The certainty of the desolation of Israel: the restoring of the tabernacle of David, and the conversion of the Gentiles to the church; which shall flourish for ever.
The great destruction of Ierusalem, 8. and dispersion of al the Iewes are againe prophecied: 11. with the conuersion of Gentils, and the Church of Christ shal greatly prosper.
1I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shook: for there is covetousness in the head of them all, and I will slay the last of them with the sword: there shall be no flight for them: they shall flee, and he that shall flee of them shall not be delivered.Io vidi il Signore, che stava sopra l'altare, e disse: Percuoti la soglia, e si scuoterà l'architrave; perocché tutti son dominati dall'avarizia, ed io farò perire di spada fino all'ultimo di essi: non avranno scampo: fuggiranno, e nissuno si salverà colla fuga.I SAW our Lord standing vpon the altar, and he sayd: Strike the henges, & let the lintels be moued: for there is auarice in the head of al, and the last of them wil I kil by the sword: there shal be no flight for them: they shal flee, and he shal not be saued that shal flee of them.Vidi Dominum stantem super altare, et dixit: Percute cardinem, / et commoveantur superliminaria: / avaritia enim in capite omnium, / et novissimum eorum in gladio interficiam; / non erit fuga eis. / Fugient, et non salvabitur ex eis qui fugerit. 2Though they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down.Quand'ei scendessero sino all'inferno, di là io li trarrò fuori colla mia mano, e se salissero fino al cielo, di lassù io li precipiterò.If they shal descend euen to hel, thence shal my hand bring them out: and if they shal a scend enen to heauen, thence wil I plucke them downe.Si descenderint usque ad infernum, / inde manus mea educet eos; / et si ascenderint usque in cælum, / inde detraham eos. 3And though they be hid in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them away from thence: and though they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there will I command the serpent and he shall bite them.E se si nasconderanno sulla cima del Carmelo, io n'anderò in traccia, e ne li farò venir fuori; e se agli occhi miei si celeranno nel fondo del mare, ivi ordinerò al dragone, che li morda.And if they shal be hid in the toppe of Carmel, thence searching wil I take them away: and if they shal hide themselues from mine eyes in the depth of the sea, there wil I command the serpent & he shal bite them.Et si absconditi fuerint in vertice Carmeli, / inde scrutans auferam eos; / et si celaverint se ab oculis meis in profundo maris, / ibi mandabo serpenti, et mordebit eos. 4And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall kill them. And I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.E quando saran condotti in ischiavitù innanzi a' loro nemici, ivi ordinerò alla spada, che gli uccida, e gli occhi miei terrò sopra di essi per loro male, e non per bene.And if they shal go into captiuitie before their enemies, there wil I command the sword, and it shal kil them. And I wil set mine eyes vpon them to euil, and not to good.Et si abierint in captivitatem coram inimicis suis, / ibi mandabo gladio, et occidet eos: / et ponam oculos meos super eos in malum, / et non in bonum.
5And the Lord the God of hosts is he who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up as a river, and shall run down as the river of Egypt.E il Signore egli è il Dio degli eserciti, al tocco di cui si strugge la terra: tutti gli abitatori di essa saranno in pianti: la soverchierà quasi un pieno fiume, ed ella sparirà come il rivo d'Egitto.And our Lord the God of hostes, which toucheth the earth, and it shal melt away: and al that dwel therein shal mourne: and it shal al rise as a riuer, and shal runne downe as the floud of Aegypt.Et Dominus Deus exercituum, qui tangit terram, et tabescet, / et lugebunt omnes habitantes in ea: / et ascendet sicut rivus omnis, / et defluet sicut fluvius Ægypti. 6He that buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.Egli si è fabbricato nel cielo il suo soglio, e ha fondato sopra la terra l'aggregato delle cose. Egli chiama le acque del mare, e le spande sulla superficie della terra; il suo nome egli è il Signore.He that buildeth in heauen his ascension, and hath founded his bundel vpon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and powreth them out vpon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name.Qui ædificat in cælo ascensionem suam, / et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit; / qui vocat aquas maris, / et effundit eas super faciem terræ: / Dominus nomen ejus. 7Are not you as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel, out of the land of Egypt: and the Philistines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene?Non siete voi per me, o figliuoli d'Israele, come i figliuoli degli Etiopi, dice il Signore? Non feci io uscir dalla terra d'Egitto Israele, come i Palestini dalla Cappadocia, e i Siri da Cirene?Why, are not you as the children of the Aethiopians vnto me, ô children of Israel, saith our Lord? Did not I make Israel to ascend out of the Land of Aegypt: and the Palesthins out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrenee?Numquid non ut filii Æthiopum / vos estis mihi, filii Israël ? ait Dominus. / Numquid non Israël ascendere feci de terra Ægypti, / et Palæstinos de Cappadocia, / et Syros de Cyrene ? 8Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord.Ma gli occhi del Signore Dio sono aperti sopra il regno, che pecca, ed io lo torrò dal mondo; ma non isperderò totalmente la casa di Giacobbe, dice il Signore;Behold the eyes of our Lord God vpon the sinning kingdom, & I wil destroy it from the face of the earth: but yet destroying I wil not destroy the house of Iacob, sayth our Lord.Ecce oculi Domini Dei super regnum peccans: / et conteram illud a facie terræ; / verumtamen conterens non conteram domum Jacob, / dicit Dominus.
9For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not a little stone fall to the ground.Perocché ecco, che al mio comando sarà scossa in mezzo a tutte le genti la casa d'Israele, come si scuote il grano nel vaglio, e non anderanne per terra un granellino.For behold I wil command, and wil shake the house of Israel in al nations, as wheate is shaken in a sieue: and there shal not a litle stone fal vpon the earth.Ecce enim mandabo ego, / et concutiam in omnibus gentibus domum Israël, / sicut concutitur triticum in cribro, / et non cadet lapillus super terram. 10All the sinners of my people shall fall by the sword: who say: The evils shall not approach, and shall not come upon us.Periranno di spada tutti i peccatori del popol mio, i quali dicono: Non ci si accosterà, né verrà male alcuno sopra di noi.Al the sinners of my people shal fal by the sword: which say: The euil shal not approch, & shal not come vpon vs.In gladio morientur omnes peccatores populi mei, / qui dicunt: Non appropinquabit, / et non veniet super nos malum. 11In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old.Io ristorerò in quel giorno il tabernacolo di Davidde, che è per terra, e rassetterò le aperture delle sue mura, e riparerò tutte le sue rovine, e la rimetterò in piedi, qual era ne' tempi antichi;In that day I wil rayse vp the tabernacle of Dauid, that was fallen: & I wil reedifie the breaches of the walles therof, and those thinges, that were fallen I wil repayre: and I wil reedifie him as in the dayes of old.In die illa suscitabo tabernaculum David, quod cecidit: / et reædificabo aperturas murorum ejus, / et ea quæ corruerant instaurabo: / et reædificabo illud sicut in diebus antiquis, 12That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them: saith the Lord that doth these things.Affinchè eglino siano padroni degli avanzi dell'Idumea, e di tutte le genti, perchè essi hanno nome da me, dice il Signore, che fa tali cose.That they may possesse the remnant of Idumea, and al nations, because that my name is inuocated vpon them: saith our Lord that doth these thinges.ut possideant reliquias Idumææ, et omnes nationes: / eo quod invocatum sit nomen meum super eos, / dicit Dominus faciens hæc. 13Behold the days come, saith the Lord, when the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and every hill shall be tilled.Ecco, che viene il tempo, dice il Signore, quando l'aratore verrà subito dietro a quello, che miete; e quello, che pigia le uve dietro al seminatore. I monti stilleranno dolcezza, e saran coltivati tutti i colli.Behold the dayes come, saith our Lord: and the plougher shal ouertake the reaper, & the treader of the grape him that soweth sede: and the mountaynes shal droppe sweetnes, and al hilles shal be tilled.Ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, / et comprehendet arator messorem, / et calcator uvæ mittentem semen: / et stillabunt montes dulcedinem, / et omnes colli culti erunt.
14And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the abandoned cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruits of them. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God.E torrò di schiavitù il mio popolo d'Israele, e riedificheranno le città abbandonate, e vi abiteranno; e pianteranno vigne, e ne beranno il vino, e faranno de' giardini, e ne mangeranno le frutta.And I wil conuert the captiuitie of my people Israel: and they shal build the desert cities, & inhabite: and shal plant vineyards, and drinke the wine of them: & shal make gardens, and eate the fruites of them. And I wil plant them vpon their owne ground: & I wil no more plucke them out of their land, which I haue geuen them, sayth our Lord thy God.Et convertam captivitatem populi mei Israël; / et ædificabunt civitates desertas, et inhabitabunt; / et plantabunt vineas, et bibent vinum earum, / et facient hortos, et comedent fructus eorum. 15Ed io li pianterò nella loro terra, e non gli schianterò mai più dalla loro terra data ad essi da me, dice il Signore Dio tuo.Et plantabo eos super humum suam, / et non evellam eos ultra de terra sua, quam dedi eis, / dicit Dominus Deus tuus.
9:1
St. Jerome
Altar, in Jerusalem, Amos 8:3., and 1:2. God is going to punish Israel, (Calmet) or the two tribes. (Chaldean) (St. Jerome)
Worthington
The ruin of the altar and temple, imply the abolishing of sacrifices during the captivity, at Babylon. (Worthington)
Calmet
But Amos speaks rather of Israel. (Calmet)
Haydock
Sword. The princes and people are all guilty. Septuagint, "strike or cut on the heads of all." (Haydock)
9:2
9:3
Top, in woods, or caverns.
Serpent. Fishes and sea monsters are so called.
9:5
Haydock
Grabe's edition has "its consummation (or utter ruin) shall rise up as a river." (Haydock)
9:6
Challoner
Ascension, or his high throne. (Challoner)
Calmet
Septuagint, "the ascent, and hath founded the declaration (Haydock) or promise upon," etc., which must be explained in a moral sense. (Calmet)
Worthington
Bundle. That is, his Church, bound up together by the bands of one faith and communion, (Challoner) which God will protect, and punish sinners. (Worthington)
Hebrew, "his apartments in heaven, and his assembly (or footstool) on earth."
Calmet
Sea, by floods, or rather by rain, Amos 5:8. (Calmet)
9:7
Haydock
Ethiopians. That is, as black as they, by your iniquities. (Challoner) Chus was father of the Scythians, Arabs, etc. Yet none of these nations were under the peculiar protection of God. The Israelites depended too much on this prerogative, (Calmet) which they deserved to lose by their sins. (Haydock)
Haydock
God brought them out of Egypt. But he also took the Philistines from Caphtor, (Calmet) and enabled them to settle in the country. (Haydock)
Calmet
Cappadocia. Cyprus, (Genesis 10:14.) or rather Crete, 1 Kings. (Calmet)
Calmet
Cyrene, (Symmachus) "wall," (Theodotion) or "pit." (Septuagint) Theglathphalassar took Aram or the people of Damascus into captivity. (Calmet)
Vatable
Their future return is represented as already past. (Vatable; Mercer.)
9:9
Ground, to be mixed with the good corn.
Calmet
Israel shall be purified in captivity. (Calmet)
Worthington
Though many perished, God still preserved his Church. (Worthington)
9:10
Calmet
Us. Such infidels delayed repentance, (Haydock) or laughed at the menaces of impending ruin, Amos 5:18. (Calmet)
9:11
Worthington
David. St. James, after St. Peter, explains this of the vocation of the Gentiles, Acts 15:15. (Worthington)
Calmet
After the fall of Israel, Juda still flourished: but this cannot be meant. The prosperity after the return from Babylon, or rather under Jesus Christ, must fulfil the prediction. Zorobalel had a very precarious authority, and the Machabees were not of the tribe of Juda, nor was their kingdom so flourishing or durable. (Calmet)
9:12
Calmet
Edom, subdued by Hircan, with the surrounding nations. The same letters may be read Adam, "man," as the Septuagint have, agreeably to Acts 15:17. (Calmet)
Haydock
"That the rest of men might seek the Lord, (Grabe substitutes me) and all the nations upon whom my," etc. Edom and all mankind shall receive the glad tidings of salvation. (Haydock)
9:13
Challoner
Shall overtake, etc. By this is meant the great abundance of spiritual blessings; which, as it were, by a constant succession, shall enrich the Church of Christ. (Challoner)
Houbigant
Munster, and his imitator, Clarius, see nothing but an allegory in this abundance and return, ver. 14. Yet the literal sense ought to be adopted, when it involves no contradiction. (Houbigant, pref. p. 297.)
Calmet
God promised a succession of crops to the faithful Israelites, (Leviticus 26:5.) and the return of the ten tribes is frequently specified. (Calmet)
9:6
9:7
As the children of the Ethiopians.... That is, as black as they, by your iniquities.
9:13
Shall overtake, etc.... By this is meant the great abundance of spiritual blessings; which, as it were, by a constant succession, shall enrich the church of Christ.
9:14
THE PROPHECY OF ABDIAS
ABDIAS, whose name is interpreted THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, is believed to have prophesied about the same time as OSEE, JOEL, and AMOS: though some of the Hebrews, who believe him to be the same with ACHAB’s steward, make him much more ancient. His prophecy is the shortest of any in number of words, but yields to none, says ST. JEROME, in the sublimity of mysteries. It contains but one chapter.
9:1
Destruction of the Altar,
and the Temple, importe the abolishing of sacrifice, vvhen the two tribes vvere caried into Babylon.
Psal. ••.
9:4
Concordance Iere. 44.
9:6
God who defendeth his Church as a strong bundel fast bond together, vvil punish the vvicked vvith iust afflictions.
9:8
Notvvithstanding the great ruine of the Ievves, slaine & ledde captiues, yet God in them conserued the Church that it vvas not destroyed.
9:11
S. Iames conformable to S. Peters doctrine, interpreteth this place of the conuersion of the Gentiles to Christ Act. 15. v. 15. &c.
Concordance Act. 15.
9:13
Concordance Ioel. 3.
9:3
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 2.8.3
… And elsewhere the prophet says, “I will draw out my holy sword upon the dragon the flying serpent, upon the dragon the crooked serpent, and will slay him.” And again he says: “Even though they hide from my eyes, and descend into the depths of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and it shall bite them.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 89.11
11. Lastly, what hast Thou done in the sea itself, to pacify its rage, and to weaken it? “Thou hast humbled the proud as one that is wounded” ( ver. 10 ). There is a certain proud serpent in the sea, of which another passage of Scripture speaks, “I will command the serpent, and he shall bite him;”
9:6
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 3.24
… Now surely he would not have mentioned the gate of heaven, if heaven is not entered in the dispensation of the Creator. But there is now a gate provided by Christ, which admits and conducts to glory . Of this Amos says: “He buildeth His ascensions into heaven;”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.34
… Amos, however, tells us of “those stories towards heaven”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 5.15
… “Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young ones, unto me?” Now, as Christ has prepared for us this ascension into heaven, He must be the Christ of whom Amos spoke: “It is He who builds His ascent up to the heavens,”
Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 10
… What powers do you set in order at the railings? If you have ever read in David, “Lift up your gates, ye princes, and let the everlasting gates be lifted up; and the King of glory shall enter in;” if you have also heard from Amos, “Who buildeth up to the heavens his way of ascent, and is such as to pour forth his abundance (of waters) over the earth;”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… Remember what is distinctly written in the Psalms, God is gone up with a shout ; remember that the divine powers also said to one another, Lift up your gates, ye Princes , and the rest; remember also the Psalm which says, He ascended on high, He led captivity captive ; remember the Prophet who said, Who buildeth His ascension unto heaven
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 30
… as again is the case with Lord, which also is called a name of God. I am the Lord Thy God, He says, that is My name; and, The Lord is His name.
9:7
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 8
… I mean, that whereas they were proud of their coming up from Egypt, and used to boast of it (which indeed the prophet also was hinting at, when he said, “Have I not brought up the strangers from Cappadocia, and the Assyrians from the pit”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11
… For this cause Isaiah also calls them, “rulers of Sodom,” and “people of Gomorrah;” and another prophet saith, “Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 55
… but when He saith, “Which was for to come,” He calls John, Elias, with regard to the manner of his administration. Yea, and so the prophets used to call every one of their approved kings, David; and the Jews, “rulers of Sodom,” and “sons of Ethiopians;”
9:11
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.12.14
… And thus do the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, among whom my name has been invoked, saith the Lord, doing these things.
St Methodius † AD 311 From the Discourse on the Resurrection, Part I 1
… For the term “resurrection” is not applied to that which has not fallen, but to that which has fallen and rises again; as when the prophet says, “I will also raise up again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Gospel of St. John 11
What then was the tabernacle in which He dwelt? Hear the Prophet say; “I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.28
… and I will raise up his ruins, and will build them up again as in the days of old: that the residue of men may inquire for me, and all the nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the Lord that doeth this.”
9:1
Vatablus adds that the zeal of idolaters is signified here, who constituted sanctity in the length of a journey, and therefore they made pilgrimage from one boundary of Judaea to another, namely from Dan to Beersheba, as if to say: The pilgrimage lives and flourishes which begins at Beersheba and ends at Dan. For in Dan and Beersheba, as it were in two boundaries of his kingdom, Jeroboam placed golden calves as tutelary gods of Israel. The Arabic version translates: They swear in the indulgence of Samaria, and say that thy God is God, and Beersheba. See here the insane zeal of idolatry, by which they not only pray well to an idol or temple, but also to the way itself, indeed they swear by it as by a divinity. THEY SHALL FALL (on account of this idolatry), AND SHALL NOT RISE UP ANY MORE, — as if to say: They shall fall utterly and irreparably and perish. Thus it came to pass: for the ten tribes, Samaria being cut off, were carried away into Assyria and never returned thence. This is a continuation of chapter VIII, pertaining to verse 14. 13. IN THAT DAY SHALL THE FAIR VIRGINS AND YOUNG MEN FAINT FOR THIRST, — as if to say: Not only spiritual but also corporeal hunger and thirst shall befall them: for by this the unmarried virgins shall waste away, as well as the young men, so that, with them destroyed, there is no hope of posterity, but the whole nation as it were perishes. Whence the Chaldean version translates: In that time the assembly of Israel shall suffer a fainting. Thus Theodoret, Albert, Lyra and Clarius. Mystically St. Jerome: "The virgins fail," he says, "because they shall not find the word of the Lord. From which we understand that when doctrine shall not be in the Church, chastity perishes, continence dies, virtues depart; because they had not eaten the word of the Lord, which he who eats, fattened by his food, shall hear through Solomon: The just eating shall satisfy his soul, but the souls of the wicked shall hunger," Proverbs, chapter XIII. 14. THEY THAT SWEAR BY THE SIN OF SAMARIA, as if to say: Therefore St. Jerome: "of harlots, and penance, and hairclothes all things are filled; and they have had baldness of head, which before, decorated with the hair of Nazarites, had nourished their hair to the Lord. Then the firstborn Son of God, the people Israel, who had laid hands on the only-begotten and truly Son of God, was delivered to eternal mourning. Now therefore to them having darkness, who had rejected the sun of justice, we who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death have seen a great light, and all their festival has been transferred to the mysteries of the Church." And after a few words: "They slept in the lap of the harlot Synagogue, and with the devil shearing them, they lost virtue with their hair, losing their eyes with their strength," like Samson. And below: "The law has been taken from them, and the Prophets have been silent with eternal silence: they are moved from sea to sea, and from the British Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean, that is from the West to the South, and from the North to the East, wandering pilgrims throughout the whole world, they are not able to find the word of God." And soon explaining the hunger of the word of God: "To whom," he says, "we understand the predicted hunger to be of spiritual understanding, in which Christ is discerned, the passion of the Lord and resurrection is found. They go around the world, and seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it; because they denied the Word of the Lord, which was made in the hands of all the Prophets, which in the beginning was with the Father, which was made flesh, and dwelt in us." Amos sees God standing upon the altar, and commanding an angel that, the hinge being struck, he overturn it, on account of the avarice and crimes of the people, whom he asserts he will search out and destroy, even if he should hide himself in heaven, the abyss, or hell. Secondly, verse 7, he compares the Israelites to the Ethiopians, Syrians and Palestinians, both in guilt and in the punishment of destruction and dispersion. Thirdly, verse 11, he promises that he will restore them through Christ, and will give abundance of grain and wine, so that the mountains shall drip with sweetness. 1. I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinges, and let the lintels be shaken; for avarice is in the head of all, and their last end I will slay with the sword: there shall be no flight for them. They shall flee, and there shall not be saved of them that fleeth. 2. If they go down even to hell, thence shall my hand bring them out: and if they climb up even to heaven, thence will I bring them down. 3. And if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, I will search them out thence and take them: and if they hide themselves from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them. 4. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. 5. And the Lord God of hosts, who toucheth the earth, and it shall melt: and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it shall rise up wholly like a river, and shall be cast down like the river of Egypt. 6. Who buildeth his ascension in heaven, and hath founded his bundle upon the earth: who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth, the Lord is his name. 7. Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children of Israel, saith the Lord? did not I bring up Israel out of the land of Egypt: and the Palestines out of Cappadocia, and the Syrians out of Cyrene? 8. Behold the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth: yet so that I shall not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord. 9. For behold I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, as corn is sifted in a sieve: and there shall not the least grain fall upon the earth. 10. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say: Evil shall not come upon us, and shall not approach us. 11. In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen: and I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof, and repair what was fallen: and I will rebuild it as in the days of old. 12. That they may possess the remnants of Edom, and all nations, because my name is called upon them, saith the Lord that doth these things. 13. Behold the days come, saith the Lord: and the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed: and the mountains shall drop sweetness, and all the hills shall be tilled. 14. And I will bring back the captivity of my people Israel: and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them: and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine of them: and shall make gardens, and eat the fruit of them. 15. And I will plant them upon their own land: and I will no more pluck them out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God. (1) This is the third and last vision by which the book of the prophets Amos is concluded. First, under the sign of the striking of the pillars of the temple, he relates the decree concerning the ruin and destruction of the Israelites, in no way to be averted, 1: first, on account of God's persecution pressing upon them everywhere, which he proves by an enumeration of places to which one might flee, 2-4; second, on account of his supreme power over all things, 5, 6. Second, since the Israelites were exceedingly pleased with themselves, and endowed with great confidence and security, they boasted that they were a people dear to God; first, lest they think themselves to be of any value with God; he declares he does not regard them more highly than the Ethiopians, Palestines, Syrians, to whom eternal possession of that land has not been granted, 7; nevertheless, he adds a promise that, if from the root of justice... he shall decree to destroy sinners and the hardened, yet he will save the just and the penitent, 8. Third, he promises the future propagation of the Church through Christ, first, the raising up and restoration; second, the diffusion into all the earth, 12; third, the fruitfulness and abundance of spiritual gifts in this life and the next, 13-15. 1. I SAW THE LORD STANDING UPON THE ALTAR. — St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugh, Lyra, Arias, Vatablus and Ribera hold that Amos here prophesies the destruction of the two tribes and the temple of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. They prove it because its restoration, which was made by Ezra and Nehemiah, is promised in verse 11. The Chaldean Paraphrase favors this, which not word for word, but paraphrastically thus renders it: I saw the glory of the Lord ascending from the Cherub, who dwelt upon the altar; unless the people of the house of Israel turn to the law, the candlestick shall be extinguished, King Josiah shall be slain, and the house of God, namely the temple, shall be destroyed, and the courts shall be scattered, and the vessels of the house of the sanctuary shall go into captivity. It is more probable what Rufinus, Clarius and a Castro hold, that the Prophet here continues to prophesy against the ten tribes, and consequently here predicts the destruction of the altar and idolatrous temple which they themselves had erected for themselves in Bethel. This is proved first, because Amos was properly sent to the ten tribes in Bethel, as is evident from cap. VII, 13; secondly, because in cap. VIII, he acted against the ten tribes: therefore also in this cap. IX: for there is nothing which signifies that he turns his discourse from the ten tribes to two, rather that he continues his discourse to the ten tribes, is evident from vers. 5, which is the same as vers. 8 of cap. VIII; thirdly, because in vers. 8 and 9, he says he speaks of the house of Jacob and Israel: thus however after the schism of Jeroboam the ten tribes are called, not two, especially because he adds: "I will shake the house of Israel among all nations." This however is true of the ten tribes, not of two. For the ten were led away into Assyria, Media and Persia, thence scattered throughout all nations, as Josephus testifies: but the two led away into Babylon, remained there, and thence after seventy years under Cyrus were brought back into Judea. To the argument of the former opinion I respond in vers. 11. You will ask, how did Amos see these things, with the eyes of the body, or of the mind? Albert, Arias and Eusebius, lib. I De Demonstrat. cap. XVIII, hold that it was a corporeal vision, and therefore hold that an angel in an assumed body actually shook the hinges of the temple, and that the Prophet saw this with corporeal eyes. It is more true that this vision was imaginary, not corporeal, both because such were commonly the visions of the Prophets; and because if this vision pertains to the temple of Jerusalem, as many wish, Amos could not have seen it with corporeal eyes, inasmuch as he was far from it, and was acting in Bethel; and because it is not credible that God here assumed a human body, and was seen in it by Amos, especially since He did not do this to Isaiah in cap. VI, 1, where Isaiah was seen by the eyes of the mind, not of the body, sitting upon a lofty throne; nor to Ezekiel 1, 26, where Ezekiel was seen likewise by the eyes of the mind sitting upon the chariot of the Cherubim. Certainly if God had wished to be seen with corporeal eyes, He would rather have granted this to Isaiah and Ezekiel, whose visions were most august, than to Amos the rustic prophet. Upon the altar,—either of incense, which was in the Holy of Holies, where were the seats and throne of God, as Arias wishes; or of holocausts, which was in the court before the Holy Place, as Lyranus and Vatablus wish. For the Samaritans, rivals of the Jews, erected a temple similar to the one in Jerusalem, and consequently a similar court, Holy Place and Holy of Holies and similar altars of incense and holocausts in Samaria, Dan and Bethel. Moreover, that the altar of Bethel rather than of Dan or Samaria is here treated, is clear from the fact that Amos was prophesying in Bethel, as a place most sacred to the Samaritans, both because the patriarch Jacob had sacrificed in the same place, and had seen God leaning upon a ladder, and therefore had called the place Bethel, that is the house of God; then because Jeroboam the first king of Israel, the author of the schism and new religion, in Bethel not only dedicated an altar to golden calves, but also himself with his own hand performed the office of priest in the same place and burned incense, as is evident from III Reg. cap. XII, 33; then because the successors of Jacob and Jeroboam, rivals and followers, the kings of Israel, sacrificing in Bethel, established there as it were the common temple of their kingdom, whence by them Bethel was called, "the sanctification of the king, and the house of the kingdom," as I said in cap. VII, 13. In Bethel therefore, as in the public idol of Israel, God was seen by the Prophet standing as an avenger over the temple and altar, and commanding it to be destroyed, together with the idolatry and idolatrous kingdom of Israel. Whence it was fittingly seen here that God stood, as if pressing on the work, namely the subversion of the altar and temple. AND HE SAID (the Lord, or the prophet Amos, as St. Jerome and Remigius think, or rather to an angel assisting him, as it were the administrator of his will and work, as the same St. Jerome, Remigius, Rufinus, Theodoret and others judge. For God is accustomed to avenge and punish his enemies through an angel. Therefore he said to the angel): STRIKE THE HINGE, — namely of the temple, so that by this symbolic and imaginary striking presented to the mind of Amos, you might represent and signify that the Assyrians would convulse and overturn the temple from its hinge and from its lowest foundations, together with its impious worship and its Israelite worshippers. Thus St. Jerome, Emmanuel, Mariana, and others already cited. Whence the Septuagint translates: Strike the mercy seat; the Arabic of Antioch: Strike the pavement; the Arabic of Alexandria: Strike the Rational of the high priest. In Hebrew it is: Strike הכפתור haccaphtor, which the Zurich Bible translates as threshold; Pagninus and Vatablus, the lintel, namely of the temple gate. Properly caphtor signifies an apple (as the Syriac translates it) and a sphere: and because these were accustomed to be carved on thresholds, hence it signifies a threshold. Our translator here renders it "hinge," not threshold or lintel, because it is distinguished from it. For it follows: "And the lintels shall be shaken," for these cannot be shaken unless the hinge is shaken equally as the threshold, upon which they rest as it were from above. Therefore the hinge is called caphtor, because it has the shape of a sphere, and because its pivot is covered. For the root כפר caphar signifies to cover, to wrap, to conceal. God therefore commands the angel to strike both the threshold of the temple gate and the hinge of the threshold in which the door turned, that is was opened and closed, so that he might signify the gate of the temple, the temple itself, and those entering into it to be struck and overturned by the Assyrians. For the hinge is the base and fulcrum of the thing which it sustains: whence the hinge is said to be as it were the heart of the door, by which namely it is moved, as Servius says on that passage of the Aeneid I: The hinge creaked on brazen doors. Hence the Romans worshipped the goddess Cardina, who presided over hinges. Thus Seneca in the Hippolytus says to Jupiter: "And you turn the pole with swift hinge." More truly St. Anna, mother of Samuel, I Kings chapter II, 8: "The hinges of the earth," she says, "are the Lord's." And the Wise Man, Proverbs chapter VIII, 26: "When as yet he had not made the earth, and the rivers, and the hinges of the world." Moreover in the hinge are noted the creaking and horror of the temple convulsed and falling, according to that passage of Statius, Thebaid I: The winds clashing crosswise / Wrench the axle from its displaced hinge. And Virgil, Aeneid VI: Then at last with horrible creaking hinge the sacred / Gates are opened. Thus in the passion of Christ the whole earth shaken with a universal earthquake, and convulsed from its hinges, Didymus in the Catena of the Greeks on Job, chapter IX, and others judge. In like manner many judge that the whole world on the day of judgment is to be shaken and wrenched from its hinges, and that this is signified by those words of Christ, Matthew chapter XXIV, 29: "And the powers of the heavens shall be moved." And Job, chapter IX, 6: "He that shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble." See the remarks on Apocalypse chapter VI, at the end. AND THE LINTELS SHALL BE SHAKEN. — The Syriac: thresholds; in Hebrew ספים sippim, which David and from him Pagninus translates: And the posts shall tremble; the Zurich Bible: And the posts shall be shaken, namely the lateral ones, which architects call antae. But it comes to the same sense: for when the threshold and hinge are shaken and convulsed by the angel, it was necessary that both the posts and the lintels, which rested upon the posts, be shaken and moved, indeed fall. For the ruin of the gate and temple is signified here. Whence the Arabic translates: The outer gates shall be shaken. For the angel shook the hinges and gate so forcefully that the whole wall, and consequently the whole temple resting upon it, seemed about to fall. Arias and Eusebius, book I On the Demonstration chapter XVIII, judge that these things were actually accomplished, and that this was a real earthquake, and that it was the one which Amos mentions in chapter I, 1, where he counts and marks the year of his prophecy from it. But from what has been said it is clear that this shaking was different from that earthquake: for that one was real; but this one was imaginary. AVARICE (Syriac, deceit) ON THE HEAD OF ALL. — He assigns avarice as the cause of the destruction of the temple, the city, and all of Israel. For avarice in Hebrew is בצעם betsaam, that is, their avarice. For the root בצע batsa properly signifies to harm and to wound. For the Hebrews call usury and avarice a wound: because like a sword it wounds a man, and sucks out his blood. In like manner, they call usury נשך nescech, that is, a bite, because it bites and harms one's neighbor: just as the Latins call interest fænus as if it were funus (death). Hence secondly, the Septuagint, taking the Hebrew betsaam not as a noun, but as a verb in the imperative mood, translate: Cut up on the heads of all. Cut up, namely both by the sword of the enemy, and by fragments of doorposts and lintels flying apart from the blow of the angel; whence others read, scatter, as if to say, Scatter the flying fragments of doorposts on their heads, and cut them up with them. Wherefore the Zurich Bible translates: Inflict a wound on the heads of all; Arias takes it as a noun, but translates in like manner: Their cutting up on the head of all; Thirdly, Vatablus, taking betsaam as a verb in the past tense, translates: He cut them (namely those who are) into fragments on the head of all, that is, those who preside over all others. This pertains to the priests and magistrates: for God, or the angel in God's stead, will cut these up: for God, or the angel, speaks of himself in the third person. Hence Pagninus, for betsaam reading in Benoni בוצעם botseam, translates in the first person: I will cut them into fragments, on the head of all of them. This sense is subordinated to the former in this way, as if to say, Because they themselves by their avarice, namely by their usuries and frauds, have wounded and cut up the poor, therefore they themselves in turn will be wounded and cut up by enemies. Hence some translate: Avarice on the heads of all, namely will cut them off, and will exact deserved punishments from them: which translation agrees very well with the words preceding and following. Whence the Arabic translates: Strike the head of each one, and the rest of them will be killed by the sword. Moreover, avarice is said to be "on the head of all," because it dominates all, possesses all: for all direct their head, senses, and all their cares toward it, so that they may enrich themselves with unjust gains, according to that in Jeremiah, chapter VI, 13: "From the least even to the greatest all study covetousness." For the avaricious man is called as if avid, because he eagerly desires immense riches. Whence P. Nigidius in Gellius, book X, chapter V: "The avaricious man," he says, "is called one who is greedy for money; but in that coupling, the letter E has been worn away." Likewise he says "the wealthy man is said to be called one who holds many places, that is, who possesses many properties." Thus in Lamentations I, 5, it is said: "His enemies have become his head," that is, enemies have dominated Jerusalem. Avarice therefore is "on the head," not on the heel; because it occupies the imagination and mind, and thus is fixed in him so that it can scarcely be torn away; because it holds the citadel of the mind, and from there, as it were a queen, nay as it were a goddess, it commands all thoughts, senses, powers, limbs and actions as if they were slaves, and compels them to serve it, to spread its kingdom, to seize gains everywhere, to heap up riches without limit. Hence again it itself is "on the head," that is, it is capital, and as it were the head of the avaricious man, dominating him in all things, just as the head dominates the whole body. Wherefore St. Paul calls avarice the servitude of idols, that is, idolatry, Ephesians chapter V, 5. For the avaricious man bears in his mind an idol which he adores, namely money and Plutus. This idol is to him a divinity and god, to whom he submits himself and enslaves himself entirely. Thus we see that the avaricious dream of nothing, think of nothing, speak of nothing, handle nothing except gains, except "bring, bring," Proverbs chapter XXX, 15. Is not therefore avarice on the head of the avaricious man? Secondly, Lyra: Avarice, he says, is on the head, that is, in kings, leaders and priests of the people. For how much these were devoted to avarice is evident both from the Prophets and from Christ, Matthew chapter XV, 5, and chapter XXIII, 14 and 23, who sharply accuse their avarice. Thus also we see modern Jews all devoted to usuries and gains. Moreover, that the avarice of priests is properly censured here is evident from verse 1: "I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinge." He notes the source of all evil, namely avarice, and the frauds and deceits flowing from it. For, as the Apostle says in I Timothy, chapter VI, 10: "The root of all evils is covetousness." Whence the Wise Man, Ecclesiasticus, chapter X, 9: "There is nothing more wicked than the avaricious man." Moreover, this avarice flowed from the highest to the lowest; just as the vices of princes and prelates flow to their subjects. In a similar manner, Blessed Peter Damian, book II, epistle 2, to the Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church, and St. Bernard, On Consideration, to Pope Eugenius, and in his Declamations, teach that all evils of the Church proceed from avarice, and that this is greatly fostered and increased by the covetousness of Ecclesiastics and Prelates. And I have seen this to be true as clear as day, when I was working in the provinces beyond the Alps. For what layman would believe a Pastor preaching from the Gospel that earthly goods are to be despised and heavenly things to be desired, if he sees those same earthly goods so eagerly sought after, so diligently gathered and preserved by that same Pastor and other Prelates? With what face would a Prelate dare to exhort his people to liberality and almsgiving, if he himself hoards his own wealth avariciously and is harsh and merciless toward the poor? Who would not covet riches, lands, and offices to be gathered together, if he sees Ecclesiastics wholly intent upon accumulating benefices, pensions, revenues, houses, and lands?
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You are a cleric; why do you seek your portion not in heaven but on earth? With what shameless and lying face do you say daily to God, who sees your avaricious heart and your yearning for the earth: "The Lord is the portion of my inheritance and of my cup; it is thou that wilt restore my inheritance to me?" Will not a layman justly object to an Ecclesiastic: God willed that the Levites have their portion and inheritance in Him, but He distributed the earth among the laity, namely among the other eleven tribes. Therefore the earth is ours; you seek heaven and God: it is for us to labor that we may acquire riches by which to feed ourselves, our wives, our sons, our daughters, our servants and handmaids; you who are alone, whose God is your portion, and that portion sufficient and generous, why do you always desire more? Why do you strive to enrich so greatly your nephews and relatives from the patrimony of Christ? Do you thus take away the sacred things of the Church and distribute them to laymen related to you, as an unfaithful and carnal steward of the Lord? Is this not theft, indeed sacrilege? says St. Bernard.
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St. Urban, Pontiff and martyr, once decreed in the year of our Lord 233, who instructed St. Cecilia and many others, and encouraged them to martyrdom, that the goods of the Church should not be spent for the use of laymen, and this under grave penalty: "Because," he said, "these goods are the offerings of the faithful, the price of sins, and the patrimony of the poor," as is found in cap. XVII, Question IV, cap. Attendendum. Other Pontiffs decreed the same. Whence St. Jerome to Pammachius: "It is," he said, "part of sacrilege to give the property of the poor to those who are not poor." For the property of the poor is the property and goods of Christ crucified. Wherefore all doctors hold it to be mortal sin, if any clergyman should leave the riches which he has received from his benefice to lay relatives, and enrich them thereby. Why then do you, says the wise Doctor, immoderately accumulate benefice upon benefice, pension upon pension, and thus defraud the Church of its ministers, so that it has few, and those unworthy? Why do you devour the patrimony of the poor, so that you may enrich your friends? Are you so mad as to wish to damn your soul for the sake of friends, and to deliver yourself to the eternal fires of hell? Fool, this night the demons will demand your soul from you, and whose shall be the things you have prepared? The friends whom you have enriched will not free you from hell: rather they will repay you with mockery and curses in hell, because through your riches you were the cause of their luxury, their crimes, and thereby their damnation. Awake, Prelates, open your eyes, Ecclesiastics. Let not the foolish love of relatives infatuate you, so that you may not groan too late in eternity, and say: Alas, how foolish I was, how senseless, who sold, killed, and lost my soul not for myself, but for enriching another! Alas for me! My nephews, my relatives have dragged me to the depths. "A brother doth not redeem, shall man redeem? he shall not give to God his ransom." No one will deceive God with his petty reasonings. The greater you are, the greater scandal you give: the more powerful you are, the more powerfully will you suffer torments: because you have possessed the sanctuary of God as an inheritance; nay, you have caused it that the nations, that the laity should come into the inheritance of God, and possess his sanctuary as an inheritance: and therefore you have turned away both Catholics and heretics from the faith and salvation, and have caused them to blaspheme the holy name of Christ and of his Christian Church. Behold from on high your spouse, O Christ! cleanse this stain from her garment, nay from yours. Would that I might wash it away with my own blood! How willingly would I fall, so that she might be restored to her heavenly brightness and beauty! Send from heaven an angel who might again strike the hinges of the temple. Send a new Jeremiah who might again thunder forth that passage, chapter VI, verse 12: "I will stretch forth my hand upon the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord. For from the least even to the greatest, all are given to covetousness: and from the prophet even to the priest, all deal deceitfully." Morally, learn how great an evil avarice is, which, since it dominates all things, wounds all, and often inflicts a lethal wound both on the soul of the avaricious man and on the body of his neighbor. Sabellicus relates, book VII, Ennead IX, that a Caliph of the Mahometans, the pontiff, perished of hunger while wallowing among heaps of gold. For when the brother of Halao, king of the Tartars, had seized Babylon and slaughtered all the people, the Caliph, who had amassed a great treasure, was captured, placed upon a heap of his gold, and kept for many days, and was consumed by starvation, or rather by precious hunger. Thus too Suetonius writes of the Emperor Caligula, most greedy of money, accustomed to wallow among immense treasures of gold, in his Life, chapter XLII, who did not long enjoy them, but shortly after perished by a miserable death. The symbol of avarice is the serpent called in Greek δίψας (dipsas), which by its bite excites an unquenchable thirst. The dipsas, says Lucian in his book On the Dipsas, is a serpent not very large, resembling a viper, with a violent bite and thick venom, which induces intolerable pains. For it sends forth unquenchable burnings, and putrefactions, and burns the whole body with fire. Moreover, those who have been bitten by it cry out just as those who have been cast into fire: the more they drink, the more they thirst; nor will you quench their thirst, even if you should provide the whole Nile or Danube to be drunk. Thus also Aelian, book VI, On Animals, chapter II. The dipsas is avarice, which with its insatiable thirst for riches, and with cares, sorrows, dangers and slaughters, sets the avaricious on fire. For: The love of money grows as much as money itself grows. "Avarice is far more violent when placed in the accumulation of great wealth, just as the force of flames is infinitely more intense the greater the fire from which it bursts forth," says Seneca, book II On Benefits, chapter XXVII. Such were the Ameans, who were persuaded by an oracle that they would lose their country's land if they gave away any portion, as Plutarch says in Greek Questions, chapter XIV. And those of whom Arnobius speaks, book II Against the Gentiles: "They practice," he says, "greedy and most unjust usury, and from the blood of the wretched they increase themselves in madness: they always extend the boundaries of their possessions by thousands, and although they make entire provinces into a single estate, for one tree, for one furrow they wear out the forum with lawsuits: with friends and brothers they undertake implacable enmities." Truly Cyprian, epistle 2: "Nor does the wretched miser understand," he says, "that splendid torments are his, that he is bound by gold, that he is possessed more than he possesses riches and wealth. O detestable blindness of minds, and insane deep darkness of greed! When he could unburden and lighten himself of weights, he continues rather to lie upon fortunes that increase, he continues stubbornly to cling to heaps."
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Wherefore all the Fathers vigorously attack avarice and the avaricious, and especially St. Augustine, whose axioms concerning it are these. First: Avarice commands harsher things than Christ. "What do you wish," he says, "in Psalm XII, 8, to be possessed by avarice? It commands hard things, I command light things: its burden is heavy, my burden is light. Avarice commands you to cross the sea, and you obey. It commands you to entrust yourself to winds and storms. I command you to give to the poor from what you have before your door. You are sluggish in doing a good work before you, and you are vigorous in crossing the sea; because avarice commands slaves; because God commands, you hate it." Second, in Psalm XXX, discourse 3: "I say to the avaricious man, why do you invoke God, that he might give you profit. You invoke profit, therefore, not God. You make God the minister of your profit. God has become cheap to you. If God should come to you without gold and silver, you do not wish him. What then suffices you of those things which God made, to whom God himself does not suffice?" Third, in Psalm XXXVIII: "See, O avaricious man, lest perhaps while you gather, you be gathered; lest perhaps while you wish to be the plunderer of the lesser, you be the plunder of the greater. For you do not feel that you are in the sea, nor do you perceive that smaller fish are devoured by larger ones. Tell me, you treasure up, for whom will you gather it? You will say: For my sons I keep it. This is the voice of piety, the excuse of iniquity. You keep for those who will pass away what will pass away, or rather you yourself passing away keep it for those passing away. Do you know that he will possess it for whom you keep it, or if he is not yet born, do you know he will be born? You keep for sons, it is uncertain whether they will be future or will possess it: nor do you place the treasure where it should be placed: Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven." Fourth, in Psalm CXXXVII: "To the avaricious even fertility itself (of children, which is happier for others) is troublesome. For they fear lest they leave behind the poor, who could have been born in great numbers." Fifth, The Author of the sermon to the Brethren in the desert, which is found in volume X of St. Augustine, sermon 48: "O man," he says, "do you not know that avarice is the root of all evils, and slavery to idolatry, the mother of usury, the begetter of simony, the fuel of guilt, the way to eternal punishment, the nurse of hell? O avarice, insatiable abyss! All vices grow old in man, avarice alone grows young." Then he adds how foolish it is to treasure up for sons or grandsons, whom you abandon in death: "O admirable faithlessness! Behold the beloved husband is left by his beloved wife, the son is cast out by his mother, and the father by his sons, and sons by their father are buried under the earth. He alone is sent away, and each returns to his own, and soon forgotten like one dead from the heart." And at the end: "Remember your last things, because you were conceived in guilt, born in punishment, living in misery, and necessarily you will die in anguish." Sixth, book On the Conflict of Virtues and Vices, chapter XVI: "The disease of avarice is never better restrained than when one meditates on the day of death without end, when one considers what kind of man he will be in the grave after a short time. This certainly remained fixed in the heart of him (St. Job chapter XV) who said: Man is rottenness, and the son of man is a worm. Naked I came forth from the womb of my mother, and naked shall I return thither." And the Apostle: "We brought nothing into this world, but neither can we carry anything out." Seventh, book On Saving Doctrine, XXX: "The avaricious man is like hell. For hell, however many it has devoured, never says: It is enough; so also, even if all treasures have flowed into the avaricious man, he will never be satisfied." These are axioms of St. Ambrose concerning avarice. First, in book I on Luke, near the end: "It is the rust of the mind, when the eyes of religious intention are covered over with the filth of worldly desires, or the purity of faith is discolored by the cloud of perfidy." Second, in book II of the Duties, chapter XXI: "Avarice is as it were a certain dryness of good works." Third, in a sermon on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, he teaches that the avaricious man is like one who is mad, and that he always thinks of gold, converts all things into gold, and looks upon gold more pleasantly than upon the sun. Whence he concludes: "Let us beware the example of that rich man, who while he shuts up his present riches and takes care about future ones, is equally swept away by riches and by life, and is dragged to a horrible tribunal, in which his accuser indeed stands by him—that very avarice which was the companion of his whole life; but no defender and intercessor appears anywhere." Fourth, sermon 13: "Whoever desires money loses faith: whoever pursues gold squanders grace. For avarice is blindness, it brings in the error of religion. Blind, I say, is avarice, but cunning in various frauds: it does not see the things of divinity, but thinks of the things of desire." Fifth, in Psalm XXXVIII: "Faith fights for God, avarice for the tempter" (the devil). Sixth, book I of the Duties, chapter XLIX: "Often what the avaricious man has gathered together with the utmost care, a luxurious heir squanders with headlong waste, and what was sought for a long time, a base glutton, blind to the present and improvident of the future, absorbs in a certain abyss."
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To pass over others, St. Isidore of Pelusium, a disciple of St. Chrysostom, abbot of the monks of Mount Pelusium in Egypt, illustrious in doctrine and sanctity, under Theodosius the Younger, in the year of the Lord 440, in epistle 233, teaches most excellently how great a wound avarice inflicts upon the head and upon the whole man, in that it almost mutilates him and cuts him off from eyes, ears, feet, etc. First indeed he compares it graphically to the hydra, which has an insatiable belly, and to Briareus armed with a hundred hands, and to Scylla, which devours all things: "Then to a woman, he says, endowed with a bestial form, and breathing fire, and having six hundred vipers in place of hair on her head, perpetually hissing and vomiting deadly poison; and likewise six hundred hands abounding in claws, whose works lacerate some, strike others with arrows, extort money from still others. And finally six hundred mouths. For she not only threatens and constructs calumnies; but also flatters, and addresses in a servile manner, and perjures herself, and for the sake of base gain devises innumerable occasions." Soon after he depicts her eyes: "She has eyes, not seeing as nature would have it, or fearing anyone, not a friend, not a brother, not a kinsman, not a benefactor; but rather something harsh and sharp, and cruel and inhuman, and fiery." A little later he describes her ears and feet thus: "She has ears so blocked and stopped up that she hears neither suppliant prayers, nor groans, nor weeping, nor reproaches. So far is she from having wings (which would signify satiety) that no sensible man could even grant her feet. For she cannot walk, and depart from him who is captured by her; but sending her hands upon all, heavier than any iron and lead, she sits upon him, so that she may receive all and plunder everyone, yet never be satisfied; but rather the multitude of what she receives becomes matter for fuel and incitement, and the end of things received becomes the beginning of things to be received." Whence he concludes: "Who therefore would be seized by such a fierce and insatiable rage, and by innumerable sins and curses, and disgraces, and intemperances and petulances kindled upon us? Who would bring himself to live miserably in this life, so that day and night he is lacerated as by certain scourges, and feels no rest or sleep; and in the future to receive the beginning of punishments and torments. But why do I say beginning? For she torments and racks those whom she has seized more cruelly than any tyrant, and indeed inflicts upon them a heavier punishment than those suffer who are condemned to the mines; for to them, when their work is finished, it is permitted to enjoy sleep and rest; but to these, blocking that harbor of sleep as if with heaped-up earth, she also proposes those savage and inhuman decrees at night. She is therefore a beast of the earth, breathing fire, captured by eyes and ears, accursed, hateful to God, implacable and cruel. AND I SHALL SLAY THEIR LAST IN THE SWORD. — "Last," that is the final, or the most abject and vile, as if to say I shall slay all the Israelites even to the last and most vile with the sword. For he speaks of the infinite multitude which in Samaria, or, as others wish, in besieged Jerusalem, and shortly to be taken by storm, was to be slaughtered. It is a hyperbole: all, that is most of all; for it is certain that some escaped and were survivors of the slaughter; but these in comparison with the slain were very few. 2. IF THEY SHALL GO DOWN EVEN TO HELL, FROM THENCE SHALL MY HAND BRING THEM OUT. — For "shall go down" the Hebrew is יחתרו iachteru, which the Septuagint renders passively: If they shall be dug in hell; Pagninus and Vatablus render it actively: If they shall dig in hell, that is to say, If the Israelites shall dig a trench or pit in hell, so that they might hide themselves from my sight, from thence I shall draw them out to punishment. Similarly: "If they shall ascend even to heaven, from thence I shall bring them down." It is a hyperbole: for by the pit of hell he means a pit so deep that it seems to descend even to hell; by heaven he understands the highest mountains, which by their summit seem to touch heaven. Thus St. Jerome, the Chaldean Paraphrase, Lyra and Arias. Or certainly he takes heaven and hell properly, that is to say, If it were possible that they should descend into hell, or ascend into heaven, from thence nevertheless through the Assyrians I shall bring them down. Thus Vatablus. In a similar manner St. Job describes the immensity and omnipotence of God, which no one can escape, in chapter XI, 8: "It is, he says, higher than heaven, and what canst thou do? deeper than hell, and how canst thou know it? The measure of it is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." And the Psalmist, Psalm CXXXVIII, 8: "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present: if I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there also thy hand shall lead me." Thus with his hand he shuts in men and all creatures, he who with three fingers weighs the mass of the earth, and weighs the mountains in a balance.
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3. AND IF THEY BE HID IN THE TOP OF CARMEL. — There were two mounts called Carmel, one in Judæa, where Nabal and David dwelt, I Kings XXV, 2; another in Israel, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, where Elias, Elisæus and the sons of the Prophets dwelt and hid, fleeing from the face of Jezabel. It appears that the latter is here spoken of, because mention is made here of the sea, and because Amos prophesies in Israel and against Israel. AND IF THEY HIDE (that is, shall attempt to hide; for truly no one can hide) THEMSELVES FROM MY EYES IN THE DEPTH OF THE SEA (in the islands of the Mediterranean Sea), THERE WILL I COMMAND THE SERPENT, — that is, to fierce and serpentine men, to slay them, says the Chaldee and Arias. Thus when Attila, king of the Huns, was laying waste Italy, and had plundered Aquileia, Ticino and Milan, and was proceeding to attack Rome, which he would certainly have taken had not St. Leo met him and turned him aside, many from Italy, in order to escape the hands of the Huns, fled to the sea, namely to islands and estuaries inaccessible to the barbarians, and there founded a city of the newcomers, namely of the Venetians, in the year of the Lord 452, which was the 13th year of Leo the Pontiff, the 28th of the Emperor Valentinian, the 3rd of Marcian. And this is the noble origin of the city and republic of Venice. Thus Baronius, in the year of Christ 452. Secondly, more simply St. Jerome, Theodoret, Albert and others properly understand here the depth of the sea as the very bottom of the sea, as Vatablus renders it. Wherefore Pagninus translates: in the pavement of the sea; for this is what קרקע karka properly signifies in Hebrew, namely pavement, bottom, ground: for it is derived by metathesis from the root רקע raka, that is, he made firm, he extended, he solidified. Whence rakia is called the firmament. Therefore the Septuagint renders: If they be sunk from my eyes into the foundations of the sea, as if to say, Even if they sink into the bottom of the sea, that they may hide themselves there from my eyes and my wrath, yet I shall see them there. It is a hyperbole. THERE WILL I COMMAND THE SERPENT. — The Septuagint says the dragon, that is, some great and horrible fish, for example a whale, to bite and devour him: "I will command," that is, I will give to it this instinct and this impulse to bite and devour; for brute beasts follow this instinct of impulse as a law of nature implanted in them by God. Thus God gave the whale the instinct to swallow Jonas, cap. II, 1, to which St. Jerome thinks there is an allusion here. In a similar way God is said to command the plague, famine, the sword, when he sends them forth and inflicts them upon provinces or cities. Tropologically St. Gregory, in Psalm. VII Penitent.: "What is it," says he, "to hide in the depth of the sea, but to lurk in the height of despair? Now he hides himself who does not confess his sins; but he does not confess who despairs of the mercy of God: or certainly he hides himself from the eyes of God who turns away from his commandments. For the eyes of the Lord are the spirit of God, who gave the law, that is, the commandments. Whosoever therefore shall hide themselves from the eyes of God in the depth of despair, the devil receives power to bite them, and to bring them into the belly of his malice. For he is the serpent to whom it was said: Thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life." 4. AND IF THEY GO INTO CAPTIVITY BEFORE THEIR ENEMIES, THERE WILL I COMMAND THE SWORD, AND IT SHALL SLAY THEM, — as if to say, If they shall not have been slain in Samaria, I will cause them to be slain in Assyria by their enemies, namely by the Assyrians. Thus the Romans used to slay captives of other nations, whom they led to Rome in triumph, after the triumph. Secondly, Arias and a Castro take the sword by catachresis for the wretched and miserable life and servitude which the Israelites were about to endure in Assyria: for servitude in law is equated with death, and is called "civil death:" for we do not read that the Israelites were slain in Assyria. But many things predicted by the Prophets we do not doubt were fulfilled, even if we do not read it written in the histories. The former sense therefore, as it is more literal, so it is more genuine and more common, namely that of St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Lyran and Vatablus. AND I WILL SET MY EYES UPON THEM FOR EVIL, AND NOT FOR GOOD, — as if to say, Everywhere I will do them harm, everywhere I will afflict and punish them, until I destroy them. Thus Vatablus. Note: That negation, "and not for good," contains a great amplification, as if to say, No good, but all evil will I bring upon them and inflict upon them. 5. AND THE LORD GOD OF HOSTS, WHO TOUCHES THE EARTH, AND IT SHALL WASTE AWAY. — Arias, and it becomes barren, or becomes sterile; Zurich, and it melts; Pagninus, and it flows away; the Septuagint, and he moves it; because, as St. Jerome says, he will shake the foundations of the earth. The Hebrew תמוג tamog properly signifies to dissolve, to melt, as wax at fire, snow at sun is dissolved and melts into water, as if to say: Do not think the threats of God are vain; know that he is as terrible as he is omnipotent; for by the mere touch of his power alone, indeed by a mere nod he can make, and sometimes does make, the earth waste away and be consumed, as when he gave the law on Sinai, Mount Sinai appeared to waste away with smoke and fire, Exodus XIX and XX, according to that: "Who touches the mountains and they smoke;" or he makes the earth sink into water, or turn and flow away, as he did in the time of the flood of Noah, and in the Red Sea, when he led the Hebrews through it by a dry path, but wrapped and buried the pursuing Pharaoh and Egyptians in the returning waters. Thus he often submerges islands and continents in the sea, and turns them into sea. In a similar manner, though not the same, he will lay waste Samaria through the Assyrians, consume it, and as it were make it waste away. This is what is said in Psalm XVII, 8: "The earth was moved and trembled: the foundations of the mountains were troubled, and were moved, because he was angry with them;" and verse 16: "And the fountains of waters appeared, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the spirit of thy wrath;" and Isaiah LXIV, 1: "O that thou wouldst rend the heavens, and wouldst come down! the mountains would melt away at thy presence. As fire kindleth brushwood, and the fire burneth the waters." AND IT SHALL ASCEND AS A RIVER. — He repeats and reiterates this verse from chapter VIII, 22, where I have explained it. 6. WHO BUILDS IN HEAVEN HIS ASCENSION. — In Hebrew מעלותו maalotav, that is his ascensions (thus the Syriac); Vatablus, his steps, as if to say: Who made heaven which consists of many spheres, which have a certain order among themselves, and as it were steps, by which one ascends gradually up to the highest heaven and the empyrean. He proves the omnipotence and wisdom of God from created things, and especially from the heavens. Whence Pagninus: Who builds in heaven his spheres, and founded these three elements of his upon the earth; the Arabic Alexandrian: Who made heaven the heaven and the things above, who established his covenant upon the earth. Secondly, ascension, or ascensions, is called the highest palace of God in heaven, to which one must climb by many ascensions. Whence the Chaldean translates: Who placed in the highest place the majesty of his glory. Thus Theodoret, Lyra, Arias, Mariana and others. Hence also the Arabic Antiochene translates: Who builds heaven as a tabernacle, and his preparation is directed upon the earth. It is a metonymy: for ascension is put for its terminus, namely heaven, into which one ascends. Thus often an action is taken for the place in which the action is exercised, as prayer for the oratory, in which one prays; dining for the dining room, in which one dines; walking for the walk, in which one walks. Thus congregation, rest, Church, dwelling, habitation signify the place destined for those actions. Thus Sanchez.
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Mystically, R. Haccados in Galatinum, 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 in Amos cap. IX: He that buildeth his ascension in heaven." Whence also Tertullian, lib. IV Against Marcion, cap. XXXIV, thus reads and explains: "To which (promise of resurrection) Christ buildeth his ascension into heaven, according to Amos: surely his: where also is the eternal place, of which Isaiah: Who shall announce to you the eternal place, unless namely Christ proceeding in justice?" Isaiah XXXIII. Tropologically St. Jerome, Remigius and Hugh understand by ascensions holy men, whose conversation is in heaven, and who dispose these ascensions in their heart, as the Psalmist says, Psalm LXXXIII, verse 6, and go from virtue to virtue, until they see the God of gods in Sion. "God," says St. Jerome, "daily lifts believers from the earth to heaven, so that he may ascend in them: The Lord ascended into heaven with Enoch: he ascended with Elias: he ascended with Moses, whose burial place, because he had ascended into heaven, could not be found on earth; he ascended with Paul into the third heaven." AND HIS BUNDLE (The Syrian translates, promise; the Arabic Alexandrian, covenant; the Arabic Antiochene, preparation) HE HATH FOUNDED UPON THE EARTH. — First, Lyra, Clarius and Vatablus: "Bundle," they say, "he calls the binding together of three elements, namely fire, air and water, which are founded on earth as on a base and center. Whence Pagninus translates: And the three elements of his he hath founded upon the earth. For he opposes this to ascensions, that is to the celestial spheres, as if to say: Just as God built great and many spheres, and so many illustrated with stars in heaven; so likewise on earth he founded the three elements of all sublunary things, from which he fabricated all other things, and joined them together in apt order, arrangement and connection, and as it were gathered them into one bundle. This sense appears to be the genuine one: for it celebrates the magnificence of God from the fabric of heaven and earth. Whence also follows: "Who calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out (either by overflow from this his channel, or by rain from the bundle of clouds) upon the face of the earth." For he himself "bindeth up the waters in his clouds," as it were in a bundle, "that they break not out all at once downward," Job cap. XXVI, 8. Secondly, Sanchez understands by bundle a footstool; for in a footstool there is a binding together, either of wood and boards, or of stuffing and cloth, namely when the footstool is a cushion, which is wont to be placed under the feet of princes like a footstool, as if to say: God's seat and throne is heaven, but the footstool is the earth, and all things that are upon it. Thirdly, others understand by bundle the manifold law, by which God as it were binds and constrains men; and, if they violate it, he binds and confines them in a prison. But the first sense is the genuine one. For the Hebrew אגודה aggudda properly signifies an aggregation, a crowd, a troop, a congregation, a binding together, a bundle, a conglobation, a globe, as is evident from II Kings II, 25; which last meaning suits this place most excellently. For he calls the sublunary world a conglobation, or an elementary globe, just as the same is called by mathematicians a globe or terrestrial sphere. This globe therefore is called a bundle. First, on account of the aggregation of things: because just as a bundle is composed of many pieces of wood, flowers, or herbs; so also this terrestrial globe is made up of many elements, mixed and composite. For in it there are various species of herbs, trees, plants, animals, birds, fishes, stones, gems, etc.; for the species of mixed things are innumerable. In a similar manner Isaiah speaks of the damned, cap. XXIV, 22: "They shall be gathered together as prisoners into a pit, and shall be shut up in a prison, and after many days they shall be visited." Secondly, this globe is called a bundle, on account of the conjunction and friendly association of things so various, so disparate, so unequal, so contrary and mutually warring. For God has aptly bound together this sphere from things so varied and contrary, just as a bundle is aptly bound together by a skilled porter from crooked pieces of wood, briars and thorns. Thirdly, a bundle signifies that the lower world is one congregation and commonwealth, in which most diverse and numerous things are bound together and congregated by God as in a bundle. Whence again a bundle signifies God's providence and care, by which He preserves and maintains this world as His bundle in this union and binding together, lest one element destroy its contrary, lest wolves devour all the sheep, lest fire burn up all things, etc. Fourthly, it is called diminutively a bundle, not a bundle: because in the hands of God, who, as Isaiah says, weigheth the earth with three fingers, it is like a small bundle. Fifthly, because on account of its elegance, in the eyes and nostrils of God it is as a bundle of aromatics or flowers. Whence a bundle is sometimes the same as a little scent-holder. Thus Cicero, III Tuscul.: "A bundle, he says, you will bring to your nostrils, you will burn perfumes, and you will order to be crowned with garlands and rose." And the Bride, Cant. I: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me." Sixthly, a bundle signifies the apt order and arrangement of individual things and species among themselves, so that each one in the bundle appears to be appropriately and suitably ordered and placed in its own place; for in this order the wonderful wisdom and providence of God the orderer shines forth. Gellius relates in lib. V, cap. III, that Protagoras became a philosopher from being a porter through a bundle. For when he himself had very neatly bound together many pieces of wood in a field into one bundle, and was carrying it on his shoulders, the philosopher Democritus met him: "He sees him proceeding easily and readily with that kind of burden so cumbersome and so disorderly. And he draws near, and considers the joining and arrangement of the wood skillfully and expertly made; and he asks him to pause a little. When Protagoras did as he was asked; and Democritus likewise observed that heap and as it were globe of logs compressed by a short cord held together by a certain quasi-geometric reasoning, he asked who had arranged the wood thus. And when he said he had arranged it himself, he desired him to untie it, and arrange it again in the same manner. But after he untied it, and arranged it similarly, then Democritus, marveling at the acuteness of mind and ingenuity of the man though untaught: My young man, he said, since you have the talent for doing well, there are greater and better things which you can do with me. And he took him away immediately, and kept him with him, and provided for his support, and taught him philosophy, and made him to be as great as he afterwards was." If Democritus marveled at the coordination of the logs, the neatness and ingenuity in Protagoras's bundle, who would not marvel at the arrangement, connection and order so neat and wise of so many kinds, so many species, so many most diverse individuals, nay even mutually warring, in this bundle and globe of God the sublunary? Who would not exclaim with the Wise Man, cap. XI, 21, and with the Apostle, Rom. XI: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!" how aptly "thou hast ordered all things in measure, number and weight!" nay, thou hast bound them together in one as it were bundle! Mystically, this bundle is the Church and the assembly of the faithful Israelites, whom God, bound together by the bundle of the law, as also by His providence, placed and formed in the land of Chanaan, as He covenanted and promised. Whence the Chaldean renders it: And His Church He adorned in the land. Thus Ruffinus, Hugo and Dionysius. Anagogically, this bundle is the saints and elect, bound together by the bond of charity on earth, and by the bond of predestination in the mind of God, concerning which in the Gospel: "Fear not, little flock, for it hath pleased your Father to give you a kingdom," says St. Jerome, who also continues to speak of it thus: "The bundle is bound together by the one religion of the Lord; whence religion itself, from binding together, and binding into the bundle of the Lord, took its name." The Seventy translate: "He shall establish his promise upon the earth, so that all his promises, which (concerning Christ and Christians) the holy Prophets have sung with their mouth, shall be established on the earth, etc., so that daily those dead in sin, and bound by the cords of vices (in the manner of Lazarus raised by Christ) may be commanded to come forth from the sepulchre of their wickedness: daily the works of blood may be constrained, etc. Thus in 1 Kings 25:29, Abigail says to David: "The soul of my lord shall be kept bound up in the bundle of the living with the Lord thy God; but the souls of thy enemies shall be whirled about in the sling and in the whirling of a sling," that is to say, You will live most long and most safely: but your enemies will rush to destruction, for a thing stored in a binding, by which living things are bound, is stored for this purpose, that it may be kept among the living; but what is placed in a sling is placed for this purpose, that the sling may cast it away, says Cajetan in the same place.
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Anagogically the same thing is expounded concerning the elect and the reprobate by Eucherius and Angelomus in the same place. The bundle, they say, of the living is the number of the predestined, and this for the first reason, because, as Eucherius says, a bundle is bound together so that it may be preserved; in the same way the elect are constrained by afflictions, so that they may keep faith with God: but the reprobate, who live more loosely, are cast away by God like stones from a sling. Secondly, because, as the same Eucherius says, just as a bundle is bound together by a cord, so the assembly of the saints is bound together by the same faith and hope, and by the same bond of charity, and is fortified on all sides by one and the same protection of God. Thirdly, because, just as a bundle of flowers is carried in the hand for delight, so God carries all the elect in his hand, and is wonderfully delighted by the fragrance of virtues which continually flows forth from them. Fourthly, because just as a bundle is made up of nothing but certain select flowers; so the number of the elect is constituted of certain select ones, and those excelling in charity and every virtue.
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WHO CALLS THE WATERS OF THE SEA. — The Zurich Bible: who calls to himself the waters of the sea, namely by dissolving the waters through the heat of the sun into vapor, and by elevating that vapor upward to the middle region of the air: where he causes it to condense into a cloud, and dissolves the cloud by the force of the sun into rain, which he pours out upon the earth. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugo, Lyra and Vatablus. Arias alone understands these things of the overflowing of the sea, by which it overwhelms the neighboring land. Symbolically the Chaldean understands by the waters the troops of the Assyrians, as if God here threatens Israel with their coming. 7. ARE YOU NOT AS THE CHILDREN OF THE ETHIOPIANS TO ME, O CHILDREN OF ISRAEL? — First, the Chaldean translates: Are you not as children esteemed beloved before me? For indeed the Ethiopians seemed to the Jews on account of the difference and singularity of color, as something rare and wonderful, to be held in esteem and in delights, just as even now princes in their courts maintain an Ethiopian, or a Pygmy for delights and for display. Whence also in Num. XII, 1, the wife of Moses, an Ethiopian, is called by the Chaldean a beautiful wife: unless you say it is an antiphrasis, beautiful, that is dark and deformed. And conversely, Ethiopian, that is not at all Ethiopian and black, but white and comely. Whence thus you may translate from the Hebrew: Are you not as the children of the Ethiopians to me, O children of Israel? that is to say, By no means: for the Ethiopians are dark, deformed, hateful; but you are to me white, comely, gracious and beloved. Moreover Arias explains this affection, and likewise the verse, in this way, that is to say, The Ethiopians are a symbol of servitude: for from of old they have been devoted to servitude by Noah, when he said Gen. IX, 25: "Cursed be the boy Canaan, a servant of servants shall he be to his brethren:" for from Ham was born Canaan, and his brother Cush, who was the father of the Ethiopians, who from this are called in Hebrew Chusim, Gen. X, 6. You therefore, O Israelites, were as Ethiopians, when you were pressed by the Egyptians and other nations with hard servitude, but I, loving you, freed you from it and took you for myself. It is therefore fitting that you love me in return, and serve me as your liberator and Lord. Second and more aptly, the Syriac and Arabic take these things assertively, as if they say: You, O Israelites, are similar to the Ethiopians, because just as I brought the Ethiopians from Egypt into Ethiopia (for this is situated beyond Egypt, and is adjacent to it and as it were subject to it): so also I brought you from Egypt into Canaan. Whence explaining immediately he adds: "Did I not cause Israel to ascend from the land of Egypt?" To this also agrees what preceded: "And he founded his bundle upon the earth," that is to say, God brought Israel as his bundle and peculiar possession from Egypt into Canaan, and there established and founded it. Likewise that verse 5: "And it shall flow down like the river of Egypt." For he persists in the comparison of the Nile and Egypt, that is to say, Do not glory that you have Abraham as your father, because you have the Egyptians as your more immediate parents. For there Moses and your fathers of his time were born, whom I brought from Egypt into Canaan, just as I brought the Ethiopians from the same into Ethiopia: you therefore are of the same stock, and as it were brothers of the Ethiopians, both in origin and race, and in customs. For you are dark, deformed, hardened, and unchangeable in your wickedness, so that you seem to be not so much the brothers and sons of Abraham, as of the Ethiopians, and therefore I will cast you off from me and deliver you to the Assyrians. In a similar way Jeremiah says cap. XIII, 23: "If the Ethiopian can change his skin, or the leopard his spots: and you can do good, when you have learned evil." And Ezech. XVI, 3: "Your father was an Amorrhite, and your mother a Cethite."
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Whence St. Jerome: "In all the Scriptures," he says, "Ethiopians are said to be those who are utterly immersed in vices." Thus St. Chrysostom, homily 11 on Matthew, Lyra, Pagninus, Vatable and Ribera. To this pertain the common proverbs: "You wash an Ethiopian," that is, you attempt a fruitless and impossible thing; for an Ethiopian, no matter how much washing, no matter how much lye, does not become white. "I judge an Ethiopian by his face:" for an Ethiopian by the blackness of his face, twisted hair, swollen lips, and the whiteness of his teeth shows forth his country; for an Ethiopian can change his garment, but not his face. Hence the epigram of Lucian: You wash an Ethiopian in vain, why do you not cease from the art? / You will never make dark night become bright day. Pythagoras warned us not to taste of those things whose tail is black, by which he forbade association with those who were black in the depravity of their morals. Lamentations, chapter IV, 7: "Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, more shining than milk," namely when they lived purely, when they worshipped God chastely; but when they lived impurely and incestuously, "their face is made black above coals." Moreover, although any wickedness is called blackness, yet properly it is so called of detraction, by which one blackens another's reputation and one's own conscience: wherefore the envious man, the detractor, the calumniator is called black. Thus in the title of Psalm VII, Saul the persecutor of David is called Cush, that is, an Ethiopian. And Horace, satire IV, book I: He who gnaws at an absent friend, etc. / This man is black; you, Roman, beware of him. Hence the common proverb: "I know not whether you are white or black." And: He grants pardon to ravens, but censure vexes doves. For whiteness is the symbol of a pure soul, blackness of a malicious one. St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupert and a Castro add that God here signifies His power and vengeance in transferring and overthrowing nations, as if to say: You, O Israelites, are not superior, as you boast, but equal in all things to other nations. For just as Ethiopians, Palestinians and Syrians were created by me, by equal right you are subject to me. As by equal providence, by which I placed those nations in their provinces, I placed you in Canaan: and by equal justice, by which I expelled and destroyed those nations from theirs on account of their crimes, so also will I expel and destroy you from Samaria. Whence he adds: "Behold the eyes of God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth." Moreover, how and when the Ethiopians were expelled or destroyed by God is not clear. Some refer this to the war which Moses waged in the name of Pharaoh against the Ethiopians, by which he subdued them, as Josephus relates in book II of the Antiquities, chapter V. But this history is doubtful, resting on Josephus alone; and he adds further that in that war Moses did not destroy the Ethiopians, but forced them to peace, and having taken the daughter of the king of the Ethiopians as a wife, he departed as a friend, indeed as a son-in-law from her. Others more probably refer it to Asa, king of Judah, who slew a million Ethiopians with their leader Zerah, II Paralipomenon XIV, 9 and 13. But these were slain outside Ethiopia, nor did Asa force the Ethiopians to change their seats, or transfer them from Ethiopia to another region. These histories therefore were known in the time of Amos: whence he himself speaks of them as if they were then public; perhaps also they were written in the chronicles of that age, which no longer exist. For many sacred books, as well as profane ones, through so many centuries of years and so many burnings and devastations of cities and libraries, have perished. AND THE PALESTINIANS FROM CAPPADOCIA. (The Cappadocians, in Hebrew כפתורים caphtorim, occupied Palestine, driving out the Hevites, the first inhabitants, as is related in Deuteronomy, chapter II, 19, and Jeremiah XLVII, 7. See what I have said in both places.) AND THE SYRIANS FROM CYRENE,—that is to say, the Cyrenians coming from Kir, a city and region of Assyria (as I said in chapter I, 5; therefore Theodoret wrongly thinks Kir to be Haran, or Charras, the city of the Parthians, into which God brought Abraham with Thare from Ur, the city of the Chaldeans, Genesis XI, 27), I have transferred into Syria of Damascus, which was formerly called Aram from Aram the son of Sem, but by these new inhabitants coming from Kir was called Kiria, and from this, as some think, for the sake of euphony, Syria; just as afterwards, conversely, when Teglathphalasar conquered Damascus, he transferred the Syrians from it again into Media and Assyria, namely into Kir, from which they had once come. The sense is, as if to say, Do not flatter yourselves, O Israelites, concerning my care and providence toward you, by which I once led you out of Egypt and placed you in Chanaan. For in the same manner I placed the Cappadocians in Palestine, the Kirenians in Syria; and yet I expelled those from Palestine on account of their crimes through you, these I shall expel from Syria through Teglathphalasar. Know therefore that I shall do the same to you, unless you correct your crimes and amend your life and morals. He names the Palestinians and Syrians because the Israelites were neighbors to these both in situation and in morals; whence he tacitly rebukes them: for the Syrians were formerly of ill repute on account of the softness of their morals. Whence the proverb: "When you are not a Syrian, do not act like a Syrian," that is, do not assume an unbecoming character, or, when you are of noble birth, do not act in the manner of a slave and barbarian. It is a clever jest from the ambiguity of the word συρίζω, which signifies to act like a Syrian and to play the pipe. And Cicero, in book II to his brother Quintilian: "We," he says, "are so much philologists that we could even live with carpenters. We have this philosophy not from Hymettus, but from the Syrian threshing-floor (some read hara)," that is, from rustic simplicity. 8. YET DESTROYING I WILL NOT DESTROY,—that is to say, I shall certainly and entirely not destroy Israel, but I shall preserve and save the remnants from it. 9. AS WHEAT IS SHAKEN IN A SIEVE.—For at Rome and elsewhere in Italy they sift grain, and use a sieve in place of a winnow. The Israelites seem to have done the same, as Amos here indicates, as if to say, Just as when grains are winnowed in a winnow, as the Zurich version translates it, or sifted in a sieve, the chaff either flies away or falls through the holes of the sieve onto the floor, while the pebbles and grains remain in the sieve; so the elect and worthy from Israel shall be preserved, the rest unworthy shall perish. Whence Theodoret: "Nor indeed otherwise," he says, "than the farmer separates grain from refuse and filth, so I also shall preserve those worthy of salvation, and shall deliver the rest to be slain." The metaphor of the sieve, says St. Jerome, signifies the very land of Israel, whose borders God, holding them in both his hands by his greatness, shall shake like a sieve hither and thither, so that the chaff and filth of sinners, shaken, that is, harassed by labor and calamity, and falling to the earth, and dying by the sword, the pure grain may remain, which shall be stored in the barns. Wherefore when Amos subjoins: AND NOT A PEBBLE SHALL FALL UPON THE EARTH.—By pebble he means grain, as others translate it: because grain is hard like a small stone and pebble. It is a catachresis; whence the Hebrew צרור tseror signifies a bundle and a sack, and metonymically things which are accustomed to be gathered into a bundle or collected in a sack, such as grains; likewise precious or beautiful pebbles, pearls, gold and silver coins, etc. For the root צרר tsarar signifies to bind, to tighten, to press. Whence tseror is a thing bound, tight, pressed, which is accustomed to be bound, compressed and tightened in a sack or purse, such as wheat. Whence the Septuagint translates it σύστρεμμα, that is, a coil, a ball, a joining together, something compact, namely a large grain conglomerated and compacted, as the Complutensian interpreter translates it. Others, however, take the little stone here properly, and in various ways. First, Rupertus thinks that here a sieve is being discussed, not a grain sieve, but a mason's sieve, by which stones are separated from dust: Ribera refutes this. Second, Palacius thinks that by little stones are signified the wicked, who cannot escape through the holes of the sieve the hand and vengeance of God, and therefore by that same hand are to be cast out of the sieve, that is, to be killed or captured by enemies; and consequently by wheat are signified the good. But Delrio rightly refutes this in adage 981. For wheat is not accustomed to descend through the holes of a sieve and be separated, unless by wheat you understand not grains, but flour; for this is separated by a sieve from its husks and chaff. Third, Ruffinus thinks that those purging wheat join little stones to it in the sieve: "For this reason," he says, "that they may add force to the shaking by striking the edges, and allow nothing of the refuse to remain." Symbolically, however, "by the name of little stones he indicates the firmness of those who are not easily corrupted by evil examples, as we read that in those times the Prophets and other just men were, who, while the rest of the common people, like wood and stubble, perished, they remained like solid and through this precious stones, upon whom the Church was rightly to be founded." Thus also Sanchez. Fourth, Ribera thinks the Prophet here joins two metaphors after the manner, namely one of wheat, another of little stones, and passes from the likeness of sieve and grain to the thing signified, namely to the house of Israel, of which he had just said before: "I will shake the house of Israel among all nations," and therefore names little stones; for stones are fit, indeed necessary, for rebuilding the house of Israel. But the first sense which I gave, as it is simpler, so it is more genuine, and the Septuagint version demands it. Otherwise John Alba in the Electorum cap. LXI: Little stones, he says, or small stones are men of the lowest sort; the poor, the common people, and the entire ignoble multitude, that is to say, the entire people will be led captive; and therefore not in their own land, but in captivity will they die. For it is accustomed to be held among men in the place of misfortune, that someone dies outside his homeland, especially in captivity. For he explains what preceded: "I will shake the house of Israel among all nations." But this phrase is never taken in that sense, especially because Amos does not say, upon their land, or upon the land of Israel, but absolutely "upon the land," which can be understood both of the land of Assyria and of Israel. But it is certain that Israel fell in the land of Assyria and died. 11. IN THAT DAY (Chaldean, in that time) I WILL RAISE UP (Septuagint, I will raise up again; St. James, Acts XV, I will rebuild; Syriac, I will set up, namely firmly and stably) THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID, WHICH IS FALLEN. — Some think that this raising up was done by Hezekiah, who after the ten tribes were led away by the Assyrians in the sixth year of his reign, received their scattered remnants, and confirmed them in the worship of the true God and the true Church, IV Kings XVIII and XIX. Others, as Ruffinus and Chrysostom, homil. 33 in Acts, think that it was done by Ezra and Zerubbabel, who, with Cyrus's permission, led the Jews back from Babylon to Jerusalem, and there restored their commonwealth and Church. But these depart from the true sense, for both of these raisings up were limited; but that which is promised here was ample and august. For he says: "I will rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnants of Idumea and all nations." When, I ask, did Hezekiah or Zerubbabel possess all nations? Again, when did this happen: "And the mountains shall drop sweetness, and all the hills shall be tilled?" Add that Zerubbabel led back only two tribes, just as Hezekiah ruled over scarcely two: but here is promised the restoration of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes. I answer therefore that this promise pertains to Christ, and through Him has been fulfilled. That this is so is clearly evident from the discourse of St. James, who, in Acts XV, 16, in the Council of Jerusalem, interprets these words of Amos concerning Christ and the conversion of the Gentiles to Christ. All orthodox Interpreters follow St. James. Wherefore the same thing was defined under anathema by Pope Vigilius. For when Theodore of Mopsuestia explained these words of Amos thus: "In this place," he says, "he predicts the return from Babylon, when they had a king from the line of David in Zerubbabel; but James in the Acts of the Apostles transferred this passage to Christ, in which matter is brought to its true conclusion;" Pope Vigilius condemned this explanation of his under anathema in the Roman Council, which is preserved in the Vatican Library, and from it Fr. Turrianus transcribed it upon the second book of the Constitutions of the Apostles, cap. V, because he asserts that a passage, which in the Acts is expounded primarily and in the literal or historical sense concerning Christ, is to be understood in the first and literal sense concerning Zerubbabel; in the second, and by transference concerning Christ, where, to omit other matters, Theodore clearly errs, since he makes Zerubbabel a king, when he was only a leader of the people returning from Babylon. In like manner the same Theodore held that all oracles which were issued literally concerning Christ pertain historically to David, Hezekiah, Zerubbabel and the Jews; but by accommodation, and from the outcome of the matter are adapted to Christ by the Apostles and Evangelists alone. This is what Vigilius condemns under anathema, and before him the Fifth General Synod, which was Constantinople II, had condemned it, as is evident from its fifth action, and from Leontius, who lived in the time of the Emperor Justinian, and recounts the errors of Theodore. See the remarks in the Preface, note 5.
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The Prophet therefore here, after the manner of the prophets, having set forth God's vengeance and the desolation of Israel, subjoineth the restoration and consolation thereof to be brought about through Christ. The Tabernacle of David, properly and formally, doth not signify the Church (for David was not the priest or pontiff of the Church), but the kingdom of David, namely his royal house, palace and royal throne. For the Orientals of old dwelt in tabernacles constructed of branches, hides or boards: hence any house or palace is called a tabernacle, especially because the Hebrew סכה succa, word for word, is the same as a covering, a veil, a covering, a roof, from the root סכך sucach, that is, he covered, he covered, he roofed; which is fitting both for a house and palace as for a tabernacle. A tabernacle properly in Hebrew is called אהל ohel, that is, a tent spread out and expanded, from the root אהל ahal, that is, he spread out, he expanded. He calleth it a tabernacle rather than a palace, both because David in his continual wars was commonly dwelling in military camps in tabernacles; and to signify that this kingdom of David was moveable and temporal: whereas the kingdom of Christ, which was to succeed it, would be immoveable and eternal. For this the angel promised to the Blessed Virgin, saying, Luke cap. I, 32: "He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end;"; and also because he alludeth to the tabernacle of Moses in the desert, which presided over and as it were directed all the camps of the Hebrews, which were disposed around it: whence it was a type of the Church wandering and militant, as if to say, Just as of old the tabernacle, and with it Moses and the Hebrews journeyed through the desert, and went forth into the promised land; so the Church of Christ journeyeth through the desert of this life and tendeth toward heaven. It is therefore itself the tabernacle of David, that is, of Christ and of Christians, Heb. XIII, 14. Wherefore materially and in fact this kingdom of Christ is the Church; because this kingdom of Christ is spiritual and ecclesiastical, whereby namely Christ ruleth over believers through faith and grace. Thus when he saith: "I will raise up the tabernacle of David," in fact he saith, I will raise up the Church, or the assembly of the faithful people, over whom David once held dominion. Moreover this kingdom of David, equally as the Church of the faithful, fell through various breaches, namely first, when Jeroboam drew ten tribes away from the kingdom of David and from the Church and worship of God unto himself and unto golden calves. Secondly, when the Israelites were many times worn down by the Syrians, Philistines, Egyptians and other nations. Thirdly, when ten tribes were carried away into Assyria, two into Babylon. Fourthly, when Antiochus Epiphanes and his successors, in the time of the Maccabees, afflicted the descendants of David. Fifthly, when Herod, under whom Christ was born, almost extinguished the royal line of David, and transferred the whole kingdom unto himself, namely unto a foreigner. "In that day therefore," that is, in that time when through so many ruins, and finally through the tyranny of Herod, the kingdom of David shall utterly fall and be destroyed, God, who is wont to succour in desperate matters, shall send the Messiah or Christ, who into this tabernacle, as into his own house and into the ancestral kingdom of David his father, by right of inheritance shall succeed, and shall restore it, nay, shall make it more august, not by temporal dominion and dominion, but by spiritual, which is more sublime and more divine. For Christ both Jews and Israelites drew into his kingdom and his Church, and in place of the unbelievers, who refused to be enrolled in it, he substituted and adopted all nations from the whole world: thus he made it that this most ample kingdom embraced the whole world, so that by Christ all are called Christians, and profess themselves subjects and disciples of Christ. The Gentiles therefore in place of the Jews have been built into this tabernacle of David, as living stones, and, as the Apostle saith Rom. XI, 17, have been grafted into this olive tree of David and of God. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugo, Lyranus, Vatablus, Arias, Ribera, a Castro and others throughout. Allegorically, the tabernacle of David is the body of Christ slain by the Jews through various ruptures, that is, wounds inflicted upon him, which God on the third day raised from death to glorious life, concerning which Christ says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," John II, 19. For Christ is called David, because he is the son and heir of David. Thus Theodoret and Cyril, book IV on John, chapter XXXV. Indeed the Rabbis in Galatinus, book VIII, chapter XXII, where R. Nahaman reads this passage thus: I will raise up the fallen hut of David, that is, I will raise up the crucified body of Christ, and from this he proves that the Messiah was to die, and therefore asserts that he is called by the Hebrews Barnephili, that is, the son of falling. Hence consequently St. Chrysostom, homily 16 on John, understands by the tabernacle of David the human nature collapsed by the sin of Adam, which Christ assuming repaired and restored. From what has been said it is clear that the Jews wrongly abuse this passage and similar ones to prove that the Messiah has not yet come, but will come, to restore the temporal kingdom of David, and to enroll the Jews in it as if they were the chief men of the kingdom. For, to pass over other matters, first Amos here properly does not speak of the Jews, but of the Israelites, that is, the ten tribes (for he calls them in verses 8, 9 and 14, the house of Jacob and the house of Israel), and promises them restoration after their defeat, so that they might again be inserted and united to the kingdom of David, from which they had been cut off by schism. Therefore the modern Jews wrongly claim these things for themselves. And since it is established that Israel never returned from the Assyrian captivity nor will return, just as the Jews from the captivity of Titus and the Romans for 1600 years have never returned nor will return; it follows that these things must be understood of the mystical return of Israel, namely of the conversion and salvation of the gentiles believing in Christ, who are Israelites according to the spirit, not according to the flesh, as the Apostle says in Rom. IX, 8, as I have proved more fully in Daniel, chapter II, 44, and Daniel, chapter IX, 24.
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The same thing is again evident from the fact that God promises a similar restoration to the Sodomites, Assyrians, Egyptians, Ammon and Moab, such as He promises here and elsewhere to the Israelites: yet that restoration is not temporal, but spiritual through Christ; therefore such also was that of the Israelites. The major premise is clear from Ezech. XVI, 55: "And thy sister, saith He, Sodom, and her daughters shall return to their former state," that is to their ancient seat, riches and glory. Now it is certain that Sodom and the neighbouring cities were consumed by heavenly fire with all their inhabitants. Therefore this restoration of Sodom must be understood mystically, not according to the letter as it sounds. Ezechiel promises the same thing concerning Samaria in the same place; yet it is certain that the Samaritans did not literally return from Assyrian captivity: therefore this restoration of Samaria must be understood spiritually through Christ, not literally and temporally. Isaiah promises the same thing to the Assyrians and Egyptians, equally as to the Israelites, cap. XIX, 24: "In that day shall Israel be the third to the Egyptian and to the Assyrian: a blessing in the midst of the land." This is false according to the letter as it sounds, nor will the Jews admit or suffer themselves to be associated with and made equal to the Egyptians and Assyrians. Therefore it must be understood mystically. Jeremias promises the same thing to the Moabites, cap. XLVIII, 47: "And I will bring back the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the Lord." And to the Ammonites, cap. XLIX, 6: "And after this I will bring back the captives of the children of Ammon, saith the Lord." Yet according to the letter neither the Moabites nor the Ammonites returned from Babylon. Therefore this return is mystical, namely the conversion to God through Christ. Therefore likewise such a return and restoration of Israel must be understood. Similar is the temple which Ezechiel promises, cap. XL and following, namely more mystical than literal. Whence cap. XLVII, 1, 8, 9, he saw waters flowing forth from it, and gradually growing into a great river, by whose stream the waters of the Dead Sea were healed and made sweet, which in Scripture is called the saltiest: all which things must manifestly be understood mystically. Learn hence the canon and custom of the Prophets, namely that they are accustomed to subjoin joyful things after sad things, consolation after desolation, the restoration of nations through Christ after their destruction and ruin. For He Himself is the Messias, namely the salvation, consolation, joy and desire of all nations, Aggæi cap. II, 8. Secondly I assert that this kingdom of Christ is not only spiritual, but also temporal. For Christ through Christian emperors, kings, and princes rules and commands also civilly over the whole Christian world. Finally on the day of judgment He Himself will perfect this kingdom of His, both spiritual and corporeal, and will make it glorious, so that He may rule over all heaven and earth with His faithful in eternity, and then these and similar prophecies will be most fully fulfilled. AND I WILL REBUILD THE BREACHES OF HIS WALLS. — In Hebrew גדרתי gadarti, that is a hedge, as Pagninus translated it; I will restore, as Vatablus; I will often surround, as the Zurich Bible, as if to say I will repair the gaps and breaches of the walls of David and Israel; namely God restored the ruins of Israel: and He repaired them with the multitude of nations believing in Christ, which took the place of the unbelieving Jews and Samaritans; just as when demons fell from heaven He substituted men in their place, and with them He restored the ruins of the heavenly Jerusalem. For St. James explains this passage concerning the faith, calling and election of the Gentiles, Acts XV, verse 16. Ribera thinks this prophecy was fulfilled after the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem made by Titus: for then, while the Jews persisted in their blindness and were scattered throughout the whole world, the Gentiles were brought into the Church in their place. Yet St. James, Acts XV, in his own time, that is immediately after the passion of Christ, when Paul and Barnabas, being the first to evangelize the Gentiles, converted many of them, asserts it to be fulfilled, that is to have begun to be fulfilled. Add that the discourse here is not concerning Judah and Jerusalem, the destruction and ruin of the temple and city by Titus, especially because Christ did not restore this temple, already then Jewish and directly opposed and resistant to Him, but the old kingdom of David and the legitimate Church. Yet I confess that after the destruction of Jerusalem this prophecy was more fully fulfilled: for then St. John, who alone of the Apostles survived living, and apostolic men, leaving the Jews as already overthrown and scattered, turned themselves to preaching to the Gentiles.
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AS IN THE DAYS OF OLD, — as in the days of David and Solomon. For He named David a little before: and then especially the glory of the kingdom of Israel flourished, nay began. Thus Remigius. So the ancient ages were called golden, in which the commonwealth flourished with virtue, concerning which Virgil, VI Æneid.: "Here the ancient race, the fairest offspring of Teucer, / Magnanimous heroes, born in better years."
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12. THAT THEY MAY POSSESS THE REMNANTS OF IDUMÆA, — that is to say, Just as David subdued the Idumæans and the other neighboring nations, II Kings VIII, 14; Psalm LIX, 10 and 11, where it is said: "Upon Idumæa will I stretch out my shoe," that is, I shall take possession of Idumæa; for this was formerly taken by casting a shoe upon the thing to be possessed: so Christ through the Apostles and apostolic men, Bishops and priests, shall subdue to himself and to his faith, and shall possess the same nations thus subdued, indeed the whole world. He names the Idumæans, because just as Esau persecuted his brother Jacob with deadly hatred, so also his descendants the Idumæans persecuted the descendants of Jacob, namely the Jews and Israelites, and were their sworn and most bitter enemies, that is to say, the Idumæans under Christ and through Christ shall lay aside these ancestral hatreds, and shall conspire with the Israelites in one yoke and kingdom of Christ. Again he names "the remnants of Idumæa," both because literally David through Joab, having slain many Idumæans, preserved only their remnants and subdued them, as appears in III Kings XI, 14; and again a little before the time of Amos, when Idumæa rebelled against the Jews and set up its own king, Amasias king of Judah subdued it again, and thus it fell, so that only its remnants remained, IV Kings XIV, 7; and because parabolically, just as he preserved the remnants of Israel, so also the remnants of Idumæa and other nations, namely those who believed in the preaching of the Apostles, Christ preserved, while the rest remained unbelieving, and perished on account of their unbelief: for the Apostles converted few to Christ, if compared with those who were not converted and persisted in unbelief. Thus St. Jerome and others. Note: The Septuagint, whom St. James follows in Acts XV, translate this passage not word for word, but paraphrastically in this manner: That the rest of men may seek me. For by Idumæans the Prophet understands synecdochically any nations and men whatsoever, especially those most alienated from Christ. Whence, explaining himself, he adds: And all the nations; for these were admitted into the kingdom of Christ when they sought it: for no one is admitted into the kingdom of Christ except willingly and by asking. Wherefore to seek the kingdom of Christ is the same as to possess it and to be possessed by it. Whence from the Hebrew it can be translated: That they may possess, namely this kingdom of David, that is of Christ, the remnants of Idumæa and all nations. For he who is possessed by Christ, in turn possesses Christ and his kingdom. Some add that the Hebrew אדום Edom signifies Idumæa; but the Septuagint read it with other points as אדם Adam, that is, man, and therefore translated: That the rest of men may seek me. But the Septuagint, as those whom St. James and St. Luke follow, truly and genuinely followed here both the reading and the writing. That writing has Edom, that is Idumæa; not Adam, that is man, especially because the letter vau is expressed, which is in the word Edom, but not in the word Adam. For the Prophet, just as he pronounced in preaching, so in writing down his sermon and prophecy, he wrote Edom, not Adam. Otherwise Ribera: Judæa, he says, that is, praising and confessing God formerly, after she had slain Christ, became Idumæa, that is, earthly and bloody (for Edom in Hebrew signifies earthly and red, ruddy, bloody) with the blood of Christ whom she slew; and this (Judæa) the Septuagint signified through other men. But this, as it is more obscure, so also it seems more alien and more forced, as Ribera himself admits in Obadiah, no. 6. Idumæa therefore is here taken properly, and is named before others, because just as by the nature of the place (being situated on rock and mountain) and by the strength of the nation it was most fortified; so for receiving Christ, being born of the Jews most hostile to it, it was most difficult, of which thing as a type David about to invade it, Psalm LIX, 11, says: "Who will bring me into the fortified city? Who will lead me into Idumæa?" And he answers: "Wilt not thou, O God?" that is to say, It shall be done not by my, but by God's strength. This was more truly fulfilled in the conversion of the Idumæans to Christ. Whence Amos likewise here adds: "Saith the Lord that doeth these things;" the Syriac, all these things. BECAUSE MY NAME IS CALLED UPON THEM, — that is to say, Because you are called the people of God, the assembly and Church of Christ, namely Christians; and in turn Christ is called your God, Lord and Father, which is a great glory, as much as protection and defense in all things, so that you may justly congratulate yourselves on this so noble name, give thanks to God, and glory among the nations. For you have the name of God, as a thing proper to him, and of which he himself is properly the master, and which is his peculiar possession and wholly dedicated to him. Others interpret it actively, that is to say, in that you invoke, that is, publicly worship, celebrate, and preach the name of the Lord. This sense follows from the former: for they are called the Church of God because they worship and celebrate God. Properly, however, this phrase signifies the former sense, as is evident from Isaiah IV, 1: "And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying: We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel; only let thy name be called upon us, take away our reproach." That is to say, we ask nothing else from thee than that thou be and be called our husband, and we be and be called thy wives; henceforth we ourselves shall feed and clothe ourselves. And Genesis XLVIII, 16, Jacob says of his grandsons Ephraim and Manasse: "Let my name be called upon them," that is, let them be called my sons, and let them constitute two tribes in Israel, as the other sons of mine constitute, just as in fact Ephraim and Manasse each constituted his own tribe, and called and named it from his own name, as is evident from verse 5 of the same chapter. 13. AND THE REAPER SHALL OVERTAKE THE SOWER,—that is to say, so great shall be the fertility of the crops that the harvest shall last until the time of ploughing, and the vintage until the sowing or time of sowing, and shall occupy it: thou shalt not be sufficient for reaping the crops, but the time of new sowing shall press thee to put thy hand to the plough, and the abundance of grapes and wine shall compel thee to be occupied in gathering grapes and pressing them in the wine-press, even then when the time of sowing shall press thee. Hear Rufinus, who here ends his commentary on the Minor Prophets: "Moreover I shall make you rejoice in the abundance of crops, so that they shall supply what is to be gathered throughout the whole year, and at the time of vintage the harvest shall proceed too abundantly, the vintage shall follow the sowing; according to that Psalm LXIV, 12: Thou shalt bless the crown of the year of thy goodness." He calls crown that continuity of fruits throughout the year, which encircles and crowns the year on all sides as it were, and which keeps men continually occupied in gathering and enjoying them. Note that these things are said typically and figuratively; for literally he wishes to say that there shall be so great an abundance of spiritual goods in the time of the Gospel that we shall not be able to grasp and explain them; so great shall be the conversion of souls that they shall permit no rest to the farmers, that is, to the Apostles and priests, but they themselves ought continually to till this field of the Lord, namely the Church, now ploughing, now reaping, now gathering the vintage spiritually and mystically, that is, now teaching and admonishing, now baptizing, now reconciling, now consecrating to a more perfect state, etc. Thus St. Jerome, Rupert, Hugh, Lyran, Vatable, Ribera and others. Hear St. Jerome: "Thus," he says, "all things shall succeed one another in such a way that there shall be no day without grain, wine and joy. In that time the wine-presses shall be full and grapes shall be trodden, and from the blood of Christ and the martyrs reddened musts shall be poured forth, and such a treader shall be a seed-plot of the word of God, so that their blood shall cry out in the world more than the blood of righteous Abel cried out. Whosoever moreover by the merit of his virtues shall have ascended to the mountains, shall sweat honey, nay shall drip the sweetness of the word of God, concerning which it is written: Taste and see that the Lord is sweet. And: How sweet are thy words to my palate, more than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth! And those who are below the mountains, nay second to the mountains (which the Bridegroom hath passed over, Canticles II, and calls hills) shall be planted, and shall imitate the paradise of God, so that all fruits of doctrines shall hang in them."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 1 « Vidi Dominum stantem super altare, et dixit : percute cardinem et commoveantur superliminaria ; avaritia enim in capite omnium. Et novissimum eorum 1n gladio interficiam ; non erit fuga eis ; fugient et non salvabilur ex eis, qui fugerit » ; —in hebr. altare holocaustorum designatur. Altare in Bethel intelligunt Cyr. Ps. Ruf. Sanct. Lap. Men. Tir. Schegg ; altare vero Dei in Ierusalem S. Hier. Theod. M. Rup. Alb. Rib. Mar. Trochon; hisce adstipulamur ; nam n3T2n, «à 9uctactípiov, altare cum articulo, proin altare illud unum notum non potest esse nisi altare Domini in suo templo; in Bethel autem plura altaria describuntur 3, 14. Dein nescio quid incommodi mihi esse videtur in eo, quod Dominus exhibeatur stans supra (vel ad) altare vituli ; aptius sane et ad visiones symbolicas de interitu apud Ezechielem obvias magis accommodatum est, ut Dominus (vel angelus in specie Domini Alb., cum in angeli figura ac forma Dominus apparere soleret) ad altare, quod ad reconciliationem efficiendam concesserat, neglectae expiationis pro delictis admissis iudex ac vindex stans poenas reposcat. Visione interna propheta percipit, quomodo Deus cardinem percuti iubeat et ita quidem percuti, ut superliminaria commoveantur, contremiscant et : concide illa in caput omnium (hebr.) i. e. superliminaria, templique structuram esse proiiciendam in hominum turbam congregatam. Praeclara sane imago ruinae theocratiae : Deus ipse suum sanctuarium deleri iubet et ea ruina populus involvitur. Sunt, qui putent prophetam iuberi percute (Cyr. Sanct. Schegg) ; at cum id verbis non exprimatur, magis ad indolem visionis esse videtur, ut propheta mandatum Domini audiat proferri, quod angelis, comitibus Dei et administris detur (cf. apud Hier. « ut multi putant », Ps. Ruf. Rib. Lap.) vel quod Deus generatim enuntiet iis, qui illud revera in tempore suo exsecuturi sunt (Ps. Ruf.). Textus lat. rationem excidii inserit : omnes turpi lucro et avaritia esse captos (S. Hier.) ; eos igitur domum Dei fecisse speluncam latronum, vel forum mercatorum et usurariorum, vel quasi thesaurum rapinarum. — Si qui ruinis non obruuntur, ii gladio interibunt; et qui fugere tentaverint, tamen fuga non se eripient. Ita omnia salutis subsidia amoveri indicat; hebr. non effugiet iis effugiens et non evadet iis evadens. Theod. ea iam significatio voci inhaeserit. Si priscus Graecorum usus spectatur, qualis cernitur apud Athenaeum (3, 73 ; 11, 477) et Diodorum Sic. (1, 34 — cf. Pape, Handwoerterb. d. griech. Spr. s. v.), significatio erui posse videtur, qua xt6optov non adeo absit a corolla vel ornamento quodam columnarum ; praeterea textum mas. tuentur praeter S. Hier. Syrus et, ut videtur, etiam Chald., nam candelabri mentio vocem illam supponit in Ex. ad candelabri descriptionem saepe usurpatam. Hebr. et contremiscant limina i. e. percussione illa templum a summo usque ad imum concutitur ; quod sequitur ef concide ea super caput omnium, non potest dici de liminibus inferioribus, sed solum de superioribus ; quare vox Q'5D vel pro omni genere liminum adhibetur (cf. superliminaria) vel suffixum pron. secundum sensum ad capitella confracta partesque decidentes refertur. Nullum fore effugium sublimi amplificatione proponit, cuius rationem Ps. Ruf. bene declarat: « verum ne hoc ipsum breviter indicatum sensum eluderet audientium, pergit sententiam dilatare per species, ut affectum timoris longitudine descriptionis exasperet ; simulque commendat se indignante, qui sit totius orbis inspector, nullam regionem, nullam esse creaturam, quae vel auxilium aliquod vel solatium valeat praebere damnatis ». Adest simul gradatio : nam, ut S. Hier. advertit : « qui dixerat non erit fuga eis, nunc ipsam fugam in partes secat et hyperbolice etiamsi hoc et hoc fecerint evadere eos non posse testatur » ;
Visione symbolica cernit Dominum mandantem, ut templum collabatur ; quicumque templi excidio non obruuntur, cadent gladio :
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v. 9 « si descenderint usque ad, infernum, inde manus mea educet eos ; et: si ascenderint usque in. coelum, inde detraham eos ;
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v. 3 et si qbsconditi fuerint in vertice Carmeli, inde scrutans auferam eos ; et si celaverint se ab oculis meis in. profundo maris, 1b mandabo serpenti et mordebit eo$ » ; — hebr. s? perrumpent in infernum, conatum et vim denotat, ut sese eripiant et alicubi tueantur (cf. Ez. 8, 8 ; 12, 5). Vertex Carmeli silvis est obsitus et specubus ac cavernis Carmelus insignis, unde aptissimus ad refugium et absconsionem locus ; solebant Israelitae tempore periculi in eiusmodi speluncas et latebras inaccessas confugere (cf. Ios. 10, 22. Iud. 6, 2. 4 Reg. 13, 6; 22, 4 etc.). Quae fieri possunt et quae non possunt, permiscentur, quo efficacius effugium ullum negetur. Serpens est draco marinus, monstrum quodlibet marinum (cf. Is. 27, 1). . Immo ipsi captivi, qui ab hostibus in alienas regiones asportantur, minime se securos putare debent et a mortis periculo exemptos vel satis iam servitute punitos : V. 4.« ef si abierint in captivitatem coram inimicis suis, ibi mandabo gladio et occidet eos ; et ponam oculos meos super eos in malum et non in bonum ; — cf. Ez. 5, 9. 49 : «tertiam vero partem tuam in omnem ,ventum dispergam et gladium evaginabo post eos » ; magna sane Dei indignatio cernitur, cum servitütis miseriis nondum placatus miseros captivos caede prosternat; et quam perseveranti furore eos afflicturus sit, minatur ponam oculos i. e. « intuebitur, non ut aliquid boni largiatur, sed ut decretam sibi poenam et ultionem immotam et quasi fixam habeat » (S. Cyr.). | « Et haec facturum esse se dicit omnipotens Deus, ad cuius tactum et nutum terrae fundamenta quatiuntur sive tabescunt et omnis eius habitator planctu et luctibus occupatur ; quae loquitur ut ostendat magnitudinem divinae potentiae, ne forsitan velit quidem facere quod minatur, sed vires non impleant voluntatem » ( Hier.); vel, ut Ps. Ruf. exsequitur, potentiae suae documenta proponit, ut in calamitate sibi inflicta eriguum virtutis divinae effectum agnoscentes sciant, minime Deum omne quod possit in ipsorum calamitatem expendisse ;
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v. 8 «et Dominus Deus exercituum, qui tangit terram cet tabescet et. lugebunt. omnes habitantes in ea et ascendet. sicut rivus omnis et defluet sicut. fluvius Aegypti » ; — cf. 8, 8; in hebr. etiam hic terra ipsa dicitur ascendere et defluere, quasi terrore fluctuare, et h. 1. etiam S. Hier. versionem suam ita explanat : « et quomodo Aegypti fluvius decurrit in mare atque sorbetur, ita et terra Israel ». Qui tangit terram . . . cf. Ps. 96, 5; '14, 4. Mich. 1, 4. Porro
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v. 6 «qui aedificat 1n coelo ascensionem suam et fasciculum suum super terram fundavit; qui vocat aquas maris et effundit eas super faciem terrae ; Dominus nomen eius » ; — prior pars satis obscura in variam partem trahitur : qui in coelo solium suum collocat, qui ad summos coelos ascendens ibi degit, et qui in terra fasciculum suum i. e. colligationem rerum fundavit et conservat (Lap. Men. Tir.) vel coetum cultorum suorum fundavit (cf. Ps. Ruf. Alb. Rib. Sa, Calm.) vel firmamentum, fornicem coelestem firmavit super terram (Keil, Trochon); de altero membro vide 8, 8; pluviae originem intelligunt alii (Alb.), alii (Est.) inundationem ad instar diluvii. Vox hebr. ;rrà* adhibetur Ex. 12, 22 ad fasciculum hyssopi designandum, Quare aliqui recentiores has et similes s. Scripturae locutiones (v. g. solem stetisse los. 10, 13) immerito tamquam scientifice falsas traducunt. li pro sermone humano qui communiter usurpatur aliquid exigunt quod minime locum habet. Bene de hac reagit Franc. Schmid (de Inspirationis Bibliorum vi et ratione, p. 326) «qui inter alia : « quod homines per phrases istas significare volunt, sunt phaenomena omnibus notissima et verissima praecise qua talia, quocumque tandem modo eveniant et nascantur. Quare phrases istae revera in rigore aliud non significant quam certa naturae phaenomena quae omnibus nota sunt » ; et inter alia affert quae qui navi vehuntur, dicere solent : litus paulatim recedit. De qua re etiam cf. Vigouroux, Manuel bibl. I p. 56; Stimmen aus Maria- Laach 1882, XXIII p. 422. — Ad illam vocis notionem accedit vocabulum chald. "ax fulerum. Chald. vertit : coetum suum (synagogen) in terra; LXX et Syrus vty énerreMav abxoU ézl y? OeueAuiv ; unde verbum ad 7233 hiph. annuntia- Habet igitur Deus potestatem eos perdendi. Id vero etiam facere constituit. Unde tacitae eorum obiectioni occurrit (Rib.), utpote qui propter electionem in Dei populum et patriarcharum merita in superbiam erigantur (cf. Hier. Cyr. Rup. Sanct.) et falsa quadam fiducia fulciantur (Alb. Calm.). Dicit enim, eos a se eodem loco haberi quo reliquas gentes, quibus sese similes reddiderint suis sceleribus (cf. Cyr. Men.) ; v. 'i « numquid. non ut filii Aethiopum vos estis mihi, filii Israel ? ait Dominus ; numquid non Israel ascendere feci de terra Aegypti et Palaesthinos de Cappadocia et Syros de Cyrene » ? — agit propheta contra illam animorum contumaciam et elationem, qua gloriantur : filii Abraham sumus ; nihil prorsus prodesse docet nativitatem ab Abraham, si mentem priscorum patrum non expresserint ; sed eodem cum gehtibus censu se haberi. Aethiopes autem nominat, « quia in colore nigro improbos mores significari et ingenium pravum, infidele, distortum notum est et probat satis oppositus color, quo vitae puritas et ingenii simplicitas exprimitur » (Sanct.). Deinde ne falso sibi blandiantur de eductione ex Aegypto, etiam translationem illam non per se et quasi ex ipso opere facto (operato) illis dignitatem et sanctitatem conferre docet exemplis Philisthiim et Syrorum, quos etiam ex aliena regione ad eas sedes, quas iam occupent adduxerit. Bene rem effert S. Ephr.: «si in exitu ex Aegypto gloriamini et non in me, ecce etiam Philisthaeos eduxi... ». In textu hebr. Kaphtor est regio illa, de qua migrarunt Philisthaei ; alii Cretam insulam !, alii Cyprum assignant, alii partem septemtrionalem in Nili. regione, quae Delta nomen habet (cf. Ebers, Aegypten und die Bücher Dei illa electio eis facta et singularia beneficia iis praestita eos a castigatione non eximunt neque a ruina ; neque sibi propter promissiones datas blandiantur neque securitatem polliceantur ; Deo enim et populum transgressorem punire et suae providentiae consilia optime exsequi minime est difficile;
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v. 8 « ecce, oculi Domini Dei super regnum peccans ct conteram illud a facie terrae ; verumtamen conterens non conteram domum Iacob, dicit Dominus » ; — normam suam prodit, qua et singulos punire regnumque peccans destruere sciat et nihilominus promissis semel datis stare. Quare singuli ex illis promissis de foedere acterno, a quo populus Iacob non sit excludendus, minime sibi debent impunitatem promittere vel censere, se non iri abiectum. Quomodo non conterat domum Iacob et quos non abiiciat, explicatur
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v. 0 « ecce enim mandabo ego et concutiam in omnibus gentibus domum Israel, sicut concutitur triticum in cribro et non cadet lapillus super terram » ; — i. e. dispersio in gentes est cribratio populi; palea et pulvis et quaecumque corrupta sunt proiicientur et peribunt ; bona autem grana servabuntur maxima cura, ne unum quidem peribit. Similitudo optima est, qua delineetur, quem in finem illam in gentes dispersionem Deus permittat. Purgat populum suum quasi ventilabro (ita LXX et graeci interpretes) ; qui mali sunt et ad gentilium mores diffluunt, delentur ex censu populi Dei, peribunt, sese scil. cum gentibus permiscent et desinunt esse ex numero Israel ; qui vere sunt Israelitae, ii etiam in illa dispersione maxima providentiae cura servabuntur ; fideles 1gitur. Dei cultores soli agnoscuntur Israelitae ; hos Deus reducet ; per hos erit, ut non penitus domum Iacob conterat. Locus iste insignis est, cum exsilii scopum clare doceat et modum proponat, quo Deus ?nsiaurationen sit operaturus ; neque enim omnes qui ad domum Iacob pertinent reducet, sed eos qui ex domo Iacob moribus gentilium implicantur, ex numero et dignitate populi sui excludit. Haec enim certe est vis comparationis, qua agitatio in vanno proponitur talis, ut avolet pulvis, sed ut ne unum quidem granum solidum (cf. Alb. Lap. Men. Tir.) cadat vel pereat. Atque hoc pro vaticiniis messianicis probe notandum est. Id enim si attenderis, facile perspicies falli eos, qui promissiones messianicas ad /srael dictas impleri volunt in iis qui inter gentes commorati earumque moribus imbuti reditum in Palaestinam renuerunt. Verum Aos Deus ex Israel delet. Quod textum spectat, (riticum neque hebr. neque graecus neque syriacus neque chald. textus effert ', sed facile subintelligitur. Similitudinem ita explanat S. Hier. : « Deus pro magnitudine sua utraque manu tenens margines terrae quasi cribrum huc illucque concutiet, ut paleis ac sordibus peccatorum in terram cadentibus, purum frumentum remaneat, quod condatur in horrea »; ex qua explanatione simul eius versio illustratur scil. quid voluerit per lapillum* dicere. Subtilius enim Ps. Ruf. perpendit lapillum : « quod autem lapillos ait inter frumenta residere, ad consuetudinem videtur respexisse purgantium, qui plerumque ad hoc in cribrum mittunt lapillos, ut vim concussui addant marginibus illisi et nihil de quisquiliis remanere patiantur ». Ut a vana fiducia depellantur, denuo declarat normam divinam de regno peccante (v. 8) ; « deinde quasi quis obiiceret : si rursum Iacob salvabitur, in quos igitur intentantur minae? commode respondet, non confuse adversus omnes simpliciter furorem exserturum,... eos magis se invasurum, qui scelera intolerabilia perpetrassent » (Cyr.) ;
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v. 10 « in gladio morientur omnes peccatores populi mei, qui dicunt : non appropinquabit et non veniet super nos malum » ; — cf. 5, 18; « i. e. qui sacris vatibus restiterunt et eos quasi convincere gestientes affirmabant, nihil calamitatum quas illi denuntiabant esse venturum, neque se ulla malorum experimenta capturos, hos, inquit, vindicta persequetur saeviens » (Ps. Ruf.) ; isti bello peribunt et hostium invasione morte violenta abripientur. Quod repetitis vicibus demum ad stragem completam pervenit (cf. & Reg. 15, 29 ; 41, 6; 25, 4), uno conspectu propheta proponit. Cladem enim spectari fot?us populi i. e. utriusque regni, ex templi mentione facta et ex ea, quae subsequitur, instauratione consequitur. Id enim certe instaurandum praedixit, quod casurum vaticinatus erat; atqui tabernaculum David dicit reaedificandum, ergo in antecedentibus non de sola regni Israel ruina sermonem fecit. Insuper Amos saepius reenum Iuda respicit (2, 4; 6, 1) vel ea profert, quae ad totum populum aequa ratione pertinent (cf. 3, 1; 9, "1. 8).
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v. 11 « In die illa suscitabo tabernaculum David quod. cecidit et reaedificabo aperturas murorum eius et ea quae corruerant 1nstaurabo et reaedificabo illud sicut in diebus antiquis » ; — in die illa i. e. dum periodus illa quae in antecedentibus est descripta, volvitur vel postquam ea facta sunt quae v. 9. 10 assignantur, suscitabo tugurium David collapsum (hebr.) ; ipsa verba satis produnt, splendorem regium non solum a domo David recessisse, verum ipsam domum obscuritate obvolvi dignitate prisca fere exstincta. Illam enim comparat tugurio collapso ; et haec domus David iam non habet regiam civitatem, sed quae ad ipsam pertinet regia civitas, moenibus ruptis et multiplici collapsu et vastitate est miseram in conditionem redacta. Unde Amos aperte vaticinatur, populi exsilium cum ipsa reerni Davidici interruptione et pro aliquo tempore cessatione iri coniunctum. Sed quia Davidi regnum aeternum promissum est, domus eius in obscuritate illa non exstinguetur, verum suo tempore regnum Davidicuimn novo splendore suscitabitur, sicut in. diebus antiquis, uti olim tempore David et Salomonis. Tunc enim Deus, qui nunc trullam caementarii deponere visus est prophetae i. e. deponere curam pro aedificii firinitate et ornamento (cf. 71, "1 - 9), curam illam denuo assumit, aedificium instaurat (cf. Ps. Ruf.). Huius autem instaurationis ambitum et indolem declarat, dicens :
Sollemne est prophetis post vaticinia de excidie regni theocratici eiusdem regni subiungere instaurationem salute, sanctitate, gloria insignem. Dei enim foedera cum Abraham et patriarchis inita et promissa divina eis adnexa, quae foedere sinaitico confirmata erant quaeque postmodum domo David electa aliisque editis vaticiniis egregie illustrata sunt (cf. 9 Reg. 7, 14 seq.), eventu et successu carere nullo pacto poterant. Quare populus quidem Dei propter foedus violatum et scelera admissa erat castigandus, minime tamen ita abiiciendus, ut non ex ipsa veteris theocratiae ruina nova et insignis sanctioris theocratiae forma exsurgeret. Talem casus reparationem sublimiorem explicite iam delineavit Osee ; cf. 1, 10. 11; 2, 18-24 ;3, 5; illam adumbrat Ioel ; cf. 2, 28; 3, 18 ; clare vaticinatur Amos. Dispersione enim facta et populo exsilii cribro concusso et purgato v. 9 quid rei futurum sit, hisce indicat
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v. 12 « ut possideant. reliquias Idumaeae et omnes nationes, eo. quod invocatum sit nomen meum super eos, dicit Dominus faciens haec » ; — uti David Edomitas, a fratre lacob. progenitos sed Iudaeis infensissimos subiecit et suo regno addidit (2 Reg. 8, 14. 3 Reg. 11, 16), ita reqni Davidici instauratio apte ab codem eventu describitur, ut primum lis qui sanguinis cognatione tunctisunt. populo Dei, idem imperium restitutum saluti exse dicatur, et vetere odio sublato hostes infensissimidominationi Davidicae colla subdant; reliquiae autem. nominantur, quia ex d, 44 etiam Edonitae iudicio et castigatione vexati et imminuti sunt. Deinde, prout David. exteras. quoque gentes sceptro suo subiugavit, ità regnum Davidicum restitutum iam omnes possidebit et imperio continebit nationes, super quas invocatum est nomen meum (hebr.) i. e. quae nomini Domini consecrantur, ad ipsum pertinent, ex nomine Domini populus Domini appellantur ; vel aliis verbis : omnes nationes, quae Dominum colunt et a Domino tamquam servi et cultores agnoscuntur, etiam regno David subditae esse debent; et regnum David suscitatur eo fine et successu, ut et cognata sanguine stirps tamquam pars ei subiiciatur, et omnes nationes efficiantur populus Domini, et tamquam tales illi regno coalescant. Invocari nomen alicuius super alium est ad eum cuius nomen invocatur pertinere, ei esse obsequentem et subditum, eius curae esse commissum eique variis titulis esse obstrictum ; cf.2 Sam. 12, 28 (hebr.) : « ne ego capiam urbem et vocetur nomen meum super eam » ; Is. 4, 1: « tantummodo invocetur nomen tuum super nos » i. e. ex tuo nomine nominemur ; volunt ad eum tamquam maritum pertinere, ut viduitatis et sterilitatis opprobrium auferatur. Illustratur eadem notio apud Is. 44, 8: « iste dicet : Domini ego sum ; ille vocabit in nomine Iacob et hic scribet manu sua Domino et in nomine Israel assimilabitur » et Ps. 86, 5. 6 ex hebr. : « nonne Sióni dicetur : quivis natus est ibi ». Hac igitur appellatione conceptis verbis dicitur ceteras quoque nationes iam eo tempore in eodem esse apud Deum censu et ordine ; eousque Israel populus erat ex Domini nomine vocatus ; sed iam eius excellentiae consortes fieri reliquas nationes et eas in tale consortium dignitatis admissas ad sceptrum novi illius David applicari. Quare versio S. Hier. sensum rite exprimit : eo quod invocatum sit... ' | Porro eo ipso quod nationes ex nomine Domini appellantur, regni indoles spiritualis innuitur ; nam ratio regni suscitati eiusque profectus et incrementum in eo reponitur, ut nationes efficiantur populus Domini et eius cultores. In hac appellatione ex nomine Domini etiam ratio cernitur, cur novus Dei populus, populus scil. messianicus, saepe /srael vocetur, quamvis nativitatis origimem minime trahat ab Israel; fit Israel eo ipso, quia invocatum est nomen Domini super ipsum, quia in hanc unam et praecipuam dignitatem, quae olim soli Israel erat concessa, iam ex Dei gratia ingreditur. Simul etiam advertere iuvat hoc loco, quomodo mentione facta instaurationis statim omnium nationum vocatio messianica annuntietur. Est enim indoles haec universalis quam maxime propria novae theocratiae. Nam dum vetus illa arctis unius populi limitibus circumscripta erat, id peculiare est cuivis regni messianici descriptioni, ut statim illa ad omnes gentes diffusio prodatur. Id iam insinuatur in vaticinio Noe: « dilate: Deus laphet et habitet in tabernaculis Sem » (Gen. 9, 27); clare effertur in promissione toties repetita : « benedicentur in te omnes gentes » ; proponitur in celebri vaticinio Iacobeo : « donec veniat Schiloh et ei est obedientia populorum » (hebr. Gen. 49, 10) ; cernitur in Ps. 2, 8 : « postula a me et dabo tibi gentes hereditatem tuam et possessionem tuam terminos terrae », in Ps. 11, 8- 12; 21, 98 etc. habetur Os. 4, 10; insinuatur Ioel 9, 98. 39 ; et apud prophetas frequentissime nobis occurret (cf. Mich. "1, 11). Optime argumentatus est ex nostro loco Iacobus Apostolus pro gentium vocatione Act. 15, 14 - 48 ; verba recitantur ibiex LXX versione, quae eundem cum hebr. sensum praebent: « ut requirant ceteri hominum Dominum et omnes gentes, super quas invocatum est nomen meum, dicit Dominus faciens haec »; neque haec verba textum hebr. supponunt nisi parva quadam literarum similium mutatione diversum ! ; ei praeter S. Hier. suffragantur Syrus et Chald. Tamquam certissimae rei confirmatio et obsignatio additur * oraculum Jahve facientis haec (hebr.) ; Dominus qui est à. óv, foederis Deus, pro cuius impletione ipsum nomen suum essentiale et incommutabile pignoris loco in tesseram dedit, h. 1. per aliam emphasin ut faciens haec asseritur ; idque merito, quia regni messianici institutio et gentium vocatio opus est sola Dei gratia et potentia absque ullo hominum merito perficiendum. praeferenda est. Chald. in hunc modum sensum huius loci reddit : « tempore illo suscitabo regnum domus David collapsum et aedificabo propugnacula eorum et coetus eorum instituam ; et dominabitur in omnia regna et consumet et disperdet multos exercitus ; ipsum vero aedificabitur et fundabitur sicut diebus saeculi, ut possideant reliquias Edom et omnes populos domus Israel, super quos . invocatum est nomen meum ». Locum nostrum de tempore Messiae Iudaei quoque intellexerunt ; inde petitum est nomen np "i filius cadentium, quod indunt Messiae propter eius originem ex familia David in humilem conditionem redacta (vide Reinke, messianische Weissagungen III p. 194). Ex argumentatione S. Iacobi (Act. 45, 15) luce clarius patet, instaurationem tabernaculi David in ipsa Ecclesiae Christi fundatione et propagatione contineri ; id quod contra cAhiliastas modernos notatu dignum est, qui in veterum vestigia ingressi imperium exspectant in lerusalem fundandum et exinde in orbem terrarum diffundendum. Contra eos notat S. Hier : « et ne longo sermone regulam differam sponsionum, et in hoc propheta et in ceteris quaecumque de aedificatione lerusalem et templi et rerum omnium beatitudine praedicantur, ludaei in ultimo tempore vana sibi exspectatione promittunt et carnaliter implenda commemorant. Nos autem qui non occidentem literam, sed spiritum sequimur vivificantem, iam in Ecclesia convincimus expleta et quotidie impleri in singulis, qui ruentes per peccatum, reaedificantur per poenitentiam ». Atque crebro s. doctor contra eiusmodi chiliastarum opinamenta invehitur (cf. ad Os. 9, 94; 6, 1; 41, 11. Ioel 3, 7. Soph. 2, 8; 3, 44. 19; M. 25, 8441. 867. 991. 982. 980. 13064. 1382. 14385. 1430. 1431 etc.). Indolem novae illius theocratiae iam ex sanctitate interna describi ; eam vero ita exhibet, ut quae Moyses olim colentibus Deum et legem eius observantibus promiserat, iam maxima cum abundantia evenire dicit. Pollicitus enim erat Moyses : « si in praeceptis meis ambulaveritis et mandata mea custodieritis et feceritis ea, apprehendet messium tritura vindemiam et vindemia occupabit sementem » etc. (Lev. 26, 3. 5) ; ita scil. ex indole legis veteris et promissione data nexus adest inter fidelem bei cultum legumque observantiam et terrae frugumque abundantiam isque talis, ut ex terrae fertilitate et ubertate messium concludere liceat ad populi mores ex lege Dei exactos. Quare propheta hanc ipsam terrae ubertatem iuremerito adoptat quasi imaginem et symbolum quoddain externum, ex quo signo interna sanctitas cognoscatur. Si ergo vates novam theocratiam proponit omni bonorum genere abundantem, pce fruentem et securitate maxima, fertilitate donatam laetissima, tum propter nexum illum divinis promissionibus in vetere lege stabilitum | («f. Deut. cp. 28. 29) eo ipso s«ncltitatem internam adesse et florere indicat, quia haec est conditio necessaria, sine qua bona illa non exsistunt, cu» qua vero exsistere et florere perhibentur. Ad hanc rationem, quae ex iudole veteris legis fluit accedit alia, quam, Theod. tangit, bonorum scii. temporalium exhibitione allici homines faciliusque in tali involucro spirituales promissiones capere ; est enim homini quam maxime accommodatum, ut per sensibilia ad altiora appetenda ducatur. Ita Christus quoque coelestia gaudia sub imagine et symbolo convivii, nuptiarum etc. proponit; quare nemo mirabitur, prophetas usos esse rebus temporalibus, ut novae illius theocratiae desiderium et existimationem auditoribus suis iniicerent. Haec si ob oculos habueris, rite explicabis imaginem uberrimae fertilitatis a propheta delineatam
9:13
v. 13 « ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus, et comprehendet arator messorem et calcator uvae mittentem semen et stillabunt montes dulcedinem et omnes colles culti erunt » ; — cf. Lev. 96, 5. Ioel 3, 18. hebr. et omnes colles liquefient i. e. quasi fluent musto, melle, lacte !. « Proverbialis forma, qua magna significatur rerum abundantia et fructuum perceptio iugis et continens, ita ut nullum sit temporis momentum, in quo aliquid terra non suppeditet » (Sanct.) ; tam celeriter messis maturescet et feliciter, ut dum quis adhuc arva subigat ad semen excipiendum, iam in alia campi parte laetae segetes atque maturae adstent ; tanta copia uvae aderunt, ut vindemia usque ad tempus sementis sit producenda. Ipsa promissionum hyperbole, quae praecipue in priore membro cernitur — ut uno eodemque tempore et semen iaciatur etiam messis maturescat — insinuat id parabolice dici ; quis enim talem terrae rmmutationem et naturalium rerum alterationem serio sibi persuadebit fieri unquam posse vel debere, praesertim cum rerum naturalium substantia peccato Adami admisso nulla ratione sit immutata ? Est igitur ea imago similis ei, quam Is. 11, 6 depingit, ut pacis messianicae symbolum vivis coloribus exhibeat; est similis ei, quam Os. 2, 91-923 delineat. Quia in nova theocratia sanctitas interna adest, ideo populus ille tutus erit ab hostium incursu, a spoliatione bonorum, ab eiectione in exsilium. Peccantibus enim dictum est :« vineam plantabis et vinum non bibes, olivas habebis et non ungeris oleo... disperget te Dominus in omnes populos . .. eiecit eos de terra in ira et in furore (Deut. 28, 38. 39. 64; 29, 27); quare si iam felicitas et securitas stabilis praedicitur, stabilis etiam morum sanctitas indicatur;
9:14
v. 14 « et convertam captivitatem populi mei Israel, et aedificabunt civitates desertas et inhabitabunt et plantabunt vineas et. bibent vinum earum et facient hortos et comedent fructus eorum ;
9:15
v. 19 et plantabo eos super humum suam et non evellam eos ultra de terra sua quam dedi eis, dicit Dominus Deus tuus » ; — 1. LXX tamen ct Chald. explicaut sicut S. Hier. : ojuzuzot £30vzxt, culti erunt. hebr. et non evellentur amplius !. Theocratiae novae indefectibilitatem facile cernes hic expressam. lta S. Hier.:« ex quo intelligimus Ecclesiam usque ad finem mundi concuti quidem persecutionibus, sed nequaquam posse subverti; tentari non superari » (sim. Sanct.). Et convertam i. e. miseram populi conditionem in melius mutabo ; epiphonematis loco futuram calamitatem et quae inde enasci debeat gloriosam instaurationem paucis complectitur et hac rerum summa denuo proposita, quae est omnium vaticiniorum complexio, librum suum absolvit propheta. — Cum oraculum sub nomine Abdiae ' nobis traditum nihil pandat de propheta nisi nomen, quod cultorem vel servum Domini interpretaberis, nihil certi de ipso excepto nomine scimus. Variae tamen sunt veterum coniecturae ; fuisse prophetam ex terra Sichem (cf. Ephr. Barh.), fuisse illum Abdiam, qui tempore Achab centum prophetas absconderit et paverit (3 Reg. 18, 3. 4 — ita interpretum plerique apud Sanct. Rib. et ex Hebraeorum traditione apud S. Hier. in Abd. 1) vel principem quinquagenarium illum, de quo sermo sit 4 Reg. 1, 13-16 (Barh. Mar.); alii eum aequalem asserunt Osee, Ioel, Amos (Cyr. Ephr. Hier. ad Os. 1, 1). Neque apud recentiores una est sententia, quo tempore vixerit ; alii enim eum omnium prophetarum antiquissimum sub Ioram oraculum condidisse aiunt (ita Hofmann, Delitzsch apud Keil, Einl. 2. 88; Vigourour, Manuel bibl. II. p. 632; Kaulen Einl. p. 358; Trochon); alii tempore Oziae (Hengstenberg, Caspari, Haevernick); alii sub Achaz ( Vitringa, Carpzov, Kueper) ; alii proxime ab exsilio babylonico (;Voeldeke); alii proxime post urbem a Nabuchodonosor eversam (Calm. cum imnultis recentioribus : de Wette-Schrader, Knobel, Bleek etc.) ; demum Hitz. ei annum 312 a. Ch. assignant. In tanta opinionum silva inquirendum erit, num quidquam obstet antiquissimo illi testimonio, quod ex ipso loco et ordine duodecim prophetarum colligitur. Ut enim iam ad Ioel monuimus, prophetarum ordo non sine serie quadam chronologica recensetur, si illos spectaveris, quorum. tempus accurate designatur. Iam vero ex libri argumento omnino cer- 1. Hebr. nua; LXX 'A6étoó vel etiam ex aliis codd. 'Og8:o2 scil. ópas:;. Eius nominis vel etiam forma pleniore sYT37 plures in s. literis nominantur cf. 3 Reg. 18, 3. 1 tum esse videtur, Abdiam non loqui de eversione urbis tempore Chaldaeorum, verum de aliqua urbis expugnatione priore. Si ita res est, profecto nihil impedit, quominus prophetam tempore Amos prophetasse dicamus, vel eo circiter ordine, qui ex ipsa serie prophetarum ei assignatur, (uti censent Rib. Sa, Lap.). Ergo stragem chaldaicam non describi, nobis erit demonstrandum. Id vero eo conficitur, quia neque de urbe eversa vel destructa neque de totius populi abductione sermo est, sed tantum de urbis expugnatione, de opum direptione, de militibus in captivitatem abductis (cf. v. 11-14. v. 20). Accedit, quod in salutis sioniticae descriptione nulla fit mentio de regione iudaica recuperanda, sed Iudaeos suam regionem occupare aperte v. 171. 19 supponitur et ex sua regione imperium in alias quoque terras protendere; ad eos, qui sede pulsi non sunt, v. 20 dicuntur accedere reduces milites, qui propterea appellantur transmigratto exercitus huius filiorum Israel. Ergo omnia illa desunt, quae in enarratione cladis et ruinae per Chaldaeos illatae alias distincte et clare proponuntur. Iuvat id pluribus declarare et probare : v. 11 hostes diripiunt opes Ierusalem, ingrediuntur portas urbis, super populum mittunt sortem i. e. captivos vendunt in servitutem ; nihil de destructione vel incendio urbis et templi, cum tamen ea ruina, uti videmus apud Ier. et Ez. quam maximo dolore optimum quemque affecerit et calamitatis maximae summum censeatur fastigium. Iam quis sibi persuadebit, Abdiam de ea loqui strage et tamen quod praecipuum et potissimum in ea est non commemorari ? Neque de ea eversione sermo fit in subsequentibus ; v. 12. 13 expressionibus prorsus generalibus, quae ad urbis expugnationem et captivorum militum abductionem ommino aptae sunt, vates utitur, diem vocans calamitatis, perditionis filiorum Tuda, abductionis in alienas regionis, angustiae, mali, infortunii. Habes igitur talia, quae omnino dici poterant in calamitate 2 Par. 21, 16 narrata : « et ascenderunt in terram Iuda et vastaverunt eam, diripueruntque cunctam substantiam, quae inventa est in domo regis, insuper et filios eius et uxores ; nec remansit ei filius, nisi Ioachaz qui minimus natu erat ». Ita sub Ioram. Certe, si filii et uxores regis abducebantur, etiam partem exercitus fuisse captam quis negabit? et s1 palauum regium spoliabatur et tota domus regia, rege solo et unico filio exceptis, interibat, quid de urbe, quid de incolis factum esse censebimus ? Adde ea, quae Amos narrat 1, 6. 9. 11 de iniuriis a Philisthaeis, Phoenicibus, Edomitis perpetratis, de captivis abductis in alienas regiones, de caedibus commissis; adiunge, quae lIoel similia affert 3, 6 « et filios Iuda et filios Ierusalem vendidisus filiis Graecorum, ut longe faceretis eos de finibus suis » (ad quem locum omnino confer Abd. v. 90 « transmigratio Ierusalem quae est in Sepharad » (hebr.) i. e. in regione prope loniam et Cappadociam ! ; vide infra in com.). Alia urbis expugnatio et direptio legitur sub rege Amasia 4 Reg. 14, 13; 2 Par. 25, 93. 94 ; quae tamen cum ab Israelitis facta sit, vix ab Abdia h. l. respicitur, quippe qui de alienis, extraneis hostibus loquatur, nisi dixeris cum Israelitis alias quoque nationes foedere iunctas fuisse. Verum etsi nos certe dicere non possumus, quam cladem Abdias commemoret, pro nostro proposito satis est demonstrare, eum non de chaldaica loqui. ld autem alia quoque confirmant; v. 13 admonet Edomitas, ne ingre- : dantur portam in die ruinae : ergo urbis destructio ei non obversatur ; monet, ne manus extendant in opes (hebr.) in die fw i. e. infortuni, calamitatis ; nihil commemorat de opera et studio Edomitarum in ipsa urbis destructione et de exsultatione et tripudio illo, quod tamen adeo Edomitis exprobratur Lament. 4, 94 et Ps. 136, '1 : « memor esto, Domine, filiorum Edom in die lerusalem, qui dicunt : exinanite, exinanite usque ad fundamentum in ea ». Igitur Edomitae magnis clamoribus postulabant ut urbs usque ad fundamenta everteretur ! et talt scelere omisso Abdias solum conquereretur quod manus in opes extenderit ? Dein perpendendum est, a v. 16 nullum adesse vestigium, quo appareat prophetam supponere terram Iuda derelictam, populum abductum. Prophetae qui catastrophen illam tangunt, de reditu populi, de reductione etc. loquuntur ; non ita Abdias : in monte Sion, inquit, erit salvatio et statim addit et possidebit domus lacob eos qui se possederant vel ex hebr. possessiones earum (scil. gentium v. 16) : ergo domus lacob e sede sua prope Sion non consideratur eiecta, sed reputatur ibi considere et ad suam quam habet possessionem alia adiungere. Et hanc esse veram explicationem ? patet praecipue etiam ex eo, quia domus lacob diserte ac explicite a transmigratione i. e. ab iis distinguitur, qui in captivitatem venditi sunt (v. 20); idem notatur v. 19 : ii qui ad austrum sunt, qui in campestribus, aliorum regiones obtinebunt; id tamen aperte innuit, Iudaeos qui Negeb et Schephelah occupant ibique sedent, dominium suum esse extenturos. Ipsos vero etiam antea debere in pristinas sedes reverti, non modo non indicatur, sed oppositione v. 20 excluditur. Nam v. 20 ad illos accessuram esse transmigrationem decla- 1. Fatendum est, hanc explicationem non omni carere dubio. Delitzsch quidem in medio rcliuquit, utrum regio sit in Asia minore an in Media australi versus Babyloniam (cf. Wo lag das Paradies ? p. 249). 2. Sunt enim, qui suffüixum pron. Dry ed. domum lacob referant; i. e. suas épsorum possessiones possidebunt ; sed do reditu et recuperatione non solet vj** adhiberi, sed de ocratur, proinde transmigrationem non totum populum posse intelligi extra controversiam est. Neque negligendum est, dici exercitus (turbae) huius et lerusalem transmigrationem, quo loquendi modo iterum planum fit, de parte non de toto populo esse mentionem ; auctorem proinde stragem ob oculos habere similem ei, quae sub Ioram acciderit. Quamvis igitur plerique interpretes v. 11 - 14 de expugnatione a Chaldaeis facta explicent, quam pràevidisse et in antecessum descripsisse Abdiam veteres volunt, verba ipsa id minime suadent, immo totius rei color priorem aliquam calamitatem notat. Insuper satis mirum esset, si (cum veteribus) propheta Edomitas reprehenderet propter iniurias nondum perpetratas sed futuras, iisque excidium annuntiaret propter crimina, quae post multum demum temporis forent commissuri. Uti certum est Abdiam de ultima clade urbis non loqui, ita dictu difficile est, quemnam eventum respiciat. Ad tempus Ioram omnia quidem apta sunt; at num Abdias iam eo tempore vixit? Ita enim loquitur, ut eventum nuper vel recenter factum ob oculos habeat. Fortasse optimum erit dicere, eum eosdem eventus tangere, quos Amos cp. 4 et Ioel 3, 6 in medium adducunt. In libris historicis narrationes non institui explicitas nemo mirabitur, qui attenderit, quam pauca ex multorum regum diuturno imperio literis prodita sint; at cf. 4 Reg. 14, 13. 14. 2 Par. 25, 23. 2^; vel 2 Par. 28, 6 - 8 (?). Hisce etiam iam quaestio soluta est, utrum Ieremias ab Abdia, an Abdias a leremia dependeat. Vaticinium enim Ieremiae contra Edom (49, 1 - 22) aliqua habet ita ad verbum et sensum conformata, ut certe alteruter ab altero rem et verba hauserit; v. g. lege ler. 49, '1. 9. 12. 14 - 16 et Abd. v. 1-3. 5. 6. 8. Nuper quidem Scholz (Commentar zum Buche d. Pr. Ieremias) contenderat, Abdiam a Ieremia hausisse ; id vero asserit, quia in descriptione Abdiae eversionem cernit urbis. At praeter temporis rationem pro Abdia a quo Ieremias mutuatus sit, haec certant : a) Abdiae oraculum optime in se cohaeret, clare tribus partibus distinctum argumenti explicationem et aptum progressum praebet ; Ieremiae vaticinium vero illa interna unitate carens certa sententiarum serie ac progressu non constat, sed cladem Edomitarum variis modis sine certo ordine illustrat ; b) Ieremias generatim ab aliis prophetis multa mutuatur et speciatim in vaticiniis contra gentes dicta et oracula priorum recolit cf. c. Philisthaeos cp. 41 et Is. 14, 28 - 32; c. Moab cp. 48 et Is. cp. 18. 16; c. Ammon cp. 49 et Amos 1, 13 - 15; c. Damascum 49, 23 et Amos 4,3- 5; c. Babel cp. 50. 51 et Is. 13 -14, 23 ; c) ea quae utrique prophetae communia sunt, apud Abdiam una serie optime inter se contexta exhibentur, apud leremiam variis locis dispersa et aliis rebus inspersa cernuntur ; lege Abd. v. 1 - 8. Sed tali conditione omnino fit probabile, Abdiam oraculum primitus concepisse, leremiam autem ex illo iam noto aliqua sparsim in usum suum derivasse. Si singula quaedam inter se comparantur, certe aptius auditum audivimus a Domino ab initio totius vaticinii ponitur, ut et eius origo divina innuatur et inde totius oraculi quasi cursus progrediatur, quam ut cernitur apud lerem. in medio ; porro si Abdias libello suo inscribit : visio Abdiae, haec dicit Domi-: nus ... non fieri posse videtur, ut quae proponat ab alio propheta hauserit, vel saltem nequit admitti, ca ipsa quae visionem immediate ac per se constituant et totius oraculi quasi fons sint et principium, ab alio propheta esse transsumpta. Aliud cernitur apud leremiam ; cum enim generatim aliorum vaticinia contra gentes recolat et denuo tamquam mox et certe implenda inculcet, ipso suo consilio quasi cogitur, ut quae Abdias olim protulerit, sparsim et per partes proferat. — Exhortatio : surgite et. consurgamus . .. apud Abdiam concinna magis est, ipsa sua brevitate emphatica ; personae mutatione, qua ipse nuntius ut belli socium se offert, efficax ; apud ler. triplici verbo fit protractior et alterum membrum est tautologicum, diffusum. loquendi genus Ieremiae pandens simul cum paraphrasi versus concisi apud Ábdiam. Etiam in v. 2 oratio magis incitata ingreditur apud Abdiam ; caret particula *2, qua leremias nexum indicat. 'At in oratione affectibus agitata nexus non tam sollicite exprimitur, exprimitur vero ab interprete ; quare Abdias ex vehementiori animi affectione auctor, leremias a nexu logico restituto quasi inferpres apparet. Item. vehementius apud Abdiam : contemptibilis tu es valde ; sed ad parallelismum perfectum versus apud lerem. contemptibilis inter homines. Etiam in v. 3 superbia Edom quaestione illa quis detrahet me? acrius depingitur apud Abdiam et hac quaestione proposita Domini effatum ego detraham magno pondere et vi eximia profertur, et ex illa demum confidentia quis detrahet me? aptissime enascitur responsio et exaggeratio si exaltatus fueris ut aquila. Ita apud Abdiam. Apud ler. sermo est magis quietus ; deest exclamatio illa, unde assertio quoque Domini non tanta vi insonat, neque comparatio aquilae tam apte et quasi sua sponte fluit. Commotum animum apud Abdiam duplex comparatio et gradatio depingit. Sed facile quis concedet, in tali descriptione qui magis commovetur, tamquam rei spectatorem se prodere; qui minus, tamquam rei ab alio acceptae narratorem. Etiam in v. 9 maior vis, maior animi agitatio et commotio apud Ábdiam facile deprehenditur. Id iam ex forma interrogatoria elucet, elucet ex sensu in aliam partem verso : accuratius et acrius hostes omnia esse perscrutaturos quam latrones et vindemiatores et omnia ablaturos. Vix credibile est, Abdiam tantum affectuum aestum praeseferentem ad animi commoti sensa communicanda versus illos ex vario loco et contextu apud ler. sibi corrozasse. Id vero apud ler. minime poterit esse offensioni, quippe qui concepto consilio priorum vaticinia denuo inculcat, ne quasi oblivione apud Deum deleta*vel retractata videantur, sed ut certissime implenda intelligantur. Scholz quidem contendit v. 7 imitationem esse ex ler. 38, 22; 19, 6; sed ARc. — Contra Edomitas superbia elatos et arcibus suis natura et arte munitissimis nimium confidentes Deus suscitat bellum a gentibus inferendum, quo penitus deiiciantur, a sociis foedere sibi iunctis prodantur, omni salutis consilio destituantur (v. 4 - 9). Huius autem punitionis ratio est, quia in populum iudaicum, sanguinis cognatione adeo sibi iunctum, hostiles prorsus animos gerentes sicuti pessimi inimici egerunt, irrisione, contumelia, persecutione, caedibus populum cognatum affligentes. Sicut igitur Edomitae scelerum gentium participes se reddiderunt, ita communi quoque iudicio involventur, quod Deus oppressoribus sui populi statuit (v. 10-16). Verum in communi illa strage hostium salvatio erit in Sion, populus Dei hostes gloriose deiiciet, eorum regiones occupabit ; et. qui eiecti erant et prostrati cum gloria reduces erunt et regnum Dei, theocratiam novam constituent (v. 1'1 - 24). Titulo oraculi praemisso propheta nomine Dei annuntiat, se in visione prophetica percepisse, quomodo Deus misso praecone gentes ad bellum . eontra Edom advocet.
9:2
… In the minor prophets, even in the most ancient (Am. 2:4; 4:13; 5:8 ff.; 9:2, 5 ff.; Hos. 4:12; 9:10; 13:4), the same faith is found.
Furrowed by frequent valleys, pierced by numerous caves that were a safe refuge for the persecuted (Am. 9:2-3) and with its slopes clothed in rich vegetation, the C. is often recalled in Sacred Scripture as a symbol of grace and prosperity for its fruitfulness, or as a symbol of desolation …
"descends" or "plunges" (Is. 14:9-15; 57:9; Ez. 31:15-17; 32:21; Am. 9:2; Ps. 85:13; 138:8; Prov. 15:24). The deep f. is a synonym of "death" that sweeps away (Job 24:19; Ecclus. 14:12; 51:2-9; cf. Apoc. 1:18 and 20:13-14), and "to descend into it" is equivalent …
9:3
… Náhás is translated δράκων in Am. 9:3 (in the sea) and Job 26:13, while elsewhere it is rendered ὄφις "serpent," also
… Livjāthān). - A fabulous aquatic monster, akin to the tannin, or tannim, to which it is joined by parallel synonymy in Is. 27:1 (cf. DRAGON), applied to the crocodile (Job 40:25 [Vulg. 40:20]; cf. Is. 27:1) and to a generic great sea monster (Ps. 104:26; 74:14; cf. Am. 9:3).
9:4
… flooding of the N. (Jer. 46:7-8), to the fact that Alexandria is entirely surrounded by the waters of the river as well as by the sea (Nah. 3:8), to the hippopotamus and the crocodile of the N. (Job 40:10-28) and perhaps to the dragon (Ex. 32:2; Am. 9:4); as well as to the fishermen with net and hook (Is. 19:8) and to the papyrus boats that come from Ethiopia toward the north (ibid. 18:2). Aristide Calderini
9:7
… In Jer. 13:23 the Cushite is described as belonging to the black race; while in Am. 9:7 a certain contempt is shown toward that people, generally employed as slaves (cf. 2 Sam. 18:21 ff.; Jer. 38:7; 39:16). Yet even the wife of Moses was a Cushite (Num. 12:1). Angelo Penna
… The prevailing opinion today is that Kefivo of the Egyptian documents and Caphtor of the Bible (Gen. 10, 14) (Kaftara in the cuneiform texts) is C., the country of origin of the Philistines (Jer. 47, 7; Am. 9, 7). Archaeological explorations attest to a great commercial activity with Egypt and with the other Mediterranean regions from the 3rd millennium to 1400 B.C. In Egypt, in fact, many …
As regards the origin of the P., according to the Bible they come from Caphtor (Amos 9:7; Jer. 47:
9:9
… it; he reserves a "remnant," which he will purify in the long exile and lead back to Palestine to reconstitute the new Israel; this, in due time, will be raised up and absorbed into the kingdom of the M., the end of the whole divine economy (Am. 4, 11; 9, 9; Mic. 4, 6 f.; 7, 19; Is. 1, 9; 7, 3; 10, 20 ff.; 40-66; Jer. 3, 14, 16; 23, 3; 24, 6; 30-31; 33; Ez. 11, 13-20; 34; 37, 12; etc.). …
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.