After many benefits, great affliction shall fall upon the ten tribes, for their ingratitude to God.
After manie benefites, and aduancement, much affliction shal fal vpon the tenne tribes, for their ingratitude towards God.
1Israel a vine full of branches, the fruit is agreeable to it: according to the multitude of his fruit, he hath multiplied altars, according to the plenty of his land he hath abounded with idols.Vite frondosa Israele, la quale ebbe frutti proporzionati. Quanto egli più abbondo di beni, tanto maggior numero ebbe di altari, e quanto la sua terra fu più feconda, maggior copia egli ebbe di simolacri.ISRAEL a vine a thicke of branches, the fruite is made equal to it: according to the multitude of his fruite he hath multiplied altars, according to the plentie of his land he hath abunded in idols.Vitis frondosa Israël, / fructus adæquatus est ei: / secundum multitudinem fructus sui multiplicavit altaria, / juxta ubertatem terræ suæ exuberavit simulacris. 2Their heart is divided: now they shall perish: he shall break down their idols, he shall destroy their altars.Costoro hanno il cuore diviso, e tosto anderanno in rovina. Dio spezzerà i lor simolacri, e atterrerà i loro altari.Their hart is diuided, now they shal perish: he shal breake their idols, he shal destroy their altars.Divisum est cor eorum, nunc interibunt; / ipse confringet simulacra eorum, / depopulabitur aras eorum. 3For now they shall say: We have no king: because we fear not the Lord: and what shall a king do to us?Perocché or ora diranno: Noi siam senza re, perchè non temiamo il Signore: e un re, che farebbe egli per noi?Because they wil now say: We haue no king: for we feare not our Lord: and what shal a king do to vs?Quia nunc dicent: Non est rex nobis, / non enim timemus Dominum; / et rex quid faciet nobis ? 4You speak words of an unprofitable vision, and you shall make a covenant: and judgment shall spring up as bitterness in the furrows of the field.Ripetete pur le parole di una falsa visione: e stabilite pur l'alleanza: ma la vendetta di Dio pullulerà come l'erba amara sui solchi del campo.You speake wordes of vnprofitable vision, and you shal make a couenant: & iudgement shal spring as bitternes vpon the furrowes of the filde.Loquimini verba visionis inutilis, et ferietis fœdus; / et germinabit quasi amaritudo judicium super sulcos agri. 5The inhabitants of Samaria have worshipped the kine of Bethaven: for the people thereof have mourned over it, and the wardens of its temple that rejoiced over it in its glory because it is departed from it.Gli abitanti della Samaria renderon culto alle vacche di Bethaven: e quel popolo, e i suoi sacerdotj, i quali già facevano festa per la gloria di quel vitello, spargono lagrime, perchè egli ne resta spogliato.The kine of Bethauen haue the inhabitans of Samaria worshipped: Because his people mourned vpon him, & his temple wardens reioyced vpon him in his glorie, because it departed from him.Vaccas Bethaven coluerunt habitatores Samariæ; / quia luxit super eum populus ejus, / et æditui ejus super eum exsultaverunt / in gloria ejus, quia migravit ab eo.
6For itself also is carried into Assyria, a present to the avenging king: shame shall fall upon Ephraim, and Israel shall be confounded in his own will.Imperocché egli fu trasportato nell'Assiria in dono al re difensore. Ephraim resterà svergognato, e Israele ritrarrà confusione da' suoi consigli.For he also was caried vnto Assur, a gift to the king Reuenger: confusion shal take Ephraim, & Israel shal be confunded in his owne wil.Siquidem et ipse in Assur delatus est, / munus regi ultori. / Confusio Ephraim capiet, / et confundetur Israël in voluntate sua. 7Samaria hath made her king to pass as froth upon the face of the water.Samaria ha fatto sparire il suo re, come una bolla, che galleggia sull'acqua.Samaria hath made her king to passe as froth vpon the face of water.Transire fecit Samaria regem suum / quasi spumam super faciem aquæ. 8And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and they shall say to the mountains Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us.E saranno distrutti i luoghi eccelsi di quel simulacro, il peccato d'Israele. Lappole, e stecchi spunteranno sopra de' loro altari: ed eglino diranno ai monti: cuopriteci: e alle colline: rovesciatevi sopra di noi.And the excelses of the idol the sinne of Israel shal be destroyed: the burre and the thistle shal grow vp ouer their altars: and they shal say to the mountaines: Couer vs; and to the litle hilles: Fal vpon vs.Et disperdentur excelsa idoli, peccatum Israël; / lappa et tribulus ascendet super aras eorum: / et dicent montibus: Operite nos, / et collibus: Cadite super nos. 9From the days of Gabaa, Israel hath sinned, there they stood: the battle in Gabaa against the children of iniquity shall not overtake them.Dai tempi (del fatto) di Gabaa. Israele fece il peccato: in esso han perseverato: non saranno esposti a una guerra, come quella fatta a Gabaa contro que' figliuoli d'iniquità.From the Dayes of Gabaa, Israel hath sinned, there they stood: the battel in Gabaa vpon the children of iniquitie shal not apprehend them.Ex diebus Gabaa peccavit Israël; / ibi steterunt. / Non comprehendet eos in Gabaa / prælium super filios iniquitatis. 10According to my desire, I will chastise them: and the nations shall be gathered together against them, when they shall be chastised for their two iniquities.Secondo la mia volontà saranno puniti da me: si aduneranno le genti contro di loro, allorché saranno puniti della doppia loro iniquità.According to my desire I wil chastise them: and the peoples shal be gathered together vpon them, when they shal be chastised for their two inquities.Juxta desiderium meum corripiam eos: / congregabuntur super eos populi, / cum corripientur propter duas iniquitates suas.
11Ephraim is a heifer taught to love to tread out corn, but I passed over upon the beauty of her neck: I will ride upon Ephraim, Juda shall plough, Jacob shall break the furrows for himself.Ephraim, vitella avvezza a fare la battitura; ma io domerò la sua bella giogaia: salirò sopra Ephraim, Giuda porrà la mano all'aratro, Giacobbe romperà le zolle co' suoi solchi.Ephraim an heifer taught to loue threshing, and I haue passed ouer the beautie of her necke: I wil ascend vpon Ephraim, Iudas shal plough, Iacob shal breake the furrowes to himself.Ephraim vitula docta diligere trituram, / et ego transivi super pulchritudinem colli ejus: / ascendam super Ephraim, / arabit Judas; / confringet sibi sulcos Jacob. 12Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy, break up your fallow ground: but the time to seek the Lord is, when he shall come that shall teach you justice.Spargete voi semenza di giustizia, e mieterete copiosa misericordia: rompete la vostra inculta terra: ed è tempo di cercare il Signore, sino a tanto che venga chi insegnerà a voi la giustizia.Sow to your selues in iustice, and reape in the mouth of mercie, fallow ground: but the time to seeke our Lord, when he shal come that shal teach you iustice.Seminate vobis in justitia, / et metite in ore misericordiæ. / Innovate vobis novale; / tempus autem requirendi Dominum, / cum venerit qui docebit vos justitiam. 13You have ploughed wickedness, you have reaped iniquity, you have eaten the fruit of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy ways, in the multitude of thy strong ones.Araste per l'empietà, avete mietuta iniquità, avete mangiati frutti mendaci. Tu mettesti la tua fidanza ne' tuoi ritrovamenti, e nel numero de' tuoi campioni.you haue ploughed impietie, you haue reaped iniquitie, you haue eaten the fruite of lying: because thou hast trusted in thy wayes, in the multitude of thy strong ones.Arastis impietatem, / iniquitatem messuistis: / comedistis frugem mendacii, / quia confisus es in viis tuis, / in multitudine fortium tuorum. 14A tumult shall arise among thy people: and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed as Salmana was destroyed, by the house of him that judged Baal in the day of battle, the mother being dashed in pieces upon her children.Si alzeranno le strida nel vostro popolo, e tutte le vostre fortezze saranno smantellate, come fu distrutto Salmana in quella battaglia dalla schiera di colui, che fe' vendetta di Baal, fu infranta la madre sopra i suoi figli.A tumult shal arise in thy people: & al thy munitions shal be destroyed as Salmana was destroyed by his house that tooke vengeance on Baal in the day of battel, the mother being dashed in peeces vpon the children.Consurget tumultus in populo tuo; / et omnes munitiones tuæ vastabuntur, / sicut vastatus est Salmana a domo ejus qui judicavit Baal / in die prælii, matre super filios allisa.
15So hath Bethel done to you, because of the evil of your iniquities.Ecco quello, che ha fatto a voi Bethel, a motivo delle pessime vostre malvagità.So hath Bethel done to you, because of the malice of your iniquities.Sic fecit vobis Bethel, / a facie malitiæ nequitiarum vestrarum.
10:1
Haydock
Branches. Septuagint, "Wood." Symmachus, This is all: it yields no fruit. Protestants, "empty." (Haydock)
Calmet
Hebrew, "plucked." The grapes are taken away, as the Israelites were; though they boasted of their numbers, Osee 9:16. They are often compared to a vine, the symbol of fecundity, Isaias 5:3., and Psalm 127:3. (Calmet)
Worthington
The greater benefits of God enhanced their ingratitude. (Worthington)
On every noted hill (Haydock) profane altars were erected.
10:2
Calmet
Divided between the Lord and idols, 3 Kings 18:21. (Calmet)
10:3
No king, in captivity; or they give this title to the golden calf. Manahem had destroyed one, so that they could not but see its vanity. The neighbouring nations looked upon their idols as their kings.
10:4
Calmet
Covenant with Phul, who seeks only your destruction, 4 Kings 15:19. (Calmet)
Calmet
Bitterness. Hebrew, "poison," (Haydock) or a bitter herb. (Calmet)
10:5
Worthington
The kine of Bethaven. The golden calves of Jeroboam, (Challoner) one of which (Haydock) was set up at Bethel. (Worthington)
The feminine cows, is spoken in ridicule; as (Calmet) O vere Phrygiae, (Virgil) Aeneid ix. Isis was represented with a cow's head. (Herodotus 2:41.)
St. Jerome
Rejoiced. To avoid this apparent contradiction, the Jews relate that the priests had sent a brazen calf to the Assyrian, and secreted the golden one. While they rejoiced at their success, Salmanasar, (Seder. Olam.) or Sennacherib, discovered the cheat, and came to destroy the kingdom. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
This has the air of a fable. If (Calmet) we substitute é for g, in yagilu, (Haydock) we may give a good sense to the Hebrew. "The people shouting, or in black, (cemaraiv) have been in sorrow, because their glory is taken from them: so the idol is called, Psalm 105:20. (Calmet)
10:6
Challoner
Itself also is carried, etc. One of the golden calves was given by king Manahem to Phul, king of the Assyrians, to engage him to stand by him. (Challoner)
Avenging. Osee 5:13.
Calmet
Will, or expectation of aid. (Calmet)
Haydock
He had recourse to this nation, without consulting God. (Haydock)
10:7
Pass. Hebrew, "As for Samaria, it is undone. Its king is like froth, or a bubble," etc., Osee 11:1. The calf; (ver. 3.) Zacharias or Osee may be meant.
10:8
Calmet
Us, as the Jews would do at the last siege, and sinners before the day of judgment, Luke 23:30., and Apocalypse 6:16. Too happy, if they could by a speedy death escape eternal torments! (Calmet)
Haydock
People shall be in the utmost consternation at the approach of the Assyrians. (Haydock)
They will not think themselves secure enough in their caverns.
10:9
Calmet
Stood. Those of Gabaa were speedily punished by the other tribes. Now, all are perverse. At that time one tribe was guilty, and yet some were spared; but all Israel shall be now led into captivity. (Calmet)
Worthington
From the time that Dan adored Micha's idol, (Judges 18:14.) the evil has spread among the rest of the tribes, which did not punish this transgression. Hence all shall at last suffer. (Worthington)
10:10
10:11
Neck. I will confine her to harder labour. While the oxen tred out corn, they may eat, Deuteronomy 25:4.
Himself. Juda shall be chastised after the ten tribes; so that none of my people shall escape.
10:12
Haydock
Mouth. Hebrew, "in proportion to (Calmet) your piety." Septuagint, "gather a vintage of the fruit of life." (Haydock)
Calmet
Ground. Reform your conduct. (Calmet)
Calmet
Justice, when Christ shall appear, the source of all our grace and justice. (St. Jerome, etc.) (Calmet)
Septuagint, "Light up for yourselves the light of knowledge, for it is time; seek the Lord, till ye obtain the fruit of justice."
10:13
Haydock
Ploughed. Septuagint, "Why have you concealed impiety," refusing to confess? (Haydock)
Iniquity, or punishment.
Calmet
Lying. Your hopes are frustrated, and no fruit is seen. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Ways: idols. (St. Jerome)
10:14
Challoner
Tumult. Hebrew shaon; the din of war, (Haydock) or cry of soldiers. (Calmet) ---Salmana, king of the Madianites, was destroyed by the house; that is, by the followers of him that judgeth Baal; that is, of Gideon, who threw down the altar of Baal, and was therefore called Jerobaal. See Judges vi. and viii. (Challoner)
Calmet
Of him. Roman Septuagint, "of Jeroboam." But St. Jerome, etc., have, Jerobaal. Theodoret, "in the house of Arbeel." Hebrew, "as Salmana ruined the house of Arbela." There were many places of this name; but none of great note, taken by Salmanasar. Some think that he took it before he was king. Yet this is all uncertain, and the Hebrew seems rather changed, so that we should read with the Alexandrian manuscript. St. Jerome, etc., Jerobaal, who defeated the Madianites, and treated Succoth with great severity, Judges 8:15. (Calmet)
10:15
Haydock
Bethel. This place, defiled by an idol, shall be the scene of your misery. Septuagint, "So I will treat you, O house of Israel," etc., (Haydock) which is not in Hebrew (St. Jerome) but seems as good. (Haydock)
Hebrew adds here properly, (Calmet) "Presently, or in the morning, shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off," which we have in the next chapter.
10:5
The kine of Bethaven.... The golden calves of Jeroboam.
10:6
10:10
Their two iniquities.... Their two calves.
10:14
10:1
By hovv much more & greater benefites Israel receiued of God: so much vvere they more vngratful.
10:5
The house of one of their calues which Ieroboam set vp for their God, othervvise called. Bethel.
10:8
10:9
From the time that the tribe of Dan, adored an idol vvhich they tooke from Micheas (lud. 18. v. 14. which the other Isra. clites reuenged not) they haue very often either committed or suffered idolatrie, vvhich they ought to haue hindered and therfore shal at last be punished.
10:12
Concordance Iere. 4.
10:14
Concordance Iudic. 2.
10:1
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.90
90. For I own that I am too weak for this warfare, and therefore turned my back, hiding my face in the rout, and sat solitary, because I was filled with bitterness and sought to be silent, understanding that it is an evil time, that the beloved had kicked, that we were become backsliding children, who are the luxuriant vine,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 42.5
… What more marvellous than this? What greater proof of the generosity of God, when from men without means He wills to supply the means for public affairs? And the land of promise is distributed through one who was hated, and he who was sold dispossesses nations, and is himself made a great nation, and that small offshoot becomes a luxuriant vine,
10:6
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 103
… And when Herod succeeded Archelaus, having received the authority which had been allotted to him, Pilate sent to him by way of compliment Jesus bound; and God foreknowing that this would happen, had thus spoken: ‘And they brought Him to the Assyrian, a present to the king.’
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.42
… the people were the tribes of Israel; the kings were represented in Herod, and the rulers in the chief priests. When, indeed, He was sent to Herod gratuitously by Pilate, the words of Hosea were accomplished, for he had prophesied of Christ: “And they shall carry Him bound as a present to the king.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 13.14
14. Having been bound, He came from Caiaphas to Pilate,—is this too written? yes; And having bound Him, they led Him away as a present to the king of Jarim
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 21
… This also the Prophet foretold, saying, “And they bound him and conducted Him as a pledge of friendship (xenium) to King Jarim.”
10:12
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis pref.10
Every one, therefore, must make use of elements and foundations of this sort, according to the precept, “Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge,”
Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.5
But that a light is suddenly kindled in the soul, as by a fire leaping forth, is a fact known long ago to our Scriptures; as when the prophet said, “Light ye for yourselves the light of knowledge.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.20
… “Because Thy commandments are a light upon the earth,” and David says in the Psalm, “The precept of the Lord is clear, enlightening the eyes.” But since in addition to the commandments and the precepts there is a light of higher knowledge, we read in one of the twelve (prophets),
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 1.11
11. And furthermore the Prophet Hosea also said:— Light you a lamp and seek ye the Lord .
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 40
… for this is really night, and yet is thought to be bright light by those who have been ruined by luxury. For what saith David? “Night was around me and I knew it not, for I thought that my luxury was enlightenment.” But such are they, and in this condition; but let us kindle for ourselves the light of knowledge.
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.9
… “Wash thine heart of iniquity, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved,” and what is it that the prophet asks for from the Lord, when he says “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and again: “Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow?” What is it that is said to us: “Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge;”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 14.16
… “For the Spirit of God will avoid deception, and dwelleth not in a body that is subject to sin.” There is then no way of arriving at spiritual knowledge but this which one of the prophets has finely described: “Sow to yourselves for righteousness: reap the hope of life. Enlighten yourselves with the light of knowledge.”
10:13
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John 6.14
… But both classes see John point to the stones aforesaid and declare that even from these children can be raised up to Abraham, rising up out of unconsciousness and deadness. And observe how it is said to the Pharisees, according to the word of the prophet,
10:1
1. A VINE SPREADING ITS BRANCHES, ISRAEL. — For spreading its branches in Hebrew it is בֹּקֵק bokek, that is, emptying itself; because namely it pours itself entirely into branches, and exhausts and empties its sap into them, so that nothing, or very little, remains to be transferred into fruit and grapes. Whence the Chaldean and Vatablus translate: An empty vine, or scattered, that is, lacking in sap and moisture. Thus in Nahum II, 2, it is said: "The spoilers have laid it waste;" in Hebrew elegantly bekakim bokekim, that is, emptiers have emptied them, that is, plunderers have plundered them. Hence also "Aquila," says St. Jerome, interpreted bokek as εὔφορον, which we can call watery or moist, in that it loses the flavor of wine: Symmachus, ἰλιγγιῶσαν, which has grown entirely in branches; for vines which have not been pruned by the vintner grow luxuriantly into shoots (that is, branches) and leaves, and the moisture which they ought to have changed into wine, they waste in the vain ambition of branches and foliage. Such was Israel, growing in the multitude of peoples, and not yielding fruit to God the husbandman." He then adds another, indeed contrary interpretation: "A vine," he says, "spreading its branches, or according to the Septuagint, εὐκληματοῦσα, that is, having good shoots and fruitful branches, brought forth many clusters; and the fruitfulness of grapes equaled the magnitude of the branches, but this vine, which was such before it offended God, afterward turned the abundance of its fruits into a multitude of offenses; so that the more peoples it had, the more altars it would build, and it would surpass the abundance of the land by the number of idols." He then adapts this afterward, in his manner, tropologically and aptly to heretics: for these are similar, indeed worse than idolaters. The reason for this different, indeed contrary version and explanation is that bokek is the same as emptying itself. Now a vine can empty itself into branches alone (so that it can supply nothing, or very little to fruits and grapes), or partly into branches, partly and more into grapes, and thus it will be spreading its branches, and at the same time fruitful. Thus Israel in former times in the age of the Patriarchs was fruitful, that is, it abounded then in grapes and fruits, as much as in branches, according to that Psalm LXXVIII: "He sent forth his branches from the sea even to the river," then in piety, the worship of God, and good works: thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Lyra and others. Thus Isaiah says in chapter v, 7: "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel: and the man of Juda his pleasant plant;" whence "fruit was rendered to him," that is, his fruit corresponded to the branches, that is, to the multitude of families; it bore as many fruits as would suffice in number for feeding the inhabitants. But the former is more probable; for bokek properly signifies emptying itself, that is, empty and vain, as Symmachus, Aquila, the Chaldean and Vatablus translate, and indeed the Septuagint. For κλῆμα is the same as having good branches, growing luxuriantly in shoots: for κλήματα by Theophrastus, Columella and others are called branches and tendrils of the vine, or a bundle of vine shoots; whence from this were made κλημάτια, that is, centurion's rods, by which namely centurions beat delinquent soldiers. Hence Macrobius calls the vine centurial: for by Roman law it was ordained that citizens should not be beaten with rods, but with vine shoots, as Livy testifies in book LVII. To this pertains what Plutarch in the Apophthegms, and from him Valerius Maximus, book VI, chapter iv, write, that Popillius Laenas, sent by the Romans to Antiochus Epiphanes, to order him to withdraw from Egypt and not to fight against the Ptolemies, when Antiochus delayed, deliberating what he should answer, circumscribed Antiochus with κλήματι, that is, a rod, and said to him: You shall not go out of this circle unless you give me and the Romans an answer; κλήματα therefore is the same as spreading its branches and having tendrils. Therefore concerning this vineyard vanishing into leaves, that is concerning Israel poured out into riches and the good things of the earth, he says: "The fruit is made equal to it," that is it bore such fruit as the wantonness of branches and shoots promised, namely none true and solid, because all went into leaves and shoots, all yearning after earthly goods, and luxuriating in them and their offspring, and referring them to idols, he despised God, and therefore gave no fruit of piety, fear of God and holiness; he brought forth not grapes of religion, but wild grapes of idolatry; thus St. Jerome, Vatablus, Arias, Prado in Ezech. cap. xv, 2; for fruit corresponding and equal to a leafy vine are leaves and wild grapes. Whence Vatablus translates: Will it yield or bring forth fruit? as if to say, No, except leafy and futile fruit; others translate: The fruit shall lie to him, that is shall deceive him and frustrate his hope. For the Hebrew ישוה ieschavve, that is it is made equal, if it be derived from שוא schave, that is falsehood, signifies it shall lie. Otherwise the Arabic Alexandrian version translates: A flowering vine having branches is Israel: many are its fruits in their temples, namely many victims and impieties in idols; the Arabic Antiochian: Israel as a fertile vine, and its fruit is easy for it; the Syriac: A vine of shoots (leafy) Israel, which made fruit according to the multitude of its fruits, they multiplied altars. According to this Sanchez thus explains it, as if to say, Israel as a vine, just as it brought forth leaves, so also brought forth many fruits, and abounded in riches, but spent all these on its idols, and would have spent more if it had had more. Others, as if to say, The vine empties, that is maddens Israel. For "fornication and wine take away the heart," cap. IV, 11. Thus Jeremiah, cap. LI, says, iebokeku, that is they shall empty his land. The Chaldean refers these things to captivity; for it translates: The vine Israel is laid waste, which was planted when it kept the law: and the fruit corresponds to it. For its evil works shall cause it to be exiled. The vine therefore laid waste shall bear like fruit, namely exile and captivity. Allegorically, the vineyard is the Church, and tropologically any faithful soul, and this first, because to the ancients, and especially to the Patriarchs in various ways, the vineyard was a most valued possession. Thus Noah soon after the flood planted a vineyard, Gen. cap. ix, 20. Thus God promised vineyards to the Israelites in the promised land, Deuter. cap. vi, 11. Thus the spouse, Cant. viii, 12, calls her inheritance a vineyard: "My vineyard, she says, is before me," as if to say, It is most dear and nearest to me, in it or near it I dwell, it is always before my eyes. For the ancients, as also moderns, were accustomed to plant a vineyard in the courtyard of a house at the door, for shade and pleasantness. For a vineyard is something between a garden and a field: for the latter is profitable, the former delightful; a vineyard is both profitable and delightful. Secondly, because a vineyard is most fruitful, both because it bears wine, which gladdens God and men, Judic. cap. ix, 13; and because no tree is more fertile in proportion to its slenderness; and because many well-cultivated vineyards give copious fruit, as was that of which Cato speaks, which from single jugera gave ten skins of wine. "By an effective example, says Pliny lib. XIV, cap. IV, the seas are not more troubled to bring merchandise to the merchant, nor are goods sought from the Red Sea or Indian shore, than the diligent household of the countryside." Hence Wisdom proclaiming herself: "I, she says, as a vine have brought forth fruit," Eccli. cap. xxiv, 23. Such a vine was St. Polycarp, disciple of St. John the Apostle, teacher, father and leader of Christians in Asia unto martyrdom, of whom therefore the Poet truly says: You bear fruit, Polycarp, for God, in manner, speech and love: From fruit you justly have your name and omen. Namely, God seeks, loves and advances the polycarpos, not the polyphyllos; the fruitful, not the leafy. Finally, the wine which the vine produces so restores and recreates the strength of man, that it can be called not only the milk of the aged, but the wood of life, indeed the life of man itself. Thirdly, because a vineyard is most pleasant, whether you look at the rows of vines, or the shoots, or the clusters blooming and reddening. Wherefore the spouse invites the bridegroom to walk through the vineyard in the Canticles. Finally, the must freshly pressed from grapes has such force that it often breaks flasks and vessels, so that it makes men not only drunk, but bereft of mind, and as if mad. Thus the Church and the faithful soul is, first, a field most dear to God; second, most fertile in good works; third, most pleasant; fourth, most efficacious: for although outwardly it is like the wood of a vine, vile and despised, yet inwardly it has life-giving sap, namely the spirit of Christ, by which the weak and as it were half-dead are revived, grow warm, and inflame others with the love of God to arduous works of virtue. This therefore is wine producing virgins, that is, the chaste and immortal: for a virgin, flourishing with vivid and rosy color, is a symbol of youth never growing old and of immortal life; thus Prado in the place cited. And St. Bernard, sermon 63 in the Canticles: "To a wise man, he says, his life is a vineyard, his mind, his conscience: for truly the wise man will leave nothing uncultivated or desert in himself." And soon after: "To whom virtue is the vine, to whom action is the branch, to whom wine is the testimony of conscience, to whom the tongue is the press of expression, discourse, thought, conversation, and if there is anything else from it, why is not all of it God's agriculture, God's building, and the vineyard of the Lord of hosts?" This vineyard therefore is not only leafy, but also flowering, fruitful and wine-producing. The same, sermon 65, calls the Church "a vineyard exceedingly great," planted by the hand of the Lord, redeemed by His blood, watered by His word, propagated by grace, made fruitful by the Spirit. And sermon 60: "If the flower of the vineyard of the soul is work, its odor is reputation, what is its fruit? martyrdom. And truly the fruit of the vine is the blood of the martyr. Why not new wine, reddish, approved, precious, plainly from the vineyard of Sorec, pressed out in the winepress of passion?" Finally, see the same in the book On the Passion of the Lord, which is entirely about this mystical vine and vineyard. For explaining that passage from John, chapter 15: "I am the true vine," he teaches that Christ is the true vine, whose pruning, digging about, binding, cultivation and appearance he accommodates to Christ. Then, chapter 8 and following, he recounts seven mystical leaves of this vine; soon after, chapter 16, its flowers: "This true vine had, he says, not one kind of flower but all kinds: the violet of humility, the lily of chastity, the rose of patience and charity, and the flower of abstinence, which we call the crocus." Of these it is said in the Canticles: "Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples, for I am sick of love." And: "My beloved to me is a cluster of cypress in the vineyards of Engaddi." ACCORDING TO THE MULTITUDE OF HIS FRUIT HE MULTIPLIED ALTARS. — He calls fruit the leaves; for this vine did not produce grapes, but leaves, as I said a little before: by leaves he understands the abundance of sons and crops, as if to say, The more citizens and riches Israel had, the more idols and altars it built; because like a leafy vine, all its abundance flowed into them: thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, the Chaldean, Lyran and Vatablus. In the Hebrew there is an elegant paronomasia between טוב tob and הטיבו hetibu, as if to say, According to the good things of the earth they made good things for idols, as if for their givers, so that the more good things they thought they received from them, the more they expended on them. Thus Virgil says of the god of crops, eclogue 7: Now we have made you a marble image for the season, but you, if the offspring increases the flock, be golden. This is what the Prophet adds here: "According to the abundance of the earth they abounded in graven images." Thus the impious render evil to God for good, and turn benefits into misdeeds, and crops into swords, riches into vices, by which they fight against their author for the devil.
10:2
2. THEIR HEART IS DIVIDED. — Hebrew, he divided their heart; the Septuagint, he divided their hearts, because namely Israel, that is the Samaritans, separated their mind, first, from God and from God's law, says the Chaldean and Theophylactus; secondly, from one another, that is to say, they are at variance in spirit and hatred among themselves, while these attempt to introduce these idols, those those, others others. Thus St. Cyril, Theodoret, Albert and Hugh. In a similar way we see perpetual schisms and quarrels among heretics, which pride begets. For when they are puffed up with arrogance, they are unwilling to follow the heresies of others and to be their disciples; but they strive to be themselves the authors and teachers of new dogmas. Moreover, Hugh thinks that schisms are noted here between Judah and Israel, or between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and consequently between God and the golden calves: for Israel worshipped these, Judah worshipped him. But this is more remote: nearer are St. Jerome, Haymo and Albert, who think that schism is signified here between Hosea the last king of Israel, and the people, while the people worshipped calves, the king thought God should be worshipped: but there is no mention of this schism in Scripture, indeed concerning King Hosea it says in IV Kings, chapter xvii, 2: "And he did evil before the Lord," because, as it appears, he worshipped golden calves, not God. Thirdly: "Their heart is divided in themselves," while they wish to give part of it to God, part to idols. For they desire to worship both God and an idol, so that they might have both propitious, as is clear in IV Kings, chapter xvii, 33. Thus Lyra. So the Romans worshipped the gods of all nations, so that they might have all propitious and favoring, lest, if they neglected any, they might stir him up against themselves; as the Trojans, by worshipping Venus, stirred up Juno against themselves, as Virgil relates in I Aeneid. For they thought there were quarrels and wars among the gods, as there are among men. NOW THEY SHALL PERISH, — that is to say, they shall now be cut off and desolated, as the Septuagint translates; for division and schism is the cause of ruin and destruction. And truly it is that saying of Christ: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be desolated." Secondly, with the Chaldean, Arias and Vatablus it can be translated: Now they shall offend, that is to say, this division of their heart from God and from their neighbors, indeed from themselves, is a signal and enormous crime. For the Hebrew אשם ascham means both to offend and to be desolated, or to be cut off and to perish. HE HIMSELF, (namely God), SHALL BREAK (through the Assyrians) THEIR IDOLS — of the Israelites. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Albert and Vatablus. For the Hebrews often pass over the subject in silence, and leave it to be understood and supplied from the circumstances. Secondly, "he himself," that is itself, namely the divided heart: for לב leb, that is heart, is masculine gender among the Hebrews, as is he himself: or certainly he himself, namely Israel, who divided his heart, as the Hebrew has it, that is to say, the very dissension of minds, the very discord, the very schisms and factions shall destroy them, and shall deliver them to the enemy, who shall overturn the idols, as well as their houses and cities. Thus a Castro. Whence it follows:
10:3
3. Because now they will say: We have no king, etc. — that is to say, When they shall see the Assyrians approaching and besieging Samaria, and their king Hosea being unable to resist them, then they will say: We have no king who can protect us; our king is as if he were not a king, and this has justly befallen us, because we do not fear or worship the Lord, but idols. For when God, who is King of kings and Lord of lords, is angry, what mortal king will be able to help and save us? Thus Lyra and Vatablus. Whence secondly, St. Jerome, Theodoret and Albert expound it, that is to say, When king Hosea shall be captured by the Assyrians, Israel will say: Now we are bereft of a king, because we have abandoned God, the King of kings. Thirdly, de Castro expounds it, that is to say, God who was accustomed to rule us and to be our king has abandoned us, because we do not worship him: what therefore will the wretched king Hosea, who is on the brink of ruin, be able to contribute to our aid? Finally, Hugo and Arias expound it, that is to say, Behold the kingdom of Israel which we established against God's will is now cut down, because we did not fear God. What therefore will it profit us, or what good will it do us, that it drags us along with it into ruin? Morally, let republics and kings learn here that all their power is weak and ineffectual, unless it is supported by the worship and aid of God. Solomon professed this, III Kings, cap. II, 24: "The Lord liveth, saith he, who hath confirmed me, and set me upon the throne of David my father." And God said to David, Psalm LXXXVIII, 36: "Once have I sworn by my holiness, if I lie unto David: his seed shall endure for ever. And his throne as the sun before me." Wherefore David dying gave these final admonitions to Solomon: "Keep the charge of the Lord thy God, that thou mayest walk in his ways, etc., that the Lord may confirm his words which he spoke of me, saying: If thy children shall keep my ways, and shall walk before me in truth with all their heart, and with all their soul, there shall not be taken away from thee a man of the throne of Israel." Nay, Moses dying, from the mouth of God thus ordained concerning kings, Deuter. cap. XVII, 18: "After he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write him a copy of this Deuteronomy, etc., and shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, and keep his words and ceremonies, etc., that he may reign a long time, he and his sons." This same thing eternal Wisdom decrees, Prov. VIII, 15: "By me kings reign." Hence of the pious king Josaphat it is said II Paral. XVII, 3: "The Lord was with Josaphat, because he walked in the ways of David his father, etc. And the Lord confirmed the kingdom in his hand, etc., and there were made unto him infinite riches and much glory." For this reason Agapetus rightly admonished the Emperor Justinian, as Baronius relates tom. VII in Justin.: "Sceptre of empire, saith he, since thou hast received it from God, think by what means thou wilt please him who gave it to thee, and since thou art preferred before all men by him, hasten to honour him before all." The Gentiles saw the same thing. Pliny writes in De Viris illustr. cap. II that Numa Pompilius, the second king of the Romans, tamed a fierce people "by the institution of religion and useful laws, and so firmly established his kingdom that while his kingdom lasted no one made war upon him." In Livy, lib. XLIV, there is this saying of Caius Marcius: "The gods favour piety and faith, by which the Roman people has reached such a height." Of Agesilaus, the Spartan general, Xenophon writes thus in his praises: "He believed that divine aid was no less useful in obtaining enemies than in obtaining friends."
10:4
4. SPEAK YE THE WORDS OF A USELESS VISION. — The Interpreter reads דברו dubberu in the imperative, that is, speak ye; now they read דברו dibberu in the past tense, that is, they spoke. The Chaldean renders it in the present, they speak violent words; because the Hebrews lack a present tense, and use the past tense in its place. Again, for a useless vision, in Hebrew אלות שוא aloth schav, that is, a false oath, or futile and useless. For the Prophets were accustomed to confirm their visions, or prophecies, with an oath, saying: "As I live, saith the Lord," that is, I swear by my life; or rather, devoting themselves to curses, to say: "May God do this to me, and add this, if I lie." For the Hebrew aloth signifies an execratory oath, a curse and imprecation of evils. Such therefore a vision and prophecy is called ala, that is, a curse, because it was made with a curse. The sense is therefore, as if to say, Speak indeed, and utter the words of false prophets, who bring forth their visions, and confirm them by swearing and perjuring, but they are false and futile. For they promise all prosperity, and that the Assyrians are not to be feared, but they lie and deceive you, and bring you to ruin. It is irony: for he mocks and scoffs at them, in that they give credence to false prophets and seducers to their own destruction: for they speak visions, but futile and false ones, namely not the oracles of God, but the dreams of their own brain. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo and others. YE SHALL STRIKE A COVENANT. — These are the "words of a useless vision," or the oracles of false prophets. For they said: "Strike," or strike "a covenant," namely with your gods, as also with kings, swearing and devoting yourselves to curses, if ever you abandon them and their schism, and return to God and the house of David in Jerusalem and the temple: thus Vatablus, Arias and Clarius; secondly, strike a covenant with the Assyrians, or with the Egyptians: if you do this, all things will be secure and prosperous for you. Thus they themselves. But they deceive: for bitterness of captivity presses upon you. Whence concerning it he subjoins: AND JUDGMENT SHALL SPRING UP AS BITTERNESS UPON THE FURROWS OF THE FIELD. — For bitterness the Hebrew is ראש rosch, which signifies poison, bitterness, and poisonous and most bitter things, such as gall, the venom of serpents (whence the Chaldean renders: The head of maleficent serpents), colocynths, wormwood, etc. The Septuagint renders it, a sprout, namely bitter and harmful. The sense therefore is, as if to say, "Judgment," that is, the punishment of Israel, "shall spring up," and shall come forth "as bitterness," that is, as bitter and harmful herbs, for example wormwood, "upon the furrows of the field," where they germinate more abundantly, as the earth is furrowed and worked, as if to say, Just as harmful herbs germinate abundantly in cultivated earth; so an abundance of punishments shall spring up in Israel, which in the field both of earth and of heart has made furrows not of piety, but of impiety: for with these he has furrowed his heart, that is, he has sinned studiously and deliberately, carving and cultivating idols, and spurning God and God's law and threats; and this from the fact that he believed false prophets saying that if he did this, and struck a covenant with idols, he would be safe and secure. Thus Theodoret, Theophylactus, Arias, Vatablus and St. Jerome, who also according to the letter concerning this bitterness of punishment: "That they who have sown abundantly in joy, may reap abundantly in tears; they who have laughed, may weep; they who have had consolation, may mourn." He alludes to the threats and curses of Moses, Deut. cap. XXIX, 18: "Lest perhaps there be among you a man or woman, family or tribe, whose heart is turned away this day from the Lord: that he may go and serve the gods of those nations, and there may be among you a root springing up gall and bitterness. And when he shall hear the words of this oath, he may bless himself in his heart, saying: Peace shall be with me, and I will walk in the perverseness of my heart. And the Lord will not forgive him: but then his wrath shall smoke against him." Nay, Hosea here predicts that these very threats are now to be fulfilled in Israel. Secondly, "judgment," that is, vengeance, "upon the furrows of the field," can be taken as sterility brought upon the fields, as if to say, God will punish you with the sterility of fields, so that, although furrowed and sown, they may not produce a crop, but rather thorns, thistles, darnel, and bitter and poisonous herbs.
10:5
5. THE COWS OF BETHAVEN WHICH THE INHABITANTS OF SAMARIA WORSHIPPED. — "Bethaven" is Bethel. For Bethel, that is the house of God, was so called on account of the vision which Jacob saw there of God leaning upon a ladder. The same place was afterwards called Bethaven, that is the house of iniquity, or of idolatry, on account of the golden calves which Jeroboam set up there to be worshipped. Hosea therefore calls the calves cows or heifers. Whence the Septuagint here translates it as calf; and concerning it immediately follows: "Because the people mourned over it (the calf)." Concerning which note: This calf was Apis, or Serapis, the god of the Egyptians. For the Hebrews dwelling in Egypt worshipped this god together with the Egyptians, and therefore God, in order to turn them away from this idol, commanded Moses to lead them out of Egypt into Sinai: where, when Moses, about to receive the law, remained long with God on the mountain, the people, wishing to return to Egypt, fashioned for themselves Apis, namely a golden calf, as it were a leader in his place, Exodus chapter XXXII, 4. The same god Jeroboam renewed and recalled, making a schism from God and from the house of David: read the history in III Kings chapter XII, 28. Furthermore, that Jeroboam set up not one, as St. Jerome, Haymo, Rupertus, Hugo and Lyran seem to wish, but several calves is evident, both from III Kings chapter XII, 28, and because here he calls them cows in the plural. The cows therefore of Bethaven are the two golden calves which Jeroboam made, and he placed one in Bethel and the other in Dan. Dan therefore, equally as Bethel, is called here Bethaven, that is the house of idols. Note: Scripture calls these gods now calves, now heifers, or cows. First, because the Fathers whom I cited teach from Exodus chapter XXXII, verse 4, that they were not complete calves, but only calf-heads, so that Aaron fashioned for the Hebrews only the head of a calf: whence whether it was male or female, namely whether a calf or a heifer, could scarcely be distinguished. Second, because it is very probable that, if the sex could be distinguished from the head, they were heifers rather than calves, both because Herodotus in book II teaches this: "Male cattle," he says, "and the same clean ones, and calves all the Egyptians sacrifice; it is not permitted them to sacrifice females, as being consecrated to Isis. For the image of Isis is feminine, furnished with bovine horns, as the Greeks describe Io, and all female cattle the Egyptians likewise venerate beyond all other cattle by far;" and because in Hebrew they are called עגלות eglot in the feminine, that is heifers, as the Septuagint translates, III Kings chapter XII, 28, and Josephus, book VIII of the Antiquities chapter III; or cows, as our author translates here. Take therefore cows as young ones, that is calves or rather adults; for calf, as also ox, ass, horse, sheep, camel, and other names of animals signify both sexes, namely both female and male. This opinion is very probable: the contrary opinion however, namely that they were calves rather than heifers, is not improbable, and St. Jerome, Rupertus, Vatablus and Arias seem to follow it. The reason is, because it is called everywhere a calf; here only is it called a cow for mockery. Apis therefore, or Serapis, was an ox, or a calf with a black body, a white forehead, having on the back a white mark or spot, as I said in Exodus chapter XXXII, 4. Tropologically, the sinner who indulges the flesh, the belly, the stomach and lust, worships the calves and cows of Bethaven, and with them plays the calf, and becomes as it were a calf. For just as calves and cows are stupid, wanton, submit to the yoke, subdue the earth with the plough, and put their neck to the burden; so also the carnal are stupid in mind, wanton, submit to the greatest labors, that they may enjoy their delights, undertake burdens most heavy and almost unbearable, are wholly fed, and wholly cast down into the earth and earthly things. WORSHIPPED. — In Hebrew it is יגורו iaguru, that is they feared, that is they worshipped and venerated, as our author, the Chaldean and others translate it; for fear first made gods in the world. Hence in Scripture the fear of God signifies the veneration and worship of God. Fear therefore here is reverence of God. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus and others. Otherwise Vatablus, Arias, Pagninus and Clarius, as if to say: The Samaritans, seeing Bethel and their calves laid waste by the Assyrians, will be afraid, fearing that they themselves also will soon be laid waste by a similar calamity. The Septuagint translates it as: they dwelt; for גור gur properly signifies to sojourn, to dwell, to abide; hence גר gher is a sojourner, and because sojourners are abroad, among strangers and unknown people, are timid and fearful, hence it also signifies to fear, to be afraid. They translate therefore: At the calf they dwell, for thus they read it by crasis: the inhabitants of Samaria will dwell. Vatablus also translates this: The Samaritans will run to the heifers of Bethaven. BECAUSE HIS PEOPLE MOURNED OVER IT (it, namely the calf, as the Septuagint translates; and so what he called heifers before, he here calls a calf for the reasons already stated: and because he wished to signify only the substance of the idol, not its sex, not its number, namely that it was an ox, whether calf or not horse, not goat, not ram). The sense therefore is: "Mourned," that is, will mourn, the people over the calf, their god, when namely they shall see it captured by the Assyrians, and carried away captive into Assyria. They will mourn. AND THE PRIESTS (namely the priests and keepers of the calf and its temple, who before) EXULTED IN ITS GLORY (when it itself was worshipped by all), BECAUSE (by this glory of the calf) IT HAS DEPARTED FROM IT.
10:6
6. FOR INDEED EVEN IT (the calf) WAS CARRIED INTO ASSUR (Assyria), A GIFT TO THE AVENGING KING. — The Septuagint: And it itself bound they led as gifts to the king, that is to say, This calf, captive, as it were a notable gift and present, the Assyrians offered to their king. Note first: That the "for" here does not signify a cause, but an event; for the Hebrew כי ki often is added merely for consequence and ornamental sake, and is equivalent to hence, for this reason, therefore. Second, after priests, in the manner of Hebrew a relative אשר ascher, that is, who, is to be understood. Third, the king of the Assyrians is called an avenger, that is, a vindicator; Symmachus, that is, a protector and defender, for the reason I gave at chapter v, 13. Allegorically Tertullian, book IV Against Marcion, chapter XLII: "Hosea," he says, "prophesied concerning Christ: and bound they shall lead him as gifts to the king;" namely that Pilate sent him to Herod: but wrongly; for this gift was an idol, namely a golden calf, which cannot be a type of Christ. CONFUSION SHALL SEIZE EPHRAIM (the Ephraimites, that is, the Israelites, or Samaritans) AND ISRAEL SHALL BE CONFOUNDED IN HIS WILL. — In Hebrew, in his counsel, as the Septuagint, Vatablus and others translate it. You will ask, what is this confusion, what is this will, what is this counsel? First, St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Haymo and Hugo: "The Hebrews relate," they say, "that the golden calves were stolen by the priests, and bronze ones gilded were put in their place. When therefore the people mourned in the time of captivity and distress, the golden calves also among other gifts were sent by Israel to the Assyrian kings, and especially to King Sennacherib; the priests exulted that their fraud could in no way be accused and discovered. And this is what he says: 'Its priests, namely of the calf, exulted over it in the glory of the people,' that is, in the calf which they had for glory, because it had departed from it, that is from the people, and was transferred to the Assyrians. For indeed it was carried as a gift to the avenging king, and immediately follows: Confusion which them, etc. For when the fraud of the gilded calves was discovered, it was indicated to the king of Israel by letter, whence they thought themselves pleasing, thence especially they shall be confounded and offended by those to whom they had sent gifts, thinking them not stolen by theft, but that the king and this counsel had been accomplished by fraud." And St. Jerome adds: "We read in IV Kings chapter XV, 19, that the king of Israel Manahem sent to the king of the Assyrians Phul a thousand talents of silver, among which some think that golden calves were also sent." This counsel therefore was that of the priests, which they advised the king of Israel to send gilded calves as a gift to the king of the Assyrians, so that thus their fraud might be hidden, by which they themselves had stolen the golden calves and substituted bronze ones gilded: the confusion and shame of these same was, when their fraud was discovered by the king of the Assyrians and redounded upon the head of the king of Israel, and finally upon the head of the priests themselves. Otherwise Theophylactus: for he thinks the priests advised the princes to send these calves into Assyria, hoping that they would be worshipped by the Assyrians: but they were confounded, for the Assyrians broke them. Otherwise also Theodoret: This counsel, he says, was about sending the calf as a gift to Sua the king of Egypt, so that he might protect the Israelites against Shalmaneser: but they were confounded; for both they lost the calf, and were not helped by Sua. But all these things are uncertain, and smack of Rabbinic fables, especially because Hosea sufficiently indicates that this calf was not given, but captured by the Assyrians, chapter VIII, 6: "Thy calf, Samaria, is cast off;" and here in verse 2 concerning it: "He himself will break their images." And in verse 8: "The high places of the idol shall be destroyed, the sin of Israel." I say therefore: This will and counsel of Israel was, that they chose the calf as their god, and preferred it to the true God, and wished to serve it, not God, hoping by its aid to be safe from the Assyrians: but they were confounded; for they were laid waste with the calf, which was captured by the Assyrians and mocked, offered as a gift to the avenging king, namely Shalmaneser, who avenged the defection of the Israelites both from God and from himself, in that namely they had fled against the covenant made with him to Sua the king of Egypt. Thus Lyra, Arias, Vatablus, Ribera, a Castro and others. Tropologically, St. Gregory explaining that passage of St. Job chapter XXI, 16: Let the counsel of the wicked be far from me: "What is," he says, "the counsel of the wicked, except to seek earthly glory, to neglect eternal: to desire temporal salvation with interior loss, and to exchange transitory pains for eternal groans."
10:7
7. HER KING SHALL PASS AWAY FROM SAMARIA. — In Hebrew נדמה nidme: which can first be translated, the king shall be cut off in Samaria, namely the king of Samaria, that is Hosea shall be slain in it. Thus Vatablus. Second: The king with Samaria is like unto foam, which is on the surface of waters, that is to say, The king with his kingdom like foam shall be scattered and shall vanish away. Thus Arias. Third: It is brought to silence, or made dumb, that is it perished, was destroyed, Samaria with her king. Thus Forster. Fourth, Our translator took the passive nidme for the active, tota dama, or dimma, that is it fell. Whence he translated, made to pass away; the Septuagint, cast away; perhaps for נדמה nidme, they read נדפה niddepha, that is, he drove, thrust, propelled Samaria her king as foam; for foam is properly driven by wave and surge, that is to say, Samaria by worshipping idols made her king pass away, and thrust him into destruction as foam. For by her own wickedness before God she merited and brought it about that her kingdom with her king should be cut off by him, and should pass away most swiftly, should vanish as foam of water driven and scattered by the waves. Again, that is to say, When the king complied with the people prone to idolatry; and this people greedy of wickedness assented to and flattered the king, the people, whom many waters represented, made their king perish as foam born from themselves; since namely consuming in itself, as in water, losing and causing to vanish. Otherwise Sanchez, who by the king understands an idol, namely Moloch, or the golden calves, which the Samaritans lost with themselves. Note: For foam in Hebrew it is קצף ketseph, which properly signifies ebullition and effervescence; hence boiling anger, hence a bubble and foam. The Septuagint translate, φρύγανον, which the Interpreter rendered as fagots, that is, twigs, stubble, and all things that kindle fire and are easy to burn, with which a furnace is kindled, or something is dried and fried: for φρύγανον is called from frying. Thus from Columella and Pliny St. Jerome. For these twigs, or stubble, like foam are driven from water, and if they are kindled, are soon extinguished by it, says Theodoret. Symmachus translated, in lanz, wishing to show the upper waters of a boiling pot, and the bubbles and foam rising up, which the Greeks call πομφόλυγας, says St. Jerome. The Syriac translated: Samaria cast away her king as chaff, or as a tortoise (for ghelo with other points can be read golo) upon the face of water; the Arabic of Antioch: Samaria despised her king as grass upon waters, for example algae; the Arabic of Alexandria: Samaria lifted up her king as foam, which is upon the face (surface) of waters.
10:8
8. AND THE HIGH PLACES SHALL BE DESTROYED (altars, shrines and temples: for the Jews were accustomed to erect these after the manner of the Gentiles on mountains and high places) IDOLS (namely the golden calf erected in Bethel, which is) THE SIN OF ISRAEL. — He calls sin not the act, but the object of sin, namely idolatry. AND THEY SHALL SAY (the Israelites in the destruction of Samaria by Salmanasar), TO THE MOUNTAINS: COVER US, — that is to say, So great will be the slaughter and carnage of the Israelites, so great the outcry, fear and horror of the Assyrians, that those who are able will hide themselves in caves and caverns: those who cannot will wish to be buried and covered by mountains and hills, lest they see and feel this devastation; "so that there will be no one, says Theophylactus, who would not prefer to be crushed either by the earth giving way or by the sudden fall of mountains, rather than endure the evils inflicted by the enemy." And St. Cyril: "They will say, he says, to the mountains, in which idols were worshipped: Fall upon us, and anticipate the cruelty of the Babylonians and the extreme misery of captivity." Note: According to the letter, as is evident from what precedes and follows, this is to be understood of the destruction and extreme and desperate calamity of the ten tribes, when Samaria was cut off by the Assyrians. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Rufinus and others. Allegorically, however, a type is given here of the calamity and destruction of Jerusalem by Titus and the Romans, which was so great that the Jews hid themselves in crypts and sewers, as Josephus testifies; for the destruction of Samaria was a type and prelude to the destruction of Jerusalem; hence Christ applies this same passage to it, Luke cap. XXIII, 30: thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Theophylactus and Hugo. Indeed Rupertus wishes this to be the literal sense; but wrongly. Then of the whole world at the end of the world; hence St. John applies this same passage to it, Apocalypse VI, 16. Similar is Isaiah cap. II, 19: "They shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, from the face of the fear of the Lord." Thus in Seneca in the Troades the widow of Hector, hiding her son in a tomb, says to him: If the Fates help the wretched, You have salvation: if the Fates deny life, You have a tomb. Which Malchus the monk, as testified by St. Jerome in his Life, fleeing his master who pursued him and hiding himself in a cave, applied to himself: "If, he said, the Lord helps the wretched, we have salvation; if he despises sinners, we have a tomb." Anagogically, this applies fully and completely to the damned in hell, who wish for death that they might escape torments, and cannot die. Concerning whom St. Bernard, lib. V On Consideration cap. XII: "I shudder, he says, at the biting worm and living death. I shudder to fall into the hands of living death and dying life. Who would grant them to die once, that they might not die eternally? Those who say to the mountains: Fall upon us; and to the hills: Cover us, what do they wish but to end or escape death by the benefit of death? Finally they will invoke death, and it will not come," says St. John Apocalypse IX. Hence the Arabic version renders it: And they shall say to the mountains and rocks and hills: Fall upon us.
10:9
9. FROM THE DAYS OF GIBEAH ISRAEL HATH SINNED, — that is to say, this idolatry, the sin of Israel, is ancient and inveterate, and this stain and blemish is long-standing and stubborn in it, and therefore it can only be purged and rooted out by fire and destruction. You will ask, what are the days of Gibeah? First, the Chaldean paraphrase refers this to Saul, who was made king in Gibeah: for Israel sinned in asking for a king against the will of God, that is to say, From the time of Saul Israel sinned, and began to rebel against God: in Gibeah therefore both the people and the king stood before the Lord, nay rather against the Lord; and yet the battle undertaken "against," that is, "against the children of iniquity," namely the uncircumcised and faithless Philistines, did not overtake them, that is to say, Although Israel sinned in creating Saul as king, yet God did not forsake him, nor deliver him to the Philistines, but rather subjected them to him. For, as it is said in I Kings, chapter XIV, 52: "And there was sore war against the Philistines all the days of Saul." But Israel, unmindful and ungrateful for such clemency of God, departed from him to idols. Therefore he will punish him severely. For this is what he adds: "According to my desire I will chastise them." But in creating Saul as king, not only Israel, of which we are speaking here, sinned, but also Judah; nor under Saul, or after Saul under David and Solomon, did it depart from God to idols, but under Rehoboam. Second therefore, others more rightly refer this to the times of the Judges, namely to the time when the outrage in Gibeah was committed by the Benjaminites against the wife of a Levite, on account of which almost all were destroyed in battle, Judges, chapter XIX, 20. The sense therefore is, that is to say, From that time when the men of Gibeah and the Benjaminites committed the crime against the Levite and his wife, Israel sinned, namely by public idolatry, namely by worshipping the idol erected by Micah in the city of Dan, Judges, chapter XVII, 5, and chapter XVIII, 30. For it is clear that both histories, namely the outrage of Gibeah and the idol of Micah, happened at the same time, Judges, chapter XVII, 1; namely immediately after the times of Joshua, while Caleb was still living, under Othniel, as the Hebrews teach, St. Jerome, Rufinus, Rupert, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Lyra, de Castro and others. Whence also Josephus connects both immediately after the death of Joshua, before the history of the Judges. And this is demonstrated from the fact that Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was living at that time, as is said there chapter XVII, 6, and chapter XVIII, 1, and chapter XX, 27; and from the fact that Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Moses, was consecrated as priest of the idol of Micah, as is said chapter XVIII, 30; again, from the fact that Jerusalem had not yet been conquered by the Israelites at that time, as is said chapter XIX, 11. Since therefore the conquest of Jerusalem is narrated at the beginning of the book of Judges, chapter 1, it follows that the outrage of Gibeah and the idol of Micah happened before the times of the Judges, and their histories should be placed before the book of Judges. See Abulensis there. Moreover, he names the crime and outrage of Gibeah, rather than the idol of Micah, because that was enormous, infamous and execrable, not only before God, but also before men; and because this outrage mystically represented idolatry: for this is called in Scripture fornication, adultery, etc. Finally, because these two are neighboring and connected: for lust is the mother of idolatry, as much as of heresy; and conversely idolaters are lustful; and the men of Gibeah appear to have been both, and to have fallen from one vice into the other. Third, for "from the days" in Hebrew it is מימי mime, which can be translated, "more than the days of Gibeah Israel hath sinned," that is to say, Israel sinned more gravely by worshipping idols than the men of Gibeah by violating the wife of the Levite; therefore they will be punished more severely than those; and since those were almost destroyed utterly, much more will Israel be destroyed utterly. Thus Vatablus and Sanchez. Otherwise Clarius, that is to say, O Israelites, you now sin more gravely by worshipping the calves of Jeroboam than in the days of Gibeah by the outrage, for that crime was committed by a few men of Gibeah, and all the rest of Israel resisted it, and avenged the crime by public war; but here there is no one who resists the idolatry of the calves, but all conspire in it. I therefore, God, the avenger alike of the crime and of my honor, will arise, and will punish all of you guilty ones through the Assyrians. THERE THEY STOOD, — that is to say, From the days of Gibeah, in the idolatry of Micah they stood immovable, as is evident from Judges cap. XVIII, 30 and 31, just as the Gibeonites in the defense of the rape. Thus Theodoret and Theophylactus. They stood, I say, until Jeroboam, who renewed and increased idolatry in his calves. Otherwise Rupertus and Lyran, that is to say, When the Israelites had avenged the rape of Gibeah, they stood there, and did not proceed to avenge a graver crime, namely the idol of Micah, as they ought to have done. Otherwise also Clarius, that is to say, In Gibeah the Israelites stood unanimously for the avenging of the crime, and conspired to avenge the rape. BATTLE SHALL NOT COMPREHEND THEM IN GIBEAH (this is a Hebraism: for when it says, "in Gibeah," the particle of likeness is understood, as if to say, "Battle shall comprehend" the Israelites, "but not" such as it was of the Gibeonites, or as it was "in Gibeah") UPON (that is, against) THE CHILDREN OF INIQUITY, — namely the Gibeonites, who had abused the wife of the Levite; but far more grievously, namely so that both Samaria shall be utterly destroyed, and the king and the whole kingdom of Israel. Otherwise by Castro, that is to say, In Gibeah the children of iniquity, that is the Gibeonites, battle did not comprehend; because in the first and second battle Israel was defeated and slain by the Gibeonites. But this is opposed by the fact that it says, "shall comprehend" in the future: therefore he speaks of the future, not of the past. Add that this sense appears to be outside the purpose, and is with difficulty adapted to the whole sentence.
10:10
10. ACCORDING TO MY DESIRE I WILL CHASTISE THEM (that is to say, Since all stand and conspire in the ancient idolatry, which they began from the time of Micah, I desire and long to chastise and punish them notably. By my will therefore and providence) PEOPLES SHALL BE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THEM (the Assyrians), WHEN THEY SHALL BE CHASTISED (that is, punished) FOR THEIR TWO INIQUITIES, — namely the two calves (this is a metonymy: for idolatry is put for the idol itself) which they worshipped, namely one in Bethel, which verse 1 called "Bethaven;" the other in Dan, where the idol of Micah was first in the days of Gibeah, as verse 9 hints: thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Albert, Hugh, Lyran and Clarius: who secondly take "two iniquities" as a twofold idolatry, namely one ancient, of the idol of Micah in the days of Gibeah, the other recent, of the calves of Jeroboam. Thirdly, Arias expounds it, that is to say, The Gibeonites committed one iniquity of rape; but these committed two, namely fornication and idolatry. Fourthly, St. Jerome adds that one iniquity is that they did not worship God; the second, that they worshipped calves. A similar passage is in Jeremiah cap. II, 13. Our translator took the Hebrew as if derived from יסר iasar, that is, to chastise. For the orders of imperfect verbs, such as אסר asar, and יסר iasar, are often interchanged, so that one borrows modes and tenses from the other. But the more careful ones properly derive asram from אסר assar, that is, to bind, to tie; whence they translate: When they shall have bound, or joined themselves in two acres, or furrows; and they give this sense, that it is a metaphor from the yoke, or from a pair of oxen ploughing, that is to say, Just as two oxen are constrained by one yoke for ploughing, and for furrowing the fields, for example two acres; so Israel and Judah shall conspire in the same idolatry, namely for worshipping two golden calves. When therefore each shall have thus conspired, then each, as if two bound oxen, I shall strike and slay. The Chaldean adds, that is to say, Just as the Israelites labored in the worship of two calves, so they themselves, captured and constrained by enemies, as those two calves, shall plough; for the enemy shall condemn them as oxen and slaves to the plough and to agriculture. Where note: For iniquities the Hebrew is עונות onoth, which the Chaldean, R. David, Vatable and others translate as acres, or furrows. But it must be read with other points as עונות avonoth: or certainly onoth is put by crasis for avonoth, that is, iniquities; for thus the Septuagint, Our translator, Arias, Pagninus, Forster in the Lexicon, and others translate it; for nowhere else does ona signify an acre or furrow.
10:11
11. EPHRAIM A HEIFER TAUGHT TO LOVE THRESHING. — Just as in verse 1 he compared Israel to a vine full of leaves but empty of fruit; so here he compares the same to a heifer which ploughed impiety and reaped iniquity: and he persists in that metaphor even to the end of the chapter. Moreover, he alludes to many things: first, in the word "Ephraim," that is fruitful, fertile, he alludes to the fertility of the land of Ephraim; second, in "heifer" to the golden calves, or rather heifers, or cows, as I said in verse 5, which he worshipped, as if to say Ephraim by worshipping heifers becomes heifer-like, and is driven by the frenzy of madness like a heifer. Third, "taught," that is accustomed, as Vatablus and others translate it. Whence Lyran translates it as goaded, which can be reduced to the same meaning: for custom was to it as a goad. He alludes to Apis, that is the calf, which Israel worshipped in Egypt; and from that worship he accustomed himself, and clung to it pertinaciously in Canaan. Again, to the abundant crops of Egypt, by which Israel was enticed in Egypt, to them and to their threshing, just as to Apis, as if their giver, he was constantly yearning. Fourth, for threshing the Hebrew is לדוש ladush, that is for threshing, namely for beating out grain from the sheaf. For in Palestine, just as in Italy, the Canary Islands and other regions, they beat out grain not with men using wooden flails, as the Germans and Gauls do, but with oxen and cows, either by treading and grinding the sheaf with their feet and hooves, or, as St. Jerome says, by dragging iron wheels over a heap of sheaves. Fifth, in the word "taught" and "to love," it is signified that heifers are trained for this laborious threshing by food which they take from the threshing floor, but gradually: for they are often released; thus in hope of food they learn willingly to return to the threshing floor and to thresh; because while they thresh, they are allowed from time to time to pluck the sheaf with their mouth and eat from it, according to the law of Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verse 4. The sense therefore of this allegory is, as if to say Ephraim, like a heifer loving threshing and threshing, and accustomed to it, learned to worship idols and accustomed himself to idolatry; and although he sometimes abandoned them, yet soon he returns to them: because through them he seemed to himself to be enriched with crops, to become rich and to prosper. Whence the labors and troubles which he sustains in the worship of idols, he either does not feel, or easily overcomes, because from it he thinks himself to enjoy freedom, riches and abundance of things. Thus Rupert, Haymo, Lyran, Hugh. St. Jerome notes that "taught" signifies custom and love. "Ephraim," he says, "is like a cow or heifer which from its youth learned to tread the threshing floor and to drag iron wheels over a heap of sheaves, so that chaff is separated from wheat; and not only did it learn, but by excessive custom it began to love what it learned," etc. Otherwise Vatablus explains it, as if to say Ephraim prefers to thresh rather than to plough, that is prefers to eat rather than to labor; whence he is like a fattened heifer, fat and obese. And others: Ephraim, they say, loves threshing, that is kingdom, by which to thresh, that is to subject to himself, and to exhaust by tribute other tribes and peoples. Hence third, the Septuagint for threshing translate contention and vexation: Ephraim, they say, a heifer taught to love strife, that is contention; for just as threshing afflicts and vexes the sheaf, so contention vexes men, especially subjects. Or rather, as Theodoret, Cyril, Theophylactus and St. Jerome, this contention is with God. For just as a heifer threshing contends with the sheaf, to take away and beat out its grain; so Israel contended with God, and was unwilling to take up his yoke, but shook it off; wherefore I, says God, will press down and subdue his fat and proud neck through the Assyrians. The Chaldean agrees with the Septuagint version, who translates: The house of Israel is like a heifer which they teach to plough, and it does not learn. Lee Castrius wrongly for strife reads strife; that is victory, as if to say Ephraim was accustomed not to be tamed and conquered, but to conquer, as St. Cyril says. Yet the sense comes to the same thing. But the first exposition is the genuine one. For it is a proverb, signifying the character, use and custom of Israel, who, being accustomed to liberty, gluttony and the belly, ardently and constantly loved idols, as if through them he might satisfy his liberty and his gluttony. It alludes to the nature of harlots; for these indeed are and are called wanton heifers. For harlots, accustomed to paramours, fornication and drinking parties, constantly return to these things, and do not allow themselves to be turned away from them by any admonitions of friends, or insults of paramours, or venereal disease, pain and filth, or infamy, etc., but always return to them like a dog to his vomit, even if with pain, labour and confusion they fulfill their shame. So also Israel, accustomed to idols and to commerce with idolatrous nations, with whom he feasted and by whom he thought himself enriched, could not be called away from them by any threats of God, plagues, or reproaches; but like a wanton heifer and harlot, he feasted and fornicated with them continually. Thus Martin of Roa, book III of Singularities, chapter XIII, and Delrio, adage 934. Morally, learn from this how great is the power of custom, especially of harlotry. It is commonly and truly said: "Custom is a second nature." And the Wise Man, Proverbs chapter XXII, 6: "A young man according to his way, even when he is old, shall not depart from it." Whence St. Gregory, book XX of Morals, chapter XVI: "A heifer, he says, accustomed to the labours of threshing, when released, often returns to the same labour of threshing, even without being compelled. So the mind of the wicked, devoted to the services of this world and accustomed to the fatigues of temporal things, even if it is permitted to be free, nevertheless hastens to be subject to earthly labours, and by the use of wretched conversation seeks the threshing of labour, so that it does not please to cease from the yoke of worldly servitude, even if it is permitted." And homily 10 on Ezekiel: "Some, he says, in order to appear to be something in this world, toil in earthly labours, persist in lawsuits, involve themselves in quarrels. And although they feel their body failing among labours, yet overcome by love of earthly things, they are delightfully wearied. To whom it is said through the Prophet: Ephraim is a heifer taught to love threshing, etc. They ask to be pressed down, they think they have incurred grave danger if they rest." Such persons are suited by that passage in Job XXX, 7: "Who rejoiced in such things, and thought it a delight to be under thorns." And that passage in Isaiah chapter V, 18: "Woe to you that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with the rope of a cart." See what is said there. See also St. Augustine, book VIII of Confessions, chapter v, where he relates that he could not free himself from concubinage, to which he had become accustomed, even though it displeased him, and therefore he groaned and sighed, until touched by the efficacious grace of God, he broke this knot by which he was bound to his concubine. So also today those who deal with souls often hear concubinaries, usurers, drunkards, etc., lamenting their unhappiness and indignant with themselves, and truly repentant, who nevertheless at the first opportunity return to their vomit. For, as St. Augustine says in the same place: "I sighed, bound not by iron of another, but by my own iron will. My will held me, and from it had made me a chain, and bound me. For from a perverted will was made lust; and when lust is served, custom is made; and when custom is not resisted, necessity is made. By these, as by certain links bound to themselves, whence I called it a chain, hard servitude held me bound." Note secondly, that Israel is called a heifer, because in playing the heifer with heifers, he was more a heifer than a man. Beautifully Boethius, book IV of the Consolation of Philosophy, prose 3, shows how vice casts man down from his humanity and transforms him into a beast: "Avarice, he says, burns with violent robbery of others' wealth? You would call him like a wolf. Fierce and restless, he exercises his tongue in lawsuits? You would compare him to a dog. A hidden schemer rejoices to have stolen by fraud? He is equalled to foxes. Untempered anger rages? He is believed to bear the spirit of a lion. Fearful and fleeing, he fears things not to be feared? He is held similar to a deer. Sluggish and stupid, he is torpid? He lives as an ass. Light and inconstant, he changes pursuits? He differs nothing from birds. He immerses himself in foul and unclean lusts? He is held by the filthy pleasure of swine. Thus it happens that he who, abandoning virtue, has ceased to be a man, since he cannot pass into the divine condition, is turned into a beast." AND I PASSED OVER THE BEAUTY OF HIS NECK. — Vatablus: And I passed over his neck made fat, that is to say, Because Ephraim, that is Israel, obstinately loves the threshing of idols, and from this has become fat and obese, as he himself thinks; "and," that is therefore, I passed over, that is I will pass over the beautiful and fat neck of his, and the swelling sinews of his neck imposed with a yoke I will subdue, says St. Jerome, namely through the Assyrians. Note: God passes over when he inflicts plagues; hence to pass over in Scripture signifies to punish. Thus he passed over through the houses of the Egyptians, slaying their firstborn, and from this the Passover was sanctioned and named, Exod. cap. XII, 12. Thus St. Jerome. I WILL ASCEND UPON EPHRAIM, — as a horseman is accustomed to ascend upon a horse; for this is the Hebrew ארכיב arkib, that is to say, Henceforth I will completely subject Israel to myself, and I will cause the Assyrians to mount upon his neck, just as Sapores the king of the Persians was about to mount a horse, first mounting upon the back of the Emperor Aurelian as upon a footstool. The same thing Tamerlane did to Bajazet the Emperor of the Turks. In a similar manner Jeremiah says cap. XLVI, 20: "A fair and beautiful heifer is Egypt; a spoiler (the enemy and devastator Nebuchadnezzar) shall come upon her from the north." JUDAH SHALL PLOUGH (Note the Hebrew metaphor, by which to plough signifies to work and to till. For the Hebrew חרש charasch signifies to work, to plough and to make. He says therefore that, when God the avenger ascends upon Ephraim, that is when he subjects the ten tribes to the Assyrians, and drags them captive into Assyria, then Judah, that is the two tribes, seeing this calamity of Israel and fearing the same for themselves, will repent, and under Hezekiah the pious king will resume the plough of the law, and therefore will persist in their land, and there will worship the true God: and) SHALL BREAK HIS CLODS (that is the works and idols) OF JACOB, — namely of Israel, or of the ten tribes. Thus Theodoret and Theophylactus. Or, that is to say, Jacob, that is the remnant of the ten tribes, fugitives from Samaria, will flee to Judah, and with him will coalesce into one people and will conspire in the worship of the one true God, just as in agriculture husbandmen conspire, when one ploughs, another breaks the clods and the soil. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Albert, Lyran and others. To this is added Vatablus, who translated: Judah ploughed, Jacob broke the clods for him; which however others understand somewhat differently, that is to say, Ephraim, that is Israel, loved threshing, that is the kingdom: but God will subject him to the tribe of Judah, and Judah will plough as a master of a household; Jacob however, or Israel, will break the clods for him, as a minister and servant. Two things therefore are signified here: first, that Israel the fugitive will conspire with Judah in one sceptre and one religion; secondly, that in this matter Judah will be greater, and Israel subject to him will serve; for Judah held the sceptre, according to the promises of Jacob the patriarch, Genesis cap. XLIX, 10.
10:12
12. SOW FOR YOURSELVES IN JUSTICE, AND REAP (that is, you will certainly reap. For the Hebrews use the imperative for the future when they wish to denote its certainty, as if it were in our hand) IN THE MOUTH OF MERCY. — In Hebrew, to the mouth of mercy; and thus Origen read it, tract. 12 in Matthew, and St. Ambrose in the book On Naboth, cap. VII. Now mercy can be taken in three ways: First, so that it is the same as justice, and signifies pious, just and holy works, as if to say, Apply yourselves to just, pious and holy works: for you will reap and receive reward in the mouth, that is according to the measure of mercy, that is of those same holy works. Thus the Chaldean, Theophylactus, Haymo, Hugo, Dionysius and others. For mouth in Hebrew often signifies capacity, proportion, measure; whence לפי lephi, that is to the mouth, is the same as according to, after, in proportion to, measure or merit of works, when these are being discussed, as those skilled in Hebrew know, and as Marinus, Pagninus and others teach in their Lexicons. Thus in Exodus XII, 4, it is said: "He shall take his neighbor, etc., according to (in Hebrew lephi) the number of souls that can suffice for the eating of the lamb." And cap. XVI, 16: "Let every man gather of it (manna) as much as suffices for eating;" in Hebrew lephi achlo, that is according to the mouth of his food, that is according to his appetite, as much as his mouth can hold and eat. Thus also in Genesis cap. XLVII, 12, of Joseph it is said: "He nourished them, and all his father's house, giving food to each one;" in Hebrew לפי הטף lephi hattaph, that is according to the mouth of the little one, that is, as much as each one, even a little child, could eat. Moreover mercy in Scripture is often taken for holiness and justice, namely for holy and pious works; because the proper virtue of the saints and its index is mercy, as I showed in Daniel cap. IV, 24, and II Corinthians cap. IX, 8. The sense is, as if to say, Exercise yourselves in acts of mercy and justice, that is in any virtues whatsoever, and you will receive the most ample reward, according to the mouth, that is according to the amplitude of mercy and pious works which you have exercised. For he explains what he said in the preceding verse: "Judah shall plow, Jacob shall break his furrows for himself;" whence persisting in the metaphor of plowing and agriculture, explaining he adds: "Sow for yourselves in justice, and reap in the mouth of mercy," as if to say, As much justice, that is piety, mercy and other virtues as you shall have sown as it were by plowing, so much harvest and reward from them you will receive. Similar to this saying of the Prophet is that of St. Ephrem in a sermon to the Brethren, tom. II: "After the ant the bee, after labor rest" and fruit, after tribulation refreshment, as if to say, After the labors of the ant you will gather honey and the combs of the bee. "For the sweetness of rest follows the bitterness of labor, and joy of life follows its harshness." Thus Christ "tasted honeycomb after gall (of the cross and passion)," says Tertullian in the book On the Crown of the Soldier, cap. XIV. Second, more plainly mercy here can be taken properly, and referred to God, as if to say, "Sow in justice," in Hebrew justice, or unto justice, that is, seeds of justice and holiness, namely pious desires and purposes of rightly worshipping God inscribe in your heart, so that from them just and holy works may spring forth, and thus you will reap their harvest, that is the most ample reward, which God "in the mouth of mercy," that is according to His immense mercy, which surpasses our merits and desires, promises you, and will in fact bestow. Thus Vatablus, who translates: Sow for yourselves unto justice, reap the beneficence, namely of God; and the Septuagint: Sow for yourselves in justice, gather the fruit of life. To this is added the explanation of Ribera: Sow, he says, just works, and you will reap in the mouth of mercy, that is as much as mercy shall will, that is most abundantly. For mouth is sometimes taken for will, as when it is said: "He smote them in the mouth of the sword," that is as much as the sword could strike and kill, as if to say, He killed all, spared none. This explanation seems more subtle; more plainly and solidly we would say that mouth signifies amplitude, capacity, quantity, measure, as if to say, Sow pious and holy works, and you will reap according to the mouth, that is according to the capacity and amplitude of mer- mercy of God, that is, you will receive the most ample reward from Him, namely such as befits God and God's mercy, which is most ample, being divine and immense. Wherefore from the Hebrew it can be translated with Marinus: Measure out to the fullness of mercy: to the fullness, that is to the amplitude, that is most amply. Whence the Syriac translates: Sow for yourselves justice, and reap the fullness of mercy, as if to say: From the seed of justice you will reap the fullness of His mercy and grace, so that you may reap and gather all of it, as much as there is. Moreover, this mercy is the remission of preceding sins and of the punishments owed to them, and especially of the impending destruction and captivity, as if to say: God will spare you, nor will He allow you to be laid waste, but will even heap you with temporal and spiritual goods, as Judah was heaped under Hezekiah the pious king, and was delivered from the hand of Shalmaneser and Sennacherib. Thirdly, St. Ambrose, in the book On Naboth, chapter VII, takes justice for mercy, as it is taken in Psalm CXI, 9: "Justice," that is mercy and almsgiving, "his remaineth for ever and ever," and elsewhere. And he takes mercy properly for almsgiving, as if to say: Be zealous for mercy and almsgiving, and you will receive its ample reward, according to that in II Corinthians IX, 6: "He that soweth sparingly, shall also reap sparingly; and he that soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings." But hear St. Ambrose: "For the fruit of good deeds returns upon those very ones who have bestowed them, and the grace of liberality returns to the author of the good work. Finally it is written: Sow for yourselves unto justice. Be a spiritual farmer, sow what will profit you. Good sowing is in the heart of widows. If the earth returns to you more abundant fruits than it received, how much more will the recompense of mercy return more abundantly than you gave?" For God is more liberal than the earth or nature. If therefore the earth from one seed gives a hundred, indeed sometimes three hundred grains; how much more will God for one almsgiving give a hundred, three hundred, indeed a thousand. Again, a good work is the seed of a better one. You humble yourself, from this you are incited to humble yourself more. You pray, you desire more to pray. You give alms, you wish to give more. For as sleep begets sleep, so virtue begets virtue: labor begets labor, vigils beget vigils, as St. Dominic Loricatus used to say. Fourthly, for mercy in Hebrew is חסד chesed, which word signifies both piety and mercy. Whence Marinus translates: Measure out to the fullness of piety. For properly here the matter is of pious works, by which God is worshipped, which are contrary to the works of impiety, by which the Jews had worshipped idols, of which he adds in verse 13: "You have ploughed impiety, you have reaped iniquity," as if to say: Be just and pious toward God, and God in turn will be pious, faithful and beneficent toward you; just as before when you were impious toward God, God likewise showed Himself to you as if unjust, that is less humane and maleficent. The first sense, and more the second, is most clear and most full, and this fourth sense embraces it in itself. Fourthly the Arabic favors this, when it translates: Let them seek the Lord, and let the fruit of their justice come. Symbolically St. Jerome, Haymo, Arias and Hugo thus expound: Sow in the law, and you will reap in grace, as if to say: Be zealous for the law, O Israelites, thus you will prepare yourselves for the grace of Christ. For the law of Moses was a law of justice and rigor, but the law of Christ is a law of grace, love and liberality: whence he adds: "Now therefore seek the Lord." Anagogically St. Bernard, On the Conversion of Clerics, chapter XV: Sow in grace, and you will reap in glory; sow on earth with labor, and you will reap in heaven with rejoicing. "For indeed," he says, "our works do not pass away, as they appear, but all temporal things are cast as seeds of eternity; the foolish man will marvel, when from this abundant seed he will see an abundant harvest arise." Note that good works are seeds of blessed eternity. The same, in the sermon On St. Benedict: "Let us sow," he says, "to men a good example through open works; let us sow to angels great joy through hidden sighs. Sow also you, because so many before you have sown: bear fruit, because they have sown for you. O race of Adam," how many have sown in you, and what precious seed, how badly will you perish, and how deservedly: if such seed perish in you, at the same time also the labor of those sowing! The Trinity sowed in our land, Angels sowed together with Apostles, Martyres, Confessors and Virgins sowed, etc. The Father sowed bread from heaven, the Son truth, the Holy Spirit charity. The Apostles went, and wept casting their seeds: but coming they shall come with exultation, bearing their sheaves. Two sheaves are those which you seek, namely of honor and of rest. Those who sowed labor and utility, shall reap honor together with rest." INNOVATE FOR YOURSELVES A NEW FIELD. — "Novale" is a new field, namely when that field, with thorns cut away, with darnel and noxious herbs removed, is first cultivated and sown, as if to say: Pluck out from your heart the darnel of desires and the thorns of vices, which frequently sprout again, so that, being renewed, like a new field, you may receive the divine seed of grace and virtues. Vatablus translates: Plow for yourselves a plowing, and thus explains it, as if to say: Meanwhile prepare your hearts for the coming of Christ. The Septuagint translates: Illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge, that is, as Theophylactus says: illuminate the lamp of your mind with the light of meditation on God, failing away from idols and their darkness and errors. For the Hebrew ניר nir signifies equally a furrow and the derivation of both light and a river, as well as of fields. Wherefore rightly St. Clement of Rome, book II of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter v: "Have care, he says, of the word, O Bishop, so that you may be able to interpret all things according to the word, and abundantly nourish your people with much teaching, and illuminate them with the illumination of the law. Light a light for yourselves, says the Lord, of knowledge, while there is time." Morally, from this version of the Septuagint St. Ambrose teaches that knowledge of oneself ought to precede knowledge of God, nor is it possible to arrive at the latter except through the former and through good works. Hear him in Psalm CXVIII, the first octave: "Sow for yourselves unto justice, reap unto the fruit of life, illuminate yourselves in the light of knowledge. Not illumination first, but sowing is commanded to us, so that when we have sown before ourselves, that is, in the use of our life, in hope of fruits, then when we have reaped what has been sown, then shall we be illuminated in the light of knowledge. This order therefore of sowing, reaping and illumination must be observed. For many of us hasten to be illuminated before sowing and reaping, when sowing and reaping are a certain preparation for obtaining light." To this is added St. Hilary, who in Psalm CXVIII thus acts and explains: "Sow in justice (others read, unto justice) yourselves, and reap yourselves in fruit (others, unto fruit) of life, and illuminate yourselves in the light of knowledge. Not illumination first, but sowing is commanded to us, so that when we have sown before ourselves, that is, in the use of our life, in hope of fruits, then when we have reaped what has been sown, then shall we be illuminated in the light of knowledge. This order therefore of sowing, reaping and illumination must be observed. For many of us hasten to be illuminated before sowing and reaping, when sowing and reaping are a certain preparation for obtaining light." But more fully and more wisely St. Bernard, sermon 37 in the Song of Songs: "Sow, he says, for yourselves unto justice, reap the hope of life, and then at last illuminate for yourselves, he says, the light of knowledge. He placed knowledge last as a painting, which cannot have stability upon emptiness; and therefore he premised those two and subjected it to them, as if he were laying something solid under the painting. Now I shall attend to knowledge securely, if I have first received security for my life through the benefit of hope. You therefore have sown for yourself unto justice, if from true knowledge of yourself you have awakened to fear God, have humbled yourself, have shed tears, poured out alms, afflicted your body with fastings and vigils, if you have beaten your breast with blows, wearied the heavens with cries. This indeed is to sow unto justice. Seeds are good works, good studies, seeds are tears. They went, he says, and wept casting their seeds. Therefore they shall reap sheaves of glory, and indeed they reap immediately the hope of life and future glory. And in epistle 108: "True knowledge, he says, the disciples of Christ alone, that is, the contemners of the world, obtain by the gift of God. For neither does reading teach this, but unction: not the letter, but the spirit; not learning, but practice in the commandments of the Lord. Sow, he says, for yourselves unto justice, reap the hope of life: illuminate for yourselves the light of knowledge; you see, that one does not rightly proceed to the light of knowledge, unless the germ of justice precede to the soul, from which the grain of life is formed, and not the chaff of glory." NOW IS THE TIME OF SEEKING THE LORD, WHEN HE SHALL COME WHO WILL TEACH YOU JUSTICE,—that is to say, When Christ the teacher of justice shall come, then will be the time of seeking those things which are of God and of salvation: observe therefore this, O Israelites, and do not suffer it to slip away and escape from you; thus St. Jerome, Haymo and Hugo, who hold that the Prophet here flies in the manner of the ancients to Christ. Secondly, Lyra explains these things of Hezekiah: for he indeed brought back the people to the worship of God, and thus was a teacher of justice, but in an incomplete and imperfect manner, and as it were in a type of Christ, who fully and perfectly accomplished the same thing. Thirdly, for when he shall come, from the Hebrew, the Septuagint, Vatablus and others translate: Until he come, and rain justice upon you, that is to say, Now is the time of seeking the Lord, and of preparing yourselves for the advent of the Messiah; for he coming will teach you, nay will give you true justice, by which you may be just before God, sons and heirs of his kingdom. Whence the Chaldean paraphrast translates: Return yourselves to the fear of the Lord: for now it shall be revealed, and he will bring you justice; thus the ancient Hebrews in Galatinus, book III, chapter XXIX; Theophylactus, Vatablus and others. Morally, learn here to use the time of grace and salvation while it is given: for after this time there will be no other time of grace, but of justice. Beautifully St. Ephrem, tract. On Death, vol. I: "No one, says he, carries on trade when the fair is finished: neither is he who comes after the contests crowned; nor he who comes when the battle is already finished, obtains praise. Deservedly therefore neither is he who, when life is already spent, exercises piety after death, to be esteemed pious." Let those who waste time ponder this.
10:13
13. YOU HAVE PLOUGHED IMPIETY (The Hebrew חרש charasch signifies first, to plough; second, to fabricate; third, to devise; whence first you may expound it, as if to say, The field which you have ploughed hitherto, and the seed which you have sown, was impiety, and consequently the harvest was nothing other than impiety, as if to say, You have thought of nothing else than to add impiety to impiety, to heap crimes upon crimes. Second, as if to say, In your heart you have uprooted the furrows and seeds of piety, of knowledge and worship of God, and you have led and sown the seeds of impiety and idolatry: for this reason) YOU HAVE REAPED INIQUITY, — namely frauds, deceits and every wickedness toward God and neighbour which you have wrought. For from an impious and wicked heart, nothing but the fruits and works of impiety and iniquity proceed. Again, as if to say, From impiety toward God has proceeded all iniquity toward one's neighbour, as the Apostle teaches, Romans I, 28 and 29. Thus St. Jerome. Third, iniquity can be taken for the punishment of iniquity, namely for plunder and captivity, as if to say, You have perpetrated the guilt of iniquity, hence you endure and suffer its punishment, namely spoliation by the Assyrians and captivity; thus Theophylactus. For the Prophet opposes this verse 13 to verse 12, as if to say, Hitherto you have ploughed and sown impiety, and therefore you have reaped the punishments of this iniquity: henceforth therefore be wise, and sow in justice, that you may reap the mercy and beneficence of God; otherwise if you persist in crime, you will certainly be laid waste and destroyed, as follows. YOU HAVE EATEN THE FRUIT OF LYING, — that is, a lying and deceptive fruit. Note: Fruits and harvests are said to lie, when they do not yield as much as they promised in the seed, namely when a crop perishes in the field from drought or blight, or in the granaries from worms, or is worn away, consumed and vanishes by corrupted wind or air, as if to say, In like manner you, O Israelites, from your impiety and idolatry will not obtain the peace, prosperity, abundance of things which you hoped for, which the false prophets promised you. Tropologically, every glutton, every miser, every lustful person, and every impious person eats the fruit of lying. For, as St. Jerome says, "the glutton has his heart in his belly, the lustful in lust, the covetous in gain." But gain is lying, lust is lying, gluttony is lying: for they neither satisfy appetite, nor bring true delight, but a painted, shadowy and evanescent one; whence the Psalmist, Psalm III: "O ye sons of men, why do you love vanity, and seek after lying?" Most excellently St. Gregory, homily 36 in the Gospel, teaches that bodily and spiritual delights differ in this, that "bodily delights," he says, "when not possessed, kindle a grave desire in themselves; but when eagerly consumed, they turn the consumer forthwith into disgust through satiety. But on the contrary spiritual delights when not possessed are in disgust; when possessed, are in desire, and the more they are eaten by the consumer, the more they are hungered for by the one hungering. In the former appetite pleases, experience displeases: in the latter appetite is base, and experience pleases more. In the former appetite produces satiety, satiety produces disgust: in the latter appetite produces satiety, satiety produces appetite. For spiritual delights increase desire in the mind while they satisfy: because the more their taste is perceived, the more it is known that they are loved more eagerly: and for this reason they cannot be loved when not possessed, because their taste is unknown;" see the same author, book XX of the Morals, chapter XVI. It is added that carnal delights exclude spiritual and true ones, and block the way to them; while they themselves occupy all the senses, and possess the whole man. Wherefore St. Jerome truly asserts, "souls wrapped in excessive blood and fat as in mud, nothing thin, nothing heavenly, but always belching forth carnal things, and thinking of the belly's gluttony." Third, delights and riches are lying, because they bring delight in the beginning, and end in disgust and torment both of soul and body. Thus Cicero, Pro Caelio: "Loves," he says, "and delights wither early and quickly, and in all things, the greatest pleasures have disgust as a neighbour." And Boethius, book III, meter 7: Every pleasure has this, It drives those enjoying it, And like a pair of flying bees Where it has poured grateful honey, It flees, and with too tenacious Bite strikes the hearts with wounds. Wherefore Epictetus, article 120: "He is worthy," he says, "of the banquet of the gods, who uses created things moderately; but he who scorns even lawful pleasures, is no longer a guest of God, but a companion." BECAUSE YOU HAVE TRUSTED IN YOUR WAYS, — in your impious works, and especially in the worship of idols. It is an enallage of number: for it passes from the plural number to the singular, because it speaks to the people, which is singular if you regard the assembly; plural if you regard the heads and men. IN THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR MIGHTY MEN, — both of citizens, both of gentile friends, both of idols; for this reason
10:14
14. THERE SHALL RISE A TUMULT AMONG THY PEOPLE (when the enemies of Assyria shall invade thee), AND ALL THY FORTIFIED CITIES SHALL BE LAID WASTE, AS SALMANA WAS LAID WASTE BY THE HOUSE (by the family, servants and soldiers) OF HIM THAT JUDGED (thus it should be read with the Hebrews and Romans, not "avenged," as some Latin codices read) BAAL,—namely by the house of Gedeon. For he compares the future destruction of Israel by Salmanasar king of the Assyrians to the destruction of the Madianites, whose prince was Salmana, wrought by Gedeon in Judges VIII, 2, and Psalm LXXXII, 12. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Rufinus, Theodoret, Rupert, Albert, Hugh and others everywhere. The sense therefore is, as if to say, As Gedeon smote Salmana the idolater, the enemy of the people of God; so also shall Salmanasar smite Israel, because of the idols which it worshipped in Bethel. Note first: Salmana whom Gedeon slew is written with tsade, but here Salmana is written with shin: whence Lyra contends with the Chaldean that this is a different one from that, and they accordingly take Salmana here as a name, not proper, but appellative, signifying peaceful, the same as Solomon. For thus the Emperor of the Turks was called Solyman, that is, Solomon: for both names are derived from the same root שלם schalam, that is, peaceful. Whence they translate: As the peaceful one is wont to be laid waste by the snares of war, or by the snarer in war; so shall Israel be laid waste. But the authors already cited assert unanimously that this Salmana is the same as him whom Gedeon smote, and this shall presently appear more clearly. Nor does it hinder that here he is written with shin, there with tsade: because these two letters are neighboring and interchangeable; for each includes s, although in tsade that is strengthened and hardened by the addition of t, and has the same value as ts. Note second: For "who judged Baal," in Hebrew it is one word ארבאל arbel, which is variously explained by various ones. First, the Chaldean and Lyra, as I have said, translate snares or snarer, from the root ארב arab, that is, he laid snares. Second, others think it to be the proper name of a prince, or city, of which it is said in I Maccabees IX, 2: "They pitched their camp in Masaloth, which is in Arbel," and they give this sense: As Salman, that is, Salmanasar, in the first year of Hosea king of Israel, laid waste the city of Arbel most cruelly, so that infants were dashed against their mothers, and mothers against their infants: so God shall lay waste Israel and Samaria. For although this history is not narrated in Scripture, yet in the time of Hosea it was common and celebrated among all. Moreover this city was called Arbel, either from ארבע arba, that is, four, and אל el, that is, God, or mighty, because in it four gods were celebrated and worshipped, or four heroes; as it was called Cariat arbe, that is, city of four, namely of Giants, Joshua XV, 13, or from ארב arab, that is, he laid snares, and אל el, that is, God, or to God. Thus Arias, Vatable and Marinus in the Lexicon. The Syriac for Arbel reads Il, or El, that is, God, whence it translates: As the laying waste of Salmana from the house of El in the day of battle. But I say Arbel is the same by crasis as Jerubbaal (as the Septuagint translates it; whence wrongly in the Complutensian edition as well as in the Arabic both it is read Jeroboam, for Jerubbaal), that is, Gedeon. Thus the authors already cited. Hear St. Jerome: Arbel signifies the same thing as Jerubbaal, but in a shorter and more elegant manner; for Arbel is the same as litigator, or judge of God, namely Baal: Jerubbaal signifies the same: ירב rub namely is the same as he contended, he judged: Baal is the god Baal. From the fact that Gedeon judged, that is, condemned, and proved Baal to be weak, when he overthrew his altar, he was called Jerubbaal, as Joas the father of Gedeon said: "Let Baal avenge himself on him (if he be a god) who hath cut down his altar," Judges VI, 31. Again Gedeon is called Arbel, that is, snarer of God: because he secretly by night through snares overthrew the god Baal. THE MOTHER DASHED AGAINST THE CHILDREN.—Thou wilt ask, whence is this taken? St. Jerome answers that it is written in Judges VIII: "As thy sword hath made women without children, so without children shall thy mother be among women." But this is not found in Judges VIII, but in I Kings XV, 33; for they are the words of Samuel to Agag king of Amalec, when he commanded him to be slain. St. Jerome therefore seems to have suffered a lapse of memory. I say therefore that this is not narrated in the book of Judges and the history of Gedeon, yet in fact it happened, as is here asserted: namely there was such great fear, consternation and confusion in the camp of Madian, while Gedeon and his companions sounded three hundred trumpets, and displayed three hundred burning torches, that either by the swords of the Madianites turned against one another, or by the haste and trembling of those fleeing, mothers were dashed against their children. Thus Ribera, Emmanuel, Mariana and others.
10:15
15. THUS SHALL HE DO TO YOU, BETHEL, — that is, thus shall Bethel punish and strike you, that is, the sins committed by you, namely the idols adored in Bethel, just as Salmana was punished and struck by Beth Arbel, that is, by the house and army of Gideon. In Hebrew there is an elegant paronomasia and antithesis between Beth Arbel and Bethel, that is, Just as Beth Arbel, that is, the house of Gideon, who was ריב rub, that is, judge and avenger of El, that is, of the false god, namely Baal, struck down and prostrated the idolaters of Midian, so shall Bethel, that is, the house of the true God, which you have violated and made into Bethaven, that is, the house of an idol, strike you down: for on account of the sacrileges committed in Bethel you shall be cut off. Whence he adds: BECAUSE OF THE WICKEDNESS OF YOUR INIQUITIES, — that is, on account of your most wicked iniquities, by which you have polluted Bethel, that is, the house of God. For this reason Isaiah says in chapter XXXI, 9: "The Lord hath said, whose fire is in Sion, and his furnace in Jerusalem." See the things said there. With similar elegance and trope Isaiah calls Jerusalem Ariel, and in that word plays variously in chapter XXIX, 1 and 2, saying: "Woe to Ariel, Ariel! the city which David took, etc. And I will make a camp against Ariel, etc. And it shall be to me as Ariel."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
10:1
v. 1 « Vitis frondosa Israel, fructus adaequatus est ei : secundum multitudinem fructus sui multiplicavit altaria, iuxta ubertatem terrae suae exuberavit simulacris » ; — iam analogia (9, 10. 13; 41, 1) suadet, vitem frondosam de prosperitate et ubertate, de opibus ac divitiis esse interpretandam ; idem suadet alterum membrum ; quare secunda apud S. Hier. explanatio erit adoptanda : « vitis frondosa i. e. bonas habens propagines et flagella fructifera, multos botros attulit, et uvarum fecunditas ramorum magnitudinem coaequavit ; sed abundantiam fructuum vertit in offensae multitudinem » ; Israel vinea est Domini, quam omni cura sepsit et cui plurima fertilitatis subsidia contulit ; fructus 1. e. populus revera habuit et hominum et bonorum abundantiam, ita ut viti florenti fructus corresponderet ; fructus iste non in sola hominum multitudine, neque in solis bonis divinitus datis (Cyr.), sed in utrisque consistit (cf. Theod. M. Theoph. Rib. Sanct.). LXX hebr. pp3 vertunt s)vy)muxiodoz ; Áq. Évoopoz ; Sym. Diogavro2ox, et certe vilis luxurians h. l. ad sensum omnino requiritur ; quare j22, alias evacuare, h. l. significatione illa accipi debet ; fortasse sese effundere in. frondes, vim. suam erserere. in propagines cum priore illa notione evacuandi cognatum atque consertum est. Alii ( Fürst, Scholz) ad arabicum confugiunt. Syrus vertit: vitis palmitum. Chald. explical: vitis vastata est Israel quae erat vitis plantata, dum legem exsequeretur — unde clucet, Chald. verbum infausta notione aecepisse, quae tamen a contextu repudiatur. Quare reliquis veteribus versionibus est standum. Sed bona concessa idolis referebat accepta ; cf. 9, 85,8, 4. 11;sim. Ez. 19, 1i et quo maior erat opulentia, eo maiore studio altaria exstruxit simul cum simulacris, stelis (LXX), symbolis Baal,vituli imaginibus (cf. 3 Reg. 12, 98. 9 Par. 34, 4. Ez. 8, 10-13). Dederat scil. Deus iis terram optimam, insuper florentem saepius concessit reipublicae statum (cf. 4 Reg. 13, 3; 14, 235-28). At illi neque beneficiis neque poenis intra pietatis limites continebantur ; quare
10:2
v. 9 « divisum est cor corum, nunc interibunt ; ipse confringet simulacra eorum, depopulabitur aras eorum » ; — varie cor divisum accipiunt : divisum, separatum a Deo (Ps. Ruf. ), divisum et distractum in multiplicem idololatriam, in plura ac diversa idola ( Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Iib.), divisum inter Deum et. idola : «usquequo claudicatis in duas partes» (3 Reg. 18, 21); CAald : «divisum est cor eorum a lege » ; eandem divisionis notionem efferunt LXX et Syrus; Aq. Sym. (cf. cod. syr. hexapl.) ; verum pon (cf. Ps. 53, 22 hebr. — Prov. 2, 16; 1, 21, 29, 3 etc.) recentiores significatione capiunt [ubricum esse, fallacem esse et hypocritam (cf. Keil, Scholz ). Cordis animique malitiam et perversitatem tamquam malorum radicem assignat, quare reatum culpae et poenae incurrunt (cf. hebr. GUN 5, 13 ). Dominus vero ipse ultionem idololatriae capiet, utique per ministros suos et servos vindictae (cf. Is. 13, 2. Ez. 29, 18. 19), et idolorum impotentiam ' ostendet. Cum iis etiam cultores concident. Tum demum cognoscent, quam inanem spem in idolis posucrint ; carent enim omni 1. Hobr. nan cervicem franget ; aitaria, deos omui contemptu ajliciet, delebit ; verbuin protectione ac defensione
10:3
v. 3 « quia nunc dicent : non est rez nobis; non enim timemus Dominum ; et rez quid faciet nobis » ? — i. e. non adest opitulator ullus ( Cyr.) ; Dominum regem et regnum ab eo institutum abiecerunt et sibi ipsi et Deum et regem elegerunt ; sed haec humana subsidia evanescunt ; regem dicit, qui simul sit populi pastor, protector, defensor, quia apud antiquos rex et numen, cuius auctoritate et nomine gubernabat, arcto vinculo inter se colligabantur ; quare Ieroboam simul cum regno suo cultum alium induxit, et victoriae a regibus partae deo regum saepe attribuuntur. Hac auxilii inopia resipiscere incipiunt ; nam agnoscunt eam accidisse, quia non timuimus Dominum (hebr.) : ita c3x £gcffocuev etiam LXX habent et S. Hier. in commentariis scribit : quia non timuimus Dominum verum regem ; ita legit Haimo et omnino legendum censet Rib., eamque explicationem confirmant Chald. et Syrus. Vanum esse auxilium hominum tunc agnoscent et profitebuntur : et rer quid. faciet nobis, habent regem (32:2. propter paronomasiam cum 1»à Moloch? cf. Schegg), at opem ferre nullo pacto potest, est mera scil. nominis umbra; idem valet de numine regni, quod coluerant. — Hac vero exclamatione propheta docet, qualis exstaturus sit excidii fructus : fulcra humana auferuntur, ut ad Deum unicum sospitatorem esse confugiendum liscant. Unde paterna benevolentia ruinam illam a Deo iri immissum vates ostendit, Deumque castigare, ut sanet; sola vexatio intellectum dabit (cf. Is. 28, 19). Quid interea, antequam malo edocti sapere incipiant, molituri sint et quomodo in omnem partem se vertant ad ruinam avertendam, describit
10:4
v. 4 « loquimini verba visionis inutilis et ferietis foedus » ; — textus vulg. pseudoprophetas respicit, qui pacem et victoriam annuntiant et animos erigunt et confortant ; insuper foedera inire conantur ad se tuendos, uti Osee rex contra Assyrios foedus expetiit aegyptiacum (4 Reg. 1, 4). Fortasse S. Hier. in sua versione zpogzsei; gev2:t; LXX. exprimere voluit ; in hebr. habetur : loquuntur. verba, iurant in vanum, ineunt foedus ! ; sensus est : inanes conatus exserunt, fidem datam frangunt ; iuramenta data minime reverentur ; foedere inito se tutari student. At hisce iudicii poenam sibi accersent : « et germinabit quasi amaritudo iudicium super sulcos agri » ; — hebr. sicut venenum ; at certe intelliguntur zizania venenata, uti LXX £ygescg etiam innuit, quam vocem Jfier. explicat : « est genus herbae calamo simile, quae per singula genicula fruticem sursum et radicem mittit deorsum, rursusque ipsi frutices et virgulta alterius herbae seminaria sunt, atque ita in brevi tempore si non imis radicibus effodiatur, tctos agros veprium similes facit. Denique etiam si sicca eius aliqua pars, dummodo geniculum habeat, super cultam terram ceciderit, omnia replet gramine » !. Addit super sulcos agri, ut zizania luxuriantia indicet, quae in terra culta uberius crescunt ; eadem ubertate et abundantia illis imminebit tudicium i. e. poena, supplicium, sententia perditionis (cf. Cyr. Theod. Sanct. Rib. Lap. Schegg, Scholz). Bene notat Theod. M. : « iudicabit Deus facinus illorum iniquum, poenam tantam ob id eis imponens, ut efflorescat quodammodo, gravissimumque et terribile appariturum sit Dei contra hos iudicium, haud aliter quam repente nata &ygwcxg multum statim incrementum eapit ». Secundum vulg. iudicium declaratur tale :
10:5
v. 9 « vaccas Bethaven coluerunt habitatores Samariae ; quia luxit super eum populus eius et aeditui eius super eum exsultaverunt in gloria eius, quia migravit ab eo ». — Bethaven i. e. urbs idoli, iniquitatis pro Bethel cf. 5, 8 ; varia illa simulacra et symbola unum exprimere numen statim innuit, cum pergat super eum, eius eic !. Quanta veneratione (et quam stulta) numen illud aegyptiacum prosecuti sint, colligendum est ex luctu populi et sacerdotum, qui olim in vituli gloria exsultaverunt, nunc autem lugent, quia vitulus abducitur a victoribus in captivitatem ; gloriam dicit cum allusione ad Domini manifestationem gloriosam, quia in vituli simulacro numinis gloriam et manifestationem adoraverunt. Nunc dolent numen prostratum, deiectum et pudore suffunduntur. — Uti hebr. 5, ita ezsultare proprie commotionem dicit, quae et gaudium et dolorem indicare potest et revera secundum Lucretium in pectore exsultat pavor ac metus ; quare textum latinum forte explicare licebit, uti recentiores hebr. accipiunt. Populi luctus unde ortus sit et qua re contineatur, docet
10:6
v. 6 « siquidem et ipse in Assur delatus est, munus regi ultori; confusio Ephraim capiet et confundetur Israel in voluntate sua » ; — idola a victore tamquam trophaea abducebantur ?^, eo magis, si auro vel argento obtecta erant (cf. Is. 46, 4. Amos 1, 19). Hebr. TN ad Assur i. e. ad deum Assur adductus est vitulus (cf. Scholz) et tamquam vectigal et tributum ministro huius numinis : regi Jareb (cf. 5, 13) est oblatus. Huius idoli confusionis etiam populus particeps erit ; Ephraim et Israel, tribum potentissimam et regiam et integrum populum nominat, ut quia culpa erat universalis, etiam omnes poenas esse luituros innuat ; voluntas vel hebr. consilium eius est idololatria, quam regibus praeeuntibus sibi delegerat (cf. Cyr. Mar. Lap. Men. Tir. Trochon), non spes in auxilio regum Assur vel Aegypti posita (Calm. Schegg). Hunc idoli interitum simul cum urbe regia denuo inculcat
10:7
v. 1 « transire fecit Samaria regem suum, quasi spumam supar faciem aquae » ; — quid fragilius, magis inane quam spuma? « unde in rerum maxime instabilium et fugientium amplificationem adducitur Sap. 5, 15 de spe impii : tamquam spuma gracilis, quae a vento dispergitur » (Sanct.) ; regem i. e. vitulum (Sanct. Calm.) celerrime et facillime perire et evanescere dicit sine ulla resistendi vi, esse evanidum prorsus et nihil (cf. Hier.). Hebr. ita : ezcisa est Samaria ; rex eius ut festuca (spuma?) super aquam ; notat S. Hier. : « pro spuma, quam LXX et Theod. eos1xvov i. e. cremium transtulerunt, —————————ÁMÁEU —— aridas scil. herbas siecaque virgulta quae camino et incendio praeparantur, Sym. posuit &xiteyux * volens ostendere ferventis ollae superiores aquas et in spumam bul. lasque assurgentes » ; spumam etiam Chald. exprimit, Syrus festucam (cf. Matth. 7, 3. &. 5. Luc. 6, 41. 42) et hanc notionem simul cum LXX etiam recentiores voci ari» attribuunt ; idque recte, cum ad notionem "Ip frangere , discerpere ramos vel sar. menta proxime accedat. LXX habent: àz£Z£tbev Exudpeix 0v facia ajióv ; lege? runt n vel àrw2 et eandem lectionem etiam S. Hier. ob oculos habuisse videtur ; est enim ^ abiicere, prosternere, proiicere. — Apte vero vitulus festucae comparatur, quia simulacrum ligneum auro obductum erat cf. Ex. 32, 20. Aurum victoribus Cessit ; simulacrum in numinis ignominiam fortasse combustum est ; Aaron cineres vituli contriti in aquam sparsit; unde optime : rez quasi festuca super aquam. Idem innuit spuma. Simul cum idolo et arae delubraque vastantur et cultores malorum magnitudine ad desperationem et insaniam adiguntur ; v. 8«et disperdentur excelsa idoli, peccatum Israel ; lappa. et tribulus ascendet super aras eorum ; et dicent montibus : operite nos ! et collibus : cadite super nos » ! — Hebr. excelsa Aven, certe cum allusione ad Bethaven — Beuel ; cf. 5, 8 ?. Bene cum emphasi haec idololatria peccatum Isracl dicitur, unum illud, ex quo reliqua omnia et tota calamitatum proluvies profluxerunt. Ad Dei vindictam pertinet, ut regiones ipsae, quae cultu illo pollutae erant, maledicto et vastitate percutiantur, quo magis habitu etiam externo horrorem scelerum prae se ferant. Etiam hac in re cernitur nexus qui est inter hominis culpam et rerum naturam (cf. Gen. 3, 18. Rom.
10:8
8, 19 - 21). Lappa et tribulus (cf. Gen. 3, 18 vertit Hier. spinas et tribulos) i. e. « signum ultimae solitudinis, ut ne parictes quidem et extrema aedificiorum vestigia relinquantur » (Hier.). Et cultores vituli tanto horrore et stupore oppletum iri dicit, ut montibus obrui mallent, quam illa subire supplicia, quae imminent. Bene explicat Sanct. : « proverbialis forma est, qua in summo dolore vel desperatione utuntur homines, quos dura vexat et agitat fortuna, quasi optent statum illum infelicem cum gravi ruina, cum ipsa sepultura et morte commutare » ; sim. Cyr. Theod. Hier. Calm. Trochon ; unde eiulatio est extremae miseriae cf. Luc. 23, 30. Ap. 6, 16 et ad ultimam ruinam eamque irreparabilem apta prolusio. Qualia enim et quanta erunt ipsa supplicia, si illorum suspicio iam et appropinquatio talem incutit horrorem, ut eorum aspectum montis ruina quis effugere exoptet ? Populi excidium, quod modo depinxerat, nova ratione fulcit et illustrat : inveterata scil. populi iniquitate, quae Dei vindictam et iram ita 1. In cod. syr. hexapl. haec interpretatio sub nomine Aq. affertur. 2. LXX Bopoti "Qv, i. e. UN Heliopolis, pro Tx. accendit, ut demum magna cum voluptate eos puniat:
10:9
v. 9 « ez diebus Gabaa peccavit Israel; $bi steterunt ; non. comprehendet eos in Gabaa proelium super filios iniquitatis »? — cf. 9, 9; simili sceleri operam dederunt constanter (cf. Rib. Lap. Calm.) ibi, in ea mentis animique iniquitate perseverarunt, pertinaci voluntate in peccato remanserunt (Alb.), in idololatria immobiles perstiterunt aeque ac Gabaitae in defensione stupri (Lap.). Quod sequitur non comprehendet ... plerique explicant : non tale supplicium, quod Gabaitas, verum durius illos comprehendet ; Gabaitae enim, licet tandem victi sint, tamen antea bis vicerunt et multum sanguinem hostium fuderunt atque ita quodammodo laeti et necem suam ulti ceciderunt (Rib.), et bello illo una solum tribus est castigata, neque sedibus expulsa, neque deleta, verum mox in statum pristinum restituta (Calm.); iam in Israelitas acerbius fore supplicium (cf.Sanct. Lap. Schegg). Attamen in hac explicatione ea, quae rem constituunt, suppleri debent, res in interpretatione satis dura ! Quare omnino praeplacet, quod iam Alb. indicat : « nonne comprehendere debet, ut nusquam effugere possint, tantos peccatores proelium simile gabaonitico, quod inquam proelium fuit Gabaonitis conterendis et delendis, h. e. ut deleantur, sicut et illi deleti sunt? quasi dicat, sic debet » ; sim. Scholz explicat. Est igitur interrogatio indignantis : tanta peccarunt, et impunitatem exspectant ? vel poena non corripientur ? quo quid absurdius fingi potest ? E contra Deus indignationem suam professus iam laetari dicitur et se quasi satiare eorum supplicio
10:10
v. 10 « ?uxta desiderium meum corripiam eos ; congregabuntur super eos populi, cum corripientur propter duas iniquitates suas » ; — hebr. in desiderio meo, in voluptate mea ; cf. Deut. 98, 63: « sicut ante laetatus est Dominus super vos bene vobis faciens, sic laetabitur dispergens vos atque subvertens » ; Is. 4, 24. Ez. 5, 13. Prov. 4, 26. Divina scil. iustitia ita est provocata et irritata, ut demum iustam vindictam maximopere exoptet eamque inferre gestiat. Hoc schemate ingens poena adumbratur. Eam gentes congregatae contra Israel exsequentur. Quae sint duae iniquitates, varie exponunt : honorare perniciosos pseudoprophetas et detestari salutares ministros (Ps. Ruf.), duos vitulos in Bethel et Dan, vel «quia primum peccaverunt in idolis Michae, secundo in idolis Ieroboam » (H?er.), vel « Dei per idololatriam dimissiovel libidinem et idololatriam (Sanct.); plerique tamen id intelligunt, quod apud ler. 2, 13 Deus dicit : « duo mala fecit populus meus : me dereliquerunt fontem aquae vitae et foderunt sibi cisternas » (etiam Hier. Cyr. Theod. Rib. Calm. Schegg) !. 1. Unus Scholz in duplici numero auxesim quandam loquondi cerni vult, uti sim. apud Hebr. kethib Qn» sensu caret ; nam quid. sibi vult: dum eos castigo ante duos corum oculos ? vel quod habet Chald. secundum unam lectionem : sicut iugum firma* tur ad duos (bovis) oculos, vel secundum alteram : sicut ligatur iugum ad duos sulcos (cf. Levy, Chald. Woerterb. II p. 206. 255) ? Reliquae versiones, LXX, Syrus, Hier. exprimunt hebr. geri DIM. iàcía;, stultitias, iniquitates (ab zi vel — ni$y ?). quas scil. sicut onus trahere debent i. e. poenas subire. LXX, Syrus, Hier. verbum "I" DN — ^D interpretati sunt. Ephraim ad iniquitates tamquam ad plaustrum vel onus alligari modo in hebr. dixerat ; fortasse inde ad eam comparationem delabitur, quam nunc inducit : Ephraim esse edoctum quidem de iugo Domini, at luxurie et voluptate diffluere, quare esse humiliandum ;
10:11
v. 11 « Ephratm vitla, docta diligere trituram ; et ego transivi super pulchritudinem coli eius, ascendam super Ephraim » ; — in hebr. vitula docta, amans triturare i. e. a Domino lege instituta, de iugo et servitute edocta et variis experimentis ad serviendum educata ; at aream amat et tritutare, quia « non alligabis os bovi trituranti » (Deut. 95, 4) ; « vitula terere maluit fruges in area quam arare, quia in area pinguescit, dum abundat pabulo et levior est labor, in subigenda vero terra vomere labor est gravis et parca atque imparata commoditas » (Sanct.) ; « in Palaestina enim grana excutiunt non homines ligneis flagellis, uti faciunt Germani et Galli, sed boves et vaccae, sive pedibus et ungulis segetem calcando, sive, ut ait Hier., ferreos orbes super acervum segetum trahendo » (Lap.), quo in opere ad lubitum pabulum carpere licuit, quare id genus laboris Ephraim amat (sim. ZHaimo, Rib. Lap.). Vitulae comparatur, quia vitulum colit (Rup. Lap.). Incrassata est vitula in area, habet collum admodum pingue; quare minatur Dominus : ego vero venio puniens; tumentes cervicum toros iniecto iugo et freno edomabo (Hier. Tir. Sa), colla hactenus superba defringam (Ps. fuf.), contumax collum edomabo (Theod.) ; ascendam super Ephraim i. e. subiugabo (Sa, Lap.), ascendet, non utique quasi eques, sed « quia alligabit vitulam plaustro et quasi auriga ascendet et inde exagitabit aculeis, ut stimulis compungatur et lassetur onere plaustrali » (Sanct.). & quia minus apte ephippium et equitatio in bovem conveniunt » (Sanct.); ceterum cf. Ps. 66, 12 hebr. Is. 58, 1&. LXX &xifigo "Egpatp, vel 1o E. uti Theod. Theod. M. habent. Initium versus legitur ósbióxvu£vn &y2z3v vi«o; diligere victoriam ; ita apud Cyr. idque indubie, quia explicat per verbum «9 vix£v; haec lectio facile ex hebr. fluit, quia triturare de hostium oppressione dicitur (cf. Mich. &, 13) ; apud plerosque tamen legitur vsízo; contentio, uti iam S. Hier. refert, et apud Theod. Theod. M. et in editionibus plerisque. Suspicio tamen mihi est vstzo; seriptum esse pro vixo;, quippe quod magis ad hebr. accedat. Nam friturare veteres versiones praebent, arare apud Chald. non adeo discrepat. Atque víxo;, victoria exprimitur in versione coptica (ed. Tattam) et in arabica quoque et forte confirmatur cod. syr. hexapl. qui praebet, eandem vocem quae Am. 14, 41 exprimit vizo; «óv LXX. Vi itacismi potius vixoc scribi pro vstxo; exspectaveris ; at cur non etiam vice versa:'? In sequenti membro LXX vertunt zapxotoz,oogat 'loo9óxv; rationem iam affert Hier. cf. vn tacere etc. pro éwaxoozi "laxo cf. vr potens, TTC esse potentem (?). Dixit Deus, se domiturum Ephraim. At continuo subdit, molestiam illam et laborem populo saluti fore : « arabit ludas, confringet sibi. sulcos lacob » ; — durus est labor arandi, at utilitatem et fructum spectat ; item sulci confringuntur, quo semina magis meliusque foveantur, proficiant ; sibi i. e. in suum denique commodum /acob i. e. 12 tribus (Hier.) hunc laborem sustinebunt ; Judae fit mentio, uti supra, quia Iudas sceleris israelitici particeps poenae quoque socius erit eique potissimum redemptio et salus continget. Iam ipse explicat, quid arare sibi velit et ad quem fructum dirigatur :
10:12
v. 19 « seminate vobis in 1ustitia et metile in ore misericordiae, tnnovate vobis novale ; tempus autem requirendi Dominum, cum venerit qui docebit vos iustitiam » ; — ut sementem feceris, ita et metes ; eos adhortatur, ut seminent sibi ad. 2ustitiam (hebr. ), ut opera iusta, pia, sancta, Deo placita serant ; deinde metent 4n ore — *2? i. e. secundum rationem ! (cf. Lap. Sa) misericordiae et pietatis praestitae et exercitae ; "Dn cf. 6, 4 est illorum in Deum amor, pietas, fides. Duro igitur labore a Deo prementur (« quod coeperint aratris glebas frangere terramque comminuere ») « ut emollita recipiat sementem et fecunda post modicum seges pullulet » ( Hier.). Alter imperativus mettte — in hebr., graeco sine particula ef, prout congruum est sermoni vivaciori — vimfuturi habens enuntiat; quid ex semine bono necessario et per se consequatur. Sed ut ad talem sementem perveniant, monet 2nnovate.. « quantum ad literam, novale est ager, cum primum perscissus vomere fuerit ; dicit : novum facite cor vestrum » (Haimo) ; monet scil. ea locutione, ut totum animorum habitum renovent, immutent ; a veteri consuetudine recedant et aliam prorsus ac novam vitam degere incipiant ; quod quomodo faciendum sit, docet et tempus (est) ad requirendum Dominum (hebr.) i. e. nunc tale est tempus, ut eum requirant, « dum adhuc inveniri potest » (cf. Is. 55, 6. Alb. Sanct. Lap.), uti Theod. legit : óg Ext xaxgóg, éxtrchsaze 16v Kopiov, et Theod. M. explanat : « dum tempus habetis, veritatis scientiam acquirite ; ante punitionis tempus, quantum fieri poterit, poenitentia redimite malorum perpessionem ». Ut ad hanc poenitentiam et ad Dei conversionem eos stimulet, docet, eos non frustra inquisituros Dominum, simulque ad fructum et terminum salutiferum amandat : donec veniat et doceat vos iustitiam (hebr.) ! i. e. exspectationem proponit, ipsum Dominum venturum et novam illam iustitiae vitam homines edocturum et iis largiturum. Tali spe roborati et accensi, ut Domino iam nunc corda aperiant, exhortatur, ostendens ad quem tandem exitum gloriosum res pro divina providentia adduci debeat ; Dominum enim suum ad eos adventum promittere. Verba promissiones respicere de Messia eiusque doctrina et regno iustitiae, satis in aperto est (cf. 9, 18 et seq. 3, 5) ; Messiam doctorem iustitiae praeclare describit Is. 41, 3. 4. 9; 42, 4 ; 49, 4 et scq. 51, 4. Mich. 4, 2 etc. Sunt, qui vertant: donec veniat et pluat vobis iusiitiam (cf. Keil, Scholz) ; at docendi notionem cum S. Hier. ctiam Syrus exprimit ; idque reete ; nam A35 hiph. a iT ea significatione pervulgatum est ; cf. Deut. 33, 10. Is. 9, 14 (hebr.) : Ps. 27, 11; 86, 11. Iob 6, 21. Hab. 2, 19 etc. — neque opus est YT 6, 3 et al. in subsidium vocare. LXX vertunt. pro innovate ... qwtioxt& £xotot; zi; vvio6to; ; explicant scil. YTiW lucernam, cf. 1 Reg. 11, 36 ; 15, 4 ; 2 Reg. 8, 19 etc. et t3 ignem, cf. Dan. 3, 6. 11. 15. 17; 7, 9; codem modo Syrus : accendite vobis lucernam. AV Ier. &, 3 ostendit, ita esse vertendum, uti vertit S. Hier. et recentiores : novate novale. Quantopere eousque neglexerint requirere Dominum et quid inde receperint, proponit
10:13
v. 13 « arastis impielatem, iniquitatem. messuistis, comedistis frugem mendacii ; quia. confisus es in viis tuis, in multitudine fortium tuorum » ; — i. e. omni studio et labore impietati operam dederunt et scelera veluti largam messem collegerunt ; sed etiam fructum peccatorum, infidelitatis, apostasiae (i. e. mendacii cf. 4, 2; 7, 3) gustarunt, i. e. variis iam poenis a Deo castigati sunt. Et cur ita a Domino ha- 1. Hunc sensum, qui omnino adest in hebr., S. Hier. sua versione non adeo distincte profert, cum vertat et explanet tempus esse Dominum requirendi, cum venerit. Christus atque Salvator. At textus hebr. optime se habet h. 1. et LXX, Syrum habet consentientes. Chald. rem y circumlocutione exhibet : «ecce omni tempore prophetae dicunt vobis : revertite ad timorem Domini ; nunc revclabitur et afferet iustitias (virtutes) vobis ». biti sint, duplicem affert rationem, quia fiduciam suam posuerunt in suis consiliis et viis !, in lis, quae ipsi sibi auxilio fore putabant, i. e. in idololatria; haec est enim via, quam per se ingressus est populus (cf. Hier. Alb. Rib. Lap. Schol:), et quia viribus, fortitudine, prudentia bellica ducum ac principum gloriabundi innixi sunt. Ephraim erat tribus numero et bellico impetu praestans (cf. Gen. 49, 22 — 26. Num. 1, 33. Ios. 17, 14). Hanc fiduciam Deus confundet. Cum sequens sententia pergat in enallage personae, quae iam v. 13 quia confisus es incipitur, in transitu scil. a plurali ad singularem numerum, commode iungi potest altera pars v. 13 cum
10:14
v. 14 «consurget tumultus in. populo tuo et omnes munitiones tuae vastabuntur, sicut vastatus est Salmana a domo eius qui iudicavit Baal in die proelii, matre super filios allisa » ; — per id punientur, per quod in superbiam elati sunt ; bellica virtute gloriati bellico tumulto qui exoriturus est « in populos tuos » (hebr.) conturbabuntur ; arcibus ac munitionibus confisi sunt — istae destruentur ; szcut etc. textus vulg. ex interpretatione SS. Hier. alludit ad rem narratam Iud. 8, 10; domus eius qui iudicavit (S. Hier. vindicavit) Baal est domus Gedeon cf. Iud. 6, 23 et seq. ; « haud dubium, quin Gedeonem significet, qui ex eo quod destruxit fanum Baal, lucumque succidit, et ille se vindicare non potuit, cognomentum Zerobaal sortitus est i. e. uleiscatur se Baal ; ut quomodo Salmana interfecit filios coram matribus suis, ipsis quoque matribus deinceps interfectis, sic et filii tui, o Ephraim, te praesente interficiantur, qui et ipse trucidandus es » (JIier). | probabile igitur fit, vegem hunc Moabitarum occupasse et vastasse crudelem in modum Beth-Ar»el vel Arbela. Duo sunt oppida eius nominis ; alterum in Galilaea (cf. 4 Mach. 9, 2) inter Sepphorim et Tiberiadem sita ; alterum trans Iordanem in finibus Pellae (cf. Scholz). Haec vastatio recenter facta omnibus erat horrori ; ita modus loquendi facile fluit, et cur Salman Moabitae nullam honoris significationem deferat, explicatur (cf. Schrader, Keilinschriften und A. T. 9 ed. p. 44). Unde verum suspicatus est Rib. scribens, historiam designari « in scripturis non expositam, sed illo prophetae tempore notissimam, cuiusdam Salman armis ac bello potentis, qui Árbel expugnavit ibique nulli aetati pepercit, sed filios coram matribus ac ipsas deinde matres saxis ac muris collisas crudeliter interfecit ». Eandem miseriam et poenam illis iam esse praeparatam propter idololatriam, certo praedicit
10:15
v. 15 « sic fecit vobis Bethel a facie malitiae nequitiarum vestrarum » ; — i. e. cultus vituli in Bethel exercitus iam vos vastationi et hostium crudelitati et caedi consecratos et traditos ostendit ; sic fecit magis nervosum est, quam cózeg revf2« 9ptv (LXX) ; hebr. a facie malitiae malitiae vestrae i. e. summae malitiae, malitiae, quae sit ex malitia, proinde ex animo oriatur plane corrupto. Concludit minas, totius reipublicae interitum in uno regis excidio complectens et repraesentans ; nam quae in vulg. ad caput sequens trahuntur, hoc loco poni debent : « sicut mane transit, pertransiit rez Israel » ; — i. e. uti aurora (in regionibus orientalibus) cito evanescit, ita celeriter et . facile rex Israel. exscinditur (hebr. cf. v. 1). In textu mas. ?n?3 in aurora ; ita ctiam LXX £50eo, et Syrus ; at particula 2 quam vulg. exprimit et quam aliqui etiam codices hebraei ferunt (cf. de Rossi), videtur praeferenda ; unde proprie verte : sicut aurora excisione exscinditur rex Israel : subito perit nullo vestigio relicto. Repetit cum emphasi, quod v. " dixerat et a quo fere sermonem inchoaverat 9, 11; cf. 13, 3. Notat SS. Hier. : « diversis figuris eundem explicat sensum ; qui supra dixerat v. " ... nunc eandem rem sub alia ponit similitudine ; sicut enim ortus aurorae et diluculum et principium diei, quod appellatur mane, inter noctis solisque viciniam transit celeriter, sic rex Israel velociter transiet ». ARc. — Pergit res israeliticas illustrare ex tempore anteacto et beneficiis a Deo acceptis : eduxit eos ex Aegypto et monitionibus prophetarum erudivit ; illi vero idolis adhaeserunt ; suavi providentia et cura eos fovit, illi ingrati eum nescierunt ; omni amore eos circumdedit iisque praesto fuit in rerum angustiis — at nunc rebelles exsilio et gladio mulctabuntur, neque, qua sunt impoenitentia, poena avertetur (11, 1-1). Sed fieri ncquit, ut Israel funditus pereat, Deus enim miserator est et servator et ideo dispersos colliget ; sibique novum coetum Deo obsequentem constituet (11, 8-12).
10:1
… dwelling or a symbol of it. The Law therefore prohibited them (Lev. 26, 1; Deut. 16, 22). They are nevertheless found in the bānāth or sanctuaries in honor of Yahweh (I Kings 14, 23; II Kings 17, 10; 18, 4; 23, 14; II Chron. 14, 2; 31, 1; Hos. 3, 4; 10, 1 f.; Mic. 5, 12); and also in honor of Baal (II Kings 3, 2; 10, 26 f.). In Is. 6, 13 the m. is a tree trunk, deprived of its branches. …
… On God's part, every benefit and the greatest affection; on Israel's part, the infidelity that began with the first contacts with the Canaanites (Hos. 9:10; 10:1; 11:1 ff.; 13:5 ff.; cf. Jer. 2:1-3; Ezek. 20:28), and now in Samaria is at its height (Hos. 2:4-15; 4:12 and passim). …
10:4
… To enter into the game of political powers, trusting in one's own arms and in the stronger kingdoms, means no longer having faith in the covenant, in God's faithfulness and omnipotence; it is to set out toward syncretism and idolatry (Hos. 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 10:4 ff.; 12:2; 14:4).
10:5
… and the religious-moral deviations to which it immediately gave occasion in worship justify Moses' reaction against the calf and later the prophets' attacks against the resurgence of the symbol and the related cultic practices (Am. 8, 14; Hos. 8, 4-6; 10, 5-8; 12, 15-13, 4; etc.). …
10:8
Bamah (Heb. "height"; plural Bāmāth)
The prophets call such b. places of impiety (Os. 4:13 ff.; 10:8; Mi. 1:5). Human sacrifices are recalled, for example, in Ier. 7:31; 19:5; Ez. 6:4, 13; 16:20 ff. The idolatrous b. are indeed inexorably condemned to destruction by the Mosaic …
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.