Commentarii in Isaiam

That is, on the one hand those being introduced to the faith, and on the other those who are superior in virtue and knowledge. According to the passage, "The Lord blessed the small with the great." And David also says: "Let the aged with the younger praise the name of the Lord." For John too, revealing the ages in Christ, writes to little children and fathers and young men; and, he says, a little child, an infant, shall lead. The word "shall lead" is said instead of "shall gather." And this too, along with other things, can be seen in the churches: the majority of those presiding over them, through simplicity of soul and guilelessness, differ in no way from infants. Nevertheless, they are leaders of those gathered together from every race. And he says, the ox and the bear shall feed together, and their young shall be together. For it is of farming men and wild men, poor and rich, wicked and good, that the children come together in the Church. Perhaps he calls them children because of the like-mindedness and shared faith of those mentioned. And the lion, carnivorous by nature, fed on chaff, of a grass-eating animal

In the same way, he would again be a brutish and savage man, rejoicing in the bare letter of the divine Scripture, which the Word calls chaff. For reasonably the meaning hidden within is fire, and the Word is the nourisher of souls. Furthermore, in addition to these things, a little child, such as was the one mentioned a little earlier, will, he says, lay his hand harmlessly on the den of asps and on the lair of the offspring of asps. These things indicate the bodies of those troubled by demons, in which spirits that lurk and crawl and are venomous, as it were, lie in the dens of the senses of the body. But these things the child of Christ, a certain simple man and one who is childlike in evil, drives away by the power of the Savior, and lays his own hand on those unable to do any harm, because of the one who came forth from the root of Jesse, who gives his children authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions. And you will understand the dens and lairs of asps also as the hiding places of heretics, on which those who are childlike in Christ lay their hand harmlessly, since Christ makes their bites and venom ineffective. And he calls the holy mountain the Church, exalted in life and doctrines, and possessing the proclamation of the heavenly Word. But so that we might not understand the mountain in Judea, he added, that the whole earth was filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the sea; thus indicating the Church throughout the whole inhabited world, which possesses pious knowledge, overwhelming all the saltness of the evil of this life as with a great stream. And at the time, he says, that is prophesied, the one who will rise from the root of Jesse, that is, after the resurrection from the dead, will rule over the nations.

For he will not be king of the Jews, nor like David and his successors, over some small corner; but he will rule over all the earth, and on him the nations will hope, in agreement with what is said in Moses: There shall not fail a ruler from Judah nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes to whom it is reserved. And he himself shall be the expectation of the nations. But there, he said the tribe; here, he says the family from the root of Jesse, the father of David; for the tribes were divided into families. And the beasts spoken of beforehand figuratively, he now clearly calls nations. Instead of "he who rises to rule the nations," Aquila rendered, "who rises as a sign for the peoples"; and Symmachus, "who rises as a sign for the nations." Therefore the nations that have believed in him carry about the seal of his passion and the saving sign. And his rest, he says, shall be honor. According to Aquila and Symmachus, glory. Very consistently with the beginning and middle of the economy, he makes clear what the end will also be like: not calling it his death, but rest and honor, when the body rested for a short time, which is indeed the end of the economy toward men. For he said to the Father: "Father, glorify me with the glory which I had with you before the world was." For he has been glorified by enduring the cross for us, and as he goes to it, he says to the Father, "Glorify me." And again: "Now the Son of Man has been glorified," and what follows. For by the folly of those who dared it, it was a reproach, but by the resurrection it came to glory. For the passion was not, as they supposed, involuntary. And in another way: His rest is Christ himself, the honor of those who honor him.

Through these things they confess the Word of God and wisdom and power, signifying his sameness of nature and equality of honor with the Father and his eternal existence. You might call it rest, and the rest with which he gives rest to those who love him. As it says elsewhere, Those who love me I will glorify. For the rest with which the Lord gives rest is honor, which will be distributed according to the righteous judgment of God in proportion to the worth of what has been done. For there are many mansions with the Father. And one star differs from another star in glory. And here too, those in whom he dwells he makes all honorable. For if anyone, he says, hears my words, my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling in him. He will arise, therefore, not only to rule over the nations. But indeed he will also grant them, for honor and glory, the rest that is among them. 14. And it shall be in that day that the Lord will again

show his hand, to make zealous for the remnant left of the people, whatever is left from the Assyrians, and from Egypt, and from Babylon, and from Ethiopia, and from the Elamites, and from the rising of the sun, and from Arabia, etc. Having made mention of the faith of the nations in the one from the root of Jesse, he also remembers the portion of the Jews. So that it might not seem that he holds the coming among them to be without benefit, which he makes clear through the words: In that day the Lord will again show his hand, to make zealous for the remnant left of the people. In place of which Aquila says: The Lord will again a second time his hand to possess the remnant of his people. And Symmachus says, a second time.

For just as he freed them when they were suffering in Egypt by bringing his wonder-working hand upon the Egyptians, so again he will set it in motion through wondrous works on their behalf, in order to gain them and to make the remnant of the people zealous, concerning which the saying foretold, "Unless the Lord Sabaoth had left us a seed," signifying the portion of the apostles and of those who believed from Israel. This remnant indeed came to be according to the election of grace, out of the whole dispersion of the Jews among the nations, for those who warred against them in various ways. For those who believed everywhere are called a remnant according to the election of grace. He says that he will also glorify them, reasonably so. For through these the Churches everywhere were established. And the divine Gospel was proclaimed to the nations, with God bearing witness to them by signs and wonders, and glorifying it among all who believed. But some say the remnant is that which was preserved from the enemies, for whom the signs in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and through the Son, and through the Judges were not sufficient for the knowledge of God. Therefore he will add his hand at the visitation, so as to bring the remainder of the people to zeal, that he may not yield it to the nations. Likewise Christ is inscribed as their leader, who indeed says through the voice of David: "But I was established as king over them, on Zion, his holy mountain." For he said that he had come to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And he commanded his own disciples not to go in the way of the nations. But since Israel, except for a few, did not receive him, and grace passed over to the nations, the first have become last, and the last first.

Therefore also now the prophet, having made mention of the first from among the Gentiles, placed after them those from Israel, as one who has been placed at the back among the rest, according to the divine David. But this, he says, the remnant will lift up as a sign among the nations, and before all it will gather the lost of Israel; for to them first they preached. These the Savior calls sheep that are lost, in agreement. And who will gather them, but the choir of the apostles, or the one rising from the root of Jesse? For into one Church he gathered those who formerly were set in opposition to one another. For they were divided in two, in Jerusalem and in Samaria; and the sign which he lifted up is that concerning which the Savior says, "And they will see the sign of the Son of man," clearly calling the cross, through which the world has been crucified to the saints, and they to the world. Now the prophecy, signifying the power of this, and for whose sake salvation through the cross gathers the faithful from the four ends of the inhabited world, with the extremities of the whole being joined to the middle, and the power in the middle reaching its limit toward the four parts. For the parts of the cross are divided fourfold, through which they are gathered, it having power to destroy principalities and authorities, which, having stripped them off on the wood, he triumphed over; which Paul, one of the lost of Israel, understanding, says: "But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of Christ"; and from the history, a matter intelligible to the prophet became an occasion.

For just as Judah and Ephraim, having been taken captive, and then having obtained release, no longer dwelt in separation, but all in Jerusalem, no longer having their rule divided, but all under one Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, who was of the seed of David and of the tribe of Judah, and under Jesus the son of Josedek, who was also high priest. So now, the precious cross having been raised up, there has been release for those in the noetic captivity, and a running together of all into the unity of faith, and having been freed from the unclean spirits, they came together into the Church of Christ, the noetic Zion, that is, Jerusalem, serving under one king, Christ, of whom Zerubbabel was a type, bringing back Israel from captivity, and Jesus the great priest. For in the same person Christ is understood as both king and high priest, holy, guileless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and higher than the heavens, according to the voice of Paul. Who for the sake of the whole nation accepted the cross, gathering together both Judah and Ephraim. According to Caiaphas, who prophesied because of the priestly office. And not only for himself, as John says, but that he might also gather into one the scattered children of Jesus. For he has become the peace of all, having broken down the middle wall of partition. And the phrase, They shall fly in ships of foreigners, and they shall at the same time plunder the sea, hints at the course to the Gentiles by land and sea, not those who use Jewish pilots, but those to whom the word of Christ has been entrusted, or simply the Gentiles. For Paul, going through the sea, said: I have spent a night and a day in the deep.

Luke says that he embarked on an Alexandrian ship with the sign of the Dioscuri. For they always used to paint images of gods on the prows, as even now they do of holy martyrs. With reference to this, the prophecy concerning the foreigners was reasonably given long beforehand. And they supposed the Dioscuri to be saviors of those who sail. And at the same time, he says, they plunder the sea, calling the islands thus. For passing through them on their way, they were proclaiming the good news to those who lived there. Just as Paul did to those living in Melita, when he was hastening to Rome. And having worked many healings there, he brought many over to piety. And in another sense, they will plunder the sea, prevailing over the dragon and those enrolled under him, taking the deceived as their own spoils. For by "sea" here one must understand the place of affliction, which we have learned elsewhere is also called the valley of weeping. And these are said to plunder Idumea as well, prevailing over earthly matters. And Moab, which is interpreted "from the father." To whom the Savior said, "You are from your father the devil." Upon these they lay their hands, taking them as subject through good action. And the sons of Ammon will hear first. For those who are lesser in wickedness receive the worse into obedience to Christ. And Ammon is interpreted "a people with us." But according to the history, the nations now listed were hostile to the God honored among the Jews at the time of the prophet. Hence he set them out by name, as also those who would receive the worship of God. And these nations are among those inhabiting Arabia.

For the disciples of Christ filled these regions with churches of God, when they extended their own hands and the deeds performed through them to Arabia. And since they were neighbors of the Jews, it is likely that they also received the proclamation first. However, neither the Hebrew nor the rest of the translators contain the addition of "first." 15, 10. And the Lord will desolate the sea of Egypt, and he will lay his hand upon the river with a violent spirit, and he will strike seven valleys, so that one may pass through it in sandals, etc. The present passage is not about Egypt; for the prophecy concerning it is separate. And before this, "The Vision of Egypt" has been written. But it is consistent with what precedes, since the one from the root of Jesse will deliver these also, who are most superstitious, together with those nations about which he was speaking in Judea, from their error, because the disciples from Jerusalem were chosen by election, and nothing will stand in their way. For long ago, when the nations were implacably disposed toward one another, for those wishing to cross from one to another there was no safe road. Much more so if they also attempted to disturb established order. But God [directed] the course of the apostles everywhere

Wishing to make it unimpeded, he abolished the partial dominions and, bringing all things under the Romans, subjected them—a symbol of the dissolution of the polyarchy that comes from demons—and showed forth one commonwealth and one rule, just as also one Church and one faith. It was then, indeed, that Caesar Augustus, having taken the field against the Egyptians, subdued them, when God by a violent south wind drained the water of the river toward the sea, through which they thought Egypt would become impassable for Caesar even without a battle, because of both the abundance and the breadth of the lakes produced from it, which, flowing down from above, it forms in the lower regions through its seven mouths, through which it discharges into the sea—which the prophecy calls "clefts." And again the prophet himself teaches us this, saying: "Thus says the Lord of Hosts: And the Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea. But the river shall fail and be dried up," and the things that follow. It is agreeable to divine Scripture also to call the lakes themselves "seas." And it calls a most violent wind the bringing on of the south wind against the waters, so that the mouths of the Nile were dried up to such an extent that one could even cross them in sandals. Some of those among the prophets hold that some things are to be understood literally and others allegorically—for example, literally, Jesse, but figuratively, the rod from his root; and literally, the nations, but figuratively, those things which were indicated by wild beasts in what came before. And in the passage at hand, they say that Egypt is the perceptible land of the Egyptians, which the Lord has said he will not lay waste; and the sea that is dried up is the multitude of idolatry.

For the Hebrew text indicates this, and the other editions of the translators say in agreement, and the Lord will curse the tongue of the sea of Egypt. For the word is accustomed to call "sea" either the multitude of the impious, or the flood of wickedness, filled as it were with salt waters. Therefore it also says that the dragon dwells in it. For David also says other things that are in it: "And the dragon which you formed to play with him." And now, therefore, the word through these things makes clear the tongue of the impious, who long ago did not know God, as Pharaoh said: "I do not know the Lord, and I will not send Israel away." This, then, it says he will curse, so that they may not strengthen their error with an Egyptian tongue, but may learn to speak the oracles of God, and to swear in the name of the Lord Sabaoth, which indeed it says as it proceeds: from this point the oracles among them are silent, and all sorcery and error ceased after the coming of the Savior among those who formerly favored Egyptian ways. And for the river to be seen struck, we will take our starting points from what was said earlier, because this people did not want the water of Siloam, which goes quietly. Therefore behold, the Lord brings up against you the water of the river, the strong and the great, the king of the Assyrians. So then also now the prophet makes clear the kingdom in Egypt that has existed from of old, just as he himself, having gone before, interpreted it in the case of the king of the Assyrians. And Ezekiel also allegorically speaks of the rivers of Egypt, which Pharaoh boasts that he made. But the desolation of evil things, brought in at an acceptable time, is a benefit of God.

You would not be wrong to call the first Roman ruler who brought down the kingdom of Egypt a violent wind. After that, certain partial rulers were appointed among them by the Romans in Egypt, both civil and military, now called pharanges, on account of the hollow, just as also lower than the whole former rule in it, which he called a river. And the number seven presents the multitude of rulers in Egypt. When these things had happened, the country became passable to those who proclaim the good news. For he calls these the people left in sandals crossing the river, perhaps because it was said to Moses and to Joshua to loose the sandal from the foot, because the ground on which they stood was holy; but Egypt is not such, but profane, and they are commanded to tread the river wearing sandals. And it is dried up, conquered by the violent

Spirit of God. Therefore the soil of Egypt is unworthy to receive bare the footprint of the holy ones who pass through. Hence also those who eat the Passover secure their feet with sandals. But let one who has arrived at the holy place take off his sandals. Therefore also it was said to the apostles not to take up sandals. And it shall be, he says, for Israel as the day when it came out of the land of Egypt. For then, they say, they passed through the Red Sea and the river Jordan wearing sandals. But some say that they will likewise be delighted, crossing the river on foot, and making the way of the Egyptians unobstructed everywhere, and singing the song which the prophet sets forth, being similar to "Let us sing to the Lord, for he has been gloriously glorified." CHAPTER 12, the 5th. And he will say in that day:

I will give thanks to you, O Lord, because you were angry with me, and you turned away your wrath, and you had mercy on me. Behold, my God, my Savior. I will trust in him, I will be saved in him, and I will not be afraid; for the Lord is my glory and my praise, and he has become my salvation, etc. For in proclaiming the Gospel to the Jews in the synagogues, and in making churches from the conversion of the Gentiles, they taught those who were benefited by them to sing a new song. For as if the river that was formerly among them had been destroyed, and the sea that was tossed with waves, they say: Behold, my God, my Savior; I will trust in him. And I will not be afraid, since those who hindered piety have been destroyed. And instead of the demons of old, the Lord is my glory and my praise. You were angry with me, he says, confessing, as one who suffered justly when he turned away from God. And he sets forth the forgiveness of sins that was given through Christ, saying: You turned away your wrath, and you had mercy on me. For often a person is forgiven, being left once to be carried along with Egyptian things for a time to enjoy some of his own folly, so that he may reap what he sowed badly. But having received mercy through being recalled, he sings the present song. And this is similar to: "I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him." And to: "For he will not be angry forever, nor will he be enraged for all time." And perceiving the benefit, and saying, "You were angry with me, and you had mercy on me," he says: Behold, my God, my Savior. But neither those who do their almsgiving before men, nor those who seek glory from one another, can say that the Lord is my glory and my praise.

But those who seek the glory that comes from the only God, and that of the command, "Let us not become vainglorious," not transgressing the commandment. And when God promises, "Those who glorify me I will glorify," it is clear that whoever glorifies God rightly is glorified by him. For Moses' face also was glorified, because he knew well how to glorify God. But no one who holds mistaken opinions about God has acceptable praise. For it is one thing both to praise and to glorify rightly. And we possess each of these, having been shown mercy by God. For the grace given to us was not according to the works that we did, but according to his great mercy. And in another sense, the things in Egypt are like those at the time of the visitation: for freedom has come from slavery, then from the perceptible Pharaoh, but now from the intelligible one. Then water was changed into blood, but now it has become salvific through holy baptism. Those who pursued Israel were drowned in the Red Sea; but through the holy disciples they were taught to swim through the waves of the present life and the surge within it. Then there was a terrible hail; now the divine rain has descended into their mind, producing fruitful results. Then there was deep darkness; but now there is light in Christ. The Egyptians mourned their firstborn; but now the firstborn from the dead has saved them, as once the firstborn of Israel. How then was it not fitting, in these circumstances, for those who rejoice to hymn the giver of these things? And God, being ready for recompense, repays those who glorify him genuinely with spiritual gifts, saying, "And you will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.

Anyone will understand this when he hears the Savior saying, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers from his belly shall flow with living water. He said this concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were about to receive." And again: "Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst forever. But the water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water leaping up to eternal life." Therefore the springs of salvation are either the holy apostles, or spiritual words rained down from the Holy Spirit. And the prophetic words too were called springs of Israel, as David says: "In the churches bless God the Lord from the springs of Israel." But if the people who practiced idolatry are accused—"They abandoned me, the spring of living water"—it is clear that the believer, being watered with divine doctrines, draws water with gladness from the springs of salvation, from which the Egyptians are prophesied to drink, and those who ministered the saving drink to them. And the gladness of those who drink this is set forth by "My soul thirsted for God, the strong, the living"; for as much as one thirsts, so much does he rejoice in drinking. He draws water with gladness who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. "For the mouth of the righteous will meditate on wisdom." For by seeking rightly, understanding the spiritual meaning of the Scripture, he will draw water with gladness, and he will find the Word of God, the living water, who through the Spirit made the apostles springs for all who do not know him. Concerning whom David says:

The springs of the waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were uncovered." For Christ is the chosen stone for the foundations of Zion, said to have been laid by the Father—that is, of the Church. For through faith we are built upon him as a spiritual house, into a holy temple, into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And the stones after him—that is, the foundations of the world—are those who through the preaching hold us fast toward steadfastness in faith and truth. It should be noted that the present passage makes mention of Jesus our Savior, according to the Hebrew tongue, which always contains "Jesus" in place of "Savior." In the phrase, "Behold, God is my Savior." And in the phrase, "He has become my salvation." And in the phrase, "from the springs of salvation." For it was fitting for the prophecy concerning the one from the root of Jesse to apply the name of Jesus the Savior. For he was the one prophesied. After these things he addresses the evangelists, telling them what they must say to those being made disciples out of Egypt: "Sing," he says, "to the Lord; cry out his name." He said to command these things to others, when they themselves have been filled with the spiritual drink. And the cry is a voice that has a magnitude able to penetrate even to those far off. Cry out, then, instead of: do not think small things about God; but theologize about him with a great mind, so that the word may become audible even to those far from salvation, because of the clarity of the teaching. This he makes clear through what follows, saying, "Declare among the nations his glorious deeds. Tell of his marvelous works." That is: show to the foolish the order of the world, so that they may be brought to the love of the Creator.

He calls "high" all the things he has made in heaven and on earth, both intelligible and perceptible. Or it is about the goodness in us, that he exalts those who have been brought low and are crushed in heart. For those brought low by their own sin he has raised exceedingly high in glory. Some say that the one who has just now been initiated into the mysteries is speaking the words that follow, who, having drawn from the springs of salvation, advanced so far as to display an apostolic ministry to others, and to sing, saying, "The Lord." And to whom does he command to cry out? He added, saying: "Declare among the nations his glorious deeds." For how is the reformation of the human race not glorious—the overthrow of demonic tyranny, the freedom of captives, the recovery of sight of the blind, justification, sanctification, adoption as sons of those formerly fugitives from God, knowledge of God, the dead being raised, lepers being cleansed? Those in weaknesses were strengthened; demons were driven out; he calmed the swelling sea; in these things, he says, you exult, who dwell in Zion, who have firm faith in the Church. For Zion is the evangelical

the word, on which the Church of God has been built. Since, therefore, the Holy One of Israel was exalted in the midst of the Church, rejoice, you who have him in your midst; according to the saying, "Where two and three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." He was exalted, then, in the midst of her, even if he became man, taking the form of a servant, being shown forth as true God from his works to those who do not know him. And by the name of Israel and Zion, he leads those of the circumcision to cheerfulness, through their thinking that it was said concerning them, as though they might take care of the present book, inasmuch as it declares the finest things concerning them. CHAPTER 13. 21. The vision against Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz saw. On a plain mountain raise a signal. Lift up the voice to them. Do not fear. Encourage with the hand, open, you rulers. I give command, and I lead them. They are consecrated, and I lead them. Giants are coming to fulfill my wrath, rejoicing and at the same time insolent. The voice of many nations on the mountains, like many nations, etc. He begins another subject, after the things declared concerning Christ, having seen nine visions against foreign nations, beginning from Babylon. With these he has also encompassed the valley of Zion, having summoned together the people of the Jews with the foreigners, and he made mention of those nations which alone continually attacked the Jews.

Therefore he comforts those who have suffered evil, proclaiming the good news of the punishment of those who treated them badly, and of the recall from captivity, so that, since the prophecy has come to fulfillment, they might become steadfast concerning God, who both brings judgment and declares beforehand before it happens. But the good things of the knowledge of God he proclaims as good news not to Jews only, but to all the nations. And at the beginning of the whole book, having begun the prophecy concerning Jerusalem, and now having made the beginning of the nations from the Babylonians, he came back again to Jerusalem. Thus there is no partiality with God, who began from his own and ended with them. But the Assyrians ruled the inhabited world for a thousand three hundred years, until, having besieged Jerusalem, they became inhuman toward those they captured, not giving glory to the God who handed them over; and they impiously dedicated the sacred vessels to idols. But prophetic vision comes both through the mind and through the inner eyes, as those who see things to come as though present, God illuminating the mind, not undergoing ecstasy, as in the case of demonic activity. For those men do not see the phantasies that arise in them, but overlook them, like the demon-possessed who behold mountains and rivers, men and beasts that are not present, none of which is a vision, but a derangement of the mind that has lost its own proper activity. But God says: "I have multiplied visions." And when he grants a vision, he does not blind the mind, which he himself made; but illuminating it, he makes it more translucent by the presence of the Spirit. Therefore they called the prophets "seers," as though the vision had been intensified in them with respect to the mind.

Who then made the one seeing and the blind? The one, being a prophet; the other, through wickedness blind toward the future? For profane eyes do not see the visions of the blessed. Therefore he says: "For judgment I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind." And to the prophet the name of the Father is attached, the Word showing that he has also become his teacher of prophecy, having cared for his holy upbringing and education. What then is Babylon, against which the vision has come? According to the history, it is the place where the tongues of the tower-builders were confounded. For the name is interpreted as "confusion." But according to the spiritual sense, it is a mind confounded by its own evils, always fighting against God and fashioning foreign doctrines, and exalting itself along with what seems right to them. The prophet therefore says, leaping upon the Babylonians: On a plain mountain lift up a sign. For since they used those from Israel without measure, even if they were handed over to them because of idolatry, God is reasonably indignant, and through Zechariah he says: "I have been jealous for Jerusalem and

…Zion with great zeal, and with great wrath I am angry against the nations that attack; because I was angry a little, but they themselves joined in for evil." And to Babylon he says: "I have given them into your hands, but you did not give them mercy." Because he handed her over to Cyrus king of the Medes and Persians, to whom he says in Isaiah: "Thus says the Lord to my anointed Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him, and cities shall not be shut. I will go before you, and I will level mountains. I will break bronze doors, and shatter iron bars." Therefore, having conquered, he released Israel from captivity, and rebuilt the temple. Accordingly Jeremiah, having spoken about the capture of Babylon, and how a nation from the north came up against her, added to these things: "In that time the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah shall come together. Walking and weeping they shall go, seeking their God." And again, having said, "I will avenge against the king of Babylon," he added: "And I will restore Israel to its pasture." The prophet therefore calls out to the Medes and Persians, as those who have already taken control of Babylon, to raise on high the symbol of victory, having set up a manifest trophy over the wretched city, about which he himself says: "How has the hammer of all the earth been taken and shattered?" Indicating her cruelty and greed. Wherefore finally those from Israel were handed over to them, having intensified their impiety, whereas formerly they were handed over to the neighboring nations. And he called the hill country a "level mountain." For at a moderate height was the setting up of the trophies.

With regard to the meaning, he shows how the power of those who bring about confusion is captured, when we go up to a mountain that is not steep, but so as to have height through its elevation and to provide safety for those standing on it through its levelness. For he wishes us to think both things about God—things lofty and things safe. But he who proclaims the things concerning the cross with a loud voice thus raised the sign upon the mountain, being able to magnify the word concerning the passion, delivering it with smoothness and clarity concerning the things promised; and concerning such things he added: "Lift up your voice." That is, take the height of voice from yourselves, stirring up the resources that exist within you from common notions toward the glorification of God. For the one who looks downward and is earthly has a lowly voice concerning God, dwelling as it were in a ravine. For every passion with which one proclaims makes the voice lowly. Let us not then yield—not to fear, not to gain, not to temptations—so that our proclamation may be lofty. But according to the literal sense, he exhorts the Persians to shout against Babylon and to sound a victory cry. And perhaps he also exhorts them to take courage for the battle against these. For this—"do not fear"—makes clear that God is victorious, even with unfightable power. Then, he says, "encourage with the hand." For in war, intentions are signified rather by nods, since no voice suffices for the tumult. And in another sense, the one who offers encouragement to the afflicted through good works consoles poverty with a giving hand. For by giving more, he will encourage, urging by word that poverty be endured nobly.

He urges them to open the hand to such people, which signifies sharing, according to the saying, "When you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness." He wants the rulers to do this first, so that they may become a pattern for those under their hand. It is necessary also to open the closed things of Scripture to those who do not know them. This the scribes did not do, though they held the keys of the kingdom. For such rulers hold the keys of knowledge. Hence Paul says: "Our mouth has been opened to you, Corinthians." In the literal sense, he exhorts them either to open the gates to the Babylonians, as already conquered, or to holy powers joining with the Persians. For demonstrating the invincibility of his hand, he says, I arrange, and I lead them; or in the contemplative sense, he says that we must perform what pertains to power. For the one who leads them is the Lord, who arranges each one in the body of the Church according to his own worth. To these he adds, as many as he leads against Babylon. They come as giants. Rejoicing, as being confident that they will prevail. And despising their opponents, as weak; which he called hubris. He threatens also in another way the arrival of certain fighters against God for the judgment of those who transgress, wishing his own people to flee from these, he led them up to a level mountain, giving them the sign as a safeguard.

And he suggests the preparation through good works—to encourage the afflicted with the hand, and to open the mouth to those willing to learn, so that they may escape the giants who are for the most part ranged on the side of evil, whom David seems to indicate when he calls them evil angels, who rejoice when we are scourged because of their cruelty, and counting our pain their own enjoyment, they insult us, though they do only as much as God permits. The voice of many nations upon the mountains, and what follows. He shows the mingled voice of those in war—of men, of horses, of the victorious, of the fleeing. This voice, he says, is not such as to be thought the voice of a few men, but of very many rulers and ruled—Babylonians lamenting, Persians shouting in triumph. These he also calls warriors, and a nation coming from afar from the very north itself, and from the regions under it. As advancing according to the will of God, he calls them his own. And he says the inhabited world is being destroyed, not the whole of it, but the land that is before us, perhaps also indicating its great size and multitude of people, and contrasting the desolation that follows its capture. It is likely that these things also reveal the voice of the various nations in the Church, which he also called a plain mountain, giving it ample space for the gathering of the multitude, as they ascend to the height of the knowledge of God and have one voice of faith.

Being one in harmony, it resembles many, because it was divided into tongues of fire by the Holy Spirit upon each of the apostles when they were about to proclaim the Gospel to all the nations, whose elect he calls kings, as being sons of the kingdom. And from the phrase, "The Lord has commanded a warrior nation to come," we are taught that punishments are brought on by the judgment of God, and that one must not fear the one who strikes, but rather entreat the one who commands; nor should we imitate those who say impiously that sacrifice ought to be offered to evil spirits, as though we were appeasing their wickedness. For whether you serve them or not, they must do what is commanded, using the measure given to them. And their panoply is set against that of the righteous. For the one side has the shield of faith; the other, of unbelief. The one, the sword of reason; the other, of unreason. The one, the breastplate of righteousness for safety; the other, of injustice. For these, helmets of salvation; for those, of destruction. For these, feet ready for the Gospel of peace; for those, swift to shed blood. These are also from the earth, far from God, and far from this life, led from there to punishment. For those who cooperate with us in the things pertaining to salvation are fellow dwellers and neighbors. But Providence has used their cruelty for our healing, as a physician uses the venom of a viper for those who are handed over not to the spirit but to the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved. And Phygellus and Hermogenes were handed over to them, not for destruction, but that they might be taught not to blaspheme.

The same people are also [called] "from the ends of the earth," because they chose the earthly region, and "from the height of heaven," from which their first fall came. Then he says: "Wail, for the day of the Lord is near"—as though nothing of lamentation were left to the Babylonians. But when God shakes their souls into cowardice, every hand will be loosened, and every soul of man will be cowardly. For at that time all things are unprofitable for hindrance. For one will turn away the high hand, as it is written; and otherwise, in response to God's threat, the wailing and lamentation through the armed warriors is commanded, by which one may appease God; for being philanthropic he threatens, and he turns away the threat from those who repent. For if he did not will the repentance of the sinner, why did he proclaim the threat to the Ninevites? For from him comes the crushing, the things worthy of one who destroys with crushing. As he crushes Satan under the feet of the righteous, and "the Lord crushing wars," and "the Lord crushes the cedars of Lebanon"—the arrogant and those who exalt themselves against the truth. But it is necessary, having anticipated the Lord's crushing, to crush one's own proud heart, so that its humility may become a sacrifice. For in relation to God as one who punishes, every hand is weak and every soul cowardly. And "of man," they say, he added reasonably. For the soul of angels is superior to cowardice, but that of irrational animals is inferior. For it is frightened, but it is not cowardly. For cowardice is a deficiency of the doctrines that come from courage.

He says that the ambassadors will be thrown into confusion—the worshippers of idols, who, in all likelihood, when the things expected concerning Cyrus were at hand, were prophesying favorable things and bringing supplications to the demons, acting as ambassadors on behalf of the land. But they will be put to shame when the opposite comes to pass, and they will lament to one another. For this is what they will bring about—perhaps a "woe"—and they will utter words of disaster. And from their despondency their faces will be blackened, so that they seem to be the remnant of ashes that has wasted away; or else he indicates the redness that comes from shame. For a time is coming when the inexorable wrath of God will lay waste the whole land of the Chaldeans and will destroy the sinners from it—that is, it will destroy all who are sinners. For he does not make a distinction for the righteous who are in Babylon. And in proportion to the magnitude of the disasters, he fills the human mind with darkness and gloom, whether the time of day happens to be at hand, or night is lit by the moon and stars; for this reason he says these things: "they shall be darkened"—not by nature, but because those who are despondent suppose they see thus. And the phrase "I will command evils" is either instead of "I will threaten," or "I will order them to be brought." And by "Orion" he indicated the bright ones among the stars. But in another sense, among the Hebrews this star is so called, and those who translated it rendered it according to the prevailing custom among the Greeks. And in Job too the Scripture says, "the Pleiad and the Evening Star and Arcturus, and the treasury of the south"—again, things so called by the Greeks. But some explain the aforementioned passages in this way, because evils are said to be against the whole inhabited world.

For, they say, since the discourse is about to make a partial threat against Babylon, it first sets forth the universal judgment of God, relating in general what the impious will suffer; then in this way it proceeds to the partial punishment of Babylon. But speaking for now of the general judgment, it says: "On a plain mountain lift up a sign." This the prophetic spirit brings forth from the person of God the Word, and commands the angels around him to open the closed doors, and to urge those within to come forth, and to hasten to the punishment of the impious. By these things it is likely that a place set apart for opposing powers is indicated, existing as a kind of prison for them. And perhaps this is the abyss which the passage "dragons and all the abysses" indicates to be filled with dragons, into which the demons begged not to be sent before the time, as knowing that there would be a time for this? And such powers he calls giants, either as being souls of giants, or of the angels who came down from heaven, from whom the giants were born when they mingled with the daughters of men, or also other apostate powers bound until the time of judgment.

But when the judgment-seat of God shall come upon them, he will send, as he himself says, his angels with a great trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the uttermost part of heaven to the uttermost parts thereof; and he will bring the punishments upon those who are to be punished as it were through the agency of the opposing powers, having commanded the angels about him to loose their prison, so that going forth they may take vengeance on the impious, they themselves also being about to receive their own judgment. And a mountain in the plain, he called the region around the earth, and every dwelling-place of men, where he enjoins that the sign be given of the judgment of God that is about to be inflicted

(concerning which he perhaps says, And they shall see the sign of the Son of man) and with a loud voice to summon them to the tribunal. Then he says, Comfort with the hand; open, you rulers. In place of which Symmachus says: Move the hand, and let them open the doors. It is clear that this is from the outermost darkness, in which they happen to be confined. They would not have gone out, had the judge not commanded it. And he adds that those who are called are as giants. In place of which Aquila and Symmachus have rendered mighty men. And he calls the punitive powers powers. For the Scripture, speaking concerning the Egyptians, sets this forth: "He sent upon them wrath and anger and affliction, a sending by evil angels;" whose cruelty toward those who are punished it makes clear, calling it their joy and insolence. These things, then, they say concerning these matters.

Next he speaks about the nations that will be judged, who will utter cries, confessing against themselves, lamenting their own misfortunes—both subjects and kings—because of the warriors who by God's command destroy the inhabited world. These he called giants who long ago were far off, and as it were shut up in the foundations of heaven. These, called at the appointed time, destroy the whole inhabited world of the wicked, after the separation of the righteous. So also in the Gospels, after those on the right were called to the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, the threat of fire was brought forth against those on the left. Having said these things about the coming judgment, since its time is not yet, he calls sinners to repentance before it takes place, urging them to weep over their own evils. For the day of wrath foretold will come, he says, and it is near. But great is the time since it is said to be near, since all the prophets testified to its nearness, so that no one, having fallen asleep, might be found unprepared as though it were delayed. And who are the ambassadors who are troubled when the day of the Lord comes upon them? It is clear—those whom the Lord hinted at in a parable. "For a certain nobleman," he says, "went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return." Then, after speaking about the ten minas given to the servants, he says: "But his citizens hated him, and sent ambassadors after him, saying, We do not want this man to reign over us." And how could he not be noble, who has his existence from the substance of the Father?

And the man according to the Savior, being born of the seed of David, could be called noble. He therefore journeys into a far country, not so much distant in place as in the condition of affairs. For God is near to the good, but has removed far from those who transgress. He, seeing the world subjected to the tyranny of the devil, had compassion on men and deigned to become their king. For he must reign until he puts his enemies under his feet. He therefore came into a country far from God—the region around the earth—to receive the kingdom over the nations, according to the saying, "Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance." But those who are under the ruler of this age—not only men but also powers—did not accept his kingdom. And when he gave the commandments and sought their labor, they sent envoys after him, denying his kingdom. And the envoys would be those who brought about his death, thinking to cut off his kingdom through the cross, saying to Pilate, "Do not write that he is the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am a king." These, condemned by their own wickedness, did not hinder the dispensation. But no one who does base things wishes to be ruled by Christ. Concerning these, the prophet says that they will be troubled when they see the Lord coming with glory. For behold, the day of the Lord comes, incurable. This, they say, is another than the former, of which he said, "The day of the Lord is near." For that one concerns each person's own consummation, which is near at hand.

But the present day is about the universal day, which is also properly the day. For it is not interrupted by night. Therefore in it the hidden things of darkness are also made manifest. But the present life is night, in which these things are concealed. That day, then, he called incurable. For it is not possible to examine the labors brought forward in it. But this, they say, is by way of economy, instilling fear toward working while it is day; for night comes, when no one can work; and bound hand and foot by the bond of his own sins, he is cast into darkness. Then, he says, the stars of heaven will not give their light, as the Lord says. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the things that follow, to which he adds: and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn. With this agrees the passage: The voice of many nations upon the mountains. The voice of kings and nations gathered together. 12. And I will destroy the insolence of the lawless, and the insolence of the proud I will bring low. And those who are left shall be more honorable than unrefined gold, and a man shall be more honorable than the stone from Suphir, etc. And these things again, some say belong to the universal judgment, while others say they are spoken more particularly about the Chaldeans; but it is of God's goodness to destroy and bring low the insolence of the lawless and the proud, so that he may restore his own creation pure from all evil; just as he also sets aside the wisdom of the wise, convicting it as not being true in the respects in which it seems so to those who are deceived. Thus disease is said to be destroyed by a physician, and darkness by the sun. Therefore Jacob also, blessing his sons Simeon and Levi, says, Cursed be their anger;

For he consumes the evil disposition through the curse, so that what remains in them may become worthy of the patriarch's blessing. Thus he also says of Noah: "Cursed be Canaan"—although it was Ham who had done the wrong, yet he does not curse him, but his offspring, and the deed which is symbolically named Canaan. For it is interpreted as "tossing." For the disposition, when it comes to be in motion, brings the passion to completion. But the insolence which he says he will destroy is expressive of all lawlessness. For the lawless commit outrage against the temple, they commit outrage against their neighbor, and against the image. And through the image the outrage ascends to the Creator, just as it does against a king when the image is outraged. And before all things, by the very things through which one sins, one commits outrage against oneself; every sin, then, is an offspring of insolence, and it lays hold first of the insolent man himself; and so pride also is the sister of lawlessness. For whatever a man sins in, he despises the opposite virtue by his transgression. The Lord, therefore, who opposes the proud and humbles sinners to the ground, promises that he will humble the insolence of the proud, rescuing them from likeness to the devil, who is the father of pride, leading them to become disciples of the one who said: "Learn from me, that I am gentle and humble in heart." But these things, they say, have been spoken universally concerning the judgment at the consummation of the world.

Therefore, in them, having made mention of the whole inhabited world, he has made no mention of Babylon; but after the things said have been brought upon them, those men who are found out of many, having suffered no harm in their soul from fellowship with the lawless, but through countless trials having given exact proof of their own disposition, will be more honored than every honorable thing among men, having been found worthy of the name of man, and preserving the rational nature according to nature, being called men, by not having become brutish like the others. And gold without fire is that which, because it is pure by nature and unmixed with other things, has no need of burning. And Souphir is a region of India, where he says the most precious stones are found. It shows, then, either the rarity of those who possess virtue, or of those living wholly after the capture of Babylon; if indeed the discourse is about this, in which he supposes the wrath of heaven, not as of a living being, according to what some think, but indicating the powers in it, as we say, "The city has gone out," "The whole city asked something of the ruler," signifying those who dwell in it. And creation is moved together with the Master against the impious; as also there is joy in heaven among those who repent. And elsewhere, at the lawless, heaven is astonished and shudders; and in

For in Egypt he turned water into blood; the earth brought forth frogs; heaven sent down hail; and the air was the deepest darkness. So also now the wrath of heaven must be understood, as the fearful things that are brought by it upon those who are punished: eclipses of the stars, lightning bolts and harsh thunderings, and a mist of the air—things that come about through the wrath of the Lord's anger, the exhalation that leads to punishment being so called, and the kindling against those who have sinned. And the earth, he says, shall be shaken from its foundations; that is, it does not have its seething from an assault. And the foundations of the earth the Lord calls unknown to human nature in Job: "Where were you when I founded the earth? Tell me, if you know understanding, who set its measures, if you know? Or who stretched a cord upon it? On what are its rings fixed? And who is he that laid a cornerstone upon it?" But those of the wisdom outside say that the earth is founded at the center of the surrounding sphere of heaven. For being equally distant from all sides, it is unmoved; and these very words, they say, indicate the consummation. But those who think it was spoken concerning the Babylonians say that the prophets, receiving the divine and ineffable power in their mind, raise their voices exceedingly high and devise extraordinary magnitudes for their narratives. But those, he says, who then attempt to flee the terrors will seem to resemble a small fawn, but not full-grown ones, making their course light and swift; for the creature is easily startled and does not stand still even in flights. And they shall be as a wandering sheep.

For the sheep does not have its own understanding, so as to set out for nourishing pastures, or to lodge in safer places, or to seek drink for itself, unless there is someone shepherding and leading them on. So then he says to those who flee, There will be no one to rule who is also able to gather them and provide them a refuge. For some are scattered when pursued; others, remaining, will be defeated; or also, according to the other interpreters, they will be pierced through. And others, even if they band together with one another, will fall under the sword of the wrath of God. And not only will the punitive powers inflict these things on the impious—that is, the Persians on the Babylonians—but also on women and children, as being likewise impious. And to pursue into his land means to press on eagerly. For, he says, fearing the enemies, they will flee even the land most pleasant to them. And David agrees with the statement that children will rule, saying to Babylon, Blessed is he who will seize and dash your little ones against the rock. But if one must speak in a spiritual sense about the things that happened to the Assyrians, you would find, without hindrance, that what is said about the spiritual Babylon and its ruler the devil is spoken in accordance with the prophecy concerning Christ—the devil who, like the historical king, always wages war against those consecrated to God, and takes very many captive, and rejoices over them when they have been driven from their homeland and from the holy land. But the sign of the Savior, the divine cross, has been raised up, and we have shouted aloud, singing a song of victory to him who for our sake and on our behalf has conquered, and we have lifted up our voice, making the confession of the faith.

But the Lord has also given command to a war-armed nation to come—clearly the nation of the saints, whose battle is not against blood and flesh, but rather against principalities and powers; they have arrayed themselves against them and conquered them, bringing siege against them as against a city, laying waste the idolatry that was of old dreadful and impregnable, with Christ as their general and the angels as their defenders, so that those captured by them are left few in number, and these too utterly terrified and having wholly given up resistance. Turning us toward such an allegory, after the things concerning the Savior, the prophet brought forward the things concerning the Babylonians. 17:32. Behold, I stir up against us the Medes, who do not reckon silver, nor have need of gold. They shall shatter the arrows of young men, and they shall not pity your children, nor shall their eyes spare your children. It comes quickly, and it will not delay. Those who have supposed that the preceding words were spoken concerning the universal judgment say that from here the matters concerning the Assyrians are treated separately. But not many years after the present prophecy, as history has handed down, the Medes attacked the empire of the Assyrians. Cyrus the king of the Persians was the first to subdue them, the same who also released the captivity of the Jews, whom he mentioned by name in what follows. And even now what was said is still shown to be true: It shall not be inhabited for ever. But some say that he defines the desolation by a time, as though it were to be inhabited again after these things. He says the Arabians, or those now called Saracens, who of old, for the sake of trade, pitched their tents even upon Babylon itself.

Therefore Symmachus says, "nor will he pitch tents there for the Arabians" — those from the prosperous Arabia bordering on the Persians. But since many herdsmen inhabit the desert regions, providing folds for their own flocks for themselves, he says that Babylon will not even be useful for this; but having become desolate of tame and rational animals, it will become a dwelling place for demons and wild beasts. For demons delight in desert places. And through the wild beasts, indicating the unknown, setting down the Hebrew word "siim," the rest of the translators have rendered it; and instead of "sirens," "ostriches." For since the creature loves solitude, it dwells in the most barren sands. And instead of "onocentaurs," they again gave out "siim." And instead of "hedgehogs," "sirens." Perhaps because of the deceptive nature of demons — such as the myth has handed down the Sirens to be. But some have interpreted the Sirens as the birds that know how to sing sweetly; or, they say, according to the Hebrew version, the owl; and the wild asses, they say, he called onocentaurs; and hedgehogs, the mice that bristle, as it were, with sharp spines; all these signify desolation. Therefore he also says that the houses will be filled with a sound, signifying the echo of the uninhabited places. And he says that the Medes, because of their wealth, despise money, so that it is impossible for the Babylonians to buy off the capture from them. And the name of the Medes, when translated, means "from what is sufficient." Therefore the one who is sufficient in all things to bring upon each one what is according to his worth, this one stirs up the Medes. Or perhaps, since Madai is the founder of Media, which is interpreted as "measurement," the Medes may be said to be brought in to punish in measure those who have lived badly.

For by the measure with which each person measures good or evil, he will receive the recompense of reward or punishment. In accordance with this, one must also understand the children of the Babylonians—the fruits and offspring of their soul—such as are also the things of the man called blessed in the Psalter, in which the woman is wisdom, whom the righteous man, having sought her out, led home as a bride, becoming a lover of her beauty. And sons of mind and wisdom when they have come together—such offspring he presents in the one hundred thirty-sixth psalm, saying, "Daughter of Babylon, the wretched one," whose children the one who dashes against the rock he has called blessed, foreseeing at the same time that no sparing would come from the Medes. But he does not call blessed the one who destroys a Babylonian child in any way whatsoever, but rather the one who does not allow the infants and the newly born to come to growth, so that they may not become worse, and who by his own wisdom destroys the offspring of the confused one, who is named Babylonian, dashing these against the rock; and the rock in this too is Christ. And this would come about when the base doctrines are dashed against the word of truth. And he says that these things will come quickly. For even what is longest among us is very brief before God. Therefore "a thousand years in his sight are as the day that was yesterday," it is said, "and as a watch in the night." And not long after, he says, the prophecy came to pass. At the same time he casts a more bitter anxiety into the Babylonians, but to the Israelites, consolation because of the captivity. And "Babylon" was, as it were, a name meaning "glorious." And they said, "Glorious Babylon." And he shows very clearly from what sort of condition into what sort it will come. And the cause was the king of the Chaldeans, who made it a strong and splendid royal city.

He compares her interpretation to Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom is interpreted as blindness, and barrenness, and standing silence, and likeness, and accusation, and their foundation. And Gomorrah as measure and faction. By these Babylon will be destroyed in like manner. For God, doing good to those who are destroyed, destroys blindness as a physician does. And the destruction of blindness is the beginning of sight. And he destroys barrenness, driving out anguish, granting the offspring of the works of righteousness, and standing silence, so that he may implant the word of the heart for the glorifying of God. And measure and faction, so that he may take away the measure of the evil in her and the turmoil, so that those who are in faction, and are in a state contrary to peace, may be improved, measuring virtue in return against evil. But everyone who advocates fate, and supposes the motion of the stars to be compulsory over all things, so far as in him lies withdrawing his hearers from piety, calls the affairs of the Babylonians glorious. For these things are confusions of the mind, abolishing Providence and that which is in our power, and are worthy to be called by the name of Babylon. For the astrology of the Chaldeans was an invention.

The Lord overthrows her, and demons dwell in her when God has departed from her—whether you wish to call her a city or a soul—in which, once overthrown, the good Shepherd does not lodge his flock; which is also filled with echo, having in herself no clear or articulate word, but the confused and indistinct tumult of passions; which evil powers enchant, charming by the inflection of the voice, either through the voice or through some other means, producing pleasure for a snare and bringing about forgetfulness of one's own homeland. An echo is a voice reflected from opposing bodies and returning again to the one who emitted it, which in a desert is unimpeded. But in inhabited places, because voices echo back from different directions and because of objects or bodies being carried about and the air being cut, it is accustomed to be broken off; and night, being free of these, is more resonant. Such a one is also the person whose ear is tickled: he turns away from the truth, and turning to myths, he does not endure a vigorous word, nor rebuke for the sake of refutation, but rejoices only in what flatters. The demonic passions that work in us are said to dance, assuming now the mask of one passion and now of another, as a dancer does, and passing from one to another, as in the movement of limbs; for they leap about in us, dancing within. The name of the onocentaurs is a compound, indicating a certain strange demon, now making us look toward human things, now dragging us toward bestial passions. These, they say, Aquila called "hairy ones," indicating a demon that is woody and darkened. And the hedgehog is another demon, hard to grasp and crafty. CHAPTER.

14.27. And the Lord will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel. And they shall rest upon their own land, and the sojourner shall be added to them, and shall be added to the house of Jacob, and nations shall take them and bring them into their place, and they shall inherit, and shall be multiplied upon the land of God as male servants and female servants, etc. Having said what grievous things Babylon shall suffer, he brings on the matters concerning the Jews, speaking of the good recall under Cyrus. But instead of "the sojourner" (geioras), the rest rendered "the proselyte." And not simply a proselyte, some say, but one devoted to farming. Properly, then, geioras denotes the native-born and indigenous man. But Babylonians coming up together were going to be proselytes alongside Judea. Each meaning, then, leads to the same point. For he says that the Jews will arrive at such prosperity that those who formerly captured them will come up together with them into Judea—in one sense because they had a kinship with them, in another because they had partaken of their piety, as in a long sojourn—and that those who were formerly idolaters would become male and female servants of God. And "nations," he says, means those who escort the Jews and bring them into their own land. Which indeed happened at the command of Cyrus, when Jesus and Zerubbabel led those who went up. And of Xerxes after him, when, sending Ezra with many letters, he commanded the nations in between to escort him and those with him safely. And of Nehemiah after these things to Judea

since he was going to write to those beyond the river, the king of the Persians also sent with him men of power as guards; for Esdras has recorded these things. And he foretells that the Babylonians who took Israel captive will evidently become captives of war under Cyrus. Or perhaps, because those who went up with them came under the yoke of the law as if captives, they were taken captive in the good and saving captivity. And at that time, he says, the fury of your wrath shall be set at rest. CHAPTER 15. THE WORD AGAINST MOABITIS. 19. In the night Moabitis shall perish. For in the night the wall of Moabitis shall perish. Grieve for yourselves. For Gebon also shall perish, where your altar is; there you shall go up to weep over Naban of Moabitis, etc. of him who does not come to the light. Since these things are in the night, the wall also falls by night—the sophistic strongholds. For in these, as though safe, they boasted. And when these fall under refutations, they lament; who also, holding unstable words about God, build a falling altar called Deebon, to which they are urged to go up in repentance, not to sacrifice, as when they served the creature instead of the Creator, offering the sacrifice of their own praise upon alien altars; instead of which let them weep, since the sorrow according to God procures for them a salvation not to be repented of. Such also are those who place their hopes in things that flow away. He commands, then, to weep for those whose goodly habits corrupt associations have ruined. And he teaches that they must be stripped of their teaching as well, through the baldness, no longer wearing around them the adornment that comes from these things.

For the teachers are instead of a head, but according to the literal sense it indicates dishonour. For baldness is a symbol of dishonour, just as the cutting of arms is of beating and lamenting. Or because it is the custom among idolaters to make incisions on the cheeks and arms. And he hints at this: by a good manner of life to make contemptible the practical instructions of wicked teachers, which are brought to refutation; and through the division—those who often, seeming to be upright in life, drag people down to absurd doctrines, and once detected, they make their lives equal, leading through the broad way of the pleasures that draw souls along. Where he commands that those who have chosen a life tested by hardship, having repented over pleasures, seeking the narrow and constricted way, and having put on sackcloth, should mourn for the sins they committed through the loins, which is often taken instead of the generative parts; for Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham; and, Let your loins be girded, because it is necessary to restrain the appetites that serve generation. And he describes a city captured by war, when those in the streets and narrow alleys run about wailing, and the female sex and infants, looking at the phalanxes of the enemy, lament. And the lofty and empty things of learning he called houses. And the so-called divisions of thoughts he calls the streams of Moabitis; whether someone has been on high places lifted up against the knowledge of God, or in some dialectical division of arguments, seeming to determine accurately each of the problems—let such a one wail through repentance.

For the teachings of the Moabites are not divine thoughts but human ones. And how, according to the literal sense, does the loin of the Moabitess cry out, and her soul know? Or is it that the terrible discouragements of incurable evils always rush in beforehand? The cry of the loin therefore shows that the Moabitess is in labor pains, having hidden sorrows, both naturally perceiving them and being shaken by rumors. For she cries out as far as Segor, which they say marks the boundary of the Moabitis, that is, the whole country as far as its ends, from which Palestine receives Arabia. But in another sense, the grief that lies upon the Moabitess, having become the cause of a temperate life, cries out at the cry of Heshbon and Elealeh and Jassa, the account hinting at progress toward repentance. When we lament ourselves and those who have sinned together with us, through our cry we become an example to them also, far off, making public the manner of repentance through the cry of repentance. And the names listed of the villages and cities of the Moabitis are known up to the present, all of which endured the capture by the Assyrians. For Ariel too has remained until now the greatest village of Areopolis, just as the others also. And it is pointless to allegorize about these things, since one need only know this much, that he foretells through the altar of the Demon and of the ruler the destruction of their idolatry through the desert; among whom now the knowledge of God and churches everywhere have been established. And he adds for what reason the things previously spoken happen to the Moabitess to suffer, saying: She is a three-year-old heifer. For the third year is sufficient for irrational animals for their prime, and for bringing their vigorous power into action.

The Moabite woman, then, being strong and unaccustomed to the yoke, leaped upon those nearby, prancing in some way upon the weaker—that is, she is a heifer three years old, complete, having the power both to give birth and to submit her neck to the yoke, through which she shows that those who are able to turn their own [way] are perfected in the age of the soul, and have the reason able to come under the yoke of truth. One who is deprived of these things is not required to perform the works of repentance. Therefore God also said to Abraham: "Take for me a heifer three years old, and a ram three years old." But the turtle-dove and the pigeon he did not define by time, because these creatures begin [to breed] immediately from birth. And concerning the ascent, he says, of Luhith they shall go up weeping. For the beginning of gladness is to weep well; the ascent through progress is brought about by grief according to God. In this Paul also rejoiced, seeing his words leading to compunction. For one who weeps over his own evils, having no descent any longer, shall not enter into the lowest parts of the earth. Such grief leads him by the hand toward ascending. They say that Aroniim is a certain high and broad road, and that it brings back to it those fleeing from other cities. Therefore he says, weeping they shall go up. And the voice of those weeping is crushing and shaking, as they cry out beforehand the sufferings that will come from war, when he shakes every city and crushes those who dwell in it. And reason, laying hold of the mind, crushes the evil [thought], and produces a tossing, as it were, in his own reasonings, so that some are rooted out and others, sound words, are introduced in their place.

Therefore God will not despise a broken heart. For when the wicked disposition has been crushed, they will weep and ascend. Neither of these will happen while it is still intact and not yet shaken. The water of Nebrid will be desolate. This city, they say, lies in the farthest parts of the country, neighbors the Red Sea, is well-watered and well-pastured, so as to suffice for a great many horses, and its inhabitants are most warlike; but when the enemies come upon it, it will be desolate of waters and of green grass, so that the horsemen grow weak, their cavalry being destroyed by famine. When this has happened, he says, will she not then think great things and thus be on her own? He also indicates that the water of false opinion, which previously flowed abundantly, will be made to disappear. This is opposed to the water of rest, on which the Lord nourishes those shepherded by him. He also gives it to those who believe in him, so that they may have within themselves a spring of water leaping up to eternal life. But the worthless water nourishes only grass. And it itself will not be. That is, the souls that have been trained in this temporary and quickly withering glory of the world will quickly wither away, when the word that, as it were, waters them has been made desolate. And the phrase, "will she not even so be saved?" shows that the Moabitess, who is to be saved, will be led by certain ways and by more laborious disciplines. And the phrase, "for it will perish by night," and the like, shows that these things happen for her salvation. For I will bring, he says, Arabians against the ravine, perhaps indicating the neighboring Arabians, or even the Saracens further inland among them. To them also, he says, he will hand over Moab.

Or as those who followed the Assyrians. For extending as far as Persia after Damascus, they campaigned together with the Babylonians. And he calls the valley, as is likely, Nebrid, because of the hollow of its position, while the others lie on a height. And he shows that the former will be saved through weeping. But those who have an unrepentant heart will be destroyed through the plague brought from the Arabians—and the Arabians are the westerners. Or perhaps the powers akin to darkness, through which chastising plagues are sent upon those who have an unrepentant heart. And the phrase "the cry has joined the border of Moabitis" indicates filling everything; and since the border of Moabitis can be both an end of a region and a beginning, it has now taken its name from the beginning. And a wailing has filled all of it as far as the well of Elim. And he names both Agallim and the well of Elim, as being cities outside, situated at its very boundaries. And Remmon is said to be very well-watered, but nevertheless even its water will be defiled by the blood of the slain. And the water of Deebon. Again he calls the water teaching, which he says is full of blood, because those who teach badly become guilty of death for those being taught; for such are the destructive words that destroy souls. And I will take away, he says, the seed of Moab. That which has not changed over to better things, but has remained among those who do not enter the Church of the Lord, is the seed of Moab. For Moabites shall not enter the Church of the Lord until the tenth generation, and even forever; he threatens to remove them.

Which he also calls the seed of Ariel, which he explains by saying: For the Lord also says that the prudent are born of the devil, seeing the murderous disposition of the Jews against him, saying: "You are of your father the devil, and the works of your father you do." He was a murderer from the beginning. The seed of Moab, then, are the apostates of the Church. And the seed of Ariel are those who rage murderously against their brothers, bringing deadly death upon their own souls by their words. Then he says, and the remnant of Adama. And this signifies the virgin earth, from which Adam was formed. CHAPTER 19, 15. I will send as serpents upon the earth. Will the mountain of Zion not be a desert rock? For you shall be as a nestling of a flying bird taken away, daughter of Moab, etc. I will send as serpents upon the earth. That is, the remnant of men who mind earthly things, through which they have become serpents and venomous creatures from their own wickedness; serpents, by casting off the height on which they happened to stand in their first constitution. And venomous, because of the destructive power of those with them; the word says he sends them out. After the former Moabites, then, about whom the better things have been said, if anyone is left in the land and is likened to the serpent about which it has been said, "Dust you shall eat all the days of your life," this one is sent out as the serpents. And he eats dust who sows to the flesh and reaps corruption from the flesh. And it shows that the remnant is sent out as serpents, because being bitter they will always walk into captivity, like serpents bewitched by incantations. One might also understand the passage in this way from above.

A soul fortified by the divine fear is strong and hard to capture. It prevails all the more over principalities and powers. But if it should shake off God's commandments, it strips itself of all assistance, and, as it were, having torn down its wall, it makes itself slippery and prone to the passions. Thus some are handed over to a reprobate mind. For if he shuts against a man, it says, who will open? After which it says, Is not the mountain of Zion a deserted rock? For long ago Shalmaneser the Assyrian, having marched against Samaria, captured its cities and did much injury to those in Judea. Over these things the Moabites exulted, calling it a desolate rock, as it were bringing weakness upon its God. Therefore with a certain manner he addresses them, as those who will suffer worse things than those they reproached them with, and he likened them to a nestling stripped of its mother's shelter. So useful indeed is, If your enemy falls, do not rejoice over him, because the Lord will see, and it will not please him, and he will turn his wrath away from him. But they called the mountain of Zion a deserted rock, as being small and unsown, and not sufficient for food, neither for those who dwell in it nor for those who graze in it. And a nestling, when its mother has flown away in fear, is weak for defense and unable to flee. Thus the souls nurtured by the evil and unstable spirit, whenever they obtain the one who drives them out through good works and the invocation of the Savior, having been made desolate with the good desolation, are more easily taken up for the nurture in Christ that leads to perfection. Then, devise more, O Arnon.

For when the city of the Moabites had been laid waste, those who escaped fled for refuge to Arnon, a very strongly fortified city, to which he says: Consider how you may be able to save those who have fled to you. And in another way, with a certain character, he urges on the one who has been esteemed for all the fabricated doctrines of philosophy to add still further to her counsel concerning these things, so that, having taken her fill and recognized the unprofitableness of these, she may come to the sound teaching. And from one region of Moabitis he shows us the whole territory of Arabia. Then he exhorts: Make a shelter of mourning for her. For those who work up grief over their sins, whether in life or in knowledge, so that some come to mourn blessedly—these make a shelter of mourning. For the word is addressed to those who take care of such matters, so that by shutting out the deceit of the heterodox they may give place to the true light to shine in the hearts of those who believe in him, in addition to the fact that some of the repentant, having become enclosed, mourn while sheltering themselves from the company and sight of those outside. And as for the phrase, to Arnon, he says: Yes, you have considered something philanthropic. Become a shelter for those seized by unbearable mourning. For darkness has overtaken them at midday, the fear of death having clouded their mind. Therefore he says: And they were astonished. But even if you save, he says, those who have fled from war, yet they are the least remnant of the dead. For you did not receive the fugitives at the beginning of the war. But after the greatest destruction they dwell beside you.

But you expected that they too would be a shelter for you at times from the face of the pursuer, which is impossible. For your alliance has been taken away, and the ruler has perished, the one who tramples upon the earth. For the leader of the Moabites who always shielded you, accustomed as he was to trample the resisters like some dust, has perished. Thus along with the Moabites perished also the hope of being able to prevail again. For the impious, he says, shall be destroyed root and branch from the earth. In the anagogical sense, the light of midday seems to be brighter. Since the truth can be understood from the creation of the world, those who are illumined on every side by the wisdom of God, some have contracted ignorance of God, being in darkness while matters are at their midday. These also, like madmen, have gone out of their minds, imagining doctrines that have no substance. For the interpretation of the midday darkness is ecstasy. Do not be led, he says, urging that we not be carried away by certain plausible words or doctrines, lest following their teachers we be hurled down. "For if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit." But the phrase, Do not be led, the one who gave the explanation before this did not set down from the beginning, that is, In the beginning they did not flee to you from the war. After these things, the philanthropic God says to the daughter of Zion concerning the Moabites who are going to dwell beside her after their conversion, when after their long-ago flight they have returned to their own master. For they shall be sheltered, he says, among you, suffering nothing from the face of the pursuer. For those who once were allies shall pursue Moab when it has turned back to God.

For just as a nestling has been deprived of its wicked protection, having been set free from the former ruler, who perished through arrogance and tyranny, trampling all things underfoot. And upon his removal the prophecy brings in the good things that are to come concerning the throne of David. And he calls "ruler" either the wicked demon that sits in ambush over the nation, or the ruler of the nation, such as the ruler of the Greeks, or of the Babylonians, whom he says will be destroyed. Since he was trampling upon their souls, so that they could not look upward; and they had long placed in him their hopes of alliance in wars. After he has perished, he says, the throne also shall be established with mercy. For it was necessary that, once idolatry had perished, hopes of good things should be proclaimed, that the tabernacle of David and the throne of God should be set up among them, not by human zeal, but by the loving-kindness of God alone. But Aquila and Theodotion rendered: "And a throne shall be prepared in mercy," that is, with mercy. And for whom shall it be prepared, if not certainly for Christ, who is to be born of the seed of David? And the prophecy is accustomed to call the Church the tabernacle of David. Since it is also its custom to call Christ David, as being a son of David. And it called the throne in the Church the president of the Church, who occupies the bodily throne, presiding as it were for Christ. And that he means the Church from the Gentiles by the tabernacle, James, who became the first bishop of Jerusalem, set forth in the Acts of the Apostles, saying, "Men and brethren, hear me. Symeon declared how first God visited to take from the Gentiles a people for his name, and to this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written:

After these things I will return and rebuild the fallen tabernacle of David, and I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord. And all the nations upon whom my name is called, says the Lord. These things, then, he says, will come to pass not through types and symbols, but in truth. For when a church is established among the Moabites, its leader will sit judging righteously. That is, he means a throne, indicating that all will be ruled as king by Christ, according to the saying, "For he must reign until he puts his enemies under his feet." And the throne is set right, in that those who are ruled obtain correction; which comes about not according to the worthiness of those who are to be ruled, but according to the mercy and goodness of God. Therefore David, he says, will sit—the Christ who is sufficient in hand and power—in truth, and he will reign in a tabernacle until, judging, he executes the judgment upon all. And the seat in truth shows the destruction of falsehood. And he will reign until he executes judgment. He establishes his righteous judgment upon all, according to which he does not pronounce judgment haphazardly, but seeking what is fitting for each, so as to bring the judgment to a good end for each, pressing on righteousness with the greatest zeal, not doing it remissly. And some have interpreted these things according to history, as showing the release of the people that came about under Cyrus, when God pitied him and set right the kingdom among the Jews, and led them back to their own order.

For this indicates the throne on which he will sit with truth in the tabernacle of David, judging the tabernacle—calling the kingdoms of David "tabernacle," in which, making their dwelling-places, they judged lawfully, administering the throne righteously, even if not all proved to be such. But after the return, the king of Judah and Israel was no longer divided, but all were subject to one rule in Jerusalem. And a certain prophet declared this, saying: "And they shall go up from the land, and they shall labor a little to anoint a king and ruler." These things, however, were spoken against Moab, which called the desert rock the mountain of Zion, signifying the recall of the Jews and the eternal destruction of that place. 14. We have heard the insolence of Moab. He is exceedingly insolent; I have lifted up his pride. Not so is your divination, not so. Moab shall howl; for in the land of Moab all shall howl. But for those who dwell in Seth there is meditation. And you shall not be ashamed, the plains of Heshbon, etc. Having anticipated the arrogance of the Moabites also from the prophecy of Jeremiah, we demonstrated it, and now the prophet has made it clear. But having spoken good things concerning the promise of the throne of David, and having rested in between, according to the custom of Scripture, he returns again to the more gloomy matters, for the sake of conversion. As if not of wealth

Let us not despise the goodness of God, treasuring up wrath for ourselves. Having said this, David [declares], "The Lord is good to all"; and having elaborated that he supports those who fall, that he gives food in due season, he did not stop there, but said: "The Lord guards all who love him, and all sinners he will destroy." And Isaiah, as it were, hid a certain mystery in the middle—the one concerning the coming of the Savior—inserting it for those worthy to understand these things. The present words, then, are connected to what was said before concerning the throne of David. According to some, having spoken of the restoration of the captives from Israel, he again brings against those who rejoiced with them the harsh things concerning the Moabites, on account of their proud disposition toward impiety, speaking as it were in the person of the prophets: "We have heard the insolence of Moab." For they assent as to God punishing in justice, as having heard what things through Balaam they devised for the insolence against the God of all, and how many things afterward they did in fighting against the glory of God. In return for which God answers those who have said this: "I have taken away their pride," calling the Moabites pride itself. For God opposes the proud, and especially those sick with impiety. Therefore he turns against her and says: "Not so is your divination, not so," indicating that I have cut off Moab. But the divinations among them did not foretell this, declaring the opposite. For they were greatly elated over the demon divined among them; but Symmachus says, "Not so are his arms," indicating that the deeds by which he boasts are not of like kind.

But some say that he demonstrates the futility of Balaam's divination from of old. "Moab shall howl"—he shows that things they did not expect had come upon them from the divination. A howl is the grievous voice of women overcome by the heaviest mourning. And now he shows both the pain of the blow and the weakness of those who suffer—"the dwelling of Asedeth" is a meditation. This city of Moab, they practiced a lament equal to a melody against themselves. But Symmachus rendered it thus: "To those rejoicing in the wall of potsherd, speak out," indicating the weakness of the demon in whom, when it spoke, they had trusted. "And you shall not be ashamed of the plains of Esebon." He seems to speak to the Assyrians concerning the city of the Moabites, Esebon, which has spaciousness in the suburbs lying around it, which together with Sebama he urges them to treat badly, so that their vines, being cut down, might in some way mourn. And he calls the Assyrians "nations that swallow down"; and he urges upon them the ravaging of the Moabites' land, as far as the city of Iazeir in Moabitis. He might perhaps mean by "vines" also the inhabitants of the Moabites, whom Scripture is accustomed to call both "wood" and "thicket." As in, "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the man of Judah, a beloved new plant." And the fruit, and the harvest, and the vine in another manner indicate the flourishing, and vigorous, and beautiful, and luxurious character of their life—in which, as if drunk, they passed their time reveling in impiety.

The command that they must not be shown respect makes clear that this is God's work, not the power of the Assyrians, to whom he next says: "You shall not join those of them who have fled into the desert," commanding that they be left alone and that no further error be added to those already slain, nor that they be thought to have received forgetfulness of these things. For God is also one who punishes in a humane way. And as sent and dispatched by him he calls the Assyrians; and the phrase "they were forsaken" has been added, rather as meaning that Moab would not have been among these had God not forsaken her. Therefore I will weep, as with the weeping of Jazer. This the prophet says, lamenting over their calamities. And he sets it forth that Jazer has been laid waste beyond the others, as it would be fitting that, mourning for it thus, he also bewails the others, Sabama and Heshbon, calling their inhabitants vines. Over whose harvest and vintage the army of the enemies spoke the words "I will trample down," and all things shall fall. And also: "Gladness and exultation shall be taken away from your vines." For being impious, they always had sacrificing as a pretext for gladness,

and to be accomplished for the demons; for which reason, he says, you shall surely not tread wine. If this is said of vines, it is clear; but if it must be understood of men, it means that their children will perish together with their parents, with no man spared, nor even a woman with child. To this the saying is similar: "Woe to those who give birth, and to those who are with child in those days." Therefore my belly shall sound for Moab like a harp. For he says: since all your gladness has been taken away, I will make your calamities a song and a melody, proclaiming them to all, as though your land had been turned into dry ground. Therefore he also foretold to them that they should weep. Then, as one deeply grieving over the loss and wandering of souls (since, having called them to repentance through weeping, he did not find them obedient), he takes up lamentation on their behalf, having already said, "Therefore I will weep." And now, he says, my tears and my weeping are for no other reason than that you may be put to shame—that is, you shall be put to shame in vain, calling many times upon gods that are unable to save. As a wall which you have renewed. For the wall fell in the earthquake, as we were saying, and they renewed it, laboring to no profit. I will weep, then, he says, along with your other calamities, also for the wall which I built in vain and which was brought down by the enemies. Then he says: This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab, when he also spoke it. But the others rendered it, "from then and now he has spoken." And the Scripture makes clear that of old it was ordained in words, but now it is accomplished also in deeds. For even before the present prophet, it was said through Moses: An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord until the tenth generation.

He therefore who spoke of her long ago is now also doing this through me. And now I say, In three years of a hireling. But Symmachus, instead of "of a hireling," says "as in the case of a hireling." But the three years they distinguished as referring to what follows, saying: The glory of Moab shall be dishonored. For the conjunction also showed that the meaning of what follows is different from what came before, indicating that in three years the Lord spoke the things concerning Moab through the prophet, taking the man as it were a hireling with a view to the meaning of the words. For not as we, running through the whole reading in one continuous stretch, so also the prophet; but piece by piece, at different times, he completed it up to the third year. But some say that "when he spoke" indicates the rarity of God's voice coming to the Moabites. For to Israel he speaks continually; but to the nations, as alien, he is silent. Except that he gives even these a taste of his own love for humanity, so that through experience in a few things they may hasten toward the desire of perfect things. But some say that he brings the account back to history, at the time when the ten tribes, having been torn away from the kingdom of David, followed the impiety of Jeroboam who led them away. At which God, being angry, as it were hired Shalmaneser the Assyrian, who made their land desolate, pressing upon it for three whole years, at which time he also subdued Moab. If, then, God spoke even long ago, yet now also I say that in the three years of the years of the hireling Shalmaneser the glory of Moab shall be dishonored; that is, the kingdom, or the greatness of the cities, and the multitude of the inhabitants, which also indicates the fighting age.

From the beginning, by the laws of allegory, let us understand Moab, the arrogant one, as the evil-originating and apostate demon; for he has insulted both the Creator and men, and he makes those he has captured arrogant—the heretics who speak iniquity against the height, and those who, from poverty of arguments, revile when they are refuted. Him the Lord, as it were healing a grievous disease, says, I have taken away his pride. But his arrogance and his wrath, he says, are passions that belong to him as his own. He says that he wails, in pain and perceiving his own weakness. And the wall of potsherd he called the dialectic of those who puff themselves up over wisdom, in which they take delight. And the phrase "to them this wall" he added "of potsherd," evidently because they make these things the object of their study, being more unsound, when they ought to meditate in the law of the Lord. And yet they will not be put to shame. Therefore they are punished by the desolation of the plains of Heshbon—and this is interpreted as "reasoning." Therefore the reasonings of these men, called plains because of their multitude, will mourn, since their impiety will be shown to be unprofitable. The vine of Sibmah will mourn also. For each nation has a certain vine. For their vine is of the vine of Sodom. And Moses, concerning the Egyptians, says, And it killed their vine with hail. There is also a vine which the Lord planted. For, he says, I will sing to my beloved a song of the beloved concerning his vineyard. And the vineyard of the kingdom, the Lord says, having been taken away from those who do not produce fruits, is given to a nation producing its fruits—making clear the law and the prophets, according to which they did not live, whose meanings were given to nations producing fruits through their manner of life. This vine is the word of truth.

But the Egyptians' cultivation of falsehood was given to them by the ruler of this world of darkness; and the Sodomites' was of an unclean life and of deeds that the evil one hired them to cultivate. Taking from these their seeds, the scribes and Pharisees were cut off from him who says, "I am the true vine," having Gomorrah as their branch. Therefore they cultivate a grape of gall and a cluster of bitterness. But their wine is the fury of dragons and the incurable venom of asps. And the vine of Sebama (which is interpreted "turning") signifies a word fashioned for piety. For they fashion for themselves an upright life, drawing many into their own perversion, appearing to do good things and to exhort them. Their doctrines and life are a vine of Sebama possessing genuineness, not even when cultivated by the Moabites—she who produces many offspring of her own is said to drink down the nations by dialectical power, swallowing the untrained through those means by which she conquers. Against those who swallow down in this way, the Word says that such words are to be trampled underfoot. For the leisure devoted to this does not permit you to be at leisure and to be joined to Jazer, which is interpreted "strength," which, being spiritual, no one will receive unless he tramples the vines of Sebama, forgetting his own wilderness, and leaves this behind, dwelling in better places. Then he says: "Those who were sent were left behind." For a false apostle is left behind by God. He says that you are not to be deceived by them, as though they had strength in their affairs. For they are helpless from God, as not having crossed the sea and fleeing from temptations.

For such is the meaning of "I came into the depths of the sea." For the athlete advances against these things, not sinking himself into Gentile doctrines, desiring through fleshly pleasures to gain persecutions. Therefore, he says, I will weep as with the weeping of Jazer, which the mighty according to God weep, groaning over their sojourning in life, and longing for and departing to the courts of the Lord; and perhaps also as strength is wept over when it has withered by disease, so also the vine of Sebama, having withered and about to be given over to fire. Then he says to the Moabitess, that Heshbon and Elealeh have cast down her trees. Now Heshbon is interpreted as "reasonings," and Elealeh as "passage of God." For the alien vine, and the planting which the heavenly Father did not plant, is cast down—being the thoughts of the heterodox—by right reasonings and by the ascent toward God that lifts us up through good works. For blessed is he whose help is from you; your ascents are in his heart. After these things he says, At your harvest and your vintage I will trample, reasonably; for the wheat which he harvests, and the wine which he gathers, are contrary to the bread that strengthens man's heart, and the wine that gladdens man's heart. Therefore it is trampled by God, who prevents it from becoming food or drink for those who are ignorant through lack of discernment. And gladness and exultation shall be taken away from the vineyards. For the kingdom of God was taken away from Israel and given to a nation producing its fruits. And the fantasy of this falsely named knowledge, casting a not-truthful gladness into those who are captured by it, is taken away by God, who helps those deceived by it.

You might call "winepresses" the souls that receive the wicked teaching. And the belly of the prophet against Moab will resound like a harp, producing a well-ordered music from the skill of the one who strikes it. He calls "belly" what David called "the inward parts," saying, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless his holy name," signifying the good thoughts, the thoughts that are generative of each virtue; for from the things we rightly accomplish within, we bless the Lord. Such was Isaiah, having his inward parts as a wall that God dedicated, fencing him about by grace, so as not to give entrance to the worse thoughts, which sit around us like enemies. For this reason, he says, you have graciously given me strong thoughts, so that those who do not turn to you might be put to shame, through the vigor of the refutations brought against them; for "to be put to shame" lacks the sense that they ought to be taken up outwardly. But he who gives his back to the one who conquers well is put to shame by God, striving in no way against truth and virtue. And through what follows, he makes clear the destruction of idolatry at the end through the manifestation of the Word, and he defines the time of Moab's punishment, which he calls three years of a hired servant. But the Savior disparages the hired servant, as not being a shepherd, and by his flight betraying the sheep to the wolves. And a hired servant who is a sojourner does not eat of the holy things of the priest, as Moses legislates; Moab, then, hired himself out, and became a hired servant who did not love God, but did everything for the fancy of a wage and the hope of bodily things, like the one who gives alms in order to be glorified by men.

For he does not show mercy, but pursues glory in vain. Such also is the one who is temperate not out of desire for virtue, but only wishing to seem so. Therefore such people are dishonored before God, having the dishonor of a hireling, since they act not from disposition but have the work of virtue as something counterfeit; and to the extent that here they are rich in the vain wealth of seeming, to that same extent, after our hidden things are revealed, the reward of their shame will be repaid; and the one who gathers much barrenness with his hands will have a greater abundance of dishonor. And the one who stores up treasures with a false tongue pursues vain things, and will come upon the snares of death, and will be left few in number, and not honored, by the beneficence of those who have been compacted together for evil. CHAPTER 17. THE WORD AGAINST DAMASCUS. 111. Behold, Damascus will be taken away from cities, and will be for a fall, left desolate forever, for a bed of flocks and a resting place. And there will be no one pursuing. And it will no longer be a stronghold for Ephraim to flee there, etc. Above, indeed, through the preceding words he presented the ruler of the Assyrians saying, "And I took Arabia by force, and Damascus, and Samaria," which is also made clear by the Scripture in Kings, saying, "And the king of the Assyrians went up to Damascus, and seized it, and deported it." But now the word speaks concerning another capture that was to come, which the king of Babylon made, when he came against Jerusalem again, and having taken it, utterly destroyed it from its foundations. Making this clear, Jeremiah says: "Damascus has been dissolved;

It was turned to flight. And after other things, "Therefore your young men shall fall in your streets, and all your warriors shall fall in that day, says the Lord of hosts; and I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall devour the districts of the son of Ader." But now it is added according to the Seventy alone, to "left" the phrase "forever," which is superfluous. For the fall under the Assyrians was temporal, not perpetual, when they also subdued Jerusalem. For just as it was inhabited by the captives who were released, so when Damascus was rebuilt, a kingdom was established in it again, which also lasted until the apostolic times. At any rate Paul says, "In Damascus the ethnarch of Aretas the king of the Damascenes was guarding the city to seize me." Therefore we shall refer the first parts of the prophecy to the times of the Assyrians, during which a double siege befell Damascus. And it is likely, they say, that in the Persian and Macedonian times it suffered other things again, which are also indicated by this: "Behold, Damascus shall be taken away from cities. And it shall not be strong for a refuge to Ephraim,

And no longer a kingdom in Damascus—this would fit the Roman times. For after the coming of the Savior, the kings everywhere in part were brought down. For the prophecy presented at first a partial fall, but not a complete destruction, as is clear from "and it shall not be strong." And again, "there shall be no kingdom in Damascus," as though it were going to exist, but not strong, nor ruling as it did before. One might also say it otherwise. They say that the present circumstances indicate humiliation for them and a private manner of life, as it is said somewhere that the rich man falls into poverty when he has changed, and the man in office comes to dishonor; such is also the saying, "The house of Israel has fallen, it shall no longer rise again." So also now, "into a fall" would be understood as indicating the bringing down of the kingdom. For long ago it ruled over the Syrians, before the successors of Alexander of Macedon became the founders of the splendid cities now in Syria—Antioch, Laodicea, Apamea. It indicates, then, that the inhabitants of this city shall be private persons, dwelling like a flock of sheep because of their herd. Therefore "it shall be taken away from cities" must be understood as royal cities, which is now seen in the Roman times, to which it submits, with no enemy any longer pursuing, because of the strength of those who rule. But having come to this state, how will it be able to help the nation of the Jews, as it did before? And he says that neither in Damascus shall there be a royal seat of the Syrians, nor elsewhere in Syria (for this, they say, is what "the remnant of the Syrians" also indicates), but it endures, he says, with God—a people that has sinned, about to suffer similar things. And he calls the kingdom, and the priesthood, the glory of Jerusalem, and fatter than it.

The sanctification, the worship according to the law, the prophetic grace, and the freedom of the people. But when Israel had been deprived of these things, and Damascus of its kingdom. Therefore he says, "in that day," indicating the time of the Savior's visitation. Observe how he did not say there would be a complete destruction of Jacob, but only of their glory. When, he says, as in harvest the ears of grain are gathered and a bare stubble is left in the field, so it will be also with the people of the Jews: the ears of grain that were formerly among them having been cut off, and only the stubble being left among them. And if any notable person be found among them, he shall be like an ear of grain not grown in a plain, but in a valley and in a dry and hard ravine. I think the ear of grain signifies the choir of the disciples, concerning whom he said: "Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed." But those who are the choicest among them he has indicated through another example, speaking of two or three berries on the top of a lofty tree, or four or five on its branches being left. For in the times indicated, he says, such will be the scarcity of those being saved that all are compared to a single ear of grain. Of whom the most eminent will be somewhere two or three. For by saying "on the top of a lofty tree," he hints at their preeminence, whom the Savior once called in pairs, and once in threes, as though Peter, James, and John were more chosen than the chosen, to whom alone on the mountain he showed the transfiguration; and the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue he again raised up in the presence of these. But the remaining four or five, he says, that is, nine.

But if two, three, four, and five are combined, they will make the number fourteen, with Paul added to the twelve, who was himself also a called apostle, and James, who is remembered to have been appointed by the Lord himself as the first bishop of Jerusalem, being the brother of the Lord. All these are clearly at the summit of the olive—that is, of the Jewish succession, which Paul also called a holy root, and a firstfruits, and a good olive tree. And after the conversion of the apostles, he indicated very consistently also the conversion of the polytheistic nations, no longer saying that they will pay heed to the groves, nor to the altars here, but that they will know only the Holy One of Israel—those who were formerly alienated from the knowledge of God and strangers to the covenants of the promise—calling the appointed time a day, on which he says the cities of Israel will be left deserted.

For just as, when the Amorites abandoned these cities, you were brought in, he says; so, he says, when you have been driven out, others will dwell in them. For impiety was the cause of the expulsion in both cases. And now it is possible to see Judea inhabited by Greeks. And very many cities, according to the prophecy, were laid waste by the Romans, in return for which he says, they abandoned the Lord himself, that is, Jesus, according to the Hebrew tongue. And how he has always been a helper to them, the passage "How often I wished to gather your children," and what follows, makes clear. Their unbelief toward him is shown by the fact that they planted an unfaithful planting, when they also went astray.

But if, he says, turning to the dawn of the gospel light that has risen upon the world, and to the Sun of righteousness, you should deposit another seed in your own mind (about which he says, "The sower went out to sow." And: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his own field"), it will blossom in you unto harvest, and you will teach others, imparting as it were to children of the lot. Some, however, having spoken of a single capture of Damascus, the one by the Assyrians, interpreted the entire passage concerning it and the times pertaining to it, which the prophet now says will be, as not yet having happened, when it will be left desolate by its inhabitants having perished. In which, because of complete desolation, flocks will lie down, and there will be, he says, no one pursuing, since no one will rebuke the shepherds. And it will not have the ten tribes to ally with it as Ephraim was accustomed to be dealt with. By emphasis, they say, the phrase "and there will not be in it a kingdom" indicates the strong kingdom, just as formerly. For those after these things became rather toparchs and phylarchs. And the rest of the Syrians in it will henceforth be enfeebled, that is, the entire nation under it. And he indicates that the ten tribes are captured together with Damascus, and their multitudes, in which they prided themselves, as being invincible. Therefore he also calls these "glory," as also the king of these "fatter with glory." For as the Fourth [Book] of Kingdoms teaches, Salmanassar besieged Samaria for three years, and captured it, and deported Hosea, who was king over them, to Babylon.

Unless perhaps he calls the glorious men fat with glory and abounding in wealth, and weighed down by the honors bestowed by all. And through the parable of the ears of grain, and moreover of the olive tree, he sets forth the toilless threshing by the Assyrians, who cut down the men to satiety, as at harvest, and with many blows, as when an olive tree is being stripped, drive out the enemies who have come upon them; and at the same time, that the race will not be utterly destroyed. For a small remnant will be left behind, like a stalk held in no honor, those who escape the eyes of the gatherers, as in the case of an olive tree. And having been disciplined, he says, they will know the Lord. Therefore Paul also exhorts us to endure discipline. For having disobeyed the prophets who proclaimed out of God's love for mankind, but having leaped up like colts against God, they suffered what David also says: "With bit and bridle you will press in their jaws," he said; and having condemned their own impiety, they desisted. But it is more blessed, before the experience of evils, to know the Lord. And imitating the Amorites, they suffered the very things those men suffered, who took possession without toil and then suffered, sometimes on their own behalf, with God aiding them. For which reasons, as they say, they became impious afterward, remembering nothing of the benefits they had formerly received, and nearly again spoke to the calves of the idols: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt." For with God we conquer the nations that are within us, and the world-rulers of darkness, and the spirit of the one who has authority will not find a place in us. But having neglected to cleave to God, weak and unmanly, we shall be subjected under the feet of our enemies.

Then he shows how those from Israel who trusted in their multitude of hands were led astray, thinking that no one would strike them, and they missed their hope. But when they were delivered from captivity, they devoted themselves in Jerusalem to the worship of God according to God, and they themselves and their children dwelt in safety. For your seed and your race, he says, will be faithless and

precarious, disobeying God; for seeing this multiplied, you were led astray, thinking you were invincible. But they will fall, he says, cut down like ears of grain. But if you sow in the morning, having come to be in the light, knowing only the one who saves, then what is sown will be brought to completion for you, not perishing before its time. And you will send on to your sons, as a kind of inheritance, your good cheer, and the method of help from above. 12.14. Woe to the multitude of many nations. Like a surging sea, so shall you be troubled. And the back of many nations shall resound like water. Like much water, many nations. Like water carried down by force, etc. Having spoken of the conversion of the nations, and of the unbelief of the Jews toward Christ, he passes from here to the multitudes of those who remained in unbelief in Damascus itself and the other regions, who were about to besiege the Church of Christ; these also will be shaken, like a surging sea, being astonished at the evangelical proclamation that demolishes idolatry. And the back of many nations shall resound like water. For just as the backs of the sea are raised up, lifted by the winds, and crash upon the hearers with their sound, so the multitudes of those who remained in unbelief, stirred by the invisible nations, will sound forth their uprising against the Church.

By these things he shows that the waves of the swelling sea represent their rages, and the resounding water their threats against the faithful. But the water carried by force, as though they dared these things against the Church while being energized by others, he adds, declaring their end. And he will drive him away like a sparrow, and according to Aquila: "He will rebuke him," or according to Symmachus: "He will rage against him"—clearly, against the multitude of unbelieving nations, and against the devil who energizes them. But who will rebuke? Concerning whom it has certainly been said, "The Lord who chose Jerusalem will rebuke you." And when he rebukes, what will he do? He will drive him far away like the chaff of straw, and like the dust of a wheel which a storm carries away. And such people will also mourn at the setting of their life, when they no longer exist; when in the morning a new light will rise for the righteous in the age to come. Those who despoiled them will have such an end and portion and lot. And thus again some have interpreted the present passage: that God, being a lover of humanity, having frightened those from Israel with threats, also economically sets before them hope in good things, urging them through both. Having therefore spoken of the terrible things that will come upon them, and their cause, that they abandoned the Lord, now he has added what those who enslaved them will suffer, foretelling the blow that befell those with Rabshakeh, whom Sennacherib sent from Lachish against Jerusalem after capturing the cities of Judea, who, having babbled foolishly against the God of the Jews, underwent the nocturnal blow by an angel; for Sennacherib, hearing of this, departed in flight, and not long after was destroyed by his own children.

The prophet therefore calls wretched the multitude that came with him, as one that will die in no time, likening their turbulent assault to the sea and to waters. These he also called the back of many nations, as those accustomed to conquer. For they became, as it were, a back, pursuing those who fled behind their back. But the one who leads them, he says, having been driven off like dung, he will pursue them, as the dust of a wheel when a more violent wind strikes. For God said to him through Isaiah, "And I will put a bridle in your nose, and a bit in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came." But the mourning of the Jews in the evening, as they dreamed of the evils of the coming day, the things that had befallen the enemies during the night—having shown these, the dawn consoled them, when they learned that the army of the enemies is no more; that is, the mourning of the evening, he says, will not be in the morning. Concerning this David also says, "In the evening weeping shall lodge, and in the morning gladness." Therefore also when the evil powers besiege the soul, stirring up the passions within us after the manner of violent water, or bringing in thoughts from outside, let us, like Hezekiah, call upon God and not be afraid. For the angel of the Lord will encamp round about those who fear him, and will deliver them. Likewise, even if

Heretics are stirred up against the truth by the boast of sophistical arguments, or bring persecutions and afflictions; it is fitting to be of good courage. For with a hidden hand the Lord will fight against Amalek from generation to generation, as it is written. CHAPTER 18, 1-7. Woe to the land of ships, wings beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. He who sends hostages by sea, and paper letters upon the water. For swift angels shall go to a nation lifted up, and to a strange and harsh people, etc. The rulers of the Jews at Rome say to Paul as he teaches about Christ: "We have received no letters about you from Judea." And a little later: "For concerning this sect it is known to us," that it is spoken against everywhere; as though those in Judea had written everywhere that the preaching about Christ is not to be received. Instead of "hostages," Aquila rendered "elders," and Symmachus "apostles." These, then, and their land the prophet laments, whose wickedness reached even to the Ethiopians. Therefore it is also said according to Symmachus: Woe to the land, the winged sound from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. For the sound of those who wrote ran even to the borders of Ethiopia and to the ends of the earth, as through certain flying ships. And the apostles who carry the paper letters travel not only over land everywhere but also by sea. And to this day they call "apostles" those who carry letters around in circuits on behalf of the rulers.

But instead of "swift angels shall go," the rest say, "go," so that the beginning is a command spoken by the Savior Christ to the disciples, whom he distinguished from the apostles of the Jews. And in agreement with the present passage, Christ says to them: "But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And "having gone, make disciples of all the nations"; and he suggests to them what is well-ordered and light, making their journey very easy for them: "take nothing for the journey"; and, "do not acquire gold, nor silver, nor copper, nor a bag, nor two tunics, nor a staff, nor sandals." And he commands them to go to a nation unsettled and strange, and to a difficult people. For they were being sent to the aliens among the nations, who had nothing firm, but were carried about by every wind of the polytheistic error, and were difficult toward them. And they crossed over even to the ends of the earth, which is indicated by "who is beyond him?" in place of which Symmachus says, "after whom there is no one beyond." But this nation was without hope, according to the Apostle who said, "having no hope and without God in the world." To this the prophet, proceeding, will say things in agreement: "and those among men who were despaired of will be filled with gladness"; which was a nation also trampled down by the devil. And encouraging these, he says, "now the rivers of the earth shall be inhabited at your journey," calling "rivers" the multitude of those who turn to God, just as also their regions, the Churches. For as he compared the unbelievers above to waves of a troubled sea;

Thus now he calls the faithful sweet rivers moved steadily, about which he says elsewhere: "The rivers lifted up, O Lord, the rivers lifted up their voices." And, "The rivers shall clap their hands together." Those who formerly were uninhabited were strangers to God, and their land was a desert of godliness; this land, and the rivers too, your preaching will cause to be inhabited. And the sign of the cross will thus be evident to all, as exalted upon a mountain. And the sound of a trumpet—your preaching—will seem to reach all into hearing. Then he teaches how it will be able to be inhabited without disturbance. For God supplies safety to his own city, so that it may rightly be said of it: "Glorious things were spoken of you, the city of God," and, "The rushings of the river gladden the city of God." In it there will be light, not ordinary light, but like the noonday sun. And it will be harmless to those who see it, he says. For with it there will also be a cloud of dew. And the light is the Word of God, which enlightens the Church. And the cloud of dew is the Holy Spirit, overshadowing those who are not able to contain the height of the Only-Begotten

theology. For in this way its unmixed character will be mixed, through the overshadowing of the divine Spirit as it were of a cloud. These things, he says, will be before the harvest, indicating those flourishing in the Churches of God like ears of grain, as he said beforehand: "And they shall be glad before you, as those who are glad at harvest." These the Savior calls white fields needing many workers. And these things will be concerning the city of God before the consummation. But after the harvest of the present life, those deemed worthy of that end will partake of the very unmixed divinity. When also there will be a separation of those gathered in the Church of God, the superfluous branches of the vine, and the clusters in it being taken away, and given over for food to the punishing powers, while the fruit-bearing souls will obtain the hope that is with God. Who will take away, and who will cut off, the Savior himself has made clear, presenting the vine and the branches, both the good and the useless fruits, saying: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he takes it away. And every one that bears fruit he prunes it, that it may bear more fruit." And again, speaking more broadly, he added the parable: "Unless one remains in me, he is cast out like the branch, and is withered; and they gather it, and cast it into the fire, and it is burned." Calling himself the vine, and the branches the disciples. Following from which it is fitting to understand the clusters as those who are discipled under the apostles.

whose clusters are, as it were, dead, and share no life-giving power, will be cast out at the time of the consummation, together with the vines that bear no fruit. Thus Judas the betrayer was cut off like a useless cluster; and in the Church, as many as are the differences among clusters, so many are the differences among souls. Since the teachers are taken in the sense of vines, one is fragrant, another unripe, another perfect, another blasted by the wind. Such, then, is the end of the unfruitful; but of the fruitful he added, saying: And gifts shall be brought to the Lord Sabaoth from a people oppressed and plucked. This would be the one who walks the narrow and oppressed way that leads to life, who has been plucked, having been estranged from the common life of men. Him he also calls great, as being such in the sight of God, whose rational gifts and unbloody sacrifices he says do not cease to be offered to God both in this age and in the one to come. And this people is the nation mentioned above, which they say is trodden down and hoping. Hoping because of endurance. "For endurance produces hope, and hope does not put to shame," according to the great Apostle. And trodden down by those who persecuted it. For Aquila also rendered it, a nation enduring and trodden down. After these things the prophet says, which is in a part of a river of his country. Of whose, if not of God? For he will say that the one living as a citizen in the Church knows in part, and prophesies in part. For the country indicated did not contain the whole river—the word of God. But according to the other interpreters, it is said that rivers did not tear through the land.

For its land the persecutors plundered, trampling the city of God, as is made clear by: the rivers came and the winds blew, and the torrent passed over our soul. But the people of God, having been set free, will bring gifts to the Lord on Mount Zion, having been deemed worthy of the heavenly city under Christ the high priest. For you have come near, it says, to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. But some, interpreting the present passage otherwise, say it is astonishing if the discourse is about Damascus yet makes mention of Ethiopia. To this they say that God, disciplining Israel as it impiously erred in various ways, brought frequent assaults of enemies upon them; and when they ought to have repented for these things, at one time they called the Syrians, at another the Egyptians to alliance, whose worship they also emulated. At any rate Achaz, having been in Damascus and seen there an altar of elaborate construction, made one like it and set it up in the house of the Lord. The vision, then, has come concerning Damascus. But he transfers the discourse to the Egyptians, on whose alliance those from Judah especially depended at the time when the Babylonians came against them. This a voice of the prophet sets forth, saying, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and chariots. And when Nebuchadnezzar campaigned against Judea—for as a side matter of his march he was plundering the cities of the East. But being unable to take the island of Syria for lack of ships, he joined it to the mainland by a causeway in the middle, crossed over on foot, and besieged the city. But the Tyrians, fearing what was to come, refitted themselves for their ships, leaving the city deserted.

Therefore, leaving this one aside, he came and subdued the Egyptians, God delivering them over because of the arrogance they held against him, and the Egyptians were called by the Jews to their aid, as though God were unable to save these, since they supposed their own gods more powerful. Making these things clear, God says to Ezekiel: "Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon enslaved his force with a great servitude against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare, and no wages were given to him and to his force, in return for the hard servitude which he served against Tyre. In return for this I have given him the land of Egypt." Therefore the prophet cries out "Woe" against it. The rivers of Ethiopia signify the seven mouths of the Nile; and the land beyond the rivers he names what is now Alexandria, then called On. And Ammon, some say, interpreting Jeremiah, was its name. It is distant from the last mouth, which is called the Heracleotic, by perhaps about eighty stades in number. Therefore, he says, this land is beyond the rivers. And these men sailed the Nile up and down, exporting some things and importing others. Therefore he pronounces woe upon their merchant ships, signifying by them those who sail in them, since their trade will be destroyed for them at the time when they are captured. And by wings of ships he calls the sails. For the winds falling upon them like a winged creature, the ships pass through. And hostages and papyrus letters across the sea, they say, are thus called. Some poets say that Cinyras, having lain with his daughter Myrrha, fathered the child Adonis. And ashamed of the deed, he exposed him on a mountain.

The mountain nymphs reared this one. And having become beautiful in appearance, he engaged in hunting. Aphrodite joined him, marveling at his beauty; for which reason Ares, being jealous (for he was her lover), was changed into a boar and killed him while he was hunting. And Aphrodite, not bearing the suffering, went even to Hades itself to bring back her beloved. And when the wife of Pluto also opposed her in this, they agreed with one another, the year having been divided into two, that she should be with the young man for half of it. And when she had gone up and reported this to her friends, they held a festival for the ascent, just as indeed a lamentation for the descent. Both of these things also prevailed through the times after these. And indeed even at Alexandria such a festival was held until our own times, says the one who gave the present exposition. The Jews also, in their impiety, partook of such orgies. Therefore Ezekiel says, "And I saw, and behold, there were women sitting, lamenting Tammuz, which is Adonis." And those who inhabited the aforementioned city used to do something like this. Taking a potsherd, they put in a letter to the women in Byblos, as though Adonis had been found. Then, having sealed it, they cast it into the sea, having performed certain rites for him, and, as those who sent it said, it was carried automatically to Byblos, and it brought about the end of the lamentation for the women there. Woe, therefore, he says, to the ships and to those who send hostages on the sea, that is, pledges of concord to those afflicted with the same impiety, not by ships, but sending the potsherd on the back of the sea.

Those beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, therefore, did not merely promise aid to those from Israel, but actually sent it, although they gained nothing by sending it. For this reason the Babylonians, being indignant, marched against the Egyptians. When these were about to campaign against them, certain swift runners from Judea announced the impending attack. These the prophet calls swift messengers. And he calls the Egyptians a lofty nation, indicating their arrogance, or their folly. And a strange and harsh one, as being strange in harshness, and having no one beyond this. For who, he says, is beyond it? And they were exceedingly idolaters. Therefore he says that they are a nation without hope and trampled down, as not having their hope in God, and being trampled by the deceits of demons. Therefore they have also been trampled by the Assyrians. And he added the manner of the capture, saying thus that the Assyrians would cross the rivers of Egypt, the canals. Thus also mentioning the lakes, in which they prided themselves as making Egypt impregnable to them, so that it would seem in some way that these are also an inhabited land when every gathering of waters is dried up. And the suffering of the Egyptians, he says, will thus become clear to all, as a sign from on high, a watchword given to an army, and as a trumpet sounding, audible; when these things happen, he says, I will save my own city, referring to the events concerning Rabshakeh, and the hundred and eighty-five thousand that perished. And thus, he says, the things of salvation will be manifest to all, in accordance with which indeed both the light of the noonday sun, and for those in danger the things of my aid and protection will be as a cloud of dew before the harvest.

For those who reap the dew need it, since it gently ripens the ears of grain beforehand. And in accordance with their prayers, the dew comes upon them when they need it, just as salvation from God came to the Jews. From this point he presents the coming sufferings figuratively, from the imagery of farmers—either for the Assyrians who besieged Jerusalem [or also for the Egyptians]. For whenever the grapes have blossomed and become unripe grapes, they cut off the superfluous parts of the vines and of the clusters, and so to speak the gleanings, so that they do not choke the better and more useful ones. In this way, then, in the case of the Assyrians, God destroyed the great and slender people. Their corpses became a delicacy for beasts and birds. But the king, who occupies the place of a great cluster, did not perish together with his subjects. In the case of the Egyptians you will understand that the enemies did not capture their entire land, but, as it were, applying the sword to small clusters—the settlements or villages in various places—they measured out the wrath of the philanthropic God, who disciplines those who offend but does not allow those being disciplined to be destroyed entirely. Therefore he goes on next to describe their conversion. For having renounced the impiety of idols, they will receive faith in the God of all things, offering gifts as a sweet odor: hope, faith, love. And because of the disciplines brought upon them by God, he calls them a pressed people, led to a better life, like a young plant that benefits growth. For just as they were transplanted from error to divine thoughts, so they bear fruit continually.

Therefore he calls them a great people, flourishing in all things according to Christ, as much as they formerly were in error. For where sin abounded, grace superabounded. And the place of fruitfulness he called the Church through Zion, calling it a mountain because of its height. For nothing in it is lowly, and the name signifies a watchtower. And the phrase, "which is in part of the river of his country," means that the conversion of the Egyptians to God, having begun in part of the country, ran through the whole of Rhinocorura, perhaps or some of the cities situated there beyond the river. For proceeding in the text he will say, "In that day there shall be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians, and a pillar to the Lord at its border." And he says that the people, trodden down by the terrors of war, should hope, inasmuch as they have placed their hope in God. CHAPTER 19. THE VISION OF EGYPT. 1.15. Behold, the Lord sits upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the handmade things of Egypt shall be shaken from before him, and their heart shall be defeated within them. And the Egyptians shall be stirred up against the Egyptians, and a man shall fight against his brother, and a man against his neighbor, city against city, and nome against

...the pasture, etc. What has been said was indeed composed in connection with the sea of Egypt and the river. Nevertheless, those things indicated that the road would be very easy for those who proclaim Christ; but the present words foretold the finest things for the Egyptians. Yet in none of the visions mentioned was it said that the Lord would come upon a light cloud. But there are certain other things peculiar to them: "the vision of Egypt," but not "against Egypt," as has been written beforehand in the case of the others; either because Egypt itself was going to see the things said with a discerning mind; or because the prophecy contains the finest things for Egypt. For what is more blessed than that the Lord should visit it and impart the knowledge of himself? And he will come, they say, upon a light cloud, or in the body which he took from the Holy Spirit and the holy Virgin. For just as the cloud has its composition from nothing else than air and the exhalation of the earth, so in the case of the Lord the body subsisted from the Holy Spirit and earthly substance. Mounted upon this, God came in infancy to Egypt, which was benefited ineffably by his visitation in the greatest matters. For those in Egypt especially needed this, having become the most superstitious of all, so as even to have fallen to the worship of irrational animals; so that even their king cried with uncovered head, "I do not know the Lord." Thus they regarded the whole as without master and without providence. And they were always enemies to those of Israel. Therefore for those who were exceedingly ignorant of him, the knowledge of him is foretold, all the impiety of idols having been done away with.

But if the phrase "upon a cloud" had not been added, it would have seemed to be said of the power of incorporeal beings, by which he governs the whole, being present in all things. For he was in the world, and the world came to be through him. In the same way he was also formerly in Egypt. For the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. And again the Lord was with Joseph. And it would have been superfluous, since it could apply to every region. But indeed he made clear the sojourn with a body, calling this a cloud. Perhaps also because he was free from more earthly motions, and soared above bodily desires—he who did not commit sin, nor was guile found in his mouth. But others have supposed the holy Virgin to be called a light cloud, in whose arms he was carried into Egypt; that is, they say, as Isaiah saw him upon a high throne, hymned by divine powers. And Daniel saw the Ancient of Days upon a throne, and as a son of man coming with the clouds. And Ezekiel saw the form of a man from electrum and fire. These things hint at some manifestation of God-befitting glory and of the mystery according to Christ. Thus even now the cloud must be understood of spiritual rain and dew, and of the saving baptism itself. Therefore Paul says that those from Israel were baptized in the cloud and in the sea. And he went before them in the day, a cloud; and in the night, a pillar of fire. If, then, it was fitting that the Lord, going in a God-befitting manner for the overthrow of the Egyptians, be seen upon a light cloud, through which alone the stains of idolatry were wiped away. And a light cloud makes light those who have laid aside the burden of sins.

His sitting signifies either rest or, that is, authority. For Christ does not rest upon legal worship, but upon the perfection that comes through baptism, through which he also reigns over those on earth. And visiting the Egyptians, he brings it about that their idols are shaken, when churches of God were established throughout all Egypt. And God, visiting them, was overseeing them according to the saying, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And he says that the heart of the Egyptians will be defeated, since they do not oppose the divine preaching, and they will suffer the noble defeat. But some say that the heart of the idols means the demons, who will be defeated, or according to the other interpreters, will melt away by an invisible and unseen power. For their error, from the time that churches were established among them, was being extinguished little by little. And the Lord was visiting them in a glorious body, that of the resurrection from the dead, which would be a light cloud, transformed from the corruptible and earthy substance. Riding upon it invisibly, he was visiting and cooperating in Egypt with those who proclaimed him. And even if when he was a child he visited the Egyptians, let us say that by an ineffable power, by the presence of Christ the demons are to be understood as having been weakened, their power having been destroyed. And at that time, he says, Egyptians will rise up against Egyptians. Instead of "will rise up," Aquila has "I defeated Egyptians against Egyptians"; and Symmachus said "I will engage in battle"; according to the saying, "I did not come to cast peace upon the earth, but a sword." For some ran forward, while others opposed the preaching, so that every house, every village, and city, and country was divided.

For they used to call the districts "laws." And in another sense, the law of the worship of demons was set in opposition by him who is according to Christ, being abolished, since the agreement in Egypt for evil was being dissolved, which especially indicates the phrase, "I will set them at variance and I will bring them together." For this is the meaning of "two shall be divided against three, and three against two." Therefore also "the spirit of the Egyptians shall be troubled," he says; and according to Symmachus, "it shall be broken," and according to Theodotion, "it shall be split." And according to Aquila, "it shall be enfeebled." All these things will come about for the advancement of the Egyptians, when their superstitious counsel is scattered abroad, at which time also, being at a loss, they will turn, according to their custom, to oracles and various forms of divination. And he says that the necromancers speak "from the earth." And "those who have familiar spirits" are those who belch forth from their own heart, or from a demon dwelling within, just as he also called "those who know" the ones who inspect entrails. And they especially used these practices when the Romans were advancing against them. For he calls them "hard" as being invincible and yielding to no defeat. And through these things he indicates the time of the destruction of the idols, when the kingdom of the Egyptians is cast out. For the destruction of the kings in Egypt entered in together with the saving proclamation—or rather, even with the very birth of the Savior, which took place in the time of Augustus Caesar. For this king, being powerful, was the first to subject Egypt to the Romans. After him, all the powerful kings of the Romans likewise enslaved Egypt, sending out military governors to them. Their hardness Daniel indicated, calling their kingdom iron.

And a beast having iron teeth and iron claws. To which it is added: And the Egyptians shall drink water that is by the sea. In place of which Aquila says, Waters shall be drawn back from the sea. And Symmachus, They shall disappear. And figuratively the sea is the turbulent multitude of the Egyptians; therefore also above he called the many nations a surging sea. And in the passages where he was treating of the one from the root of Jesse, he said: and the Lord shall desolate the sea of Egypt. And Jeremiah likened its multitude to locusts and to a forest, saying: "Cut down its forest, says the Lord, for it shall not be likened, for it shall multiply greatly beyond the locust, and there is no number to them." And the failing of the river is significant of the kingdom, as he also said in the passages about the one from the root of Jesse, and the Lord shall lay his hand upon the river, and the rest. And elsewhere it is said, And the river shall fail, and every gathering of water shall be dried up. And after the first river, he says that others also shall fail, and the channels, indicating along with the kingdom the rulers also in their several parts. And gatherings he called their warlike powers. And Ezekiel also, in harmony with these things, says: Thus says the Lord: "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh the great ruler, who sits in the midst of his rivers." After which he also says: "I will cleave the fish of the river to your wings." And after other things: "And all shall empty their swords into Egypt, and the land shall be filled with the wounded. And I will make their rivers desolate." And again:

You gored with your rivers, and you trampled your rivers." And Jeremiah also says: "Who is this that rises like a river, and like rivers that swell with water? Waters of Egypt [shall rise like a river]." By these things is made clear the multitude of those who serve as soldiers among them, in the midst of whom the dragon, seated, was likely to boast greatly. And by "fish" we shall understand those subject to the rulers over the various parts. And he gored with those who served as soldiers under him, whom he also said he trampled, ruling tyrannically. For they say these things must be understood figuratively, as also the nation previously mentioned, beyond hope and trampled down, whose rivers plundered the land. If, then, the prophecy had brought destruction upon humans in addition to these things, nothing would have remained to seek. For it was consistent that the animals too should perish together with all the waters. But now, after the destruction of the waters, he makes mention of a great multitude that will be in Egypt, and that there will be an altar to the Lord, on which [he says] the Egyptians will sacrifice. And how did these things come to be, if all the water had failed? Hence these things must be understood figuratively, signifying the kingdom of the Egyptians and the multitudes of their fighting force. But others, understanding the aforementioned things literally, say that Vespasian, after capturing Judea, campaigned against the Egyptians. And God, having made all things work together for him, dried up every gathering of waters, so that for lack of water the Egyptians sought drinkable water somehow by digging pits along the shore, through which the water filtered from the sea becomes more drinkable. Then, they say, those who proclaimed the saving message also came to Egypt.

Of those who inhabit Egypt, some have been allotted the plains and others the marshes, and these very people are called marsh-dwellers and cowherds because of the abundance of cattle that arise among them. They do not use grain and wine, being in want of these, but fish and milk and sour beer and the tender shoots cut from the marshes, who also work the split flax. Their want, he says, of all these things will come to be when the waters have failed. But those who have set forth the first interpretation allegorize this passage again in the following way. Understand, they say, that the river means the philosophy that once flourished among the Egyptians. For it has been said, "And Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians," of which the account flowed abundantly. Its parts—both rivers and channels—are the accounts of each of the individual branches of learning among them, from which there grew no olive and no vine, nor anything necessary or fruit-bearing, but reed and rush and papyrus. And the dragon, which he formed to mock him, is said in Job to couch beside the papyrus and the reed and the marsh grass. And Ezekiel too has called Pharaoh a dragon. In order, then, that these things may fail—the Egyptian dragon and his philosophy—the Lord reasonably visits these things, putting an end to them by his presence, and giving instead the saving drink of new waters, concerning which it was said before, "And you shall draw water with gladness from the springs of salvation." And instead of a river, a river whose streams gladden the city of God. Do you see how these things are prophesied for the benefit of the Egyptians? Therefore, according to the Seventy, it is said: "The Egyptians shall drink the water that is by the sea, but the river shall fail.

For since there is no Egyptian water, nor is the sea water fit for drinking, he promises them new water. But when the Egyptian waters fail, the hunters of fish—that is, of human souls—are said to mourn, being opposed to those to whom the Savior said: "Come, and I will make you fishers of men." For those men, through the philosophy and sorcery among them, used to lure souls as if with a net, catching them in the plaits of their arguments. But opposed to this net is that of which it is said: "The kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea, and gathering from every kind of fish," the word of the parable concerning the kingdom also indicating that the fish are men. They mourn, then, as no longer having work because of Christ who put an end to it, according to the saying: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the understanding of the prudent I will set aside." And those who work the linen—not the firm and unbreakable linen, but the word that has been torn and split. And the fine linen of the Egyptians was watered by the river. Therefore the workers of these things will groan, when no longer for them for a covering,

and the woven works of their wisdom, which cover falsehood with deceptive and persuasive words, provided an order of wisdom from them. Along with these, those who prepare the counterfeit wine—not the wine made from the vine—will groan. The provider of all these things is the Egyptian river, from which another prophet turns them away, saying: What have you to do with the land of Egypt, to drink the water of Gihon? What follows these things is foretold concerning the unseen rulers, who presided over the most conspicuous and greatest cities, both Tanis and Memphis. And in that day the Egyptians shall be as women, in fear and in trembling, from the face of the hand of the Lord Sabaoth, which he himself shall lay upon them. And the land of the Jews shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone who names it to them shall be afraid, because of the counsel which the Lord has counseled against them, etc. ... visiting in judgment those who afflict them. For in this way they will also know the Lord in the time of affliction, which he called a day. But some understood the word as referring to the very visitation. For when human nature was being tyrannized by the demons and held fast by a great burden of evils, so that the matter itself cried out, God had mercy on the race. For thus it is said that the blood of Abel also cries out, God having loathed the monstrosity of the deed. For how, they say, did they call upon one whom they did not know before, except through what they suffered alone, when he also sends the Word to them in human form? And he has saved them, judging—that is, bringing a just judgment upon them, handing over those who afflict them to the cords of darkness. Therefore he himself says: Now is the judgment of this world;

Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. In this way Christ judged the tyrant and the world, and drew the Egyptians also to himself; in return for which they perform thank-offerings, making their promise, and to the end they strive in the contests of faith, according to the saying: "Make your vows and pay them." But it is necessary to apply the mind to this, that the word presents the introduction of a new law and a New Covenant. For since Moses forbade an altar to be outside Jerusalem, and commanded that only the tribe of Levi should serve as priests, how does the prophecy establish an altar in Egypt, and say that the Egyptians shall become priests of God? But according to the Apostle, when the priesthood is changed, of necessity there is also a change of law. And after these things the prophet says: And the Lord will strike the Egyptians with a blow, and will heal them. "For whom the Lord loves he disciplines, and he scourges every son whom he receives." He brings a blow, then, upon the Egyptians when they happen to need it, not prolonging his anger. But some say that he calls the servitude under the Romans a blow, through which he healed them, granting a passage for the saving proclamation to reach them. For formerly it was not possible to visit them while they were disposed in unmixed hostility. Yet God brings a blow for benefit, and not in wrath. Knowing this, the prophets say: "Discipline us, O Lord, but in judgment, and not in wrath." And again: "In a small affliction was your discipline to us." And to the Synagogue of the Jews he says: In toil and scourging shall you be disciplined, O Jerusalem. After which he says:

In that day, at the same time evidently, there shall be a highway for the Assyrians to the Egyptians, speaking thus according to the ancient custom, both those who dwell in Syria and Mesopotamia, who continued hostile to the Egyptians when before the Roman empire they had used their own kings—these with the successors of Antiochus, and those with the Ptolemies; and the Jews, being in the middle, were struck by both in turn. But Christ, having come, the peace of all, not only joined earthly things to heavenly, but also the nations to one another. As also these three, being disposed with hostility, he deemed worthy of one blessing, so that Israel should no longer exalt itself, being called the people of God and alone blessed. For all were taught piety, and to hold fast to love for one another. For having beaten their swords into plowshares, they do not lift them against one another, having become under one yoke, spiritually of God, bodily of the Romans. And the Egyptians serve the Assyrians with the servitude of love. Or, as some say, because of the Roman camps of Syrians in Egypt, and certain Syrians enslaving them by the power of ruling authority. The people, then, blessed in Egypt and in Assyria, is seen through the multitude of the Churches, and that from Israel flourished at the time of the preaching. For they became the firstfruits of faith in Christ, from whom were evangelists, and disciples, and apostles; therefore all of the three nations on earth have been blessed.

But instead of "and among the Assyrians," the rest rendered it "and Assur," so that no one might suppose the Jews in Egypt and Syria to be meant, but the Egyptians themselves and the Assyrians themselves. And the wonderful thing is that the firstborn among children has been named third. For having insulted Christ, he has been placed behind the nations. For when the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel will be saved. And by the land blessed by the Lord you will understand the Church, and especially the heavenly one, which the meek will inherit, where also is the heavenly Jerusalem and the mountain of Zion; and Israel might be understood as the God-beloved choir of the saints who have gone forth from the nation of the Jews before the world; therefore it has been said, "and my inheritance is Israel." For Israel is the portion of his inheritance, as indeed Moses says. And the prophet, marveling that the Egyptians, more superstitious than others, will honor the God of the Jews, their enemies, says this very emphatically and repeatedly, the things of the Egyptians: sometimes, "The Egyptians will be swearing by the name of the Lord Sabaoth"; and sometimes, "There will be an altar to the Lord in the land of the Egyptians." And again: "The Lord will be for a sign forever in the land of Egypt." And again: "The Lord will be known to the Egyptians." And again: "The Egyptians will know the Lord." And Syria, as it seems, he has included with emphasis, in which they say there are genuine worshippers, and a sister and neighbor practicing the discipline of the Egyptians. CHAPTER 20. 1.

In the year when Tanathan entered Azotus, when he was sent by Arna king of the Assyrians, and he made war on Azotus and took it, then the Lord spoke to Isaiah, saying: Go and take off the sackcloth from your waist, etc. He foretells the capture of the Egyptians by the Assyrians, having discussed their peace in the preceding passages. We shall say, then, that he confirms as trustworthy the things that will happen in later times by means of those that are about to be fulfilled at any moment. For the good things that were spoken awaited the coming of the Savior, who was going to come upon a swift cloud into Egypt. But the present things happened in the prophet's own times. These things are foretold to the Jews, who expected to escape the coming capture by the Assyrians through an alliance with the Egyptians—who were indeed near, having taken Azotus, which was the greatest and most powerful city of Palestine—so that, frightened by the evils at hand, having abandoned all human reliance and turned to the Lord, they might gain the coming hardships. And indeed a certain prophet said: "And Ephraim was a senseless dove, having no heart; they called upon Egypt and went to the Assyrians." And the present prophet also says: "Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who trust in horses and in chariots." But Tanathan, being a general of the king of the Assyrians, took Azotus.

At that time, therefore, the prophet, who previously wore a single garment, hairy and thick, on account of extreme asceticism and because he mourned for the impious in Israel, is commanded to strip off even this and to go about Jerusalem naked and barefoot as a type of the coming captivity of the Egyptians. For the paradox of the sight was more trustworthy than mere word, and it visibly produced fear, especially in those accustomed to despise prophetic words and to say to the prophets: "Speak other things to us, and announce to us another delusion"—so that, seeing the strangeness of his appearance, they might themselves inquire into its cause. One must marvel at the prophetic life, concerning which the divine Apostle says: "They went about in sheepskins, in goatskins." And how they were obedient to God and rose above all human glory. But just as the Jews trusted in the power of the Egyptians, so the Egyptians trusted in that of the Ethiopians. The nation of the Blemmyes are skilled archers, and they smear the tips of their arrows with deadly poison, from which those struck perished like those bitten by venomous serpents. For three years the king, encamping against both of these, subdued the cities of the Assyrians one by one, so that the Egyptians would marvel if he was able to subdue even the Ethiopians. Thus it is good to hope in the Lord rather than to trust in man. And cursed is he who has his hope in man, but blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. And the Lord shall be his hope. He has called Egypt an island, which the Nile encircles on every side. CHAPTER 21. THE WORD OF THE DESERT. 11.

Like a tempest through the desert it shall pass, coming from the desert, from the land; the vision, fearful and harsh, was announced to me. The one who sets aside sets aside. The one who acts lawlessly acts lawlessly. Against me are the Elamites, and the envoys of the Persians come against me, etc. The things set before us concern Babylon, as is clear from "Babylon has fallen," and from "Against me are the Elamites and the envoys of the Persians," or, according to Symmachus, "Arise, Elam; besiege, Medes." And the rest, and the Hebrew, say "Medes," who also brought down the empire of the Babylonians. To them he said above: "Behold, I will rouse against you the Medes." Concerning whom Jeremiah also says: "The Lord stirred up the spirit of the king of the Medes, because his wrath is against Babylon." And again: "Give [against] Babylon battering-rams." It might also be said according to the Seventy themselves that the Persians, having not long after succeeded the Medes, brought down the remnants of Babylon. These things contribute to the vision of Egypt, although Babylon has obtained its own vision, according to some, so that he might persuade the Jews not to trust in the Babylonians, as though they too would be captured. For a certain prophet says: "They called upon Egypt, and they went to the Assyrians." Or encouraging them, on account of the fact that the Assyrians took the city and the temple. But according to the more accurate, having spoken concerning the capture of Egypt by the Assyrians and of the Ethiopians, he necessarily teaches also what will befall those who captured them. For God, by just judgment, handed over the Egyptians to the Assyrians, and these to the Medes, and those to the Persians, and these to others, for the destruction of their boastfulness. And he calls Babylon a desert, indicating its coming desolation.