore, to rebuke the prophets is nothing other than to direct the rebuke against Me. The Savior also said something like this to the holy disciples: "He who receives you receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives Him who sent Me." And he commanded those who were cast out to wipe off the very dust from their feet, saying, "That it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for that city." It is therefore necessary to accept those who are ambassadors for God, and who convey to us what seems good to Him, such as was the divine Paul, writing and saying, "We are therefore ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." Will a lion roar from his forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion give his voice from his den at all, unless he has seized something? Those who study the habits of wild beasts say that the lion, when it is in need of food, roams about powerfully through mountains and glens and forests, turning its eye this way and that, and seeking to catch something of the animals grazing in the woods. But when it sees something suitable for food, then it comes near and makes its attack, roaring terribly and harshly. And if indeed it should carry back to the cubs things for food, then when it should get near the den, they too leap up, and taking it with a roar, they tear it apart. Why then, He says, do you accuse God, because He makes the threat before the attack of terrible things? And why do you gnash your teeth at the prophets themselves, because they too have cried out against your impiety? For I am like a lion, He says, which is accustomed to roar before the hunt, all but threatening the attack beforehand, and the prophets are like cubs, imitating my custom; For, as I said, they have cried out against those who are accustomed to impiety. But just as for the animals in the mountains the hunter's shout beforehand is not entirely unprofitable, scaring them to flight before they happen to be caught, so also for sinners the threat and prediction before the terrible things is exceedingly useful, leading them to repentance and avoidance of what is impending. God, therefore, compares himself to a lion that does not leap upon and bring things from his wrath upon some, unless he first makes known the threat, so that by repenting they might be saved, receiving the prediction of the things that will be as a medicine for salvation before the onset of the terrible things. Will a bird fall to the earth without a fowler? Will a snare be sprung from the earth without catching anything? The discourse is now made by way of comparison. For fowlers most skillfully bring down the sparrows that have settled in the plants, and with snares, on the other hand, some crush what is caught. But the discourse now seems to signify through the sparrows those who are accustomed to think lofty things, the boastful in mind and arrogant in spirit, and not enduring to be brought down with the lowly; and through those caught in snares, the lovers of earthly things, and those who seek only carnal and fattening things. And God again compares himself to a fowler and a snare, bringing the proud down to the earth, and as it were crushing and hunting for punishment those who mind only the things on earth. But those from Israel were boastful, despising God and rejecting prophets and dishonoring the law; and they were no less also exceedingly greedy for the things in the world, and seeking only the things on earth, overcome by whose strange desires they did not accept the word of God, but opposed those who call to virtue. For they said to the holy prophets "But "speak to us and announce to us another delusion." If, then, it is I, he says, who in the manner of a fowler brings down the proud, and as in the function of a snare am accustomed to crush him who like a fox or a mouse is greedy for the things in the world, why do you persecute the saints in vain, when they only convey words to you, while I fulfill the things from wrath cast upon the impious? If a trumpet sounds in a city, will the people not be terrified? Will there be calamity in a city which the Lord has not done? I indeed, he says, bring on the things from wrath, but the prophets are useful mediators for the words alone. For they convey to you whatever I command them through the Spirit. But you perhaps make light of them, and are greatly vexed even at the mere words from them at times. For in what way at all, tell me, are you profited by these things? what fear has entered you? or what change have you made for the better? For if a trumpet should sound in a city, announcing the war coming and stirred up by enemies, who is so insensible as not in every way and altogether to receive the fear of the evils that will be? But my trumpets have not ceased proclaiming beforehand the things to come. But you are profited not at all, and though learning that you will be laid waste by enemies, you utterly despise the terrors for this, so as perhaps even to laugh at the prediction as some vain thing, and moreover to shout that which is customary and familiar to the desperate, "The vision that this man sees is for "many days to come, and he prophesies of times far off." Why then do you consider burdensome those who are as it were trumpeting, if you consider their words as nothing? But perhaps you say that the outcome of these matters grieves you not moderately. Will there then be an affliction in a city, perchance, which the Lord has not done? It is like as if one should say: Will there then be anyone among men able to afflict a city either with diseases or sieges or destructions of crops or even in some other such way? But if no one of men could do such things, and it lies rather in the authority and power of God, why are you angry with those who announce it beforehand? And yet it is necessary to repent, and by inclinations to this to appease him the one who is grieved and has the power to harm those who have sinned. Therefore, in these matters, we shall understand the 'evil' that comes from God in the cities not as wickedness—far from it!— but rather as an affliction, that is, the wrath and movement for whatever reason, which He might bring upon sinners, persuading them to turn back to what is more fitting. For it is written that, "With bit and "bridle you shall restrain the jaws of those who do not draw near "to you." For since He is good, and "wishes all people "to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth," He somehow compels them by means of wrath toward what is better, and sometimes powerfully moves, with terrors and threats, those whom reason and the guidance of what is beneficial do not persuade. Because the Lord God will not do anything, unless He reveals His instruction to His servants the prophets. A lion will roar, and who will not be afraid? The Lord God has spoken, and who will not prophesy? It is not the prophets, he says, who bring on the things that come from wrath; how could they? For they are also human in nature, just like you, but they have been honored by God by learning all the things that He might wish to fulfill, and to bring upon cities and lands either good things, perhaps, or things that are accustomed to cause pain. But perhaps you say to this: Let them learn, if you wish; let them be enriched by you with the knowledge of future events; let all the mysteries be made clear to them; but let them speak to no one, nor let them sound anything in the ears of those who reject them. What then is the reply to this from God? A lion will roar and who will not be afraid? For if, he says, when the lion roars, the most powerful of beasts, there would not be anyone so hard-hearted and arrogant as not to receive fear, how, when God, who is above all, speaks and commands them to announce what they learn, would they not fear the one who has commanded them? For they are not, like you, scornful and unyielding, holding in no account the things that seem good to the Lord of all. Therefore, in every way He secures the saints, and wards off from the prophets the harms from those who willingly do evil. And this was nothing other than to deem them worthy of the fitting care. For to remove the physicians from their midst would be nothing other than to render the sick helpless. Indeed, He proclaims this beforehand through the voice of the blessed David, saying, "Do not touch my "anointed ones, and do no evil to my prophets," and to them, He somewhere says, "And he who touches you will be "as one who touches the pupil of His eye." For he will do no small injury to his own soul who gnashes his teeth at the heads of the saints and unholily attacks them, and does not refrain from bringing on some outrages. Announce to the regions in Assyria and to the regions of Egypt and say: Be gathered together on the mountain of Samaria, and see many wonders in its midst and the oppression that is in it. And she did not know what things shall be against her, says the Lord, they who treasure up injustice and misery in their regions. For this reason, thus says the Lord God: Tyre, and your land round about shall be made desolate, and he shall bring down your strength from you, and your regions shall be plundered. He threatens, then, again to bring upon them what it was likely for those to endure and suffer who had finally arrived at such a point of wickedness, as even to leap away from God, and to rebuke the prophets, and to utterly disregard the things established through Moses. But it must be known that the edition of the Hebrews and the writing of the seventy again differ in these points. For the Hebrews have published: Announce to the regions in Ashdod and to the regions of Egypt; while the seventy have: Announce to the regions in Assyria and to the regions of Egypt. And Ashdod is perhaps a neighbor and bordering on the land of the Jews, but the land of the Assyrians is very distant, that is, of the Persians and Medes, lying as it were at the very borders of the east. We say, therefore, that there is nothing troublesome, even if they should be called Ashdodites, perhaps, or Assyrians; for according to both the word of the divinely inspired scripture will be true, just as indeed the things in the text before us we will show by making it clear. Indeed, the thing being signified has a recollection of history, lying in the fourth of Kings, and in the second of Chronicles; but I will make the narrative very concisely, so that I might not seem to speak at length among those who know. Manasseh reigned at a certain time in Jerusalem, who was the son of Hezekiah, but very different in character and as far as possible from his father's piety. For he became a wicked man and easily turned to anything whatever that was amiss, abominable and an idolater, and not moderately given to the deceptions of demons. This man built altars and precincts for Baal, he worshipped the whole host of heaven, he passed his own children through fire, he assembled augurs, and those whose practice it is to speak falsely, those who think they know something of what is necessary, but in fact do not yet know it, but rather speak the things from their own heart. And there was perhaps utterly no manner of the uttermost depravity unpracticed by his desires. While he was reigning, God said somewhere through the voice of prophets concerning both Jerusalem and all the land of the Jews, "Behold, I am bringing evils upon this people, so that for everyone who hears them, both his ears will tingle." When Manasseh died, his son Amon succeeded to the scepter, lacking in none of his father's depravity; for he honored all that he did. He lived for only two years. Then after him his son Josiah was anointed again as king, a wise and shrewd man, and among the most God-loving. The man of God proclaimed him when he arrived in Bethel, while Jeroboam was standing at the altar and inaugurating the feast for the heifers; for he spoke thus: "O altar, altar, thus says the Lord: Behold, a son is born to the house of David, Josiah is his name, and he will sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon you, and he will burn the bones of men upon you." For when Josiah became king, he pulled down the precincts of the idols, demolished the altars, destroyed the groves, burned the chariot of the sun, slaughtered the priests of the high places in Bethel, set fire to the bones of men upon the altar of the heifers, drove out the soothsayers, I mean false prophets and false seers and ventriloquists, he commanded that the things ordained by the all-wise Moses should be held and be in force in Israel; in his time they sacrificed the lamb, and they celebrated the Passover in Jerusalem. And since he was good and genuine with God, he sent to Huldah the prophetess, seeking to inquire if the Master of all would cease from his anger, if Israel would be in a good state of prosperity, and if the things foretold against it by the voice of prophets would henceforth be inactive. And she said to them, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: Say to the man who sent you to me: Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am bringing evils upon this place and upon those who dwell in it, all the words of the book which the king of Judah read, because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with the works of their hands, and my wrath will be kindled in this place and will not be quenched. And to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of the Lord, you shall say this to him: Thus says the Lord God of Israel: My words which you have heard, because your heart was tender and you were humbled before the face of the Lord, when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, to be for a desolation and for a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, I have indeed heard, says the Lord. Not so; behold, I am adding you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace, and it shall not be seen by your eyes amid all the evils which I am bringing upon this place and upon those who dwell in it." And the promise was fulfilled. For the Master of all postponed his anger for the time of his reign time; and they were thirty-one years. But in the last period, Pharaoh Necho, the leader of the Egyptians, campaigned against the Babylonians, and went forth from his own land with all his army. And since Josiah was suspicious that he had perhaps come to ravage Judea, he armed himself according to the law of war, and wished to go out against him. But he ordered him to withdraw, saying he was hurrying to the Euphrates river, and was being carried off to the land of the Assyrians. But since even after this he needlessly set himself in array against him, he was struck in the war; and having died, he was then carried home and to Jerusalem by his own people, and his son Jehoahaz was anointed as king. But having completed scarcely the third month, Pharaoh Necho removed him from the scepters, and having bound him, held him guarded in Egypt. And for a large sum of money he barely consented for Eliakim, that is, Jehoiakim, who was also a son of Josiah, to reign in Jerusalem. And he so oppressed Israel, I mean those in Samaria, and those in Jerusalem, as to impose tribute on those throughout the whole land, and to seek taxes from all. While matters stood thus, and Jehoiakim was administering the kingdom, Nebuchadnezzar came up. And he so overpowered Jerusalem, as to take Jehoiakim as a slave, and to levy tribute on him, and to ravage the entire city completely. And God did not measure out the calamity for those who had committed impious deeds only up to this point, but added something else both grievous and most burdensome. For from all the surrounding land and country, from the Syrians, I mean, and the Tyrians and Ashdodites, Idumeans and Moabites, bands of robbers, running out from place to place, plundered the land of the Jews. For it is written thus in the Chronicles: "Then "the land began to be taxed to give the silver at the command of "Pharaoh, and the silver and the gold was required of each one "according to his ability by the king of the land, to give it "to Pharaoh Necho. Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when "he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusa- "lem, and the name of his mother was Zebudah, daughter of Neriah "of Ramah, and he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to "all that his fathers had done. In his days "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to the "land, and he was his servant for three years and he rebelled against "him. And the Lord sent against them the Chaldeans, "and bands of Syrians and bands of Moabites and of the sons of "Ammon and of Samaria." Indeed, all these things Israel happened to suffer, having been exceedingly insolent towards the glory of God, and having been unholily corrupted to the point of wishing to worship "the works of his hands," as it is written. Since, then, the history has been sufficiently related by us, come let us, going over the saying cursorily, say what is fitting. Proclaim to the lands in Assyria and to the lands of Egypt and say, Assemble upon the mountain of Samaria and see many wonders in her midst and the oppression that is in her. For he as good as says, Let someone announce with all speed to the Egyptians and Assyrians, and let them run down mightily upon the mountains of Samaria, that is, the country itself; for they say it is mountainous. And when they arrive they will see in it many wonders and an unexpected oppression. For those who once were victorious, he says, will be pitiable and among slaves, those who raised their overweening brow against all, so to speak, of the nations, will lie wretched and cast down and under the feet of enemies, and they will endure such great oppression, as to consider it a desirable thing to be saved, and to live in slavery, and to pay tribute to the conquerors. But Samaria, he says, did not know what will be before it, that is, what will happen against it. Then where, at last, are those who treasure up injustice and misery in their lands? For what did their greed profit, he says, and their heaping up of sins, because they did not wish to know the things of God? Therefore, will the calamity for the impious be confined to the invasion of the Assyrians and Egyptians? Not at all, he says. For this reason, thus says the Lord the God. Tyre and your land round about will be laid waste, and he will break your strength from you, and your lands will be plundered. But the phrase ‘Tyre and round about,’ you will understand in this way. From Tyre, he says, and from the surrounding and neighboring land your country will be laid waste, with bands of robbers overrunning it, as I said. For then they will break your strength, that is, all your power will be shattered, and not only broken but also weakened. Therefore, if the Hebrew version should happen to say 'Proclaim to the regions in Ashdod,' and if the Septuagint in turn has 'in Assyria,' what has been said will be true according to both. For not only the Assyrians plundered, but also Syrians and Ashdodites, running out in multitudes and wronging Israel in the manner of robbery. Thus says the Lord: As when a shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria be snatched away, opposite a tribe and in Damascus. Observe everywhere, and you will greatly admire the sobriety of the prophecy. For since Israel has not utterly perished, but "the remnant" has been saved, according to the voice of Isaiah, so that the Truth-itself might not seem to speak falsely, it always adds to the predictions of evils the mercy that comes from gentleness. Just as, then, he says, when a lion has been sated, and has completely devoured the animal it has seized, a few remains are barely left, perhaps two legs or even part of an ear, and these the shepherds gather, weeping; so will it be for the sons of Israel, those in Samaria and those who dwell in Damascus, those 'opposite a tribe,' that is, those who have hostile thoughts and always oppose the tribe of Judah. For those dwelling in Samaria were captured by force and were sacked by enemies, and when the war had consumed almost all of them, a very few were barely saved, and have remained in the land as remnants of the dead. Or also they were snatched away in another way, as from the mouth of a lion. Having been carried away to the land of the Assyrians, and being released at times from captivity, for not all returned, but very few, remnants of those who had been carried away. But that the Assyrian Tiglath-pileser also took Damascus at times and resettled it in his own land, is clear to everyone, I think; for as is written in the fourth book of Kingdoms, he was once called for help by Uzziah the king of Judah, when Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, and also Rezin, king of Syria, were warring against him at that time. And having arrived, he killed Rezin and took Damascus itself. But if someone should choose to apply the meaning of the foregoing to all men, he will not go wide of the mark. For he will understand very correctly, calling that to mind, that Satan has seized and devoured those on the earth like some savage beast, but "The good shepherd, who laid down his life for the sheep," has appeared and helped, and has snatched us away, both those left among the living and those already dead. For as the blessed psalmist says, "The Lord has broken the molars of the lions," and as Paul says, "He died and lived, that He might be Lord of both the dead and the living." Hear, you priests, and testify to the house of Jacob, says the Lord, the God Almighty, because in the day when I punish the impieties of Israel upon him, I will also punish the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be dug up and shall fall to the earth. I will confound and smite the turreted house upon the summer house, and the ivory houses shall perish, and many other houses shall be added, says the Lord. He returns again to a clear narration of the things that will happen to the impious, often expanding upon the same account for the benefit of the listeners. Whence, I think, understanding that this practice is not unprofitable, the divine Paul also writes to some, "To say the same things to you, is not for me troublesome, but for you it is "safe." He therefore commands those serving as priests to almost raise their own voice and bear witness to Israel, and to clearly foretell to them each of the things that are about to happen. And whom then shall we understand, or rather say, are those commanded to cry out piercingly? Is it the priests of the heifers, or those of the idols in another shrine? But I think this is improbable; for they would not have proclaimed their own evils and those of the others whom they themselves have led astray. Who then, therefore, are the priests commanded to do this? Those of the blood of Levi; for not all had slipped away with those led astray in Samaria, nor did they endure to worship idols, but having leapt away from that of the Samaritans, they returned to Jerusalem. And it is written thus about them in the second book of Chronicles. So the account is about Jeroboam; then explaining the power inherent in him, "And he had," it says, "Judah "and Benjamin. And the Levites and the priests who were in "all Israel gathered to him from all their territories. For the Levites left the dwellings of their "possession and went to Judah, to Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons "had cast them out from ministering to the Lord. And he appointed "for himself priests of the high places and for the idols and for the "vain things and for the calves, which Jeroboam had made; and "he cast them out from the tribes of Israel who had set their heart "to seek the Lord God of Israel, and they came "to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their "fathers. And they strengthened the kingdom of Judah." For since these, about whom the account is, were not moderately grieved, being driven out from their kinship and inheritances and from the ministry itself—for Jeroboam had cast them out—of necessity he commanded them especially to proclaim the destruction of both their idols and of Samaria, as if consoling and teaching them that, having chosen to think the things of God and having loved the Master of all, they will not perish with the others, but will lie outside of the wrath. "For when," he says, "I bring upon those of Israel their sins, then I will also take vengeance upon the altars of Bethel; for their horns will be dug up and will fall to the ground." Is then the destruction of Samaria up to this point, and will it be enough for those commanded to ravage it merely to tear down the shrines and to dig up the altars? By no means; "for I will throw into confusion," he says, "and I will strike the winter house upon the summer house." And what he wishes to signify is something like this. Those in Samaria, living too luxuriously and having the breadth that comes from wealth, constructed for themselves both winter and summer houses. And the winter one he calls 'peripteron,' as if girded on all sides with wings or walls, so that it might be almost unapproachable to the blasts of winter; but the summer one is the one that is open and exposed to the pleasant breezes of the winds. Therefore with the altars, he says, that have been dug up, I will at the same time throw into confusion and strike both winter and summer houses; and ivory houses will also perish. And we remember that Ahab, having reigned in Samaria, constructed such a house for himself. And many others will be added, he says, that is, those of the lower and more insignificant people, or rather, of the poor and the common herd. Therefore, all Samaria has now perished, every house having been shaken down. What then shall we learn from this again, we who have chosen to think rightly? That worldly splendor will not profit those who have it at all, not wealth, not glory, not anything else for luxury, when love for God is absent, and when righteousness is in no way honored by us. "For the treasures of the lawless will not profit," according to what is written, "but righteousness delivers from "death." Therefore it would be far better to love righteousness and to store up treasure in heaven, and to yearn for the mansions above, and to love to be suspended from the hope in God. For the things in this world are both small and temporary, and the profane has no basis for security; but it both always remains and is saved, and accompanies the boundless ages. Hear this word, you heifers of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor and trample on the needy, who say to their lords, Give to us, that we may drink. The Lord swears by his saints, because, behold, days are coming upon you, and they will take you with weapons, and those with you into cauldrons with fiery plagues, and you will be brought forth naked, wife and her husband opposite each other, and you will be cast away to the mountain Remman, says the Lord God. Out of excessive arrogance and luxury, the most prominent men of Samaria, surpassing all others in the abundance of their wealth, as I just said, were building for themselves houses that were brilliant and most costly, and suited to the seasons, I mean for winter and for summer, and the oracle proclaimed that they would be utterly and completely destroyed. Therefore, these very masters of the houses, who had practiced being fattened by fleeting luxuries, he calls heifers of Bashan. The country of Bashan is good for grazing and verdant, and exceedingly well-suited for abundantly fattening the animals that graze in it. Therefore, as they were living in extreme comfort and were very well-fed, and making luxury their study, God compares them to the heifers from Bashan; and He accuses them, because they oppressed the poor, and almost crushed the needy with their own feet; "For the poor are the pastures of the rich," according to what is written. And by adding that they say to their lords, Give to us, that we may drink, He showed that they were insubordinate, not even tolerating to yield to those who ruled them, as far as royal honor was concerned, but as it were, out of boundless arrogance, they assigned the measure of a servant even to their own lords. For to dare to say to their superiors and those set over them, Give to us, that we may drink, belongs to those who desire to be served rather than to serve. What then will happen to those who have come to such a point of desperation? The Lord, he says, swears by His saints, that is, by His holy things, or mysteries, which again is Himself; for He has no one greater by whom to swear; that there will come seasons and days, when the fear of suffering will cause even you, who are so luxurious and well-fed and accustomed to extravagance, to be in the toils of war and in arms. But even while you are in this state and equipped, they will take you, he says, together with your dearest friends and wives and flatterers, who, being always with you, applauded with very many praises, and called you thrice-blessed; for these things the tribes of flatterers always shout to those who feed them. But they will be burned up; for they were plagues and approved of nothing else, and admired the shameful and the lovers of sin. But you, stripped of glory, and furthest from all luxury, and as if unclothed of that former prosperity, will henceforth be carried away as slaves and captives, and will be cast, he says, upon the mountain Remman. This is in Armenia, lying at the furthest outlets of the land of the Persians; for the countries are adjacent and bordering on one another. It is therefore possible to see from this how the pursuit of luxury turns to a bitter end for those who live luxuriously, as the Savior says, "Blessed are those who mourn now, for they shall be comforted." For, as I said, luxury ends in a tear, but the end of toils is rest. And someone will testify, saying that "the fruit of good labors is glorious." It is not implausible to suppose that the heifers of Bashan are the women in Samaria, who, indulging in luxury and delicacies and in ornaments for beautification, and being fattened in the prime of their bodies, were oppressing the poor and trampling on the needy, almost setting on fire for unnatural pleasures those who were weak in this and had a spiritual poverty, who, not having the wealth of strength from above, by the passions by assaults they have a heart easily broken. These heifers, therefore, say to their lords, "Give to us that we may drink." For the affairs of harlotrous women are always puffed up, and with excessive laziness they almost weary those who have been captivated; even if they have them as masters, yet seeing them laid low by sensual pleasures, they persuade them to fulfill what seems best to them. But you, he says, O heifers, they will take in arms; that is, not being in the rank of lovers, who persuade by flattering and serve by speaking sweet words, because they are utterly overcome by pleasure in you, but cruelly and fiercely and by the law of war, and they will burn with fire the wanton lovers with you. And you, stripped of those unseemly adornments, will be carried off to the mountain of Remman. You have entered into Bethel and have committed iniquity, and in Gilgal you have multiplied impiety. He immediately sets the transgressions alongside the judgments, and usefully makes the clear demonstration of the unholy deeds a neighbor to the narrations of the terrible things, so that no one might mock, nor indeed blame God, as having imposed a harsher punishment than is necessary on those of Israel. For these things, he says, will come upon you, and these things. And in response to the question of why they will come, he proclaims: you entered into Bethel and committed iniquity, where the god-hated Jeroboam set up the golden calf; there you will be captured, transgressing terribly and outrageously. For I have legislated through the all-wise Moses, "You shall not make for "yourself gods of gold and gods of silver," and "You shall worship the Lord "your God, and him only shall you serve." But you, he says, mocking my law, have worshipped the works of your own hands, and seeing a golden calf and lifeless matter, you persisted, while the one who devised the error said, "These are your gods, O Israel, "who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." And you have wrought the greatest impiety in Gilgal; this is a city beyond the streams of the Jordan, terribly inclined toward apostasy. And indeed the God of all said concerning it, "All their evils are in Gilgal, for there I "hated them because of the evil of their practices." Therefore, as the writer of Proverbs says, "The ways of a man are before the "eyes of God, and he looks upon all his paths." And He accepts those who have practiced walking uprightly, but he rejects the one who steps outside the straight path, and who is eager to go where he ought not. And you brought your sacrifices in the morning, your tithes on the third day; and they read the law outside, and they called for confessions; declare then that the sons of Israel loved these things, says the Lord God. Truly dreadful and having reached the utmost limit of impiety is it to dare to counterfeit the glory of God, and what is fitting for him and him alone, to attach these things to the honors of idols. For those accustomed to do this, as far as it is in their power, shake the divine and supreme nature from the thrones most fitting for it and it alone, and they send it forth from the sacred seats, and establish in them, as it were, the unclean demons. We shall find, therefore, the frenzied Israel entangled in such frightful accusations. For the God of all ordained through Moses in one place that it was fitting for them to sacrifice two lambs every day in the holy tabernacle, one in the morning, and the other in the evening, as a quasi-continual and uninterrupted sweet odor, signifying clearly the spiritual one of the Church as in riddles and types; and again He further ordained, "Three times a year every male of "yours shall appear before me." And at these three appointed times according to the law, they brought tithes, firstfruits of the fields, sacrifices, thanksgiving offerings. For it is written that "You shall not appear before me empty." But they, transferring what was so rightly ordained through the all-wise Moses to the glory of idols, offered in their precincts to the in the morning the sacrifices, and they brought their tithes also for the three-day festival. By the three-day festival he means the three days of the year, on which, as I said, every male had to come before God. And the impiety of those of Israel did not stop at these things, but indeed they also read an outside law, that is, they honored the law of foreigners, holding the law from God to be of very little account. For they offered their sacrifices in the precincts of idols at appointed times and kept a very great observance of their customary feasts. That is, he says this, that the things established for my glory, they have offered to outsiders, and they dedicated my law to idols, offering to them the morning sacrifices, and dedicating the tithes to them in the three-day festivals. and they have proclaimed voluntary offerings. And the 'they have proclaimed' means that they prayed, that is, they made vows; and 'voluntary offerings' are the voluntary things according to the law, and whatever one might bring to God willingly. Then to the priests he cries out the 'report and testify,' because these things the sons of Israel have loved, that is, not only have they dared to do them once, but they also loved them, having obviously hated the things of God. For they ought to be single-minded. For to be lame, and to hasten to go on both sides, would receive much outcry from God, and the Savior Himself will testify, saying, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other." But it is a very difficult thing to divert elsewhere the things that are for the glory of God, and to deem others worthy of the honor that befits Him. For the things of God are His own and special, and would not befit any other, but Him and Him alone. And I will give you numbness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, and you did not return to me, says the Lord. And I withheld the rain from you three months before the harvest; and I will rain on one city, and on another city I will not rain; one portion will be rained upon, and the portion on which I will not rain, will be withered. And two and three cities will be gathered into one city to drink water and they will not be filled, and not even so did you return to me, says the Lord. The discourse again providentially meets those who are accustomed to find fault, and to babble most imprudently against the serenity that is in God out of an excessive madness. For on what account indeed, some might perhaps say, does He inflict upon those of Israel a punishment so untamable and completely unbearable, although God is by nature good? He makes a defense, therefore, in a way, through these things and shows that they are in need of a harsh wrath; and at the same time he shows that at first He strikes sinners more gently, not demanding punishments, but out of innate love for humanity turning them to Himself, and as it were "with whip and toil" changing them to choose to do what is better. For since they had become as I said, and had committed impieties no longer tolerable, he disciplined them with numbness of teeth, and indeed with lack of bread, that is, famine. And you did not return to me, says the Lord. I withheld the rain from you three months before the harvest, that is, as the Hebrews have more suitably rendered it: three months before the reaping, when the need for watering the crops is most great and necessary for bringing them to fruition. And he says there was such a scarcity of water that by the judgment and decree of God who knows all things, one city was rained on, while another was parched; and again, two and three would be gathered into one, and still be thirsty. And you did not return to me, says the Lord. And it has happened that those of Israel suffered such things both historically and spiritually. For as the disciple of the Savior said, "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain on the land, and it did not rain for three years and six months." And there was so harsh a famine in Samaria, that a donkey's head was sold for many denarii. But also in the times of the prophecy of Jeremiah, the God of all withheld the rain. And so he has made the pronouncements concerning the drought: "Judah has mourned, and her "gates have been emptied, and they were darkened upon the earth, "and the cry of Jerusalem went up, and their great men "sent their younger ones for water; they came "to the wells, and found no water, they returned "their vessels empty. and the works of the earth failed, because "there was no rain. The farmers were ashamed, they covered their "heads. And does in the field gave birth and abandoned "[their young], because there was no pasture. Wild asses stood in the valleys, "they drew in the wind, their eyes failed, because there was "no grass, because of the iniquity of the people." Since, then, those of Israel had acted impiously in no small measure, God held back the rain and gave numbness of teeth and lack of bread in all his cities. But, as I just said, we will find that they suffered this also in a spiritual sense; for food and drink for bodies from the earth are the things from the earth, and perceptible water; but the soul of man is nourished by divine and heavenly words. And its stream is the spiritual one, and the divinely-inspired scripture is a spring that waters it spiritually, speaking the mystery of Christ. But just as if teeth should suffer numbness, they would be somewhat weaker for being able to chew anything, and to grind down food; so also the human mind, having slipped into weakness, and having suffered the sickness of sluggishness, would not be able to attain spiritual knowledge, nor to take in for digestion anything of even the exceedingly subtle contemplations. Therefore the heart of Israel was hardened; for it in no way understood the mystery of Christ; for this reason they also have had a lack of spiritual bread and a scarcity of water, since they do not have the nourishing Word who came down from heaven and gives life to the world, the one who waters souls with the grace of the Spirit, the living spring, the Son from God the Father, the exhortation through the law and the prophets. For as the prophet Isaiah says, "He commanded the clouds not to rain rain upon it." I struck you with blight and with mildew; your many gardens, your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-groves the caterpillar devoured, and even so you did not return to me, says the Lord. I sent death among you in the way of Egypt, and I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses, and I brought up your camps in fire in my wrath, and even so you did not return to me, says the Lord. For those who are callous about the things that happen from wrath, and are very much supine, and thus fall back further into indifference, so that they do not deign even to consider the need to repent, no manner of being struck would be sufficient, but rather more, and worse than one another, and having an increase towards grieving them yet more greatly. Therefore, since for those of Israel being disciplined by a lack of bread and drink was perhaps in some way a small thing for correction, there was brought upon them to suffer also things yet more burdensome than this, the weakness of their bodies, which happens as in fever and mildew. We will find this said again through the voice of Jeremiah. For he said that "Thus says the Lord: "Behold I am bringing weakness upon this people, and "fathers and sons together will be weak in it, neighbor and "his kinsman will perish." And since they were overcome by shameful gains, and were looking very much indeed towards avarice, for this reason multiplying their gardens and vineyards, fig-groves and olive-groves, God touched these things also, through which it was likely that, being not moderately grieved, they would return to a sound mind, and choose what is profitable instead of what is worse, heaping up for them so that, being struck from all sides, they might be saved. And when this too was a small thing, the greater was also brought upon them. For when, he says, dishonoring my hand, and all but defining as weakness the power of God who is all-mighty, you have made your way toward the Egyptians, having chosen "the flesh of horses" over the providence from me, and "an Egyptian, a man" having preferred it, then indeed, then, he says, your most warlike race was consumed by the sword of the Babylonians. and all your cavalry was taken captive, as God weakened even those who knew how to succeed, and who were not unpracticed in conquering in battles. You will also understand in another way, I have sent death among you in the way of Egypt. When Josiah was reigning over Judah, Pharaoh Necho, the ruler of the Egyptians, campaigned against Babylon. And as it was necessary for him to pass through the land of the Jews, Josiah, thinking that the way to Babylon was a pretext, and that the Egyptian was armed against him, irrationally led his forces out against him. There Israel fell. Therefore, he says, I sent death among you in the way of Egypt, that is, as in the passing by of the Egyptians, then I also brought up your camps in fire, instead of, I tore up from the foundations your walled and well-towered cities. And he said this also in the beginning, "And Ephraim went to the Assyrians, and Judah multiplied walled cities; and I will send fire upon his cities, and it will devour their foundations." Therefore, he says, I shook down your most fortified camps from their very foundations, and not even so did you return to me, says the Lord. I overthrew you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you became like a firebrand plucked from the fire, and not even so did you return to me, says the Lord. Seeing no correction in you, he says, I have added to the tortures things still more harsh than these, and have made my indignation against you more fervent. For I overthrew you as Sodom and Gomorrah, and you did not return. And he seems to indicate to us in these things the final destruction, the one that happened in the times of Jeremiah by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, who took all Judea, and burned Jerusalem itself, and its neighboring cities and villages, and tearing down the divine temple itself, having as spear-won captives those who were left from the war, he returned home again, glorious and victorious, together with those who had been captured, who with difficulty returned to Judea, after the number of seventy years had been fulfilled for them. For Cyrus, as I said, having taken Babylon, released from captivity those who remained and were saved from Israel. For this reason, he says, you became like a firebrand plucked from the fire, like a half-burnt piece of wood, and still saved in a few remains. Therefore, when God disciplines, to be supine is bitter, and it will be the cause of even more grievous evils for those who shake off their perception, from the necessity of ceaselessly going on to choose to do and to think what is not lawful. For in the same way that those who cut short the diseases of bodies, and who have practiced the experience of being able to heal, purify the more insensitive parts of wounds with hot and pungent medicines, and by thinning the thickness of the impurity within them, persuade them to yield to the remedies of their art, so also God, who knows all things, burdens with even harsher plagues those who are unfeeling about small things, the assault of which, if anyone is wise and quick-witted, he would reasonably beg off before experiencing it. Therefore, thus will I do to you, Israel. For since, he says, having done this, and having added that, and having brought upon you, so to speak, every kind of torture and suffering, I have both seen and learned from experience itself that you are unfeeling, for this very reason I will also do thus to you. But how thus? For I was not content with the first things; but I also brought upon you the overthrow like that of Sodom. For, as I said, this sort of plague was brought upon them last through the divine wrath. But because I will do thus to you, prepare to call upon your God, Israel. But if you should wish, he says, to learn the reason why I will do thus to you, you will surely find out, as he, so to speak, cries out and says to you who are being struck, "Prepare to call upon your God, Israel." He says "prepare" instead of "Be zealous, be unwearying and eager to call upon the not al- alien and falsely named, but your God, O Israel, that is, whom you have known through experience itself, that he is God by nature and in truth, and not invented by the skill of some, just as, for instance, things made from wood or stone. For behold, I am he who makes the thunder firm and creates the spirit and declares to men his Christ, who makes the morning and the mist, and walks upon the high places of the earth, the Lord God Almighty is his name. By contrast with the preeminent one, what is held in lower esteem is easily exposed. So that, then, the inactivity of idols might be revealed at least to those who thought out of excessive foolishness that they were gods and fitting to be worshipped, the God of all usefully makes himself manifest to us, introducing a maker and creator of all things, and having authority over our affairs, and, as it were, a pilot of human affairs, being beyond all height and every preeminence, and a kind of steward of the whole creation. For the nature of God is to be beyond all things, and not by local heights but by the eminences of glory, and by incomparable power, surpassing the measure of every created thing. Call upon your God, therefore, he says, O Israel, recognizing his authority, the all-powerful nature of his preeminence. For it is I, and no other, who makes the thunder firm, that is, also covering the sky with cloudiness, and sending down rain, and creating the spirit, that is again, the maker of winds. and declaring to men his Christ. similar to as if he were to say "By me kings reign, and rulers by me rule the earth." for by 'christ' in this context, he does not mean Emmanuel, but rather he means the one anointed as king; and 'spirit' similarly, not the divine and holy one; even if some of those who have practiced perverting what is right should rage; but this one, which is in the air and in the world, about which the Savior himself also says "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound; but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit." I therefore, he says, who gathers the clouds and makes the thunder firm, and "who brings forth the winds from their storehouses," who makes manifest whomever I wish to be exalted on the thrones of the kingdom. Therefore, King of kings and Lord of lords, the God by nature, he himself is the one who makes the morning, that is, day or light, he himself is the one who makes the mist, that is, darkness or night; he himself is the one who walks upon the high places of the earth, being better than and superior to everything exalted and high, bearing a name that is fitting and very much like his own glory, "Lord Almighty." See, then, how much gentleness and love for humanity the God of all shows towards us. For having suspended the threat, and having foretold some things as though they had already happened, and others as though they would be, he calls to full knowledge, and initiates the one who has turned aside, and brings back to understanding the one who has slipped from ignorance; and to those who do not know the Master by nature and in truth, from the fact that he is able to accomplish all things and to rule over all things, he makes himself manifest. and this was of one chastening "with hardship and scourge," and almost even unwillingly instructing them towards conversion, and usefully bringing on the means by which it was likely they could learn to think better things. Hear this word of the Lord, which I take up over you as a lament. The house of Israel has fallen, it shall no longer rise again. The virgin of Israel has stumbled upon her land, there is no one to raise her up. The blessed prophets, learning beforehand the evils that would befall certain people, and then being filled with dread from this and grieving exceedingly as for brothers, at times make their rebukes more intense, almost biting out of love, and rousing to sobriety by foretelling the things that are just about to happen. The Prophet accomplishes something of this sort now as well, speaking as from his own person, yet not things from his own mind, but as from divine oracles. For this reason he says, Hear this word of the Lord which I I take up a lamentation for you. For the God of all has spoken in me, he says, and a lamentation has been composed by me for you who depart from him. And what then is the mournful song? What is the lament? And for what reason would my tear fall? Terrible and unadmonished is the calamity. The house of Israel has fallen. For it stood firm while God was honored and loved, but now it has fallen down, provoked by the follies of those who have gone astray. Then who will raise up the one who falls by the divine decrees? The virgin has stumbled, instead of has committed fornication. And who is this? Surely again Israel, that is, the Synagogue of the Jews, to which it was said by God, "Did you not call me as a house and father and the guide of your virginity?" Therefore she who had God as the guide of her virginity has stumbled upon her own land, that is, she has committed fornication and has her sin without excuse. For she once committed fornication in Egypt; but she was in a land not her own, and was subject to the laws of the rulers, and perhaps was even unwillingly forced into their customs, being driven out of necessity, as it were, from her ancestral piety; but now she is wanton with no one pushing her down; for she is on her own land, where the law is the tutor, bringing her to the knowledge of the God who is by nature and truly is, and the path to all that is best is unrestrained and free and entirely without rebuke. What way of defense, then, could be provided for her? For she has committed fornication, not having been forced; from where? But willingly, then. For this reason she is broken; there is no one to raise her up. Let it therefore be said very well, and by us ourselves, to the all-powerful God, "You are terrible, and who will stand against you from your wrath?" And in another way the multitude of the Jews has fallen, being forced toward destruction through their drunken violence against Christ, and it lies now with no one to defend it, but waiting again for the grace of the one who has pity, I mean Christ. For she too will be called to knowledge through faith in the last times of the age. For thus says the Lord: The city from which a thousand went forth, a hundred shall be left; and from which a hundred went forth, ten shall be left to the house of Israel. In these words he makes very clear in what manner it will fall. For the cities, he says, will be left destitute of men, as war consumes those in them, and misery transports them to this state, so that scarcely a tenth part will remain to them. For since they, being provoked, offered their tithes on the third day to the unclean demons, they themselves will scarcely be left as a tenth part, with God, as it were, weighing the transgression, and bringing upon their impieties a balanced justice. It is a fearful thing, then, to be disciplined in wrath; for this reason the prophet also besought God, saying, "Discipline us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in wrath, lest you make us few." For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: Seek me and you shall live; and do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal, and do not go up to the well of the oath, because Gilgal shall surely be taken captive, and Bethel shall be as if it did not exist. seek the Lord and live, lest the house of Joseph blaze up like fire and devour it, and there be no one to quench it for the house of Israel. He does not again allow those who have sinned to slide into despair, although they are entangled in terrible and unbearable transgressions; but he puts forward the things from God, drawing them like a net to repentance; and he has now of necessity brought him in, promising to forgive them their charges, and to release them from punishment and the fears related to it. For the Creator is good by nature, "Long-suffering and of great mercy, and repenting of evils," as it is written, and as he himself says through the voice of Ezekiel, "He does not desire the death of the one who dies, as that he should turn from his wicked way and live." If, therefore, you consider it of great importance to live, and the matter seems to you worthy of acceptance, cease from the deceit, and from such Leaping away from long ignorance, seek me, He says, that is, serve me who am God by nature, the life-giver, the one mighty to save, and the one who places those who revere him outside of all evil. But it is necessary, he says, to wash yourselves beforehand, thrusting out from your own soul the filth of apostasy, and to melt away very well the stain from having been deceived, and thus finally to cleave to the all-good God. And what indeed they who had chosen to repent ought to do, he clarified, saying: Do not seek Bethel and do not enter into Gilgal, and do not go up to the well of the oath. And by the well of the oath he means Gerar; this is a city of the Philistines, that is, of the Palestinians. For since both the divine Abraham and Abimelech swore to each other, and made treaties of peace at the well, the city was afterward renamed to the well of the oath. Therefore, Gilgal and Bethel and indeed Gerar were cities very much turned toward impiety, and setting before the deceived a multifaceted error. He commanded them to depart from these places of necessity, interweaving a threat with his word, so that from all sides he might drive them toward what is profitable. For Bethel and the rest, he says, will be gone. And one will go as a captive to its enemies, and another will be so burned down, as to seem in a way to have never existed. Therefore, let God be sought, that you may live, he says, before the house of Joseph blazes up and it consumes him, and there will be no one to quench it. So by "blazes up" he means "to be set on fire," and by "house of Joseph" he names Ephraim, that is, those in Samaria; for from Joseph came both Ephraim and Manasseh. Therefore, just as when he calls them Israel, we understand that those from him are called by their father's name, so also if he happens to say Joseph, you will understand it in the same way. Repentance, therefore, is a good thing, scaring away punishments, and checking things that come from wrath, placing those who practice it outside of the master's movements, and freeing us from every misfortune. The Lord who makes judgment in the height, and has set righteousness on the earth; who makes and remakes all things, and turns shadow into morning, and darkens day into night, who calls for the water of the sea and pours it out upon the face of the earth, the Lord God the Almighty is his name. Who brings destruction upon strength and leads misery against a fortress. The discourse is initiatory, and especially fitting for those who are called to the knowledge of God, and are eager to go to the light of truth. For it is the Prophet's purpose to teach the erring, first, that power over all things is attached to God, and the universe is steered by his commands, and by a law of righteousness the all-blessed multitude of angels has been subjected; and that in every way and altogether it is consequent and necessary for those who are on the earth to be yoked to the laws of his righteousness. For if the better part among these both serves God, and the holy multitude of spirits on high is subject with fear, how or from where could that which is so inferior by nature and glory have impunity, having inclined to willfulness, that is, man, who is from the earth and to the earth? Therefore, he says, the Lord of all is he who makes judgment in the height. Which is similar to saying: He who implants the way of righteousness that is fitting for them in the spirits on high and above; for by judgment he means righteousness. He himself has also set righteousness on the earth, that is, he has also established laws for those on earth, according to which it would be fitting for them to live, if being and living well, and partaking of his gentleness and love for mankind, are held in account by them. And that He is almighty and all-powerful as God, and that absolutely nothing is impossible for Him, and that the very nature of the elements yields, and existing things are changed according to His will, he demonstrates, taking as an example the turning of shadow into morning, and again the darkening of day into night; and in addition to these, that also from salt water, by an ineffable power calling it to the height and above, he sends it down sweet to those on the earth, by the commands of the one who rules moving into that which is contrary to nature. He says that the shadow turns aside into the morning, that is, the night, or rather the darkness, changes into day. For as the blessed Moses writes, "There was darkness" in the beginning "over the abyss," that is, the shadow; but "God said," he says, "and there was light," thus into the morning, that is, into day, we say the shadow, that is, the darkness, was changed. But when day had come, night took over again; this is to darken the day into night. The Prophet therefore helps those who have gone astray, pointing out not lifeless matter, but the God who is by nature and truly is, nor indeed equal to the golden heifers, that is, according to some, gods devised by human art, but also king and lawgiver of the spirits above, and of those on earth likewise, and master of the elements, and bending the nature of existing things to His will. For in this way, he says, and very rightly, the name fitting for Him is the Lord God the Almighty. And since these things are so by nature and in truth, He brings destruction upon strength, and brings hardship upon a fortress; He seizes, he says, the arrogant, and upon those who shake off His yoke He apportions destruction. But even if someone should happen to think himself strong and great out of insolence, upon him too He brings hardship. This was to suggest skillfully that if they should choose to be idle, and to persist still in the charges of arrogance, and to think great things of themselves, they will fall into extreme hardship, being righteously shattered at last by the hand of the one who rules all things. "For the Lord," he says, "opposes the proud," according to what is written, and He considers the boastful and disobedient and intractable man an enemy; yet He looks "upon the humble and the quiet and the one who trembles at His words." And the thing is good, and truly worthy of emulation by those who have chosen to live best. They hated him who reproves in the gates, and they abhorred a holy word. The discourse again holds to its proper sequence. For since the divine Prophet named God almighty and all-powerful, and added that "He brings destruction upon strength, and brings hardship upon a fortress," for this reason now also, necessarily, lest anyone think He brings His wrath excessively upon those who err in small things, he enumerates the charges, and brings forward the reasons for which He apportions destruction and hardship to some. For they have hated, he says, those who would correct them, they have made nothing of those who reprove and are accustomed to set them right toward what is pleasing to God, they have considered every holy word abominable, that is, the word that calls and urges toward holiness and sanctification. But you will understand "in the gates" as clearly and openly and with boldness. And he seems now to be mindful of their madness and aversion toward the prophets and the law. For the prophets would reprove, approaching without concealment. And the law was a holy word, because it is a guide of God and of righteousness, and a tutor unto piety, and indicative of the God who is by nature and in truth. For this reason also the blessed Paul said the commandment through Moses is "holy and just and good." Therefore, it is the most shameful of sicknesses, and a kind of root and genesis of the passions in the soul, to shake off counsels, and to hate reproofs, and to seem not even to know the divine law. For he who has arrived at this point of wickedness will surely be like a ship destitute of rudders and not having a pilot, which is carried about by every wind, and rushes simply without consideration toward what pushes it, almost as if drunk, and appearing at last as a plaything of the waves. But our wise David blesses that just man, saying, "The law of his God is in his heart, and his steps shall not be tripped up;" for the law sets one right toward what is pleasing to God. Therefore, because you struck the heads of the poor, and you received choice gifts from them, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them, and vineyards you have planted desirable ones and you will not drink their wine. It is true, that in every way and altogether, to abstain from good things has its origin in worthlessness, and turning away from what is useful and by nature beneficial makes us stumble, as by necessity, into things that are not so. For just as when light has been driven away, darkness immediately follows in its tracks and on its heels, so the departure of virtue has the incursion of worthlessness following it. Therefore, since they have hated "the one who reproves in the gates, and ab- "horred also a holy word," they have slid down into multifaceted sin, and they have turned to greed, and practicing the oppression that is most hated by God, they struck "the humble with their fists," and punched the heads of the poor, those who were surely powerful and surpassed others in glory and in wealth; and they plundered in the name of a gift, receiving from the unwilling the more valuable of their possessions. However, he usefully shows that for those accustomed to do such things, greed is unprofitable, and being overcome by shameful gains ends in sorrow, and its end brings punishment. For if they will neither enjoy the houses built with such zeal and ambition, and they labor in vain on the things in their fields, and the enjoyment of the beloved things for which their greed arose and the passion for money entered in is gone to an unexpected outcome, how will the way of having to be greedy not appear to some to be vain and profitless? It is wise, therefore, to consider that, as the writer of Proverbs says, "Better is a little getting "with righteousness than many fruits with unrighteousness." And Paul also calls greed idolatry, and very fittingly; for the matter is then godlessness, and those who trample on the law of love for the brethren, which is also the fulfillment of the law, are placed on an equal footing with those who have not known God by nature. And he who does not know the law denies the Law- giver. And Christ himself also made us more prudent and stronger than the unjust love of money, saying, "For what "will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, "but loses his own soul? Or what will a man give "in exchange for his soul?" "For treasures will not "profit the lawless, according to what is written; but righteousness "will deliver from death." For I have known your many impieties, and your sins are strong, trampling down the just, taking bribes, and turning aside the poor in the gates. Therefore the prudent will keep silent in that time, for it is an evil time. That God does not punish those who have offended for small things, nor indeed for common transgressions, but rather, having been patient with moderate faults, he then brings his wrath upon their unbridled inclinations toward worthlessness, he tries to teach. For he says that those in Samaria will fall away from their houses, and indeed also from their vineyards, and, I think, from everything that knows how to glad- den and contributes to prosperity. Therefore, since the sins committed by them have become terrible and great and no longer bearable; for they oppressed the just, or any man perhaps, that is, looking to unholiness, they deigned to care little for right and just judgment. And this is, in a way, to oppress and unguardedly to be greedy for what seems right to the law. For they also received bribes, that is, repayments and re- wards for unjust judgments; and in addition to this, they turned aside the poor in the gates. And what is this? For either he says that, that they made to be shunned those who persuade others to think moderately, and who advise about this with bold- ness; or that they dared to pervert the judgments of the poor, not secretly; from where? not even as if concealing the impiety, but as it were in the gates, that is, openly and in the sight of many, no longer blushing at all, nor indeed having any reverence for the divine law. And to this point they have now brought down the time to worthlessness and wickedness, so that even to the wise, and to those able to understand, it seemed better of the economy of things, to neither rebuke any longer, nor indeed to correct those who have chosen to be impious, on account of the fact that those being rebuked are henceforth like those who have no ears, and leap like dogs upon those willing to help them, and consider as enemies those who propose the best things. For they would censure the holy prophets, and sometimes prepared to make them suffer things when they came into their midst, and the words conveyed to them from above. And indeed, Zedekiah at one time bound the prophet Jeremiah when he announced the things from God, and at another time cast him into a pit, and wished to suffocate him in the mire within it. Therefore it is necessary to repent while the stumbles are still small, and not to provoke God, as it were, even unwillingly, by the introduction of greater ones. For if sins become strong and very many, then indeed He will surely repay, and will bring on the flames of indignation. And we say that sins are strong which are terrible and unbearable; because "not every sin is unto death," according to the most wise voice of John; although none has the strength to overcome the loving-kindness of God, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Book 3

Seek good and not evil, that you may live, and so it will be the Lord God the Almighty with you; in the manner that you said, We have hated evil and loved good, and establish judgment in the gates, so that the Lord God the Almighty may have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. I have already said many times that there was not one captivity, but different ones at different times, and in parts. For Pul the Assyrian first came to Samaria, and having laid waste the two tribes beyond the Jordan and the cities there, departed; and after him, Shalmaneser did not take all of Samaria, but took some part of it back to his own land with the captives. And God did this providentially, disciplining the wayward Israel "with toil and scourge," and moving them to the necessity of thinking and doing better and more seemly things. It happened, therefore, that those who were able to escape from the wars we have just mentioned, now somehow fighting against their own knowledge, repented of the things in which they had been deceived, and knew and confessed that many and intolerable things from the divine wrath had consequently been brought upon them for their sins, and then they, as it were, promised God the correction of their own habits, saying, We have hated evil and loved good. Therefore, in the manner you have spoken, he says, seek good and not evil, so that you may gain well-being by living and being saved, and the Lord God, who has authority over all, may be with you. And establish judgment in the gates, that is, become upright judges; not recording an unjust vote against the weaker; not misrepresenting the power of the just; nor indeed striking the heads of the poor; nor turning aside the way of the humble, so that God may henceforth have mercy on those left from Joseph from the captivities that have already occurred. And again it signifies Ephraim, that is, the ten tribes. For as I have already said before, since Ephraim came from Joseph, for this reason he is also signified by his father's name. Therefore, it is necessary to think rightly, and to correct our own minds, so that we must think the things pleasing to God, and achieve virtue, and cling to the ways of justice, and be wise guardians of uprightness; for thus we will have the God of all with us and defending us. Therefore thus says the Lord God the Almighty: In all the broad places there will be wailing, and in all the streets it will be said, Woe, woe! the farmer will be called to mourning and wailing, and to those who know lamentation; and in all the ways there will be wailing, because I will pass through the midst of you, said the Lord. Having tasted, he says, the evils of war, and having been not moderately grieved by what had already happened, you promised to hate what is evil and to love what is good; but having been freed from those terrors for only a short and difficult time, you inclined toward indolence, and you appeared no less attached to your former evils. Therefore, for this reason, the cities will be full of lamentation and wailing, and dirges and tears everywhere, and there will be a search for those who know how to mourn. And since the city dwellers are not sufficient for this, the farmer will also be taken, so that he might sing a rustic song for you, and in local rhythms mourn the misfortunes of the fallen. For I will pass through the midst of you, he says, now somehow observing your sins, and no longer standing far off from those who have committed intolerable impieties. For as long as God does not yet discipline, he seems somehow not even to be present; but when he brings on things from his wrath, he is, so to speak, present and inflicts punishments. Thus also angels visited Sodom to burn the impious, as though they had been absent when not punishing. Therefore, "I will pass through the midst of you" signifies the visitation, and that the time for being punished is at hand. Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have this day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light. As if a man should flee from a lion, and a bear should meet him; or go into his house and lean his hand against the wall, and a serpent bite him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Even deep darkness with no brightness in it? When the holy prophets foretold to them the things that would be, and that they would fall into bitter and incurable misfortunes, they turned recklessly to the works of error, laughing and being arrogant, at one time saying that the prophecies would run on into postponements and long periods of time; at another time, being completely desperate, they dared to say, according to the voice of Jeremiah, "Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come." For they thought that the prophets were speaking falsely and filling them with empty terrors; or, if indeed some war should come against them, they would be stronger than their hand, setting up against them a hard and irresistible defense and zeal. For it is true that, "When a wicked man comes into a depth of evils, he becomes contemptuous," according to what is written. But those of such a disposition, like those with desperate wounds, have all but cried out that they need fire and cutting, and are in desire of such things. For in a way they thirst for the need to be punished, even if they no longer use such a voice. Woe, therefore, he says, to those who desire and await nothing other than the day of punishment, which he also calls the Lord's; for it is brought on by God. Why then, he says, is this day for you, being darkness and not light, because it is filled with so very much misfortune? For it would not be possible, he says, for any to escape, nor could anyone go outside of the evil; but he who flees this will be seized by that, and the second will meet those who have escaped the first. For this is to escape from the mouth of a lion, but to fall into a bear. But even if someone should think, he says, that he might happen to be in safety and enter into his house, there he will fall into death, unexpectedly subjected to the bites of a serpent. For when God drives someone into destruction and troubles, who is the one who will save? Who is the one who will help and deliver from judgment? Or what way will there be, by which if one passed through, he might be outside of the evils? None at all. "For who will turn back the high hand?" And, "If he shuts a man in, who can open it?" according to what is written. I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, and I will not smell the offerings in your solemn assemblies. For if you bring me your whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, I will not accept them, and I will not look upon your salvation offerings of manifestation. The word would be especially fitting for those from Judah and Benjamin. For the tribes in Samaria to the worship of idols being wholly attached, they were found to be very slothful and greatly negligent of the laws given through Moses; but those in Jerusalem sacrificed on the high places to Baal and offered libations to the host of heaven, yet in addition to this they pretended to take care to show reverence for the law, and to be eager to fulfill both sacrifices and feasts. But that the Creator of all things has hated these things, he also made clear through the voice of Isaiah, saying, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; attend to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs and the blood of bulls and goats I do not desire, not even should you come to appear before me. For who has sought these things from your hands? You shall not continue to tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is in vain; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons and your Sabbaths and the great day I do not tolerate; fasting and idleness and your feasts my soul hates; you have become to me a surfeit." We say that the preceding words depend on this thought. For he says, I have hated and cast off your feasts, and I would not praise your sacrifices, nor would I ever reckon as a fragrant aroma the whole burnt offerings and the offerings for salvation. These are kinds of sacrifices, distinguished according to seasons, and as in their own ways. For the whole burnt offering is one thing, and the sacrifice another, and the appearance for salvation, that is, to come into the sight of God, and to offer sacrifices for salvation. But what we just said would fittingly apply to the Jews who practice the greatest impiety; but God accepts, and very gladly, and receives the sacrifices of those in faith, the spiritual whole burnt offering, the appearances at the feasts. For we offer a sweet smell not of ourselves, but of the one in us through the Spirit, I mean, Christ. And the unacceptability for sacrifice would very fittingly apply also to the unholy heretics and those of whom it is not possible to say, at least according to the genuine in faith, "That we are the aroma of Christ to God." for their smell is in Beelzebul, if it is true that "No one says, Jesus is anathema," except in Beelzebul. But the wretched ones, blaspheming unguardedly and speaking falsely against the glory of the Only-begotten, bear a mind not filled with a spiritual sweet smell, but rather drunk with filth. Take away from me the sound of your songs, and the psalm of your instruments I will not hear. And judgment shall roll down as water, and righteousness as an impassable torrent. He sends away along with the feasts and the useless sacrifices the praises with instruments, God not assigning the duty of giving glory to soulless materials, but rather transferring the participation of such splendid renown to those who send forth a voice from a pure mind; for such a doxology is beautiful and pleasing to the Lord of all. And very well indeed he calls the doxologies of the Jews, devised I know not from where, namely the instrumental ones, as I just said, a 'sound of songs,' meaning a sort of superfluous and vain echo, producing an indistinct and weak melody. And that these things have also become inventions of Jewish thoughtlessness, he has shown by saying, 'the psalm of your instruments;' for he all but says, 'Not mine;' for the practice is outside the law, and about these things Moses has said nothing. Therefore, he says, I will not be persuaded, nor will he ward off the accusations with the sweet sounds of instruments; but my judgment will roll down like water, and the righteousness from me, that is, the just sentence hereafter against you, will be like an impassable torrent, sweeping away, of course, what falls in its path, and sparing nothing. For torrents burst down violently from the mountains. Thus also the divine decree, if it should indeed be against some, will be an irresistible water and an unopposable torrent, and nothing else. Everywhere, therefore, to repent appears useful and necessary, and by returning to what is better to ward off wrath, not sending up a completely useless and indistinct voice to God, but from a good mind a wise truly and rhythmically resounding melody. "For sacrifice, he says, a sacrifice "of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call "upon me in the day of your affliction, and I will deliver you, and "you will glorify me." Did you offer slain victims and sacrifices to me for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? says the Lord. And you took up the tent of Moloch, and the star of your god Raiphan, the images of them which you made for yourselves; and I will carry you away beyond Damascus, says the Lord, God Almighty is his name. Through the things just interpreted, it was God who was saying to those of the blood of Israel, "I have hated, I have rejected your feasts, "and I will not smell the offerings in your solemn assemblies. "For even if you bring me your whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, "I will not accept them, and upon your splendid peace-offerings "I will not look." For in order that He might be seen to have saved Israel himself out of his own gentleness, and in memory of the fathers granting mercy to their children, and not making the matter a requital for sacrifices and, as it were, a payment in return, He says of necessity, that they had spent no few years in the wilderness. And their food was manna, and they walked with a cloud overshadowing them by day, and a pillar of fire by night. And the ark went before them as a type of God, going ahead and spying out a place and a rest for them; and they were in want of none of the necessities, with unexpected waters breaking forth for them, and enemies falling. And while all these things were happening, they received the laws concerning sacrifices, and they heard everywhere and in each one, perhaps, of the ordinances, "But when the Lord your God brings you into "the land which he swore to your fathers to give you," you will do this and that, and you will also offer sacrifices. Therefore in the forty-year period during which they were in the wilderness, they offered sacrifices willingly, but no one demanded them out of necessity. But the matter was for them postponed, until they should enter the land promised to their fathers. For this reason he says, Did you offer slain victims and sacrifices to me in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? says the Lord. But they were saved then even without sacrifices, and as he says through another prophet again, "You did not acquire for me incense with money, nor for me the sheep of your "whole burnt offering, nor did I make you weary with frankincense." But they, on the other hand, having their apostasy without excuse, were fickle at that time, and dishonoring the God who is by nature and in truth, took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan. And what this is, it is necessary to examine. Therefore, the divine Moses had gone up to the mountain to receive the law; but those of the blood of Israel rose up against Aaron, saying, "Make for us gods "who will go before us; for this Moses, the "man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know "what has become of him." They therefore made a calf in the wilderness. And the visible, and as it were, the idol of all, was the calf; but many other things were also done by each one. For having turned once to their ancient error, and having leaped away from piety towards God, each one made a worship that seemed good to him, and fashioned it for himself, according to the custom from of old and still in Egypt; and they were more devoted to the worship of the stars. And from where might this also become manifest? someone might say. It is no great trouble for those willing to prove it; for we shall know from the sacred writings themselves. For the divine Moses was displeased, and cried out against Aaron, then he fell down before God, saying, "I pray, O Lord; this people has sinned a great sin, "for they have made for themselves gods of gold," although what had been fashioned was a calf. But he was not ignorant that others also had made carved images. And indeed the blessed Stephen, being once accused before the rulers of the Jews of blasphemies against God and Moses, and warding off the slanders with the appropriate defenses, then showing that they had acted with savage impiety, and had behaved insolently towards the they imitate for Christ the depravity and hardness of heart of their own fathers, he clearly recalls the calf-making in the wilderness, and says concerning the all-wise Moses, "This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, 'Make for us gods who will go before us; for as for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And they made a calf in the wilderness in those days and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: 'Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? says the Lord. And you took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Raiphan, the figures that you made to worship; and I will remove you beyond Babylon.'" See, then, that the divine Stephen, a man full of the Holy Spirit, testified that they had indeed made a calf, and had also turned to worship the host of heaven; and he also recalls the voice of the Prophet. From this it is possible to understand that, in addition to the calf, they also took up the tent of Moloch. For having made a tent, they set up an idol, and have called it Moloch or Molchom; this is an idol of the Moabites, having a translucent and exceptional stone on its highest brow, in the form of the morning star. And Moloch is interpreted as their king; for Aquila and Theodotion have translated it thus; but the artifact was an image of the morning star. "You took up, therefore," he says, "the tent of Moloch," that is, of your king. And who was this king? "The star of your god Raiphan." And Raiphan is interpreted as darkness or blindness. For they worshiped the morning star as rising before the gleam of the sun, and bringing the beginning of day to those on the earth; but for those who worshiped, it became Raiphan, that is, darkness or blindness. And not at all as if the star had effected blindness in them, but because this worship became for them a cause of darkness. "Since, therefore," he says, "you emulated the madness of the Moabites and of neighboring Damascus, for this reason you shall also depart beyond Damascus and even the places lying farther away, I mean, of the Babylonians." For the Septuagint version says, "beyond Damascus," but the divine Stephen said, "Beyond Babylon." What then shall we say to this? The blessed Stephen spoke according to the Hebrew version. For it seems that to them, "beyond Damascus" was the name for the land of the Babylonians. For perhaps the kingdom of the Damascenes, that is, of the Syrians, extended as far as the borders of the cities toward the east and the sun's rays, and the country and land of the Babylonians was immediately adjacent. Woe to those who despise Zion and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria. Again the word pronounces woe not only on those from Ephraim, that is, the tribes in Samaria, but also on those from Judah and Benjamin. And having first shown that those who came before them also always had a rotten and shaken mind; for they made a calf and took up the tent of Moloch; he then convicts them of acting like their fathers, and, following in the footsteps of their ancestors' impiety, they provoke against themselves the Master of all. He says that those from Judah and Benjamin despise Zion. For having remained in Jerusalem, and having the divine temple, they have made of no account their reverence and love for God, but as the holy scripture says, "They burned incense in the high places under oak and poplar and a shady tree." And they also worshiped the host of heaven. And so, not moderately grieved, the God of all said to Jeremiah, "And you, do not pray for of this people, and not worthy for them to be pitied, "and do not approach me concerning them in supplication and "prayer, for I will not listen to you." Then he adds the reason for turning away, saying, "Or do you not see what these are "doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jeru- "salem? Their sons gather wood, and their fathers kin- "dle a fire, and their women knead dough to "make cakes for the host of heaven; and they have poured out "libations to other gods that they might provoke me to anger." Therefore, those in Jerusalem have despised Zion. Therefore, he has fittingly brought upon them the "woe." And such a voice would also befit those who trust in the mountain of Samaria, that is, those who have dwelt in Samaria, and trust in themselves. For they thought that even without God they would overcome their enemies, and would be in a good state of prosperity, and that whatever was most pleasant to them would have an unshaken foundation. Therefore it is truly a bitter and dreadful thing to slip into such ill counsel, as to dare to hold love for God as nothing, but to be attached to what is absurd and to do what is not right, and to grieve him, and to think that, without his giving, any good thing will be upon us; "For every good "gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down "from the Father of lights;" so then it is good to be attached to him, and to make him our hope and helper. And they despise Zion, that is, the Church, who are leaders of impious doctrines, and who have taken courage in their own eloquence, and are accustomed to be arrogant over the discoveries of their impious reasonings and worldly wisdom. And to them, even before the others, the "woe" would befit. They have harvested the firstfruits of the nations, and they themselves entered. O house of Is- rael, pass over, all of you, and see, and go from there to Hamath Rabbah, and go down to Gath of the Philistines, the best of all these kingdoms, see if their borders are greater than your borders. He shows them to be ungrateful, and to have chosen to be unmindful of his great gift, although it was necessary always to confess the greatest possible grace, and to offer up songs of thanksgiving, because not only did he marvelously deliver them when they were burdened by a hard and unbearable slavery, but indeed he also brought them into the land which he swore to their fathers. And he brought them in, after cutting off many nations that were hard to conquer and not unpracticed in winning in battles. For thus also the blessed David said somewhere to God concerning those of the blood of Israel, "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations "and planted it." Therefore they are reproached, and very rightly so, as being utterly ungrateful and grieving the Benefactor with their excursions into every kind of transgression. For they have harvested the firstfruits, he says, of nations, and made their country their own inheritance, with God shaking down those who resisted, and with ineffable power paralyzing the strength of those who rose up against them. But that they have inherited a land that is fertile and good for grazing and rich with every good thing, and better and wider than other lands, he commands them to learn, by investigating the principalities, that is, the kingdoms, of their neighbors or even of those beyond. For go, he says, to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the Philistines; for these are the kingdoms that have a more conspicuous glory than the others; and there inquire, he says, if their borders are greater than your borders. Now there were many individual kingdoms of the nations, that of the Moabites, that of the Idumeans, that of the sons of Ammon. But there was nothing great in them. But more splendid than the others was that of the Damascenes and the Palestinians. And there were two cities under the kingdom of Damascus, situated toward the east, whose name was Hamath; of which one was wider and greater, and the other having the smaller part. And Rabbah is interpreted as "greater" or "wider." Go therefore to Hamath Rabbah, that is, to the greater and wider Hamath; for, as I said, it was homonymous with another, having the greater part. And they say that this wide Hamath is the present-day Antioch, and the lesser one also narrower, the neighboring and bordering Epiphaneia; Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, having named one Antioch, and the other Epiphaneia for his own glory. The city of Gath was at that time more splendid than the Palestine of today. In it had remained the Anakim and those called Philistines, the sons of Israel not having destroyed them at that time. For this reason he says of it, “To Gath of the foreigners;” “Go then,” he says, “to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the foreigners; and examine carefully, if you do not inhabit a broader land, better and more excellent than all the others.” It is necessary to know that the Hebrew scripture has Calneh placed first. For it says, “Go to Calneh and to Hamath and to Gath;” Calneh is under the Persian kingdom, which is now called Lysippon. And since the Hebrew version also mentioned the Persian kingdom, for this reason we say that the blessed Stephen, instead of “I will remove you beyond Damascus,” said, “Beyond Babylon.” Therefore, the charge of ingratitude is against those of Israel, because having inherited a land so fertile, easy to plow, and spacious, they did not rather offer thanksgivings to God, but some scorned Zion, while others, trusting in the mountain of Samaria, took no account of reverence for him. Useful, as it seems, also to those who after the faith have admired the wisdom of the Greeks, so as to consider their opinions better than ours, and to those who incline to seek adherence to those who counterfeit the truth and subvert the orthodoxy of ecclesiastical dogmas is the saying, “Go to Hamath Rabbah and to Gath of the foreigners and see if their borders are greater than your borders.” For the divinely-inspired scripture is broader than the narrow talk of the Greeks, proclaiming the light of truth and introducing a knowledge of beneficial dogmas, and raising the mind of believers to everything praiseworthy. Again, the discourse concerning truth is broader than the narrowness of the heretics. For those who fight against it are all but suffocated, swimming in cold and unclear reasonings; but those who agree with the dogmas of piety, and contemplate the brilliant beauty of the truth, run out into a broad sea of contemplations, “bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” darting hither and thither, and gathering very well from the divinely-inspired scripture things pertaining to true knowledge. And so to the Corinthians, who chose to depart “from the holy commandment delivered to them,” and ignorantly adhered to those accustomed to teach other doctrines, the divine Paul writes, saying: “Our mouth is open to you, O Corinthians, our heart is enlarged. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. Now in return for the same; I speak as to children; you also be enlarged. Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.” Woe to those who pray for an evil day, who approach and hold to false sabbaths. He was saying, “Woe to those who scorn Zion, and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria.” And since he made mention of two groups, I mean those who scorn Zion and those who trust in the mountain of Samaria, we, having necessarily investigated the meaning of the thoughts, applied the charge of scorning Zion to those of Judah and Benjamin, and that of trusting in the mountain of Samaria to those of Ephraim. So the discourse goes back, as it were, and enumerates again the charges against both, bringing upon them the “Woe.” It is a custom in the divine scripture to bring the word “Woe” against the nominative case; as I say, “Woe, those who desire the day of the Lord;” and again, “Woe, those who rise early in the morning and pursue strong drink.” Woe then, he says, to those who pray for an evil day, that is, those in Jerusalem. For not to endure to repent, nor indeed to accept the fear of what was foretold would happen, is almost to desire destruction a day to fall. For instance, as if someone might say about one of the lovers of sin, "He desires to die," even though that person does not wish to suffer this, whence? but insofar as he has come to the point of wanting to do, and this unceasingly, things that are contrary to the laws, he all but loves the punishment and justice that is always in some way owed to the lovers of sin. Therefore, being unwilling to repent, they all but desire to fall into an evil day, and to be caught in the already foretold calamities, those who draw near to and touch false sabbaths. For the temple and the altars in it were still standing. And they offered to God the sacrifices according to the law, and they also observed the rests on the sabbaths, yet not at all accurately, but very carelessly and lazily indeed. And so he accused them through the voice of prophets, as not having kept the sabbaths. Woe, therefore, he says, to those who pretend to draw near to God by pretending to still honor the things of Moses, and to touch false sabbaths. Do you see how he has slandered them as not keeping the rest proper to the sabbath correctly or carefully? And besides; for I think it is necessary to say something more essential on these points; false sabbaths, those among the Jews; since the law is a shadow, and the things through Moses are truly a type. But the type is not the truth, but rather brings in a form of the truth. Therefore the divine Paul also writes to the Hebrews, and says concerning the more ancient things, "Therefore a sabbath rest remains for the people of God." For Joshua did not give them rest, nor indeed have they entered into the rest of God; but we keep sabbath spiritually in Christ, putting an end to and departing from sins, and ceasing from every corruptible and earthly matter. For as the blessed Paul writes, "For he who has entered into His rest has himself also ceased from all his works, as God did from His own." Those who sleep on ivory beds and live luxuriously upon their couches, and eat kids from the flocks and milk-fed calves from the midst of the herd; who applaud at the sound of instruments, they reckoned it as something stationary and not as fleeting; who drink strained wine and anoint themselves with the finest ointments, and felt nothing for the affliction of Joseph. Woe again generally to those who sleep on ivory beds, accustomed to doing this and that. He strongly blames those in Samaria who were more conspicuous in glory, and who were exalted above others by the abundance of their wealth, as being all but drunk from too much prosperity, and carried away by the breadth of their luxury to the point of not seeing any of the terrible things at all, nor indeed to think that the God of all would ever be provoked against those so disposed, and bring penalties upon the lovers of sin. He describes accurately their unrestrained and unbridled indulgence in luxuries. For their beds were of ivory, he says, their couches both costly and soft, and the choicest of the lambs, and suckling calves were their foods, and odes and songs, and all things that with instruments run together with luxuries, and revels and applause, and what is even more burdensome, that they considered such evils as stationary and not as fleeting. For in general, such things fly by, and worldly deceit does not have permanence. For it is dissolved like shadows, and "the form of this world is passing away," according to what is written; and luxury by all means ceases with the dead. But in the case of those in Samaria, the meaning of what has been said might be understood in another way. For since they were about to be captured, and not long after, he speaks of the things devised for their luxury as fleeting and not stationary, as things that would pass away almost immediately. So they applaud instruments, drinking perhaps fragrant wine, very finely strained; and they anoint themselves with myrrh, compounding the choicest ones, and have taken no account at all of the fact that Joseph was about to be crushed. For as I just said, although they knew beforehand the a calamity was all but present, and the capture of Samaria, and the crushing that would befall the descendants of Joseph, they did not neglect their accustomed luxury. Therefore it is truly terrible for those chosen to lead countries or cities or peoples to be overcome by bodily luxury. For when it was necessary for them rather to make very good use of appropriate vigilance, to look out for what is advantageous, and to lead those under them straight toward what is fitting, and in every way to appease a saddened God, how is it not utterly senseless to slip into luxuries and to consider nothing better than profane love of the flesh? Concerning such men, perhaps, he says through the voice of the saints, "O shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep of the pasture." For that the flock is endangered by the indolence of the shepherds would become clear from God saying again clearly, "Because the shepherds have become senseless, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered." Therefore now they shall be captives from the beginning of the powerful, and the neighing of horses shall be taken away from Ephraim. For since, he says, they have lived in luxury, having abandoned love for God, and they have trusted in the mountain of Samaria, that is, in those in Samaria, the leaders being very haughty, as rulers of an unmeasured multitude and having a fighting force beyond number, for this very reason, he says, the time of captivity will indeed come, and very swiftly, against all, and it will make the most powerful its first spoils. For enemies, when sacking a city, always run to the houses of the more notable people, to plunder the things in them. And since it was the custom for the splendid men in Samaria to love to be carried by choice horses, and these, as was likely, went through the middle of the public squares, neighing with a certain intelligence and wisdom and as if from knowledge; for the animal is always somehow ready for notions of good order and for the reception of the knowledge befitting it; and this will cease, he says. for the neighing will be taken away from the horses of Ephraim. It is as if he were saying: The elite of those in Samaria will cease from their arrogance, and they will unwillingly stop making their processions conspicuous, with their horses neighing for them, which, adorned with shining ornaments, perhaps even recognize their rider, and all but puff themselves up with pride, bearing their august and admirable charioteer. But that it is safe for leaders to be vigilant, while to love to be indolent is harmful, you might learn even from this. For the things that come from wrath will be upon them, and indeed before the others. And they will be cast out from all good repute, and they themselves will lie with the others, having a bitter and grievous judgment, and they will have to account for the fact that not only have they destroyed themselves, but they have also added others to their own transgressions. Because the Lord has sworn by himself, because I detest all the arrogance of Jacob, and I have hated his lands. He declares the unchangeable nature of the wrath, showing that God has sworn that he has hated the arrogance of Jacob. And we certainly do not say that the divine word makes a denunciation of our forefather Jacob; for it is utterly foolish to think this, since God both loved Jacob from the womb, and made him chosen even while he was in the embryo. But by Jacob he means again those descended from Jacob, whose accursed arrogance; for it is the custom in the divine scripture to call arrogance 'hubris'; he says he has hated it. For is it not indeed arrogance, I mean, to push aside reverence for God, and to assign to idols the glory that is most fitting for him, and in addition to these things, not deigning to listen to what he might choose to declare through the holy prophets, but to make the threat a sort of plaything, and taking courage in a multitude of allies, to utterly disregard his forbearance and help? Then, how is this doubtful? Therefore, the Lord of all has sworn by himself, he says. And by himself, because "he had no one greater by whom to swear." And what is it that was sworn? "I detest all the arrogance of Jacob," that is, the haughtiness of Jacob, and I have hated all his lands. for there was not in them the one who fulfills the divine will; there was not one who kindled reverence for him, and was pre-eminent in the boasts of righteousness. For God would not have turned away, if there had been any, even if few in number, among them, for whom pleasing him was of account. And so he said through the voice of Jeremiah, "Run ye to and fro through the streets of "Jerusalem, and see now, and seek in the broad places "thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh "the truth; and I will be merciful to it, saith the Lord." But since the lands of Jacob have come to be in want of every good and God-loving man, for this reason they are given over to desolation, and the cities have perished together with their inhabitants. Great, therefore, is the need for the saints; for they save cities, and deliver lands from impending disaster, by the brightness of their life cutting short the wrath that is indeed boiling against the indolent, and as it were, restraining the movements from divine anger running upon some. And I will destroy a city with all that dwell therein. And it shall be, if there be ten men left in one house, they shall die, and the rest shall be left behind, and their kinsmen shall take them, and shall make an effort to bring out their bones from the house, and he shall say to them that are over the house, Is there yet any with thee? And he shall say, No more; and he shall say, Be silent, that thou mayest not name the name of the Lord. For since He has hated their lands, and abhors all the insolence of Jacob, that is, their pride, for this reason he says that the cities among them have been utterly destroyed, men and all. But how each of these things will happen to those who have transgressed, he explains in detail. For I will destroy, he says, whatever city I wish, and as it were, I will make it vanish along with its inhabitants. And if it should happen that ten persons from one house escape the sword of the enemy, and enter into the innermost recesses of the house, they will die, fearing perhaps even to peek out a little from the recesses in which they are. Famine, therefore, he says, will succeed the hand of the smiter, and will kill those who are hidden. And when the enemies have departed, some of their kinsmen by blood and disposition will come, and will make an effort to bring out their bones. But whom will they compel, gathering the remains of the dead? Themselves, clearly. For it is truly burdensome and unbearable to touch bodies already decaying and putrefying, and I think there is need of a nose that is not pierced for those who dare such things; for nothing could be worse than such a terrible stench. They will therefore compel themselves, showing compassion to those who have departed and perished by famine, by deeming them worthy of both burial and care. And those who do this, he says, will then inquire of the one who knows the house, whether there might be another after them, either perhaps still alive and hiding in the recesses, or already dead and stinking. And he answers, saying, No more. And this is nothing other than a clear proof of complete desolation. But if the masters of the house should say this, they will hear in reply, he says, from the one making the inquiry, Be silent, that you may not name the name of the Lord. And what this is, it is necessary to see. Some, therefore, think and say that when the masters of the house are about to swear, those who ask silence them, so that they may not swear by the name of the Lord. And they add that to this point the mind of those from Ephraim had slipped into the utmost godlessness, so as not even to tolerate some, if they should choose in any way to name the God of all. But I think such an argument is utterly unsound and unseemly. For that those from Ephraim had completely leaped away from the love of God, no one would doubt. But having been in plague and scourge, it is likely that they would rather fear a little and henceforth change towards wanting something of the more necessary things, not on the contrary so savagely become insolent towards piety to God. Besides; for I would add this to what has been said; for what need was there for the masters of the house when asked if anyone perhaps among them, either still living by chance, or already dead is hidden, to add also an oath, that no one is still among them? What then is the meaning of "He will say, Silence, for the sake of not naming the name of the Lord"? We say that it was the custom for those of the blood of Israel, who have their origin from the legal commandments, to call abuse and blasphemy against God thus. For it is written in Leviticus, that two men struggled with each other in the congregation, then one of those who fought, the son of the Egyptian woman, blasphemed, and he died by stoning. And God immediately set a law for this, saying thus: "A man, if he should curse his God, will bear his sin; and he who names the name of the Lord shall be put to death." Therefore, to name the name of the Lord is to blaspheme, expressed in euphemistic words through the sacred letters. Since it is a habit for many, if they should somehow be in grief, to sometimes hurl reviling words against God, he says that the one presiding over the house, announcing that no one is still with him, and having suffered something of an incurable disaster, will silence him, he says, so that he may not name the name of the Lord, that is, so that he may not say anything reviling against God. This is a sign that the scourge was not brought upon them in vain, and that He does not punish them for no reason, but for a useful and necessary purpose. For it is, it is indeed, and very easily seen from what has happened, that the plague of those who suffered has converted to piety those still living and remaining, and has prepared them to fear offending God anymore, even if only to grieve him with mere words, although long ago they were accustomed to do this unguardedly, adding to their words also insults in their very deeds. Therefore it is much better for those who are truly good and prudent to go in pursuit of what is profitable before plague and scourge, and to anticipate the experience of the movements of wrath by departing from wickedness, and having chosen to do what would truly please the all-holy God. For behold, the Lord commands, and he will strike the great house with fragments, and the small house with fissures. He clearly threatened that cities would be captured, or rather, destroyed along with their inhabitants. And that the matter is from God, and will not happen by chance, is made very clear by His commanding those who have the power to ravage, and their easily doing whatever the divine wrath should decree. He calls Ephraim and perhaps also Judah the great and the small house. For Ephraim was populous, as counted in ten tribes; for this reason also a great house. But Judah was smaller, being of two; for he was in Jerusalem, and the tribe of Benjamin. It follows to understand that what is shattered somehow has a complete fall; but what is fissured might reasonably be thought of as suffering in part. And it happened that the house of Ephraim, that is Israel, endured a complete capture, and an incurable disaster from the war, but Judah in part, and suffered this as in a small fissure. Therefore the Judge is just and impartial. For He weighs, as He sees, the crimes of cities or regions, and brings upon each a blow that has the power to benefit them accordingly. Let us not then despise God, knowing the all-powerful nature of the supreme hand; for understanding of this is a most excellent thing. Will horses run on rocks? Or will they be silent among the mares? For you have turned judgment into wrath, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness. That indeed He himself again commanded that He will strike "the great house with fragments and the small house with fissures," even if it were done by the hand of the Assyrians, he will again persuade us by saying, Will horses run on rocks? For it is as if he were saying clearly: A horse is a proud animal, and among the swiftest of runners, but the place suitable for it to run is not one that is rocky and full of banks, but that which is clear and smooth. Then how have the Assyrians overrun you, although long ago of a rough being a people exceedingly and as it were rocky, and never yet trodden by any of the enemies? But it was God who had been dishonored, who makes the hard and impassable things for the warring ones easy to walk on and for horses to traverse. Just as, he says, lustful horses would not stop, and being aroused and mounting the females present by the goads of nature, so the enemies would not rest, making their assault against the impious ones most ardent and irresistible. And what is the cause of this? You, and no others. For my just judgment concerning you, he says, you have turned aside into wrath, and instead of having the fruits of righteousness, you forced the author of all your cheerfulness to anger, having committed impieties worthy of bitterness. For the God of all pitied Israel for having suffered in Egypt, but they did not cease from provoking. And this, I think, is 'you turned judgment into wrath.' The crime of ingratitude is therefore terrible indeed; and it is punished, and very justly so. For he whom we ought rather still to appease with praises and to gladden with voices of thanksgiving, to provoke him ignorantly, how will this not be for us the cause of every evil? You who rejoice in a thing of no good account, who say, Is it not by our own strength that we have taken horns for ourselves? For behold, I will raise up against you, O house of Israel, a nation, and they shall afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the west. Therefore you have turned, he says, "judgment into wrath, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, you," who are proud of yourselves, and who raise a high brow against God, who rejoice in a rotten and foolish word. For you have said that I have not been the provider of the strength that is in you, and of the ability to oppress the enemies, but attributing the boasts to your own powers, you have dared even to say, Is it not by our own strength that we have taken horns for ourselves? And that was similar, then, to be caught thinking proudly and saying foolishly, We ourselves rule and will overcome the enemies, even if God should not choose, he says, to defend us, we have prevailed, and we must take pride in such brilliant achievements, attributing absolutely nothing to God. So it is disdain and insolence against God, this frenzied thought and word. But the divine David was exceedingly wise, attributing glory to the God who has authority over all things, and saying, "For you are the boast of their strength." and again, "In you we will gore our enemies, and in your name we will despise those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, and my sword will not save me." For all strength is from him, and nothing noteworthy would be done by us, unless he were with us and presiding. "For the Lord crushes wars," according to what is written. But since, he says, you are now caught having fallen into such arrogance and loose talk, behold, I bring a nation against you; and it is clear that it is the nation of the Assyrians; and they will afflict you, from the entrance of Hamath even to the brook of the west. Now, Hamath is one of the cities toward the east, lying at that time under the kingdom of Damascus; but it has now been renamed, as I said, Antioch, or rather Epiphania. And by 'brook of the west' he means the river of the Egyptians, since Egypt lies to the west of the land of the Jews. And since it was the custom for those of Israel, when war was about to leap upon them, at one time to ask for aid from Damascus and the Syrians, and at another time to run to the land of the Egyptians, for this reason he says that he raises up a nation against them, and they will come strong, inflicting so much affliction on them, that they would no longer be strong enough either to enter Hamath or to reach the brook of the west, that is, to call upon the power of either Damascus or the Egyptians for aid. "For when God shuts, who will open?" according to what is written. What way of salvation will there be, when the Almighty drives them to destruction? Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a brood of locusts coming early in the morning, and behold, a locust one; Gog the king. and it shall be when he finishes to eat up the grass of the land, and I said, O Lord, Lord, be merciful; who shall raise up Jacob? for he is small; repent, O Lord, for this. And this shall not be, saith the Lord. What nation would be brought upon those of Israel, or what harm would come upon them, God reveals to the Prophet; and it is suited to his character, and through what he knows accurately, through these things He teaches him the things that will be done. For to the shepherds the locust and the cankerworm always seem to be, and truly are, a terrible thing; for when the grass is shorn as if by them, the flocks must then be destroyed. Therefore, God indicates the calamities from war to the Prophet as to a shepherd. For as in the form of a locust He signifies the Assyrian, as one in an immeasurable multitude almost eating up and consuming the land. And he calls it the morning locust, almost falling like dew, and poured upon the earth in the manner of snowflakes. But there was, he says, also one cankerworm; and this was indeed Gog the king. Then, when God said, And it shall be when he finishes to eat up the grass of the land; that is, when he consumes by eating the common multitude that is in Samaria, clearly, and in the cities of Judea; then, as He was about to add something else, the Prophet, interrupting, begs Him to cease from His anger, saying, O Lord, be merciful; who shall raise up Israel? for he is small. For if you should wish, he says, to deliver Israel to the enemies for consumption in the manner I have seen, he will be completely diminished. To this God [says], And this shall not be, says the Lord. I will not grow weary, He says, nor will I relent; for I would by no means cease from chastising the impious. But investigating of necessity who Gog is, we say this, that the blessed prophet Ezekiel also writes a lamentation for him, as God commands. And we think it is Sennacherib, when also Rabshakeh was reviling God, "the angel of the Lord went forth and slew in one night from the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." And I will of necessity recall the things written about him through the voice of Ezekiel. And it is as follows, "Thus saith the Lord God to Gog: Art thou he of whom I have spoken before days past by the hand of my servants the prophets of Israel, in those days and years, that I would bring thee upon them?" Do you hear how he says it is he, and not another, whom He threatened through holy prophets to bring upon those of Israel? And that he paid the penalty for his unbridled speech, and having supposed he would conquer was unexpectedly destroyed, and has fallen in the land of Israel, He immediately indicates again, saying, "And thou, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say, Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal; and I will turn thee back, and lead thee, and will cause thee to come up from the north parts, and will bring thee upon the mountains of Israel; and I will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and thy arrows out of thy right hand, and I will cast thee down upon the mountains of Israel, and thou shalt fall, thou, and all that are about thee, and the nations that are about thee shall be given to a multitude of birds; and to every winged bird, and to all the beasts of the field have I given thee to be devoured; thou shalt fall upon the face of the field, for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God;" and after other things again, "And it shall be in that day, I will give to Gog a place of renown, a monument in Israel, the burial-place of them that come to the sea; and they shall build round about the mouth of the valley, and there they shall bury Gog and all his multitude; and it shall then be called the burial-place of Gog. and the house of Israel shall bury them, that it may be cleansed in seven months, and all the people of the land shall bury them, and it shall be to them a renown in the day that I was glorified, saith the Lord God." For when the Assyrians had fallen, who are signified by Gog, perhaps the multitude of those of Israel buried the dead, so that for the cities and the lands the intolerable [stench] of the so would a thing of such a terrible stench be ruined. Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, the Lord called for judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and devoured the portion. And I said, 'O Lord, Lord, cease, I pray! Who will raise up Jacob? For he is small.' Repent, O Lord, concerning this. 'And this shall not be,' says the Lord. He has seen Gog, that is, the Assyrian, as a locust and a young locust; this he calls the judgment through fire. For it was not enough for the Babylonians to destroy Ephraim with the sword, but they also burned down very many of the cities in Samaria. The judgment, therefore, he says, that is, the vengeance through fire, has devoured the great deep, that is, Ephraim, so named an 'abyss' on account of its great and immeasurable multitude. And it devoured no less the small portion, that is, Judah and Benjamin. For after burning not a few cities of Judea, after this the arrogant Rabshakeh finally besieged Jerusalem itself. But when the Prophet again appeased him, and persuaded the God of all to repent, that is, to change his mind, 'This shall not be,' says the Master of all. What then shall we learn from this again? That transgressions beyond description, although God is known to be very long-suffering, provoke him terribly, and render the prayers of the saints almost ineffective. And so he said to the prophet Jeremiah concerning those of Israel, "And you, do not pray for this people, and do not ask that they be pitied, and do not approach me concerning them, for I will not listen to you." Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a man standing upon a wall of adamant, and in his hand was adamant. And the Lord said to me, 'What do you see, Amos?' And I said, 'Adamant.' And the Lord said to me, 'Behold, I am setting adamant in the midst of my people Israel; I will no longer pass by him. And the altars of laughter shall be destroyed, and the rites of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword.' Having shown the Assyrian, that is, Gog, to the Prophet as a locust and as a young locust and as a judgment by fire, God, then shows himself somehow standing upon a wall of adamant, so that through this he might be understood as standing, so to speak, upon an unbreakable power, and having unshakable security in his own good things. For the divine is all-powerful, and has a firm foundation, because it does not know how to change, but is superior to change, and, as I said, it loves to be always and forever established in its own good things. He is seen, therefore, standing upon a wall of adamant. Adamant among stones is both unbreakable and unconquerable, neither enduring to yield to things that are hard and accustomed to resist, nor indeed giving to other materials the ability to crush its inherent strength, and perhaps also accustomed to disregard the force of fire. And since the one standing on the wall was holding adamant in his hand, he inquired of the Prophet, saying, 'What do you see, Amos?' And when he understood and said what it was—for he said, 'Adamant'—he clearly affirmed that he would set this in the midst of Israel. But you will understand adamant as either the Assyrian, as both harsh and unbreakable, and appointed by God for this purpose; for the Lord of hosts strengthens whomever he might choose; or, the unbreakable and all-powerful Word of God, whom it is not possible to turn back empty, that is, to render ineffective; for whatever God utters will surely run to its completion, with no one acting against it. Thus also our Lord Jesus Christ says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." And he said that he would not pass by Israel, that is, he will demand justice for the unholy things transgressed against him; and he will no longer be long-suffering, but will finally hand it over to those called against it, along with its sacred precincts and altars and idols. For the altars of laughter, he says, will be destroyed. The making of any idol is truly, then, a laughingstock; but it would be fitting, I think, for the laughter to be understood properly and specifically as the Beelphegor, on account of the very ugliness of its form. And it disparages all idol-making, as being from this one thing, the most shameful of all. Therefore, the altars will be torn down, he says, and the feasts of Israel will be removed along with them, that is, the playthings of idolatry, profane and abominable mysteries. That Jeroboam, distinguished by the boasts of his kingdom, will go away to destruction with his own gods, he has clearly indicated. But it is necessary to remember that the one of whom the discourse is now is different from the first one; for the one was the son of Nebat, and the other the son of Joash. And these things for the time being might apply to the words of the history. But it will show the true adamant to be Christ the Lord of hosts, having invincible and irresistible strength, shattering enemies, and conquering opponents, and being broken by no one. He, as a chosen stone, has been placed in the midst of the people. "For 'He was seen on earth and dwelt among men.'" Therefore He is also called by the voice of the angel "Emmanuel, which "is interpreted, God with us." For He became with us, when He became like us. Therefore, having been placed among us by God the Father as a stone of adamant, He shook the tyranny of the devil, He truly made the altars of laughter to disappear. For as soon as Emmanuel shone forth, and spread the light of true knowledge to those throughout the whole world under heaven, He showed Himself to us as the image and likeness of the Father. Then indeed, then the darkness of the ancient deceit was driven away, and profane and God-hated idolatry was removed from the midst, and he himself who presided over the deceit, that is, Satan, has also fallen. And Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has formed a conspiracy against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words. because thus says Amos: 'Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall be led away captive from his land.' Falsehood is always unassisted by itself, and the feet of deceit have a rotten support. Therefore it is laughed at, being held up to stand only with difficulty by external aids. Such is this thing, the idolatry of Israel. For their things were playthings of drunkards: golden heifers, "the works of a craftsman and molten images," according to what is written, and the art of a human hand, and the inventions of unholy enterprises. But the blessed prophets call to sobriety those who are held by deceits; but the worshippers of idols, as if their whole stage were being dismantled, are not moderately vexed, they terrify with fears, they bewail the return to sobriety of those who were led astray. For they know that with a keen and watchful mind it is easy to see the profanation of their worship. The profane Amaziah therefore was greatly afraid, lest those persuaded to worship the golden heifers should be brought by the Prophet's words to a good understanding, and he himself should be deprived of his priestly function, and the statues in the precincts should be destroyed along with them. For this reason he tries to incite Jeroboam, saying that Amos was all but rising up against his kingdom, and was daring to utter some heavy and now somehow unbearable word, that he himself would die by the sword, and Israel would go away captive. The wretched Jews also did something like this, composing slanders against Christ. For since, striking Judea with astonishment by His miracles, He was calling everyone to Himself, they brought Him to Pilate, the miserable ones having taken the flames of envy into their mind, and indeed they said, "If you do not kill this "man, you are not a friend of Caesar." Therefore, the outrages against the saints by all who always fight against piety come through similar enterprises, with falsehood everywhere suffering from weakness. And Amaziah said to Amos, O seer, go, depart into the land of Judah, and there live your life, and there prophesy; but in Bethel you shall no longer prophesy, because it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house. He is then clearly shameless, and opposes the divine words with the proof of his own malice. For they used to call the prophets seers, but not deigning even to honor him with the name of prophecy, but rather as it were slandering him as one of the false soothsayers, he commanded him to depart into the land of Judah. And adding the words, "There earn your living," he as much as says, "If you desire shameful gains, and seek to collect things useful for your livelihood by chanting little phrases to people, leave Samaria and speak to those from the tribe of Judah, and you shall not prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary." He says sanctuary, instead of offering, that is, a place of offering. For there the first Jeroboam set up the golden calf. And referring the Prophet's crime, as it were, also to the honor of the ruler, he says, "it is a royal house." "But you are confounding the royal affairs, you are stirring up disturbances, recklessly opposing the wishes of the rulers." See clearly, then, how true is what was said by God to Israel: "And you gave the consecrated ones wine to drink, and you commanded the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" And Amos answered and said to Amaziah, "I was no prophet, nor a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, scraping sycamore fruits. And the Lord took me from the sheep, and the Lord said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' And now hear the word of the Lord: You say, 'Do not prophesy against my people Israel, and do not stir up a mob against the house of Jacob.' Therefore thus says the Lord: 'Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be measured by a line, and you shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall be led captive from his land.'" When the practitioners of wickedness bring insults upon the virtuous, they accuse them of their own ways, and bringing forward the ugliness of their own accusations, they think they are mocking them, but they have forgotten that they are as good as writing themselves on a tablet and showing others what sort of people they are. We will now find that the stupefied Amaziah has suffered something of this sort. For being a false prophet, and attending the altars of idols, collecting limbs and the remains of the slaughtered victims, and being uncontrollably overcome by shameful gains, he reproached Amos, and said that he ought to depart from Samaria, and withdraw, if he wished, into the land of Judah, and there earn his living. For there, he says, you will easily utter falsehoods, and carrying many away, you will collect things for your livelihood, and you will more readily find the means of life. For "There earn your living," implies some such meaning, as I have already said before. But that the Prophet has no such purpose, nor is he looking for love of gain, but rather submits to the Master's will, for this reason he fulfills the service befitting a prophet, he tries to teach, and very gently, saying that he was neither a prophet, nor indeed had become a prophet's son—that is certainly by discipleship, or rather by spirit, I mean, just as of course Elisha was of Elijah—but he was a goatherd, living a rustic and simple and harmless life, having very few things for food, and being content with things from the fields, which one would not even buy; and these were sycamore fruits. For the overseers of the flocks, being at leisure, run under the shades of the trees, and, as if making sport of the charges of idleness, they pinch off fruits and attend to the needs of the stomach, as best they can. But he says that while I was engaged in these things, God, according to His good pleasure, made me a prophet, and commanded me to declare clearly to those of the blood of Israel the things that were coming upon them and would very soon be at hand. But you, opposing your own things to the commands from above, command silence. For this reason, then, "Thus says the Lord: Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city," it is clear that this means falling victim to the insults of the enemies, and the unchaste into the licentiousness of those having her, as if she endured it out of necessity; and the children will also be destroyed, having become the work of the sword. And in addition to this, your land will be measured with a line, that is, it will be under tribute, and will pay taxes to the one who has conquered it. But you, in addition to these things, who now think, he says, that you inhabit the holy land of Bethel, and have a king's sanctuary, you will go away a captive, and you will die in evils, not returning again; for how, or from where? having remained a corpse in a foreign and unclean land of the enemies; and Israel itself will also go away captive, the one who chose you as prophet and overseer of the holy things. It is a grievous thing, then, to act against the divine commands, and to proceed inconsiderately to the point of sometimes even rebuking holy men who interpret the things that seem good to God, of whom it was also said by Him, "And it shall be that he who touches you is as he who "touches the apple of his eye." But observe how the one and admirable purpose for the saints, I mean the duty to serve the words of God without shrinking, and to consider human things as nothing, even if some bring wars and afflictions upon them. For the blessed Amos, completely disregarding the rudeness of Amaziah, not only did not keep silent, but indeed even made the denunciation against him vigorously; and the divine disciples, when the scribes and Pharisees once commanded them to be silent, said plainly, "Whether it is right in the sight "of God to listen to you rather than to God, you judge; for we "cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Thus the Lord showed me, and behold, a fowler's basket. And He said, What do you see, Amos? And I said, A fowler's basket. And the Lord said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will not pass by them any more. And the panels of the temple will wail in that day, says the Lord; the fallen one is great in every place; I will cast down silence. The word then proceeds again for the Prophet as if in a stream, and with those things once introduced having received sufficient narration for themselves, the order of the visions runs on to its proper purpose. Therefore he has seen the multitude of the Assyrians, like a morning brood of locusts, and with them Gog, that is, Sennacherib, depicted as in the form of a locust-larva, because the creature leaps strongly over much of the land. Such in a way is the boaster, always leaping up high, and refusing to dwell with the humble. And he has seen justice being called as in fire, and indeed also the adamant Israel placed in the midst by the one standing on the wall of adamant. Then what else? It was the fowler's basket. And what I said in the beginning, I will now say again, that to the Prophet who was raised in a more rustic manner, God reveals mysteries through things that are especially done in the fields. For fowlers, and the things hunted by them, clearly birds, would not be more fitting for city men, but for those whose pursuit and purpose of life would be the fields and the things in them. But that in every way and entirely they will be caught for slaughter, just as by the hand of those accustomed to fowling, the common herd together with the select race in Samaria, I mean that of the boasters and those who have practiced being carried on high like birds, the power of the visions has shown enigmatically. For what was seen was a fowler's basket. Therefore the God of all says that the end has come upon my people Israel, and that their crimes would no longer be passed over; and that the temple itself, which had the golden calf in Bethel, will also be burned, he has revealed, saying that the panels of the temple will wail in that day. And he is accustomed to call the roof, or the things about it, "panels," skillfully and very well variegated by the arts of the carpenters, according to that in the Song of Songs, "Our beams are cedars, our panels are cypresses." And he says the panels will wail; and not by emitting an articulate voice, but rather as in crashes and the creaks in being broken. And since there will be many, he says, the one who has fallen in every place, I will cast silence. For since every place has henceforth been brought to desolation, and has no inhabitants, there will be a great silence, that is to say, stillness, just as in the deserts and impassable lands. Therefore the God of all will in no way be at a loss, if he should choose to chastise those who have sinned, but his manner of punishment will be manifold and various, and no one will withstand him as he inflicts punishments on the one who provokes him, yet he who shakes off the wrath by repentance will escape, turning for himself toward gentleness the Master who is good and compassionate.

Book 4

Hear this now, you who crush the poor man in the morning and oppress the needy from the land, who say, When will the month be over, that we may sell, and the sabbaths, that we may open the treasuries to make the measure small, and to make the weights great, and to make the balance unjust, to buy the needy for silver, and the humble for a pair of sandals, and we will trade from every kind of produce? One of the Pharisees once asked our Lord Jesus Christ which he considered the first and great commandment in the law, and he heard in reply that the first commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength; and the second, which is near it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." And one might see the divine Paul himself having hung, so to speak, every kind of virtue from love, and having dared to say that it is greater than faith and hope, and having clearly confessed that he who does not have it is nothing, even if he should give his possessions to those in need, and even if he should deliver his own body to his persecutors to be burned. Therefore whatever is great and worthy of hearing in us will surely come from love for God and for our brothers. But if anyone at all is carried outside the laws of love, and is seen to be without a share of its blossoms, he himself will be completely useless, and would reasonably be thought to be held fast in every kind of wickedness, since wherever the good is unpracticed, there surely wrongdoing will flourish. See, therefore, the arrangement of the whole argument. For having first accused Ephraim, that is, Israel, of godlessness, and having declared him a worshiper of heifers, and not having love for the one and true God, because he loved to be attached to the works of his own hands, he also proves him truly unholy toward his own brothers, and having completely neglected love for his neighbor. And he makes the charge generally and very clearly, and though still in brief, yet he enumerates the accusations. For this reason he says, Hear this, you who crush the poor man in the morning and oppress the needy from the land. It is as if he were to say, The word is to you, for whom it is a matter of great diligence to, as it were, wipe the weak and poor from the earth and to oppress them in the morning. For the lovers of godliness according to God, as the day dawns for them, offer thanksgivings to God, they worship, they pray, and they turn their efforts toward everything that is praiseworthy; but those who look only to oppressing certain people, and who think that being on an equal footing is nothing compared to the need to be avaricious, make it their most diligent work to leap from bed as soon as dawn begins, and to proceed to their customary wickedness, and whom they might be able to defraud, almost even blaming the night for passing over them entirely and for delaying, because it does not grant a time sufficient for them for greed. These say, When will the month be over, that we may sell? This is the prayer of those who lend and of petty traders, of shameful and sordid men, who always thirst for the end of the month, so that by collecting little by little, they may make their own wares more substantial, and by impiously collecting interest upon interest they oppress the weaker, although the law clearly says, "If you lend money to your "neighbor, you shall not be an exactor to him, you shall not charge him "interest." But some say, When will the month be over, that we may trade? And others, held by the same or even worse sicknesses, and overcome by shameful gains, say again, When will the sabbaths be over, that we may open our treasures, to make the measure small and the shekel great, and to make the balance unjust? And what this is, or of what sabbaths they seek the passing, so that they may open their treasures and make the measure small and enlarge the weights, it is necessary to say. For it is written in Deuteronomy, "Every seven years "you shall make a release, and this is the command of the release: "you shall release every private debt which your neighbor owes you, and "you shall not demand it of your brother, because a release has been proclaimed "to the Lord your God. You may exact it of a foreigner as much as you may "have with him; but of your brother you shall make a release of "your debt." And after other things again, "If there is among "you a poor man from one of your brothers in one of your cities in "the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden "your heart or shut your hand "from your brother who is in need; you shall surely open "your hands to him, and shall surely lend him as much as he needs "and according to what he lacks." And he gives further instruction, saying, "Take "care lest there be a wicked, secret thought in your heart, "saying, 'The seventh year, the year of "release, is near,' and your eye be evil against your needy "brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry "to the Lord against you, and it be a great sin for you." Therefore, since the law has commanded the cancellation of debts, as it were, of sabbatical years; for it commanded it to be fulfilled in the seventh year; then, forewarning that one should not be wicked, but rather lend to those in need, even if the year of release does not seem far off, those who have many and abundant treasures, closing their hand, were eager to wait for the sabbaths of the years that were then at the gates, and then they would lend, so that the debt might not fall under the times of release. These say, When will the sabbaths be over? And it is clear that they mean those of the years; and we will open our treasures. And their impiety does not stop there, but uncharitably preying on the poverty of those who have fared wretchedly, they made their giving with small measures, but received in return with unequal weights, but with those even larger, and much heavier than the first, although God says through the all-wise Moses, "You shall not have in your bag "differing weights, a great and a small; you shall not have in your "house differing measures, a great and a small. A true "and just weight you shall have, and a true and just "measure you shall have; that you may live long in the land which "the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, because everyone "who does this, everyone who does unjustly, is an abomination "to the Lord your God." But for them there is no regard for justice; but looking only to avarice, they wore out the poor, almost acquiring the wretched, and treating them like footwear; "For the poor are the pasture of the rich," according to what is written. But the writer of Proverbs helps us not a little, saying, "Let the heart of a man devise just things, so that his steps may be directed by God. "For the ways of a man are before the "eyes of God, and He watches all his "paths." Therefore, as God watches over and minutely examines each of our affairs, we should make straight the a necessary course for those who are truly good and prudent, and to esteem nothing above the equilibrium between love for God and love for brothers. And love for God possesses genuineness in faith, and incorruptibility; while love for brothers has kindled the glories of righteousness. For it is true that "Love does no wrong to a neighbor." And I say that it is necessary for those who have chosen to be well-pleasing, and who live a most lawful life, to put on "bowels of mercies," to utterly disdain accursed avarice, and to set forth one's possessions as common for those in need. For by so keeping the law of love, he will be both glorious and enviable in the sight of both God and men. For it is written that "He has scattered, "he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures for "ever and ever." The Lord swears against the pride of Jacob, Surely I will not forget any of your works forever. And for these things shall not the earth be troubled, and shall not everyone who dwells in it mourn? And destruction will come up like a river, and will go down like the river of Egypt. God brings a charge of arrogance against those of Jacob, for disregarding divine laws and completely ignoring the Master's will, and for trampling on love for brothers itself. He swears, therefore, 'against the pride of Jacob.' And we are not saying that the God of all makes the arrogance of some the object of his oath; rather, He swears against it, that is, decreeing its deserved punishment. And why does He swear at all? That he will no longer overlook their crimes, nor tolerate them to the end. For this, I think, is the meaning of 'forever': that which runs to the very end and to a final completion. Then he says that since forgetfulness—I mean, concerning their unholy transgressions—is taken away, how would the earth not become full of tumult as enemies overrun it, and how would they not mourn, having to endure a terrible and inescapable calamity? And what calamity is this? For destruction, he says, will be brought up against them like the river of Egypt, covering everything, and with many and irresistible currents flooding the whole land of Samaria; and it will likewise go down, dragging away everything in its path and sparing absolutely nothing. For Sennacherib came up against them with armies of myriads, like some river flooding the land and subjugating everything to himself; and he departed again to his own land, dragging with him a very great and countless number of captives. Therefore, whenever we despise God, we will find the hostile powers turned against us, so that we are in tumult and grief, being plundered by them, as it were, and by necessity falling into servile bondage. For they will be against us like an irresistible flood, dragging us to ruin and sinking us into perdition. "But rivers will not enclose us," according to what is written, nor will "the deep swallow us, nor could a storm sink us" who wish to please God. For then, yes then, having manfully escaped the greedy desires of the demons and having cared very little for their malice, we will say with joy: "If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say; if it had not been that the Lord was with us, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive;" and again, "Our soul passed through a torrent; then our soul passed through the irresistible water." For even if the water of diabolical insolence is irresistible and not to be withstood by our minds—that is, the flood which comes through the passions—yet in Christ we will have strength. For we shall pass through the assault of his perversity as through a kind of torrent. And it shall be in that day, says the Lord God, that the sun shall set at noon, and the light shall be darkened upon the earth in the daytime; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring sackcloth upon every loin, and baldness upon every head; and I will make Jacob as a mourning for a beloved, and those with him as a day of pain. This passage brings forth a twofold meaning. For it is always the custom for the holy prophets at the very end of their own words to remember Christ, and to make the narrative of the mystery concerning him, still overshadowed by obscurities. Come then, looking at both, let us say what is fitting. We will first set forth what follows from what has been said, and then in this way we will adapt the meaning of what has been said to the explanation concerning Christ. On that very day, therefore, on which the consummation shall go over all the land of the Samaritans like a river of Egypt, a terrible and deep darkness will be scattered over all, so to speak, who dwell in it, the sun in a way setting, and this at midday. And we do not say, of course, that the light of the sun truly set, but the calamity from the war became like darkness to those dwelling in Samaria. For great and excessive grief, when it arises, troubles the mind, and things that happen contrary to hope and unexpectedly darken the heart, and the harshness of sorrows works a kind of mist and fog in the hearts of the sufferers. Therefore they will see darkness, he says, even if the sun happens to be at midday. And those who formerly celebrated splendidly, always using strings and lyres and the sweeter parts of songs, will abstain from such pursuits, but will rather wail, and will make their study the odes for lamentation, and will take on the appearance of mourners, I mean both sackcloth and baldness. For to shave the head completely is very dishonorable. And indeed the divine Job shaved his hair when his children had perished. And I will make Jacob, he says, as a mourning for a beloved, that is, those who see him will be so sad over him, as if a mother or father over one beloved child lying dead; and those with him into a day of pain, that is, the neighboring Judah and Benjamin, who together with Ephraim had served idols, and were with him in this very way, so that they will be found having a day of pain, and being as in birth pangs; and by birth pangs I mean those from terrors and grief and toils. For after devastating Samaria, Sennacherib captured all their cities. Then he sends Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, who threatened terrible things to those in the wall. And he so crushed those in Jerusalem into despondency, that they expected to perish immediately along with those in Samaria. Then indeed, being very downhearted, King Hezekiah also sends someone to the prophet Isaiah, saying, "This day is a day of affliction and reproach and rebuke and "wrath, because the birth pang has come to the one giving birth, "but she has no strength to bear." Therefore, by a day of pain he means the toils and downheartedness as from a birth pang. Therefore, those in Jerusalem were in a day of pain, expecting to perish, those who were with Ephraim, I mean, in the manner of idolatry. And these things I have said as being likely and fitting for those who at that time were provoking the Master of all against themselves. And one might apply them no less also to those who acted impiously against Emmanuel himself, at the time of the incarnation. For they are "those who crush the poor in the "morning," that is, those who eagerly reject choosing to live lawfully, but proceed for no other reason, perhaps, than to destroy justice, and dare to hold as nothing what has been very well defined by the divine commandments, and to immoderately take advantage of whomever they might choose of the weaker. And they would be those "who say, When will the month be over, that "we may sell; and the sabbaths, that we may open the treasures "to make the measure small and to make the weight great "and to make the balance unjust." For that the scribes and the Pharisees were very fond of money and greedy for dishonest gain, we might know in many ways, by applying our mind to the evangelical writings. For to be seen as superior to shameful gains, and to love to be free from all greed for gain that is according to God Christ advised the lovers of moderation, and urged them to go even further, and to assist those in need and to distribute their possessions. But what does the Evangelist say? "But the scribes and the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard these things, and they scoffed at Him." Therefore it might also be said of them, "The Lord swears by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget your works." For it is truly arrogance for them to disregard even the divine laws, and what is still more burdensome than this, to even insult Christ Himself. Therefore, their transgressions will not depart into oblivion; but a consummation, as it were, has come upon them, and the war of the Romans like a flooding river. Since they delivered the Lord of all to the cross, the sun set upon them, and the light was also darkened. For "there was darkness from the sixth hour until the ninth hour." And this was a clear sign to the Jews that the souls of those who crucified Him were spiritually darkened. "For a partial hardening has come upon Israel;" and as the divine Paul writes, "To this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts." And the blessed David also cursed them out of love for God, saying thus, "Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever." That they have also mourned, transforming as it were their feasts into dejection, would be clear from Christ Himself saying to the women weeping for Him as He was being led away to the cross, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." For they have mourned for the city and for the divine temple being destroyed along with it, and for the Romans burning everything. Therefore, he says, I will make him; and it is clear that he means Emmanuel; as mourning for a beloved one and those with him as a day of grief. For those who believed mourned for the crucified Jesus, and women wailing stood at a distance, both Mary Magdalene and again Mary the mother of James and certain other women with them; and creation itself mourned its own Master. For the sun was darkened, and the rocks were split, and the temple itself took on the appearance of mourners, with the curtain being torn "from top to bottom." And God signified something like this to us through the voice of Isaiah, saying, "And I will clothe the heaven with darkness, and make sackcloth its covering." Therefore the mourning for him was as for a beloved one. And those with him, that is, the disciples, were set for a day of grief. For that they also mourned, how can one doubt? For the women announced the resurrection of Christ to them while they were in grief; then indeed, then, having barely recovered, they ran to the tomb. And perhaps somewhere to these women who were proclaiming the good news of the resurrection the prophet Isaiah says in spirit, "Women coming from a spectacle, come here; for it is not a people with understanding;" that is, of the Jews; "therefore he who made them will not have pity on them, and he who formed them will not have mercy," he says. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send a famine on the earth, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. And waters shall be shaken even to the sea, and from the north to the east they shall run about seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. It is written, "Lord, in affliction we remembered you, in slight affliction was your discipline to us." And knowing that affliction is an excellent thing and truly beneficial, the divine David sometimes said, "In affliction I called upon the Lord," and at other times, "It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I might learn your statutes." For afflictions make us more sober, and draw us out of the snares of indolence, persuading us to love the ways of moderation, and the harsh and intractable as if by necessity and fear to the ways of holiness and obedience enduring yokes. So when Samaria has been ravaged, he says, and the Babylonian is burning the cities, even if some should choose then to learn what the will of God is, and what they must do or say to obtain mercy from him, so that they might be carried out of wrath, there will be no one, he says, to teach them. For I will bring a famine of the words from God upon them, so that absolutely no prophet will be found, even if they should run from west to east, even if from south to north. Similar to this is what was said by God to the blessed Ezekiel, "And I will bind your tongue and you will be "made mute, and you will not be a man who reproves them, for it is a "rebellious house." For those who have once spurned the word from God, even if they still wanted to, could not reasonably receive it. And by "agitated waters" he means the immeasurable multitude of the Jews, as being in turmoil, and henceforth resembling the waves in the sea, which are scattered everywhere by the blasts of the winds. And in another way. When Christ was crucified, the wretched Jews have had a famine of the words from God. For there is no longer among them a prophet, nor an accurate teacher of the Mosaic history who knows how to refine its density and to clarify the mysteries concealed in the letters. For they did not accept Christ saying, "I am the bread of "life, who came down from heaven and gives life to the "world." And for this very reason they also heard him saying long ago through the voice of Isaiah, "Behold, my servants will eat, "but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you "will be thirsty." And indeed it is true that "The Lord will never "let a righteous soul starve, but he will overthrow the life of the wicked," not sending down to them the divine word that turns the mind to the pursuit of virtue. For as the Savior himself has said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but "by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst, those who swear by the propitiation of Samaria and those who say, As your god lives, O Dan, and as your god lives, O Beersheba, and they will fall and will never rise again. The word indeed has the sense that their sons and daughters will be carried off by enemies; for this is what the virgins and the young men signify, for we will find that those accustomed to carrying people into captivity especially took those of such an age. But the word seems to indicate to us something else of the hidden meanings. There were certain virgins who dwelt in the precincts of the idols, and with them youths or prepubescent boys, through whom those more curious about sorcery thought to be taught things from the demons; for, as if invoking them upon undefiled bodies, they prepared them to give oracles with secret whisperings. And they say that even to this day some who wish to perform unholy rites prophesy in a manner similar to them. That therefore Israel will lack not only the word from God through holy prophets, which is useful and necessary for correction, but also the very word from the false prophets or demons, which they produced for some through virgins and boys, he implies by saying, In that day the beautiful virgins will faint. For it is as if he says, Your beautiful virgins will perish along with the others. And the word also mocks, along with the girls, the little boys who swear by the propitiation of Samaria. For it was perhaps a custom for them to love to make oaths by the gods in Samaria, that is, the heifers, and perhaps broadly mocking God, they ascribed his attributes to the carved images, saying, As your god lives, O Dan, and as your god lives, O Beersheba. These are cities of Judea, lying at the very extremities of the country, and as it were defining the measure of the land from south to the sea. It is therefore as if those swearing were perchance saying, As the god of the land of the Jews lives, that is, the calf; for by the extremities the middle parts are included, and the designation of the whole is woven together. But he says that the virgins and the young men, no longer supplying the false words of demons, because they themselves also became the work of the hand of foreigners, either having fallen by the sword, or having endured the inglorious and unbearable captivity. But when Christ was crucified, and had set for the Jews, along with the sun in the cosmos and the perceptible light, and the intelligible radiance and illumination through the Spirit; for they are deprived of the divine word, and of the comfort from above; the virgins among them have failed, along with the young men, that is, the beautiful and well-reputed souls, of which the undefiled part is signified by the virgin, while the strong and most valiant part is signified by the young man. For who is holy among them, since the law has power to perfect nothing, nor is it sufficient for them for righteousness? And with whom among them could spiritual robustness and a strong mind be found, when they have not known the splendid achievements of the evangelical way of life? For are not all of them sluggish and in sins and weakened in mind? Then how is this doubtful? Therefore, they have fainted in thirst, but it was not said to them, "Draw water with joy from the springs of salvation." But indeed also "he commanded the clouds not to rain rain upon them," because they have not been obedient to Christ himself who cried out and said, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink." But having forsaken him, although he is "a fountain of life, they have dug broken cisterns which will not be able to hold water." for they have given heed to teachings, the commandments of men, which know not how to give drink unto life, nor indeed to hold together for salvation those who use them. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar and he said, Strike the altar and the gateways will be shaken, and cut into the heads of all; and their remnant I will kill with the sword. The blessed prophets, by the torch-bearing of the Spirit brightening the eye of the mind, receive not only the knowledge of things to come, but indeed at times also the sight of the events themselves, seeing them as if painted on a tablet, are both themselves amazed, and persuade their listeners to be affected along with them, earnestly striving to make clear the powers of the visions. Therefore the blessed Amos said, "And the Lord said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will no longer pass by them again. And the panels of the temple will wail in that day, says the Lord; many are the fallen in every place; I will cast down silence." But behold, he has seen what was foretold being enacted in the events themselves, just as the prophecy holds. for he said he had seen the Lord himself standing by the altar, and as it were beginning the destruction, and commanding this very thing to happen. But God stands by the altar, not bestowing honor; for it is foolish to think this; since it is among the most absurd things to suppose and to say, that God bestows reverence and honor on the altars of idols; how then would he have honored the altar of the calves? But rather he stood by as one about to pull down and bring to the ground. For this very reason he has all but commanded the Prophet to begin the destruction, saying, Strike the altar, and let the gateways be shaken, he says, and let the temple henceforth be reeling, as being about to fall very soon indeed. And cut into the heads of all, that is, begin with the most prominent among them, and strike the leaders, who are also placed in the rank of a head to the others; and the remnant will perish mixed with them, and will follow the calamities of their leaders, they themselves also becoming the work of the sword. And similar to this is that also through the voice of Ezekiel to the six men, who were coming from the gate that looks toward the north, and carrying their axes they followed the man girded with the long robe, to whom it was said by God, "Go into the city after him, and cut down and do not spare and do not have pity; slay elder and young man and infants and women to a wiping out, but upon all on whom "is the sign, do not approach, and from my holy ones "begin." Do you see how He made the leading men the first-fruits of His wrath, that is, those who seemed to be venerable and holy, perhaps because they were also kindled with the glory of the sacred ministry, or in other words, were distinguished by certain other honors? For such men are, as it were, the heads of the others. But this has also happened to those who have acted insolently toward our Lord Jesus Christ. For since the wretched men, having cared little for the law and the prophets, did not receive Christ, who is the end of the law and the prophets, but, although knowing clearly that he is the heir, they cast him out of the vineyard, and finally crucified him, they have been given over to desolation to the Roman generals, and that famous temple has been burned, and the altar in it has been torn down, and the gates have been shaken down, and the leading men have perished along with the common people; for the war spared none of those among them. And each of the faithful, whether he be a temple of God, as having Him as an inhabitant, or whether he be considered an altar, as offering his own life as a sacred rite to God, if then he looks to indolence and provokes God, he will come to nothing, and will suffer a most terrible destruction. For the Lord is no respecter of persons, and "The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver "him in the day that he goes astray," according to what is written. He that flees of them shall not escape, nor he that is being saved of them be delivered. Though they dig down to Hades, thence my hand shall drag them up; and though they ascend to heaven, thence will I bring them down. Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, thence I will search out and take them; and though they sink from my eyes into the depths of the sea, there I will command the dragon, and it shall bite them; and though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. In due time, perhaps, then, will be said to those who hear these things what is sung to God through the voice of the blessed David: "Where shall I go from your Spirit? and "from your presence where shall I flee? If I ascend into "heaven, you are there; if I descend into Hades, you are present; if "I take up my wings at dawn and dwell "in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand "shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me." For the divine is all-seeing, and in addition to this, also all-powerful, and no one could escape the unsleeping eye. For He said, "I am a God at hand, and not a God afar off. Shall "anything be hidden from me?" But one could never go outside the calamity imposed on him as by divine commands, "For who shall turn back the high hand?" according to what is written. For what device will help us? Or what manner of help at all is there for us, when God decrees that we must suffer? That counsel and thought and every kind of device, therefore, are completely useless to those who have fallen under divine wrath, He makes clear by saying that one could not escape, even if he were hidden in Hades itself. And the saying is hyperbolic: even if he should fly up to heaven, and pass through to the peak of Carmel, yet wherever he might go, he will be caught. And if he should be in the sea, he will fall in with the dragon, that is, according to the Hebrew version, he will be given to the sea monster. And if he should be among enemies, and at last a captive, and wretchedly held in the yokes of slavery, even this, He says, will be a small thing, and not sufficient for his punishment. For the terror of the sword shall also be raised against him. And He will not cease, He says, the God of all, fixing His eye upon them. a sign of anger and threat. For at times we ourselves also fix our eyes on those who grieve us, looking at them with something fierce and unsmiling. But since God watches over both the good and the just, He clarifies the difference in His oversight, saying for evils and not for good. For he will look upon them, he says, not to bestow any good things, but so that they might have unshakable and, as it were, fixed the penalty and judgment determined for him. The wretched multitude of the Jews has also endured this, having inscribed the righteous blood upon their own head; for they said to Pilate, persuading him to crucify Christ, "His blood be on us and on our children." Therefore they perished with their entire households, and their cities were seized along with the men, so that perhaps no one was strong enough to escape. For what and how many things they have suffered, the lengthy writings of those who have composed such things sing. And the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, who touches the earth and makes it shake; and all who dwell in it shall mourn, and its end shall rise up like a river, and shall go down like the river of Egypt. Out of love, the Prophet does not allow his hearers to disbelieve what is said, as if it would not happen. This was to persuade them to choose to learn better things, and to hold what is useful in reverence, so that God might cease from His anger and draw back the calamity, and might receive them when they repented. For He always pities those willing to turn back. He teaches, therefore, that God is all-powerful, and not unable to bring to fulfillment what He has said. For he says, "The Lord, the Lord God Almighty, who touches the earth and makes it shake." It is as if he were to say, "Do not think that the one who has been grieved is like you." For the Master is not as a man, but is Himself the Lord of hosts, who lays his own hand upon the earth—that of the Samaritans, clearly—and makes it shake; and not at all preparing it to endure the usual tremor, but shaking it all with war and incurable calamities and causing it to be convulsed. For this reason he says, "Every one who dwells in it will mourn, and the end will rise up like the river of Egypt, covering and submerging everything; and so it will recede again, in the same way drawing everything down and carrying it away." And we said that he likens Sennacherib and the multitude of the Assyrians and the war raised by them against Samaria to the streams of rivers. Therefore, for those who offend and grieve God, escape will be impossible, and the smiting hand all-powerful and hard to escape, and for those once caught there would be no help or comfort; "For if He shuts a man in, who can open?" as it is written. But it is surely far better to put away anger by returning to what seems good and pleasing to Him. This would happen, and very rightly, if, forgetting what is behind and rejecting what is base, we were to make ourselves resplendent with progress in virtue. For then we shall swim through the things that come from wrath, and we shall easily change the Creator, who is good by nature, I say, to the point of deeming us worthy of a kind and most gentle oversight. Who builds his ascent into heaven, and establishes his decree upon the earth; who calls for the water of the sea, and pours it out on the face of the earth; the Lord God Almighty is his name. And with yet more words he terrifies those who depart from God, and drives them toward what is better, skillfully explaining the preeminence and omnipotence of the divine nature, and he tries to convince them that He will in every way and in all circumstances bring His words to pass, with nothing standing in the way. "For the one who touches the earth," he says, "and makes it shake," in the ways just now rendered by us; this is the very one "who builds His ascent into heaven;" he almost says, "The one who has all authority, so as to walk upon the heavens themselves and to possess dominion over all, so as to have the creation above and in the heavens laid under Him, that is, the blessed multitude of the holy angels." And we say the "heavens" are the angels who dwell in heaven. But it should be known that the divine Jacob also enigmatically the matter he has seen. For there was a ladder extending from earth up to heaven, and "The Lord," he says, "was set up on it," while he saw the angels ascend- ing and descending by it he saw the an- gels. This, I think, is "He who builds His ascent in heaven." But also whatever He may promise to those on the earth, he says, this is altogether unshaken and firm and as if founded. For in no way will the Lord of hosts grow weak, nor will a word from him fall through. And the Savior confirms us in this, saying, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." This is He who draws up the water of the sea by ineffable powers, and rains it upon the earth, that is again, He who orders human affairs, and is so powerful as to easily transform the natures of created things to whatever He may choose, and His name is the Lord God, and in addition to this, the Almighty. And this is not to be thought of as a mere name, as it might be in the case of a man, but as one rightly found from truth itself. For from His ruling essentially, and holding power over all things, He has been so named by us and by the holy angels. The purpose, therefore, of the Prophet is through as many means as possible, and in whatever way he could, to strike terror into the deceived, and to persuade them well to go back quickly, as it were, to consider righteousness a splendid thing, and to make piety towards God desirable again, powerfully checking the inclination towards what is more shameful by the terrors of the things to come. And this, I think, is what was rightly said through the voice of David to the Lord of all: "With bit and bridle curb the jaws of those who do not come near you." But "He who builds His ascent in heaven" might also be said of Christ, and very fittingly. For He is from above and from heaven, because He was begotten God from God according to nature; therefore He also said, "I am from above." And the wise John has also testified concerning Him, saying, "He who comes from above is above all;" but having essentially the ascent to the heavens—for it belonged to Him, as I said, as God—He has shown it to be accessible to those on the earth. For as "a forerunner on our behalf" He ascended to the Father, and as the divine Paul writes, "He consecrated for us a new and living way;" He appeared as a man "for us in the presence of God" the Father, who also "raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places." For since Christ ascended, He has built His own ascent for us also, if indeed the blessed Paul is truthful in saying, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and re- maining until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remaining shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." He ascended, therefore, as a man, so that the ascent which belongs to Him and Him alone—because He is God and from God—He might also show to be accessible for us who have be- lieved. He also establishes His own promise on the earth. For He has in no way been proven false, but rather will bring to accomplishment whatever He has promised to achieve for us. For He said, "It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but when I depart, I will send Him to you." Therefore He also commanded the holy apostles "not to de- "part from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father which" they had heard from Him. But He poured out the grace richly upon them. Therefore they also became "witnesses of his glory both in Jerusalem and in Judea," and in all the earth. And in another way we will find His promise established; for we have believed that He will also raise us from the dead, and will make us superior to corruption, and "He will transform the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory," and he will receive them as participants in his own kingdom. He it is who calls the water of the sea and pours it out on the face of the earth, that is, the one who transforms the bitter and unacceptable and things unfit for use into something beneficial. "For the letter," the legal one, "kills," as the most wise Paul says, and the shadow is in itself unprofitable, but it has become most useful to us who understand, for the comprehension that is in Christ, and it has been shown to be like a spiritual rain, watering in a way the earth under heaven; if indeed it is true that the law, once bitter and unbearable to the ancients, has become for us a tutor unto the mystery of Christ, so that we can also bear fruit in him, refining the thickness of the shadow into truth. Therefore we shall take what has been said as an example, bringing forth as proof also the water of Marah, that although it was bitter, it was sweetened, God having shown a piece of wood to the blessed Moses, and having commanded him to cast it into the waters. But the wood was an image and type of the precious cross, through which the law became sweet, and as it were, most drinkable, although the history holds bitterness; "For, as I said, 'the letter kills,'" or rather as the wise Paul has written to us. Are you not as sons of Ethiopians to me, O sons of Israel? says the Lord; Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from a pit? behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Those of Israel, always raising a high brow, continually recounting up and down the nobility of their fathers, and greatly stretching out their tongue, would say, "We have Abraham as our father." But they heard Christ saying to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." "For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, nor because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children." But the likeness of works and the ability to boast splendidly in the glories of the fathers justly bestows this. And they were arrogant towards all other nations, saying this also, that God made them chosen out of all the nations, and delivered them from the land of the Egyptians, and transferred them to the land of promise. And the statement is indeed true. But they who especially ought to have pleased the one who honored them with fitting returns, being outrageously insolent with complete apostasies and deviations into wickedness, were found to be so in many ways. And so the wretches have now come to this point of madness, as to think that for their well-being and for glory it would suffice them to be from the root of Abraham, and that they were transferred from the land of the Egyptians into the land of promise. Therefore, so that they might know that such boasts as these would be of no benefit to them, who have fallen into indolence and do not wish to be pious, he necessarily says, I will not consider you thus, even if you should happen to have nobility from your fathers, just as, of course, the sons of the Ethiopians, who do not have Abraham as their root? For the divine is impartial and completely without respect of persons, and it knows no carnal nobility devoid of good deeds; indeed it deems spiritual nobility worthy of all reverence, which would be attended by the love of being resplendent through brilliant achievements. But that also seems to you to be something great and exceptional, to have moved from Egypt to another land. Then what of this? he says, or what benefit will it bring you? Others also have this, having received it from me. For I transferred the Philistines, that is, the Palestinians; for so the Hebrews have interpreted; from Cappadocia; and the Syrians, that is, all those under the kingdom of Damascus at that time, I led from a pit. But it must be known that instead of 'from a pit' the Hebrews have published, 'of Cyrene.' Therefore the Palestinians have become colonists of the Cappadocians, and the Syrians of the Cyrenaeans. But he called it a pit Cyrene, although very elevated and situated on high, because it lies as if in a deep bay. For all the land of the Libyans, so to speak, has maritime bays, jutting out. Therefore, for me, he says, who looks upon all equally, the purpose is to cut off every kingdom of sinners from the earth. Therefore, fleshly splendor would not profit those who possess it. For nobility before God is judged to be a good character, one that has striven much for the pursuit of virtue, and has practiced contending with the pieties of one's ancestors. But I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says the Lord. For behold, I give the command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as one sifts with a sieve, and not a pebble shall fall to the ground; all the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, those who say, ‘The evils shall not draw near or come upon us.’ The remnant has again been preserved for Israel "for the sake of the fathers." For they will not endure complete destruction, he says, nor indeed will the race of Jacob be utterly wiped out. But as if scattered by a sieve, he says, they will be scattered among all the nations. but not a pebble shall fall to the ground, that is, the race of Jacob will not fall in such a way as to arrive at complete ruin, but will be saved in the part that has received mercy; for some were then brought back from captivity; and it has also been saved through Christ; for not a few in number from the Jews have believed; and the remnant will also be saved in the last times, after the flock of the nations has been called in first. Then, as if someone were saying, If Jacob is saved again, against whom are the threats? he usefully answers, and says, that the wrath will not be indiscriminate against all without distinction, nor will the effects of anger be indifferent, but will rather fall upon those who have sinned unbearably. This is the meaning of, By the sword shall all the sinners of my people die, who say, ‘The evils shall not draw near or come upon us.’ For some came to such a point of madness as to think that the holy prophets were speaking falsely, and indeed they were saying that none of the things foretold would happen. And the wise Jeremiah will also testify to this, saying to God, "Behold, these say to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come.'" Therefore, the sin of those so disposed was twofold: for they provoked in many ways, and they also thought that the truth was speaking falsely. And we shall find that at the time of the visitation the teachers of the Jews did not heed the words of our Savior. Therefore they also heard, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you yourselves do not enter, and you do not allow those who are entering to go in;" and again, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." Therefore, they were justly not counted as children, and having slipped from the nobility of their fathers, they were enrolled as if among the sons of the Ethiopians; and they have also been consumed by the sword, and for their own ill counsel they have paid penalties equal to the judgment. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen and rebuild its ruins, and its demolished parts I will raise up and I will rebuild it as in the days of old; that the remnant of men may seek out [the Lord], and all the nations upon whom my name has been called, says the Lord who does these things. He promised, saying that he would not utterly destroy the race of Jacob, but even if they were scattered in a way by a sieve; for they will become both strangers and sojourners, driven from their fatherland and homes, inhabiting a barbarian and foreign land; but they would not be completely crushed, nor indeed will they go away to complete destruction. For this reason he says that he will also raise up the tabernacle of David, although it has fallen, and he will raise up its ruins, as in the days of old, that is, for many days. He says that this will be a sign and an assurance to the other nations, both those near and those far away, that it is necessary henceforth to turn to God and choose to seek him, having marveled in some way at the greatness of both the gentleness of God and his strength. Therefore, if he should say the tabernacle of David, he signifies the race of the Jews, that is, the house of Jacob. But it must be known that when Cyrus released them from captivity, they then returned to Judea, and rebuilt the temple, and having fortified the deserted cities and repaired the houses in them, they have dwelt securely, although having endured wars from certain ones, such as Antiochus, I say, and Hadrian, they have not become captives again, nor indeed have they been laid waste, as they were by the Babylonians. So then, the historical account is in these things; but the inner and truer one would be in Christ. For when he rose from the dead, God the Father having raised his tabernacle that had fallen into death, that is, his flesh from the earth, then indeed then all human things were restored to their ancient form, and all our ruined things have been brought to a new appearance. "For if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation," according to the scriptures; for we have been raised with him. And death indeed tore down the tabernacles of all, but God the Father rebuilt them in Christ; and this will not be for us for a measured time, but for the days of eternity; for the good of incorruptibility in us is imperishable, and death will no longer have dominion over those saved in Christ. Then indeed then the remnant of men after those who believed from Israel have known the God who is by nature and in truth, having departed from that ancient and profane error. For it was not possible to prove Christ false when he said "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." And again, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself." On that very day, therefore, on which I will raise up the torn down and fallen tabernacle of David, all the nations will be called, and my name will be upon them. And that the things foretold will in every way and entirely come to pass, he has fully assured by adding, Says the Lord God who does these things. For if he is truly the Lord God, he will in every way and entirely do these things also, being weak in nothing. For he does "Great and unsearchable things, glorious and wonderful, of which there is no number." Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, and the plowing will overtake the vintage, and the grape will ripen with the seed, and the mountains will drip sweetness, and all the hills will be planted; and I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruined cities and dwell in them, and they will plant vineyards and drink their wine, and they will plant gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up from their land which I have given them, says the Lord God Almighty. He has clearly interpreted the very thing I was saying. And if someone should choose to make the narrative coarse and historical, he will say that again, that the return is clearly promised to those who have endured the captivity, and that they will possess their own land, having rebuilt cities and houses, and, being henceforth in a good state of prosperity, they will gather the good things from the fields, and will apply themselves to farming with gladness and joy, so that their labor in the harvests of the sweetest things becomes continuous, with the goods from the threshing floor coinciding with their vintage, and the vintage, in turn, extending again to the time of sowing, so that the farmer passes from the winepress and sickle and grape clusters to the plowlands of the plains, and having washed off the dust of the threshing floor, to take up the cares of the winepresses. But if we should wish to approach the contemplation of the things set before us in a more subtle and spiritual way, it would be fitting to reasonably think that. For since, as I said, Christ came back to life; for the Father raised the tent of David, and rebuilt its ruins, a great and abundant participation in spiritual goods has come upon all people, both Greeks and Jews; "For God is one, who has justified the circumcision by "faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." Therefore, a very great supply of spiritual fruits is given to those who have believed, which is very well signified through earthly fruits. For there will be, it says, an abundance of grain and wine. But we will now accept the grain for strength, clearly spiritual strength; for it is written that "And bread strengthens a man's heart," but in some way entirely spiritual and divine and from above; and the wine for gladness; for again it said, "And wine gladdens "a man's heart;" and we "rejoice in hope," according to the voice of the blessed Paul. And the mountains drip sweetness. Therefore, the mountains, as it seems, here he calls the churches of Christ, on account of the loftiness of the doctrines in them, and the excellence of their piety towards God, and because the mountains appear to be covered with various plants, while the churches of Christ have countless heads of saints, like cedars and the tallest trees, which are established by the outlets of spiritual waters. But just as in the most wooded of mountains, swarms of bees flying about produce the sweet and precious honey; so again also in the churches, those who are more distinguished than others and more mature in virtue and understanding, collecting the sweet honey of the teaching about Christ, practically make it drip even into the hearts of others. Therefore, the mountains will drip sweetness in this way, I think. And he said the hills will be planted together. But hills are like those who are second and have less in virtue than those who are exceedingly distinguished in it. For there are measures of holiness and righteousness in the churches, and as Paul says, "According to the grace given to each" by God who distributes such things. Therefore, these also will be planted together, he says, that is, flourishing and fruitful, and bearing a mind richly covered with the orthodoxy of divine doctrines. And that the God of all has restored our captivity, no one would doubt. For Christ proclaimed "release to the captives," and He rescued from the greed of the devil the whole world under heaven. Then indeed, then, like farmers, we became caretakers of all the spiritual fruitfulness, we planted gardens and vineyards, and we shall eat their fruit. For we shall receive the rewards for our labors, and we shall also gather the fruits of equity. And that we shall have an unshakable dwelling with God, and that no one could cast out those who are in the lots once given by him, he will make clear by saying, "I will plant them upon their land which I have given them, says the Lord God." "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable," and we will be established in every good thing, having Christ himself as our leader and festival-president; through whom and with whom to God the Father be the glory and the power with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.