The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins.
For their manifold sinnes, al the twelue tribes shal be sore plaged. 11. and made captiues.
1Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:Ascoltate, o figliuoli di Israele, la parola detta dal Signore sopra di voi, sopra tutta quella famiglia tratta da lui dal paese d'Egitto. Egli dice:HEARE the word, that our Lord hath spoken vpon you, ye children of Israel: vpon al the kindred that I brought forth out of the Land of Aegypt, saying:Audite verbum quod locutus est Dominus super vos, filii Israël, / super omnem cognationem quam eduxi de terra Ægypti, dicens: 2You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities.Voi soli ho io conosciuti di tutte le famiglie della terra, per questo io vi punirò di tutte le vostre iniquità.Onlie you haue I knowen of al the kindreds of the earth: therfore wil I visite vpon you al your iniquities.Tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terræ; / idcirco visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates vestras. 3Shall two walk together except they be agreed?Posson elleno andar insieme due persone, se non son d'accordo tra loro?Why shal two walke together, vnles they be agreed?Numquid ambulabunt duo pariter, / nisi convenerit eis ? 4Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion’s whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?Ruggisce forse il lione, quand'egli non trova preda? e il giovane lioncello alzerà forse le grida dalla sua tana, senza ch'ei prenda qualche cosa?Wil the lion roare in the forrest, vnles he haue a praye? wil the lions whelpe geue voice out of his denne, vnles he hath caught somewhat?numquid rugiet leo in saltu, / nisi habuerit prædam ? / numquid dabit catulus leonis vocem de cubili suo, / nisi aliquid apprehenderit ? 5Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat?Caderà forse nei laccio sopra la terra un uccello, senza l'opera dell'uccellatore? Si toglie forse di terra il laccio prima chè abbia fatta sua preda?wil the bird fal into the snare of the earth, without the sowler? Shal the snare be taken away from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat?numquid cadet avis in laqueum terræ / absque aucupe ? / numquid auferetur laqueus de terra / antequam quid ceperit ? 6Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?Suonerà ella la tromba nella città, senza che il popolo si commuova? Vi sarà egli disastro nella città, che non sia opera del Signore?Shal the trumpet sound in the citie, and wil not the people be afrayd? Shal there be euil in the citie, which our Lord hath not done?si clanget tuba in civitate, / et populus non expavescet ? / si erit malum in civitate, / quod Dominus non fecerit ?
7For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.Perocché il Signore Dio non fa queste cose, senza rivelare i suoi segreti a profeti suoi servi.Because our Lord God wil not doe a word, vnles he haue reueled his secret to his seruants the prophers.Quia non facit Dominus Deus verbum, / nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad servos suos prophetas. 8The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?Rugge il lione: chi sarà senza paura? Il Signore Dio ha parlato: chi riterrassi dal profetare?The lion shal roare, who wil not feare? Our Lord God hath spoken, who shal not prophecie?Leo rugiet, quis non timebit ? / Dominus Deus locutus est, quis non prophetabit ? 9Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof.Fate sapere alle case di Azoto, e alle case del paese di Egitto, e dite: Ragunatevi sulle montagne di Samaria, e osservate le molte strane cose, che sono in mezzo a lei, e le oppressioni, che si commettono dentro di lei.Make it heard in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the Land of Aegypt: and say: Gather ye together vpon the mountaines of Samaria, and see the manie madnesses in the midddes therof, and them that suffer calumnie in the inner parts therof.Auditum facite in ædibus Azoti, / et in ædibus terræ Ægypti, / et dicite: Congregamini super montes Samariæ, / et videte insanias multas in medio ejus, / et calumniam patientes in penetralibus ejus. 10And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.Non han saputo quel, che si fosse il far giustizia, dice il Signore: hanno adunato tesoro di iniquità, e di rapine nelle loro case.And they haue not knowne to doe right, sayth our Lord, treasuring vp iniquitie, and robberies in their houses.Et nescierunt facere rectum, dicit Dominus, / thesaurizantes iniquitatem et rapinas in ædibus suis. 11Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.Per questo dice il Signore Dio: Sarà percossa tutta intorno la terra, e sarà tolta a te la tua fortezza, e le tue case saran saccheggiate.Therfore thus sayth our Lord God: The land shal be in tribulation, & compassed about: and thy strength shal be plucked away from thee, and thy houses shal be spoyled.Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus: / Tribulabitur et circuietur terra: / et detrahetur ex te fortitudo tua, / et diripientur ædes tuæ.
12Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion’s mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus.Queste cose dice il Signore: Come se un pastore tolga di bocca al lione due stinchi, o un pezzo d'orecchio, così saranno salvati i figliuoli d'Israele, che abitano in Samaria in un angolo di letto, e nel letto di Damasco.Thus sayth our Lord: As if a pastour should get out of the lions mouth two legges, or the tippe of the eare: so shal the children of Israel, that dwel in Samaria, be deliuered, in the plague of the bed, and in the couche of Damascus.Hæc dicit Dominus: / Quomodo si eruat pastor de ore leonis / duo crura, aut extremum auriculæ, / sic eruentur filii Israël, qui habitant in Samaria / in plaga lectuli, et in Damasci grabato. 13Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the God of hosts:Udite, e fatene protesta alla casa di Giacobbe, dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti;Heare ye, and contest in the house of Iacob, sayth our Lord the God of hosts:Audite, et contestamini in domo Jacob, / dicit Dominus Deus exercituum; 14That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.Imperocché in quel giorno, quand'io comincerò a punire le prevaricazioni d'Israele, punirò lui, e gli altari di Bethel; e saran troncate le corna dell'altare, e anderanno per terra.That in the day when I shal begin to visite the preuarications of Israel, I wil visite vpon him, and vpon the altars of Bethel: and the hornes of the altar shal be cut of, and shal fal to the ground.quia in die cum visitare cœpero prævaricationes Israël, / super eum visitabo, et super altaria Bethel; / et amputabuntur cornua altaris, et cadent in terram. 15And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.E atterrerò i palazzi d'inverno co' palazzi d'estate, e anderanno in rovina e case di avorio, e saran distrutte le case in gran numero, dice il Signore.And I wil strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of yuorie shal perish, and manie houses shal be dissipated, sayth our Lord.Et percutiam domum hiemalem cum domo æstiva, / et peribunt domus eburneæ, / et dissipabuntur ædes multæ, / dicit Dominus.
3:1
Worthington
Family, including all the posterity of Jacob. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Known, with love, (Haydock) and favoured with the law, etc. Above all, styling you my people, Exodus 19:6., and Ezechiel 20:5. (Calmet)
Challoner
Visit. That is, punish. (Challoner)
Calmet
I will treat you like my children, that I may spare you in eternity. (Calmet)
3:3
Worthington
Agreed? As they cannot do this well, so neither can man be acceptable to God, unless he keep his laws. (Worthington)
The prophet here proves his mission, intimating that if he were not inspired, he would soon be open to detection. He had been banished from Bethel, Amos 7. By many similes, he shows that the event will prove the sincerity of his character, and that he cannot resist the holy spirit which is in him.
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Nothing? Thus, should I inveigh against your crimes, if there were no need?
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Somewhat? When the prophet speaks, has he no reason? God shews that he has sent him, by inflicting the punishments which he denounces.
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Calmet
Afraid. Yet you can hear these terrible truths without consternation! Will you therefore escape? (Calmet)
Challoner
Evil. He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine, pestilence, desolution, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author. (Challoner)
Worthington
All evil of punishment is sent by God, either to reclaim sinners or to be the beginning of sorrows, if they die impenitent. (Worthington)
You know that He rewards or punishes. If, therefore, what I foretell come to pass, do not blame me.
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Calmet
Prophets. In vain then would you silence them, Amos 2:12, and 7:12. He always tends to the conclusion, ver. 8. (Calmet)
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Azotus. Septuagint, "Assyrians."
Follies. Septuagint, "wonders." Let your greatest enemies know what crimes you commit against yourselves (Haydock) and others.
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Calmet
About, As oxen tread out corn, going round a tree. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "Tyre even all around, thy land shall be a desert." Tsar means "Tyre and tribulation," according to St. Jerome's master. (Haydock)
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Menochius
Ear: things of small value. Thus few even of the poor will escape the Assyrians. (Menochius)
Calmet
Damascus. Some render "couch side." But there is no proof of this being accurate. Jeroboam II subdued Damascus, and reigned in prosperity. Who would then have thought that Israel should so soon be removed into Media? (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Septuagint, "over-against the tribe of Juda, and in Damascus, priests hear," etc. They probably left hares, (Haydock) "couches," (Aquila) untranslated, and some person has substituted "priests." (St. Jerome)
Haydock
Only the miserable (Menochius) or fugitives escape the enemy. (Haydock)
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Bethel. Manahem seems to have sent one of the calves to engage Phul to come to his assistance, Osee 10:5., and 4 Kings 15:19. Salmanasar had both, Osee 8:5. Josias afterwards defiled the profane altars, 4 Kings 23:15.
Calmet
Horns, made of brass, which the Assyrians carried off. (Calmet)
Worthington
The fairest possessions of sinners will at last perish. (Worthington)
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Calmet
Winter. Septuagint, "winged house," to keep off cold, (St. Jerome) or to give air. (Calmet)
Menochius
Summer-house. The noblemen had such is cooler regions. (Menochius)
Xenophon
The kings of Persia passed the summer at Ecbatana. (Xenophon, Cyrop. viii.)
Palladius (I. 12.) orders that the summer apartments must look to the north.
Haydock
Ivory. Many ornaments of this nature appeared in them, (Calmet) whence Achab's palace was so called, 3 Kings 22:39. (Haydock)
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Visit upon.... That is, punish.
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Evil in a city.... He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine, pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author.
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By Israel is here vnderstood the whole people al the kinred or ofspring of Iacob, deliuered from Aegypt.
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As tvvo men do not vvel trauel together except they agree: so man can not walke vvith God, vnles he agree with God, keeping his commandments.
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Al euil of paine that is, punishment for sinne is by Gods permission, and ordinance, either to bring sinners to repentance, or (if they dye in mortal sinne) the beginning of etetnal punishment.
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The fayrest and strongest thinges that vvicked men haue shal at last be destroyed.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Treatise Concerning the Christian Priesthood 6.11
11. For this very cause God accuses the Israelites more vehemently, and shows that they were worthy of greater chastisement, because they sinned after so many honors had come to them from Him, saying in one place: “But you only have I known of all the families of the earth, therefore will I punish you for your iniquities,”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 123.4
She gave a meaning look and slyly smiled.
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St Dionysius of Alexandria † AD 265 Containing Various Sections of the Works 2.3
… Surely, well has the prophet ranked this matter among things which are impossible and undemonstrable,—namely, that two strangers should walk together. For he says, “Shall two come to the same lodging unless they know each other?”
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Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1.8
… “A fire has been kindled in Mine anger;” and that “I the Lord am a jealous (God), visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;” and that “it repenteth Me that I anointed Saul to be king;” and, “I am the Lord , who make peace and create evil;” and again, “There is not evil in a city which the Lord hath not done;”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis iv.1-2.8
… in Mine anger;” and this, “I am a jealous God, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation;” and this, “I repent of having anointed Saul to be king;” and this, “I am a God that maketh peace, and createth evil;” and, among others, this, “There is not wickedness in the city which the Lord hath not done;”
St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Hexæmeron 2.4
It is equally impious to say that evil has its origin from God;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Three Homilies Concerning the Power of Demons 1
… Would that my voice were clearer than a trumpet, and that it were possible to stand in a lofty place, and to cry aloud to all men, and to testify that God does these things. I do not say these things in arrogance but I have the prophet standing at my side, crying and saying, “There is no evil in the city which the Lord hath not done”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.5
Germanus : We often read in holy Scripture that God has created evil or brought it upon men, as is this passage: “There is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else: I form the light and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil.” And again: “Shall there be evil in a city which the Lord hath not done?”
St John of Damascus † AD 749 An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.19
His permission, therefore, is usually spoken of in the Holy Scripture as His energy and work. Nay, even when He says that God creates evil things , and that there is no evil in a city that the Lord hath not done , he does not mean by these words
3:8
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 5.3
… For in their untamed state they are unserviceable. But because custom has never known them except as in the hands and under the bridle and power of men, dost thou imagine that they could have been born in this tame state? But now at all events mark the beasts which are unquestionably of savage kind. “The lion roareth, who doth not fear?”
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St Basil the Great † AD 379 The Letters 44
… Make an effort to rise from the ground. Remember the good Shepherd who will follow and rescue you. Though it be but two legs or a lobe of an ear,
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1. SONS OF ISRAEL. — St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, Lyra and others understand by sons of Israel all twelve tribes, and consequently also Judah, because what follows: "Upon all the kindred which I brought out of the land of Egypt." But from the following verses 12 and 14, it is clear that the Prophet speaks properly of Israel, that is of Samaria and the ten tribes, yet in such a way that he soon dilates and extends his discourse also to Judah, as if to say: You, O Israelites, and indeed you also, O Judah, and therefore all whom God brought out of Egypt, who are kindred to one another, both by blood and by wickedness, and will be similar in punishment and slaughter, hear from my mouth the angers of God, his threats and the burden which he imposes upon you. Thus Theodoret, Albert, Arias and others. 2. ONLY YOU HAVE I KNOWN OUT OF ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH, — that is: You, O Israelites, alone out of all the nations have I chosen, as the Chaldean translator renders it, for myself as a people, as familiars and friends, indeed as sons, so that I might nourish you as a father, protect you, advance you and exalt you. Supply with the Chaldean, Vatablus and others: Why therefore have you fallen away from me to golden calves? For this reason I will visit (punish) upon you all your iniquities.
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Secondly, "known," that is, I have cared for and do care for you and your affairs by a peculiar providence, by which I have given you the law, bestowed so many miracles and goods upon you, set before you punishments and rewards, ruled and directed you, indeed rule and direct you still; and therefore upon those acting well and obedient to me I send all prosperous things, but upon those acting wickedly I send adversities, so that I might chastise you as a father, and by this as with a bridle restrain you, and lead you back by the way of virtue to me, whereas I seem to other nations, in comparison with you, not to know, that is not to care for and to neglect them, and to allow them as strangers to me to follow the desires of their hearts, being about to punish them in the future with the most severe and eternal punishment. For it is a great sign of a truly paternal mind, and of one solicitous for the welfare of his children, to apply either cautery to the sick, or goads to the sluggish, or the scourge to the erring, says Sanchez. 3. SHALL TWO WALK TOGETHER UNLESS THEY HAVE AGREED? — The Septuagint: Unless they have known each other; Aquila: Unless they have made an agreement between themselves. You ask, to what end is this saying, and what do these five proverbs which follow up to verse 6 signify, and who are these two walking together? They answer first, Theodoret, Remigius and de Castro in the paraphrase, that these two are God and the Assyrians, as if to say: God and the Assyrians walk together and proceed to your destruction, O Israelites: for God is he who sends the Assyrians against you to punish your wickedness. The same thing they think is signified by the five proverbs which follow: for they think all of them aim at this, to signify that enemies are sent only when God avenges, just as two do not walk together unless they have first agreed between themselves, and just as a lion does not roar unless it has seized its prey, and just as a fowler does not remove his snare unless he has caught a bird, and thus with the others: for none of these things happens unless the condition is laid down; thus nothing happens in disasters and destructions unless God permits and punishes. They prove this because God, concluding these proverbs and indicating their scope and meaning, adds in verse 6: "Shall there be evil in a city which the Lord hath not done?" as if to say: These two walk together and with equal step, the Lord and evil, or the divine power and providence, God and vengeance, namely the chastisement of the impious; because there is no God without providence, or divine power without vengeance of the impious; nor is any vengeance of theirs exercised without God and the divine power. This sense is sublime and fitting to morals.
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Secondly, Arias holds that these two are Judah and Israel, or the two tribes and ten; again, that they are Nebuchadnezzar and Shalmaneser, as if to say: Judah and Israel appear to be divided from each other by schism, but nevertheless they consent in idolatry and wickedness, and walk alike to worship the same idols. For this reason Nebuchadnezzar and Shalmaneser will likewise walk against them: the former to punish and destroy Judah, the latter to punish and destroy Israel. For God will send both and direct them to the same destruction of both. Thirdly, Hugh, Lyra and Vatablus, by these two walking together, understand God and the Prophet, for example Amos, as Vatablus says: "Just as two men never set out together on some business unless they have first agreed upon it between themselves: so the Prophets, through whom I declare that I will visit your iniquities, as I have already said, will not come to you to announce these things unless they have first agreed with me most fully to admonish you of this. For by this similitude he wished to show the excellence of prophecy, and that there is great agreement between God and the Prophets. Whence shortly after, verse 7, he declares himself with these words: For the Lord God doth not any thing, but he revealeth his secret to his servants the prophets." Fourthly and more fittingly, and more genuinely, Rupertus, Clarius and Ribera hold that these two walking together are God and the people of Israel, as if to say: I God walked together with Israel, once pious and obedient, when namely I led him forth out of Egypt as if holding him by the hand, and brought him through the desert into Chanaan: because then he agreed with me, allowed himself to be ruled by me, and willingly followed my guidance and law. But now, having abandoned me, he walks with strange gods. Wherefore I likewise will not walk with him, because he agrees with idols, not with me; but rather I will proceed against him as an enemy, as I have threatened in Leviticus XXVI, 24; that is, I will walk with him as an executioner walks with a condemned man whom he leads to the gallows; as a lion walks with the prey which it has torn; a fowler with the bird which it has caught; a hunter equipped with a snare with the beast which it has ensnared. For I will roar against him as against my prey, and through Amos and other Prophets, I proclaim and threaten to him certain and inevitable destruction through the Assyrians. That this exposition may be explained and proved, suppose that, just as in fables and apologues (for example those of Aesop) there are three parts, namely μύθος, προμύθιον and ἐπιμύθιον, that is fable, prefable and postfable: prefable is the very prelibation and as it were prologue, signifying to whom and for what purpose the fable is told; postfable is the epilogue of the fable, signifying what we ought to learn from it, what fruit we ought to gain: so likewise in adages, enigmas and parables there are three parts, namely the parable itself, preparable and postparable. Preparable is the very prologue of the parable, indicating its end and scope, such as that in Luke XIV, 7: "And he said to them that were invited, a parable, being mindful how they chose the first places," as if to say: The scope of Christ in the following parable, which is about those invited, is to censure the ambitious, who covet the first seats and the first places at table: postparable is the conclusion of the parable, signifying its use and fruit, such as there in verse 11: "For every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." This being supposed, I say that the meaning of these six sayings or parables is to be sought from the proparable, or prologue which immediately preceded; and from the postparable, which is immediately subjoined afterwards. Now the prologue here is: "Hear the word which the Lord hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: You only have I known of all the families of the earth;" and especially that which follows immediately, and precedes these sayings, namely: "Therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities," that is to say, I will punish your crimes in you, because, when I brought you out of Egypt and walked with you continually as a father with his son: you nevertheless, turning proudly and ungratefully your back upon me, despising me, have walked with idols and golden calves. The postparable is verse 6: "Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done? For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?" that is to say, As in the proparable I said, so in the postparable I say and repeat that I, and no other, am bringing evils and calamities upon you through the Prophets, and am about to inflict them forthwith in reality through the Assyrians, so that I may roar and rage against you, as a lion against his prey, because you have risen up against me as enemies, walking with idols, who are sworn enemies to me. Behold here we see clearly that both the prologue and the conclusion of the parable signify that God walked with Israel of old as a father with a son, because it was fitting for them to be in agreement with him: but now after his apostasy, schism and idolatry, he is about to take away from him that beloved presence, and paternal care and aid, and is about to come against him, and through his Prophets is about to threaten him with slaughter and destruction, and is about to bring it upon him forthwith through the Assyrians. Therefore this is the scope and meaning of these six sayings and parables. Where note: God signifies two things here in the postparable: first, that no evil is sent upon a city, for example Samaria, except from God; second, that he himself does not inflict that same evil upon it, unless he first warn it thereof through the Prophets, so that it may correct its life and escape the evil; and so that it may know that the evil, when it befalls it, comes from no other source than from God the avenger, who threatened it thereof through the Prophets. For the Prophet here wishes to secure faith and authority, as well as certainty, for his prophecy and threats, which he is about to utter against Israel from God: authority, by saying that God will not do any evil to Samaria, unless he first reveal it to himself and announce it beforehand through himself: certainty, by saying that these his threatening oracles are revealed to him from God, and are the threats and words of God himself, who is the first truth, and cannot be deceived or deceive. Let the Israelites therefore believe that these are not empty verbal threats, but real and efficacious, as it were the threats of God angry and raging like a lion. Wherefore here the Prophet does not constitute himself another, or second from God, but as it were the same with God, namely as the mouth of God and a trumpet, which sounds and roars against Israel, who is another, or second from God. Two therefore are walking here, God threatening through the Prophet, and Israel receiving these threats of God. Now according to these things, the remaining five sayings are to be explained and adapted one by one. The second therefore is what follows: "Shall the lion roar?" etc. Thus St. Jerome, Emmanuel, Mariana and others. Allegorically St. Jerome: Two cannot, namely Gentiles and Jews, walk together, unless they agree in one faith and one head Christ. But if discord separate them, immediately the roaring lion and the dangerous devil will invade and seize them. Tropologically, Rupertus: God cannot walk with a sinner, if he defend his sin. "We two are," he says, "I who reprove or correct, God, and Israel who is corrected; namely it is not fitting for us, because Israel corrected does not hear me correcting. In this our mind disagrees: because I reprove, he defends himself." And St. Augustine, in Psalm LXXV: "So long," he says, "as you do not confess your sins, you are in a manner quarreling with God. For how do you not contend with him, when you praise what displeases him? It is the voice of the Psalm saying: Begin to the Lord in confession. What is: Begin to the Lord in confession? Begin to be joined to God. How? So that what displeases him may displease you. Your evil life displeases him: if it please you, you are separated from him; if it displease you, through confession you are joined to him." 4. SHALL THE LION ROAR IN THE FOREST, UNLESS HE HAVE PREY? — The lion is God, the prey is Israel, the roaring is the threats of the Prophets, the destruction of Israel by the Assyrians at God's command threatening them, as if to say: Just as a hungry lion roars while he has prey in his lair or even in his sight: he roars, I say, so that he may stir up his anger and courage to attack the beast which he wishes to seize; or, if he has captured it, to protect it against wolves, bears and other beasts and men, lest it be taken from him: so God roars, is indignant and threatens through me and other Prophets, you, O Israelites, whom he now attacks through the Assyrians, and whom he already holds as captives in his hand, and destines for imminent destruction and captivity. For just as a lion never roars unless he seizes, tears and devours prey: so God does not threaten the obstinate with punishments unless he forthwith inflicts them upon them, and strikes and slaughters them, as he will slaughter you, O Israelites, through Shalmaneser. Note from Aristotle, Pliny and others to be cited presently. The lion is accustomed to roar twice: first, when he hungers and seeks and sees prey; second, when he seizes it: then indeed partly from anger, lest it be taken from him; partly from hunger and gluttony, growling and murmuring, he roars. For the lion is gluttonous and a glutton, so that he swallows whole parts and bones before he crushes them with his teeth. Whence he so gorges himself that when full he does not hunger for two or three days, nor does he eat regularly except on alternate days, namely once in two days, as Aristotle teaches in book VIII of the History of Animals, chapter V, Pliny in book VIII, chapter XVI, and Aelian in book IV of the History of Animals, chapter XXXIII. Hence also from this gluttony, his breath is heavy and foul: "The breath of the lion is a heavy poison," says Pliny in book XI, chapter XXXIII. In a similar manner God roared both before the destruction of Israel through the Prophets threatening him; and in the destruction of Israel through the Assyrians striking him down, and not permitting the Egyptians or others to snatch him away for themselves.
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Yet here the Prophet seems to speak rather of the roaring of a lion before its prey: for His threatening prophecies, delivered through Amos, Hosea and others concerning the future and imminent destruction, God here compares to the roaring of a lion. Add to this, the roaring of a lion is greater and more horrible when it sees an enemy, so that it may attack and seize it, than when it captures and devours it. Moreover, it is said then to have it, both because it has it set before its eyes, and because it has it in sure hope. There follows a third saying similar to the second: SHALL THE YOUNG LION CRY OUT OF HIS DEN, IF HE HAVE TAKEN NOTHING? — Zurich: Does the young lion utter his voice going forth from his lair, if he have taken no prey? By this repetition the Prophet establishes the power of God and the certainty of the oracle, as if to say: If prey cannot be saved from the lion and from the young lion roaring, which of you, O Israelites, shall escape the hand of an angry God? He subjoins young lions to the lion; because, being wanton and always with a hungry belly roaring, they roar more, according to that in Psalm CIV, 2: "The young lions roaring, that they may catch their prey and seek their meat from God." Whence in Scripture the wrath of God, as well as the keen assault of enemies, is compared to the roaring of young lions, as in Isaiah XXXI, 4: "As the lion roareth, and the young lion over his prey, etc.: so shall the Lord come down to fight." 5. SHALL A BIRD FALL INTO A SNARE OF THE EARTH WITHOUT A FOWLER — who set the snare for the bird? as if to say: No; as therefore a bird is not caught in a snare except by a fowler, so also shall you be taken by the Assyrians, with no one bringing this about except God, who has set the Assyrians as a snare for you. The Hebrew מוקש mokes signifies a snarer, namely a fowler, as the Septuagint, our Douay and others translate it. It can secondly be translated with Vatablus as a stumbling-block, as if to say: As a bird does not fall into a snare without a stumbling-block, that is, without being caught and strangled by it; so neither shall you fall into the hands of God and the Assyrians without being caught and strangled by them. But because this is signified by the next parable, hence that there may be a gradation, our Douay and the Septuagint translate it more simply, without a fowler. There follows therefore a fourth saying connected to the third:
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SHALL THE SNARE BE TAKEN FROM THE EARTH BEFORE IT HAS CAUGHT ANYTHING? — that is to say, Just as a snare is not removed by the hunter unless he has ensnared and caught a bird or beast in it, so neither shall I remove my spread net, namely the Assyrians from Samaria, until they have taken it and laid it waste, but like a fowler I shall continually stand by and attend to them, as though they were my snares, nor shall I cease until they capture and slay you. He excludes all the escape routes of the impious and unbelieving, who either elevated these oracles of his or mocked them, saying: These are the customary threats of the Prophets, but threats only, just as parents show the rod to children, not in order to strike, but to terrify them with threats: the Assyrian will come, will show himself to Samaria; but he will not dare to attack a city so powerful and fortified: therefore we shall return home untouched and unharmed. God cuts off these escape routes and these mockeries of threats and sacred oracles here, and announces with certainty that the Assyrian will not withdraw from Samaria until he captures it, just as the fowler does not remove his snare until he has constrained the bird in it. Note that the threats of the Prophets and preachers are compared here to the roar of a lion, to the net of a fowler and to the blast of a trumpet, verse 6. Truly Nicetas in the Life of Alexius Comnenus says: "The snares," he says, "and nets of divine providence no one can escape," as Pharaoh, Diocletian, Maximian, Julian the Apostate, the Emperor Valens and others like them were unable to escape them. David sets a similar snare for the Jews, Psalm LXVIII, 23: "Let their table become a snare before them, and a retribution, and a stumbling block." This is the hunting of divine justice: for just as princes hunt boars and wolves, so God's vengeance hunts tyrants and the impious. Thus God says of Zedekiah, Ezekiel XII, 13: "I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare," by the Chaldeans. There follows the fifth adage: 6. IF THE TRUMPET SOUNDS IN THE CITY, WILL THE PEOPLE NOT BE TERRIFIED? — that is to say, Just as when the trumpet sounds in time of war, and the war-call blares forth, and signals that the enemy is at hand, that arms must be prepared and battle-lines formed, it cannot happen that the people are not struck with fear of the enemy and disaster, and horror at the blast of war; so much more should you, O Israelites, fear and be struck with terror at these voices of mine, by which I sound the war-call from God, and threaten and direct the enemy, fire and flame against you. The blast of the trumpet therefore is prophecy: he who sounds it is God: the trumpet is the mouth of the Prophet: the enemy is the Assyrian: the city is Samaria: the people are the Israelites, to be struck with fear and terror.
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IF THERE SHALL BE EVIL IN THE CITY, WHICH THE LORD HAS NOT DONE? — This is a post-parable, or conclusion and application of the preceding parables, as if to say: The five parables which I have now reviewed signify evil, that is, affliction and extreme destruction to be brought upon Samaria by the Assyrians, from none other than from God, from whom they have apostatized and whom they have provoked, preferring to Him golden calves. When therefore this destruction shall come upon you, O Israelites, know for certain that I bring it upon you: for this reason I alone foretell it to you through the Prophets and threaten it, because I alone shall inflict it upon you, not Baal, not Chamos, not any other of the vain gods. Whence, explaining this, He adds: "Because the Lord does not," etc. Morally, learn here that God is the author of robberies, burnings, slaughters and all calamities, both public and private, which are inflicted upon the impious and sinners — for God indeed, the governor of the universe, is the judge and avenger of all. Plutarch rightly says in his Morals: "As certain rivers suddenly hide themselves beneath the earth, nevertheless they are borne to where they tend: so the wrath of the gods, although hidden, nevertheless sometimes carries the guilty to extreme calamities," even while they do not think "that God the avenger is behind their head." And Horace: "Rarely does punishment with halting foot desert the wicked man who goes before." And Jeremiah, Lamentations III, 37: "Who is he that hath said that a thing should be done, the Lord not commanding it? Shall not evil and good proceed out of the mouth of the Most High? Why then hath a living man murmured, a man suffering for his sins?" see the sayings there. And chapter XVIII, 11: "Behold I frame evil against you." And Isaiah chapter XLV, 7: "I am the Lord, and there is no other; I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil." See St. Basil, homily That God is not the author of evils, where he shows that properly nothing is evil except sin, whose author is the created will, not God: but the other evils, which are called punishments, are good, not evil, especially because through them God destroys sin and makes justice live, or rather makes man die to sin, that he may live to justice. "For," he says, "as much as our outward man is corrupted, so much is our inner man renewed. He does not therefore kill one and make alive another; but the same one He makes alive through those things by which He kills. The flesh is therefore struck that the soul may be healed. Sin is destroyed, that justice may live." 7. BECAUSE THE LORD GOD DOES NOTHING UNLESS HE HAS REVEALED HIS SECRET TO HIS SERVANTS THE PROPHETS. — The "because" can be taken as "nevertheless," but more forcefully you should take it properly as causal of what preceded, as if to say: There is no evil in the city which the Lord does not do; because He Himself first reveals to the Prophets all evils that shall come upon the city, and through them threatens that He will soon inflict them upon the city: therefore when they are soon inflicted upon the city, He is, not another, who inflicts them upon the city as judge and avenger, as He threatened. Moreover, God will not bring this destruction upon the city of Samaria unless you, O Samaritans, have been forewarned through the Prophets, and this for two reasons. The first is, that you cannot claim you were never reproved. The second is, that you may be certain it is inflicted upon you for your crimes, and that God is the avenger and author thereof: by which the Prophet declares both the dignity and the necessity of his office, namely of prophecy, as received from God, so that he himself would be as it were God's legate to Israel, and among them an intermediary, arbiter and mediator; and also the merciful counsel of God, as I shall soon show.
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Wherefore note: "The Word" signifies metonymically a thing, namely the calamity signified and foretold by the word. Hence immediately the same prophet calls it "his secret," and, as Theodotion has it, his counsel, namely his hidden decree concerning this calamity to be inflicted. The Septuagint translates it as παιδείαν, that is, instruction, or rather, as St. Jerome translated it, correction: by which is signified that the threats and plagues of God do not proceed from hatred, but from paternal love toward men. For just as a father corrects and chastises the son whom he loves, in order to instruct him; so also does God the sinner. Wherefore He inflicts this chastisement unwillingly, and as if compelled, and therefore, in order that men might escape it by repenting, He first threatens and foretells it through the Prophets and preachers, all of which things signify the wonderful clemency of God, as St. Jerome says. Thus before the flood He forewarned sinners through Noah, who for this reason built the ark for a hundred years, so that for a hundred years men inquiring about the cause of this building might be warned of the impending flood, and by repenting might avert and escape it, just as the Ninevites escaped destruction when forewarned by Jonah. Thus through Moses He inflicted no plague upon Egypt unless He first forewarned Pharaoh and the Egyptians through him concerning it, as is evident from Exodus, chapters VII, VIII and IX. Thus the calamities from the Syrians, Ammonites, Midianites and Philistines, which are narrated in the books of Judges, He did not bring upon the Hebrews unless they were first forewarned through Joshua, chapter XXI, and through Deborah, Judges IV, 4, and other Prophets. Thus the destruction through Titus and the Romans He did not bring upon the Jews unless they were first forewarned through Christ, Luke, chapter XIX, 42, and the Apostles. Thus the final calamity upon the world He will not inflict unless He first sends Prophets and Angels, who sounding seven trumpets will proclaim the same throughout the whole world, Apocalypse, chapter XVI, 1. 8. THE LION WILL ROAR, WHO WILL NOT FEAR? (that is to say: How much more should God, roaring and threatening, be feared by all? Hence, partly explaining, partly inferring, he adds): GOD HAS SPOKEN, WHO WILL NOT PROPHESY? — For this proposition is a parallel explanation, partly an inference and conclusion of the former, that is to say: If, when the lion roars, all fear; therefore much more, when God is angry, all ought to fear; and especially we Prophets, who first hear this roar of God speaking in us, are struck with fear of it; and therefore, trembling, we cannot be silent, but we prophesy and cry out to all, that they may beware and take heed, lest they become his prey and be torn apart by him, especially because He speaks and roars in us for this reason, that we might utter and express the same roar of His to others by prophesying, that is to say: Since God sends us Prophets and commands us to prophesy, we cannot be silent: thus St. Jerome, Emmanuel, Mariana and others. He removes another refuge, or rather reproach, of the unbelieving Israelites. For they continually reproached the Prophets, because they themselves, always prophesying sad things to Israel, seemed to rejoice in its calamity and to insult it. Amos answers that he prophesies these things unwillingly, and is compelled by God, and cannot resist Him. For when God speaks, commands and sends the Prophet, who will not prophesy? Who dares to be silent, who dares to refuse God's command? For God is as it were a roaring lion, who tears apart the disobedient Prophet, just as he tears apart the rebellious people: just as He tore apart through a lion that Prophet who was disobedient in a small matter, namely in that he had eaten food against God's command in Bethel, deceived though he was by another prophet who asserted that God had revoked His command, III Kings, chapter XIII, 24. The meaning therefore is, that is to say: My threats are not mine, but God's: my roar is not mine, but God's: for God as it were roars like a lion in our mind, and thence in our mouth, that He might strike you with fear: do not therefore impute these sad oracles to us. For when God speaks through our mind and mouth, we dare not and cannot be silent. Again, if a lion, hungry, or with its cubs taken away, trembling and roaring, should rush from the forest into a city, who, seeing it from a distance, would not cry out to all: Flee, a roaring lion is at hand, take care of yourselves? Why then should not I, Amos, seeing God angry rushing into Samaria to destroy it, cry out to all, that they may beware? This is what God said to Ezekiel, chapter III, verse 27: "Son of man, I have made thee a watchman to the house of Israel, etc., if when I say to the wicked: Thou shalt surely die, thou dost not tell him, etc., I will require his blood at thy hand."
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A similar answer was given by St. Aphraates the hermit. For when he himself, having come forth from the desert, resisted the Arians who were raging, and rebuked the Emperor Valens concerning Arianism and the persecution of the orthodox: but Valens objected to him: What are you, a monk, who profess a solitary life, having abandoned silence and quiet, entering the city and the forum? he answered: If a virgin, hidden in her chamber, should see someone throwing torches upon a house, would she not leap forth from the house and cry out: Fire, fire, that she might free herself and her own from it? Do not therefore reprove me, who have abandoned quiet; but reprove yourself, who have cast this flame into the house of God, and not me, who strive to extinguish it, and therefore cry out to all that they beware of you and your heresy, by which you strive to set the Church of God on fire as it were with fire. Thus Theodoret relates in the Philotheos, cap. VIII. In like manner Amos, to the Israelites clamoring against him: What are you threatening us? You are a herdsman, not a Prophet: why do you scourge us? Go to your pastures, scourge your oxen, answers: "The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?" This is what Jeremiah answered to the Jews in the same cause, cap. XX, 8: "The word of the Lord, says he, has been made to me a reproach and a derision all the day." And soon after: "And it was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones: and I was weary, not being able to bear it." And cap. VI, 10: "To whom shall I speak? and to whom shall I testify that he may hear? Behold their ears are uncircumcised, etc. Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord, I have labored bearing it." WHO WILL NOT FEAR? — Truly St. Augustine in Sentences, num. 77: "All things which are feared are reasonably avoided: God is to be feared in such a way that from Him one flees to Him," namely from Him angry to Him merciful and placid. 9. MAKE IT HEARD IN THE HALLS OF ASHDOD. — God calls the neighboring nations, namely the Ashdodites and the Egyptians, into Samaria. First, that, having seen their crimes and punishment, they may be witnesses, both of the many and remarkable benefits bestowed upon the Israelites by God, both in the exodus from Egypt, and in the desert, and in Canaan; and likewise of the vengeance soon to be exercised by the same upon the same, as ungrateful. Second, that the Israelites may grieve the more, seeing themselves exposed to hostile nations in reproach and mockery, and that enemies may see their disasters and laugh, and rejoice in their slaughter and destruction, according to that Psalm. CXXXVI, 7: "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day (of the destruction of) Jerusalem: who say: Lay it bare, lay it bare even to its foundation in it." Moreover by this scheme and artifice God strives to recall the Israelites to Himself, while He sets before their eyes the infamy and reproaches which they will bear from the nations, if they persist in apostasy, and therefore are laid waste by God through the Assyrians.
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By Azotus, understand the other Philistines. This is a synecdoche. Thus St. Jerome, Rupertus, Hugo, Lyranus, Arias and others. St. Jerome marvels, and with good reason, that in the Septuagint for Azotus is read, in Assyrians: it appears to be a scribal error. UPON THE MOUNTAINS OF SAMARIA. — These mountains overlook Samaria, which was a city built by King Omri on Mount Somer, and from it both the city and, from it as the metropolis, the entire region was called Samaria: Herod the Ascalonite later named it Sebaste, that is, Augusta, in honor of Caesar Augustus: just as now it is called Augusta Vindelicorum, Augusta Trevirorum, etc. For Herod, restoring it from its foundations, surrounded it with a most strong wall for twenty stadia, and in its midst built a very great temple of a stadium and a half in size, adorned in every way most beautifully, dedicated to Caesar Augustus, and named it Sebaste. Thus Josephus, book IV of Antiquities, chapter X, and from him Adrichomius in Samaria. AND SEE MANY MADNESSES IN THE MIDST OF IT. — In Hebrew מהומות mehumot, that is, great tumults and disturbances, as the Chaldean translator rendered it. Hence the Septuagint translates it, wonderful things, which indeed the Philistines and Egyptians would have been amazed to see, called to witness this spectacle by God. Now by tumults, Arias understands the tumults of the citizens of Samaria, when it was captured by the Assyrians, the citizens fleeing in troops trampled one another, and were trampled by the pressing Assyrians. You should understand these better of the fault than of the punishment. Whence Our author translates, "madnesses," namely in the worship of golden calves, says St. Jerome, Rupertus, Hugo and Lyranus; or madnesses, that is, mad tumults and seditions, by which they trampled one another. Thus Theodoret. Whence Vatablus translates, many breakings; for the Hebrew mehumot signifies these. Hence also follows, "and suffering calumny," or, as Vatablus, oppressed by force and calumny, supply and repeat, see. Tropologically, madnesses are the fictions of heretics, says St. Jerome, "when each one fashions what he wishes, and worships his own fiction: as Marcion a good God and an idle one: as Valentinus thirty aeons, and the last Christ, whom he calls ἔκτρωμα, that is, an abortion: as Basilides, who calls the almighty God by a portentous name ἀβραξᾶς, and the same according to Greek letters, and the number of the annual course, he says is contained in the circle of the sun." Such are the doctrines of Calvin and Luther today: that man lacks free will, good works merit nothing, faith alone justifies, all the works of Saints are contaminated by concupiscence and sin, God is the author of all works, both evil and good; Christ on the cross as it were despaired, and endured the punishments of the damned, vows of chastity made to God are impossible, and not to be kept, God commanded an impossible law. Are not these the madnesses of the frenzied, than which this age has seen nothing more mad? 10. STORING UP INIQUITY, — unjust riches, namely acquired through violence, calumny, thefts, etc. Whence Vatablus translates: These are they who store up plunder and prey in their palaces, gather riches by fair means and foul, as is said. AND PLUNDERS: — The Septuagint, and misery; the Syriac, and pressure, distress. Whence they appear to understand these of the punishment of Samaria, when rather they should be understood of the fault, as I have said.
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11. THEREFORE THUS SAYS THE LORD (punishing your plunder and crimes): THE LAND WILL BE AFFLICTED AND SURROUNDED (that is, will be encircled by siege and surrounded on all sides by the Assyrians) — so that no one may escape. The Zurich Bible translates: Distresses will be yours, and that on all sides in the land. Which Vatablus explains: The enemy, he says, will come, and will encamp in the circuit of this land, so that no one can escape. The Prophet speaks here as if astounded by the magnitude of the tribulation and slaughter to come, which he beheld as if present by the prophetic spirit: therefore he uses concise expressions, and passes over and leaves unsaid many things, so as to strike admiration and terror into his hearers. It is remarkable that the Septuagint understands these of Tyre; because the Hebrew צר tsor signifies distresses, and a narrow rock, and from this Tyre built on a rock. For they translate: Tyre, and in the circuit your land will be desolate. For here the matter concerns the destruction of Samaria, not Tyre. Therefore Symmachus better translates tsor as trouble, that is, siege; and Theodotion, strength.
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THY STRENGTH SHALL BE TAKEN FROM THEE; — Zurich: He shall cast down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be plundered; Vatablus: The enemy shall take from thee thy riches, in which thy military strength consists, as if to say, the Assyrians shall seize thy riches, which thou hast gathered together by force, deceit and calumny. 12. AS IF A SHEPHERD SHOULD RESCUE FROM THE MOUTH OF A LION TWO LEGS, etc. — By the shepherd, understand God; by the lion, the enemy; by the legs and the tip of the ear, the small number of Israelites to be preserved from the enemy, as if to say, Just as a shepherd snatches from a lion that is seizing and tearing apart a sheep or ox some part of it, but a small part and useless for food, for example two legs, which the lion does not care for, he rescues; so some Israelites, but few, and those weak, poor and vile, shall be rescued from this slaughter and captivity of theirs, namely those whom the Assyrians shall despise, and as refuse and dregs of the people shall leave in Samaria to till the fields and vineyards. Thus Theodoret, Clarius, Arias and Vatablus. Behold, Amos, being a shepherd, frequently draws similitudes from the pastoral matter familiar to him.
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Otherwise, or rather contrarily, St. Jerome; for he holds that these things are said ironically through sarcasm, as if to say, The Israelites, relying on the strength of Samaria and the aids of Damascus, that is of the Syrians, think that they will rescue and extricate themselves from the hands of the Assyrians, just as a shepherd with the help of dogs snatches and rescues from the mouth of a lion two legs, etc.; but they are deceived and mistaken. Yet the former sense, as it is more common, so it is simpler and truer: for God, after commending justice, commends here his mercy, and tempers it with that, as if to say, Not all shall perish entirely: for some shall be preserved, though few. Moreover by legs and bones he signifies them naked and despoiled, their life scarcely saved, to be rescued from the common slaughter. Again, Theodoret holds that these two legs are rescued by the shepherd so that he may give proof to the master that the flock has been torn by a lion, not sold by him or stolen by theft. Symbolically Rupert notes that two legs and the tip of the ear are reserved for this purpose, so that from them it may be evident what kind of beast was devoured, whether a sheep, or an ox, or a horse: thus namely from the small remnants of the Jews, it may be gathered what they were before sin and before Christ, and those very remnants themselves confirm the faith of Christians, while they carry about to us the testimony of the Law and the Prophets, from which we know Christ the author of salvation, and demonstrate him to the Gentiles through the books and monuments of the Jews, the enemies of our faith. Tropologically, St. Jerome applies these things to teachers and preachers: "In the leg, he says, the way of doctrines is shown, in the ear the sacraments of the words. Whence the Apostles are commanded to walk without shoes and without any skin of a dead animal, Matt. cap. X. And to believers it is said: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear, Luke VIII. In the slaughter therefore of the whole body the ear must be rescued, by which we may hear the warnings of salvation; and the legs, by which we may walk in those things and according to those things and converse. Whence Stephen of Canterbury in the Sylva allegorically understands by two legs continence of mind and body, but by the tip of the ear perseverance in obedience: moreover he restricts and applies the legs to Prelates: "For thus, he says, when there are many Prelates, the greater part shall perish and be consumed by the lion, namely the devil, and small remnants shall be saved through that shepherd who says: I am the good shepherd." IN THE CORNER OF THE BED, — that is in the side or corner of the bed. For thus the four corners of the world are called the four sides of it. For in Hebrew it is פארה מטה pea mitta, that is in the corner, side, or extremity of the bed: for in the corner on both sides the body is supported; hence it rests more fully and completely in it. To this pertains that saying of Thomas à Kempis: "In all things I have sought rest, and found it not, except in a corner with a little book." Moreover the word corner is taken from the Greeks: for they call πλάγια the sides and transverse corners. Again, corner and coverlets are called in Greek tapestries, in Latin coverings. Whence Varro in De Vita populi Rom.: "On beds of ivory and embroidered coverings." And Livy, lib. IX in the Macedonian War: "He says, the origin of foreign luxury was brought to the city from the Asiatic army: they first brought to Rome beds of bronze, precious woven garments, coverlets, and other textiles, etc." Nor does this depart far from the Hebrew pea, that is corner, extremity: for coverings are cornered, and marked and distinguished in corners and by coverlets. The sense is, as I have said, that few Israelites, dwelling in Samaria, and resting there securely as in the soft covering of a bed, or in a corner, shall be rescued from the calamity of the Assyrians. He calls Samaria a corner, or corner of the bed, because it was elevated and mountainous like a bed, and equally soft, delightful, opulent, and from this cultivated and populous, so that it seemed to be the corner and stronghold of the ten tribes. Whence in it they rested confidently as in a little bed, not fearing the Assyrians. Thus St. Jerome and others. Add, that by corner may be understood the climate, situation and region of Samaria: for the Hebrews call this pea, that is the corner of the earth. Again, properly Samaria was situated in a corner with respect to Judea and the mountains overhanging the city of Samaria, as is evident in its chorographical map, which Adrichomius exhibits after page 24. Now first, the Chaldean translator thus renders and explains it: They shall be rooted out who dwell in Samaria, in the strength of power, and in Damascus leaning, that is to say, They shall be rooted out who trust in the fortification of Samaria, and in the aid of the Damascenes and Syrians, in which they likewise rest as in a bed and sleep secure. Second, Lyra understands by the plague of the bed Jerusalem, in which was the temple, in which God rested as in a bed, that is to say, Few shall be saved from Israel, namely those who shall have fled into Jerusalem to the wings of God and King Hezekiah, or into Damascus to the wings of the Syrians. Third, Vatablus, that is to say, Few shall escape the Assyrian slaughter, namely only those who after the bed shall have hidden themselves in a corner: or the sick, who lying in beds shall move the Assyrians by their sickness, so that they spare them, that is to say, The Assyrians shall spare only the wretched, who shall be so poor that two or three shall be forced to rest in one bed, or not so much in a bed, as in a part and corner of a bed. Fourth, the Septuagint for in the plague of the bed and of Damascus in a pallet, render, against a tribe and in Damascus, "so that according to the tropological sense we may refer the tribe (for the Hebrew mitta means bed; but if you read it with another pointing matte, it means a rod and a tribe) to Judah, and Damascus to the calling of the Gentiles, of whom one flock has been made of the Lord: whose sheep the ferocity of lions often tears, from whose jaws scarcely two legs, or the tip of an ear is carried off," says St. Jerome. Fifth, probably Father Prado in Ezekiel XXIV, 40, understands these things of table-beds, that is to say, Those who dwell (rest) "in Samaria in the plague of the bed," that is, those who have the first places of reclining in beds and couches among the guests. For in Hebrew the plague is in the corner of the bed, that is in the head, in the primary place. Of whom again he says in chapter VI, 4: "You that sleep (lie) in beds of ivory, and are wanton upon your couches." From all these, the third explanation seems most genuine, both because the word plague, or corner "of the bed" and the word pallet, signify these things pertain to the poor and the sick. For these lie in pallets and corners; and because these are rightly compared with two legs, and the tip of an ear snatched from the lion; otherwise indeed the comparison of the Prophet shall not hold, and its force and nerve, unless you adapt to these two legs and the tip of the ear. The sense therefore of this whole verse is this: As a shepherd snatches and saves from a lion devouring a sheep or a calf two legs, or the tip of an ear, from that lion already satiated with flesh, as being bony and tasteless neglected, so that he may carry them to his master, whereby he may show the calf was not taken away by him, but torn by the lion: so from all Samaria as from a body politic, two or three, that is few only shall be snatched from that slaughter, and these vile and useless, namely the poor wasted with leanness, so that they seem to have only legs as bones; and the sick, who two or three lie on the sides of the same bed and pallet, whether in Samaria or in Damascus. Thus from Castro. Wherefore perhaps for this reason the Translator for the Hebrew pea, that is corner, rendered plague, which also means side, and wound and disease, so that he might hint that they lie on the side of the bed from wound and disease, that is to say, Those shall be saved who from the plague of wound and disease lie in the plague, that is in the side and corner of the bed. Properly plagues, or patches are seams, or pieces, which are sewn or attached to tapestries, chasubles, coverings, beds, garments; precious (as are golden and jeweled effigies in chasubles) by the rich for ornament and splendor; rude and vile by the poor from necessity. For the poor sew patches, that is pieces, to torn coverings, beds and garments, so that they may mend the rupture, especially at the corners: for there more easily from friction of the wall and other things, they break. A plague therefore of the bed is a corner of the bed of a poor man, mended with a patch, and, as St. Francis is wont to say, patched. For the poor have beds not whole, but patched together with patches both larger and smaller like patchwork. Wherefore to sleep in the plague of the bed, is the same as to sleep in patchwork, or rather in a patch and side of patchwork, so that on the other side of the bed another, or several, may sleep. The sense therefore is, that is to say, In the destruction of Samaria shall be saved only the poor and wretched, who in patchwork sleep together on account of poverty. AND IN DAMASCUS A BED. — Just as he calls Samaria a bed, so he calls Damascus a bed: because the Israelites, harassed by the Assyrians, miserable and afflicted, fled to Damascus, and there as if sick in a bed rested securely and refreshed themselves. Damascus therefore was to these afflicted, weary and sick as it were a bed; thus St. Jerome, Rupertus, Remigius, Hugo and others. "That just as one who is weary is refreshed in a little bed, so they might strengthen their broken strength by the aid of the neighboring nation (Damascus)," says St. Jerome. Recent scholars err, such as R. David, Pagninus and others, who take the Hebrew דמשק dammesceq, that is Damascus, not as a proper noun, but as an appellative, as if composed of ד de, and משק mescec: but mescec signifies the shin-bone or leg. Whence they translate, in the leg, that is in the foot or side of the bed; or, as Arias, in a mobile and movable bed, so that by its agitation sleep might be brought to the sick man, as mothers shake the cradles of infants, so that by this motion they themselves might conceive sleep. Whence he himself explains, as if to say the Assyrians will spare only those who, lying in little beds from a grave and long infirmity, cannot move themselves, and cannot turn from one side to another, but like children must be moved and turned by others. They err, I say: for in Hebrew it is not mescec, but dammescec, which signifies nothing other than Damascus, as the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Our Interpreter and others translate it. Add that ד de is not an article in Hebrew, nor is it accustomed to be prefixed to nouns. Tropologically, the bed of the avaricious is mammon, the bed of the proud is honor, the bed of the glutton is a sumptuous table, the bed of the lustful is chambers and impurity, the bed of the slothful is torpor and sleep. For "as a door turns on its hinge, so does the sluggard on his bed," Prov. cap. XXVI, 14. These beds have various corners and soft coverings, which each one fashions, seeks and adapts for himself. 13. HEAR, — you, O peoples, says St. Jerome, or rather you, O Prophets, the calamity to which not I, but God through my mouth destines the house of Jacob, that is the descendants of Jacob or Israel, namely the ten tribes and their altars and temples, in which they worship golden calves in Dan and Bethel. Thus Albertus, Hugo, Arias and Vatablus. Whence the Septuagint have: Priests, hear. But St. Jerome rightly notes: "I think," he says, "that the Septuagint put the same word, which some not understanding, read כהנים, that is priests, instead of ערש arese. For arese our Interpreter and others refer to the preceding verse, and translate it bed; but the Septuagint refer it here, and retain it as a proper noun.
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AND TESTIFY, — that is, testifying to God and calling him as witness, preach and proclaim to them impending destruction, unless they repent from idols and crimes. 15. AND I WILL STRIKE THE HOUSE OF WINTER WITH THE HOUSE OF SUMMER. — Thus also Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion. But the Septuagint translate: The house with pinnacles, because it has little doors through windows, and as it were pinnacles to repel the severity of cold, says St. Jerome, who by this matter thinks it signified that the Israelites were so delicate and of such great wealth, that they had double houses, winter and summer houses, of which some (winter houses) were turned toward the North, others (summer houses) toward the South, so that according to the variety of seasons, of cold and heat and the temperament of the sky they might provide. Thus in Jer. XXXVI, 22, Joakim is said to have been in the winter house in the ninth month. Thus in Belgium God destroyed and razed through these wars the summer houses built in villages for pleasure, on account of the luxury committed in them. Mystically the same St. Jerome: "The house," he says, "of winter was the kingdom of Israel, in which there was the cold of religion and the worship of God, and various whirlwinds of winds and severe tempest: and the house of summer, Juda and Jerusalem, in which was the temple, and holocausts were offered morning and evening, and the heat of religion flourished." AND THE HOUSES OF IVORY SHALL PERISH. — "We read that Achab king of Israel flowed in such delights, that he made himself a house of ivory," III Kings XXII, 39, says St. Jerome, not that he made it of solid ivory: for whence would he have had so much ivory? but that he incrusted it with ivory; for this is called a house of ivory, as Pliny testifies lib. XVI, cap. XLIII. See Sanchez.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Audite verbum quod locutus est Dominus super vos, filii Israel, super omnem cognationem quam edu.ri de terra Aegypti, dicens :
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v. 92 tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terrae, idcirco visitabo super vos omnes iniquitates. vestras» ; — vos habui peculiarem populum meum (ier.), vos singulari studio ac benevolentia prosecutus meis legibus ac cognitione mea imbui et institutis salutaribus providi ; cognoscere enim « aliquid in Scriptura sacra importat practicum, opus aliquod,!quod non otiosam aut mortuam significat esse cognitionem illam » ( Sanct.) ; cf. Os. 13, 5; « vester solum Deus appellari atque esse delegi » (Ps. Ruf.)..— Sed ne falso sibi de hac dignitate blandiantur, ne tutos se ac securos censeant suam electionem praetendentes ! « Verum non ista liberalitas negligentioren conversationis vestrae iudicem reddidit, sed hoc magis ma. lefacta vestra castigo, quo vos cunctis gentibus praetuli ; est enim consequens, ut diligentius inspiciantur 'quae pretiosius aestimantur. Decor ergo genti vestrae comparatus nullam sinit culpam incastigatam relinqui, quia vilescit concessa nobilitas, si non auferatur indignis » (Ps. Ruf.). Unde illud idcirco singulari pondere et emphasi non caret et iam tollit praeoccupatam illam opinionem, qua postmodum multi efferebantur dicentes : fili Abraham sumus. Eam porro visitationem prius per varias similitudines et comparationes varium in modum describit. Et primo quidem declarat : iustam esse ingratae gentis repulsam (Ps. Ruf.) ;
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v. 3 « numquid ambulabunt duo pariter, nisi convenerit eis » ? — i. e. nisi ex condicto statuerint, convenerit eis. Olim utique Deus protector ac custos simul cum populo ambulavit, quamdiu pius erat et obsequens ; at non potest esse societas inter quos non est concordia ; iam vero voluntate et studiis dissentiunt, ergo Deus ab iis recedit, eos relinquit et abiicit (cf. Lap. Sa, Mar. Men. Tir.); «quid miraris, quia comitatus nostri defensione-nudatus sis, cum iusta viantium coniunctio nisi inter concordes diu manere non possit ? Tu proinde qui elegisti habere meis legibus contrarias voluntates, fuisse consequens confitere, ut comitatus mei auxilio nudareris, quia non meis itineribus ingredi separatus coepisti » (Ps. Ruf.) ; sim. Hier. Alb. concordia cum Deo incedere — ita provocavit v. g. leremias, ut contra pseudoprophetam Hananiam suam missionem divinam defenderet ; cf. ler. 28, 7. 8. — Eam vero repulsam auget: iudicium enim imminet durum ;
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v. 4 « numquid. rugiet leo in saltu, nisi habuerit praedam ? numquid dabit catulus leonis vocem de cubili suo, nisi. aliquid. apprehenderit » ? — rugit leo, dum praedam habet in oculis vel etiam in unguibus suoque rugitu alia animalia terret ; unde cum Deus per prophetam iam rugitum edat, iamiam paratus est poenam infligere (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Men.); neque enim tantum ederet rugitum, nisi vos mensura iniquitatum impleta proximi essetis interitui (cf. Calm.). Comparationem autem hunc in modum illustrat S. Cyr. : « qui naturas ferarum exquisitius pervestigant, narrant leonem esurientem montes, saltus et nemora contentius pervagari . . . ubi autem aliquid sibi ad esum idoneum conspexerit, propiorem factum horribiliter et absone rugiendo praedam invadere. Quod si catulis escam apportans lustrum attigerit, exsilire illos et cum clamore praedam apprehensam dilaniare. Quid ergo, inquit, Deum calumniamini, cum ante adventum calamitatum comminatur ? quid super prophetas eius fremitis, cum et ipsi super vestra impietate clamorem edunt »? Eas autem minas minime esse inanes, ulterius declaratur
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v. 5 « numquid cadet avis in laqueum terrae, absque aucupe ? numquid. auferetur laqueus de terra antequam quid ceperit » ? — i. e. laqueus, quo capiemini, a Dco est positus; sed si nemo hominum laqueos parat, ut nihil capiat !, quomodo vos arbitramini vos Dei laqueum posse effugere ? neque tolletur laqueus nisi praeda facta (cf. Sanct. Tir. Lap. Mar. Men. Calm.). Simul ea comparatione monentur, ne hostium invasionem regnique ruinam temere fieri arbitrentur, verum omnia a Deo vindice dirigi atque administrari. Laqueus terrae est laqueus in terra positus ibique absconditus. Iam hae calamitates populo annuntiantur; tuba bellica iam insonat ; mirus hominum stupor, si non horruerint;
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v. 6 « si clanget tuba in civitate et populus non erpavescet? si erit malum in civitate, quod Dominus non fecerit » ? — ponitur si tamquam particula interrogationis. Cum tuba subito et inexspectato insonat, omnes contremiscunt ; mirum sane, si admonitiones prophetae, quae Dei vindicis tuba sunt, illos non ad poenitentiam et terrorem provocant (cf. Alb.). Praecipue 1. Hebr. e/o$73 fendicula ; verum veteres versiones renatorem, aucupem, exprimunt cf. LXX, Syrus. An igitur eph legerunt ? Textus syr. hexapl. autem non aucupem scd aucupium ope virgarum viscatarum interpretatur ; cf. Middeldorpf p. 182. 523. cum iam facto et experientia teneant, Dominum visitare populum suum castigatione ; unde ex iis quaerit propheta : num censeant unquam quidquam mali ipsis accidisse, quod non Deo disponente et dirigente factum sit atque immissum ? « Quare nemo civitatum stragem hostibus, varia morborum genera vento pestilenti aut coelorum inclementiae attribuat, licet his Deus quasi administris ad ultionem peccatorum utatur » (Sanct.). Etiamnune Deum talia meditari in populum, ipsa prophetica declaratione certi redduntur ; quare ad eam ut animos applicent hortatur addens, qua familiaritate Deus utatur cum suis nuntiis (cf. Rib.), simulque declarans, quam vere dixerit, nullum infligi malum nisi a Domino, quippe qui mala ventura per suos prophetas semper praedixerit et diu ante castigationem consilia vindictae suae cum suis communicaverit : v. 'Í « quia non facit Dominus Deus verbum, nisi revelaverit secretum suum ad. servos suos prophetas ». — | Hoc autem quod prophetis immisit verbum, illi sine ulla haesitantia vel tergiversatione, cum omni libertate, fiducia, audacia loqui debent neque illud ulla ratione sinu comprimere vel retinere vel mollire possunt; quare merito omnes ad Dei minas expavescere debent :
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v. 8 « leo rugiet quis non timebit? Dominus Deus locutus est, quis non prophetabit » ? — i. e. si iam leo rugiens omnes terrore afficit ac tremore concutit, quis Deo loquenti obsistere vel Dei verba supprimere auderet? Verum, si leonis rugitus horrori est, quanto magis Dei minae ac reprehensiones? Comparatio est eo magis ad utrumque apta et facta, quia Deus ultor symbolo leonis saepius repraesentatur (cf. Is. 15, 9; 38, 13. Os. 8, 14 ; 11, 10 ; 13, 8. Ier. 25, 38), et quia modo v. 4 leonis praedam capientis et diripientis mentio facta est. Simul sacer vates indicat, se non reprehendere, mala praedicere, invehi in alios ex proprio arbitrio vel animi quadam ira et acerbitate, sed quia numini loquenti resistere non possit ; quare facile explicatur summa illa audacia, qua in reprehensionibus utatur (cf. ler. 20, 9). « Si leone rugiente omnes timent, ergo multo magis Deo fremente omnes timeant oportet, ac imprimis nos prophetae, qui primi hunc Dei in nobis loquentis rugitum audimus, illius metu percellimur, ideoque inclamamus omnibus, ut sibi caveant ac prospiciant, ne eius praeda fiant » etc. (Lap.).
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V. 9 « Auditum facite in aedibus Azoti et in aedibus terrae Aegypti et dicite : congregamini super montes Samariae et videte insanias multas in medio eius et calumniam patientes in penetralibus eius » ; — nationes ad spectaculum congregari vult, quas in istorum liberationem et gloriam saepe afflixerat (cf. Ps. Ruf.), quae testes erant beneficiorum Dei in Israel (Rib. Sanct. Men.) et quas Israelitae propter afflictiones praecipuo odio et magna abominatione prosequebantur. Hoc schemate et artificio (Lap.) Deus Israelitas confundere eisque indignitatem manifestare studet. Principes vero convocantur : audire facite per palatia in. Asdod et super palatia in terra Aegypti (hebr.), quia de principum et primorum in Israel sceleribus agitur. Montes in circuitu Samariae sunt Ebal, Garizim, aliique,ex quibus quasi speculis ea cerni et observari possunt, quae fiunt in urbe ipsa in colle edito sita (cf. Hitz. Keil). Inde cernant perturbationes magnas 1n medio eius (hebr.) i. e. tumultus, conturbationes, quibus omnia permiscentur et veri rectique normae evertuntur et iustitia seposita pauperes opprimuntur ; videte oppressos in medio eius (hebr.). Quale spectaculum gentibus offeratur, ulterius declaratur
Quo maiore pudore Israelitae suffundantur et quo magis scelerum enormitas omnibus pateat, Deus iubet prophetas advocare Philisthaeos et Aegyptios, ut videant scelera Samariae et testimonium dicant contra eos:
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v. 10 « et nescierunt facere rectum, dicit Dominus, thesaurizantes iniquitatem et rapinas in aedibus suis » ; — ex violatione iustitiae, quae ut est vitae publicae fundamentum, ita facillime quoque hominum animis tamquam debita et. necessaria innotescit, facile fieri potest conclusio, quantopere reliquae quoque virtutes neglectae ac contemptae iacuerint. Cumuluin violentiae et devastationis (hebr.) in palatiis suis condunt i. e. creberrime violentias committunt, oppressorum bona domosque vastant, arripiunt et opes iniuste acquisitas in suis palatiis accumulant (cf. Is. 5, 8). Verum, ut Dei beneficia Israelitis collata omnibus innotuerunt, ut scelera eorum offensioni erant gentibus et nomen Dei ignominia affecerunt (cf. 2, 1), ita vindicta quoque Dei ultoris insignis et iusta omnibus erit manifesta ; quare qui impudenter peccarunt, insigni clade et publica prosternentur :
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v. 11 «propterea haec dicit Dominus Deus. : tribulabitur et circuietur terra et detrahetur ez te fortitudo tua et diripieniur aedes tuae » ;, — cf. Is. 28, 1. 3; hebr. per modum exclamationis : hostis ! , et quidem in circuilu terrae et deiiciet ex te fortitudinem (magnificentiam) tuam . . . In ea vero clade pauci sese fuga "proripient et vitam servabunt;
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v. 12 «haec dicit Dominus : quomodo si.eruat pastor de ore leonis duo crura, aut extremum auriculae, sic eruentur filii Israel qui habitant in 1. llebr. 3y ; LXX et Aq. legerunt *3y Topo; Notat S. Hier. : « lebra:us, qui me in Samaria in plaga lectuli et in Damasci grabato » ; — pastor pastoritiis utitur exemplis, « ut quia pastor gregum nihil terribilius leone cognoverat, iram Domini leonibus compararet » (Hier. ; sim. Sanct. Rib.). Ipsa comparatione declaratur, paucos (eosque vilissimos vel ex infimo hominum genere — cf. Theod. Theod. M. Mar. Men.) iri ereptum. « Sunt qui hic pugnam aliquam considerant, qua pastor cum leone congreditur, ut captum arietem de faucibus expediat (cf. 4 Reg. 1'1, 34). Sed est dura et creditu difficilis expositio ; neque enim similitudo sumitur ex his quae raro et pene miraculose contingunt... multo videntur magis ad rei naturam explicuisse Theodoretus et Cyrillus, qui cruscula et auriculas non putant erepta fuisse a pastore strenuo e leonum faucibus, sed potius illa ex toto cadavere a leone relicta fuisse et a pastore tristi atque exanimato collecta, ut ea deferat ad gregis dominum doceatque non ex sua incuria periisse pecus, sed quia leo gregem invasit, cuius neque debuit neque potuit obluctari potentiae » (Sanct.). Opponit sacer vates luxuriem et vitae delicias praesentes futurae miseriae; unde habitatores Samariae depingit molliter sedentes et quiescentes in angulo lectuli (hebr.) ; « in angulo enim utrimque corpus fulcitur, hinc melius et plenius in eo quiescitur » (Lap.) ; intelligitur extrema lectuli vel spondae pars, qua fulerum est pro brachiis ac capite. Idem dicit plaga lectuli (cf. Lap.) ; et n Damasci grabato veteres plerumque explicant de fiducia in Damascum, in eius opes atque foedus, ubi Israelitae suaviter conquiescant (cf. Hier. Rup. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Men.): « requiescentes in Syrorum auxilio et in Damasci grabato sibi victoriam pollicentes, ut quomodo qui fessus est refocillatur in lectulo, sic illi fractas vires vicinae gentis auxilio roborarent » (ITier.). Cum leroboam dicatur restituisse terminos Israel ab introitu Emath usque ad mare solitudinis (4 Reg. 14, 25), grabatum Damasci in quo requieverint, possct nova illa possessio regno israelitico adiecta intelligi. Verum propius adiacet et ad alterum membrum prorsus aptum est, grabatum Damasci * explicare de lectulo vel sponda syriaca, more apud Syros usitato, speciatim more Damascenorum facta ; spondas scil. a Damasco praedivites iMi et molles heluones sibi compararunt, ut luxui indulgerent. Ita in Damasci 'grabato proxime effert sensum eundem, quem recentiores in hebr. inveniunt : ?n panno damasceno strati; 1. Hebr. Uy poe recentiores explicant : in serico lecti i. e. in lecto sericeis pannis iustrato, vel ut propius ad ipsam vocem accedatur ín panno damasceno lecti (auf dem Damast des Ruhebettes — cf. Ros. Ges. Keil, Schegg, Hitz. Trochon). lta enim distingui volunt py ab ipsa urbe pun. Veteres vero versiones urbem etiam h. l. agnoverunt ; ita LXX, Syrus, Aq. Sym. Theod. (cf. cod. syr. hexapl.), Hier. Chald. quam explicationem si probaveris — et quid ei obiicias, non video — , Àmos cupiditatem et studium rerum extranearum simul reprehendit (cf. Is. 2, 6 hebr.). Dein vates minas repetito confirmat.;Ad quod principes illos, quos v. 9. advocaverat, invitat, ut audiant et testimoriium dicant contra Israel:
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v. 13 « audite et contestamini in domo lacob, dicit Dominus Deus exercituum ;
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v. 1& quia in die cum visitare coepero praevaricatones Israel, super eum visitabo et super altaria Bethel et amputabuntur cornua altaris et cadent in terram » ; — illi principes audiunt Dei minas et de illis testimonium/reddere finguntur in domum Iacob i. e. contra tribus Israel ; tam certo Deus ruinam]annuntiat, ut ipsos Philisthaeos et Aegyptios velit esse eius quasi vades et sponsores et, testes contra Israel. In hebr. non,sine sollemnitate quadam ac pompa dicitur : effatum Dominatoris Iahve Dei exercituum, quippe cui potestas insit et cui adstent administri ad minas illas exsequendas. Quales illae sint et quid audire debeant ac testari principes alienigenarum, dicitur v. 14. Textus lat. cum pondere effert visitationem super Israel revera fore eamque etiam eo contineri, ut altaria in Bethel profanationi et exsecrationi dentur, id quod cornuum amputatione exprimitur ; nam sanguis victimarum in aspersione, quae praecipua erat ac principalis actio sacrificialis, ad cornua altaris linebatur, quare cornua altaris receptacula quasi sacrificiorum sacra dignitate pollebant illisque resectis altare erat mancum, truncatum, ad victimas ineptum. Textus hebr. in die visitationis scelerum Israel altaria quoque Bethel ait visitari. Urbis igitur et regionis in ruina peculiaris fit mentio, uti decet, cultus illiciti. Ruina illa et' splendoris destructio (cf. v. 11) absolvitur enumeratione
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v. 43 « et percutiam domum hiemalem cum domo aestiva et peribunt domus eburneae et. dissipabuntur aedes multae, dicit Dominus » ; — luxum Israelitarum simul exhibet et tacite carpit propheta; pro varia anni parte varia aedium accommodatione utebantur; cf. Ier. 36, 22; « simpliciter iuxta literam accipere possumus, tantarum eos fuisse opum, ut duplices haberent domos, hiemales et aestivas, quarum aliae versae essent ad aquilonem, aliae ad austrum, ut pro varietate temporum frigoris et caloris coclique temperiem providerent » (Hier.); domus eburneae i. c. domus ebore (dente hebr. elephantis scil.) caelatae ; talem domum exstruxerat Achab 3 Reg. 22, 39. Simul cum palatiis regiis domus multae concident : rex et subditi interibunt ; urbs tota, palatia principum et domus privatorum ruinae tradentur (cf. 4 Reg. 171, 7). Anc. — Mulieres petulantes et lascivae, quae cum viris tn pauperum oppressione cooperantur, cum opprobrio in captivitatem abducentur. Omnes magno studio, quod cum ironia propheta describit, cultui illicito operam dant (4, 1 - 5). Frustra eos Deus afflixerat.fame, ariditate terrae, frugum perditione, peste, bello, multiplici vastatione ; nulla re ad poenitentiam sunt conversi : quare Israel novas et acerbiores poenas ab Omnipotente exspectet (4, 6 - 13). Augetur accusatio : a) quia ipsae mulieres in recti ordinis perversione magnam agere partem exhibentur ; b) quia tanto cum fervore cultui pravo se dant ; c) quia varios conatus, quibus Deus eos ad poenitentiam vocaverat, irritos reddiderunt. — Hisce propheta populi morumque conditionem magis magisque declarat et quantopere peccatis iam sint inveterati docet.
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The central theme of O., as of Am. 3:1 ff., is the covenant, ratified at Sinai, between Yahweh and Israel. …
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… O. (1-3) uses the image of marriage, perhaps derived from Ex. 20:5 (qannō' "jealous," from qn', which in the pi'el expresses the feeling of jealousy proper to a husband), and which will be taken up by the following prophets (Jer. 2; Ezek. 16, etc.; Song of Songs; but already Am. 3:2 yedha'ti). …
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… One who, by divine vocation, speaks in the place and in the name of God (Deut. 18:18 ff.; II Kings 3:9; Jer. 1:6, 9 ff.; Is. 52:6, etc.; cf. Ex. 7:1 ff.), communicating to men, to whom he is sent, whatever the Lord, by supernatural action, orders and reveals to him (Jer. 1:7 ff.; Am. 3:7 ff.; 7:14 ff.; Ez. 2-3; etc.): « nihil aliud esse prophetam Dei, nisi enuntiatorem verborum Dei hominibus » (St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept., 17: PL 34, 601).
3:8
… I strove to contain it, but without success (Jer. 20:7-9). It is the supernatural, powerful action of God that seizes the prophet; cf. Am. 3:8: "The lion roars, who is not frightened? …
3:15
… the excavations: thus, for example, the excavations of Tell el-Heleifi (v. ASIONGABER) near the Gulf of 'Aqabah show Solomon's efforts to create a commercial port for himself (I Kings 9:26); the ivory objects found in Samaria confirm I Kings 22:39 and Am. 3:15; 6:4; the letters of Lachish (18 documents, largely fragments, written on potsherds) illustrate certain accounts in the book of Jer. The archaeological confirmation of such secondary …
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.