Commentary on the Prophet Obadiah

Latin Text from public domain Migne Editors, Patrologiae Cursus Completus.

Translated into English using ChatGPT.

Table of Contents Prologue 1:1 1:2-3 1:4-6 1:7 1:8-9 1:10-11 1:12 1:13-14 1:15-16 1:17-18 1:19 1:20-21

Prologue

Prologue

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things (1 Corinthians 13). If the Apostle advances (or advanced) and, forgetting the past every day, stretches forward to what is ahead, and as according to the command of the Lord and Savior, he holds the plow and does not look back (Philippians 3; Luke 9): how much more should I, who have not yet reached the age of a perfect man, and have come to the measure of Christ (Ephesians 4), deserve forgiveness, because in my youth, provoked by zeal and enthusiasm for the Scriptures, I allegorically interpreted the prophecy of Obadiah, whose story I did not know. My soul was on fire with mystical knowledge, and because I had read that all things are possible for those who believe, I was ignorant of the different charisms: I knew the letters of the world, and for that reason I thought I could read a book with a sealed cover. How foolish I was, for the twenty-four elders holding golden bowls and harps, and the four living creatures full of eyes, rise up from their thrones and confess their ignorance, singing glory to the Lamb (Apoc. V), and from the root of Jesse's rod, and I thought I could do what I believed: in whose hand the Word of God did not take place, nor could I say: I have understood your commandments (Ps. CXVIII): nor did I remember his Gospel of beatitude: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matt. V, 8). I had not yet been lifted up from the charcoal of the altar, and my lips had been cleansed (Isaiah VI, 8). Not yet had the error of old ignorance been circumcised by the fire of the Holy Spirit, and boldly I spoke to the Lord: Behold, here I am, send me. I hoped to hide in my little writings what I had written, and I had dedicated the first rashness of my talent to the fires, when suddenly a copy is brought from Italy by a certain young man, as many years as I had once written, praising my little work. I confess that I am amazed that no matter how badly someone writes, they find a reader like themselves. He boasted, I blushed: he carried the mystical understanding to heaven, I, with lowered head, was prevented from confessing my shame. So what then? Do we condemn the things we played with as children? No. For we know about the tabernacle of God and the gold and the goat's hair that were offered in the same way. We read in the Gospel (Mark 12) that two small coins of the poor widow were approved more than the possessions of the rich. And so we have given what we had, and now, if indeed we have made any progress, we give it back to the Lord. For by his grace I am what I am (I Cor. XV). I do not deny that I have sweated in his work and labor for these thirty years. Clement is a father: he receives his returning son quickly, and does not wait until someone opens the door: he himself goes out to meet him, prepares a ring and a robe; although the jealous brother may envy and call him a wastrel and a grandson, the symphony of Angelic joy and all virtues resound in heaven for his salvation (Luc. XV). This is that time, my Pammachus, sweeter than this light, when we, having left the school of the Rhetoricians, were being carried away by different pursuits, when Heliodorus, my dearest, and I were seeking to live together in the solitude of Chalcis in Syria ((in Alexandria we wanted)); what I thought was hidden, became known. I will again go through the old traces, correcting, if possible, the curved points of the letters. I was a child, I had not yet learned to write: my hand staggered, my fingers trembled. Now, that I have accomplished nothing else, at least I have this Socratic saying: I know that I do not know. Your own Tullius says that certain things, begun and unpolished, have fallen from him as a young man. If he could say this about those books addressed to Herennius, as opposed to the ones about Rhetoric, which I consider to be very complete, in comparison to his old expertise: how much more freely will I declare, both that to be a characteristic of youthful talent, and this of mature old age! In his books, Septimius Tertullianus also suffered the same thing against Marcion, as did Origen in the Song of Songs, and Quintilian in his twelve books of the Institutes of Oratory. From these, it is clearly shown that each age is perfect in its own, and should be judged by the number of years. But now it is time to propose the beginning of Obadiah, and with the help of your speeches, to cross the rough sea and the winding currents of the world.

(Vers. 1.)

(Verse 1.) The Vision of Obadiah. They say that this is the Hebrew who, during the reign of King Ahab of Samaria, fed a hundred prophets in caves, who did not bow their knee to Baal, and of the seven thousand who Elijah accused of not knowing (1 Kings 18), his tomb, along with the tomb of the prophet Elisha and John the Baptist, is venerated in Sebaste, which was once called Samaria. Herod, the king of Judea and son of Antipater, called it Augusta in honor of Augustus Caesar in the Greek language. Therefore, because he had raised up a hundred prophets, he received the gift of prophecy, and from the leader of the army, he became the leader of the Church. Then in Samaria, he had fed a small flock; now he feeds the Churches throughout the whole world, and, as in the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen was crowned with martyrdom, so too this servant is called by the Lord. Moreover, the fact that he looks against Edom, does not see the burden, that is, the prophecy, and the weight of Edom according to the rule and distinction which we have written in Nahum, is due to the fact that either Edom, that is, Esau, is not reckoned among foreign nations, being the son of Isaac and brother of Jacob, whence his land is not given into the possession of Israel, nor is it allowed to wage war against it or to arm against his brother, or certainly it is a vision not of Edom, which he could have done if it were written so, but of Obadiah, that is, the servant of the Lord, whom he sees among the nations to whom the Lord sent a messenger. And to whom is it said: Rise up, and let us rise up against her in battle. For the destruction of Edom is the vision of Nahum. But if it is asked why it is placed in the title, Vision of Obadiah; and nothing afterwards that is seen is shown, according to that of Isaiah: I saw the Lord sitting upon a high and exalted throne (Isa. 6:1). And Ezekiel: The heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God: and immediately it is added: And I saw, and behold a whirlwind spirit (taking away) came from the North, and a great cloud, and a brightness around it (Ezek. 1:1ff.); but after the vision of Obadiah it is immediately added: Thus says the Lord to Edom. And again: Behold, I have given you among the Gentiles, we will take an example from Deuteronomy, in which not things, but words are seen: Take heed to yourself, and keep your soul earnestly, lest you forget the words, which your eyes have seen (Deut. IV, 9). And John in his Epistle says: That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life (1 John I, 1). And Moses says that he saw the voice of the Lord speaking to him (Exod. XX). Therefore, if what was said afterwards is inferred from the vision, and what is usually perceived by the ears is seen by the eyes of the mind, the one who sees rightly, because the prophets were previously called seers, indicates the vision by the title.

Thus saith the Lord God to Edom: A small prophet, by the computation of verses, not of meanings. Otherwise as in the three volumes of Solomon, the Song of Songs is as much briefer, so much more difficult. And concerning the Epistle to Philemon, what meaning it would have, we have expressed. Likewise, the Gospel discourse, when abbreviated, is narrower than the word of the Law with its lengthy works. Thus this prophet also, like a servant of the Lord, near Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses the servant of God, and the word of Christ as an apostle, sees and hears those things which are worthy of prophetic service. Many believe, according to the interpretation of the name, that this servant is the Lord, to whom it is said in Isaiah: 'It is a great thing for you to be called my servant' (Isa. XLIX, 6, sec. LXX), who emptied himself taking the form of a servant (Phil. I). But if we understand this in such a way, we must seek another envoy who is sent to the nations. And while we follow typology, we lose the most obvious prophecy. Therefore, we ask who this Edom or Idumea is, to which the Lord is now speaking through Obadiah. In the book of Genesis, we read that Esau, the son of Isaac, was called Edom because he sold his birthright for a red lentil stew (Gen. XXV). Edom is interpreted as 'red' in Greek. In the same book, it is written that he was also called Seir, meaning 'hairy', because he was rough and did not have the smoothness of Jacob. Therefore, he is called by three names: Esau, Edom, and Seir. He possessed the region that is now called Gebalena, which is located in the land of the Horites, who were called 'free people'. Hence, the city itself was later named after them. Therefore, what is called Edom in Hebrew () and Idumaea in Greek is now a small village in Palestine, named by its founder. Its Latin and Greek names are also mentioned in history. This is the place that Amos refers to when he says: 'For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.' (Amos 1:11). In Isaiah, we also read according to the Hebrew: The burden of Dumah calls to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? (Isa. XXI, 11). And Jeremiah, in the same prophecy, agrees with the same voice, saying: Is there no more wisdom in Teman? (Jer. LIX, 9). And so on to the end of his prophecy, where it is said: And the heart of the mighty men of Edom in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in labor. And with the order changed, and other things that seem to disagree, a great part of Obadiah is included in the volume of Jeremiah. These are the mountains of Seir against which the face of Ezekiel is strengthened, and it is said: I will make the mountain of Seir desolate and deserted. And a little later: You will be scattered, O mountain of Seir, and all of Edom. It is a long endeavor if I were to thoroughly elaborate on all the Scriptures and present them in detail concerning the mountains of Seir, especially Malachi, where it is immediately written at the beginning: Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau. And I will make its mountains a desolation and its inheritance a dwelling place for dragons. And if Edom shall say: We are destroyed, but we will rebuild the desolate places. Thus says the Lord of hosts: They shall build, and I will destroy, and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people whom the Lord is angry with forever. Therefore, since we have learned that the land of Edom is an adversary to the promised land, and Esau is an enemy to Jacob, and a people whom the Lord is angry with forever, we must understand according to the laws of tropology that this speech was made either against the Jews (who are rivals to Christians and persecute their brother Jacob, the supplanter of the firstborn), or certainly against all heresies and doctrines contrary to the truth, which may indeed seem close to us, but actually are adversaries and strive to expel the simple and inhabitant of the house of Jacob from their paternal inheritance. Furthermore, because Idumaea is interpreted as earthly, and because the color red can also be understood as bloody, therefore the Savior, accomplishing victory over the world, when the angels cried out, 'Lift up your gates, O rulers, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter' (Psalm 24:7). And in Isaiah they wonderingly asked, 'Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this beautiful one in his splendid robe?' (Isaiah 63:1-3). And they were speaking of the very same thing: Why is your garment red, and your attire like those treading in the winepress? He speaks in triumph, spreading the palms of his cross: I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the nations there is no man with me. There are those who refer Idumea to the flesh, and against its battle they think the soul is provoked, so that by mortifying our bodies upon the earth, we may attain eternal victory in Christ, conquering fornication, impurity, passion, and every evil of the flesh. The Jews dream in vain about this prophecy against the city of Rome and the Roman Empire, that it will come to pass; and that which is written in Isaiah, 'The Burden of Dumah,' with a slight change of the letter apex, can be read as 'The Res,' and it sounds like 'Rome': for the letter Vau is accepted by their language as a substitute for u and o.

We have heard a report from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent to the nations: Arise, and let us rise up against him in battle. LXX: I have heard a report from the Lord, and a message has been sent among the nations: Arise, and let us rise up against him in battle. Now, as we have said before, Edom is the same as Idumea, because in Hebrew the one who founded it is called Edom, and in Greek the city founded by him is named. Therefore, either Obadiah heard it, or all the prophets together heard it (for they all write against Edom) that a messenger has been sent to the nations, the mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, about whom the Father also speaks through Haggai: I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations shall come (Haggai 2:8). This is written in Isaiah, the Angel of great counsel and the Father of the future age (Isa. IX). But what is translated as 'legation,' that is, Sir (), the Septuagint translated as 'περιοχὴν,' that is, 'fortress,' we can say that he himself is our ambassador and he himself is our stronghold, saying the things that the prophetic word has woven together: Arise, and let us rise up against him, or her, in battle. The ambassador who is sent to the nations speaks these words: Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will enlighten you (Ephes. V, 14). In order that this battle may perhaps not seem burdensome and unusual to us (or you), you have me at first in the front line, says he. I will be the commander-in-chief of the battles, who also appeared wielding a sword before Jesus son of Nun: and I overcame Amalek under the banner of my cross while Moses was fighting (Exodus XVII). Jeremiah in a vision against Edom does not differ much from these: I have heard by hearing, says he, from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent to the nations: gather together and come against it, and let us rise up to battle (Jeremiah XLIX, 14). Sequitur:

1:2-3

(Version 2, verse 2) Behold, I have made you a little one among the nations: you are very contemptible. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, dwelling in the clefts of the rock, exalting your throne, saying in your heart: Who will bring me down to the ground? If you elevate yourself like an eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars: from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I have made you a little one among the nations: you are very dishonored. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, exalting your dwelling and saying in your heart: Who will bring me down to the ground? Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. Jeremiah, of whom we have mentioned above, agrees in almost the same words, saying: Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are utterly despised among mankind. Your arrogance has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who strive to grasp the height of the hill: though you soar aloft like the eagle, from there I will bring you down, declares the Lord. In prophetic interpretation, we must follow our custom, that first we lay the foundations of history, and then, if possible, we raise lofty towers and the peaks of roofs. 'O Edom,' He says, 'though you are the least among all the nations around, and small in comparison to the other peoples, you rise up in arrogance beyond your strength. And though you dwell in caves, or rather in the rocky caverns, humble and poor, and not possessing the lofty roofs of buildings, you are lifted up as an eagle to the heights, and you swell with such pride in your thoughts, that you believe yourself to dwell among the stars. Even if you could penetrate the heights of the heavens beyond nature, I would bring you down from there and bring you to the earth,' says the Lord God. But what is added in Jeremiah, and which you strive to understand, reveals the height of the hill, representing Mount Zion, and through this either the city of Jerusalem itself or the temple built within it. As for the eagle, it is known by those who discuss the nature of birds that it flies higher than all other birds. It is said to have such a keen sight that while it soars above the motionless sea with its steady wings, it can see fish swimming from such a great height and, when they are near the shore, descend like a weapon and drag its captured prey with its wings to the shore. If we learn history, let us follow spiritual intelligence. Although you, o heretic, may seem great and despise the smallness of the Church, you are nonetheless small among the nations, and contemptible, and not only contemptible, but also very contemptible with arrogance. The pride of your heart has lifted you up. For who among heretics is not lifted up in pride, despising the simplicity of the Church and considering faith as ignorance? Dwelling in the clefts of the rock, and exalting his throne. Although the rock is often seen as representing the Lord Himself or His steadfastness (hence the prophet says, He set my feet upon a rock (Ps. XXXIX, 5)) and is also said to Peter, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church (Mat. I, 8), yet it is often interpreted in the opposite sense: I will take away the stony heart, and will give you a heart of flesh (Ezek. XXXVI, 26). And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham (Matt. 3:9). Especially here, where it does not say dwelling upon the rock, upon which the wise builder builds his house, but in the clefts of the rock, in order to signify the heresies that arise from Christ the rock and from the Church. Moreover, what follows, ‘Exalting your throne,’ and, ‘Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?’ reveals the arrogance of a heretical mind, confident in its mysteries and its secrets, and insofar as it is able (but we should take this hyperbolically) promising itself the kingdoms of heaven. Where the Apostle writes to such people: 'Now you reign without us, and I wish you would reign, so that we may also reign with you' (I Cor. IV, 8). So also David speaks: 'They have set their mouth in heaven, and their tongue has passed through the earth' (Psalm LXXII, 9). If therefore they are exalted, like the eagle (for they also promise themselves a likeness to eagles, which are accustomed to gather around the Lord's body), and if they have set their nest among the stars, from there I will bring them down, says the Lord. For just as a father of a family, while sleeping, an enemy man oversows darnel among good seed (Matthew 13): so does that great eagle, (Ezekiel 17, 3), with its large wings, long body members, full of feathers and variety, which has the way of entering into Lebanon, and takes from the top of the cedar, and plants on many waters, so that shoot out into a vineyard, as plantings among the stars of the Church, concerning which it is also said in another place: But the just shall shine as the brightness of the firmament (Matthew 13, 43), they shall set their nest. I said above that this very thing, contrary to the flesh, can be understood as its strength being diminished in the coming of Christ, and it is contemptible, subject to the soul's rule, and is in vain exalted when it dwells in the caves of the rock, either in our senses or in our thoughts, and it desires to dominate the soul, exalting its own throne, and not believing that its works can be overcome. It is said to this, that although it exalts itself and imitates the lofty eagle, and deceives many of the saints, nevertheless it is overcome and cast down by the Lord. What we understand in heretics and in the flesh can also be understood against the Jews.

1:4-6

(Verse 4 onwards) If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, how would you remain silent? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? If grape harvesters entered your vineyard, wouldn't they at least leave some grapes for you? How deeply they searched, how thoroughly they investigated his hidden places! Septuagint: If thieves entered your house, or robbers at night, where would you hide? Wouldn't they have stolen enough for themselves? And if grape harvesters came to you, would they not leave some grapes? How Esau has been searched, and his hidden things have been discovered? Similarly Jeremiah, though with the order changed: If grape harvesters had come upon you, would they not leave some grapes? If thieves came at night, they would surely take what is enough for themselves. But I have uncovered Esau, I have revealed his hidden things, and they cannot hide (Jer. XLIX, 9, 10). What he is saying is this: If thieves and robbers who are accustomed to digging up houses during the night and stealing what is in the houses had entered your house, and, hidden in darkness, had searched through the corners of your house, surely they would have taken what they thought could suffice for themselves, and would have left something in your house, either from satiety or from ignorance. If grape gatherers had entered your vineyard, and if they wanted to either destroy it hostilely or harvest it because they were hired by you, even if their grape harvest had been diligent, still they would have left behind grapes hidden among the vines and leaves, among the stems. But all the enemies, who came to you at the command of the Lord (meaning the Babylonians and the army of Nebuchadnezzar), have searched all your secrets, and have explored the caves, and the openings of the caves, where you dwell. And truly, to say something about the nature of the place, the entire southern region of the Edomites, from Eleutheropolis to Petra, and Aila (which is the possession of Esau), has little dwellings in the caves. And because of the excessive heat of the sun, since it is a southern province, it makes use of underground dwellings. 'I have discovered,' he says, 'Esau, that is, what was pressed down on the ground I have brought out into the open, and everything that you were keeping closed up has been revealed, and while I was seeking your substance along with your enemies, no secrets could be hidden.' Otherwise, I think that thieves and robbers, who enter at night, because they are children of the night and of darkness, are heretics, preaching doctrines contrary to the truth, who steal enough for themselves and hasten to snatch away from the flocks of the Church daily. Those who enter the vineyard of our Lord (Psalm 79), which he transferred from Egypt of this age, and from whose offspring he promises to drink wine in the kingdom of the Father, desire everything to be shared, so that hardly any grapes are left on it. But on the contrary, the Lord acts: for all their secrets and hidden mysteries, and the craftiness of the patriarchs Esau (these are indeed the ones who first discovered heresies), he brings forth into the open through his saints and Churchmen and learned teachers, and his first victory is to reveal what was hidden and secret. And when it is said with admiration, 'How did Esau search out and discover his hidden secrets?' Look at Marcion and Valentinus, and all heretics, how in the teachings of demons, having seared consciences, they applaud themselves, and by composing deceptive speeches, they lead astray simple souls as if initiating them into divine mysteries. But when they bring forth in their discourse the thirty aeons, and the square and octad and twelfth and dualistic god, and the monstrous Abraxas, then the wisdom of Esau will be shown to be foolishness, and his secrets will be revealed.

1:7

(Verse 7) All the men of your covenant have sent you to the borders, they have mocked you, the men of your peace have prevailed against you, those who eat with you have set a trap under you: there is no wisdom in him. 70: They have sent you to the borders: all the men of your covenant have resisted you, the men of your peace have prevailed against you: they have set a trap under you: there is no wisdom in him. As we explained earlier, when Esau searched and discovered his hidden things, they are distinguished to the borders: so the meaning is that your hidden and secret things have been revealed to the borders. But it seems better to us that he be joined with those who came later. Therefore, when Nebuchadnezzar came (of whom it is said in Jeremiah against Edom: Behold, like a lion he will ascend from the pride of the Jordan to the strong beauty, because I will make him run suddenly to it (Jer. 49:19): And then: Behold, like an eagle he will ascend and fly, and will spread his wings over Bozrah, and the heart of the mighty men of Edom will be like the heart of a woman in labor on that day (ibid. 49:22)), all those who were previously allied with Edom and had been in the garrison of the most proud city, left him and joined the enemies against him, and set traps for him: and they prevailed against him, and then it was made known that there was no wisdom in Edom: while he hoped in those who were shown to be his adversaries. Otherwise: When the hidden things of Esau, and as it were magnificent sacraments, by which previously the people had been ensnared, have been brought forth into the midst, so that the ecclesiastical man is able to say: For we are not ignorant of his cunning (2 Cor. 2), they will leave the borders of Edom, and abandon him, and migrating as far as the borders of the Church, they will bring forth the most wicked doctrines. Then they will mock and resist their former teacher, saying that what they had learned is false: they will prevail against him, and the learned ones in the faith of the Church will refute the false doctrine. Those who once ate with heretics will pose questions about the Scriptures, They will lay snares for the Idumean and the worldly, and they will be carnal in all things before the fleshly teacher (for we read about heresies that are counted among the works of the flesh in Galatians 5), and then it will be shown that there is no understanding in Edom.

1:8-9

(Verse 8, 9.) Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy mighty men shall be dismayed, O Teman, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. Septuagint: In that day, saith the Lord, I will destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau. And thy mighty men, O Theman, shall be afraid, that every one from the mount of Esau may be cut off by destruction. When thy despoilers have seized thy borders, and all the men of thy league have mocked thee and have acquired strength against thee: then shall wisdom perish out of Edom and his subtlety shall be made foolishness. Moreover, the Lord will also take away prudence from Mount Esau, that is, from the mountains of Seir, either because the city of Idumea is situated on the mountain, or because all that region which borders on the south is desert, situated high on the mountains. Hence it is also said: Your warriors will be afraid, O Theman, which we interpret as the south. However, as I said above, Esau is called by three names: and likewise, the region of his kingdom, which borders on the south, is called by three names, Darom, Theman, Nageb, which all, according to Ezekiel, signify the south, the west, and the south. But when the strong men of his kingdom who dwelt in the South shall truly fear, then a man from the mountain of Esau, who both used to fight for the city and to wisely give counsel, shall perish. Otherwise: After those who were previously deceived have been converted to the Church, then, with the Lord Himself fighting, the wise men of Edom, who had a taste for worldly and earthly things, shall perish, and wisdom shall be taken away from the mountain of Esau, which was exalted against the knowledge of God. And those who previously fought for Esau and the dialectical art of Edom, and were in the garrisons of Teman, which means completion, will cease to fight for their former masters. Whether those who had promised themselves the light of knowledge and thought they were at noon, will fear and be afraid, with a scholarly man mastering their sophistries: to such an extent that no one will remain who is able to fight, either with the counsel of the king or with warrior men, against the pride and false teaching of the heretics.

1:10-11

(Verse 10, 11.) Because of the killing and (the Vulgate adds 'because of') the wickedness against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall perish forever. On the day when you stood against him, when strangers captured his army and foreigners entered his gates, and they cast lots for Jerusalem: you were also like one of them. LXX: Because of the killing and wickedness against your brother Jacob, shame shall cover you, and you shall be taken away forever. From the day that you stood against him, when foreigners captured his strength and strangers entered his gates, they cast lots over Jerusalem, and you were also like one of them. Therefore, a man from the mountain of Esau will perish, and wisdom will be destroyed from Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau, because you have killed your brother and acted unjustly against Jacob, when the Chaldeans and Babylonians laid waste to Jerusalem, besieged the city, entered its gates, and cast lots for its treasures. You were their ally and counted among the enemies. Otherwise: you, bloody, earthly, ruthless Edom, will suffer all the things that have been written above, because you have killed your brother Jacob, speaking false and deadly doctrine and speaking impiety against the Lord. We read in Solomon: There are those who speak and kill with the sword (Prov. 25:18). And in another place: The venom of asps is under their lips (Ps. 140:4). And, Their tongue is a sharp sword (Ps. 56:5). Therefore, shame will cover you, and you will say: Shame has covered my face (Ps. 69:8), and you will perish, not for a short time, but forever. For you struck your brother with an eternal wound. But this will also be the cause of torment: for when foreigners were devastating the army of Jacob and entering through its gates into the formerly peaceful Jerusalem, and casting lots to divide its spoils among themselves, you were one of the enemies. We read, we see, and we daily experience that when persecution arises against the Church, the persecutors of Jews and heretics become much worse towards Christians than towards pagans. We can bring foreign ingredients through the gates of Jerusalem, that is, speak evil thoughts, and through the gates of Jerusalem, that is, the soul at rest and seeing God, interpret the five senses through which the enemies enter and divide Jerusalem. If we see a woman to lust after her (Matt. 5), death has entered through our windows (Jer. 9): if we receive lies and the judgement of blood through our ears, the enemy has entered through another gate. Also, the sense of smell, taste, and touch, if it has been captivated by various odors, sweet food, or delicate embraces, enter through other gateways, and divide the spoils of miserable Jerusalem. Therefore, at that time when someone falls from the Church due to the onslaught of persecution and deadly pleasures, we see heretics rejoicing, Jews being glad, and them being counted among the persecutors and included in the number of the Gentiles.

1:12

(Verse 12.) And do not despise the day of your brother in the day of his journey. And do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, and do not boast in the day of distress; nor enter the gate of my people in the day of their ruin. LXX: And do not despise the day of your brother in the day of strangers. And do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; and do not speak proudly in the day of distress; nor enter the gates of the nations in the day of their labors. The same sentiment as above: When the man from Mount Esau is destroyed, on account of his killing and wickedness towards his brother Jacob, and eternal confusion covers him, he will by no means do what he did before against his brother; for he will not despise or scorn, seeing his brother go into captivity; nor will he rejoice over the sons of Judah. Indeed, two tribes, except for the Levitical, which reigned in Jerusalem and were called Judah, were captured by the Chaldeans. And you will not boast greatly, and thinking yourself to be one of the victors, you will laugh at the distress of your brother. Nor on the day of the devastation and ruin of the people, will you walk through the gate of Jerusalem with glory. And for this reason, you will not do these things, because you will suffer similar. Otherwise, when you see your brother taken captive by different persecutions, and being led away bound from the faith of the Church, not pursuing his own city, but all foreign things, you will not rejoice at all, because you will suffer similar. For you rejoiced when Jacob was captured and when the sons of Judah, whom we understand to be the disciples of Christ, were brought low on the day of their destruction. It is signified, however, that the soul is placed in the midst of vices and virtues, and can be turned in either direction in the space of a moment. 'You shall not magnify your mouth on the day of distress,' he says. This we should understand in two senses: the bodily distress in persecutions and sins, and the spiritual distress when the soul, captured by its enemies and vices, is led into Babylon. Nor shall you enter the gate of my people on the day of their ruin: for when either denial or pleasure oppresses us, and an unfortunate conscience does not preserve the former rigor, then we easily slip into contrary doctrines, flattering our error and not caring for the wound, but touching it. It is a solace of misery, although lost, to have something to hope for.

1:13-14

(Verse 13, 14.) And you shall not despise them in their adversities on the day of their destruction, and you shall not send forth your army against them on the day of their destruction. And you shall not stand at the exits to kill those who flee, and you shall not capture the survivors on the day of their distress. LXX: And you shall not despise even their assembly on the day of their ruin, and you shall not put your strength against them on the day of their ruin. And you shall not stand at their retreats to kill those who have been saved from them, and you shall not capture their fugitives on the day of their trouble. When you yourself have been captured and destroyed by the Babylonian, among the other things that you have done, do not do the following: Do not despise or scorn your brother Jacob on the day of his devastation; do not join the army of the Babylonians or fail to send against the army of Judah when it has been defeated by the enemy and turns its back. And when they start fleeing along their familiar paths, detours, and roads leading to the wilderness, do not stand at the crossroads or wait for them at the intersections to kill those who have been set free and to release the others who have been captured; and either you yourself will be captured or you will keep watch over the captives of the enemy. We have said these things according to history: for we must briefly grasp the clearer things, and proceed to those which are obscure. Who despises the ecclesiastics of heretics? Who does not rejoice in their misfortunes, if at any time they are handed over to persecution due to the sins of the people, and many, either weak in faith or sown on stony ground, fall into denial? You may see them rejoicing, finding pleasure, considering our downfall as their own victory: to such an extent that they join with the nations, and a more furious persecution arises, either from the Jews or from those who pretend to be our brothers and are considered by the same name. And when someone, whether by flight or by repentance, has escaped, they stand in the byways and propose sophisms and testimonies, as if they were presenting them from the Scriptures: so that, worn out and exhausted, they offer stitched pillows and place them under every elbow. And thus it happens that those who perhaps have overcome persecution either by strength or by fear, deceived by false teachings, are held again in the prison of errors, and this tribulation becomes much worse than that which was from the Gentiles; for it is easier to free someone captured by pagans than one entrapped by the tricks of heretics.

1:15-16

(Verse 15, 16.) For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, so shall it be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. LXX: For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head. For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, all the nations shall drink wine continually: they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But you, O Idumea, will cease to do these things because the vengeance of the Lord will come upon you. For if, according to Jeremiah, they who were not deserving of judgment drank from the cup, you, though innocent, will not be left innocent, but you will drink. Furthermore, what he says, 'The day of the Lord is near against all nations,' let us read the same in Jeremiah, and we will see the cup of the Lord being passed to all nations. Where it is said in the same: The golden cup Babylon in the hand of the Lord making all nations drunk. Indeed, the Assyrians and Babylonians held all the nations as far as the Propontis, the Scythian Sea, and the Ionian or Aegean Sea. Let us read Herodotus, and Greek and barbarian histories, and we shall see how this which is said, 'The day of the Lord is near upon all nations,' was fulfilled among the Babylonians and Assyrians. But what follows, 'As you have done, it shall be done to you; your recompense shall return upon your own head,' has the same meaning as we read in the Psalm: 'Remember, O Lord, the sons of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, when they said, 'Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!' (Psalm 137:7 et seqq.)' Therefore, the prophet curses Babylon by saying: 'Daughter of Babylon, miserable one! Blessed is he who will repay you according to your deeds, which you have done to us. Blessed is he who seizes and dashes your little ones against a rock. Just as you have drunk with the Babylonians on my holy mountain, Zion, and rejoiced, so all the nations that the Babylonians had as allies will turn against you and drink, and they will rejoice.' Not only will they drink your blood, but they will suck you in so much that the Edomites will be as if they were not: or at least the same nations, when they will have sucked you in, will be sucked in by the Medes, and this revenge will proceed in a circle, so that you, Israel, the Babylonian, will consume Babylon, the Medes, and the Persians. Let us follow the order of interpretation. The day of the Lord is near, O heretic, over all nations: the time of judgment is near when all nations will be judged. Just as you have done against the church, your pain will turn against you, and your wickedness will descend upon your head. For how you have rejoiced in their death, and celebrated a feast, and on my holy mountain, that is, the Church, you have drunk not from my cup, but from the devil's: of whom it is said in Habakkuk, 'Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk' (Habakkuk 2:15): so too, all the nations, or opposing powers subjected to punishment, or every opposing virtue, will drink and consume your blood, and in the end, when torment comes upon all, they themselves will be as if they do not exist. For he who perishes, is counted as not being, and he who said to Moses: I am who am sent me to you (Exod. III, 14), according to the rule of the Scriptures, is said not to be. Hence, we also read in Esther: Do not give, O Lord, your kingdom to those who are not (Esth. XIV, 11). We can interpret this passage differently: Because you have rejoiced in the ruin of my servants, the same persecution will come against you also, and you will suffer for whatever you have done. And just as you rejoiced against my people with the rest of the nations, so all nations will rejoice against you, and they will devour and drink, and crush with a similar persecution.

1:17-18

In mount Zion, there will be salvation, and it will be holy and possess the house of Jacob, those who possess it. And the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau straw. They will set them on fire and consume them, and there will be no survivors in the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken. The Septuagint version: In mount Zion there will be salvation, and it will be holy, and possess the house of Jacob, those who possess it. And the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau will be stubble; they will set them on fire and consume them. There will be no survivor for the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken. The land of Edom will be a devastation; every ally will plunder it and there will be no survivors from it, for the LORD has spoken. The survivors of the house of Jacob will possess the land of Mount Zion. There will be deliverance and holiness, and the house of Jacob will possess their inheritance. The LORD Himself will return to the temple, which He had previously forsaken because of their sins, or it will be completely holy, that is, the Holy of Holies. And the house of Jacob shall possess Zorobabel, and Esdras, and Nehemiah, those who have inherited. And the house of Jacob, that is, Judah, shall be fire, and the house of Joseph, that is, the ten tribes, shall be flame. For from Joseph was born Ephraim, from which tribe the kingdom of Samaria arose; but the house of Esau, that is, the Edomites, who were so fierce and cruel against their brother, shall be turned into stubble. And just as fire and flame quickly devour stubble, so the two kingdoms under the rod of one alliance, according to the book of Ezekiel (Ezek. XVII), shall lay waste to Edom and consume it, and there shall be no remnant of the people who can announce the overthrow of their adversaries to neighboring nations. This is indeed what the LXX translated as πυροφόρον, which we render as Frumentarium, according to the language of ancient discourse; for they called those who are now called Agentes in rebus or Veredarios, the Ancient Frumentarios. But it is better to follow the Hebrew itself, that is, Sarid (), which means either remaining, according to Aquila, or escaping, according to Symmachus, or according to Theodotion and the fifth edition, residue. But all these things will be done because the Lord has spoken, and what He has commanded, He has done. Otherwise: With the works of the flesh destroyed, and the earthly rule laid waste, there will be salvation in the Church for those who have not come forth from their mother. And in her will dwell the holy one, of whom it is said in Isaiah: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts (Isaiah 6:3), for both the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are from one. And the house of the supplanter Jacob will possess those who had possessed themselves as heirs, making Christians out of the persecutors, and receiving even the Edomites into the faith of the Church. But the house of Esau will be turned into stubble. And just as fire cannot sustain the proximity of straw, so the argument of Jacob, which is inflamed by the word of the Lord, cannot be sustained: for the words of the Lord are tested by fire (Ps. 17:31), and the flame of Joseph, who is interpreted as 'increase' (Gen. 37), because he was sold to his brothers and fed the people in Egypt, will not be able to sustain the house of Esau: but at the first encounter, their sophisms will be turned to nothing. And they will be devoured for their own salvation, according to what is said in the blessing of Isaac to Esau: 'But I have made him your lord, and have subjected all his brothers to him as his servants: and with grain also will you serve your brother' (Gen. 27:37). And there shall be no remnant of the house of Esau, when all things shall bow to Christ, of those in heaven and on earth, and under the earth (Philippians 2), and all things shall be subjected to him, so that God may be all in all. But because Esau had built upon the foundation of Christ with hay, wood, and straw (1 Corinthians 3): therefore the house of Jacob and Joseph shall be turned into fire and flame, imitating their Lord who says: I am a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24), so that the pure wheat may be gathered into the barns after the chaff of sinners is consumed. All the things we have said, and all the things we are about to say, the Jews promise for themselves in the future, when they will accept the Antichrist instead of Christ, fulfilling the prophecy of the Lord Savior: 'I came in the name of my Father, and you did not receive me: if another comes in his own name, you will receive him' (John 5:43). And whatever we have interpreted against Edom, they dream against the Roman kingdom: what we say is either already fulfilled according to history under Zorobabel, or certainly according to prophecy, and mystical understandings happen daily in the Church, and are fulfilled in the kingdom of the soul against the flesh, in each individual. But we say that the frumentarium, according to the allegory, ceases among heretics when there is no one among them who boasts of having the grain of wheat, which is dead in the earth, and the bread from heaven. There are those who think that it is not πυρφόρον, that is, frumentarium, but πυρφόρον, that is, one who can carry a little fire, as translated by the Seventy. Therefore, agreeing with the various interpretations, we will say according to the allegory that not only the frumentarium will cease among heretics, but also the one who pretends to have the light of Christ. For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11).

1:19

(Verse 19) And those who are in the South shall inherit the possessions of Esau, and those in the plains shall inherit the possessions of the Philistines. They shall possess the region of Ephraim and the region of Samaria, and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. LXX: And those in the Negeb shall possess the mountain of Esau, and those in the Shephelah shall possess the foreigners, and they shall possess the mountain of Ephraim and the plain of Samaria, and Benjamin and Gilead. And Judah, who dwelt in the South and possessed the entire region according to the division made by Joshua the son of Nun, which extends toward the Scorpion, that is, toward all the Acrabatene, those who were previously confined to narrow boundaries shall possess the mountain of Esau, that is, the mountains of Seir and the mountains that Edom previously possessed. But those who dwell in Sephela, that is, in the plains, namely Lidda and Emmaus, the city of Diospolis, and Nicopolis, shall possess the Palestinians, five cities of the Palestinians: Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Ekron, and Gath, or all that region which is called Sharon in the Acts of the Apostles. Others, however, think that this Sephela, that is, the region around Eleutheropolis, is promised: that they should extend as far as Rhinocolura and the sea, that is, not only hold Eleutheropolis from the tribe of Judah, but also reach the coast, and subject the Philistines to their rule, whom they had not previously subdued. The border of the sons of Judah will also extend to Ephraim, where Neapolis is now, and to the region of Samaria, where Sebaste is founded. But Benjamin, whose borders immediately extend northward from Jerusalem, will possess all of Arabia, which was formerly called Gilead and is now called Gerasa. According to the Septuagint, those who will be in the south will possess Mount Ephraim, the plains of Samaria, Benjamin, and Gilead. Whether this has been fulfilled, God alone knows; it could have been completed in part up until the coming of Christ over a period of five hundred years. As I am absolutely certain, it is being fulfilled daily and confirmed in the kingdom of the Church. For those who dwell in the south, that is, in Negeb, and live in the light, and those who hold the plains and the lowlands, that is, his disciples, to whom he says: Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart (Matt. X, 24), they shall possess the mountain of Esau and the Philistines: whom we can understand in the person of the pagans on account of the pride of their teachings and secular eloquence. So that on the mountain there are teachers, in the Philistines, and foreign disciples, who are led by the authority of the teachers. And not only the mountain of Esau and the strangers, but also the region of Ephraim and Samaria will possess. We often read about Ephraim and Samaria in Hosea, and we have interpreted them in the heresies that divide the Church under the name of Christianity. For it is there that abundance is hoped for, and there they promise to safeguard the faith. Furthermore, Benjamin, the son of the right hand and virtue, will possess Gilead, which is interpreted as the migration of testimony, signifying the carnal Israel: for from them the testimony of the Lord has migrated to us. But Benjamin and Gilead, those who were in the south, will possess it, according to the Septuagint.

1:20-21

(Verse 20, 21.) And the migration of his army, the sons of Israel: all the Canaanites as far as Zarephath (or Saraptam). And the migration of Jerusalem, which is in the Bosporus, will possess the cities of the South. And the saviors will ascend Mount Zion, to judge the mountain of Esau: and the kingdom will be the Lord's. LXX: And this is the beginning of the migration for the children of Israel: the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the migration of Jerusalem as far as the Euphrates, will possess the cities of the Negeb. And those who were saved shall ascend from Mount Zion, to punish the mountain of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. In this place, our translation differs greatly from the Vulgate Edition, so we must follow the Hebrew truth in the exposition of the story. Those who returned from Babylon according to the volume of Ezra and Nehemiah shall be rightly called the migration. The whole army of the children of Israel shall possess the Edomites, the Philistines, the mountain of Ephraim, and Samaria to the south, west, and north. Benjamin also, because it is adjacent to solitude, will specifically obtain Gilead. However, all the things that are in the land of the Canaanites, will be ruled as far as Zaraphath of the Sidonians, where the widow once fed Elijah (4 Kings 7). Moreover, those who were transferred from the very city of Jerusalem to Sapharad, which we translate as the Bosporus, will possess the cities of the South, which are in the tribe of Judah: for they have returned to their city, they will obtain those things that are near to the city. And when these things have been accomplished, just as in the book of Judges, the Lord sent saviors who would save the people from captivity: so they will ascend and come to Mount Zion, to judge and discern, like a subject and obedient mountain to themselves, the mountain of Esau, that is, the Edomites. And once all are subjugated, there will be a kingdom for the Lord. Where we have placed Bosphorus, in Hebrew it has Sapharad (), which I do not know why the Septuagint wanted ((or could)) to translate as Ephratha, since Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion all agree with the Hebrew truth. But we have learned from the Hebrew, who instructed us in the holy Scriptures, that the Bosphorus is called thus: and, like a Jew, he says: this is the region to which Hadrian transferred the captives. Therefore, when our Christ comes, that captivity will also return to Judea. However, we can understand any place of the kingdom of Babylon, although I think it refers to something else. For it is the custom of the prophets, when they speak against Babylon, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, and other nations, to use many words of their language and to preserve the idioms of the provinces. Therefore, since the Assyrian language's term, which is called Gebul in Hebrew, is said to be Sapharad, I guess that this has the following meaning: The migration of Jerusalem, which is divided in all its boundaries and regions, will receive its own cities of the south, that is, its own tribe. But as for what we have interpreted, and the saviors will ascend, and the Septuagint translated, it is written in Hebrew as Mosim (): those who have been saved, not as Aquila, and Septuagint, and Theodotion passively saved, or being saved; but according to Symmachus, they are to be understood as actively saving. Indeed, those who are saved, that is, rescued, are called Phelistines in Hebrew. For according to the story, as we have been able to interpret, we have steered our little ship among rocky cliffs: let us unfurl the sails of spiritual understanding, so that with the Lord blowing and revealing its mysteries, we may joyfully reach the harbor. At the time when Benjamin possessed Gilead, the migration of the army of the sons of Israel, or certainly the beginning of the migration of the former carnal Israel, will occur, so that it may reach the land of the Canaanites, and the prophetic discourse that was at risk of famine in Judea, having dried the skin of Israel, may pass to the dew of the nations: and there it may feed and be fed, while it is received by believers and also feeds believers themselves. Sareptha, or composed of two, and interpreted as the narrowness of bread: or it is one word, and transferred to fire. Canaan, however, is turned into a commotion, that is, motion: or certainly it is called a merchant and a lowly one. Therefore, when the sons of Israel shall have forsaken the letter of the West and shall have come to the enlivening spirit, they shall move all things that are of the Law. He shall trade for many pearls one most precious pearl, and having set aside the pride of the Jews, he shall follow Christian humility, and shall come even there, where previously there was trouble of bread, and a widow woman was barely sustaining her orphan son deserted by his creator, and where all his sins and vices shall accumulate. But the captivity or transmigration of Jerusalem, where once there was a vision of peace, and which is now dispersed throughout the whole world, will possess the cities of the south, that is, the Churches of true and perfect light, and the repentant bride will say: Where do you pasture, where do you lie down at noon? (Cant. II, 6). And when Joseph is received into his ancient brotherhood, he will be intoxicated with the blood of the shepherd and prince. And if we read it according to the Septuagint as Ephratha, there is no doubt that it refers to the faith of Christ. For Ephratha is interpreted as καρποφορία, that is, fertility, and it is called Bethlehem, in which the heavenly bread was born. With these things being done, the saviors, or those who have been saved from the remnants of the Jewish people, will ascend to Mount Zion to judge and avenge the mountain of Esau. Just as the Lord calls his apostles the light of the world and says, 'You are the light of the world' (Matt. 5:14), and the very rock granted to Peter that he might be the rock, so too the good shepherd bestowed names upon his shepherds, and whatever is said of him, he assigned to his servants to be said. Thus, the Savior himself willed his apostles to be the saviors of the world, who ascended the watchtower of the mountain of the Church and, by casting down Jewish arrogance and all the mountains that stood against the knowledge of God, prepared the kingdom for the Lord.


Following these two little exercises, I have relied on the authority of the ancient authors, and especially the Hebrew explanation, and have dictated with haste in my own language, and have opened my mouth: but I do not know if Christ fulfilled it. Therefore, a wise reader should seek the consistency of the meaning more than the elegance of the language. For we do not dictate with that smoothness and arrangement of words with which we write. It is one thing, my dear Pammachus, to often change one's style and to write down what is worthy of memory; it is another thing to dictate, with prepared notes of the scribes, whatever comes to mind in a state of embarrassment. In this, both the prophet and the young men have played, and the old men have presumed. Whoever has spoken truer and better things, follow his opinion.