Vers. 10. — Et convertam, inquit, festivitates vestras in luctum, et omnia cantica vestra in planctum: et inducam super omne dorsum vestrum saccum, et super omne caput calvi(??)um. Et ponam eam [Aut. eum] quasi luctum unigeniti, et novissima ejus quasi diem amarum. Quon(??)am non unam personam, sed populum simul institutus sermo designat, ideo permutatio et numeri contingit et generis: ut tum pluraliter tum singulariter alloquatur. Convertam, inquit, festivitates vestras in luctum, et cantica vestra in planctum, id est, aemula laetis cuncta succedent, et quae liberi ad voluptatem parastis, luctui subjiciet immissa captivitas: corporaque nobilium pretiosis paulo ante tecta ornamentis, cilicium pannique convestient. Quod totum tempore captivitatis obtingere, utinam, lectione lautum indicante, nossemus. Sed tam frequens nostris temporibus ejusmodi est facta conditio, ut quidquam melius sperantium miremur audaciam.
Verse 10. — And I will turn, he says, your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation: and I will bring sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon every head of yours. And I will make it [or him] like the mourning of an only son, and its [or his] last things like a bitter day. Since the discourse, being set forth, designates not one person but the people at once, therefore both the number and the gender change, so that it addresses them now in the plural, now in the singular. I will turn, he says, your feasts into mourning, and your songs into lamentation — that is, all things will succeed in rivalry with what was joyful, and the captivity that has been sent in will subject to mourning the things you prepared for the pleasure of your children; and the bodies of the nobles, shortly before covered with precious ornaments, sackcloth and rags will clothe. All of which, would that we knew, with the reading plainly showing it, to have befallen in the time of the captivity. But so frequent has this kind of condition become in our own times that we marvel at the audacity of those who hope for anything better.
Inducam, inquit, super omne dorsum vestrum saccum, et super caput calvicium: et ornamenta corporum, firmamenta virium perdetis, ut caesaries vel ludibrio, vel morbo incipiat consumente definere: et ponam eam quasi luctum unigeniti, et novissima ejus quasi diem amarum, id est, gentis Israeliticae status ab arce felicitatis antiquae ad ima descendit misere servitutis: ut tam acerbo luctu digna sit, quam illa orbitas, quae de unigenitis consuevit accidere, ubi non solum amissa pignora, sed etiam posteritas extincta lugetur. Sed videamus et reliqua.
Vers. 11. — Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et mittam famem in terram: non famem panis, neque sitim aquae, sed audiendi verbum Domini. Et commovebuntur a mari usque ad mare, et ab Aquilone usque ad Orientem circuibunt, quaerentes verbum Domini, et non invenient. Inter extremas calamitates ejus populi, qui Legis conditione floruerat, numerandum esse monstravit defectum salutarium magistrorum. Quidni cum ea sit conditio, ut si discenda non audias, subeat imperitia, perque hoc ignorantiae nocte verseris, atque in multiplices miserias, velut luminibus captus, incurras? Qui enim, ut alius propheta denuntiat, non didicerit Justitiam, super terram veritatem non faciet, sicque mendacia loquentes peribunt.
I will bring, he says, sackcloth upon every back of yours, and baldness upon your head: and you shall lose the ornaments of your bodies and the firm supports of your strength, so that your hair, whether through mockery or through consuming disease, begins to fail; and I will make her like the mourning for an only son, and her last things like a bitter day—that is, the condition of the Israelite people has descended from the height of ancient felicity to the depths of wretched servitude, so that it may be worthy of mourning as bitter as that bereavement which customarily comes from only sons, where not only the children already lost but also the posterity now extinguished is lamented. But let us see the remaining things as well.
Verse 11. — Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will send famine upon the land: not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the word of the Lord. And they shall be moved from sea to sea, and from the North even to the East they shall go about, seeking the word of the Lord, and they shall not find it. Among the extreme calamities of that people which had flourished under the covenant of the Law, he has shown that the lack of saving teachers is to be numbered. And why not, when the condition is such that if you do not hear what must be learned, ignorance takes over, and through this you are turned about in the night of unknowing, and, as if deprived of sight, you run into manifold miseries? For he who, as another prophet declares, has not learned Justice, will not do truth upon the earth, and so those who speak lies shall perish.
Propter quod, et populo, cui per Osse prophetam exprobratum fuerat, quia scientiam repulisset, ob id quia ipse ab omnipotente Domino mereretur repelli, etiam ni praesenti loco sub denuntiatu poenae idem crimen objicitur, ul qui pietatis magistros studiis fuerant profanitatis exosi, quantum in exitium suum laboraverint, agnoscant: qui hoc videlicet peccando fecerint, quod eis judex inter caetera imo supra caetera supplicia comminetur, idest inter captivitatis aerumnas doctrinae eos egestate feriendos, ut illo insigni, quo inter omnes nationes conspicui fuerant, deserantur, nec quisquam eos prophetarum vel instruat ignorantes, vel consoletur a(??)fl(??)tos. Quod lotum sub hostili damnatione contingere, assidua nos pericula docuerunt. Hanc autem minarum speciem Esaias quoque beatus asseruit, auferendum videlicet a Judae principem, atque seniorem consoliorum, doctoremque, praenuntians in eorum locum pueros reges et effaeminatos principes subrogandos. Quod autem ait, non famem panis neque sitim aquae, sed audiendi verbum Domini, illis populis (??)terendam, quantum ad tenorem quidem pertinet lectionis, eo sensu videtur illatum, ut dixerit, non solum famem panis, neque solum sitim aquae, sed audiendi verbum Domini eam fore penuriam, ut nusquam valeant doctorem, etiamsi eum avidissime quaesierint, reperire.
For this reason, even to the people who had been reproached through the prophet Hosea, because they had rejected knowledge, and for that reason because he himself deserved to be rejected by the almighty Lord, even in the present passage the same crime is charged against them under the threat of punishment, so that those who had hated the teachers of piety with a zeal for profanity may recognize how greatly they have labored toward their own destruction; who, of course, by this sinning have done that which the judge threatens them with among other punishments—nay, above other punishments—that is, among the hardships of captivity they are to be struck with the want of teaching, so that they may be abandoned by that distinguished mark by which they had been conspicuous among all nations, and no one of the prophets may either instruct them in their ignorance or console them in their affliction. That this whole thing happens under hostile condemnation, continual dangers have taught us. But this kind of threat the blessed Isaiah also asserted, foretelling that the prince and the elder of counsels and the teacher were to be taken away from Judah, and that in their place boys were to be substituted as rulers and effeminate princes. But what he says—not a famine of bread nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the word of the Lord—is to be inflicted upon those peoples; as far as the tenor of the reading pertains, it seems to have been brought in with this meaning, that he said not only a famine of bread, nor only a thirst of water, but that there would be a scarcity of hearing the word of the Lord, so that they can nowhere find a teacher, even if they seek him most eagerly.
Neque enim quasi doctrinae spiritalis cupidos, a perque hoc dispendia ejus graviter aestimantes edicenda, solorum magistrorum ablatione terreret. Secundum eloquia itaque Scripturis familiaria non utique negavit, eos fame sitique vexandos, sed subaudiendum reliquit, non his solum, quae pro conditione mortalis vitae bonis malisque quasi promiscue interdum accidunt, subjugandos, verum alia majore calamitate, et ea quae ad omnium respicit, et noti noxiis accidere non potest, esse plectendos, id est, ut divina eos doctrina non instruat, sed auris eorum, etiamsi adjurent se discere velle, contemnat. Quasi quibas conven(??)at illud, quod apud alium prophetam legimus: Peccatori autem dixit Deus, Quare tu enarras justitias meas, et assumis testamentum meum per os tuum (Psal. 49. 10.), fingitur sensus ex omnibus. quia pro sceleribus, et religionis et conversationis suae captivitati barbarae Judaeorum gens quondam dilecta subdatur; qui tantum sane a prisci decoris arce defluxerint, ut voluntatis suae crimina recognoscant in poemis, atque ferorum tolerantes jussa dominorum, doctrinam sacrae legis nus quam audiant insonanlem: cujus nimirum adime in patriis collocati finibus, illuminantia se praecepta contemserint.
For he was not terrifying them as though they were desirous of spiritual teaching—and therefore weighing its losses heavily as things to be proclaimed—by the removal of their teachers alone. And so, according to the sayings familiar to the Scriptures, he did not indeed deny that they were to be harassed by famine and thirst, but he left it to be understood that they were to be subjected not only to those goods and evils which, according to the condition of mortal life, sometimes happen as it were indiscriminately, but that they were to be punished by another, greater calamity—one that regards all people and cannot befall those who are not guilty—that is, that divine teaching should not instruct them, but that their ear, even if they swear they wish to learn, should despise them. As though that saying applied to them which we read in another prophet: But to the sinner God said, Why do you recount my justices, and take up my covenant with your mouth? The sense is fashioned from all of these: because for the crimes of their religion and conduct, the Jewish people, once beloved, is subjected to barbarian captivity; who indeed have fallen so far from the citadel of their former beauty that they recognize the crimes of their own will in their punishments, and, enduring the commands of savage masters, they hear nowhere the teaching of the sacred law resounding—the very precepts that enlighten them they have despised, surely, while settled in their ancestral territories.
Verum ut contextus ipsius lectionis intelligentiae hujus tenorem poscit, ita etiam debemus advertere, eadem quoque ad futurorum significationem valere, eorum videlicet temporum, in quibus Judaei sceleratissime peccantes, grav ssime conciderunt. Postquam enim vinea ilia, quae translata ex AEgypto (Isai. 5.), plantata est in regionibus opimis, et aedificato tempto, torcular sacri altaris accepit, expectataque, ut taceret uvas, fecit spinas, et non justitiam, sed clamorem, ita ut cultores ejus in ipsum lilium patris familias efferati (Marc. 12. Luc. 20.), crederent se absque molestia reliquum esse tenturos, quod cum legitimi haeredis intentu pervasissent. Juravit Dominus Deus in superbiam Jacob, si oblitus fuero usque ad finem omnia opera eorum, quorum tanta emersit atrocitas, ni ipsa terra eorum moveretur, ac medium d(??)em lugubris auferret obscuritas. Sexta siquidem hora tenebrae factae sunt usque ab horam nonam, et terra mota est, petrae scissae sunt (Matth. 27.), sicque festivitates eorum in luctum, et in planctum cantica pervenerunt, atque impiorum dorsa sacco tecta sunt, et capita sensere calvicium: venientibusque in ultionem piaculi gentibus, Jerusalem est obsidione circumdata, atque adeo illisa terrae, ut ulterius nequaquam possit adsurgere.
But just as the tenor of this understanding is demanded by the context of the passage itself, so too we ought to notice that the same things also hold good for the signification of future events—namely, those times in which the Jews, sinning most wickedly, fell most grievously. For after that vine which was transplanted out of Egypt (Isa. 5) was planted in rich regions, and after the temple had been built, it received the winepress of the sacred altar; and when it was expected to bring forth grapes, it produced thorns, and not justice but a cry—so that its cultivators, raging against the very son of the father of the household (Mark 12; Luke 20), believed that they would possess the rest without trouble, since they had taken it over with the intent of the legitimate heir. The Lord God swore against the pride of Jacob: if I forget even to the end all their works—works whose cruelty was so great—unless their very land should be moved and a mournful darkness should take away the middle of the day. For at the sixth hour darkness came over the land until the ninth hour, and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split (Matt. 27); and so their festivals were turned into mourning, and their songs into lamentation, and the backs of the impious were covered with sackcloth, and their heads felt baldness; and when the nations came for the avenging of their sin, Jerusalem was surrounded with siege, and was so dashed against the ground that it could never again rise up.
Sensit ergo quasi luctum unigeniti, et amaro conclusa fine est gens illa, quae Unigenitum Dei contumeliis plagisque violavit, secutumque est vere tempus, in quo fame spiritalium bonorum consumatur: nec penuriam panis, aut aquae sitim, sed audiendi verbum Domini, videmus cos, qui in verbum Domini contumaces fuerant, experiri. Annon eurum ista calamitas in ipsa rerum attestatione collucet? Nam cum spiritalis philosophiae, erga Dominum scilicet pietatem, erga proximus benignitatem, et probitatem docentis, ab cis origo discesserit, ad tantam studiorum et doctrinae sunt inopiam devoluti, ut a solis ortu usque ad occasum, id est, iu toto orbe terrarum dispersi, nusquam verbum Dei, quo vegetentur, audiant, nec coruscantis Evangelii fulgore tangantur; sed instar infantium pro virtutibus morum vitalibusque sacramentis, rebus pudendis et ludicris intumescant: carnis videlicet concisione, et sabbatibus feriis gloriantes. Consequenter ergo nec doctor apud eos aliquis eruditus, nec princeps, nec sacerdos, a quo reformentur, existit: quia loquente Moyse, oculi eorum velamine Conteguntur, quod non aliter aufertur, nisi cum in Christo, qui nos redemit, aboletur. Circumibunt, inquit, verbum Domini quarentes, et non invenient (Joan. 1.), quia eum, qui Verbum caro factum est, negaverunt, sicque lux in tenebris lucet, et tenebrae eum non comprehenderunt.
Therefore that nation felt, as it were, the mourning of an only-begotten son, and was shut up in a bitter end—the nation that violated the Only-Begotten of God with insults and blows; and truly the time followed in which it is consumed by a famine of spiritual goods: and we see that those who had been rebellious against the word of the Lord experience not a scarcity of bread or a thirst for water, but a thirst for hearing the word of the Lord. Does not this calamity of theirs shine forth in the very testimony of events? For when the origin of spiritual philosophy—that is, piety toward the Lord, kindness toward neighbor, and the probity of the teacher—has departed from them, they have sunk to such a want of studies and doctrine that, scattered from the rising of the sun to its setting, that is, throughout the whole world, they nowhere hear the word of God by which they might be nourished, nor are they touched by the radiance of the flashing Gospel; but like infants, in place of the virtues of conduct and the life-giving sacraments, they swell with shameful and ludicrous things, glorying, that is, in the cutting of the flesh and in sabbath days of rest. Consequently, then, no learned teacher exists among them, nor prince, nor priest, by whom they might be reformed: because, when Moses speaks, their eyes are covered with a veil, which is removed in no other way than when it is abolished in Christ, who redeemed us. They will go about, he says, seeking the word of the Lord, and they will not find it, because they have denied him who was made flesh as the Word, and thus the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Vers. 13. 14. — In die illa deficient virginei pulchroe, et adolescentes in siti. Quia juravit in delicto Samariae, et dicit: Vivit Dominus Deus tuus Dan, et vivit via Bersabee, et cadent, et non resurgent ultra. Licet sui temporis moros prophetalis accuset oratio, tamen per censurae cumulum, etiam futura signa consequenter ostendimus; atque ideo, etsi sermo progrediens ad negocia, quae videbantur instare, respexit, nihilominus et Is(??)i conditioni potest, quae nunc Judaeos detinet, convenire. Neque enim absurdum est, si de praeterita dignitate ipse Tribus pulchrae virg nes nominentur, quae ut tunc idola sequendo, exitio leguntur addictae: ita nunc cum Redemptorem suum negarunt, idem commis(??)sse dicuntur, quod et cum in Dan et Bersabee locatos vitulos adorarent, ut fiat sensus: Quia frustra se Judaei, Christo Domino non credentes, immunes impietatis existiment, per id videlicet quod idola nulla venerentur, cum nihil apud eos de antiqua patriarcharum pietate resederit, quia nomen Christi pervicaci infidelitate violando, participes et aequales idolorum cultoribus a conteguntur: propter quod etiam in Evangelio pronuncia(??) inspector animorum; Qui me odii, et Patrem meum odit (Matth. 16.): proinde cos adducit (??)u(??)lata damnatie, qui negando Filium, Patrisque pronunciantur inimici.
Verses 13–14. In that day the beautiful virgins shall fail, and the young men in thirst. Because he swore in the offense of Samaria, and says: As the Lord your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives, they shall fall and shall not rise again any more. Although the prophetic utterance accuses the stubbornness of its own time, nevertheless through the accumulation of censure we have shown the future signs as following in order; and therefore, even if the advancing discourse looked to the matters that seemed to be pressing, it can nonetheless also apply to the condition of Israel, which now holds the Jews fast. For it is not absurd if, from their former dignity, they themselves are called the tribes of the beautiful virgin, who, as then by following idols they are said to have been given over to destruction, so now, when they have denied their Redeemer, they are said to have committed the same thing as when they worshiped the calves set up in Dan and Beersheba; so that the sense may be: The Jews, not believing in Christ the Lord, vainly think themselves free from impiety—namely, because they worship no idols—although nothing of the ancient piety of the patriarchs remains in them, since by violating the name of Christ through stubborn unbelief they are shown to be sharers and equals of the worshipers of idols. For this reason also in the Gospel the examiner of hearts declares: He who hates me hates my Father also (Matthew 16). Accordingly he brings upon them the stated condemnation, who by denying the Son are declared to be enemies of the Father as well.
Quod autem ait, Vivit D minus Deus tuus, Dan, et vivit v(??)a Bersabee, vulgi consuetudinem denotavit, qui videlicet superstitione prolabens, et itinera plerumque quibus ad delubra itur, adjurat. Cadent, inquit, et non resurgent ultra, id est, spei solatiis inniti uon sinentur ulterius, ut putent usque ad terrorem ejusmodi comminationes sonare, statimque occurs(??) (??)e liberationis gaudia, sicut leguntur frequenter experti; sed quia ultionis tempus comprehensus demum uncinus altrasit, patiendo sentiant, quod hactenus didicerant audiendo, et ita cadent, ut rebus ipsis de primentibus conterantur.
CAPUT IX.·
Vers. 1. — Vidi Dominum stantem super altare, et dixit: Percute cardinem, et commoveantur superliminaria. Avaritia enim in capite omnium, et novissimum eorum in gladio interficiam. Altare hoc quidam, super quod ultor astiterit, legitimum videlicet, quod esset in Jerosolymae templo positum, crediderunt, secundum illu(??), quod alius propheta dicit, A sanctis meis incipite, videatur templi quoque ipsius exitium comminari; sed intel ectum ejusmodi loci contextus refutat. Mentio quippe Judae nulla praecesserat: caeterum decem Tribubus specialiter imminebat. Denique postquam dixit. Jurant in delicto Samarie: et, Qui dicunt. Vivit Dominus Deus tuus, Dnn, et vivit via Bersabee: cadent, inquit, et non resurgent ultra, ac deinde subdidit: Vidi Dominum stantem super altare.
But the phrase "As the Lord your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives" marks the custom of the common people, who, slipping into superstition, swear even by the roads along which people generally go to shrines. "They shall fall," he says, "and shall not rise again any more"—that is, they shall no longer be allowed to lean upon the comforts of hope, so as to suppose that threats of this kind merely resound to frighten them, and that the joys of deliverance at once meet them, as they are often read to have experienced; but because the time of vengeance, once the hook has at last passed through, they shall feel by suffering what until now they had learned by hearing, and so shall they fall that they are crushed by the very things that press upon them.
CHAPTER IX
Verse 1. — I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinge, and let the lintels be shaken. For greed is at the head of them all, and I will kill their last with the sword. Some have believed that this altar, upon which the avenger stood, was the lawful one, namely that which was placed in the temple at Jerusalem, according to that saying of another prophet, "Begin at my sanctuary," so that the destruction of the temple itself also seems to be threatened; but the context of this passage refutes such an understanding. For no mention of Judah had preceded; otherwise it was the ten tribes in particular that were under threat. Finally, after he had said, "They swear in the offense of Samaria," and, "Those who say, As the Lord your God lives, O Dan, and as the way of Beersheba lives: they shall fall," he says, "and shall not rise again any more," and then he added: "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar.
Cum ergo signantissime decem Tribus Samariamque pulsaverit, altare quoque et delubrum, quod praecipiat everti, ipsum debemus accipere, de quo paulo ante dixit: Et venit fi(??)is super populum meum Israel, non adjiciam ultra, ut pertranseum eum, et stridebunt cardines templi in die illa, dicit Dominus. Et paulo supra, Dixit ad Amasiam Amos: Nunc audi Verbum Domini: Tu dicis, Non prophetabis super domum Israel et non sti(??)labis super domum Idoli. Propter hoc haec dicit Dominus: Uxor tua in civitate fornicabit, et filii tui et filiae tuae in gladio cadent, et humus tua fun culo metietur, et tu in terra polluta morieris, et Israel captivus migrabit de terra sua. Quia ergo dixerat, quod in delicto Samariae jurantes debito subderentur exilio, persequitur ipsius comminationis effectum, et dicit se vidis e Dominum ad eruenda profanorum altaria constitisse. Et quamvis sub imagine varia, tum occurrentis, tum stantis appareat: tamen quia omnia jussione perfecit, et dixit, inquit, ministris, vel angelis nimirum, vel gentibus, ex ejus voluntate venientibus, ut percuterent valvas, et commota superliminaria dissilirent, sicque omnis aedium ruina sequeretur, statimque causas commotionis ostendens: Avaritia enim, ait, in capite omnium, et novissimum eorum in gladio interficiam. Quidam in elocutionibus videtur esse defectus, sed si diligenter inspicias, consilio potius quam forte susceptus.
Since, then, he has most distinctly struck at the ten tribes and Samaria, we ought also to understand that altar and shrine which he commands to be overthrown as the very one of which he said a little earlier: "And the end has come upon my people Israel; I will no longer pass over them, and the hinges of the temple shall creak in that day, says the Lord." And a little above, Amos said to Amaziah: "Now hear the word of the Lord: you say, 'You shall not prophesy against the house of Israel, and you shall not prate against the house of the idol.' Therefore thus says the Lord: Your wife shall play the harlot in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your ground shall be measured with a rope, and you shall die in a polluted land, and Israel shall go captive from his land." Because, therefore, he had said that those who swear in the transgression of Samaria would be subjected to the exile they deserved, he follows up the effect of that very threat, and says that he saw the Lord standing ready to root out the altars of the profane. And although he appears under a varied image, now of one meeting him, now of one standing, yet because he accomplished all things by command, he said, he says, to the ministers—namely the angels, or the nations coming at his will—that they should strike the doorposts and that the thresholds, being shaken, should burst apart, and so the whole ruin of the house should follow; and immediately showing the causes of the shaking, he says: "For avarice is at the head of them all, and their last I will kill with the sword." There seems to be some defect in the wording, but if you look carefully, it is undertaken by design rather than by chance.
Quia enim loto volumine scelera eorum, hisque debita tormenta digesserat, merito nunc compendium sermonis elegit, ut et morum vulnera unius vitii signaret indicio et damnationis pondera succincto nimirum sermone contingeret. Percussu quippe cardinum, et superliminarium motu, ruinam fanorum; avaritiae vero nomine in capite omnium commorantis, a principibus ad imos, sordibus cunctos el sacrilegiis horrere pronunciat: novissimos vero corum quod interficiendos hostili mucrone signavit, ostendit neque exiguis esse parcendum: sed optimates et vulgum confusa caede parituros. Non erit [Ant. erat), inquit, fuga eis: fugient, et non salvabitur ex eis qui fugerit. Fugam pro effugio nominaverat, quod ut exponeret, postquam dixit: Non erit in e(??)s fuga, continuo subjecit, fugiet, et non salvabitur ex eis qui fugerit, Ergo quia nihil proderat fugisse capiendis, neque fugam eos arreptum ire pronunciat. Verum ne hoc esset incertum, intulit, quod ad expositionem valeret. Fugiet, inquit, et non salvabitur ex eis qui fuger(??)t. Ex quo sensu est illud in psalmo: Fiat via illorum tenebras et lubricum, et angelus Domini persequens eos (Psal. 34.).
For since throughout the whole book he had set out in order their crimes and the torments owed to them, he has rightly now chosen a concise manner of speech, so as both to mark the wounds of their character by the indication of a single vice and to touch upon the weight of their condemnation, surely, in a brief discourse. For by the striking of the doorposts and the shaking of the lintels he signifies the ruin of the shrines; but under the name of avarice, which dwells at the head of all, from the leaders down to the lowest, he declares that all are foul with filth and sacrileges; but as for their last ones, whom he has marked out to be slain by the enemy's sword, he shows that not even the insignificant are to be spared, but that nobles and common folk alike will bring forth a confused slaughter. There shall not be, he says, flight for them: they shall flee, and he who flees from among them shall not be saved. He had named flight instead of escape; to explain this, after he said, There shall not be flight among them, he immediately added, He shall flee, and he who flees from among them shall not be saved. Therefore, because it profited nothing to have fled for those who were to be captured, he declares that they do not even take to flight. But lest this be uncertain, he added what serves for explanation. He shall flee, he says, and he who flees from among them shall not be saved. It is from this sense that there is that passage in the psalm: Let their way be darkness and slippery, and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.
Verum ne noc ipsum breviter indicatum sensum eluderet audientium, pergit sententiam dilatare per species, ut allectum tim(??)r(??)s longitudine descriptionis exasperet, simulque commendat, se indignante, qui sit totius orbis inspector, nullam religionem, nullam esse creaturam, quae vel auxilium aliquod vel solatium valeat praebere damnatis. Postquam ergo dixit. Non erit fuga eis: fugiet, et non salvabitur, qui fugerit ex eis:
Vers. 2.–4. — Si descenderint, inquit, usque ad infernum, inde manos mea educet eos: et si ascenderint usque in coelum, inde detraham eos. Ei si absconditi fuerint in vertice Carmeli, inde scrutans auferam eos: et st celaverint se ab oculis meis in fundo maris, ibi mandabo serpenti et mordebit eos. Et si abierint in captivitatem coram inimicis suis, ibi mandabo gladio, et occidet eos, Non quo horum aliquem quos enumeravit locorum, adire captus Israel aul posset, am cuperet, sed ut magnitudo se aeterni judicis publicaret, ab impossibilibus exempla collegit, id est: Si me insequente, possent aut ad coeli ardua subvolare, aut vorari terrarum hiatibus, ut laterent, aut, sicut est stultitia plerumque metuentium, Carmeli verticem peterent, quasi tutas latebras, vel si in profunda marinorum gurgitum mergerentur, nusquam tamen possent vim nostrae unionis effugere.
But lest he should elude the meaning briefly indicated, he proceeds to expand the sentence through specific cases, so that by the length of the description he may exasperate the fear of those who have been enticed, and at the same time he commends himself, in his indignation, as the inspector of the whole world, [showing] that there is no religion, no creature, that can offer either any help or any solace to the condemned. After he therefore said, "There will be no flight for them: he will flee, and he who flees from them will not be saved":
Verses 2–4. — "If they descend," he says, "even to hell, from there my hand will bring them out: and if they ascend even to heaven, from there I will drag them down. And if they have hidden themselves on the summit of Carmel, from there searching I will take them away: and if they have concealed themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there I will command the serpent and it will bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them." Not that Israel, when captured, could or would wish to reach any of the places he enumerated, but so that the greatness of the eternal judge might be made public, he gathered examples from impossible things, that is: If, with me pursuing, they could either fly up to the heights of heaven, or be swallowed by the gaps of the earth so as to lie hidden, or, as is often the folly of those who fear, seek the summit of Carmel as though safe hiding places, or even if they were submerged in the deep surges of the sea, nowhere nevertheless could they escape the force of our judgment.
Quibus sane ne haec ipsa forte, qua puniantur, conditio blandiatur, putentque, se ita ferenda captivitate defungi, ut nihil in eos reliqui jures habeam, quos dominationi barbarae mancipavero: denuncio, quia nec captivorum valeant sorte defendi, quibus videlicet parcere solet dominantium vel lassata vel satiata crudelitas: sed ibi quoque ad nutum meum jugulos eorum tela penetrabunt; neque enim cuiquam licebit misereri corum, in quos ego quoque fuerim saevire compulsus. Hunc autem colorem in laudem Dei sacro um carminum scriptor excoluit: Quo ibo, inquiens (Psal. 138.), a spiritu tuo, et quo a facie tua fugiam? Si ascendero caelum, tu illic es, si descendero in infernum, aderis. Si sumsero pennas meas a ante lucem, et habitavero in extremis maris: illuc manus tua deducet me, et tenebit me d(??)x era tua. Etiamsi dicum, Tene(??)rae occultabunt me, nox que mihi consolatio erit, considero rursus atque conspicio, quia sicut tenebrae, ita et lumen ejus: id est, oculis Dei ita sunt praeviae, quamvis densae noctis tenebrae, sicut et lumen diei.
Indeed, lest that very condition by which they are punished should perhaps flatter them, and they should think that they are let off by enduring captivity in such a way that no further right remains over them—those whom I have handed over to barbarian dominion—I declare that they cannot be defended by the lot of captives, whom, namely, the cruelty of their masters, either wearied or satiated, is accustomed to spare; but there too, at my nod, weapons will pierce their throats; for it will not be permitted to anyone to pity those against whom I too have been compelled to rage. But this coloring the writer of the sacred songs has elaborated to the praise of God, saying: Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there; if I descend into hell, thou art present. If I take my wings before the light, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, thither shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand hold me. Even if I say, Darkness shall hide me, and night shall be my consolation, I consider again and perceive that as darkness, so also is his light: that is, to the eyes of God the darkness of the densest night is as foreknown as the light of day.
Ut ergo beatus David haec caetera numeravit sub divinae admiratione virtutis, ita etiam nunc per Amos, et ad indicium virtutis suae Deus noster, el ad cumulum timoris valitura proposuit, quodque nihil solatii possent invenire monstravit, dicendo: Et ponam oculos meos super eos in malum, et non in bonum, id est, hos ego puniturus aspiciam, ut sentiant iu doloribus, cujus potentiae Deum longa miseri aetate contemserint.
Vers. 5. — Et Dominus Deus exercituum, qui tangit terram, et tabescit: et lugebunt omnes habitantes in ea. Videtur quidem ad indicium potentiae suae nomine totius terrae, totius orbis mentionem lecisse: quod is videlicet, si Deus praeciperet, absquae ulla difficultate deflueret, secundum illud Apostoli Petri, qui ait: Quales oportet nos esse in sanctis conversationibus, exspectantes adventum Domini, in quo coeli magno (??)mpetu transibunt, et elemen a ignis ardore tabescent (2. Petr. 11. 12.): fieretque sensus ejusmodi: tu, Judaeorum popule, profanitatibus dedite, hoc quod dixi, te ultionis meae vim nullis effugiis posse vitare, ne ita accipias, quasi omne, quod possum in magnitudinem tuae calamitatis expenderim. Quam sit enim hic exiguus meae virtutis effectus, hinc [Ant. hic, et mox universa) intelligere potes, quia si universam terrae molem iratus aspexero, haud difficilius, quam cera ignis vapore solvatur.
Therefore, just as blessed David recounted these other things in admiration of divine power, so now too through Amos our God has set forth both as a demonstration of his power and as an increase of fear what would prove effective, and he showed that they could find no consolation, saying: And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good—that is, I will look upon these men to punish them, so that in their pains they may feel of what power God is, whom in their long wretchedness they have despised.
Verse 5. — And the Lord God of hosts, who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it shall mourn. He seems indeed, as a demonstration of his power, to have made mention of the whole earth and the whole world by name: namely, that this would, if God commanded, flow away without any difficulty, according to that saying of the Apostle Peter, who says: What manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct, awaiting the coming of the Lord, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great rush, and the elements shall melt with the heat of fire (2 Pet. 3:11-12). And the sense would be of this kind: you, people of the Jews, given over to profanities, must not take what I have said—that you can escape the force of my vengeance by no means of flight—as though I had expended everything I can upon the magnitude of your calamity. For you can understand from this how slight is the effect of my power here, because if in anger I look upon the whole mass of the earth, it will dissolve no more difficultly than wax by the heat of fire.
Ego enim Dominus Sabaoth, id est, exercituum, cui nimirum militant innumerabiles angelorum catervae, qui mentem sero licet, demum tamen ultor ac(??)iagor. Magnitudinem proinde tuae calamitatis expendito, quia omnia potest, cujus te nunc ira persequitur. Sed ad consequentiam magis respicit lectionis, side Judaea id quoque dixisse regione videatur, in quam comminationes ab exordio voluminis personabant. Cum enim dixisset, Ponam oculus meos super cos in malum et non in bonum, et quod nulla eos elementa vel auderem eos celare vel possent, consequenter adjecit: quia rex virtutum esset, Dominusque dominorum, qui ilio pollutam regionem squ(??)- lore ves iret. Et ascendet sicut rivus omnis, et defluet sicut fluvius AEgypti. Id est, in captivita en gens iota migrabit. Et sicut alius propheta ait, Ad nihilum delenient tanquam aqua decurrens (Psal. 57.). Rivum enim AEgypti Nilum vocat, qui cum inundatu annuo Aegyptia arva contexerit, ita rursum in alveum suum fluenta subducit, ut aquarum nulla fere in campis vestigia relinquantur. Ergo et Samariae populus, qui quondam Palestinae terram quasi uberaturus impeverat, dignitate ac libertate depositis, claustra alienae dominationis intrabit, et nulla pristini decoris signa retinebit.
For I am the Lord Sabaoth, that is, of hosts, to whom without doubt countless troops of angels do service, who, though late, at last nevertheless as avenger I am stirred. Consider therefore the greatness of your calamity, because he is almighty, whose wrath now pursues you. But he looks rather to the consequence of the reading, so that it may seem that he said this also concerning the region of Judea, against which the threats from the beginning of the volume were resounding. For when he had said, I will set my eyes upon them for evil and not for good, and that no elements could either dare to hide them from him or be able to, he consequently added: because he was king of hosts, and Lord of lords, who would visit that polluted region with squalor. And it shall rise like a river entirely, and it shall flow down like the river of Egypt. That is, in captivity that whole nation shall migrate. And as another prophet says, They shall be brought to nothing as water running down. For he calls the river of Egypt the Nile, which when with its yearly flood it has covered the Egyptian fields, then again draws back its streams into its own channel, so that almost no traces of waters are left in the fields. Therefore also the people of Samaria, who once had advanced as if about to enrich the land of Palestine, having laid aside their dignity and liberty, shall enter the enclosures of another's dominion, and shall retain no signs of their former beauty.
Vers. 6. — Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit. De laudibus Dei pergit contexta praedicatio quae nunc videtur: ad illud enim quod dixerat. Dominus Deus exercituum, qui tangit terram, et tabescit: et lugebunt omnes habitantes in ea, cohaeret istud, Qui aedificat in caelo ascensionem suam, et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit, id est, ejus oculos nec si ad coelum asceuderes, nec si in profunda pelagi mergereris, posses effugere, qui angelorum Dominus est, qui mundum creavit et continet. Qui aedificat in coelo ascensionem suam, et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit. Est autem sensus, quia cum in coeli solio pro sui majestate considat, tamen dignatus est in terra quasi proprium habere fasciculum, videlicet Altraham, Isaac et Jacob posteros, quorum vocari specialiter Deus, cum sit Dominus universita(??)s, elegit Fasciculum ergo quasi possessionem vocavit, secundum illud Deuteronomii: Cum divideret Excelsus gentes, statuit terminos earum secundum numerum Angelorum Dei, et facta est pars ejus Jacob, et haereditatis ipsius, Israel (Deut. 32.). Quod utique breviter inferendo, ostendit quanta benevolentia cum Judaes gesserit, quantisque eorum sit sceleribus as eratus.
Verse 6. — Who builds his ascent in heaven, and has founded his bundle upon the earth. The connected proclamation proceeds with the praises of God, which now appears [to refer] to that which he had said: The Lord God of hosts, who touches the earth, and it melts, and all who dwell in it shall mourn — to this is joined: Who builds his ascent in heaven, and has founded his bundle upon the earth; that is, you could not escape his eyes, neither if you ascended to heaven nor if you plunged into the depths of the sea — he who is the Lord of the angels, who created and sustains the world. Who builds his ascent in heaven, and has founded his bundle upon the earth. Now the sense is that, although he sits upon the throne of heaven according to his majesty, nevertheless he deigned to have, as it were, his own bundle on earth — namely Abraham, Isaac, and the descendants of Jacob, whose God he chose specifically to be called, though he is Lord of all. Therefore he called the bundle, as it were, his possession, according to that in Deuteronomy: When the Most High divided the nations, he set the boundaries of them according to the number of the angels of God, and his portion was made Jacob, and Israel his inheritance (Deut. 32). By briefly adding this, he shows with how great benevolence he dealt with the Jews, and by how many crimes they had provoked him.
Qui ergo aedificat, id est, qui aedificat, et ab initio creaturae sa r(??)s legibus ordinav(??), ut ipse in cae uni quasi ia excelsa mundi ejus tector ascenderet, et aeterna illic e dominatione consideret, terram vero famulorum suorum incolatui deputaret, secundum illud quod beatus David eloquitur: Coelum caeli Domino, terram autem dedit fili hominum (Psal. 113.). Cum ergo ita sit throno sublimis et sce(??)tro, cumque non solum sidera, sed coeli coelorum cum tremore suscipiant: tamen ad intima oculos suae pietatis inclinat, et humilia ita respicit, ut nullam creaturam providentiae suae gubernatione destituat. Non si fasciculum, ut diximus, videlicet gentem sacris ritibus imbuendam in honorem Abra(??)ae, Isaac et Jacob habere dignatus est, tamen (secundum quod sacrum carmen eloquitur [Psal. 144.]: Bonus est Dominus universis, et miserationes ejus super omnia opera ejus. Solemque suum fecit oriri super tonos et malos [Matth. 5.], pluit super justos et injustos) non solum hominibus, sed etiam avibus et jumentis alimenta suppeditans, secundam illud Davidicum: Omnia a te expectant, ut des iliis escam in tempore: dante te illis colligent, aperiente te manum tuam, omnia implebuntur bonitate: Avertente te autem faciem tuam, turbabuntur (Psal. 105.). Et alibi, Qui dat escam jumentis et herbam servituti hominum, ut exhilaret facies in oleo, et a pane confirmet corda hominum (Ps. 103. v.
He therefore who builds, that is, who builds and from the beginning of creation has ordered all things by his laws, so that he himself might ascend as it were into the high places of the world as its roof, and consider from there his eternal dominion, while he assigned the earth for the dwelling of his servants, according to that which blessed David says: The heaven of heaven is the Lord's, but the earth he has given to the children of men (Ps. 113). Since therefore he is thus exalted on his throne and sceptre, and since not only the stars but the heavens of heavens receive him with trembling, yet he inclines the eyes of his pity to the inmost depths, and looks upon the humble in such a way that he leaves no creature destitute of the governance of his providence. Not even if, as we have said, he deigned to have a bundle—that is, a people to be imbued with sacred rites—in honor of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; nevertheless (according to what the sacred song says [Ps. 144]: The Lord is good to all, and his mercies are over all his works. And he makes his sun rise upon the good and the evil [Matt. 5], and sends rain upon the just and the unjust), supplying food not only to men but also to birds and beasts of burden, according to that saying of David: All things wait upon you, that you may give them food in due season: when you give it to them, they will gather it; when you open your hand, all things will be filled with goodness: but when you turn away your face, they will be troubled (Ps. 105). And elsewhere: Who gives food to the beasts of burden and herb to the service of men, that he may make the face cheerful with oil, and strengthen the hearts of men with bread (Ps. 103).
15.). Ut ergo in victum hominum fruges et fructus terrae pariant, lapso de nubibus imbre foetantur, quarum est ad hoc creata mollicies, ut missae in fluctus quasi spongiae compleantur; et eisdem aquis a genuina salsedine ipsa transfusione purgatis, atque in dulcedinem potabilem transeuntibus, sitientia arva perfundant, diversitatemque seminum mirabili ubertate multiplicent: unum esse certo jure Dominum, qui haec videlicet ordinaverit, confitentes. Sed videamus quo proficiat divinae virtutis praemissa descriptio.
Vers. 7. — Nunquid non ut filii AEthiopam vos estis mihi, filii Israel, ait Dominus? An Judaerum Deus tantum? nonne imo et Gentium? unus enim Deus qui justificat circumcisionem ex fide, et praeputium per fidem (Rom. 3.).
15. Therefore, so that the earth may bring forth grain and fruits for the food of men, the rain that falls from the clouds makes them fertile; their soft substance was created for this purpose, that when sent into the waves they may be filled like sponges; and when those same waters have been purified from their native saltiness by that very transference, and pass into a drinkable sweetness, they may pour over the thirsty fields and multiply the variety of seeds with wondrous abundance: confessing that there is certainly one Lord by right, who has evidently ordained these things. But let us see to what end the foregoing description of divine power advances.
Verse 7. — Are you not to me as the children of Ethiopia, O children of Israel, says the Lord? Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not rather also of the Gentiles? For there is one God who justifies the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith (Rom. 3).
Quamvis ergo providentiae meae testimonio, quae consulit omnibus in commune mortalibus, potueritis et debueritis agnoscere, vestrum me quidem genus in honorem sauciorum parentum praecipue delegisse, non tamen alias gentes a mea consulentia repulisse, saltem me esse universorum Dominum, ex his quae sunt gesta, cognoscite; neque tantum vobis, cum decideritis in crimina, vendicate, ut solos vos anteferri caeteris aestimetis, pro hoc quod de Aegyptia servitute mirabiliter estis educti, et regionem uberem, ejectis, quod est amplius, incolis, possidetis; neque enim circa vos tantum ejusmodi dispensationis munus exercui, sed sicut Israelitae de terra AEgypti, ita et Palaestinos de Cappadocia, et Syros de Cyrene assumtos, in eorum locos qui expelli meruerant, intromisi. Haud ergo vestras credatis meruisse virtutes, quod ego justitiae meae semper impendi: videlicet ut polluta sacrilegiis regna delerem, legitimi Domini hanc praecipuam curam esse contestans, ut neminem impunitum relinquat, quem nihil cogi lare de correctione perspexerit.
Although, therefore, by the testimony of my providence, which consults for all mortals in common, you could and should have recognized that I chose your race especially for the honor of your revered ancestors, yet I did not repel other nations from my care—at least recognize from these things that have been done that I am the Lord of all. Nor should you claim so much for yourselves, when you have fallen into sins, as to think that you alone are preferred before the others, because you were wonderfully led out of Egyptian slavery and possess a fertile region, having driven out—what is more—its inhabitants. For I did not exercise this kind of dispensation's gift only around you, but just as the Israelites from the land of Egypt, so too I brought in the Palestinians from Cappadocia and the Syrians from Cyrene, taken up into the places of those who deserved to be expelled. Do not, then, believe that your own virtues have merited what I have always bestowed for the sake of my justice—namely, that I destroy kingdoms polluted with sacrileges, testifying that this is the chief care of the lawful Lord: to leave no one unpunished whom he has seen to be in no way compelled to correction.
Vers. 8. — Ecce oculi Domini Dei super regnum peccans; et conteram illud a facie terrae. Discite proinde rerum saltem periculis, nullum mortalium vel op(??)bus tutum esse vel viribus, qui non fuerit innocentiae pravitate circumdatus. Mea ergo justitia semper expos(??)i, ut non solum unus aut duo, sed etiam totum regnum, si peccatis est subditum, depereat. Verumtamen parentum a me vestrorum sanctitas impetravit, ut vos non patiar internecione deleri, sed etiam si meritorum momenta perpendens, in crimina vestra ultionem suscitavero, miserendi etiam mibi nunquam subrepat ob ivio, sed etiam si conteram reos, non etiam sinam Israelitarum nomen perire. Ent ergo inter vos e reliquosque discretio, quod vos castigati, illi autem docebuntur extincti. Et quoniam in ipso indignationis impetu Deus tamen prodidit, reliquis se esse parsurum, quae sunt (??)ae a persequitur.
Vers. 8. — Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth. Learn therefore, at least from the perils of things, that no mortal is safe either in resources or in strength, unless he has been surrounded by the uprightness of innocence. My justice, therefore, has always been set forth, so that not only one or two, but even an entire kingdom, if it is subject to sins, may perish. Nevertheless, the holiness of your fathers obtained from me that I should not suffer you to be destroyed by slaughter; but even if, weighing the weight of merits, I stir up vengeance against your crimes, the thought of pitying should never creep into me, but even if I crush the guilty, I will still not allow the name of the Israelites to perish. There will therefore be a distinction between you and the rest, because you will be chastised, but they will be taught by being destroyed. And since in the very impulse of indignation God nevertheless disclosed that he would spare the remnant, which he pursues.
Vers. 9. 10. — Ecee enim ego mandabo, ei concutiam in omnibus gentibus domum Israel, sicut concutitur in cribro, et non cadet lapullus super terram, In gladio morientur omnes peccatores populi mei, qui dicunt: Non appropinquabit, et non veniet super nos malum. Hoc proinde quod toto volumine indignatio mea fremuit, non effusa pernicitate grassabitur, sed quasi cauta manu et sollicita vos inspectione concutiet, instar videlicet cribri quo frumenta pu(??)gantur: cujus augusta foramina nec grana sinum decidere nec lapillos sed solum pulverem ac lolium, ac reliqua quae sunt inutilia secernunt. Quod autem lapillos ait inter frumenta residere, ad consuetudinem videtur respexisse purgantium, qui plerumque ad hoc in cribrum mittunt lapillos, ut vim concussui addant marginibus illisi, et nihil de quisquiliis remanere patiantur· Secundum subtiliorem vero sensum, propius eam rem pro qua fuerat suscepta, tangentem, nomine lapillorum, eorum indicat firmitatem, qui malis haud facile corrumpantur exemplis, ul illis temporibus et prophetas et alios justos fuisse legimus: qui cum reliquum, vulgus ut ligna ac stipulae deperirent, illi velut solidi, perque hoc pretiosi lapides permanebant: super quos merito Ecclesia fundaretur, quoniam nulla posset procella subruere.
Vers. 9–10. — For behold, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble shall fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say: It shall not draw near, and evil shall not come upon us. Therefore this indignation of mine, which has raged throughout the whole book, will not advance with reckless speed, but as if with a cautious hand and careful inspection it will shake you, in the manner, that is, of a sieve by which grain is cleansed: whose narrow openings let neither the grains fall from the fold nor the pebbles, but separate only the dust and the tares and the rest of what is useless. But in saying that the pebbles remain among the grain, he seems to have had regard to the custom of those who sift, who often put pebbles into the sieve for this purpose, that by striking the edges they may add force to the shaking, and suffer nothing of the refuse to remain. According to the more subtle sense, however, touching more closely on the matter for which it was undertaken, by the name of pebbles he indicates the firmness of those who are not easily corrupted by evil examples, as we read that in those times there were prophets and other righteous men: who, while the rest of the common crowd perished like wood and stubble, remained like solid and thereby precious stones: upon whom the Church would deservedly be founded, since no storm could overthrow it.
Ergo etsi omnes ait pariter abripiat immissa captivitas, tamen nequaquam vos viliter aestimabo, ut confusa videlicet caede pereatis: sed exercebitur libra judicii, ut nullum gladius contingat innoxium, nullum praetereat criminosum. In gladio morientur omnes peccatores populi mei, qui dicunt: Non appropinquabit et non veniet super nos malum, id est, qui sacris vatibus restiterunt, et eos quasi convincere gestientes, affirmabant, nihil calamitatum, quas illi denunciabant, esse venturum, neque se ulla malorum experimenta capturos: hos, inquit, vindicia persequetur saeviens. Caeterum omnes vel innocen ia vel examinata virtute 558. conspicuos ita manas nostra defendet, ut exercitati quidem, nec tamen doceantur extincti. Sed videamus et reliqua.
Vers. 11. 12. — In die illa, dicit Dominus, Suscitabo tabernaculum David, quod cecidit: et reaedificabo aperturas murorum ejus, et ea quae corruerant instaurabo: et reaedificabo illud sicut in diebus antiquis. Ut possideant reliquias Idumaeae et omnes nationes, eo quod invocatum sit nomen meum super eos, dicit Dominus faciens haec.
Therefore, even if the captivity, once sent in, sweeps all away alike, as he says, I will by no means reckon you as worthless, so that you perish in indiscriminate slaughter; but the scale of judgment will be exercised, so that the sword touches no innocent man and passes over no guilty one. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, Evil shall not draw near and shall not come upon us — that is, those who resisted the holy prophets and, eager as it were to refute them, kept asserting that none of the calamities which they foretold would come, and that they themselves would experience no trials of evils. These, he says, a raging vengeance shall pursue. But all who are conspicuous either for innocence or for proven virtue, his hand will so defend that, though they be tried, they may not be destroyed. But let us look at what follows.
Vers. 11–12. — In that day, says the Lord, I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen; and I will rebuild the openings of its walls, and I will restore the things that had fallen; and I will rebuild it as in the days of old. That they may possess the remnant of Idumaea and all the nations, because my name has been invoked upon them, says the Lord who does these things.
Quia promiserat, se etiam sub tempore indignationis accensae, circa Judaeorum tamen gentem ita misericordiae habere respectum, ut non eos usquequaque pateretur aboleri (sed in ipso captivitatis turbine, cum jam eos fera barbaries possideret, mirabili tamen auxilio innocentia vel justitia praeditos defensurum iri, ut potestatem in eos non haberet interitus, quod utique videbatur esse difficile) opportune et necessarie prospera quae essent ventura subjunxit, ut clementiae videlicet suae, cujus signa promiserat, evidentiora etiam documenta congereret, et eorum se habere curam, de quorum meritis judicabat, ostenderet, sicque intelligerent, quia neminem sine judicio pateretur perire, quandoquidem non solum erga personas, sed etiam inter gentes hoc discrimen exereret. Jam enim decem tribubus Assyria dominatione possessis, Judam et Benjamim, qui una tantummodo, Judae videlicet, commemoratione signantur, a Sennacherib expugnatione a defendere. Dicit ergo prophetali more tempus appellans: In die, ait, illa suscitabo taberna ulum David quod cecidit, et reaedificabo aperturas murorum ejus, et ea quae corruerant instaurabo, et reaedificabo illud sicut in diebus antiquis. Quibus verbis utique illam signat aetatem, quae et Judae tribus cum reliquis de Babylonia captivitate liberata est. Ea enim, sicut omnes pene prophetae concinenter predixerant, ita etiam rerum exitus comprobavit.
Because he had promised that even in the time of kindled indignation he would still have such regard for mercy toward the Jewish people that he would not allow them to be utterly destroyed (but in the very turmoil of the captivity, when savage barbarism already held them, he would defend those endowed with innocence or justice by his wondrous aid, so that destruction would have no power over them—which indeed seemed difficult), he fittingly and necessarily added the prosperous things that were to come, so that he might gather even clearer proofs of his clemency, of which he had given signs, and show that he had care for those whose merits he was judging, and thus they might understand that he allows no one to perish without judgment, since he exercised this distinction not only toward individuals but also among nations. For already, when the ten tribes were held under Assyrian dominion, he was to defend Judah and Benjamin—who are designated by the single name of Judah alone—from Sennacherib's assault. He speaks, therefore, in the prophetic manner, calling the time: In that day, he says, I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and I will rebuild the breaches of its walls, and I will restore the things that had collapsed, and I will rebuild it as in the days of old. By these words he certainly signifies that age which was freed, together with the remaining tribes of Judah, from the Babylonian captivity. For just as nearly all the prophets had foretold in harmony, so also the outcome of events confirmed it.
Hic ergo cum tristia omnia sub persona decem tribuum narrasset, ubi ad praedictionem laetorum ventum est, per Judae occasionem, eorum seriem percucurrit: simul indicans Jerosolymitas sub adversa venturos, de quibus nimirum eos educendos esse promittit: cujus sane libertatis sub Ezechia signa paruerunt, quando videlicet in Jerusalem a manibus ob identium, gravi penuria laborantes, mirabili Deus protectione defendit. Cunctis ergo quaeque fuerant adversa depulsis, illam, inquit, quam indignatus posueram, caementarii opificis trullam, resumam, ut aedificem interrupta murorum, quae hostium fuerant impugnatione quassata, aedesque omnes quae consenuerant suscitabo, et in vigorem antiquae felicitatis reducam: nec solum libertatis dulcia, sed etiam ultionis attribuam, id est, ut possideant reliquias Idumaeae gentis, scilicet de Esau stirpe venientis, cujus assidue parricidali odio laboraverant, cunctasque nationes ita sub propria ditione constituant, ut appareat quantum pietatis fructum fuerint consecuti, qui opimas crebra sane victorias nominis mei invocatione perceperint. Notandum vero, quoniam hujus loci in Actibus Apostolorum (Act. 13. 15.) B.
When, therefore, he had narrated all the sorrowful things in the person of the ten tribes, when he came to the prediction of joyful things, he ran through their sequence by occasion of Judah, at the same time indicating that the men of Jerusalem would come into adversity, from which, to be sure, he promises that they would be led out. And indeed the signs of this liberty appeared under Hezekiah, namely when in Jerusalem God defended from the hands of the enemy those laboring under severe famine, by a wondrous protection. When all the adverse things had been driven away, he says: I will take up again that trowel of the stoneworker which I had set down when I was angry, so that I may build up the broken parts of the walls, which had been shattered by the assault of enemies, and I will raise up all the houses that had grown old, and restore them to the vigor of ancient felicity; and I will grant not only the sweetness of liberty but also of vengeance, that is, that they may possess the remnants of the nation of Idumaea, coming, of course, from the stock of Esau, with whose parricidal hatred they had continually labored, and that they may set all nations under their own dominion, so that it may appear what fruit of piety they obtained who received abundant and frequent victories by the invocation of my name. But it must be noted that this passage in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:15) B.
Jacobus ad praedicandum mysterium Redemptoris nostri, sub intelligentia subtiliore fuerit recordatus, tabernaculum videlicet David corpus Christi appellans: quod cum pro ipsa conditione naturae cecidisset in mortem resurrectionis est virtute ac mysterio suscitatum: et vere sanctificatio David fidelis, id est, aeterna respleuduit, quando non permisit sauctum suum Deus videre corruptionem (Psal. 15.), sed clarificavit eum ante faciem omnium populorum, ad gloriam plebis suae Israelis.· Apostolorum ergo etrinam sequentes, sic esse intelligenda prophetatum volumina noverimus, ut per contextum sui temporis gesta complexi, et per excursus subitos vel sensuum cumulos etiam futura signaverint, eorumque magnitudinem docuerint spectari in narratione praeviorum. Sic enim forma loci praesentis instituit: quia quantum ad historiam respicit, et Babyloniorum soluta damnatio, et quam Judaei pertulerant, rescissa captivitas est, atque resplenduit anxiis, ut saepe promissa luit, longum expectata libertas: quam tamen, si ad regulam virtutis examines, quippe mortalibus, ei vitae istius amara tolerantibus, nimis exiguam fateberis cont g(??)sse.
James, to preach the mystery of our Redeemer, was mindful in a subtler understanding, calling the tabernacle of David the body of Christ: which, when it had fallen into death by the very condition of nature, was raised up by the power and mystery of the resurrection: and truly the holiness of David was faithful, that is, it shone forth eternally, when God did not permit his holy one to see corruption (Ps. 15), but glorified him before the face of all peoples, to the glory of his people Israel. Following therefore the teaching of the apostles, we should know that the volumes of prophecy are to be understood in such a way that, having encompassed the deeds of their own time through the context, they also marked out future things through sudden digressions or heaps of meanings, and taught that their greatness is to be observed in the narration of preceding events. For thus the form of the present passage establishes: because as far as it regards history, both the condemnation of the Babylonians was dissolved, and the captivity which the Jews had endured was cut away, and long-awaited freedom, often promised, shone forth to the anxious: which nevertheless, if you examine it according to the rule of virtue, since it is for mortals enduring the bitter things of this life, you will confess to have been too brief.
Haec autem liberatio, quam Christi mysteria Fidelibus contulerunt, cum semel venerit, absque fide longior est, et absque comparatione sublimior: cui ita moenia firmitatis et dulcedinis comparantur, ut repositae in eis divitiae nec oppugnationem possint timere nec fraudem. Idumaeae autem reliquias possessura credatur, quando corpus hoc, quod per rufum Judaeorum colorem videtur ostendi, quemadmodum seminatum est in ignominia, sic consurget iu gloria (1. Cor. 44.), nec aliquas de infirmitate molestias aut intellectui generabit aut sensui; caeterum, erit Deus omnia in omnibus. Verum his breviter explicatis, revertamur ad seriem lectiori s.
Vers. 13. — Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et comprehendet arator messorem, et calcator uvae mi(??)entem semen, et stillabunt montes dulcedinem, et omnes colles culti erunt. Non solum, inquit, libertatem restituisse contentus, frugum quoque vos faciam ubertate gaudere, ita ut toto anno colligenda suppedite(??)t, et ad e vindemiam tempus messis nimium opima procedat: vindemiam sementis excipiat, secundum illud, quod apud beatum David canitur: Benedices coronae anni benignitatis tuae, et campi tui replebuntur ubertate; Pinguescent fines deserti, et exultatione colles accingentur (Psal. 64.), Sic ergo et hic post promissa subjecit, Stillabunt montes dulcedinem. et omnes colles culti erunt.
But this deliverance, which the mysteries of Christ have conferred on the faithful, once it has come, is both too long for faith and beyond comparison more sublime; and to it the walls of strength and sweetness are so compared that the riches stored within them can fear neither assault nor fraud. But the remnant of Idumaea is believed to be about to possess it, when this body, which seems to be indicated by the red color of the Jews, just as it was sown in dishonor, so will it rise in glory (1 Cor 44), and will generate no troubles from infirmity either for the intellect or for the senses; moreover, God will be all in all. But having briefly explained these things, let us return to the sequence of the reading.
Verse 13. — Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the treader of the grape the sower of seed, and the mountains will drip sweetness, and all the hills will be cultivated. Not only, he says, is he content to have restored liberty, but I will make you rejoice also in the abundance of crops, so that they may supply what is to be gathered throughout the whole year, and the harvest time may come forth too rich for the vintage: let the vintage receive the sowing, according to that which is sung in blessed David: You will bless the crown of the year with your goodness, and your fields will be filled with abundance; the ends of the desert will grow fat, and the hills will be girded with exultation (Ps 64). So therefore here too, after the promises, he added: The mountains will drip sweetness, and all the hills will be cultivated.
Adversorum siquidem tempore raritas erat magna cultorum; nunc econtrario multiplicabit incolas restituta tranquilitas, et bonum pacis publicae montium cult ra testabitur: i(??)a ut sti(??)ent dulcedinem, id est, videantur effluere vina de rupibus, mella de montibus.
Vers. 14. — Et convertam captivitatem populi mei Israel, et aedificabunt civitates desertas, et habitabunt: et plantabunt vineas, et bibent [Ant. bibentem] vinum carum, et facient honos, et comedent fructus eorum. Quod per exaggerationem dixerat, id est, quasi passun de montibus eruptum iri nectar, subdita narratione composuit, dicendo videlicet, quod bonis libertatis utentes, exstruerent urbis maenia, aedesque repararent: pangerent vineas., nec praedatorem timerent, sed optatis earum fructibus implerentur. Nec solum divites, sed etiam mediocres, hortos sedulo colerent, et libenter indeptis eorum copiis vescerentur.
In the time of adversity, indeed, there was a great scarcity of worshippers; now, on the contrary, restored tranquility will multiply inhabitants, and the good of public peace will be attested by the cultivation of the mountains, so that they seem to drip sweetness—that is, wines appear to flow from the rocks, honey from the mountains.
Verse 14. — And I will turn the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the desolate cities and dwell in them; and they shall plant vineyards and drink the precious wine, and they shall make gardens and eat their fruits. What he had said by way of hyperbole—that is, as if nectar were about to burst forth from the mountains—he set forth in the narrative that follows, saying namely that those enjoying the goods of liberty would build up the walls of the city and repair their houses; they would plant vineyards, nor would they fear a plunderer, but would be filled with their desired fruits. Nor only the rich, but even those of modest means would diligently cultivate gardens and gladly feed on the abundance obtained from them.
Vers. 15. — Et plantabo eos super humum suam, et non evellam eos ultra de terra sua, quam dedi eis, dicit Dominus Deus tuus. Id est, poputum quem captivitatis flagella correxerint, cum ad possessionem terrarum suarum respexero, ita faciam continua securitate gaudere, ut non experiatur ulterius superborum jussa dominorum, nec amarum iterum gustet exilium, sed in regionibus prop(??)iis sempiterna possessione consistat. Quod dicendo, utique nom est pollicitus, illos in pravam voluntatem nunquam esse mutandos, quos constat, postea et Redemptorem humani generis tam negasse, quam persequendo violasse, et de illis terris, quas acceperant, usque eo tuisse depulsos, ut ab earum incolatu jugiter arceantur. Sed suum propositum rerum Dominus publicavit, quod eos scilicet ita restituerit finibus paternis, ut nunquam es vellet expelli, si eorum vita pateretur: sicque ad intelligendum pateret, adversa omnia quae sunt deinceps consecuta, illorum esso moribus imputanda· In Christi autem corpore, id est, Ecclesiae membris, haec omnia tideliter et cumulate apparent impleta, quibus scilicet ea est, spei cobata (??)elicitis, ut eum tempus resurrectionis advenerit, et beatitudinem quae est vera contigerint, bona sua, ut suavitate, ita fateantur aeternitate pretiosa. MONITUM AD LECTOREM.
Verse 15. — And I will plant them on their own soil, and I will never again uproot them from their land, which I gave to them, says the Lord your God. That is, the people whom the scourges of captivity have corrected, when I have looked upon the possession of their lands, I will cause them to rejoice in continual security, so that they may no longer experience the commands of proud masters, nor again taste bitter exile, but may remain in their own regions in everlasting possession. By saying this, he certainly did not promise that those who were afterwards to deny the Redeemer of the human race and to violate him by persecution, and to be driven from those lands which they had received, to such an extent that they are forever barred from dwelling in them, would never be changed to an evil will. But the Lord made public his own purpose concerning things, namely that he had so restored them to their ancestral borders that he would never wish them to be expelled, if their life had permitted it; and thus it would be clear for understanding that all the adversities which afterwards followed were to be imputed to their own morals. But in the body of Christ, that is, in the members of the Church, all these things appear faithfully and abundantly fulfilled, for whom indeed the hope of salvation is so strengthened that, when the time of resurrection has come and they have attained the blessedness which is true, they may confess his goods as precious both in sweetness and in eternity. NOTE TO THE READER.
Diversi admodum ah his, quae hactenus recensuimus, generis sunt atque ingenii Scripta quae subsequutur: et quae tantum abest, ut Rufinum auctorem habere videantur, ut mirum sit magis, homines doctissimos ea potuisse aliquando illi adscribere. Et Sanctae quidem Eugeniae Vitam, quae primo occurrit, incerto Austore inscripserat ipse Rosweydus, quia nullius Auctoris nomen nec in MS. nec in editis libris invenit. Visus est tamen illi stylus non abludere a stylo Rufini; et Goldasto Acta Eugeniae, interprete Rufino, laudanti aurem maluit accommodare: quamquam ille non ex MSS. auctoritate, sed ex conjectura dumtaxat, ac porro subdubitans dixerit in notis ad cap. 17. Tom. 17. et Part. I. Rerum Alamannicarum, vetustissimam historiam S. Eugeniae, interprete eodem, ni fallor, Rufino. Vossius autem lib. II. de Historicis Latinis cap. 11. non modo, ut tieri in his amat. Rosweydo suffragatur, sed et Goldasti conjecturam sensumque exaggerat, idque eum dixisse omnino arbitrator, manuscriptorum fide subnixum. Sed neque ita ille, ut ostendimus, sensit, neque exemplar ullum MS. aliquando repertum est, quod Rufini nomen praeferret, nec denique aliud quidpiam, ut haec Rufinianis scriptiuncula adcenseretur, proferri argumentum potuit, quam styli quaedam similitudo, quae mihi quidem exigua esi, et ut magna videri aliis possit, rem minime evincit.
The writings that follow are of a quite different kind and character from those we have reviewed up to this point, and they are so far from appearing to have Rufinus as their author that it is more a wonder that very learned men could ever have ascribed them to him. Indeed, the Life of Saint Eugenia, which comes first, Rosweyd himself listed as of uncertain author, because he found no author's name either in the manuscript or in the printed books. Its style, however, seemed to him not to differ from the style of Rufinus; and he preferred to lend an ear to Goldast, who praises the Acts of Eugenia as translated by Rufinus—although the latter said so not from the authority of manuscripts but only from conjecture, and moreover with some hesitation, in his notes on chapter 17 of volume 17, part 1, of Rerum Alamannicarum, calling the most ancient history of Saint Eugenia the work of the same translator, Rufinus, if I am not mistaken. Vossius, however, in book 2, chapter 11, of his work On the Latin Historians, not only—as he likes to do in such matters—supports Rosweyd, but even exaggerates Goldast's conjecture and meaning, and judges that he said this altogether relying on the testimony of manuscripts. But neither did he think so, as we have shown, nor has any manuscript copy ever been found that bears the name of Rufinus, nor, finally, could any other argument be brought forward for counting this little work among the writings of Rufinus than a certain similarity of style, which indeed seems to me slight, and, even if it can seem great to others, by no means proves the matter.
Qui subsequitur duplex Libellus Fidei meliore etiam fortuna usus est. Brevior qui praeit, et XII. Anathematismis adversus varias haereses constat, ab Eminentissimo conterraneo meo Henrico Norisio lib. I. Historiae Pelagianae cap. III. et ab Joanne Camerio inter Marii Mercatoris Opera, ex codicibus MSS. Vaticano et Bellovacensi in publicam lucem esi editus, to iis quod Rufino inscribitur, hoc satis superque fuit, ut Rufino Aquilejensi, suo veluti, et de quo nihil dubium esset, parenti tanquam genuinus foetus adtribueretur. Alterum fusiorem edidit Jacobus Sirmondus, qui el Graeco prinum sermone scriptum existimat: tum Garnerius inter Opera Mereat ris Diss(??)rt. V; denique Jacobus Baunius cum nolis (??)om. I. Operum Sirmondi fuseruit. Neutrum vero ad nostrum Rufinum, Aquilejensem, videlicet, pertinere, satis luculenter ostendit Cl. Fontaninus qui nobis ad plura hanc in rem commemoranda, o(??)a fecit, et quem recolas in Vita Rufini lib II. capp. 17. et 18. ne actum nos agere videamur.
The double Little Book of Faith that follows had an even better fortune. The shorter one that comes first consists of twelve anathemas against various heresies, and was published by the most eminent Henry Noris, my fellow countryman, in Book I, chapter III of his Pelagian History, and by John Camerarius among the Works of Marius Mercator, from the Vatican and Bellovacensis manuscripts. For those who attributed it to Rufinus, this was more than enough for it to be assigned to Rufinus of Aquileia as to its own parent, as it were, and one concerning whom there was no doubt, as a genuine offspring. The longer one was published by James Sirmond, who considers it to have been written first in the Greek language; then by Garnerius among the Works of Marius Mercator, Dissertation V; and finally James Baunius included it with notes in tome I of Sirmond's Works. But that neither of them belongs to our Rufinus, namely of Aquileia, the distinguished Fontaninus showed clearly enough, who gave us occasion to recall many things on this matter, and whom you may review in the Life of Rufinus, Book II, chapters 17 and 18, lest we seem to be doing what has already been done.