The destruction of Edom for their pride: and the wrongs they did to Jacob: the salvation and victory of Israel.
1The vision of Abdias. Thus saith the Lord God to Edom: We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and he hath sent an ambassador to the nations: Arise, and let us rise up to battle against him.Visione di Abdia. Queste cose dice il Signore Dio ad Edom: (Noi udimmo già dal Signore, com'ei mandò ambasciadore a dire alle genti: Venite, andiamo a fargli guerra.)THE vision of Abdias. Thus sayth our Lord God to Edom: We haue heard a bruit from our Lord, and he hath sent a legate to the Gentils: Rise ye, and let vs arise against him into battel.Visio Abdiæ. Hæc dicit Dominus Deus ad Edom: / Auditum audivimus a Domino, / et legatum ad gentes misit: / surgite, et consurgamus adversus eum in prælium. 2Behold I have made thee small among the nations: thou art exceeding contemptible.Tu vedi, com'io ti ho fatto piccolino tralle nazioni, e che tu se' assai dispregevole.Behold I haue geuen thee a litle one in the Gentils: thou art contēptible excedingly.Ecce parvulum dedi te in gentibus: / contemptibilis tu es valde. 3The pride of thy heart hath lifted thee up, who dwellest in the clefts of the rocks, and settest up thy throne on high: who sayest in thy heart: Who shall bring me down to the ground?La superbia del tuo cuore ti ha levato in altura, perchè tu abiti nelle buche de' massi, e in luoghi alti hai collocato il tuo trono, e dici in cuor tuo: Chi di quassù tirerammi al basso?The pride of thy hart hath extolled thee, dwelling in the clefts of rockes, exalting thy throne: which sayst in thy hart: Who shal plucke me downe to the earth?Superbia cordis tui extulit te, / habitantem in scissuris petrarum, / exaltantem solium tuum; / qui dicis in corde tuo: / Quis detrahet me in terram ? 4Though thou be exalted as an eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars: thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.Quando tu t'innalzassi com' aquila, e tralle stelle ponessi il tuo nido, di lassù io ti caverei, dice il Signore.If thou shalt be exalted as an eagle, and if thou shalt set thy nest among the starres: thence wil I plucke thee downe, sayth our Lord.Si exaltatus fueris ut aquila, / et si inter sidera posueris nidum tuum, / inde detraham te, dicit Dominus. 5If thieves had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst thou have held thy peace? would they not have stolen till they had enough? if the grapegatherers had come in to thee, would they not have left thee at the least a cluster?Se i ladri, e gli assassini fossero entrati di nottetempo in tua casa, come saresti tu stato cheto? Non è egli vero, che avrebber rubato quanto loro bastasse? Se fossero entrati nella tua vigna a vendemmiare, non avrebber almeno lasciato per te qualche grappolo?If theues had gone in to thee, if robbers by night, how hadst thou held thy peace? would not they haue stolen thinges sufficent for themselues? if the grape gatherers had entered in to thee, would they not haue left thee at the least a cluster?Si fures introissent ad te, / si latrones per noctem, / quomodo conticuisses ? / nonne furati essent sufficientia sibi ? / Si vindemiatores introissent ad te, / numquid saltem racemum reliquissent tibi ?
6How have they searched Esau, how have they sought out his hidden things?Ma in qual modo costoro han frugata la casa di Esaù, e son'iti cercando ne' luoghi più riposti?How haue they searched Esau, haue they sought out his hidden thinges?Quomodo scrutati sunt Esau; / investigaverunt abscondita ejus ? 7They have sent thee out even to the border: all the men of thy confederacy have deceived thee: the men of thy peace have prevailed against thee: they that eat with thee shall lay snares under thee: there is no wisdom in him.Ti hanno cacciato sino ai confini; tutti i tuoi confederati si son burlati di te: i tuoi amici si sono alzati contro di te, quelli, che mangiavano alla tua mensa, ti tesero insidie. Non è in Edom prudenza.Euen to the border haue they cast thee out: al the men of thy league haue mocked thee: the men of thy peace haue preuailed against thee: they that eate with thee, shal lay embushments vnder thee: there is no wisedom in him.Usque ad terminum emiserunt te: / omnes viri fœderis tui illuserunt tibi: / invaluerunt adversum te viri pacis tuæ, / qui comedunt tecum, ponent insidias subter te; / non est prudentia in eo. 8Shall not I in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?Non tonò io in quel giorno i saggi all'Idumea, dice il Signore, e i prudenti al monte di Esaù?Why, shal not I in that day, sayth our Lord, destroy the wise out of Idumea, and prudence from the mount of Esau,Numquid non in die illa, dicit Dominus, / perdam sapientes de Idumæa, / et prudentiam de monte Esau ? 9And thy valiant men of the south shall be afraid, that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau.E i tuoi campioni di mezzogiorno saranno paurosi, onde non resterà uomo forte del monte di Esaù.And thy valients of the South shal feare, that man may perish from the mount of Esau.Et timebunt fortes tui a meridie, / ut intereat vir de monte Esau. 10For the slaughter, and for the iniquity against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish for ever.Per le uccisioni, e per le ingiustizie commesse contro Giacobbe tuo fratello, tu sarai coperto di confusione, e perirai in eterno.For the slaughter, and for the iniquitie against thy brother Iacob, confusion shal couer thee, and thou shalt perish for euer.Propter interfectionem, / et propter iniquitatem in fratrem tuum Jacob, / operiet te confusio, et peribis in æternum. 11In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers carried away his army captive, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem: thou also wast as one of them.In quel giorno, in cui tu portasti le armi contro di lui, quando gli stranieri facevano prigioni i suoi soldati, ed entravano nelle sue porte, e sopra Gerusalemme gettavan le sorti, tu pur eri come uno di loro.In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers tooke his armie, and foreners entered his gates, and vpon Ierusalem cast lotte: thou also wast as one of them.In die cum stares adversus eum, / quando capiebant alieni exercitum ejus, / et extranei ingrediebantur portas ejus, / et super Jerusalem mittebant sortem, / tu quoque eras quasi unus ex eis.
12But thou shalt not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day of his leaving his country: and thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Juda, in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not magnify thy mouth in the day of distress.Or tu non guarderai d'alto in basso il tuo fratello, quand'ei sarà in afflizione, quando se n'anderà pellegrino; e non ti allegrerai della sorte de' figliuoli di Giuda nel dì della lor perdizione; e non insulterai superbamente ad essi nel giorno di angoscia.And thou shalt not dispise in the day of thy brother, in the day of his peregrination: and thou shalt not reioyce ouer the children of Iuda, in the day of their perdition: & thou shalt not magnifie thy mouth in the day of distresse.Et non despicies in die fratris tui, / in die peregrinationis ejus: / et non lætaberis super filios Juda / in die perditionis eorum: / et non magnificabis os tuum / in die angustiæ. 13Neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin: neither shalt thou also look on in his evils in the day of his calamity: and thou shalt not be sent out against his army in the day of his desolation.E non entrerai nella porta del popol mio nel giorno di sua rovina; e non ti farai beffe de' suoi mali anche tu nel giorno di sua desolazione; e non sarai spedito contro le sue schiere nel giorno di loro sconfitta,Neither shalt thou enter the gate of my people in the day of their ruine: neither shalt thou also dispise in his euils in the day of his destruction: and thou shalt not be sent out against his armie in the day of his destruction.Neque ingriederis portam populi mei / in die ruinæ eorum; / neque despicies et tu in malis ejus / in die vastitatis illius. / Et non emitteris adversus exercitum ejus / in die vastitatis illius, 14Neither shalt thou stand in the crossways to kill them that flee: and thou shalt not shut up them that remain of him in the day of tribulation.E non istanti ai posti per uccidere i fuggitivi, e non chiuderai i suoi avanzi nel dì dell'afflizione:Neither shalt thou stand in the outgoings to kil them that flee: and thou shalt not shut vp his remnant in the day of tribulation.neque stabis in exitibus / ut interficias eos qui fugerint, / et non concludes reliquos ejus / in die tribulationis. 15For the day of the Lord is at hand upon all nations: as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee: he will turn thy reward upon thy own head.Perocché vicino egli è il dì del Signore per tutte le genti: quello, che tu facesti, sarà fatto a te: sulla tua testa farà Dio cadere la tua mercede;Because the day of our Lord is at hand vpon al nations: as thou hast done, so shal it be done to thee: thy retribution he wil returne vpon thine owne head.Quoniam juxta est dies Domini super omnes gentes: / sicut fecisti, fiet tibi; / retributionem tuam convertet in caput tuum.
16For as you have drunk upon my holy mountain, so all nations shall drink continually: and they shall drink, and sup up, and they shall be as though they were not.Perocché come beveste voi, che state sul mio monte santo, così beranno tutte costantemente le genti: beranno, e tracanneranno, e saranno come se non fossero.For as you haue drunke vpon my holie mount, shal al Gentils drinke continually: & they shal drinke, and swallow vp, and they shal be as though they were not.Quomodo enim bibistis super montem sanctum meum, / bibent omnes gentes jugiter: / et bibent, et absorbebunt, / et erunt quasi non sint. 17And in mount Sion shall be salvation, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess those that possessed them.E sul monte di Sion sarà salvazione, ed ei sarà santo; e la casa di Giacobbe sarà signora di quei, che la signoreggiarono.And in mount Sion shal be saluation, and it shal be holie: and the house of Iacob shal possesse those that had possessed them.Et in monte Sion erit salvatio, et erit sanctus; / et possidebit domus Jacob eos qui se possederant. 18And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shall be kindled in them, and shall devour them: and there shall be no remains of the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken it.La casa di Giacobbe sarà fuoco, e la casa di Giuseppe sarà fiamma, e la casa di Esaù sarà paglia, e questa sarà bruciata da quelle, e divorata, e avanzo non resterà della casa di Esaù, perchè il Signore l'ha detto.And the house of Iacob shal be a fyre, and the house of Ioseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shal be kindled in them, and shal deuoure them: and there shal be no remaynes of the house of Esau, because our Lord hath spoken.Et erit domus Jacob ignis, / et domus Joseph flamma, / et domus Esau stipula: / et succendentur in eis, et devorabunt eos, / et non erunt reliquiæ domus Esau, / quia Dominus locutus est. 19And they that are toward the south, shall inherit the mount of Esau, and they that are in the plains, the Philistines: and they shall possess the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Galaad.E quelli, che stanno da mezzodì, occuperanno il monte di Esaù, e quelli della pianura si faranno signori de' Filistei; e possederanno il paese di Ephraim, e fa provincia di Samaria; e Beniamin sarà padrone di Galaad.And they that are toward the South, shal inherite the mount of Esau, and they in the champaine countries, Philisthiims: and they shal possesse the region of Ephraim, and the region of Samaria: and Beniamin shal possesse Galaad.Et hæreditabunt hi, qui ad austrum sunt, montem Esau, / et qui in campestribus, Philisthiim: / et possidebunt regionem Ephraim et regionem Samariæ, / et Benjamin possidebit Galaad.
20And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the places of the Chanaanites even to Sarepta: and the captivity of Jerusalem that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the south.E l'esercito de' figliuoli d'Israele, che fu menato in ischiavitù, avrà tutti luoghi de' Chananei fino a Sarepta: e quelli di Gerusalemme menati schiavi nel Bosphoro, possederanno le città di mezzogiorno.And the transmigration of this host of the children of Israel, al places of the Chananeits euen to Sarepta: and the transmigration of Ierusalem, that is in Bosphorus, shal possesse the cities of the South.Et transmigratio exercitus hujus filiorum Israël, / omnia loca Chananæorum usque ad Sareptam: / et transmigratio Jerusalem, quæ in Bosphoro est, / possidebit civitates austri. 21And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shall be for the Lord.E saliranno al monte di Sion i salvatori a giudicare il monte di Esaù. E il regno sarà del Signore.And sauiours shal ascend into mount Sion to iudge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shal be to our Lord.Et ascendent salvatores in montem Sion judicare montem Esau, / et erit Domino regnum.
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Year of the World about 3224, Year before Christ 780.
Edom. The Jews understand this of the Romans; others apply it to themselves; but it seems to speak of the Idumeans.
Calmet
Ambassador, prophet, or angel; or God has suffered the passions of men to act. All is here animated. God appears leading on the various nations. (Calmet)
Worthington
He directed their thoughts to unite against Edom. (Worthington)
Haydock
Yet he did not approve of their ambition. (Haydock)
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Contemptible. The nations of Chaldea, etc., were far more potent. Yet Edom must be brought still lower.
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Calmet
Rocks. Hebrew, "Selah," or Petra, the capital. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
People dwell in caverns from Eleutheropolis to Ailath. (St. Jerome)
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Down. (Job 20:6.) How vain is all human power!
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Cluster. (Jeremias 49:9.) The Chaldeans take all, and remove the people, ver. 7.
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Calmet
Peace. The enemy had used their services against the Jews; but now they invade their confederates. (Calmet)
Haydock
Of this the Idumeans were not aware. (Haydock)
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St. Jerome
South. Hebrew, "Theman," (Calmet) where the Romans kept a garrison, fifteen miles south of Petra. (St. Jerome)
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Slaughter. They invaded the dominions of Achaz, and incited the enemy to destroy all, 2 Paralipomenon 28:17., and Psalm 136:7.
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Captive. He alludes to the taking of Sedecias.
Calmet
Lots, for the booty, or whether they should burn the city or not. All was regulated by lots. (Calmet)
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Challoner
Thou shalt not look, etc., or thou shouldst not, etc. It is a reprehension for what they had done, and at the same time a declaration that these things should not pass unpunished. (Challoner)
Worthington
God admonishes, and at the same time insinuates that the Idumeans would act quite the reverse. (Worthington)
Calmet
Magnify. Literally, thou shalt not speak arrogantly against the children of Juda, as insulting them in their distress, (Challoner) like people mocking. When they shall be themselves afflicted, they shall cease to upbraid the Jews. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Army. Hebrew also, "goods." Septuagint, "thou wilt not join their army in the day of ruin." (Haydock)
Thou wilt have other things to think about.
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Flee. The Idumeans might easily have concealed the fugitives. But they were so inhuman as to fall upon them, (Calmet) or drive them back.
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Haydock
Nations around. (Haydock)
Calmet
Josephus ([Antiquities?] 10:11.) does not specify Edom. But the prophets had announced their destruction, effected by Nabuchodonosor, while the main part of his army besieged Tyre. (Calmet)
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Drink. They shall rejoice at your fall, as you did at that of Juda; (St. Jerome) or, as my people has not been spared, can you expect to escape? (Jeremias 49:12.)
Calmet
Not. These nations and the Chaldeans themselves were brought low, while the Jews regained the regal power. The cup denotes vengeance, Psalm 74:9. Plautus uses the same expression: ut senex hoc eodem poculo, quo ego bibi, biberet. (Casina.) (Calmet)
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Worthington
Sion. This prosperity, in the historical sense, was promised to the Jews, after their return; and they enjoyed as much of it as their sins did not hinder; the rest was fulfilled in Christ. (St. Jerome, ad Dard.) (Worthington)
Holy. Providence watched over the Jews in a particular manner, while the neighbouring nations fell a prey to the Persians, to Alexander, etc. The persecution of Epiphanes was sharp, but of short duration; and it gave occasion to the Jews to regain their liberty, and to have kings (Calmet) little (Haydock) inferior to those of old.
Calmet
Them. Hebrew, "its goods." The Jews obtained all Palestine. (Calmet)
Theodoret
Christ extends his dominion over the world. (Theodoret)
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Stubble. The Jews often attacked Edom, and at last forced them to submit to the law of circumcision.
Haydock
Remains. Septuagint copies vary; "corn fire, or carrier." (Haydock)
Calmet
Those who escaped alone from battle had the former title. (Hesyc. purphoros.) (Calmet)
Haydock
Priests went with fire before the armies engaged. If they were slain, it was a sign, that no quarter was given, as these were accounted sacred. (Grabe, Prol.) (Haydock)
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Plains. Sephala, Josue 10:40.
Josephus
Samaria, which the Cutheans had occupied, till Alexander subjected them to the Jews, and Hircan asserted his authority. (Josephus, Antiquities 13:18.)
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Sarepta. This was accomplished after the persecution of Epiphanes.
Bosphorus. So St. Jerome's master interpreted Bispharad. But it seems rather to mean a part of Mesopotamia. Sippara stands above, where the Euphrates divides its streams.
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Calmet
Saviours, the Machabees, as figures of Christ. The temporal power of the Jews ended thirty-seven years after his resurrection. (Calmet)
Worthington
The rest of this prophecy (ver. 19.) regards Christ's kingdom over all nations, which believe in him, and receive the remission of their sins, Acts 10:43. (St. Augustine, City of God 18:31.) (Worthington)
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Thou shalt not look, etc.... or, thou shouldst not, etc. It is a reprehension for what they had done, and at the same time a declaration that these things should not pass unpunished.—Ibid. Thou shalt not magnify thy mouth.... That is, thou shalt not speak arrogantly against the children of Juda as insulting them in their distress.
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THE PROPHECY OF JONAS
JONAS prophesied in the reign of JEREBOAM the second: as we learn from 4 Kings 14.25. To whom also he foretold his success in restoring all the borders of Israel. He was of GETH OPHER in the tribe of ZABULON, and consequently of GALILEE: which confutes that assertion of the Pharisees, John 7.52, that no prophet ever rose out of GALILEE. He prophesied and prefigured in his own person the death and resurrection of CHRIST: and was the only one among the prophets that was sent to preach to the Gentiles.
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Concordance Iere. 49.
God directed the cogitations of diuers other Gentiles,
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to ioyne their forces against the Idumeans.
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Concordance Isa. 29.
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Concordance Gen. 2•.
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God admonisheth them vvhat they ought not to do, but vvithal foreshevveth that they vvil dispise the levves heir bretheren: & vvil reioyce in their miseries.
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Historically al this prosperitie vvas promised to the levves after their deliuerie from Babylon and so much therof performed as their nevv sinnes hindered not, the rest is fulfilled in Christians. S Ierom. ep ad Dardam.
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The rest of this prophecie is only of Christ possessingal nations. To vvhom al the prophetes geue testimonie that al receiue remission of sinnes by his name beleeuing in him. Act. 10. v. 43. see. S. Augustin li. 18. c 31. deciuit.
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luc. 1. v. 3.
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St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.4
… The Saviour came not to send peace upon the earth but a sword. Lucifer fell, Lucifer who used to rise at dawn; and he who was bred up in a paradise of delight had the well-earned sentence passed upon him, “Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.”
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 2.8
… And first grant that I may know how with inmost affection to mourn with those who sin; for this is a very great virtue, since it is written: “And thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction, and speak not proudly in the day of their trouble.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.31
… Now if, by that form of speech in which a part is put for the whole, we take Idumea as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, “But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One.”
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.31
… as put for the nations, we may understand of Christ what he says among other things, “But upon Mount Sion shall be safety, and there shall be a Holy One.” And a little after, at the end of the same prophecy, he says, “And those who are saved again shall come up out of Mount Sion, that they may defend Mount Esau, and it shall be a kingdom to the Lord.”
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1. The Vision of Obadiah. — Vision is called prophecy, the Prophet seeing. He presently calls the same thing a hearing. I have given the causes in Isaiah I, 1. THUS SAITH THE LORD GOD TO EDOM. — In Hebrew, Leedom, that is, concerning Edom, or to Edom. Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, was called Edom because he was red; and Seir, because he was hairy: hence his descendants, namely the Idumean people born from him, are called likewise Edom and Seir. Moreover, the Hebrews, both ancient, as St. Jerome testifies, and modern, such as R. David, R. Solomon and the like, constantly assert that the Idumeans are Romans. First, because Edom, and by aphaeresis Duma, is Rome, if you change the letter ד into the neighboring ר; secondly, because they themselves transmit, that is, they fabricate, that Julius Caesar was the first Roman emperor and was Idumean. Others add that Aeneas was Idumean, and that he came from Idumea into Egypt, thence into Libya, thence to Carthage, thence into Italy, and there founded Alba, from which Rome was born. Thus Arias relates it. The origin of this opinion, that is, of this fable, seems to have been the destruction which the Jews suffered from Titus and the Romans; for from that time they called the Romans, as if their most bitter enemies, new Idumeans. Consequently, since the faithful and Christians are called Romans, from their head the Roman Pontiff, and the Roman Church, which is the mother of all Churches; hence the Jews understand by Idumeans the Christians, whom they esteem as their most bitter enemies on account of their hatred of Christ. Wherefore whatever is said against the Idumeans by Obadiah and other Prophets, they think is said against Christians, and therefore they expect their Messiah, who will overthrow this empire of the Romans, that is, of Christ and Christians, and restore Judaism, and enrich and exalt the Jews with riches and honors as another Solomon. Thus Burgensis relates here, and Galatinus in book IV, chapter XVIII. And this is the cause of the monstrous hatred toward Christians, which seems to them almost innate. But all the histories of the Greeks, Latins, and all nations confute this dream of theirs (as St. Jerome calls it), which assert that Rome was founded by Romulus the Italian and Alban, that Julius Caesar was born from the Roman family of Julia, that Aeneas was Trojan, not Idumean. Moreover, everyone knows how far Alba and Rome are distant from Idumea. But it is ridiculous that they transform Duma into Roma. For the letters resh and daleth, although they are similar in character, are nevertheless most dissimilar in sound and meaning. They do therefore just as if you were to transform Cyrus into Irus, a physician into a beggar, mothers into males, and (which is plainly similar in the metathesis of the same letters r and d), if you were to transform Mede into mere, mode into mores, seats into Seres. Far more easily and readily would you transform Idumeans into Jews, especially since these Jews are their brothers; for both are born from Jacob and Esau, brothers, and are very near in seat and region. Wherefore I shall now show that the Jews are mystically truly Idumeans. According to the letter, therefore, understand here not Romans, not Italians, but Idumeans, that is, the descendants of Esau, dwelling in the mountains of Idumea near Judea, Ammonitis and Moabitis. Mystically, the Idumeans are the unfaithful enemies of the faithful people, namely Jews, pagans, heretics. For just as Jacob is the type of the faithful, so Esau and the Idumeans are the type of the unfaithful, as the Apostle teaches, Rom. IX, 7 and 13. Thus Eusebius in book V of the Demonstration, chapter XXIV, Theodoret, Rupert, St. Jerome, who also brings forth the analogy from the etymology of the name: "Idumea," he says, "is interpreted earthly, and on account of the red color, it can also be understood as bloody. For this reason the Savior, bringing back to the Father the victory over the world, when the angels cried out: Lift up your gates, O princes, and the King of glory shall enter in; and in Isaiah those wondering asked: Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosor? this one beautiful in white robe, etc., he himself speaks in triumph, displaying the palms of his cross: I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the Gentiles there is not a man with me." Tropologically the same St. Jerome: "There are," he says, "those who refer Idumea to the flesh, and esteem the soul to be provoked to struggle against its warfare, so that mortifying our members which are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, we may obtain eternal victory in Christ." For the brothers Jacob and Esau, constantly struggling with each other, are the soul and the flesh. "For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh," Gal. V, 17. Again, Hugh of St. Victor: "Edom," he says, "is earthly, Esau bloody, Seir hairy: bloody in sins, hairy in business, earthly in cares; bloody the world surely in idolaters, hairy in heretics, earthly in carnal things and pseudochristians." And below at verse 17: "Jacob struggled three times with Esau his brother, once with an angel. First in the womb, second over the lentil pottage, third over the oracle of paternal blessing. Our Jacob, that is the wrestler Christ, is said to have struggled three times already against the devil, and is believed for certain to struggle a fourth time. First in the womb, second on the gallows, third in the sepulchre, fourth in the final judgment against the host of goats and the worst seed. In the womb by immunity from sin, on the gallows by the acquisition of glory and the honour of the kingdom, in the sepulchre by the immortality of life and the glory of triumph, in judgment by the right of victory and the rigour of justice." And soon after: "First he struggled for you, that you might overcome the pride of the devil and his kingdoms; second, that you might surpass the luxury and glory of the world; third, that you might expel the concupiscence of the flesh and the wantonness of the senses: the final struggle he will make, so that, all the aforesaid things spurned, you may possess as victor the crown of glory." We have heard. — Note first that these are the words not of God, but of the Prophet, as is evident from Jeremiah XLIX, 14, where the same words are taken from Amos and applied to himself. Whence it follows that here there is a hyperbaton, that is an inverted order. For indeed these words do not cohere with the immediately preceding ones. Thus the whole of this verse is to be arranged thus: "The vision of Obadiah concerning Edom. We have heard a report from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the nations. Arise, and let us rise up against him to battle. Thus saith the Lord God: Behold, I have made thee small among the nations," etc. For these words are the words of God: "Behold, I have made thee small." But these words are the words of the Prophet: "We have heard a report," etc. Or certainly these words: "We have heard a report," etc., are to be taken in parenthesis, as if to say "Thus saith the Lord," and we know this because "we have heard a report" from him. Thus Vatablus, and this seems more expedient and clear. Second, hearing is put metonymically for the thing heard. Whence the Chaldean renders it as messenger; the Zurich Bible as rumour; Vatablus as fame. Third, he does not say, I have heard, but we have heard, as if to say, Not I alone, but many Prophets with me have heard these decrees of God against the Idumeans, or will soon hear them, namely Isaiah, chapter XXI, 11; Amos, chapter I, 11; Joel, chapter III, 19; Jeremiah, chapter XLIX, 7; Ezekiel, chapter XXV, 31. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, Lyran, Clarius and Arias. The Septuagint, however, renders it in the singular: I have heard a report from the Lord, and thus it stands in Jeremiah chapter XLIX, 14. Whence Hugh thinks that we have heard, the plural, is put for the singular I have heard. The sense is, as if to say, We have heard this message from God, or God has announced to us that he has sent an ambassador to the nations, who would say to them: Arise, arm yourselves for war, so that with joined forces and arms, we may invade and lay waste the Idumeans; for this arise is not the voice of the nations stirring each other up to war, as Arias and Vatablus wish; but it is the voice of the ambassador, or of God, who through the ambassador stirs up the nations, so that they may rise up with him to battle against the Idumeans. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and Lyran, and this is evident from the very sequence of the narrative and the context of the words. An ambassador is sent among the nations. — You will ask, who is this ambassador here? Albert and Arias think there were ambassadors whom Nebuchadnezzar sent to the neighbouring nations and those subject to him, so that with joined arms they might invade Idumea; second, Hugh, Dionysius and de Castro think it was an angel, either good or evil, sent by God to the Chaldeans, so that he might stir them up to the destruction of the Idumeans, according to that Psalm LXXVII, 49: "Sendings forth through evil angels;" third, more simply and plainly we shall say it is a catachresis, by which the very motion and stirring up of God is called an ambassador, as if to say, God stirred up the Chaldeans to wage war against the Idumeans, just as if he had sent an ambassador to them. Thus Lyran, Ribera and others. That this is so is gathered from a similar passage in Isaiah V, 26: "And he shall lift up, saith he, a standard to the nations afar off, and shall hiss to them from the ends of the earth: and behold they shall come with speed swiftly." And chapter VII, 18: "The Lord shall hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost parts of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria." Where this calling forth of God, and the stirring up of the Egyptians and Assyrians to war, is called a hissing, by which flies and bees are called forth and stirred up. See the things said there. But because this hissing, this motion and stirring up of God is usually done through angels, hence you will not badly understand by ambassador the angels, according to the second exposition. In like manner Nisus, eager for battle, said to Euryalus: Do the gods put this ardour in our hearts, Euryalus, or does each man's dire desire become his god? Furthermore, by what reason God stirs up kings, even tyrants, to war, so that he may exercise his vengeance through them, though unjust, upon impious nations, I have said in Canons XXXVI and XXXVII, which I prefixed to Isaiah. Allegorically, this legate is Christ, the angel of great counsel, who conquered Edom in battle, that is, the world, the flesh, the devil: and he called the nations to himself, as also to this war of his. Whence Eusebius takes this passage concerning the calling of the Gentiles, lib. V Demonstr. cap. XXIV; so also St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupertus, Cardinal Hugo and Hugo Victorinus: "This legate," says Hugo Victorinus, "brought three things with him: light, ointment, bread. Light to the blind, ointment to the sick, bread to the hungry. He set forth light on the mountain, bread in the supper room, ointment on the gallows of the cross. For Christ illuminated the world, driving out ignorance; he satisfied it, ordering concupiscence: he changed it for the better, exterminating misery. Whence he himself in the Gospel: I am, he says, the way, the truth, and the life; way by illuminating, truth by healing, life by making blessed: the first against ignorance, the second against concupiscence, the third against misery." And further down he teaches that this legate speaks with the other persons of the Holy Trinity, and says: "Arise, and let us rise up against him in battle," as if to say: Let the Father arise, mightily overthrowing the enemy of the Son, I shall arise wisely teaching the ignorant. Let the Father loose the bonds of human captivity: Let the Son illuminate the darkness of human blindness: Let the Spirit suggest gifts and desires of charity."
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2. BEHOLD, I HAVE MADE THEE SMALL. — These words pertain to: "Thus saith the Lord God to Edom." For here begins the prophecy and the voice of God against Edom, as I showed a little before. Vatable, Lyran and Hugo interpret the past tense dedi prophetically as a future tense, I will give, as if to say: On account of thy pride I will punish thee, O Edom, and I will cast thee down from the pinnacle of thy glory and greatness, and make thee small. But more properly St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugo, Arias, Pagninus and others take dedi in its proper sense. For he exaggerates the pride of Idumea, in that, although thou wast made small by God, thou dost wish to raise thy head to the stars, as if he said: I made thee small, both in number, that is, few; both in wealth, that is, poor; both in strength, that is, weak and infirm, as the Chaldean translator renders it. For the Idumeans were like our Alpines, dwelling in the mountain and rock of Seir: wherefore they were small in number, poor and weak. Whence follows: THOU ART GREATLY DESPISED. — The Septuagint: Thou art greatly dishonored; the Zurich Bible: Thou art greatly despised, that is, despicable; the Arabic: Behold thou appearest small among the nations, and thou art very vile.
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3. THE PRIDE OF THY HEART HATH LIFTED THEE UP. — The Chaldean, the Zurich Bible and others translate: The pride of thy heart hath deceived thee; and thus Our translation renders it in Jeremiah XLIX, 16, because the Hebrew nasa, if thou place a point on the right horn of shin, signifies to deceive; if on the left, signifies to lift up, to exalt. Both are true: for pride lifted him up, and likewise deceived him: for it led him who hoped for sublime things to precipices. Moreover, the cause of pride was what he subjoins: "Dwelling in the clefts of the rock, exalting thy throne," as if to say: Thou art proud, O Edom, concerning thy strength, because thou dwellest on a steep and inaccessible rock, as if on account of it thou wert safe from the incursion of enemies and impregnable: but thou art mistaken; for the Chaldeans, under God's guidance, will climb this rock, and will cast thee down from it. For in the clefts in Hebrew is bechagve, which the Septuagint translates, in the holes; Pagninus, in the fortifications; the Zurich Bible, in the caverns; R. David, in the circuit and circle, namely in the summit of the rock and its round circumference; for chagve can be derived from chug, that is, circle. Again for exalting, in Hebrew is merom, that is, by the height of thy dwelling, as Pagninus translates it; the Septuagint, however, translates it as Our translation does, exalting. Whence they seem to have read merim, which is the hiphil of ben oni. The sense is, as if to say: Thou dwellest, O Edom, in places steep, lofty and inaccessible, and there thou exaltest thy throne, that is, thy seat, or, as the Chaldean and Septuagint render it, thy dwelling; and therefore thou art proud, thinking thyself to be unconquered and insuperable. Thus St. Jerome. In a similar manner Arimazes was proud, who, sitting in an inaccessible rock in the region of Sogdiana with thirty thousand armed men, when asked by Alexander the Great to surrender himself, mocked him, and asked "whether Alexander could fly?" To whom Alexander replied: "I will make it so that in the next night thou shalt believe that Macedonians can fly." Therefore he stirred up three hundred most valiant youths with great promises, and ordered them to climb by night over the steep rocks and pathless places at the back of the rock's summit secretly with incredible effort and daring, and through them, unknown to the enemy, he occupied the rock, and crucified Arimazes. Thus Q. Curtius, lib. VII On the Deeds of Alexander.
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4. IF THOU BE EXALTED AS THE EAGLE. — The Syrian: If thou shalt exalt thyself as the eagle; the Arabic: If thou be exalted unto the eagle, which nesteth in the highest and inaccessible rocks and mountains, according to that in Job cap. XXXIX, 27: "The eagle shall be exalted, and shall make her nest on high: she dwelleth in the rock, and dwelleth in the hollow of the rock and in craggy places." Pliny, lib. X, cap. III, calleth this species of eagle the melænaeton: "The smallest in size, blackish in colour, supreme in strength. Alone, saith he, without clamour, without murmuring it converseth in the mountains." For there are other species of eagles which love forests and shores and level places, and there they nest, as testified by Aristotle lib. IX De Animal. cap. XXXII. Hence Pindar calleth the eagle the queen of birds, the dolphin of fishes. And the Athenians, saith Aristophanes, received an oracle that they would be eagles of cities. Mystically, eagles, saith Hugh of St. Victor, are philosophers and sophists, whilst they lift the eyes of the heart to the sun of justice, whilst they fix the keenness of the mind irreverberately upon the very ray of truth. But the eagle is straightway withdrawn: because after the received knowledge of truth implanted, the philosopher and sophist by reason of pride return to the darkness of errors. Hence the Apostle, Rom. I, 21: "Because when they knew God, saith he, they glorified him not as God, or gave thanks; but became vain in their thoughts." Thus also to-day we see eagles, that is, learned and wise men on account of pride drawn down from heaven, that is from the Church, or certainly from the state of perfection, and falling into the abyss. Would that the learned would engrave in their inmost heart that saying of the doctor of the Gentiles: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." And that: "Be not wise above that which is good; but fear." For small, nay, nothing before God is the learned man, but the proud one. Great, nay, greatest before God is he who is as humble as he is learned, in whom humility contendeth with learning, such as were St. Augustine, St. Thomas, St. Bonaventure and others. AND IF THOU SET THY NEST AMONG THE STARS: I WILL BRING THEE DOWN FROM THENCE, SAITH THE LORD. — It is a hyperbole, as if to say: Even if thou, O Edom, fixest thy seat in the highest mountains, where are Olympus, Atlas, etc., nay in heaven itself, or seemest to thyself to fix it, I will bring thee down from thence. Note: Aptly doth he call cities set upon rocks nests. Thus Paul Æmilius said that strongholds are "the nests of tyrants:" wherefore he himself removed them from Greece. Thus Cicero, lib. I De Orat., said that Ithaca fixed upon rocks as it were a nest. Symbolically, Rupert adapteth these things to those who glory in the pedigrees of their ancestors as in rocks, from which they have been hewn. For these and the like seem to themselves to far surpass other men, and to dwell among the stars. Such was the mad boasting of that Thraso, namely Lysimachus, who when he had obtained places bordering on Thrace, said with great arrogance: "Now at last the Byzantines come to me, since I have touched the sky with my spear." There Pasides of Byzantium mockingly derided the man: "Let us withdraw, saith he, lest he perforate the sky with the point of his spear," as Plutarch relateth in Fortun. Alexand. lib. II. Thus swollen with arrogance Atreus in the Thyestes of Seneca thundereth: I walk equal to the stars, and above all, touching the high pole with proud head. I leave the gods above, I have attained the summit of my wishes. O me most exalted of the heavenly ones, and King of kings, I have transcended my desires. The same phrase is used by Ovid: With such a spouse happy and dear to the gods, I shall be borne aloft and touch the stars with my head. And Horace, lib. I Carm.: But if thou placest me among the lyric poets, I shall strike the stars with uplifted head. Morally, note how great is the pride and arrogance of the proud, namely that they think they can ascend into heaven to the throne of God and seize it. Wherefore to God, as rivals and emulators of his glory, they are especially hateful and abominable. Hence of them Job saith cap. XX, 6: "If his pride mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds: he shall be destroyed like his own dung." Thus the supreme angel, and his antitype Nabuchodonosor, or Baltassar king of Babylon, in pride said: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;" but straightway he heard: "Thy pride is brought down to hell: under thee shall the moth be strewed, and thy covering shall be worms," Isaias XIV, 11 and 13. See the things said there. Were not Origen, Tertullian, Pelagius, etc., as it were stars of the Church, and stars of heaven, and yet on account of pride they fell into the abyss? Who would not be terrified, who would not cast himself down and humble himself to the depths? This is what St. John predicts that the devil will do through the Antichrist at the end of the world concerning distinguished men, in the Apocalypse XII, 4, when he says: "His tail (of the dragon) drew the third part of the stars," that is, of illustrious Saints. And Apoc. VIII, 10: "There fell from heaven a great star, burning as it were a torch." Which Tyconius, in St. Augustine, vol. IX, expounding mystically thus says: "He says that proud and impious men fell from the Church; but he called it a great star, because the persons of the wicked, and those having power or riches." For, as St. Augustine says in Psalm CXLVI (explaining that verse: Who numbereth the multitude of stars), "there are certain stars which are lights in the Church consoling our night, of which the Apostle says, Philip. II: In whom you shine as lights in the world: God numbers those stars, all who are to reign with him, etc., he has them numbered." The same, in the Soliloquies, vol. IX, cap. XXVIII, compares the elect and the wicked on account of their crimes to be reprobated to stars, those fixed, these falling, and of them he says: "Yet the death of sinners is most evil, of those, I say, whom, before you made heaven and earth, according to the deep abyss of your many hidden judgments, but always of the just, you foreknew unto eternal death: whose enumeration of names and depraved merits is with you, who have numbered the number of the sand of the sea, and have measured the depth of the abyss: whom you have left in their uncleanness, to which all things work together unto evil, and even prayer itself is turned into sin, so that if they should even ascend unto the heavens, and their head touch the clouds, and place their nest among the stars of heaven, like a dunghill in the end they shall perish." Whence he exclaims: "Great are these thy judgments, O Lord God, etc., which when I consider, all my bones tremble: because man living upon earth is not secure; that we may serve you piously and chastely all the days of our life in fear, and exult to you with trembling." He adds the cause: "For we have seen many ascend at first in a certain way even unto the heavens, and place their nest among the stars, but afterwards fall even unto the abysses, and their souls be stupefied in evils. We have seen stars fall from heaven by the force of the tail of the dragon striking, and those who lay in the dust of the earth, by the face of your hand lifting them up, O Lord, wonderfully ascend. We have seen men dying, and the dead rising from death, and those who walked among the sons of God in the midst of burning stones, like clay flow away to nothing." He adds the root of such great evil: "But why all these things, except because they ascended into that mountain, into which the angel first ascended, and the devil descended!" For it is the custom of God, that the higher anyone raises himself, the more deeply he depresses him, because he abhors pride, according to that of Isaiah XXIII, 9: "The Lord of hosts hath thought this, to pull down the pride of all glory, and to bring to shame all the glorious ones of the earth." And: "He hath put down the mighty from their seat," Luke I, 52. The Gentiles saw the same thing: whence Aesop, when asked what God does: "He humbles the proud, and exalts the humble," as if this alone were the proper work of God. And Seneca in Hercules Furens: Rule with swollen spirit, bear yourself aloft, Behind the proud God follows as avenger. The same in Thyestes: You to whom the ruler of sea and earth Has given great right of death and life, Put away your swollen and haughty faces. Whatever a lesser one fears from you, A greater Lord threatens this to you. Every kingdom under a heavier kingdom is. Whom the day saw coming proud, Him the day saw fleeing laid low. Let no one trust too much in prosperity. Wherefore wisely Artabanus warns King Xerxes in Herodotus, lib. VII: "Do you see, he says, that God strikes the very large animals with lightning, and does not allow them to grow insolent in their thoughts; but those which are small, he does not even touch ever so little? Do you see that he always hurls his bolts at the greatest buildings and trees of that kind? For God loves to cut down all things that stand out. For he does not allow anyone to think greatly of himself, except himself alone." Finally St. Jerome to Eustochium, On the Keeping of Virginity: "Lucifer fell, he says, who was rising in the morning, and he who was nourished in the paradise of delights deserved to hear: If you are exalted as the eagle, from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. For he had said in his heart: I will place my seat above the stars of heaven, and I will be like the Most High. Whence daily to those who descend by the ladder of Jacob dreaming, God speaks: I have said: You are gods, and all of you are children of the Most High. But you shall die like men, and shall fall like one of the princes." Mystically R. Haccados in Galatinus, lib. VII, cap. XV: "The way of the eagle in the heavens, he says, is the King Messiah, who after his passion will ascend into heaven, as it is said Amos cap. IX: Who buildeth his ascension in heaven." dunt, loquitur Deus: Ego dixi: Dii estis, et filii Altissimi omnes. Vos autem sicut homines moriemini, et tanquam unus de principibus cadetis." Mystice R. Haccados apud Galatinum, lib. VII, cap. XV: "Via, ait, aquilæ in cœlis est rex Messias, qui post passionem suam ascendet in cœlum, sicut dictum est Amos cap. IX: Qui ædificat in cœlo ascensionem suam."
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5. IF THIEVES HAD ENTERED TO THEE: IF ROBBERS BY NIGHT, HOW WOULDST THOU HAVE BEEN SILENT? — For "wouldst thou have been silent" in Hebrew is נדמיתה nidmeta, from the root דמה dama, which signifies three things, namely to be made like, to be cut off, and to be silent. Whence, first, Arias translates: How wouldst thou have been made like, that is, to whom like wouldst thou have been left? namely to a man stripped and impoverished. Second, Pagninus and the Zurich Bible translate: How wouldst thou have been cut off? The Septuagint: where wouldst thou have been cast? as if to say, How wouldst thou have been deprived of thy things and riches? Otherwise by Castro; for he expounds it contrariwise in this manner: Wouldst thou have been entirely cut off? Not at all: for these thieves would have stolen only what sufficed them, and would have left the rest to thee. Third, Our translator renders: "How wouldst thou have been silent?" and the Chaldean: How wouldst thou have been made to sleep? that is, like one made to sleep, or feigning sleep through fear wouldst thou have been silent? The sense is, if thieves or night robbers had invaded thy dwelling with a great hand, thou wouldst certainly have been silent. For thus are the timid wont, or those unequal in strength, to be silent through fear, lest, if they cry out, they be slain by thieves and robbers, as if to say, How much more wilt thou be silent and struck dumb with terror, when the Chaldeans, most numerous, most mighty and most hostile, shall invade and despoil thee, and shall take away not only thy riches but also thy life. Thus St. Jerome. Note here from natural philosophy: Fear, because it recalls the spirit and blood to the heart to confirm it in terror, hence also induces paleness in the outer parts and silence of the tongue. Thus Aristotle in the Physiognomics teaches that a strong voice is a sign of the strong, but a weak and feeble voice of the timid. The same, in book IV of the Ethics, chapter III: "The great-souled man," he says, "ought to have slow movement, grave voice, and slow speech: the contrary are in the small-souled and the timid." For fear sharpens, tightens and binds the mouth, tongue, mind, memory, soul and the whole man. "Fear," says Solinus in the Polyhistor, chapter VII, "destroys memory." We see this in the scrupulous, who fear the shadows of sins, and from this fear, with wavering imagination and memory, often do not remember what they have done or confessed, nay, they forget that they have been confessed, nor do they recall the circumstances which excused them in the deed perpetrated either wholly or in greater part from sin: because they have only sin and fear of sin before their eyes, which fear makes apprehension so strong and vivid that they seem to see sin where it is not, and to have perpetrated what they never thought of. That therefore they may overcome scruples, it is necessary that they lay the axe to the root, and cut down fear by contrary boldness on the counsel of a prudent man. Second, in thieves he notes clandestine and timid robbery, as if to say, Thieves attack and plunder the unwary and unprepared in secret: but the Chaldeans shall not thus invade thee openly and with manifest war, O Edom: thou shalt know of their coming, thou shalt prepare thyself, thou shalt see and feel them approaching and leaping upon thee, and thou shalt not be able to resist them, nay, neither shalt thou be able to escape or get away by flight. Thus Vatablus. WOULD NOT THIEVES HAVE STOLEN WHAT SUFFICED THEM? — This is a new antithesis, as if to say, Thieves do not steal all things, but only those which suffice them, and leave the rest to their masters and in their places: but the Chaldeans shall carry away all thy things. This is declared by another similitude, or rather antithesis of vintagers, saying: IF VINTAGERS HAD ENTERED TO THEE, WOULD THEY NOT AT LEAST HAVE LEFT A CLUSTER FOR THEE? — Surely hidden under the leaves they would have left here and there many clusters after their custom: but the Chaldeans shall search out and plunder all and everything, they shall leave nothing. It is a hyperbole: nothing, that is, very little, scarcely anything. They shall therefore be most exact grape-gatherers, as much as thy vintagers, O Edom. Whence it follows:
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6. HOW HAVE ESAU BEEN SEARCHED OUT, HIS HIDDEN THINGS INVESTIGATED? — as if to say, How laboriously and exactly shall the Chaldeans search out all the secrets and treasures of the Idumeans, and plunder them! Pagninus and the Zurich Bible translate: How have those things which are Esau's been thoroughly examined, and his treasures sought out? as if to say, This has been done not so much by human diligence and will, as by the divine, namely that all things which were the Idumeans', even the treasures which they had hidden, have been sought out and found by the Chaldeans with the most exact scrutiny. He shows that the Chaldeans shall come not by chance, not of their own will and proper motion, but by the will of God and shall take vengeance upon the Idumeans, and therefore this vengeance shall be exact and keen, as being divine rather than human.
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7. EVEN TO THE BORDER HAVE THEY SENT THEE: ALL THE MEN OF THY COVENANT, — that is to say, Not only shall the Chaldeans, thy enemies, lay thee waste, but also the nations neighboring and friendly to thee and confederate with thee, for example the Ammonites, Moabites, etc., shall join themselves with the Chaldeans thy enemies, and shall mock thee, and shall cast thee out of thy land even to the borders thereof, yea even into the land of the Chaldeans. Thus the Chaldean Paraphrase, St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, Vatablus, Clarius and others throughout, that is to say, O Edomites, ye are betrayed by your friends. Otherwise according to Castro: for he thinks that these things pertain to the times of Josaphat king of Juda, under whom he supposes Obadiah to have lived, when namely the Ammonites and Moabites confederate with the Edomites invaded Josaphat and Juda, but God fighting for Josaphat and Juda, and turning their snares upon themselves, the Ammonites and Moabites rising up against the Edomites cut them down, and then turned against themselves and cut one another with mutual wounds, as is related in II Paralipomenon XX, that is to say, If, O Edomites, your prudence could not turn aside the snares of Ammon and Moab your friends, how shall ye turn aside the utter destruction of enemies? But in the Preface I have taught that Obadiah lived long after Josaphat and prophesied: therefore he does not speak of the calamity of that time; yet he alludes to it, and brings it back to the Edomites, that is to say, Remember, O Edomites, what Ammon and Moab your friends did to you, when you made peace and covenant with them in the time of Josaphat: the same shall they do to you in the time of the Chaldeans, and with them they shall lay you waste and mock you. THEY HAVE MOCKED THEE. — The Septuagint: They have resisted thee; Pagninus, the Zurich Bible and Vatablus: They shall seduce thee, and shall prevail against thee, the men of thy peace, that is, those who had made peace with thee. THEY THAT EAT THY BREAD SHALL LAY A SNARE UNDER THEE. — Thus also the Septuagint; but Pagninus translates: They that eat thy bread shall put infirmity under thee; the Zurich Bible: Thy bread under thee shall put a wound, that is, as Vatablus: The men of thy bread have inflicted a wound upon thee secretly, that is, upon thee unaware, because thou didst think them to be faithful, that is to say, They that ate bread with thee, thy household and familiar servants, or thy stipendiaries, have fraudulently and treacherously inflicted a wound upon thee. There is no wisdom in him, — namely in the people of Edom. It is an enallage of person in Hebrew: for it passes from the second to the third. For he says in him, for in thee, that is to say, Thou knowest not, O Edom, how to beware of thy dangers, thou knowest not how to take counsel for thyself: wherefore thou shalt come into the power of enemies by the betrayal of friends, and by thy own lack of foresight, as much as by wicked counsels. Thus Vatablus. So God made foolish the counsel of Achitophel, II Kings XVII. For counsel and wisdom, and its understanding and acceptance, is a great gift of God.
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8. SHALL I NOT IN THAT DAY, SAITH THE LORD, DESTROY THE WISE MEN OUT OF IDUMEA? — that is to say, I shall take away from them counsel and mind, I shall deprive them of reason and prudence, so that they may neither foresee nor guard against the impending enemies, nor be able to turn aside or escape those present, but shall fall into their hands. For wisdom once flourished among the Edomites, as is evident from Eliphaz the Themanite, and the other friends of Job, who were Edomites: for Theman was the chief city of Idumea, so called from Theman the son of Eliphaz, son of Esau, Genesis XXXVI, 11.
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9. AND THY MIGHTY MEN SHALL BE AFRAID FROM THE SOUTH (the Chaldean Paraphrase, those dwelling to the south, and therefore more remote from the Chaldeans, who shall come from the opposite direction, namely from the North, that is to say, Thy mighty men shall be afraid, even those who are most remote from the enemy), THAT EVERY MAN MAY BE CUT OFF (that is, a multitude of mighty men) FROM THE MOUNT OF ESAU, — that is, from Idumea which is situated in mountains, which thy first father Esau inhabited. From the Hebrew it can be translated literally with the Septuagint: Thy warriors shall fear from Theman; and with Pagninus and the Zurich Bible: Thy mighty men shall be afraid, O Theman; a city of Idumea, because every man shall be cut off from the mount of Esau by slaughter. But, because Theman is to the Hebrews both a proper name, signifying a city, and an appellative signifying the south and the meridian, hence Our author and the Chaldean Paraphrase translate: "Thy mighty men shall be afraid from the south." Which however comes to the same thing: for the city of Theman was situated to the south. Note here the manner in which God overthrows kings, kingdoms, republics and cities, when He wishes to punish them: namely, He takes away prudence from kings and magistrates; from citizens and soldiers, courage, boldness and strength to resist; for the Edomites excelled in both, as much as their father Esau: God took both away from them, when the Chaldean enemy came. This is what Isaias threatens to Jerusalem, chapter III, 1: "The Lord of hosts shall take away from Jerusalem, and from Juda, the mighty and the strong, etc., the counselor and the wise."
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10. BECAUSE OF THE SLAUGHTER, AND BECAUSE OF THE INIQUITY AGAINST THY BROTHER JACOB. — Zurich: Because of the violence and injury (for thus the Hebrew חמס chamas signifies) with which thou didst afflict thy brother Jacob (the Jacobites, namely the Jews) shame shall cover thee. By violence and slaughter it understands, specifically that by which the Idumæans joined themselves with the Chaldæans, and with them assailed and laid waste Jerusalem, as I said in the Preface. SHAME SHALL COVER THEE, — when thou shalt see thyself in like manner laid waste, stripped, despoiled, and slain by those same Chaldæans whom thou hadst aided. The word cover signifies that the Idumæans are to be clothed and covered all around with shame as with a garment, according to that in Psalm CVIII, 29: "Let them that detract from me be clothed with shame: and let them be covered with their confusion as with a double garment." It is a metalepsis: for confusion is put in place of destruction: for from destruction followed despoliation, from despoliation nakedness, from nakedness reproach and mockery of enemies, from reproach confusion. This is what Jeremiah threatens to the Idumæans in cap. XXV, 9: "I will make them a wonder, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations." AND THOU SHALT PERISH FOR EVER. — This is what Ezechiel says to them in cap. XXXV, 9: "I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not be inhabited." It is a hyperbole: for by ever he calls a long and unforgettable time. For it is evident that the Idumæans, laid waste by the Chaldæans, did not perish utterly, nor for all time, from verse 18, where the Jews are said to burn the Idumæans; and from II Maccabees X, 16, where Judas Maccabæus is said to have subdued the Idumæans; and afterwards when Titus besieged Jerusalem, the Idumæans brought aid to the Jews, as Josephus testifies, lib. VII of the Wars, cap. XV. Finally, in Daniel cap. XI, 41, it is said that Edom shall escape the hands of Antichrist: it shall therefore endure until Antichrist and the end of the world.
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11. IN THE DAY WHEN THOU STOODEST AGAINST HIM (when, O Edom, thou stoodest armed against Israel and Jerusalem) WHEN THE STRANGERS (the Chaldæans) TOOK HIS ARMY, AND FOREIGNERS ENTERED INTO HIS GATES (Jerusalem being taken), AND CAST LOTS UPON JERUSALEM (that is, upon the spoils and citizens whom they had taken in Jerusalem): THOU ALSO WAST AS ONE OF THEM, — as if to say, Thou in like manner as the Chaldæans didst invade, despoil, capture, and lay waste the Jews and citizens of Jerusalem. Note: These past tenses are to be understood prophetically as futures; thou stoodest for thou shalt stand; they took for they shall take; they entered for they shall enter; they cast for they shall cast; thou wast for thou shalt be. For Obadiah preceded the destruction of Jerusalem, and here predicts it, and that in it the Idumæans should aid the Chaldæans.
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12. AND THOU SHALT NOT DESPISE IN THE DAY OF THY BROTHER. — The Septuagint translates all these things as future until verse 15 by means of the imperative: And thou shalt not despise the day of thy brother in the day of strangers, and thou shalt not rejoice over the sons of Juda in the day of their perdition, and thou shalt not speak great things in the day of their anguish, etc., neither shalt thou stand in the goings out of them, that thou mayest destroy those that are saved of them, neither shalt thou shut up the fugitives of them in the day of tribulation. Which words are clear: for they command the Idumæans that they no longer oppose the Jews after their manner, nor lay snares for them, nor rejoice in their calamity, nor insult them. Thus also St. Cyril and the Zurich Bible. This is what the Wise man admonishes in Proverbs, chapter XXIV, 18: "When thy enemy shall fall, be not glad, and in his ruin let not thy heart rejoice, lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him." Secondly, others translate these futures by the past tense, thou shalt not despise, that is, thou ought not to have despised; thou shalt not rejoice, that is, thou ought not to have rejoiced; thou shalt not magnify, that is, thou ought not to have magnified thy mouth, etc., against thy brethren the Jews. This sense agrees very well with the Hebrews and Hebraism; for the Hebrews often expound the future by duty, as in Genesis XX, 9, Abimelech says to Abraham in Hebrew: "What shall not be done," that is, what ought not to be done, "thou hast done to us." Again, this sense agrees aptly with what precedes; for it precedes: "Thou also wast as one of them," to which it rightly subjoins: "And thou shalt not despise," that is, although thou ought not to have despised thy brother, etc. Thus Pagninus, Arias, Vatablus and Prado in Ezekiel XXV, 13. The Chaldean paraphrase intended the same thing, which although it translates the word in the opposite manner, namely affirmatively, when the Hebrew and our version read negatively, nevertheless in reality renders the same sense. For thus it has: "And because thou sawest the day of thy brother, the day of his breaking, and because thou rejoicedst over the sons of Juda in the day of their destruction," etc., as if to say: To see with pleasure the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, and to rejoice in it, thou ought not to have done, and yet thou didst see, and thou didst rejoice: therefore thou also shalt be punished and destroyed. Thirdly, most properly and most plainly thou shouldest take all these futures as threats and oracles, as they sound: for throughout this entire chapter Obadiah threatens destruction to the Idumæans. Wherefore these words: "And thou shalt not despise," etc., are not connected immediately with what precedes, but with what is somewhat more remote, namely with: "Thou shalt perish for ever," as if to say: Thou shalt be destroyed and shalt perish, O Idumæa, and then thou shalt no longer despise, as thou art wont, the Jews, nor shalt thou rejoice in their calamity, but occupied and overwhelmed by thy own calamity thou shalt wail and mourn inconsolably. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Hugh, Lyra and Castro. This sense is required by the Latin version, which translates all these things by the future, not by the past tense and what follows. For it follows: "For the day of the Lord is nigh: as thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee," as if to say: Thou shalt be laid waste, and no longer occupied with the affairs of the Jews, but with thy own evils thou shalt groan and lament; because the day of the Lord is at hand for thee, namely the day of vengeance and destruction by the Chaldæans. Note: When he says, "thou shalt not despise," to despise here does not signify to contemn, but to look down. For the Hebrew is אל al there, that is, thou shalt not look upon, thou shalt not behold with pleasure and joy, as if to say: When thou shalt be destroyed and laid low, O Idumæa, thou shalt no longer from thy rock look down with pleasure upon Jerusalem lying on the ground, as thou didst aforetime look down upon her. Thus one standing on the summit of a mountain looks down into the valleys, says Ovid in Metamorphoses XI. And Cicero, in De Arusp. resp.: "I will raise the roof higher, not that I may look down upon thee, but that thou mayest not behold that city which thou didst wish to destroy." And Plautus in Cistellaria: "Look down to the ground and despise, investigate with thine eyes." And in Miles: "I confess that I looked down upon thee through thy impluvium." Thus God from on high looks down upon our struggles and hardships, while he has mercy upon us and comes to our aid. In the day of his alienation, — namely when Juda, destroyed and exiled, began to wander as a stranger among foreigners and aliens. Whence the Septuagint translates: In the day of strangers; the Zurich Bible: In the day when strange things befell him; Pagninus: In the day when he was alienated. For the Hebrew נכרו nochro properly means the same as in the day of his alienation, that is, of his exile and wandering. Thou shalt not magnify thy mouth, — as if to say: Destroyed, thou shalt no longer speak great, that is, proud, arrogant and bitter things to the Jews, thou shalt no longer arrogantly insult them, saying: "Make her empty, make her empty (Jerusalem) even to the foundation in her," Psalm CXXXVI. Thus to magnify is taken for to insult, Psalm XI, 4 and 5, and Psalm LIV, 13; for those who insult are wont to magnify, that is, to dilate the mouth, to spread the lips, and even to thrust out the tongue.
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13. Neither shall thou enter the gate, — so that with the Chaldeans thou mayest despoil and slay the citizens of Jerusalem. NEITHER SHALT THOU DESPISE IN HIS EVILS, — that is, thou shalt not look upon with pleasure the evil and calamity of Judaea: thus Vatablus and Pagninus. It is a Hebraism, namely the beth of contact. For the Hebrews say to look in evils for to look upon evils. AND THOU SHALT NOT BE SENT OUT, — namely by the Chaldeans, so that thou mayest pursue and seize a part of the army of the Jews, or coming to Jerusalem in aid, or already captured fleeing from it. Thus the Septuagint. The Chaldean translator renders it otherwise, namely: Thou shalt not send out, or thou shalt not stretch forth, thy hand to his riches in the day of his destruction, so that thou mayest seize them. So also Pagninus and Vatablus.
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14. Neither shalt thou stand in the outlets, — namely in the byways of roads, that is, as the Chaldean, Vatablus and Pagninus say, at the crossroads, as if to say: Henceforth thou shalt not stand in the corners and byways, so that thou mayest slay the Jews fleeing the slaughter of the enemy; thou shalt not hide them any longer in the crossroads, so that thou mayest destroy the remnant who have escaped from the hands of the Chaldeans, as robbers do. AND THOU SHALT NOT SHUT UP THE REMNANT, — thou shalt not take the remnant afflicted and anxious, thou shalt not straiten them any longer, as thou didst formerly. Pagninus and Vatablus: Thou shalt not deliver up to the enemy the survivors of it in the day of affliction.
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15. FOR THE DAY OF THE LORD IS NEAR UPON ALL NATIONS. — St. Dorotheus in the Life of Abdias, citing these words of his, thus expounds: "This word," he says, "is spoken superficially (according to the letter) against the Scythians, that is against Gog and Magog; but more truly and properly it befits the Lord Christ, for shortly after he subjoins: And there shall be salvation in mount Sion." But there is no mention here of the Scythians, Gog or Magog; nor did these overthrow Idumaea; indeed Idumaea shall escape their hand in the time of Antichrist, as Daniel says in chapter xi, 41. According to the letter therefore he calls the day of the Lord the day of vengeance and destruction to be inflicted upon the Idumeans and other nations, enemies of the Jews, by God through the Chaldeans, as is evident from Jeremiah chapter xxv, 15, and chapter xxvii, 6. Thus St. Jerome, St. Cyril, Theodoret, Hugh, Lyra and others throughout. Allegorically, the day of the Lord is the day of judgment, on which Christ shall condemn and cast down the Idumeans, that is the impious, worldly and carnal, into hell. AS THOU HAST DONE, SO SHALL IT BE DONE TO THEE (as thou hast afflicted the Jews, so shalt thou be afflicted and laid waste by the Chaldeans): THY RETRIBUTION (what thou hast rendered to the Jews thy brethren, namely, hatred for love, slaughter and despoiling, I shall render to thee, and) I will turn upon thy head. — For it is just, says Rhadamanthus in Aristotle V Ethics, that what anyone has unjustly inflicted upon others, the same he should undergo and suffer, according to that Psalm cxxxvi, 8: "Blessed be he that shall repay thee thy retribution, which thou hast rendered to us." Note the Hebraism: to turn, or to render retribution, is the same as to render retaliation, to render like for like. He adds "upon thy head," because as the head is the cause of guilt, so also "the harm follows the head"; for the head, inasmuch as in it all the senses, mind and the whole soul are vigorous, most keenly feels the harm and punishment of the whole body. Again, because the greatest punishment is that which is inflicted upon the head itself, so sensitive. Moreover he says: "As thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee," for: As ye have done, so shall it be done to you, namely, O all nations, as preceded, both because it was then a common proverb: "As thou hast done, so shall it be done to thee," which can be applied and explained both to individuals in the singular and to many and all in the plural; and because among the hostile nations which afflicted the Jews, the first and most bitter was Idumaea. To it therefore he directs his discourse, but under it as under a head he understands the others. Thus St. Jerome. Whence explaining he subjoins:
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16. HOW THEN HAVE YOU DRUNK (thus it should be read with the Hebrews and Romans, although the Septuagint and certain Latin texts read, you drank) upon my holy mountain, ALL NATIONS SHALL DRINK CONTINUALLY. — Drinking in Scripture is taken in two ways, that is, in opposite senses. First indeed wine of sweetness is drunk, when someone exults, feasts, and celebrates festival days. Second, the cup of bitter wine, or of gall and the wrath of God, is drunk, when someone on account of crimes is afflicted by God with hardships and punishments. Thus sinners are said to drink the cup of the fury of God. Now first, some take both you have drunk and they shall drink in an evil sense. Whence the Zurich Bible thus translates: As you who are on my holy mountain have drunk, so shall all nations drink, that is to say, As you, O Jews, have drunk the cup of the wrath of God, so shall all nations drink, so that they may be laid waste by Nebuchadnezzar, just as you have been laid waste by the same. Which Rupertus, applying it tropologically to the good and bad, to the faithful and unfaithful, thus explains, that is to say, As the pious drink the cup of tribulation, so much more shall the impious drink the same offered to them by God, especially on the day of judgment. Theodoretus explains in a similar manner, but concerning the Edomites, not the Jews, that is to say, As you, O Edomites, have drunk the cup of affliction offered by God through the Chaldeans, upon, that is, on account of, my holy mountain, because namely you laid waste Sion, and afflicted the Jews; so likewise shall the other nations drink the same, which in the same manner as you afflicted the Jews. Second, others take both you have drunk and they shall drink in a good sense, namely so that they signify joy, that is to say, As you, O Edomites, have drunk, that is, by drinking, holding banquets and festivals, have rejoiced upon, that is, on account of, Sion conquered by the Chaldeans: so upon you shall they drink, that is, by drinking shall exult all nations which shall be in the army of the Chaldeans, and with them shall strip you, and shall devour your riches, and shall absorb your blood, and "finally with torture coming upon all, they themselves also shall be as though they were not," says St. Jerome, Chaldaeus, Cyrillus, Haymo, Albertus, Hugo; for he explains that which he said: "As you have done, so shall it be done to you;" and that continually, namely, until they completely absorb and consume you. For the Edomites were first laid waste by the Chaldeans, then by Judas Maccabaeus, II Maccabees x, 16; again they were completely subdued by Hyrcanus the son of Simon (who was the brother of Judas Maccabaeus), as Josephus testifies in book II of the Antiquities xvii, and this lasted until the destruction of the Jews by Titus, when the Edomites joined themselves to the Romans, and in their manner avenged themselves by laying waste the Jews, as Josephus Gorionides testifies in book IV of the History cap. iv. Finally they were so worn down by various and various princes, that now not even the name of Edomites remains. Thirdly, others more aptly interpret: you drank for good, but they will drink for evil, that is to say: Just as you, O Edomites, drank, that is, drinking and feasting you exulted with the Chaldaeans and other nations over the calamity of Zion; so likewise all nations, among whom you will be first and foremost, will drink and will absorb both the cup of the wrath of God, offered to them by God, and the cup of mutual bloodshed. For they will slaughter one another mutually, until all perish, so that they are no more. For the Chaldaeans destroyed the Edomites, the Persians destroyed the Chaldaeans, the Greeks destroyed the Persians, the Romans destroyed the Greeks. And thus in all things the common proverb will be true: "As thou hast done, it shall be done to thee." Thus also St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo and others. The following passages support this: For in opposing the destruction of the nations, he sets forth the Jews as afflicted by them, and promises them restoration and salvation, saying: "And in Zion shall be salvation." For they will drink not for good, as the second interpretation holds, but drink for evil is clear from the fact that he adds: "They shall drink and shall absorb, and shall be as if they were not," that is to say: They shall drink the cup of the wrath of God, by which they shall be consumed so that they are not. Whence the Complutensian Septuagint has "they shall be absorbed," although other codices, like St. Jerome, have "they shall absorb"; others, "they shall ascend"; others, "they shall descend," and they shall be as if they did not exist. Finally, thus Jeremiah explains Obadiah in chapter xxv, 15: "Take," he says, "the cup of the wine of this fury from my hand: and thou shalt make all nations drink of it. And they shall drink, and shall be troubled, and shall be mad because of the sword." And chapter xlix, 12, speaking of these same Edomites, and the cup to be drunk by them: "Behold," he says, "they to whom it was not judged that they should drink the cup, drinking shall drink: and thou shalt be left as innocent? thou shalt not be innocent, but drinking thou shalt drink." He plays on the word drinking, for a moral reason, which I shall soon give; just as the Apostle plays on the word sin, saying: "He condemned sin in sin," Rom. viii, 3; and II Corinth. v, 21: "Him who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us." Again, by enallage he changes the second person into the third, namely you drank into they shall drink, so as to signify that the Edomites especially drank, but nevertheless all nations will drink with them, as he proposed at the beginning of the theme in verse 15. Morally, learn here that the sinner who drinks the cup of pleasure will drink the cup of affliction and vengeance of God. For the same cup of pleasure and honey ends in the dregs of gall and tribulation, according to that Psalm. lxxiv, 9: "The cup in the hand of the Lord of wine unmixed full of mixture. And he hath bowed from this to that: but yet the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink." Herodotus writes in book iv, and Athenaeus in book xi, that the river Hypanus flows from springs five days' journey away thin and sweet; then after another four days' journey, very bitter. Such is pleasure, such is its γλυκόπικρον, that is, bittersweet. "Loves and delights quickly wither, and in all things, the greatest pleasures have satiety as a neighbor," says Cicero in Pro Caelio. And Boethius, book iii, meter 7: Every pleasure has this, it drives those enjoying it, and like a pair of flying bees, where it has poured grateful honey, it flees, and with too tenacious a bite strikes the wounded hearts. Thus by the eternal law of God it is ordained that illicit pleasure begets weariness, anguish, disgust, and the furies of avenging conscience, as if it left behind a splendid inducement to its own ruin; moreover punishments and scourges, by which God chastises it in this age and in the future, according to that Apocal. xviii, 7: "As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies; so much torment and mourning give her." See the sayings there. Thus Venus appears lovely to the eyes, but poisons the soul; virtue, however, the less it captivates carnal eyes, the more it is an allurement of love, but wise, sincere and holy. THEY SHALL BE AS IF THEY WERE NOT, — as if they had not been. Whence Pagninus and the Zurich Bible translate more clearly: They shall be as if they had not been, as if they had never existed in the nature of things.
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17. AND IN MOUNT SION THERE SHALL BE SALVATION. — Here to the end of the chapter there is a twofold extreme exposition, one directly opposed to the other. The former takes all these things literally concerning the temporal happiness of the Jews returning from Babylon, and considers them to have been fulfilled partly under Zerubbabel and Ezra, partly under the Maccabees over five hundred years, which elapsed from this return until Christ, and to have been completed. Thus St. Cyril, Remigius, Hugh and others. The Chaldean, R. Solomon and R. David are added, who consider these things to be literally and corporally fulfilled by their Messiah coming at the end of the world. The latter, on the contrary, denies that these things have been fulfilled temporally in the Jews; wherefore it takes all these things symbolically and parabolically concerning the redemption and spiritual happiness which Christ brought. Thus St. Augustine, book xviii of the City of God, chapter xxxi, Rupert, Lyra, Clarius, Arias and Vatablus. But the middle opinion, which reconciles, unites and includes both extreme positions already mentioned, is the true one, namely that these things are to be taken literally concerning the safety and prosperity which befell the Jews from God after their return from Babylon. For the following passages require this abundantly and clearly; for then this victory of the Jews over the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites was begun. Mystically, however, and fully, through this temporal prosperity, the victory of Christ and the Gospel is adumbrated and signified, by which He subjected the Ammonites, Moabites, Edomites and all nations to Himself and to God; for then this victory was full, and plainly fulfilled what is here predicted. For the Prophets are accustomed to fly from the type to the antitype, namely from Zerubbabel to Christ, and to end in Him; and in Him to terminate their prophecies with a happy vaticination and as it were with a Gospel. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Haymo, Lyra, Burgensis, Hugh and others throughout. See Canons v and vi, which I prefixed to Isaiah. Anagogically, there is signified here the salvation, happiness, glory and triumph to be given to the elect in heavenly Sion. Therefore Obadiah says: "And in mount Sion," the Septuagint: "But in mount Sion there shall be salvation"; Zurich and Vatablus: "But in mount Sion there shall be escape," that is, the remnant shall escape and be saved, as if to say: When the Edomites and other nations shall drink the cup of the wrath of God, and shall be utterly laid waste by the Chaldeans, then on the other hand the people of God, namely the Jews and Sionites, who tasted the same cup but did not drain it to the dregs, shall be saved. For returning from Babylon to their homeland after the seventy years of captivity, they shall be restored by God to their former liberty and happiness. Mystically, however, and fully, these same shall be liberated by Christ preaching in Sion from the greater captivity, namely of sin, the devil and hell, and shall be endowed with all grace and glory. Thus the authors already cited. For Christ instituted the new Church in Sion, and called all nations to it, sending to them Apostles, who made them partakers of the faith, grace and salvation obtained by Him. AND IT SHALL BE HOLY, — namely mount Sion, on account of the temple to be rebuilt in it; or "holy," namely God, shall be dwelling in mount Sion and the temple. In Hebrew it is, and in mount Sion there shall be escape, that is, salvation and holiness. Now holiness can be taken either properly or figuratively for the temple: for the Hebrews call the temple קדש kodesh, that is, holiness, because it is most holy, inasmuch as in it the holiness of God dwells, and is worshipped through holy sacrifices, sacraments, vows, prayers, etc. Whence the Septuagint translates, and it shall be holy. Hence the former part of the temple was called the Holy, the latter the Holy of Holies. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Mount Sion shall be, first, holy on account of the holy temple and the worship of God to be restored in it by Zerubbabel and Ezra; second, it shall be holier, when Christ shall preach in it; third, it shall be most holy, when Christ shall pour out the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in it, who shall diffuse this holiness into the whole world, as Theodoret says. AND THE HOUSE OF JACOB SHALL POSSESS THOSE WHO POSSESSED THEM. — "The house of Jacob" are the family, stock and descendants of Jacob, namely the two tribes returning from Babylon. Again, the Hebrew מורשיהם moreshehem signifies, first, their inheritances, that is to say, the Jews shall return to their possessions which they had held in Judaea before the captivity. Thus Pagninus and Vatablus. Second, it signifies their possessors, that is, those who possessed them. Thus Our [translation], the Septuagint and the Chaldean [Paraphrase], that is to say, the Jews shall receive their possessions, which the Edomites and other nations had invaded and occupied while they themselves were carried away into Babylon, with the Edomites and other invaders and unjust possessors excluded. Thus Josephus relates, book xi of the Antiquities, chapter iv, that Darius Hystaspes, who succeeded Cambyses the son of Cyrus in the kingdom of the Persians, granted the Jews the faculty of rebuilding the temple, and commanded the Edomites, Samaritans and Syrians to restore to them the fields of the Jews which they had occupied, as to the rightful possessors. Nor did the Jews merely recover their own, but also invaded and occupied foreign lands, namely the dominions of the Edomites and neighboring nations, their enemies. For he who invades what belongs to others deserves to lose his own. This was done by Judas Maccabaeus, II Maccabees x, 16, and by his nephew Hyrcanus, who completely subdued and subjugated the Edomites. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and others. Mystically, more fully and perfectly this was accomplished by Christ and the Apostles, who, going forth from Zion, subjected the Edomites and all nations to true Zion, that is, the Church and Christ. Thus Lyra, Arias, Vatablus.
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18. AND THE HOUSE OF JACOB SHALL BE A FIRE, AND THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH A FLAME, AND THE HOUSE OF ESAU STUBBLE. — "The house of Jacob" are two tribes, as I have said: "the house of Joseph" are the ten tribes of Israel; for their head was Ephraim, born of Joseph, that is to say, The two tribes, namely Judah and Benjamin, together with those from the ten tribes who either before the captivity or after it joined themselves to Judah, and conspired with him in the same commonwealth and Church in Jerusalem and Judaea, shall invade Idumaea and burn it, or subject it to themselves, just as fire subjects stubble to itself. This happened literally through Judas Maccabaeus and Hyrcanus, who compelled the Idumaeans to circumcision and made them Jews, as Josephus testifies in book xiii of the Antiquities, chapter xvii. Whence, when Jerusalem was besieged by Titus, twenty thousand Idumaeans came to the aid of the Jews, says Josephus in book iv of the Wars, chapter vi. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and others. Mystically, this was done by the Apostles, who with the fire of the charity of Christ burned away the infidelity, vices and idols of the Idumaeans, so that, dead to sins, they might live to justice and to God. Thus Lyran, Arias, Vatablus and others. AND THEY SHALL BE KINDLED ("the house of Esau," that is the Idumaeans) in them (namely through the flame of Joseph and the fire of Jacob); and they shall devour (the Jacobites and Josephites) them, namely the Esauites and Idumaeans. AND THERE SHALL BE NO REMAINS (that is, a remnant, as Aquila and Theodotion translate; or, one escaping, as Symmachus) OF THE HOUSE OF ESAU. — The Septuagint translates: There shall not be a πυροφόρος to the house of Esau: πυροφόρος, that is, a grain-carrier, one who supplies grain, who has charge of bringing and measuring out provisions; whence Lucilius, who was the great uncle of the great Pompey, in book ix of the Satires: He is a grain-carrier, he brings with him a modius and a small rod. A small rod or rutrum is so called from scraping, says Nonius, because it scrapes off the grain exceeding the modius. Others, says St. Jerome, read πυρφόρος, that is, fire-bearer, one who could carry a spark, and this is far more true. For it alludes to what preceded: "The house of Jacob shall be a fire," that is to say, The house of Esau shall not bear, shall not endure the fire of the house of Jacob, but shall succumb to it and be burned. You will ask, first, who is this πυροφόρος, or πυρφόρος (for these two are the same), that is, fire-bearer? First, some take πυροφόρον for a mighty warrior, who breathes fire and casts fire upon the roofs of enemies. By the name of fire, says Theodoret, strength and power are understood, that is to say, No strength shall remain to the Idumaeans. Second, Castro thus expounds it: There shall be no fire-bearer, that is, no survivor of Idumaea, who might hand down to posterity the lamp of life and lineage. For in Scripture the propagation of lineage is called a lamp: because just as a lamp bears fire and light, so generation preserves the family. Whence this: "That a lamp (that is, posterity) may remain to David," III Kings xi, 36, where there is an elegant allusion to the ancient custom of λαμπαδουχείν, by which in the games of Prometheus (for they say he stole this fire from the heavens and brought it to earth) exhausted runners used to hand the lamp to fresh ones succeeding them in turn, as a symbol of human propagation, according to that saying of Lucretius: And like runners they hand on the torch of life. Which Plato imitated, in book vi of the Laws, writing that citizens ought to apply themselves to begetting and educating children, so that the life which they themselves received from their ancestors they might in turn hand down to posterity like a burning torch. Wherefore the Greeks perhaps took this proverb from Prometheus: "There is no pyrophorus," that is, there is no survivor, not even Prometheus the fire-bearer. For Prometheus is pyrophorus, who alone escaped the flood of Deucalion, and therefore is said, or rather feigned, to have restored the human race with heavenly fire as another Noah. For if this pyrophorus had perished, the human race would have perished entirely. Third and genuinely, Luisius of Leon, and from him Delrio, in adage 984, understand by pyrophorus an ancient standard-bearer and camp prefect, whom Alexander ab Alexandro thus depicts in book v of his Genial Days, chapter iii: "The custom of the Greeks prevailed, that whenever armies drawn up in battle order prepared to engage, before the first standards there stood a prophet bearing laurel branches and wreaths; they called him Pyrophorus by name, because he carried a lamp, whom it was held to be the greatest sacrilege to violate, because he performed the office of legate." Alexander received this from Suida under the word πυρφόρος, who also adds that these prophets πυρφόρους were priests, and therefore inviolable, and from this there flowed the proverb: "Not even a πυρφόρος, that is, a fire-bearer, survived," which the Greeks used equally with the Latins, when they wished to signify some cruel slaughter in which all were slain to a man. Thus also Pollux and Hesychius: "Pyrphorus," he says, "who bears fire, and alone was preserved in war." Indeed, Philo the Jew also, in book i of his Life of Moses, says that the slaughter of the Egyptians in the Red Sea was so great "that not even a fire-bearer remained to report it." To this is added St. Jerome, who interprets πυρφόρος as a quartermaster. "For those," he says, "whom they now call agents in affairs or couriers, the ancients called quartermasters," that is to say, not a πυροφόρος, that is, a quartermaster, namely a courier, that is a messenger, of such a slaughter of the Idumeans survived. For such a one is usually left alive by the enemy expressly to report it. Whichever way it is alluded to, it is certain that by πυροφόρος is signified a remnant and survivor, as Theodoret notes, because the Hebrew word שריד sarid signifies this, and therefore Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, and all the Interpreters translate it thus. You will ask secondly, whether, when and how all the remnants of the Idumeans perished? Some answer that they perished gradually, although when they perished is not established. For it is clear that they perished from the fact that not even the name of Idumeans survives: the nation therefore perished, although a few of them, and those poor and weak, remained from it. But it is objected that Obadiah signifies that the Idumeans are to be destroyed by the Jews, so that not one of them survives. But this appears to be false: for when the Jews were destroyed by Titus, the Idumeans remained, indeed they came to the aid of the Jews, as I said a little before. But after the Jews were destroyed by Titus, they could not destroy the Idumeans. I answer therefore that the remnants of the Idumeans perished, because the Idumeans subdued by Hyrcanus were all to a man circumcised; and thus they ceased to be Idumeans, and began to be Jews. This is what he said a little before: "The house of Jacob shall possess those that possessed them;" and verse 21: "And saviors shall come up to mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shall be the Lord's." Where plainly he signifies that the descendants of Esau are not to perish, but to be judged, that is, to be ruled, by the inhabitants of Sion and the Jews, so that they become Jews and the kingdom of God. Mystically indeed, the Idumeans converted by the Apostles and apostolic men ceased to be Idumeans, and began to be Christians. Finally, if any were unwilling, or are still unwilling to be converted, these either perished, or will perish on the day of judgment, when Christ will exterminate all the unfaithful and consign them to the depths of hell. You will say: Daniel, chapter xi, 41, asserts that the Idumeans will exist in the time of Antichrist, and will be immune from his tyranny. I answer: He calls Idumeans the inhabitants of that mountain and rock, which the Idumeans once inhabited, who are now another people and bear another name. For these, on account of the rocks and mountains inaccessible, will escape the camps and fury of Antichrist.
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19. AND THEY SHALL INHERIT (namely the house of Jacob and Joseph, that is the Jews) THOSE THINGS THAT ARE TOWARD THE SOUTH (namely) THE MOUNT OF ESAU, etc. — Whence the Zurich Bible and Vatablus clearly translate: The house of Jacob and Joseph shall occupy the south, namely the mount of Esau. For Judaea has Idumaea to the south; to the west, Philistia; to the north, Samaria and Galilee; to the east, Gilead, Moab and Ammon. Whence in verse 20, it is said of Jerusalem: "He shall possess the cities of the South." But it is better to translate with Our Douay, Pagnino and the Septuagint: The south, that is those who are toward the south, shall possess the mount of Esau; and the plains, that is those who dwell in the plains, shall possess the Philistines. That this is the sense is clear if one examines the Hebrew. For Sepheta is indeed the proper name of the plain region of Judaea, as is evident from the maps of Adrichomius, which you would rightly translate as the Plain. Whence also the Zurich Bible in its later part inclines to this; for it translates, and the sloping plains (that is the plains) shall possess the Palestinians. Again, this sense is required by what follows: "And Benjamin shall possess Gilead." Therefore the south, or those toward the south, are not the Idumaeans, but the Jews. These are said to be toward the south, not in respect to the Idumaeans: for in respect to them they are toward the north; but in respect to Benjamin and the other Jews. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Those Jews who more than others tend toward the south, and therefore in respect to them can be called Southerners, these shall possess Idumaea, as being likewise southern and therefore nearer to them: but those Jews who inhabit Sepheta, that is the plain region, namely that which is around Eleutheropolis, or that which is around Lydda and Emmaus, that is around Diospolis and Nicopolis, shall possess the cities and fields of the Philistines: as being nearer to them, namely Gaza, Ascalon, Ekron, Gath and Ashdod: moreover the tribe of Ephraim, and the rest of Samaria, which are near to them from the East. But the tribe of Benjamin shall possess Gilead: for that region is near to the Gileadites. Thus St. Jerome, Ribera and others. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The Jews returning from Babylon shall possess round about in the four quarters of the world the regions near to their enemies, and shall distribute them among themselves fittingly according to the situation and proximity of place: whence also Ezekiel distributed them to them, chapter xlvii. This was fulfilled in part and begun through the Maccabees, Judas, Simon, Jonathan, Hyrcanus, and Alexander the son of Hyrcanus. For these subdued the Idumaeans, likewise the Philistines, namely Ashdod and Gaza, or Gadara, I Maccabees v, 63 and 68, and II Maccabees x, 16 and 32, and seq. Likewise the portion of the tribe of Ephraim, and thus all Samaria, which Hyrcanus the son of Simon completely subdued, having destroyed the temple on mount Gerizim, the rival of Jerusalem, as Josephus testifies in book xiii of the Antiquities, chapter xviii and xviii. Likewise the Gileadites, I Maccabees v, 36; likewise all the territories of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, which is between Tyre and Sidon, that is all the maritime cities of the Palestinians as far as Sidon, namely Jamnia, Joppa, Dor, Caesarea, Ptolemais, Tyre itself and Zarephath, as is evident from Josephus, xiii Antiquities xxiii, and from Josephus, book iv, xii. Whence also afterwards Augustus Caesar, having occupied Judaea, gave all these things subject to Judaea to Herod the Ascalonite, and after his death divided them into four tetrarchies, and delivered them to his sons, whom he constituted tetrarchs, Luke iii, 1. But because the Maccabees indeed subdued these places, but did not occupy them (for the Jews did not dwell in these places, but the Philistines, Samaritans, Idumaeans, etc.); yet what Obadiah here signifies by saying, "And they shall inherit and possess;" hence secondly, this was more fully fulfilled mystically by the Apostles, who, having founded the Church in Judaea, going forth from there to the neighboring Samaritans, Idumaeans, Philistines and other peoples, subjected all of them. Thus Lyra, Arias, Vatablus, and a Castro in the paraphrase: The Apostles, he says, and apostolic men shall distribute among themselves all the surrounding region, which they shall subject to Christ by the Gospel war, and those who went forth toward the south shall traverse Idumaea; those toward the west, all the land of the Philistines; those toward the north, Galilee and Samaria; but those toward the east, shall possess the Gileadites and Arabs for Christ: but specifically "Benjamin," that is St. Paul born of the tribe of Benjamin, "shall possess Gilead;" because he himself converted Arabia, of which Gilead is a part: for, as he himself says in Galatians i, 17: "I went into Arabia," so that there according to my calling and office I might preach in the usual manner, and make the Arabs Christians.
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20. THE MIGRATION OF THIS ARMY OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, (that is to say, this army, or band and multitude of Israelites migrating, that is, which once from Judaea captive was led away by the Chaldaeans and migrated into Babylon, and at length returning thence happily and gloriously, shall possess) ALL THE PLACES OF THE CANAANITES (namely all that maritime region which extends) as far as SAREPTA — of the Sidonians. Wherefore they shall possess more places after the captivity than they had possessed before it. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Haymo and Hugh. For Sarepta in Hebrew is צרפת Tsarphath, by which the Hebrews, R. Solomon, R. David, Lyra, Clarius, Pagninus, Arias, Vatable and others understand France: for they say this is the Sarepta of the Gauls, just as that Judaean one, in which Elias lived, was called Sarepta of the Sidonians, because it was near Sidon; perhaps from the fact that these Sarepthans led forth a colony from themselves into Gaul, just as the Tyrians did Carthage and Tartessus in Spain; or from the forests and smelting workshops of bronze, iron, bricks, etc., with which Gaul abounded. Hence they wish Sarepta of the Sidonians to be so named: for the root צרף tsaraph means to kindle, to smelt; or from some other source. For nothing certain can be brought forward concerning this matter. Thus by the Canaanites, R. David, Arias and others understand the Alemanni: for the Canaanites, after they were cast out from Canaan by Joshua and the Israelites, were dispersed through various peoples, namely Africa, Illyricum and Germany, and are said to be Alemanni. For Alemannus in German is the same as every man, every people, that is to say, Evangelical preachers shall subject to Christ Africa, Illyricum, Germany and all the Canaanites, that is, the idolatrous and impious peoples, as far as the Gauls, to whom came St. Mary Magdalene, Martha, Lazarus, Maximinus, Martial and others, who converted them to Christ. The Jews wrongly expect these things carnally from their Messiah, namely that he should subject all these regions to them, and even Gaul and Spain, so that the Jews should dominate almost the whole world. AND THE MIGRATION OF JERUSALEM, WHICH IS IN THE BOSPHORUS, SHALL POSSESS THE CITIES OF THE SOUTH, — that is to say, the Hierosolymitans who migrated from Judaea into the Bosphorus, returning to their homeland, shall possess the southern cities, namely their own cities, that is, of Judaea, which with respect to Babylon and the neighbouring regions is southern. Note: For the Bosphorus in Hebrew is ספרד Sepharad, which as a proper name Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion retained, and, as it appears, the Septuagint; for they translate it Ephrata. I suspect with Ribera that in the Septuagint it should be read Sepharata: for thus the Hebrew texts have it, and thus have already translated it the others cited. Lyra wishes it to be a place in Babylonia. Our Hebrew, however, says St. Jerome, said the Bosphorus to be called Sepharad, perhaps from סוף soph, that is, end, and רד rad, that is, descent, or ארץ erets, that is, of lands. For the Bosphorus is the end of Greece, Thrace, and other lands. Or certainly from soph, that is, end, pered, that is, of division, because it divides two seas and two opposite continents, and thus separates Asia from Europe. Whence also St. Jerome adds that Sepharad in Assyrian means universally an end. Add: The Hebrew בספרד bispharad, if you regard the consonants, is almost the same as Bosphorus. For beth in bispharad can be taken as radical, not as servile meaning in. Hence also the Chaldaean sephara is the same as end, boundary, port, station; but in Arabic it is passage or crossing: for saphar in Arabic is the same as he crossed, he traversed, he sailed. Whence also the Maltese (who have many words borrowed from the Syrians and Arabs) call sepharad a crossing or fording of oxen; and sepharbeim they call a crossing of animals: and from this some learned men think Sepharvaim was a city near the Bosphorus, so named from the crossing of animals through those straits of the sea, which Sennacherib conquered, Isaiah xxxvi, 19. Moreover the Bosphorus is a narrow sea, which can be forded by oxen, says Pliny lib. vi, cap. 1. Thus named, because it is τοῦ βοὸς πορεία, that is, the passage and way of an ox. The Bosphorus is twofold, one in the Propontis, which divides Chalcedon from Constantinople by a narrow strait: this is called Thracian; the other at the entrance of the Maeotian marsh, which by the peoples dwelling there is called Cimmerian, of which Ovid says: The Bosphorus and Tanais surpass the marshes of Scythia. It appears that Thrace is being discussed here; for St. Jerome teaches that the Jewish captives were relegated and dispersed even to that extent during the Babylonian captivity, both here and in Zechariah chapter x, as do the Hebrews, Emmanuel, and Mariana, who however believes that the Jews were relegated to the Bosphorus by the Emperor Hadrian, not by the Chaldaeans. Yet other learned men think that the Cimmerian Bosphorus is being discussed here; for the Assyrians ruled in it, and from there they gathered soldiers. For the Pontic and Cimmerian peoples, from a cold and harsh climate, were hard and rough men, and therefore savage and fierce in wars. Whence Diodorus Siculus, book iii, chapter vii, says that Sardanapalus, foreseeing destruction from an oracle saying that Nineveh would then be captured when the river became an enemy to the city (for then the Tigris, swollen by rains, had cast down the walls of Nineveh for twenty stadia), sent three sons with a great abundance of gold to Paphlagonia to Cottus the governor, the most acceptable of all commanders to him. Now Paphlagonia borders on the Bosphorus and Pontus; wherefore Strabo calls this kingdom the Bosphorean. Therefore many believe that many of the Jews were relegated there by the Assyrians and Babylonians, who suffered hard things in that harsh region from harsh inhabitants. For there is Mount Cerberion and a city, Cocytus, Phlegeton and Tartarus; wherefore Homer places the seat of the underworld among the Cimmerians, either on account of perpetual darkness, or on account of frequent mines of metals, or on account of very shaded valleys and inaccessible to the winter sun; so much so that the Gentiles believed the gate of hell to be there. And thus they understand that passage of Isaiah xxviii, 15: "We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have made a pact," namely with the Cimmerians and the Bosphorean kingdom, that is with the Assyrians ruling in Pontus and the Bosphorus. From so savage and horrible a captivity therefore Obadiah predicts that the Jews are to be liberated; and through this he represents us as being liberated from death and hell through Christ: so that, just as the Jews transferred from the most rigid north are brought to the south with most pleasant warmth; so from sin, acedia and vices through Christ we may be transferred to the most pleasant breeze and breath of the Holy Spirit, which may make us burning with the love of God and virtue. To this pertains that passage of Tibullus, book iii, elegy v: "May it be granted once to know the Elysian fields, and the boat of Lethe, and the Cimmerian lakes," namely the infernal and dark regions. And this from Lucan: "Thus stands the sluggish Bosphorus binding the Scythian waves." Furthermore, Pliny, book ii, chapter xv, asserts that the width of the Cimmerian Bosphorus is fifteen hundred paces. The king of the Bosphorean kingdom was afterwards Mithridates, despoiled of it by the Romans. The sense therefore is, that the Jews who in the Babylonian captivity were transferred to the Bosphorus, from there together with the other Jews returning from Babylon will return, and will possess the cities of the South, namely of their own Judean homeland, which is southern. Furthermore, the Hebrews, the Chaldaean, the Syrian, both the Arabic, Josephus son of Gorion, book iii of the History chapter xv, and book v, chapter xxv; R. Solomon, R. David, Lyran, Clarius, Pagninus, Arias, Vatable, Burgensis, de Castro, Emmanuel, Mariana and many others understand by Sepharad Spain; and thus the Rabbis wherever they are call Spain Sepharad. For Spain is placed by ancient geographers and poets as the ultimate part of the world; whence near Compostela there is a place which is called the ends of the earth. The Bosphorus therefore, the Spanish one, is Cadiz, or the Herculean strait, commonly called the Strait of Gibraltar, where are the Pillars of Hercules, which he set up for himself as the limits of his journey and his victories; whence, surpassing them, Charles V, sending fleets to America, took this as his symbol: "Plus ultra," that is to say, I have surpassed Hercules and his pillars and boundaries. It is added that many believe the Spanish to be descended from Thubal, and from Ibelis, or the Iberians dwelling near the Bosphorus and the Euxine Pontus, and from there called Iberians, as I said in Genesis x, 2. The name Sperida favors this, by which the Greeks, says Arias, call Spain: for Sperida, if you regard the consonant letters, which alone the Hebrews consider, is the same as Sepharad; although the Greeks call Spain Σπιρίδα and Hesperia, because it is a western region; perhaps from the Greek Σπιρίδα the Hebrews called Spain Sepharad; for the Phoenicians and Jews were neighbors to the Greeks. Hear a remarkable thing from Josephus, book i Against Apion: "For the Gauls and Spaniards were so unknown to writers, etc., that they thought the Spaniards, who inhabit only a part of the western land, were a single city, because those nations had no commerce with others." Again, this opinion is favored by the fact that Josephus, in book xi of the Antiquities, chapter xi, from Megasthenes, asserts that Nebuchadnezzar, after the destruction of Jerusalem, subjugated Spain; it appears therefore that he transferred many Jews there. According to this opinion the sense will be, as if to say, Jews transported into Spain, thence returning with the others from Babylon under Cyrus, will return to the cities of the South, namely to Judea. Mystically, as if to say, the Apostles will run forth from Judea into Spain, and from the southern region of Gades and the province of Baetica, into other provinces of Spain, and thence into Africa, indeed into Brazil, America, Ethiopia (for all these are to the south), and will subject them all to Christ, as St. James, St. Paul, and their successors did. For it is a great glory of the Church, equally of the Spaniards and Portuguese, the subjugation and conversion of the new world, namely of the Indies, both Western and Eastern. Thus, besides others, Acosta, book i of the History of the Indies, chapter xv, where he says it is fitting that in Scripture there should be an account of so great a matter, namely the conversion of America. Sanchez and Ribera impugn this opinion at length (although he who made a compendium of this defends it). First, because the more recent Hebrews call Spain alone Sepharad. It can be answered that the Chaldean interpreter is ancient, likewise Josephus, and they received this from the ancients. Second, because St. Jerome translates Sepharad as Bosphorus, not Spain, not Gades. I answer: Bosphorus is a common noun in Greek, and in general signifies straits of the sea which can be crossed by oxen; in Latin, straits of the sea between two continents are called Porthmos, just as on the other hand a narrow land between two seas is called Isthmus. Just as therefore there is the Thracian Bosphorus, and another Cimmerian, so also there is a Hispanic one, namely Gades, as well as an Indian one in the Strait of Magellan, and an Arabian and Persian one in the Arabian and Persian Gulf. Again, the Hebrew Sepharad, in Assyrian according to St. Jerome, signifies in general a boundary; but it can happen that this generic name was appropriated to Spain, because it itself is the end and limit of Europe from the West, for after it, and thus after Gades, follows the Ocean. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Jews who are dispersed throughout all boundaries, and thus even to the Bosphorus, will return to the south, that is to Judea. Thus St. Jerome. Mystically, the Apostles and apostolic men established in the boundaries of regions, as in the Thracian, Cimmerian, and Hispanic Bosphorus, etc., will proceed thence to the southern provinces, and will possess them in the name of Christ. For the salvation of Christ and the Gospel migrated from Canaan through the south and other regions even to Gaul, Germany, Spain, Africa, America, and pervaded the whole world. Furthermore, that Sepharad is a foreign, namely Assyrian, name can be gathered from this, that Hebrew roots are trilitteral; quadrilitteral ones therefore, such as Sepharad, are foreign and borrowed from another language; or certainly they are compounded and composed from two Hebrew roots. The more learned Hebrews note this. Again, Hebrew names are common to many, and signify several things. Sepharad therefore signifies the Thracian, Cimmerian, Magellanic and Gaditan Bosphorus, and thence Spain. For it itself is the boundary (which Sepharad signifies) of the continent, because it is surrounded for the greater part by sea, both the Mediterranean and the Ocean. And even if, after the times of Obadiah and Christ, Spain had been called Sepharad by the Jews, nevertheless because it is so called by absolutely all Jews of the past centuries (whom we know), it must be believed that Obadiah also looked to it; because he wrote his oracles not only for men of his own age, but of ours. Thus Isaiah, chapter xlix, 12, predicted the conversion of the Chinese, and calls them in Hebrew Sinim, although in the age of Isaiah they did not have this name, but in ours, in which we see his prophecy fulfilled, as I said there. You will say: Obadiah prophesies here of the Jews alone, yet those in Spain were few in number converted to Christ; the rest remained in Judaism; whence by Ferdinand and Isabella Spain was ordered to be left by them. I answer, according to the letter: very many Jews dispersed into Spain and other lands by the devastation of Judaea, returned to Judaea under Cyrus and the Maccabees. Mystically also many of them were converted to Christ. For many expelled from Judaea by the Emperor Hadrian fled into Spain. Indeed Lucius Dexter, to whom Jerome inscribes a Treatise On Ecclesiastical Writers, in a Chronicle recently published, relates that the Spanish Jews, when they had heard of the prodigies of Christ and the Apostles, sent an envoy to them requesting that others of them be sent into Spain; whence soon St. James was sent, whom Baronius and others also hold to have preached to the Jews alone in Spain; concerning which matter I shall say more in Acts xii. Finally, Jews and Israelites not carnal, but spiritual are understood here, namely those believing in Christ. For these are the true Israelites, children of Abraham, and heirs of God's promises, as the Apostle teaches in Rom. cap. ix, 6 and seq. Tropologically, Hugh of St. Victor by these seven nations understands seven capital vices, which Jacob, that is the faithful wrestler, dwelling in Sion, that is in the watchtower of the mind, overthrows both in himself and in others through seven contrary virtues, and through seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and through seven petitions of the Lord's Prayer, and seven first beatitudes: first therefore Esau and the Idumaeans, burning with hatred of the Jews, denote anger. This those overthrow "who are toward the south," namely those dilated and inflamed by the hot wind and spirit of charity, who suffocate all straits and all the cold of hatred and wrath; secondly, the Philistines, that is sprinkled with ash, or falling from drinking (from the root raphal, that is fell, and from sata, that is drank, according to Pagninus in the Interpretation of Hebrew Names), denote gluttony and the gluttonous. This those overthrow who "in the plains" of frugality, temperance and continence dwell, and feed on herbs and vegetables of the plains rather than on meats and urban delicacies. These, thirdly, subdue and possess "Ephraim," that is pride; and fourthly, "Samaria," that is envy; for Ephraim gave proud kings to Israel, the Samaritans were envious and rivals of the Jews; fifthly, "Benjamin, that is the son of the right hand, namely strenuousness, diligence and fortitude, "shall possess Gilead," that is shall subdue sloth; for Gilead is the same as the heap of testimony, where also Laban, weary, ceased to pursue his daughters, and withdrew from Jacob; sixthly, "the transmigration of Israel," that is the faithful, who esteem themselves pilgrims in the land, and migrate to heaven that they may see God and have dominion over him, possess all the places of the Canaanites and Zarephath, that is they subdue all the arts and species of avarice. For the Canaanite is the same as merchant, whose proper vice is avarice: Zarephath is the same as a smelting-place, in which namely gold and silver are smelted. Seventhly, "the transmigration of Jerusalem, which is" in Sepharad, or "the Bosporus," that is the faithful, who having conquered the perturbations of the soul aspire to the vision of peace and migrate, and therefore withdraw themselves very far from the delights of the flesh, and constrain all the senses, and tame them through bovine labors, these, I say, shall possess the cities of the South, that is they shall suppress and extinguish all the heats of lust and carnal concupiscence; and thus as it were saviors, victors and conquerors over the vanquished Idumaeans and other enemies, they shall gloriously ascend into the mount Sion, that is into heaven, and there with God shall enter into the kingdom of eternal happiness, which here through grace and their victory over vices they have begun. Note the word army, when it says: "The migration of the army of these children of Israel;" for army is called a multitude of soldiers, because by exercising it becomes better. Thus Vegetius, book ii On Military Matters: "The number of soldiers," he says, "is exercised; whence indeed in fact from the work the army received its name, so that it was never permitted to forget what it was called." Thus formerly the Romans (as even now valiant commanders do) exercised their soldiers, especially recruits, perpetually in arms and in every labor and camp austerity. Hear Cicero, Tusculan Disputations ii: "You see whence our armies first have their name; then what labor, how great for the column, to carry provisions for more than half a month, to carry if they wish anything for use, to carry the palisade; for shield, sword, helmet our soldiers do not count in the burden more than shoulders, arms, hands; for they say that arms are the limbs of a soldier, which indeed are borne so aptly that, if need were, with burdens cast aside, with arms as limbs equipped they could fight. What of the exercise of legions? what of that running? the shouting, how great a labor is it? From this comes that spirit in battles prepared for wounds. Bring in like manner an unexercised soldier, he will appear a woman." Let the soldiers and boxers of Christ imitate these exercised men, so that not for one day, month, or year, but continually throughout their whole life they handle arms, exercise the body in hard vigils, fastings, labors; the soul in pious prayers, meditations, studies, readings. Thus they will become strong and unconquered; thus they will overcome adversaries, thus they will subdue all adversities to themselves and compel them to serve. This alone did the anchorites of old do, who from this are called ascetes, that is, exercisers. The same do the cenobites and religious now. Again, army signifies multitude: "We call an army," says Ulpian, "not one cohort, nor one wing, but many numbers of soldiers." Whence Virgil, Aeneid book xi: ...And now all the army went forth on the open plains... Rich in horse, in painted garments and gold. Thus the soldier of Christ brings forth into battle all the senses, all the powers of the soul, all the gifts and strengths of the mind, and opposes them to the most numerous enemies: For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood; but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Stand therefore with your loins girt about in truth, and having on the breastplate of justice," etc. (Ephesians chapter vi, 12). See what I have noted there concerning the panoply of the soldier of Christ.
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21. Ascend (that is, They shall rise and come to Sion, namely to Jerusalem) SAVIORS (that is, defenders of the Jews, such as were Othoniel, Gideon, Samson in the time of the Judges) SHALL JUDGE (so that they may judge, that is, restrain and subdue) THE MOUNT OF ESAU, — namely Idumaea. Such were Judas, Simon, Hyrcanus, Alexander, Aristobulus the Assamoneans, as I said above. For to judge often means the same as to avenge. Hence in the book of Judges the Judges are called avengers of the people of Israel. Mystically, the saviors are Christ and the Apostles, who, having conquered the enemies of Israel, namely the Idumaeans and other nations, by destroying idolatry and infidelity, subjected them to Christ and to Sion, that is, to the Christian Church. Thus Clarius, Vatablus and others, and St. Augustine, book xviii of the City of God, chapter xxxi. These went forth from Sion, that is, from the watchtower, namely of prayer, in which animated by the Spirit of God, with fiery words as with darts they wounded, and with the love of God inflamed the horrible Esauites, that is, the unfaithful and sinners. AND THEN THE KINGDOM SHALL BE THE LORD'S, — that is, Then the Lord shall rule in this people of His, and through it in all others, and shall be recognized and worshipped by them in turn as their subject. This was true in part in the Maccabees, fully in the Church of Christ militant, and shall be most fully in the triumphant: "When all things shall be subdued unto Him (Christ), then the Son Himself also shall be subject to Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all," says the Apostle, I Corinthians, chapter xv, 28. Thus St. Jerome and Hugh. Less correctly the Septuagint, Aquila and Theodotion for saviors render, saved. For the Hebrew מושיעים mosciim is active, and signifies saviors, not saved; for it is theirs to judge, not the latter's. Morally, learn here first, that God always tempers vengeance with clemency, indeed surpasses it, and ends in it: for He shows this toward the Idumaeans His enemies, while He makes them His people and kingdom. Let kings and princes imitate the same. A hieroglyphic of this matter is to be seen on the ancient coins of Antoninus Pius, a thunderbolt placed on a throne. Others are found in which an eagle sits upon the thunderbolt, to which an olive branch is added. The Emperor Charles V usurped this in his symbol. The eagle signifies empire, the thunderbolt vengeance, the olive clemency; so as to signify that the Emperor ought to moderate vengeance with clemency and reason, nor wield it except with deliberation. Seneca asks, Natural Questions, book ii, chapter lxiii: "Why," he says, "is that thunderbolt which Jupiter alone sends placable, but destructive that which he has deliberated upon, and which he has sent with the authority of other gods as well?" and he answers: "Because Jupiter, that is, the king, ought only to benefit, but to harm only when it has seemed good to many." Let magistrates and princes learn this, so that they may wield the thunderbolt not indulging their own will, but obeying the counsel of the prudent, and almost unwillingly strike the wicked. Again learn here that the supreme happiness of man is if the kingdom of God be made, if God reign in him and in his soul, and this first, because God is the most just and most benign king, and therefore rules with supreme justice and gentleness; otherwise it is with tyrants, such as the demon, the world and the flesh, who command most unjustly and harshly and tyrannically the soul which they possess. Concerning the demon it is evident in magicians and witches, whom he commands to bring about the death of their neighbors, kinsmen and parents, and if they do not obey, he beats them and punishes them severely, and treats them as his slaves. Concerning the world it is clear: for what does not the world command to the ambitious, that they may obtain honors; to the avaricious, that they may gain riches? what flatteries, what services, what vigils, what cares, what fears, what envies, what simony, what frauds, what usuries? Concerning the flesh it is manifest in the gluttonous and the libidinous, to whom the flesh commands the foulest things, by which they often bring upon themselves fevers, venereal disease, sicknesses and most bitter torments, and even death itself. On the other hand, concerning the kingdom of God and Christ the Psalmist sang, Psalm xliv, 3: "Thou art beautiful above the sons of men, grace is poured abroad in thy lips;" and verse 5: "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously and reign;" and verse 7: "The rod of thy kingdom is a rod of uprightness. Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity;" and Psalm lxxi, 2: "Give to the king thy judgment, O God, and to the king's son thy justice. To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment. Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and the hills justice," etc.; and Isaiah, xi, 4: "He shall judge the poor with justice, and shall reprove with equity the meek of the earth;" and xlii, 3: "The bruised reed he shall not break, and the smoking flax he shall not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth." Secondly, because this kingdom of God consists in grace and virtues, namely faith, hope, charity, etc., which are the most noble gifts of the soul communicated by God, so that by them it may be directed to the service of God and its supreme good. For God rules the mind when He inspires it with knowledge of Himself, that is, of the supreme good, love, desire, worship, union, etc. Now what is better than to know the first truth? What is more blessed than to love the supreme goodness? What is more worthy than to worship infinite majesty? Thirdly, because this kingdom is directed not to the advantage of God who reigns, but to the advantage of the soul which is ruled, and that the greatest advantage, namely, that by living holily and piously it may merit glory and the heavenly kingdom, in which it may possess God and all God's goods eternally. Hence the Apostle, Colossians i, 12: "Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love." Fourthly, because this kingdom does not make its subjects vile, but noble, indeed kings, according to that in the Apocalypse, cap. v, 10: "Thou hast made us to our God a kingdom (kings), and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth;" and I Peter, cap. ii, 9: "But you are a chosen generation, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a purchased people: that you may declare his virtues, who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." Is he not a king who by God's grace rules over his own desires and passions? Who restrains, checks and governs pride by humility, avarice by liberality, anger by clemency, gluttony by temperance, lust by chastity? Is he not a king who by reason, prudence, and continence wisely and strongly dominates over memory, will, the concupiscible and irascible appetites, imagination, eyes, ears, tongue, mouth, and all other powers and members? Wherefore we are rightly commanded daily by Christ to pray: "Thy kingdom come." Here truly St. Cyprian says: "He who has already renounced the world is greater than its honours and kingdom; and therefore he who dedicates himself to God and Christ desires not earthly but heavenly kingdoms," indeed "God Himself," because we shall reign in Him. And St. Ambrose, lib. vi On the Sacraments, cap. v: "If God reigns in us, the adversary can have no place. Guilt does not reign, sin does not reign, but virtue reigns, chastity reigns, devotion reigns." Therefore, O Lord, be our king, our lawgiver, reign in us, we offer to Thee our souls and all its powers, gifts and limits, we ourselves cannot rule them: we do not wish that the tyrants world, flesh and devil should rule them; Thou, who hast created them and redeemed them with Thy blood, rule them as Thy peculiar possession, as Thy kingdom, Thou who alone reignest wisely, mercifully, powerfully and equally usefully and happily. That illustrious king felt this, who said Psalm xxii, 1: "The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing. In a place of pasture there he hath placed me." And the Apostle, who prays this one thing for his people: "Now the Lord direct your hearts in the charity of God and the patience of Christ," II Thessalonians, cap. iii, 5. Come then, O Lord, rule our heart, that it may obey no one, yield itself to none but Thee, that it may be directed by none but Thee and Thy charity and patience breathed into us, to undertake all difficult things for love of Thee and to bear all hardships constantly. Rule likewise our tongue, that it may speak nothing but Thy praises; rule our hands, that they may handle and perform whatsoever is pleasing to Thee; rule our feet, that with unfaltering step they may be borne to every good. To Thee with the Bride in the Canticles we sigh and cry out: "Draw me after thee: we will run to the odour of thy ointments. My beloved to me, and I to him, who feedeth among the lilies. I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm." This is the one desire of our soul, this the sum of our prayers, that Thou reignest in us through grace, and makest us come to Thy heavenly kingdom, where there is manifest vision of Thee, perfect love of Thee, blessed fellowship with Thee, eternal enjoyment of Thee; so that on that last and decisive day of the world, which shall be the horizon of blessed and miserable eternity, separating the elect from the reprobate for all ages, we may deserve to hear from Thee exulting: "Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the constitution of the world, in which there shall be obtained for us certain security, secure tranquility, tranquil joy, happy eternity, eternal happiness, where there is perfect love, no fear, eternal day, joyful motion, and one spirit of all," says St. Augustine in Meditations, cap. ultimo.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 1 « Visio Abdiae. Haec dicit Dominus Deus ad Edom : auditum audivimus a Domino et legatum ad. gentes misit : surgite, et consurgamus adversus eum in proelium » ! — Cum visio omnes rationes complectatur, quibus res a Deo prophetis i. e. videntibus communicentur, apte vocatur oraculum visio, ipso iam nomine supernam originem denotante et claram certamque rei notitiam (cf. Cyr. Theod. M.). Illud statim declarat formula usitata : haec dicit... de Edom (hebr.); « non humana, inquit, ratione usus haec verba facio, sed Deus universorum tamquam organo quodam lingua mea utens Idumaeae futura praedixit » (Theod.). Verum cum sequatur : auditum audivimus a. Domino, multos torquet quaestio, quomodo ad tale initium illud aptum sit prooemium Aaec dicit Dominus. Sunt qui verba auditum . . . usque ad v. 2 parenthesi inclusa velint, ut. demum v. 92 verba Dei afferantur (cf. Rib. Lap. Sa, Men.) vel ita, ut sermo Dei incipiat surgite (Schegg) !. At coacta sane explanatio et verborum collocatio haec est. - Possunt enim verba optimo sensu in serie relinqui. Si LXX et multo magis si ipsum Ieremiam (hunc locum respicientem) sequimur (Ier. 49, 14), praeferenda erit lectio auditum audivi ; tunc autem explicatio obvia ct facilis ea est, ut ipsa prophetae verba quibus rem sibi a Domiro communicatam annuntiat, verba Dei. et locutio Dei dicantur, id quod et muneri prophetico prorsus congruit, sunt enim prophetae os Dei ad populum, et notionem inspirationis praeclaram declarat ; ea est enim inspirationis vis, ut quae auctor humanus dicat, Deus per ipsum ad homines dicere verissime censendus sit. Proinde vates insinuat Deum voluisse, ut aliis ipsum illum modum internum, quo auribus mentis rumorem bellicum et Dei consilium perceperit, verbis suis pandat. Visio enim illa interna et ipsius rei quam annuntiaturus est experientia in mente vatis facta pondus aliquod addit annuntiationi, sicuti generatim symbola rem futuram efficaciter efferunt. Sensus idem erui potest, etsi leges cum textu hebr. Syro, Chald. audivimus? ; sed id non pluralem quendam maiestaticum ? explicabis, verum cum veteribus interpretibus de aliis quoque prophetis intelliges, qui uti Amos Dei iussu et inspiratione cladem Edomitis praenuntiarunt (cf. Am. 1, 11). Verum commodior et aptior est lectio «àv LXX. Qualem vero nuntium (i. e. auditum) a Domino acceperit, declarat : legatus inter gentes missus est (hebr.) * i. e. visione prophetica percepit, Deum quasi nuntio misso gentes ad bellum incitare; nuntium alii angelum censent, vel quod alii malunt, ipsum motum a Deo gentibus impressum quo bellico ardore corripiantur, ita vocari (cf. Sanct. Lap.). Sed cum res agatur in visione et propheta visionem referat, nihil obstat, quominus dicamus menti prophetae tale obiectum fuisse schema, quo legatum illum divinum quasi cerneret euntem et gentes excitantem surgite et se ipsum tamquam belli ducem et commilitonem et adhortatorem praebentem consurgamus adversus eum in proelium ; nurttius enim, quo rem acrius urgeat animosque et stimulos addat, seipsum bellatorem pugnaeque socium offert. | 1. Mitto alios, qui verba haec dicit Dominus de Edom deleri volunt — verum quid tum sibi vult adversus eum ? — alios, qui (mirabile dictu!) statim sermone vix incopto vatem a consueta forma in anacoluthon labi censent. 2. Versio arabica alio modo solvit diflicultatem ; praebet enim : auditum audistis a Domino. 3. Talem enim exstitisse apud priscos Hebraeos probari nequit. Quod sequitur
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v. 2 « ecce parvulum dedi te in gentibus, contemptibilis tu es valde », — non ad statum ignobilem ac tenuem refertur vel ad angustam ac sordidam fortunam, qua Edomitae ab origine usi sint (cf. Iher. Haimo, Rup. Sanct. Lap.), sed statim effectus asseritur et illa conditio, in quam ex verbo Domini et bello excitato redigendi sunt (Theod. Theod. M. Rib. Sa, Schegg) ; nam Edomitas ab initio sorte vili non esse constitutos et rerum gestarum narratione probatur (cf. Gen. 36, 31. Num. 20, 13 seq. 4 Reg. 8, 20) et ruinis quoque magnificis Petrae urbis usque in hodiernum diem demonstratur (cf. Keil). Quare non sine emphasi exhortationi ad bellum inferendum statim strages efficienda subiungitur et miseria adumbratur modo ad Edomitarum crimina apto. Quo magis enim superbos et audaces spiritus assumpserunt, eo maiore contemptu erunt conculcandi. Unde
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v. 3 « superbia cordis tui extulit te habitantem in scissuris petrarum, exaltantem solium tuum, qui dicis in corde tuo : quis detrahet me in terram » ? — hebr. superbia cordis decepit te !, habitantem in cavernis petrarum (in) altitudine ? sedis etus (?) ; erat enim regio Edom vel montes Seir rupibus inaccessis horridi, indeque arces et urbes munitissimae et ab expugnatione securae; regio cavernis et specubus abundat (cf. Deut. 2, 12. 22); inde igitur ab omni hostium invasione se tutos censebant (cf. Cyr.). Verum nihil est inaccessum militibus quos Dominus miserit; quare per hyperbolen
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v. 4 «si exaltatus fueris ut aquila et si tnter sidera posueris nidum tuum, inde detraham te, dicit Dominus » ; — fastum et superbam gloriationem, qua sese iactant dicentes : quis me detrahet? sequitur iisdem verbis comminatio divina, quae simul irristonem continet exaggeratione : etsi incomparabiliter maioribus polleres subsidiis, immo si non in altis rupibus, sed inter ipsa coeli sidera arces tuas collocares, inde misero praecipitio facile deturbareris ! Hebr. si in alto posueris ut aquila scil. nidum. Extremam miseriam et omnium rerum spoliationem comparatione effert : peius cum Edomitis agetur, quam in latronum invasione fieri solet v. B «si fures tntroissent ad. te, si latrones per noctem — quomodo conlticuisses ! — nonne furati essent sufficientia sibi ? si vindemiatores introissent ad, te, numquid saltem racemum reliquissent tibi » * — hebr. nonne relinquerent racemum? et in. versione S. Hier. rite legitur : numquid. non saltem racemum reliquissent tibi ? et ita S. Ilier. quoque explicat : « si fures et latrones qui de nocte ossi pra. ebet. 2. Cousentiuut cum hebr. Syr. Chald., sed LXX et S. Hier. pro Qyv2. legerunt oO" domos suffodere consueverunt et rapere quae in domibus sunt, introissent ad te et absconditi tenebris circuissent domus tuae angulos, utique hoc tulissent quod sibi putabant posse sufficere et aliquid in aedibus tuis vel per satietatem vel per ignorantiam reliquissent. Si vindemiatores introissent vineam tuam... quamvis diligens eorum fuisset vindemia, tamen racemos vitibus foliisque celatos inter palmites reliquissent » (sim. Cyr. Theod. Rib. ! Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir.). lllud quomodo conticuisses ! hebr. quomodo excisus ? es! per modum exclamationis sortem Edomitarum praeoccupat. At acerbior est sors Edomitarum
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v. 6 « quomodo scrutati sunt Esau, investigaverunt abscondita eius » ? — hebr. quomodo perquisiti sunt Esau (Edomitae) investigata abscondita eius? nihil hostes intactum reliquerunt, omnia funditus rapiunt, funditus delent Edomitas ; omnia eorum secreta et cavernas et foramina speluncarum perlustrant (Hier.). Cladem futuram ita describit prout eam in visione prophetica viderat i. e. quasi iam factam. Exclamatio repetita quomodo ! quae est particula admirationis et lamentationis, stragem maiorem dicit quam quae verbis exprimi possit et animum prophetae calamitatis aspectu motum et afflictum ostendit. Erat Sela vel Petra emporium ditissimum commercii inter Syriam et Arabiam (cf. Diod. Stc. 19, 95 — Keil). Ad superbiae deiectionem et divitiarum spoliationem accedit auxilii omnis destitutio et exterioris, quod a sociis foedere. iunctis exspectari possit, et interioris, quod in sapientia, consilio, virtute consistat (cf. Alb.) ; ita scil. res eorum ruunt. In calamitate illa nihil auxilii a sociis inveniunt, e contra opprobria, insidias experiuntur v. '] « usque ad terminum emiserunt te, omnes viri foederis tui illuserunt tibi, invaluerunt adversum te viri pacis tuae ; qui comedunt tecum, ponent insidias subter te; non est prudentia in eo » ; — obscurum est membrum primum et varie id elucidare conantur : te in captivitatem migrantem usque ad terrae tuae terminum ficta commiseratione comitantur, vel tibi adsunt et assistunt usque eo, quo periculum instat (cf. Schegg) ; usque ad terminos terrae, i. e. in exsilium et captivitatem te eiecerunt ?, quia tempore periculi a te recesserunt et te hostibus prodiderunt (ita plerique); socii te et legatos tuos auxilium contra hostes petentes mittunt ad ter- 1. Rib. bene advertit, numquid in vulg. saepius pro nonne poni. 2. Hebr. niphal est verbi ryzyt cf. Os. 4, 6 ; 10, 7. 15. Is. 6, 5. Syrus : quomodo siluisti ? LXX verbum ny5* Chald. verbum ty31 legisse videntur ; illi enim habent xoO &» &xspfiminum terrae, ad confinia, i. e. vacuos illos e regione sua abire iubent (Keil), vel te et fugitivos tuos de finibus suis ubi refugium quaesierunt, expellunt, ad regionis terminum te propellunt et ita e finibus eiiciunt ; idque commodissum videtur et optime adnectitur : tlluserunt tibi vel deceperunt te antea tempore belli opem non ferentes et tempore fugae refugii locum negantes ; et qui pace et amicitia iuncti erant, iam insurgunt contra eos vel hostibus se iungentes vel Edomitis novas clades inferentes vel devictos spoliantes ; qui comedunt tecum i. e. quos intima familiaritate et vitae societate tibi devinctos putaveras (cf. Ps. 40, 410), ii tibi dolose struunt insidias, ad quas cum non attendatur incaute succumbis. Quod textus mas. fert jq nnn 3172 1" qom sensu caret; Keil hanc proponit v ium . .* HE ira ac defendit versionem : panem tuum faciunt vulnus sub te i. e. panem quem apud te et a te acceptum comederant in tuam vertunt perniciem ; sed quis non videat coactum loquendi modum ? Facillimam lectionem praebet Syrus : viri pacis tuae ef panis tui sub te posuerunt insidias ; Chald. : comedentes mensae tuae posuerunt offendiculum subter te; LXX vero prius verbum omittentes praebent £05xxv £vsbpaz üxoxázw gov. Quare textus hebr. emendatione indiget ; omissum videtur YR comedentes. Ex versionibus allatis simul patet, quomodo veteres *$7D acceperint ; ea. notio ad contextum apta est (cf. Prov. 1, 17). Dum autem insidiae struuntur, non est prudentia in €0, ad id non advertitur. Tam misere autem ab hostibus vincuntur et à sociis decipiuntur, quia Deus quos perdere vult dementat et sapientissimos quosque consilio et intelligentia privat
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v. 8 « numquid. non in die illa, dicit Dominus, perdam sapientes de Idumaea et prudentiam de monte Bsau »? — cf. Is. 19, 11-16 ; 41, 12. 13. Idumaeos fuisse sapientia celebres, vide Iob. 8, 41. Baruch 3, 22. Ier. 49, 7. Illos sapientes ariolos intelligit S. Cyf., qui cladem imminentem frustra avertere sint conati ; melius autem dicemus, generatim consilium eripi a senibus et prudentiam ab his qui rem administrabunt publicam et eos spiritu quodam vertiginis percelli (cf. Sanct.). lta misere timore tabescent et peribunt
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v. 9 « et timebunt fortes. tui a meridie, ut intereat vir de monte Esau » ; — hcbr. et consternabuntur fortes tui, Theman ; de regione Theman cf. Am. 1, 12; ad idem recidit, quod S. Hier. ex LXX affert : « pavebunt pugnatores tui de Theman quod nos interpretati sumus aeridiem » i. e. fortes qui venerint a. plaga edomitica ad austrum vergente. « Habet autem multum energiae verbum *^?, non est enim quovis modo 'imere, sed frangi animo et consternari » (Rib.) ; similis energiae est in hebr. ut ezscindatur vel deleatur vir de monte Esau. Quod vulg. ad sequentia traxit, textus mas. hic adiungit : interfectione ; ita Chald. quoque. Verum alia iunctio, quam LXX quoque et Syrus addita particula e£ commendant, planior est et magis apta, qua ratio tanti excidii reddatur ; cf. v. 10. Cur autem Edomitae excidio adeo misero devovendi sint, declaratur
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V. 10 « Propter interfectionem et propter iniquitatem in fratrem tuum lacob operiet te confusio et peribis in aeternum » ; — i. e. caedes, oppressiones et iniuriae commissae in populum adeo sanguinis propinquitate coniunctum poenam illam exigunt ; operiet i. e. te totum involvet ; perire in aeternum cf. Mal. 4, 4 : « quod si dixerit Idumaea : destructi sumus, sed revertentes aedificabimus quae destructa sunt, haec dicit Dominus exercituum : isti aedificabunt et ego destruam » ; ruina irreparabili prosternentur. S. Hier. in commentario quidem ita scribit, quasi propter iniquitatem et interfectionem ad superiora retulisset : « idcirco interibit vir de monte Esau et peribit sapientia de Idumaea et prudentia de monte Esau, quia interfecisti germanum et inique egisti contra fratrem tuum Iacob... cuncta quae supra scripta sunt patieris, quia occidisti fratrem tuum... operiet ergo te confusio..». Sed nexus in vulg. exhibitus optimus est ; nam ita assignatur causa ruinae, quae in subsequentibus per singulas partes declaratur, et statim ab initio res tota pertractanda compendio proponitur. Neque propter interfectionem potest adiungi superioribus, quia ita solitarie positum sensu caret, vel exscindi interfectione languide additur; neque asyndeton in hebr. potest esse offensioni, cum v. 7 etiam habeatur. Praeterea eo nexu duplici verbo operiet, peribis correspondet duplex membrum concinnitate perfecta (cf. Schegg). lam iniurias fratri illatas evolvere aggreditur
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v. 41 « in die cum stares adversus eum, quando capiebant alieni exercitum eius et extranei ingrediebantur portas eius et super lerusalem mittebant. sortem, (u quoque eras quasi unus ex eis »; — hebr. quando abducebant alieni opes eius ! i. e. Edomitae cum hostibus lerusalem sociati contra Iudaeos pugnabant, opes et spolia sibi rapiebant ; sortem mittere l. e. opes et praedam Ierusalem inter se dividere, ad arbitrium et iure . belli et expugnationis de civitate eiusque rebus disponere et captivos inter victores sorte distribuere (cf. Ioel 3, 3. 2 Par. 21, 11). Et ita egit frater contra fratrem : etiam tu (hebr.) sicut unus ex eis. Hac iam locutione (verbum eras non adest in hebr.) factum praeteritum quasi praesens sibi sistit propheta ; quare pergit quasi nunc admonens Edomitas de iniuriis, quas non debuerant Iudaeis inferre. Modus autem iste loquendi eo magis aptus est, quia simul eos arguere vult, ne hostiles animos ultra gerant neve eos in posterum iterum iterumque prodant. Ita enim in hebr. v. 12 ne oculos pascas ! in die fratris tui... neve laeteris... i. e. ne oblectamentum et gaudium capias ex die miseriae et calamitatis fratris tui. Ita LXX quoque y; ixi?rc. Et eodem sensu explica
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v. 12 « et non despicies in die fratris tui 1n. die peregrinationis eius, et non laetaberis super filios Iuda in die perditionis eorum et non magnificabis os tuum 1n die angustiae » ; — peregrinationem dicit captivorum in peregrinas regiones (hebr.) abductionem ; monet, ne odium prodant aspectu et oculis, ne animorum laetitia, ne verborum iactantia et opprobriorum iaculis ; os magnum facere (hebr.) est quasi rictu aperto contumelias et probra in alios effundere vel in immensum gloriari. Dein monet, ne in bona Iudaeorum manus extendant
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v. 13 «neque ingredieris portam populi mei in die ruinae eorum ; neque despicies et tu in malis eius in die vastitatis illius, et non emitteris adversus exercitum eius in die vastitatis illius » ; — ultimum membrum in hebr. non agit de expeditione bellica, sed de eo quod ingressum urbis expugnatae sequi solet, scil. ne mittas (manum) in opes eius * cf. v. 44 (Lap. Mar.). Maximam vero iniuriam et perfidiam ne iterum patrent, graviter increpat
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v. 14 « neque stabis in exitibus, ut interficias eos qui fugerint ; et non concludes reliquos eius in die tribulationis »; — i. e. « cum coeperint fugere per notas sibi vias et diverticula et calles ad solitudinem perferentes, non stabis in bivio nec venientes exspectabis in com- . pitis, ut interficias eos qui fuerint liberati aliosque comprehensos recludas et vel ipse capias vel captivitati hostium serves » (S. Hier.). ; concludere cf. Amos 14, 6. 9 i. e. tradere, tenere conclusos. Forma loquendi a v. 12 varias nacta est explicationes. Aliis placet eam explicare eo solum, quod propheta vivo quodam modo tempus praeteritum tamquam praesens describat ; alii formam hebr. intelligi posse censent quasi dica- tur non debuisti despicere ; tum non debueras laetari (Sanct. Sa, Mar.). Sed prius non sufficit, alterum ex lege grammaticali nequit asseri. Alii rem futuram accipientes ita connectunt : cum ipse malis obrutus fueris atque hostium potestati traditus, fratri non illudes tuis ipsius calamitatibus satis occupatus (cf. S. Hier. Lap. Calm.). Ergo propheta non iniuriam illatam accusaret, sed miseriam Edomitarum praediceret ; verum ex v. 11 prius necessario exspectatur, idem ex sequenti sicut fecisti. Illas Edomitarum in Iudaeos inimicitias inanes esse, stultas, ipsis auctoribus fatales propheta ostendit ex veritate iam a Ioele proposita et partim etiam ab Amos inculcata de iudicio quod Deus exerciturus est in gentes inimicas
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v. 18 « quoniam 1uata est dies Domini super omnes gentes; sicut. fecisti, fiet tibi; retributionem tuam convertet 1n. caput tuum » ; — cf. Ioel 3, 2 (Cyr.). Am. 1, 3 etc. ; scit enim propheta, omnem potestatem inimicam esse deiiciendam, ut demum regnum Dei exsurgat. Id iam in oraculis a Balaam datis enuntiatur (Num. 24, 1'| - 24) ; innuitur in cantico Annae (1 Reg. 2, 10), in ultimis verbis David (2 Reg. 28, 5 - 1) ; clare proponitur in psalmis 2 et 109 etc. Illud vero iuxta est, non quasi uno ictu vel impetu esset proximo iam tempore in omnes simul devolvendum, sed quia quaevis potestatis Deo inimicae deiectio gradus quidam et pars illius iudicii et quaevis castigatio superbis hostibus inflicta praeparatio quaedam et quasi prolusio eius merito habetur. Pro Edom par pari referetur. Hebr. retributio tua revertetur in caput tuum i. e. id quod operibus tuis debetur iniuria et perfidia plenis, tibi rependetur et quae male patrasti, in tuum caput recident. Idque vates illustrat et confirmat ex norma generali, qua apud Deum statutum est, ut quicumque populo Dei iniurias intulerint iram et vindictam Dei in se experiantur secundum illud, quod in ipso foederis primordio iam dictum fuit ad Abraham : « benedicam benedicentibus tibi et maledicam maledicentibus tibi » (Gen. 12, 3) et quod inter ceteras benedictiones Isaac quasi iure hereditario ad lacob transmisit : « qui maledixerit tibi, sit maledictus (Gen. 9], 29);
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v. 46 « quomodo enim bibistis super montem sanctum meum, bibent omnes gentes iugiter et bibent et absorbebunt et erunt. quasi non. sint » ; — i. e. sicuti bibi- $tis !, tu Edom et reliquae gentes per circuitum (cf. v. 11. 2 Par. 21, 16) — «indicatur, ut puto, mos triumphantium de hostibus, qui de victis insolenter gloriabantur, festos dies cum compotationibus agebant, atque etiam voces laetas de parta victoria iactabant et ut ebrii se gerebant » (Cyr. sim. Hier. Haimo, Rup. Alb. Lap. Mar. Men. Tir.), ad quod »sdiunge, quod TAeod. et Theod. M. notant, locum Dco sacrum profanationi ab iis esse datum — ita iusta vindicta bibent omnes gentes calicem furoris Dei eumque ad fundum usque exsorbebunt et hac ira perculsae suae impotentiae sibi consciae erunt, dum conatus earum a Deo in nihilum redigantur, immo ipsae deleantur et evanescant. Ludit propheta in verbo bibere. Bibent iugiter ! i. e. omnes serie quasi non interrupta ; singuli suo ordine et loco et tamdiu, donec erunt quasi non sint, iudicia Dei in suos populique sui hostes sine intermissione effundentur et repetitos eorum conatus repetitis poenis reprimet. Haec bibendi metaphora plane est in usu cf. Iob 21, 20. Ps. '14, 9. Is. 19, 14. Ier. 95, 16. 26. 21. 28; 49, 12. Ilab. 2, 16. Dene exponit sensum Chald. : «sicut laetati estis de excidio montis mei sancti, bibent omnes gentes calicem retributionis suae iugiter; bibent et absorbebuntur et erunt quast non sint » ; de re ipsa cf. Zach. 12, 2. 3. Immerito aliqui (cf. Iib. Sa) supplent super te, quasi solius Edom interitus praedieeretur ; sed quanta verborum exaggeratione ad unum Edom exscindendum vates convocaret omnes gentes casque iugiter bibentes et ex tali super Edom potatione poculum mortis et interitus haurientes proponeret ? Abs re quoque est, quod aliquibus plaeuit (cf. Itos. Culm.), bibisti ad Iudaeos referre : nam nullo indicio cerni. potest. ad eos sermonem transferri, neque bibere. super montem ullo pacto explieari potest : vos qui sedem habetis in monte sancto. meo. bibistis calicem furoris Domini ; insuper quando unquam dicitur Iudaeos esse vel vivere super montem Domini ? et quamvis hoe diei posset, tamen non ca. est indoles linzuae hebr., ut super montem. idem sit quod o6 super montein. Neque iuvat ad ler. 49, 42 provocare : ecce quibus non erat iudicium ut bibereut. ealicem, bibentes bibent, et tu quasi innocens relinqueris ? Quid enim hie locus ad nostrum similitudinis habet ? Pro. absorbebisit LXX. praebent. xazx3550vzat, id quod etiani cod. syr. hexapl. exprimit et versio arabica in Poly cl. Sicut impletur. « maledicam maledicentibus tibi » (v. 13. 16), ita in Abrahamidis illud. quoque exsecutioni mandabitur : « benedicentur 1n te omnes tribus terrae ». Quare dum hostes irreparabili ruina. prosternantur tunquam | Aeostes et qua tales esse desinant bostilit potestete destructa, quaenam stt et. ubt sit salutis via, aperitur
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v. 13. « Et in. monte Sron crit salvatio et erit sanctus et possidebit domus lacob eos qui se possec'erant » ; — cf. Ioel 2, 39; 3, 1'1. 19. Am. 9, 41. 12; erit sanctuarium (hebr.); Deus enim sui sanctuarii honorem tuebitur; ibi elegit habitationem, inde bona foederis initi communicabit ; mentio autem fit domus lacob i. e. Iuda et Beniamin (cf. v. 18), quia in hac domo Iacob r:enum Davidicum aeternum est constitutum, cui esse debet per Schilo obedientia populorum (Gen. 49, 10); id exprimitur et possidebit domus - Jacob possessiones eorum ! (hebr.) vel, uti veteres versiones habent, eos qui se possederant cf. Am. 9, 12. Ps. 2, 8. Ea possessio autem talis est, ut alii populi vel cum Israelitis in unum Dei populum coalescant, vel si id renuerint exstirpentur. Quam facile vero et quam efficaciter Israel inimicos in restituta illa theocratia sit conculcaturus, exemplo Edom declaratur
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v. 48 «et erit domus lacob ignis et domus Ioseph flamma et domus Esau stipula : et succendentur in eis et devorabunt eos et non erunt reliquiae domus Esau, quia Doininus locutus est » ; — instauratione enim facta divisio illa inter regnum Iuda et Israel, tot malorum origo et apostasiae a Domino prima manifestatio, cessabit (cf. Os. 14, 14. Ez. 31, 19) ; ?gnis metaphora exprimit zelum Dei, quo potenter removet et destruit impedimenta (cf. Theod.) ; omnes Edomitarum conatus irritos fore (cf. Mal. 1, 4). ; Dein possessionis modum per exempla illustrat
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v. 19 « et hereditabunt hi qui ad austrum sunt montem Esau et qui in campestribus Philisthiim ; et possidebunt regionem Ephraim et regionem Samariae et Beniamin possidebit Galaad. » ; — i. e. quod apud Isaiam ratione generali propositum legimus : « dilata locum tentorii tui et pelles tabernaculorum tuorum extende, ne parcas ; longos fac funiculos tuos et clavos tuos consolida » (Is. 54, 2) metaphora a tabernaculo petita, id per enumerationem Abdias exhibet et latam illam novae theocratiae diffusionem per singulas partes adumbrat (cf. Cyr.). Haec delineatio adeo certis regionibus et limitibus exhibita etiam eatenus veritati prorsus consona est, quia tempore Machabaeorum et Edomitae devicti ? sunt et Iudaei regiones ante enumeratas saltem partim. victoria et imperio tenebant (cf. 1 Mach. 8 cp. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Gord.). Neque illi, quos iniqua belli sors in alienas regiones abripuit, a Dei populo alieni erunt, sed revertentur ad sacrum coetum
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v. 20 « et transmigratio exercitus huius filiorum Israel. omnia loca Chananaeorum usque ad Sareptam et transmigratio lerusalem quae in Bosphoro est, possidebit civitates austri w ; — i. e. uti illi qui in regione Iudaeae australi, Vegeb, incolunt terminos extendent occupata terra Edom et quiin regione depressa versus mare mediterraneum, Schephelah, occupata regione Philisthinorum et ut septemtrionem versus Iudaei Ephraim et Samariam tenebunt et Beniamin regionem Galaad, ita reduces illi, qui olim in varias regiones venditi deportati erant, sedes suas extendent usque in Phoenicen ! ; est enim Sarepta oppidum Phoenicum inter Tyrum et Sidonem situm (cf. 3 Reg. 1'"], 9. Luc. 4, 96. losephus, Ant. 8, 13, 2) ; et qui ex lerusalem in servitutem venditi erant et in Sepharad commorabantur, civitates in Negeb, in australi parte Iudaeae occupabunt. De Sepharad ita S. Hier. disserit: « nos ab Hebraeo qui nos in Scripturis sanctis erudivit, didicimus bosphorum sic vocari, et quasi Iudaeus, ista, inquit, est regio, ad quam Hadrianus captivos transtulit ». Ad nomen Sepharad egregie accommodatum est nomen Sparad quod legitur in titulo cuneato. Darii, qui. Persiae populorum indicem continet, in quo post Assyriam, Gordyenem, Armeniam, Cappadociam et ante. loniam memoratur populus Sparad (cf. Ges. s. v.) ; inscriptio cui a Behistun. est nomen, hanc — seriem praebet : Sparda, Iauna, Mada, Armina, Katapatuka, Parthava. (Sparda, Ionia, Media, Armenia, Cappadocia, Parthia); neque dubitarunt aliqui viri docti, Lydiam i. e. Sardes in eo nomine agnoscere. Quod Schrader obiicit. (Keilinsehriften und Geschiehtsforsehung p. 117 — Keilinschriften und. A. T. p. 446), prorsus carere probabilitate, Nebueadnezar Iudaeos etiam in Àsiam. minorem transtulisse, id. falsa laborat suppositione, quasi hic de tempore Chaldaeorum esset sermo. Regio illa prope lavan optime congruit ad id quod etiam Ioel exprobrat Phoenicibus : filios Iud« el filios lerusalem vendidistis filiis lavan i. e. filiis Graecorum (foel 3, 6 ; hebr. 4, 6). Alii praeferunt explicationem de Sparta (cf. 1 Mach. 14, 16. 20. 23; 12, 2. 5. Keil, cuius regionis nomen per Phoenices ad [udaeos translatum sit... Lenormant regionem in Mediae parte australi. designari. censet. eandem, quae in inscriptionibus Sargon Sha-pa-ar-da dicitur (cf. Schrader l. 6.) et quae prope Charehar sita erat (cf. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies? p. 2$9). Iam in versione. svriaca legitur N*ZEDN ' apud Chald. w"OnON i. e. Hispania et apud medii aevi rabbinos Hispania nomine Sepliarad venit; Levy (Chald. Woerterb.) voeem chaldaicam forte de Apamia explicandam esse opinatur. Seplarad — esse. Hispaniam jam multis reiiciunt — Rib. Sanct. LXX praebent 'Ez2303. S. Hier. praeter explicationem jam datam chaldaicum *E2, ferminus ob oculos habens scribit: « quia ergo lingua Assyriorum ferminus ... dicitur sepharad, hunc sensum esse coniicio : transmigratio Ierusalem quae in cunctis terminis regionibusque divisa est, urbes austri j. e. tribus suae recipiet » ; scil. quam vocem Svri occidentales in statu emph. sephoro pronuntiant, eandem Syri. orientales, quos Assvrios vocat, vocali clariore sephara efferunt. — Alii. conieeerunt. Saphar urbem in Arabia etc. — In v. 18 LXX praebent xxi ovx Égtxt zu5z050; Ev 0 otv. 'Hoxz S, Hier. legit apud 1. Poui per modum syucedoches nomina determinata pro re generali. Cyr. quoque censet : « periudo est ac si dieat. forte, omuia. quae ad austrum, quaeque ad. boream, quaeque ad orientem, quaeque ad. occidentem spectant, corum pleua erunt ». 2, S. Ephr. gencratim reqiones longinquas vocein explicat, ZarA. autem Romam. LXX z»pozó0po; e quem nos in frumentarium verümus » ; verum ipse advertit, esse qui xv2260pov h. e. qui gestare possit igniculum a LXX translatum putent, et ita legunt et explicant Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. eV consentit cod. syr. hexapl. et versio coptica etl arabica. Iam Theod. refert, Sym. interpretatum esse óixocopzvov, Aq. et Theod. *xza- Ae)ztppívov; et ea consentiunt hisee, quae apud S. Zier. et in cod. svr. hexapl. adnotantur. Demum « in summam colligit. prophetiae scopum » (Cyr.)
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v. 91 «el ascendent salvatores in montem Sion iudicare montem Esau et erit. Domino regnum »; — uti olim tempore iudicum Deus salvatores suo populo concessit — vocatur v. g. salvator Othoniel Iud. 3, 9, Aod v. 18 et vide 4 Reg. 13, 5 et Neh. 9, 21 — ita Deus promittit afflictum populi statum se sanaturum per viros eximios, dum interea Edomitae iudicio Dei perimendi sint. Tales autem salvatores qui res israeliticas restituerunt et regnum Domini praepararunt, revera exstiterunt Zorobabel, Esdras, Nehemias, Machabaei (cf. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Gord.). Unde Abdias quoque clare praedicit, fore, ut Israelitae postquam afflicti sint e miseriis emergant, ad novam theocratiam formandam vires Deo adiutore assumant, hostes suos et Dei inimicos ope divina superent ct ut demum regnum Domini exsistat. Quare TAeod. : « simul praenuntiat exhibitam omnibus in Sion salutem, indeque in omnem orbem terrarum per crucem salutarem diffusam sanctificationem ». Erit Domino regnum : hoc est omnis prophetiae fastigium, ad hoc tota veteris foederis institutio dirigitur, ad hoc eventus singuli ordinantur; hoc Dei reznum praedicitur in obedientia illa populorum, quae fiet sceptro Iudae (Gen. 49, 10), hoc in regno aeterno Davidi promisso (2 Reg. 1, 14) ; hoc annuntiavit Osee 1, 11; 3, 5; 14, 5-9; hoc praedicto Ioel concludit vaticinium 3, 11-21; hac laeta promissione Amos vaticinium absolvit 9, 11-15 ; eadem oraculum suum verbis breve, re et argumento fecundum coronat Abdias. Maguo consensu cet veteres interpretes et recentiores assumunt, Ionam prophetam de quo sermo sit in libro Ionae nomine inscripto, esse eundem lonam prophetam, cuius mentio fit 4 Reg. 14, 25 : « ipse (seil. Ieroboam II) restituit terminos Israel ab introitu. Emath usque ad. mare solitudinis iuxta sermonem Domini Dei Israel, quem locutus est per servum suum lonam filium Amathi prophetam qui erat de Geth quae est in Opher». Et cum non solum prophetae nomen congruat, sed etiam patris Amathi appellatio eadem ihi et Ion. 4, 4 inveniatur et insuper ratio temporis Ieroboam II non sit aliena ab ordine, quo liber Ionae in. serie prophetarum minorum adnumeratur cun Amos. in. diebus Peroboam et ante Michaeam in diebus Douthean, non est, eur sententiam illam adeo communiter receptam in dubium vocare quis iure possit. Erat igitur Ionas ex Get) Opher "En P5 oriundus, qui vieulus est in tribu Zabulon (Ios. 19, 13) et ex S. Hier. : «in secundo Saphorim milliario quae hodie appellatur Diocaesarea ! euntibus Tiberiadem haud grandis viculus, ubi et sepulerum. eius. ostenditur » ; addit. timen : « quamquam alii iuxta Diospolim, id est Liddam, eum et natum et conditum velint, non intellisentes hoe quod additur Oper ad. distinctionem aliarum Geth urbium pertinere, quae. iuxta Eleutheropolim: sive. Diospolim hodie quoque monstrantur » (prolog.. in. Ion.). Eum fere. tempore fiorüisse, quo Osee et Amos, pierique statuunt, idque S. fier. ex triulitione. quoque. Iudaeorum: refert :: « tradunt Hebraei, Osee et Amos et. Isaiam ae Ionam iisdem. prophetasse. temporibus ». Alii: temporibus antiquioribus euin accensent, et. SeÁiegg quidein resto et tempori Iehez et Fes, qui ante Ieroboam DIE. regnarunt ; ille per annos 17, hic 1. lHodie ibi situs est viculus Meshad vel EL - Mehkhied ; ef. Tres hon. per 16; Calm. regno Ioas et Ieroboam. Sed ex 4 Reg. 14, 25 non colligitur, vaticinium illud diu ante Ieroboam debuisse dari et iam patri eius Ioas, dum regnum variis calamitatibus perturbatum capesseret, consolationis causa fuisse propositum. Nam prophetia haec non ad impios reges confortandos vel consolandos est pronuntiata (id quod Schegg vult) — nam quo pacto id asseri potest, cum de Ioachaz et Ioas et Ieroboam dicatur : « et fecit quod est malum coram Domino, non recessit ab omnibus peccatis » ? Cf. 4 Reg. 13, 2. 10 ; 14, 24. — Neque l. c. innuitur, prophetiam ad populum consolandum iam diu ante esse datam, sed illam esse adimpletam, i. e. terminos Israel fuisse restitutos, « quia vidit Dominus afflictionem Israel amaram nimis... nec locutus est, ut deleret Israel, sed salvavit eos in manu Ieroboam » '. Quare non est, cur Ionam antiquiorem Osee et Amos faciamus. Liber Ionae inter prophetas singulari ratione distinguitur, cum nullum vaticinium, sed rei gestae narrationem exhibeat. Uti enim prophetarum plerique vaticinia contra gentes edentes Deum Israel esse omnium gentium Deum omniumque gubernatorem providum atque iustum reipsa demonstrarunt, ita Ionas eandem Dei de gentibus curam et providentiam exemplo magis splendido omnibus ob oculos ponere iubetur. Mittitur scil. ad Ninivitas, ut Dei nomine iis interitum annuntiet, qui certo certius eos obvolvisset, nisi sincera poenitentia iustum vindicem placassent. Atque in hac ad gentes missione singularis Ionae dignitas cernitur, qua Deum omnium esse Dominum et. Salvatorem, qui gentes quoque ad sua consilia exsequenda adhibeat earumque salutem provide ac benigne procuret, praeclare comprobaverit. Atque in maxima illa promptitudine, qua Ninivitae vaticinio minaci perculsi ad opera poenitentiae confugerint, gravissima continetur Iudaeorum accusatio ac condemnatio, utpote qui tot prophetarum vocibus totque Dei miraculis surdas aures obfirmatosque in peccatis animos opposuerint. Est illa Ninivitarum conversio quasi praesagium quoddam et praeludium ad illud Isaiae : « quaesierunt me qui ante non interrogabant, invenerunt qui non quaesierunt... expandi manus meas tota die ad populum incredulum » (Is. 65, 1. 2) i. e. gentes iri assumptum in regnum Dei ct cum gaudio suscepturas verbum Dei, filios vero regni abnuituros esse et iri eiectum. Quare Christus quoque Ninivitarum exemplum valere dicit ad condemnationem ' Iudaeorum (Matth. 19, 40). Altera eaque maxime insignis Ionae dignitas in eo consistit, quod docente Christo Ionas eximius est typus Christi ab inferis resurgentis : « sicut enim fuit Ionas in ventre ceti tribus diebus et tribus noctibus, sic erit filius hominis in corde terrae tribus diebus et tribus noctibus » (Matth. 12, 40; vide ad Ion. 2, 1). Voluit scil. Deus, ut advertit Calm., in eo viro non figuram simplici tantum sermone comprehensam exhibere, sed spirantem quandam imaginem rerum futurarum exprimere, cum scil. illum post tridui moram e ventre ceti incolumem illaesumque eduxit. Hac una re typicam Ionae rationem non exhauriri, doctores catholici unanimiter sentiunt ; eamque accuratius per singula prosequuntur in commentariis praecipue S. /lier. S. Cyr. Theoph., quamvis et ipsi quoque moneant, non omnia typice esse interpretanda. Audi v. g. Cyr. : « non singula quae scriptis et typis insunt, ad spirituales considerationes apta sunt, sed si persona afferatur alicuius imaginem quandam Christi nobis subiicientis, humana merito praeteribimus, solisque necessariis immorabimur, undique conquirentes quae ad scopum rei propositae conducere possint » ; dein quaedam assignat, in quibus Ionas deficit : Ionas missus praedicare gentibus fugit: Christus missus ad suum ministerium impigrum se et alacrem praebet; Ionas graviter doluit de misericordia Ninivitis concessa : Christus de salvatis immense gaudet. Qua ratione singula quaeque typice explanentur, specimen habes in opere olim S. Augustino attributo de Symbolo, sermo ad Catechum. 4 n. 6 ; quod quia instar multorum est et veterum explanationes typicas in commentariis sparsas fere colligit et exhibet, hic transscribere non piget : « missus est Ionas ad civitatem Ninive, ut eius finem praedicaret ; missus est Christus a Patre, ut finem mundi omnibus demonstraret. Fugit Ionas in Tharsis a facie Domini : fuga Ionae, velox transitus Christi, de quo dicit propheta : exsultavit ut gigas ad. currendam viam. Ascendit navem propheta fugiens : lignum Christus ascendit, per mare huius sacculi transiens. Irruit tempestas magna in mari ; perturbatio maris, perfidia Iudaeorum. Data est sors, ut propheta fugitivus in mare mitteretur ; sors data est super Christi vestimenta, ut unitas omni mundo praedicaretur. Proiectus est e navi Ionas in mare : mors Christi in cordibus gentium collocata est. Susceptus est a bestiis propheta, custodiendus, non comedendus. Audi hic ipsius vocem Christi per sanctum David : non derelinques animam meam apud. inferos, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. In ventre bestiae marinae positus Ionas sanctus oravit : in inferno Christus descendens mortuos suscitavit. Tertio die propheta litori incolumis est redditus; die tertio Christus de sepulero surgens super coelos est exaltatus. Ad praedicationem lonae per poenitentiam salvata est civitas : per Christi praedicationem sancta Ierusalem redempta est civitas » (M. 40, 666). Propter varia miracula in libello narrata viri critici, praesertim recentiores historicam indolem libri negantes varias explicationes tentarunt. Alii enim narrationem ita emollire conati sunt, ut quae cp. 2? habeantur, per modum somnii vel visionis Ionae contigisse velint ; alii allegoriam ad docendum confictam in narratione proponi docent, qua varia doctrinae capita de Dei cura et providentia, de munere prophetico, de vatieiniorum minacium explicatione etc. adumbrentur ; alii allegoriam ibi cernunt Ahistoricam, qua scil. « per elegantem metonymiam in scita prosopopoeia » Manasses eiusque fata, dein lIosias delineentur. Alii mythum e Graecorum fabulis ' ad Iudaeos pervenisse et ita apud Iudaeos transformatum opinati sunt, uti eum in libello nostro legimus. Alii nucleum agnoscunt historicum, quem omni mirabili eventu spoliatum exhibent et ad quem traditio popularis et faima miraculorum appetens mira illa adiecerit. [am quo pacto singuli illi eritici sententiam suam accuratius explicent proponere, non est in animo ; tot enim sunt sensus, quot capita ; si vacat, adi Ros. Prolegz. in Ion., Dleek — Kamphausen, Einleitung in d. A. T. 2 252; de Wette-Schrader Einl. 2 291 et videbis, homines doctos ingenia exercuisse, ut ex pisce magno, qui devoraverit Ionam, facerent navim piscis insigni instructam, quae eiectum prophetam suscepisset; vel Ionam e mari ereptum carmen illud cp. 9 composuisse, ex quo carmine male intellecto aliquis male sedules historiam confinxerit etc. etc. lidem librum ad tempus exsilii vel post exsilium reiiciunt. Indolem autem vere historicam ? ex eo probamus, quia 1? narratio ita confecta est, uti miracula illa in libris historicis relata de Elia et Eliseo aliisque ; ergo si illa miracula referuntur uti facta et nequiquam. ad allegoriam vel. symbolicam docendi rationem trahi possunt, ctiam narratio haec codem stilo eademque simplici assertione. conseripta. idem genus historicum exhibet; 29? verba Christi Domini expresse prolata apud Matth. 12, 40; 16; 4. Luc. 11, 29 omnem prorsus dubitationem de re vere gesta tollunt et impium est atque blasphemum (nisi ignorantia insigni, qua de Incarnationis mysterio tenentur, excusantur critici quidam moderni), asserere Christum Dominum in rebus historicis sui temporis erroribus fuisse obnoxium, neque /manan eius cognitionem limites temporis sui atque populi superare et excedere potuisse. — |n textu graeco Tob. 14, 6 etiam eius mentio iniicitur. Alia est quaestio quam libere in utramque partem agitare poteris, utrum lonas ipse librum composuerit necne. Solida ratio, cur id negetur, non apparet !. Indicia enim temporis posterioris, quae in lingua aliqui deprehendunt, neque in se adeo certa sunt, neque si certo tempus posterius indicarent, iam continuo lIonam auctorem excluderent. Quis enim adeo audax est asscrere, Iudaeos posteriores in libris describendis antiquioribus swunquam vel per errorem vel ex consulto. formas grammaticales recentiores et vocabula magis recentia ct. usitata inseruisse? Exempla satis luculenta habes in iis psalmis, qui //s in Scriptura exhibentur ; vide v. g. Ps. 18 et 2 Sam. 22 (hebr.) et comparatione instituta deprehendes duos illos eiusdem psalmi textus plus quam nonaginta locis inter se differre et vocabulis et formis grammaticalibus. — Sed neque adest ratio certa, cur libellus ipsi Ionae debeat adscribi. 58, 1. Ier. 2, 2 ; 7, 2 et saepius ; 6) Dy 3, 7;sed haec vox praecise ea est, qua utuntur Assyrii pro mandato vel praecepto; ea igitur potius ostendit rem ab homine esse conscriptam, qui res assyriacas noverit (cf. ad 3, 6 — usus est idem ac si nos loquamur de lege lata in Anglia vel Russia et illam Dill vel Ukas vocamus) ; 7) 325 4, 11 ; sed quomodo probari potest, Hebraeos priscos non habuisse vocem pro myriade eandem, cum Ps. 68, 18 legatur Q'r33 duae myriades et cum insuper 51223 fueril valde usitata cf. Lev. 26, 8. Deut. 32, 30. Iud. 20, 10 ctc. 8) mad Wow 1, 9; sed qua ratione haec phrasis posterioris temporis indicium esse possit, minime apparet, cum praeter alia iam Gen. 24, 3 inveniatur, quem locum ipse Schrader 2187 adscribit « narratori prophetico », qui sub Ieroboam Il scripserit (cf. de Wette-Schrader l. c.). Atque haec sunt', quibus originem libri aetati seriori adscribere volunt. At ea csse ineflicacia, satis esse ostensum opinor. Ex paucis quibusdam inscriptionibus, quae inventae sunt in JVimrud et Nebi funus, et ex indiciis, quae praebentur in catalogo praesidum (Eponymenliste), haec de rebus assyriacis sub Rammannirar (a. Ch. 810-182) colligi possunt : imperium assyriacum extendebatur usque ad Babyloniam et sinum persicum et occidentem versus etiam Phoenices, Hethitae, Syri, Israelitae, Edomitae saepius iam potentiam assyriacam experti vel tributa pendebant vel regis assyriaci hegemoniam agnoscebant. Etiam quaedam pars Medorum et Armenia meridionalis imperio assyriaco obediebat. Salmanassar III (a. Ch. 181 - 171) varia gessit bella et expeditiones militares suscepit; in Armeniam fere singulis annis, sed etiam versus Damascum et Syriam. Sub ipso, praesertim vero sub duobus eius successoribus Asurdanil (a. Ch. "i10 - 192) et Asurnirar (132 - 149) imperium debilitari et variis perturbationibus internis concuti coeptum est ; ex annis 168 et '139 pestis vel morbus letifer refertur stragem edidisse ; alii anni '/63 - 159 memorabiles dicuntur propter perturbationes et seditiones in praecipuis imperii urbibus exortas (in Libi - alu — Asur? in Arbacha, in Gozan) quas haud leves fuisse inde forte licebit suspicari, quia anno 188 eas feliciter fuisse compositas adnotatur in catalogo praesidum verbis adscriptis « pax in terra »; in eodem catalogo alii anni v. g. 64. "i87. "756. 193 - 180 designantur verbis appositis « in terra » veluti expertes omni expeditione militari et a rebus praeclare gestis vacui. Hoc igitur tempore 760 - 50 Ionam adiisse Niniven aliqui haud improbabiliter suspicati sunt (cf. G. Rawlinson II p. 196. Civiltà cattolica 1882, XI, 2 p. 403), i. e. ultimis annis Ieroboam II. Atque sane si eius missio incidit in tempus, quo imperium assyriacum ab antiquo splendore recedere et peste et variis seditionibus ac periculis concuti coeptum est, quo igitur Ninivitae iam partim a prisca superbia et gloria deiecti, partim variis terroribus et calamitatibus perterriti imperii imminutionem vel ruinam facile suspicari vel saltem timere poterant, ne tale quid immineret, facilius nobis explanare poterimus, cur prophetae Domini voces ac minae tantum subito iis incusserint timorem, tantam excitaverint poenitentiam morumque derepente mutationem. Ceterum adde ea, quae ad cp. 3 invenies adnotata. Id saltem certum exploratumque esse debet, tristi temporum conditione et imminentibus undique periculis animos hominum melius disponi, ut minis divinitus promulgatis fidem adhibeant iisque percellantur, quam si eaedem minae in rerum omnium abundantia et laetissima prosperitate annuntiarentur. Anc. — Ionas mandato a Domino accepto, ut in urbe Ninive praedicaret, conscensa navi in Tartessum fugere tentat (1, 1-3). Atsubito mare vehementissima tempestate cohorruit, cui cum nihil nautae obtendere possent opportunum, ad preces confugiunt sortesque mittunt, (1, 4-'1), quibus lonas deprehensus se tempestatis esse causam fatetur et ut ad sedandam tempestatem in mare deturbent ipsum, hortatur (1,8-12). Inviti ct facinus deprecantes eum eiiciunt. Statim consedit tempestas ; admirati nautae Deo victimas immolant et vota nuncupant (4, 13-16).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.