God proceeds in threatening Israel for their ingratitude: yet he will not utterly destroy them.
The kingdom of Israel is further admonished, and threatned, 10. of which tribes manie shal beleue in Christ.
1As the morning passeth, so hath the king of Israel passed away. Because Israel was a child, and I loved him: and I called my son out of Egypt.Come passa un mattino, passerà il re d'Israele. Israele era bambino, ed io l'amai, e dall'Egitto richiamai il mio figliuolo.AS the morning passed, hath the king of Israel passed away. Because Israel was a child, and I loued him: and out of Aegypt I called my sonne.Sicut mane transiit, pertransiit rex Israël. / Quia puer Israël, et dilexi eum; / et ex Ægypto vocavi filium meum. 2As they called them, they went away from before their face: they offered victims to Baalim, and sacrificed to idols.Lo richiamarono, ed egli si alienava da essi. Hanno immolato vittime a Baal, e offerti sagrifizj ai simulacri.They called them, so they departed from their face: they immolated to Baalim, & sacrificed to idols.Vocaverunt eos, sic abierunt a facie eorum; / Baalim immolabant, et simulacris sacrificabant. 3And I was like a foster father to Ephraim, I carried them in my arms: and they knew not that I healed them.Io feci da balio con Ephraim; lo portai tralle mie braccia; ed ei non conobbero, che io son quegli, che ho cura di lor salute.And I as it were the nurse of Ephraim, caried them in myne armes: and they knew not that I cured them.Et ego quasi nutritius Ephraim: / portabam eos in brachiis meis, / et nescierunt quod curarem eos. 4I will draw them with the cords of Adam, with the bands of love: and I will be to them as one that taketh off the yoke on their jaws: and I put his meat to him that he might eat.Io li trassi co' vincoli proprj degli uomini, co' vincoli della carità: io fui, che tolsi il capestro, che stringeva lor le mascelle, e porsi lor da mangiare.In the cordes b of Adam I wil draw them, in the bands of charitie: and I wil be to them as lifting vp the yoke vpon their cheekes: and I declined to him that he might•ate.In funiculis Adam traham eos, / in vinculis caritatis; / et ero eis quasi exaltans jugum super maxillas eorum, / et declinavi ad eum ut vesceretur. 5He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his king: because they would not be converted.Ei non torneranno nella terra d'Egitto, ma Assur sarà il loro re, perchè non han voluto convertirsi.He shal not returne into the Land of Aegypt, and Assur he his king: because they would not conuert.Non revertetur in terram Ægypti, et Assur ipse rex ejus, / quoniam noluerunt converti.
6The sword hath begun in his cities, and it shall consume his chosen men, and shall devour their heads.La spada ha cominciato di andar in giro pelle loro città, e sterminerà i cittadini migliori, e divorerà i loro capi.The sword hath begune in his cities, and it shal consume his elect, and shal eate their heades.Cœpit gladius in civitatibus ejus, / et consumet electos ejus, / et comedet capita eorum. 7And my people shall long for my return: but a yoke shall be put upon them together, which shall not be taken off.E il mio popolo aspetterà ansiosamente il mio ritorno; ma il giogo, che sarà imposto a tutti loro, non sarà tolto.And my people shal hang vpon my returne: but a yoke shal be put vpon them together, which shal not be taken away.Et populus meus pendebit ad reditum meum; / jugum autem imponetur eis simul, quod non auferetur. 8How shall I deal with thee, O Ephraim, shall I protect thee, O Israel? how shall I make thee as Adama, shall I set thee as Seboim? my heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred up.Che farò io di te, o Ephraim? ti proteggerò io, o Israele? ma in qual modo potrò io trattarti come Adama, e ridurti come Seboim? Il mio cuore alterna dentro di me, io mi ripento insieme, e mi conturbo.how shal I geue thee Ephraim, protect thee Israel? how shal I geue thee as Adama, lay thee as Seboim? My hart is turned within, my repentance is disturbed together.Quomodo dabo te, Ephraim ? / protegam te, Israël ? / Quomodo dabo te sicut Adama, / ponam te ut Seboim ? / Conversum est in me cor meum, / pariter conturbata est pœnitudo mea. 9I will not execute the fierceness of my wrath: I will not return to destroy Ephraim: because I am God, and not man: the holy one in the midst of thee, and I will not enter into the city.Non lascerò agire il furore dell'ira mia; non m'indurrò a sperdere Ephraim, perchè io son Dio, e non un uomo: il santo in mezzo a te, e io non entrerò nella città.I wil not doe the furie of my wrath: I wil not returne to destroy Ephraim: because I am God, and not man: in the middes of thee the Holie one, and I wil not enter into the citie.Non faciam furorem iræ meæ; / non convertar ut disperdam Ephraim, / quoniam Deus ego, et non homo; / in medio tui sanctus, / et non ingrediar civitatem. 10They shall walk after the Lord, he shall roar as a lion: because he shall roar, and the children of the sea shall fear.Eglino seguiranno il Signore, egli ruggirà qual lione, ruggirà egli stesso, e ne avranno spavento i figliuoli del mare.They shal walke after our Lord, as a lion wil he roare: because he wil roare, and the children of the sea shal feare.Post Dominum ambulabunt; / quasi leo rugiet, / quia ipse rugiet, / et formidabunt filii maris.
11And they shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of the Assyrians: and I will place them in their own houses, saith the Lord.E voleran dall'Egitto come un uccello, e dall'Assiria come una colomba, e io li rimetterò nelle case loro, dice il Signore.And they shal flie away as a bird out of Aegypt, and as a doue out of the Land of the Assyrians: and I wil place them in their houses, saith our Lord.Et avolabunt quasi avis ex Ægypto, / et quasi columba de terra Assyriorum: / et collocabo eos in domibus suis, dicit Dominus. 12Ephraim hath compassed me about with denials, and the house of Israel with deceit: but Juda went down as a witness with God, and is faithful with the saints.Ephraim mi ha circonvenuto con rinnegarmi, e la casa d'Israele colle sue frodi; ma Giuda è venuto a rendere testimonianza a Dio, ed è fedele co' santi.Ephraim hath compassed me in denying, and the house of Israel in deceite: but Iudas a witnesse is descended with God, and with the sainctes, faithful.Circumdedit me in negatione Ephraim, / et in dolo domus Israël; / Judas autem testis descendit cum Deo, / et cum sanctis fidelis.
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Haydock
Away. The last kings of Israel lived in the midst of troubles. (Haydock)
Calmet
Osee, though one of the best, brought ruin on the nation. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Son: Israel. But as the calling of Israel out of Egypt was a figure of the calling of Christ from thence; therefore this text is also applicable to Christ, as we learn from St. Matthew 2:15. (Challoner) Julian pretends that the apostle has abused this text. But it speaks of both events. (St. Jerome)
Haydock
Eusebius (Dem. 9:3.) thinks that St. Matthew refers to Balaam; (Numbers 24:8.) and St. Jerome does not reject this opinion, (in Matthew ii.; Calmet) to avoid "wrangling," though he repeatedly alleges this text as a proof his version being more accurate than that of the Septuagint, which has his children. This reading the best editions retain; so that it may seem a matter of surprise, that Fabricius should give this verse as a specimen of Origen's Hexapla, and still print my son, taking it, as he says, from the Barbarini copy, the London Polyglot, and Cave. Bib. Gr. 3:12. The first column has the Hebrew text, and the second the same in Greek characters, etc. The reader may form a judgment of this work from the following specimen: 1. Hebrew (which we shall express) karathi bani. 2. Greek karathi bani. 3. Aquila ekalesa ton uion mou. 4. Symmachus kekletai uios mou. 5. Septuagint kekletai uios mou. 6. Theodotion kai ekalesa uion mou. If any other versions were added, to form Octapla, etc., they were placed after Theodotion, who, though prior to Symmachus, is placed after him, because his version was not so unlike that of the Septuagint, and the deficiencies were chiefly supplied from him. In the Roman and Alexandrian editions, instead of the above we find, metekalesa ta tekna autou. "I have recalled his children." (Haydock)
Worthington
This is literally spoken of Israel, (styled God's son, Exodus iv 23.) and mystically, (Worthington) though no less (Haydock) truly, of Jesus Christ, as the inspired evangelist shews. (Worthington)
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Challoner
They called: viz., Moses and Aaron called: but they went away after other gods, and would not hear. (Challoner)
Haydock
Septuagint, "As I called them back, or (repeatedly; metekalesa. Grabe has, "he called;" meaning any of God's ministers) so they rushed away from my presence." (Haydock)
Calmet
This sense appears preferable to the Hebrew. (Calmet)
11:3
Haydock
Healed them. My laws were designed to counteract idolatry. (Haydock)
I treated them with the utmost tenderness, Deuteronomy 1:31., and 32:11.
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Rufin. Haimo
Adam. I placed my people in a sort of paradise, (Calmet) like the first man; and as they have imitated him, they shall suffer accordingly. (Rufin. Haimo.)
Calmet
But Septuagint, etc., render, "of a man." They shall be treated like the rest. (Calmet)
Grace draws man by sweet means. His free-will is not destroyed, nor is he impelled, like beasts, by force or fear, (Worthington) though the latter is often used for the most salutary purposes.
Haydock
Yoke, or muzzle, which prevents them from eating. (Haydock)
Calmet
I furnish them with manna. Can it be suspected that I wish to oppress them? (Calmet)
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Haydock
Egypt. Many went, contrary to this prohibition. (Haydock)
Yet they did not prosper, as they expected. The Hebrews had also often murmured in the desert, and threatened to return to Egypt.
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Calmet
Heads. Hebrew, "counsellors." Civil war desolated the kingdom, and made way for the Assyrians. Septuagint, "they are devoured on account of their projects." (Calmet)
They are at a loss what to do.
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Haydock
Off, for a long time; and indeed Israel never recovered its former state, after the captivity. (Haydock)
Calmet
Then they became more docile. Hebrew is very ambiguous. (Calmet)
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Challoner
Adama, etc. Adama and Seboim were two cities in the neighbourhood of Sodom, and underwent the like destruction. (Challoner)
God punishes, like a father, with regret.
11:9
Calmet
Not man. I am not actuated by the spirit of revenge, nor do I fear lest my enemy escape. (Calmet)
I punish in order to reclaim, (St. Jerome) and reserve eternal vengeance only for those who die impenitent.
11:10
Calmet
Lion. His power is most terrible, and his commands must be obeyed. (Calmet)
Haydock
All nations shall permit the return of Israel. (Haydock)
They shall come from the sea, of from its islands.
11:11
Calmet
Egypt. Some returned soon; others not before the reign of Alexander, or perhaps later. (Calmet, Diss.)
11:12
Haydock
Denials; refusing to adhere to my worship. (Haydock)
Calmet
They wished to unite it with that of idols, 3 Kings xviii. (Calmet)
Haydock
Saints. The priests and temple are preserved in Juda. Ezechias brought the people to serve God faithfully, while Israel was led captive. Septuagint, "the house of Israel and Juda with impiety. Now God hath known them lovingly, and it shall be called the holy people of God." Thus both kingdoms were criminal, and God exercised his mercy towards both. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
The Jews relate that when their ancestors were pursued by the Egyptians, and the people were desponding, Juda signalized his courage by entering the bed of the sea. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
These traditions are suspicious. (Calmet)
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11:2
11:8
Adama, etc.... Adama and Seboim were two cities in the neighborhood of Sodom: and underwent the like destruction.
11:1
Literally this is spoken of the people of Israel called Gods sonne (Exo. 4 v. 23.) vvhom he deliuered out of Aegypt but mystically is verified of Christ called out of Aegypt. Mat. 2. and is no lesse certaine the true mystical sense, the Euangelist indued vvith the Holie Ghost, so interpreting then is the literal sense of this or anie other place.
11:2
Concordance Mat. 2.
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Concordance Gen. 19.
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Gods propertie is to haue mercie and to pardon.
Man is prone to reuenge and punish.
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b God draweth men by sweete inuitations by great & manie benefites a. greable to mans nature and freevvil by his loue and charitie: not as beastes are dravven by feare & force.
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Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 17.4
… I have said unto thee, let My Son go to serve Me, and if thou art not willing to let (him) go, lo! I will slay thy son, thy firstborn . And also through the Prophet
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 On the Incarnation of the Word 32
… That a man, then, shall appear is foretold in those words. But that He that is to come is Lord of all, they predict once more as follows: “Behold the Lord sitteth upon a light cloud, and shall come into Egypt, and the graven images of Egypt shall be shaken.” For from thence also it is that the Father calls Him back, saying: “I called
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 34
… the greatest alms of corn of which history speaks and men believe; the Bread which came down from heaven and giveth life to the world, that life which is indestructible and indissoluble, concerning Whom I now seem to hear the Father saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son.
St Jerome † AD 420 Jerome's Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus 2.25
… ii. 9 ), and many other passages which lack their proper context. Let us ask our opponents then where these things are written, and when they are unable to tell, let us produce them from the Hebrew. The first passage is in Hosea, (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 57.7
… Again the same evangelist writes that at the warning of an angel Joseph took the young child and his mother and went into Egypt and remained there till the death of Herod; “that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.” The Latin manuscripts do not so give the passage, but in Hosea
St Jerome † AD 420 Preface to Genesis 1
… iii. of this series, pp. 515–516. Jerome in it complains that he is accused of forging a new version. He justifies his undertaking by showing that in the versions then current many passages were left out (though they exist in our copies of the LXX.), such as “Out of Egypt” (
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John Cassian † AD 435 The Seven Books of John Cassian on the Incarnation of the Lord, Against Nestorius 4.11
… For since they are called what they really are, that which was the work of faith becomes the token by which they are named. “They shall,” he says, “come over to thee and shall be thine: they shall walk after thee bound with manacles.” As there are chains of coercion, so too there are chains of love, as the Lord says: “I drew them with chains of love.”
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St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.5
… For He says: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee, or what shall I do unto thee, O Judah? Your kindness,” etc. And further on: “How shall I establish thee? I will make thee as Admah, and as Zeboim.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 122.2
… “how shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of mine anger.”
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St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.7
… And I will strengthen them in the Lord their God, and in His name shall they glory, saith the Lord.” Moreover, in Hosea the Lord saith: “I will not do according to the anger of mine indignation, I will not allow Ephraim to be destroyed: for I am God, and there is not a holy man in thee: and I will not enter into the city; I will go after God.”
St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
xi. 9 . “I will not enter into the city.” Only the Holy One is not joined to the mass of ungodliness.
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1. AS MORNING PASSED, THE KING OF ISRAEL PASSED AWAY. — The Chaldean, Arias, Pagninus and Vatablus refer these words to the end of the preceding chapter, because they seem to belong there. But Our [translation], the Septuagint and frequently the ancient Greeks and Latins begin the eleventh chapter from these words. In Hebrew it is, at dawn (or like dawn: כ namely, that is at, is often taken for כ, that is like, as), the king of Israel is plainly cut off, that is to say, At the beginning of the reign of Hosea the king of Israel with Samaria and kingdom will be cut off by the Assyrians. Hosea compares it to dawn, because just as dawn is something midway between night and day, light and darkness, and is after night the beginning of day and light; so after the long afflictions and spoliations which Israel had endured from the Assyrians, under king Hosea he breathed again, and raised himself in hope of a better lot, especially since the king of Egypt seemed to him as if he would come to his aid: but this hope swiftly like dawn, the sun rising and putting dawn to flight, passed away and vanished. Thus St. Jerome, Cyrillus, Ruffinus, Theodoretus and Theophylactus. In a similar way the Israelite king was compared to foam in the preceding chapter, verse 7, when he says: "He made Samaria pass away its king like foam upon the face of the water." Where for "he made pass away" in Hebrew is the same verb as here, namely נדכות nidme, which, as I said there, can be variously explained. Secondly, St. Cyrillus understands by morning the stretching forth of God for vengeance, who before dissembling the sins of Israel, seemed to sleep: "When," says Cyrillus, "God does not yet punish the sins of some, he is said to sleep, as Jeremiah says: Be not, he says, O Lord, as one sleeping in sleep, or as a man not able to save; and David: Arise, O Lord. And elsewhere seeing the aid of the Lord: He arose, he says, as one sleeping. Morning therefore he calls here the time of his, as it were, awakening against them: for we are accustomed to awake in the morning." But the former sense and allusion is more apt; for morning is here attributed to the king passing away, not to God awakening: although this is joined with that. For this reason the king passed away in the morning and was cut off, because God awakened for his destruction. Thirdly, some from what follows: "Out of Egypt have I called my son," that is Christ, as St. Matthew explains in chapter ii, 13, take all these things of Christ literally, that is to say, Christ will be born in the world like dawn, but will also quickly pass away like dawn: for after three years of preaching he will return to the Father. Therefore, O Israelites, receive him coming eagerly, and observe his time carefully. For I have loved you, as the sons of my friend Abraham, and therefore out of Egypt have I called my son, that you might enjoy his presence, teaching and grace. But that this pertains literally to king Hosea, not to Christ, is clear from the fact that he says: "The king of Israel passed away." The same will be clear from what follows: for throughout the chapter the judgment and destruction of Israel is treated. Whence learn morally that earthly kings are like dawn, which appears golden, but soon vanishes: for their "life" is like "a vapor," as St. James says, epistle chapter iv: "appearing for a little while;" a vapor, I say, suffused with a certain golden light of honor and royal pomp. The kingdoms of men are dreams, and therefore deservedly in dreams the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans were seen by Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel ii. What then are dignities, status and scepters? Are they not a certain golden color of clouds, vanishing in a moment of time? BECAUSE ISRAEL WAS A CHILD, AND I LOVED HIM. — The word because in the Hebrew manner is redundant, as I said in chapter x, 17; whence Leo the Hebrew translates: When Israel was still a child, I loved him, namely when he dwelt in Egypt, and as the people of Israel was being born and growing, and was small, weak, ignorant, afflicted like a child, from that time I loved him, and took care of him, and like a child through Moses freed and led him out from there. Thus St. Jerome, Vatablus and others. Secondly however, if because is taken properly as causal, that is to say, Because Israel in Egypt was a tender child, not master of himself, unable to govern himself, neglected by all, oppressed by the Egyptians and destined for death, needing help: for this reason I loved him, and nourished him like a mother. For the smallness, weakness and dangers of children are accustomed to draw mothers to their love and care. Thus Theophylactus. Add, "I loved him," because he was "a child," namely that he was the son of Jacob the patriarch, whom as a child, indeed even while still existing in the womb, I loved, saying in Malachi i, 2: "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated." And Genesis xxv, 23: "The greater shall serve the lesser," namely Esau shall serve Jacob, to wit the Idumaeans shall serve the Jacobites, that is the Israelites. Just as therefore I loved Jacob as a child, so also his son Israel as a child I loved. Finally, "to" because it connects these things to what precedes, as if to say: The king of Israel with his people shall pass away, that is shall soon pass away and perish, because Israel, whom I loved from childhood, I led out of Egypt, nourished and fed as a mother, ungrateful and rebellious to this my love and benefits, despised me, and turned aside to the Baals. AND OUT OF EGYPT HAVE I CALLED MY SON. — "And," that is therefore, as if to say: Because I loved Israel as a child, therefore him as my son I called forth and led out of Egyptian servitude through Moses. Thus the Septuagint and the Chaldean, who translate: Out of Egypt I called his sons, namely of Israel; for although in the Hebrew it is בני beni, that is my son, nevertheless in the matter it is the same as his sons: for the sons of Israel were the sons of God; and because Israel, as St. Jerome says, "is spoken of singularly, but understood plurally," as being a people: perhaps also the Septuagint and the Chaldean for beni read בניו banau, that is his sons, as Maldonatus thinks in Matthew ii, 15. Moreover God calls his people "son," saying in Exodus iv, 22: "Israel is my son, my firstborn." And: "Let my son go that he may serve me." Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Rupert, Hugh, Lyra, Arias, Vatable here, Jansenius, Maldonatus, Barradius, and others in Matthew ii, 15. And it is evident from those things which precede and follow here: for these things pertain to the people Israel. Here indeed he is called the firstborn son of God, because he was beloved by him as a firstborn, and alone first chosen from all nations, that he might be God's peculiar possession, commonwealth, kingdom, priesthood. You will say: How then does St. Matthew, chapter ii, 15, say this oracle of Hosea was fulfilled in Christ the child, when he was recalled out of Egypt into the land of Israel? Julian the Apostate, as St. Jerome testifies, objected this to Christians, so as to accuse St. Matthew either of falsehood or of ignorance. Jansenius responds first in Matthew ii, that it was fulfilled in Christ by accommodation, because what was said of the people Israel can rightly be fitted and accommodated to Christ as to a similar one: just as if someone concerning a son who is very dear to his father, should say: All the care of the parent stands in Ascanius being dear. But this is said more freely, and almost rashly, says Suarez in the place soon to be cited: for prophecies are not said to be fulfilled, except when those things come to pass which are foretold through them. Wherefore it is one thing for Scripture to be accommodated or fitted, another thing for it to be fulfilled. Therefore a prophecy cannot properly be said to be fulfilled, except when that comes to pass which it in the sense either literal or allegorical predicts as future, as the Interpreters commonly teach. Second, Eusebius, book IX of the Demonstration of the Gospel, chapter iv, Lyra and Dionysius think this passage should be understood literally of Christ. But from what precedes and follows it is evident that here the matter is about the people Israel. You will say: There is a twofold literal sense here, one concerning the people, another concerning Christ: thus Prado, Proem in Ezekiel, sections viii and ix. I respond that this is said less fittingly, both because the other things do not pertain to Christ, but to the people: for in the literal sense all and each things ought to agree with the matter of which it is treated; it is otherwise in the allegorical; and because the people Israel was a type of Christ. Therefore to the letter the discourse is about the people, typically about Christ; for the literal sense is not typical, but the figure and image of the typical: for the people Israel dwelling in exile in Egypt was a figure of Christ about to dwell in exile there, just as now the mystical body of the Church is the figure of the natural body of Christ. Third, therefore, we shall say more correctly that this sentence was fulfilled literally in the people of Israel through Moses led out of Egypt, but allegorically and typically in Christ the child brought back from Egypt: although this sense is allegorical, nevertheless it is more worthy, more important and more intended by the Holy Spirit than the former literal sense: for the people of Israel in this return from Egypt bore a type of Christ, especially because Christ was part of that people and its offspring, and that most noble. For this reason he says, my son, not my sons, so as to denote Christ. Nor is this wonderful or new: for the allegory seems more new and unusual by which Sinai and Zion, likewise Sarah and Hagar signify the two Testaments, old and new, as the Apostle explains in Galatians iv, 24. Thus St. Jerome, Ribera and others cited at the beginning, and St. Chrysostom and Theophylactus in chapter ii of Matthew, and Francis Suarez, III part. Question xxxvii, article 4, disputation 7, section 1; and Gabriel Vasquez, I part. Question i, article 10, disputation 14, chapter iv. Osiander objects in chapter ii of Matthew: It cannot be that the people of Israel, innumerable, should be the figure of one man: therefore in the allegorical sense this passage cannot be understood of Christ. I reply by denying the antecedent. For if one man can represent the whole people to be generated from him, as a Patriarch; as is said of Jacob and Esau to their mother Rebecca, Genesis xxv: "Two nations are in thy womb," etc., or one subject to him, as a king represents a kingdom; why on the other hand should not one people represent one man, as it were a patriarch and king, and especially Christ the Lord? Thus the Fathers and Doctors everywhere. Furthermore, by what reasoning the people of Israel was a figure of Christ sojourning in Egypt and returning thence, Rupertus explains at length in the aforesaid place of Matthew ii. From this passage St. Jerome shows that certain things are not found in the Version of the Septuagint which are found in the Hebrew, and therefore he produced a new version from the Hebrew, and he objects this to those who detract from him: "Those," he says, "who detract from our translation, let them see the Scripture from which the Evangelist took this testimony, and interpreted it concerning the Lord Saviour, when he was brought back from Egypt into the land of Israel: and when they shall not be able to find it, let them cease to wrinkle their brow, to raise their eyebrow, to curl their nostrils, to snap their fingers."
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2. They called them (out of Egypt and from idolatry Moses, Aaron and other Prophets, so as to lead them back to the worship of their ancestral God; but they, although) thus (that is, so much and so often called and invited) WENT AWAY FROM THEIR FACE, — that is, they turned their backs upon them, going to the Baals. Whence the Septuagint clearly translates: As I called them, so they went away from my face; for the Hebrews often understand the little word as, and similar ones, as if to say: As I called them, so they impudently turned themselves away from me: as great as was my kindness and assiduity in calling, so great was their hardness and contumacy in resisting, and in rejecting my calling. Thus the Chaldean, Cyril, Jerome and others. It can secondly be understood thus, to wit, Because I called them so often, therefore they went away, as is wont to happen with froward and stubborn children, who because they are called by their parents to do this or that, therefore rebelliously turn their face and go away, by which exposition is signified Israel's greater and complete hardness and obstinacy. Thus the Hebrew כן ken, that is, thus, is taken for על כן alken, that is, on account of thus, that is, therefore. Psalm lx, 9: "Who shall seek out his mercy and his truth? thus (that is, therefore, for this reason) will I sing a psalm to thy name." John iv, 6: "And Jesus being wearied with his journey sat thus (that is, for this reason, namely because he was wearied) upon the well," as Toletanus and Maldonatus explain there. For thus we commonly say: "He came weary, and thus (that is, therefore) sat down." Indeed, Cicero also, IV Tusculan Disputations: "Thus," he says (that is, for this reason), "so many virtues at once, of continence, gravity, justice, faith failed." Otherwise Arias: They called, he says, that is, the Israelites invoked "them," namely the gods of the nations: "and thus went away," namely so that they not only invoked them, but also sacrificed to them. Whence follows: "They sacrificed to the Baals." "They went away," I say, "from the face," that is, before the face, "of them," as is wont a flock of sheep to go before the face of a shepherd, a people before a bishop, soldiers before a leader, children before parents. But no mention of the gods of the nations preceded here. BAALS (that is, to the gods of the nations, namely to idols, namely the golden calf, Exodus xxxii, 4, and Beelphegor, or Priapus, Numbers xxv, 1) they sacrificed. — Because indeed God, the chief god of the Chaldeans, Tyrians, Carthaginians, etc., was Baal, or Bel, or Belus; hence they called any gods Baals in the plural.
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3. AND I WAS AS A FOSTER-FATHER TO EPHRAIM, AND I CARRIED THEM IN MY ARMS. — The Interpreter reads זרועותי, that is, in my arms: already with the vau added they read זרועותיו, that is, in his arms. For foster-father the Hebrew is תרגלתי tirgalti, which the Rabbis, Vatablus, Arias and other Hebraists say is put for hirgalti, that is, I made to walk, I set on feet, I taught to walk, I led step by step, as nurses do when they lead infants and teach them to walk. Whence they translate: I led Ephraim (that is, Israel), a boy, and taught him to walk through the desert. Or, as Vatablus, I led him gradually and step by step, lest he be exhausted by the labor of the journey. Others translate: I gave a pedagogue to Ephraim (namely Moses) who would carry them upon his arms, as if alluding to that saying of Moses: "That thou mayest say to me: Carry them in thy bosom, as the nurse is wont to carry the little child," Numb. xi, 12. But Our Author translated more correctly and more precisely, "foster-father," that is, nourisher or nurse. For this is what תרגלת tirghelet properly signifies, and with the paragogic tod added תרגלתי tirgalti (which is plainly different from hirgalti, that is, I made to walk: for this is a verb, that is a noun: for it is derived from רגל regel, that is, foot. Whence Marinus in the Lexicon translates it as pedatio, as if to say, My walking or going was to Ephraim); tirghelet therefore is a nurse, who forms and strengthens the feet of infants, and leads them, teaches and accustoms them to walking. Whence the Septuagint translates, συνεπόδισα, that is, I bound the feet together, namely with infant swaddling bands, which is also the work of nurses, says Theophylactus. Now the sense is that which St. Jerome gives: "God relates," he says, "with what love He loved Israel, according to that in Deuteronomy i, 31: The Lord thy God carried thee, as a man is wont to carry his little son, in all the way that you walked, until you came to this place. And in another place Deut. xxxii, 11: He spread his wings, and took him, and carried him on his shoulders. And Psalm lxxix, 2: Who leadest Joseph like a sheep. I," he says, "who was a father, became a foster-father, and my little one I myself carried in my arms, lest he be hurt in the wilderness, and lest he be terrified either by heat or by darkness; in the day I was a cloud, in the night a pillar of fire, that those whom I protected I might illuminate and heal with my light: and when they sinned and made for themselves the head of a calf, I gave them a place of repentance, and they knew not that I cared for them, so that the wound of idolatry I might cover over in the space of forty years, and restore them to their former health." What therefore he adds: "And they knew not," is the same as if he said: And yet after so many benefits, by which as a nurse I educated them, they themselves did not acknowledge these offices of my providence and maternal care toward them, but despising me said to the calf: "These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt," Exod. cap. xxxii, 4. I CARRIED THEM IN MY ARMS. — For in the desert indeed through Moses, through the pillar of fire and cloud, through manna, through the preservation of their very garments, etc., so sweetly and kindly did God treat and lead the Jews, as if as a nurse He had carried them in His arms.
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4. IN FUNICULIS ADAM TRAHAM EOS, IN VINCULIS CHARITATIS. — "Adam" here can be taken either as the proper name of the first man, or as a common noun, signifying man. If as a proper name, the sense will be that which St. Jerome gives, as if to say: Just as I have given you to myself through love, both by nature and grace, and by my friendship, so also will I give to you his posterity. For Adam is from my grace your first-born and origin-giver, that is, the prince of human generation. Or, as our Prado in Ezech. cap. vi, 9: The cords, he says, are sorrows: for by them as if by ropes man is bound and constrained, according to that Psalm. cxv, 6: "The sorrows (in Hebrew חבלי chable, that is, ropes) of hell have encompassed me, the snares of death have prevented me." For the Hebrew word chebel signifies a rope, a binding, a cord, and from this also a sorrow, as if binding and constraining. The sense therefore is, as if to say: I will draw the Israelites to myself through the sorrows and afflictions which they have inherited from Adam their parent, which are the pledges of my love toward them. Whence follows: "In the cords of charity," that is, in the cords by which I am accustomed to allure my most beloved sons, which are chastisements and scourges. Secondly, others everywhere take "Adam" as a common noun, and translate it as man. Thus Aquila, the Syriac, Symmachus, Theodotion and the Septuagint, as if to say: In the cords by which men are accustomed to be bound and drawn, namely by love and benefits, I will draw them to myself. Whence the Chaldean translates: As it is the custom to draw beloved sons, I drew them by the strength of my charity; the Arabic: I drew them by the handful of my drawing. He alludes to cap. x, 11: "Ephraim is a heifer taught to love threshing," as if to say: Heifers wanton, such as Israel is, are drawn by hempen or iron ropes; but I, Ephraim, although sometimes resisting me, do not wish to treat you as a beast and draw you unwilling with a rope of blows and terrors; but as a man (not a servant, but a son) I will draw you with the cords of love: for by these men are accustomed to be drawn, especially the noble-born, and sons. Thus St. Jerome, Vatablus, Emmanuel, Mariana and others. Furthermore, St. Jerome by man specially understands the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: "I cared for them," he says, "because of the cords and bonds of charity by which I had bound Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to myself." For these were the parents of Israel, on account of whom God loved and cared for Israel. But truly any men can be understood: for all are drawn by love. Thirdly, some take the cords of Adam, that is, of man, actively, not passively, that is, not those by which man is drawn by God, but those by which holy men, namely Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, drew God into their love, and that of their family and nation, so that he would love it and choose it from all nations into his Church and kingdom. But the former sense is more genuine. Fourthly, the Hebrew חבל chebel can be translated as corruption, devastation. Whence the Septuagint translates: In the corruption of men I extended them in the cords of my charity, as if to say: Although they are infected and corrupted by sins, yet still I will strive to heal them from charity, as a physician, for example, wishing to heal a sick man afflicted with contraction, extends his contracted limbs, binding them with cords, not in order to afflict and torment him, but from charity in order to heal him. Note first: "I will draw" can be taken properly as a future, as if to say: Although Israel has offended me, yet still I will draw him to myself. But you would better take it for the past: "I will draw," that is, I drew; for it is more clearly evident that God drew them in the desert, than that after the times of Hosea he will draw them: for shortly after he devastated them and delivered them to the Assyrians; and because it follows: "I bowed down to him," etc., in the past tense. Thus St. Jerome, the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Rupertus, Hugo, Lyranus, Dionysius, Arias and Sanchez. For the past tense preceded: "I bore them in my arms." Rightly St. Augustine in Psalm. iii, 6: "In prophecy," he says, "futures are well mixed with pasts, so that both may be signified." Note secondly: Tracts and cords signify the abundance, equally as the sweetness of love, by which God draws men to himself: "For love is a magnet of love." This is what St. Augustine says concerning his conversion to God and drawing, in book IX of the Confessions, chapter i: "How sweet it suddenly became to me to be without the sweetness of trifles, and what I had feared to lose was now a joy to lose. For thou didst cast them out from me, thou true and supreme sweetness, thou didst cast them out and enter in their place, sweeter than all pleasure." The same Augustine, sermon 2 On the Words of the Apostle, volume X: No one comes to me unless the Father who sent me draws him: "He did not say, he says, led, but drew. This violence is done to the heart, not to the flesh. Why then are you amazed? Believe, and you come; love, and you are drawn. Do not think this a harsh and troublesome violence; it is sweet, it is pleasant; this very sweetness draws you. Is not a sheep drawn when grass is shown to the hungry one? And I think that it is not impelled by body, but gathered by desire: so also you come to Christ. For to him who is everywhere, one comes by loving, not by sailing." Note thirdly: Rufinus judges the cords of Adam to be the beneficence by which God pursued Adam after sin, giving him food without labor, and springing up of their own accord; thus conversely the cords of Israel are the manna and water from the rock, which God gave him without digging and without toil in the desert, by which as it were with bonds of charity he bound him: which were a type of the Eucharist. Whence Allegorically, Christ drew us in the cords of Adam, when he became Adam for us, that is man, our flesh, and our brother, so that by teaching, suffering, and dying for us, he might draw us to himself and to God, and redeem the earthly Adam, transform him, and make him heavenly; and when he healed the diseases of men, both of body and of soul, as Theophylactus and Rupertus say, and especially when as it were a nurse to Ephraim, he gave us his body and blood in the Eucharist. For this is the cord of Adam, by which he bound us to himself and to God. For Christ in the Eucharist is "the love of loves," as St. Bernard says, sermon On the Supper of the Lord. Thus Delrio, adage 956. Hear also St. Jerome: "I have loved so much, and have been so mad a shepherd, that I myself carried the sickly sheep on my shoulders: but they did not know that I would heal them by my passion, and I, who am a lover of all men, would draw them to believe in the bonds of charity." Symbolically, Paul of Palatio: The cords of Adam, he says, are the old laws given to the Jews, and much more the new laws given to Christians: for these bind, that is oblige the people as cords, and are of Adam, that is of men, not of beasts: because they are human, and conform to right reason and equity. These same are bonds of charity: because the end of the law is charity, so that it may lead us to the love of God and neighbor. Such also ought human laws to be, namely bonds of charity, not torments of cupidity: because they ought to serve the public utility, not private greed. Tropologically, learn here that love is the most violent weapon, which conquers enemies, nay transforms them, and makes friends out of enemies. The wisdom of this world errs here, which wishes to conquer an enemy by hatred, evils and blows, when by these hatred and hostility are rather kindled. The true way of conquering an enemy is to conquer him by love, and to conquer by benefits. Philip of Macedon saw this, who, as Plutarch testifies in his Life, when he had a certain captious man who continually detracted from him and his reputation, and his friends thought he should be restrained by terror and threats, Philip, using other weapons, sent to him a great sum of money, adding that if he desired more, he would give more. By this gift his tongue was bound, his slander was conquered, and he who first attacked Philip now praised him and exalted him to the heavens. His friends marveled at such a change in the slanderer, ignorant of the gift; to whom Philip said: "Behold, it is in my power to make my detractors into praisers." The same, about to besiege a fortress situated on a rock, when his men dissuaded him, saying it was inaccessible and therefore impregnable, asked whether a donkey laden with gold could ascend there? they asserting that a way lay open for the donkey: Therefore, he said, it is accessible and conquerable. Wherefore by submitting a great force of gold he bound the prefect of the fortress to himself, and made him deliver the fortress to him. Surely "one fights more validly and easily with brazen spears than with iron." Wise princes and commanders know this. Apollo Pythius had taught it to Philip, when consulted by him he answered: If you fight with a weapon of gold, you will conquer all things. Seneca, epistle 9 to Lucilius: "If you wish to be loved, love." And the Poet: That I may surpass Pylades, let someone surpass Orestes for me. This is not done by words: Mark, that you may be loved, love. Excellently St. Chrysostom, homily 13 to the People, explaining that saying of Christ: All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you also to them, says: "Do you wish to receive benefits? confer a benefit on another: do you wish to be praised? praise another: do you wish to be loved? love: do you wish to obtain the first places? yield them first to another." AND I WILL BE TO THEM AS ONE EXALTING THE YOKE UPON THEIR JAWS.—"I will be," that is, I was: just as a little before "I will draw," that is, I drew. For it follows, "and I turned aside" in the past tense. Now as to the sense, Albert explains it, as if to say: I will make it so that their jaws are pressed down by the yoke of the Assyrians. Whence Symmachus translates: They thought that I would impose a yoke upon their jaws. The yoke, namely, either of the enemy, or of my law, which they themselves esteem to be a most harsh yoke. Better, others explain it in the contrary sense, as if to say: I will exalt, that is, I will remove from them the yoke of other nations. Thirdly, the Septuagint translates: I will be to them as a man giving blows upon his jaws. Which St. Jerome explaining says: "Because, he says, they did not run of their own accord, but were drawn bound with cords, I struck their jaws somewhat, not punishing, but correcting and amending. A judge tears the flesh, torments with cords, tortures with scourges and fires: but he who is a father strikes the wanton son with the palm of his hand." Thus also Cyril and Theodoret understand by the blow of a man a light chastisement, by which God as a father gently chastises his own, as children: "for whom God loves, he chastises." Indeed some understand these things of the blow by which a father gently touches the jaws of a child, as if applauding him with the cajoling of one who flatters, so as to teach that God's blows are nothing other than certain clappings and collisions of hands, by which horse-trainers, or those who work with horses, are accustomed to animate horses by voice together with the handling of hands, and to tame the wild ones, as God here tamed Israel. Thus Delrio, adage 957. Wherefore less correctly Leo Castrius refers these things to the blow given by a soldier to Christ in the passion, before Caiaphas the high priest; especially because he himself contends that in the Hebrew for exalting עול ol, that is, yoke, should be read עול ol, that is, hand, namely for giving a blow. Which is against all the codices. But you will ask by what reason and by what allusion to a rustic matter in our Version it is said: "I will be to them as one exalting the yoke upon their jaws?" For indeed rustics do not exalt the yoke upon the jaws, but upon the neck, or the horns of oxen. First, Rufinus thinks there is an allusion to oxen which draw carts: "In which," he says, "when the yokes are loosened, they are raised up;" for when oxen are loosed from the cart and go away, the cart pole is elevated, which likewise elevates the yoke together with it. But truly when oxen are loosed, their yoke is usually also loosed, nor is it left bound to the pole. Add that here there is more regard to oxen ploughing, or threshing, than to those drawing a cart. For he alludes to that which he said a little before in chapter x, 11: "Ephraim is a heifer taught to love threshing, and I passed over the beauty of his neck: I will go upon Ephraim, Judas shall plough," etc. Secondly, others think there is regard to the custom of rustics, who at each furrow elevate the yoke of the ox to the head and horns, lest the neck be too heated and burdened by it. For concerning this Columella thus prescribes in book II, chapter ii: "To make a furrow longer than one hundred twenty feet is contrary to the animal, since it is fatigued more than is proper, when it has exceeded this measure. When it comes to the turning, let him push the yoke to the former part, and restrain the oxen, so that their necks may cool, because they quickly become inflamed, unless they are continually cooled; and from this swelling, and then ulcers invade." Thus Figuerius. But these things regard the elevation of the yoke to the head and horns, not however to the jaws, which we are seeking. Thirdly, it is more probable that Sanchez holds that by a yoke is here signified a muzzle, which covers and binds the mouth and jaws of oxen, lest they pluck up shoots while ploughing: for this muzzle is tied to the yoke, lest the oxen lower their head, but that they proceed with it raised. That this ought to be done Columella teaches in the place cited: "that the necks of oxen, he says, may be less weakened, and the yoke better fitted may rest upon their necks." For when oxen cease from ploughing or threshing, the yoke is lifted and removed, and at the same time the muzzle which was bound to the mouth and jaws; indeed sometimes during ploughing and threshing farmers loosen and lift the muzzle from the jaws, so that oxen may lower their head, and may pluck and eat the shoots or grains which they thresh. Under the yoke therefore understand here a bridle or muzzle: for this properly touches the jaws, and is lifted above them, so that oxen may eat. Whence also follows: "And I laid down to him food, that he might eat," as if to say, Israel as it were drew my yoke wandering through the desert for 40 years; but when he underwent something of labour and modesty, in so long and difficult a journey, I thus relieved and refreshed him, just as a farmer is accustomed to relieve a labouring ox, from which he removes the yoke and labour, so that in his own times he may refresh and restore himself with food. Wherefore most excellently the Hebrew is rendered by the Chaldean: My word was as a good farmer, who lifts the shoulder of the ox, and loosens the bridle on their jaws. For he alludes to calves or oxen ploughing and threshing; to these Israel is compared, cap. x, 11, to which a yoke is placed on the neck, a muzzle on the mouth, so that they continually plough or thresh, nor can they turn from this work by applying the mouth to grain or food; these the farmer, if he be merciful and kind, sometimes releases or loosens from the yoke, so that they may rest and eat, as if to say, In like manner I freed the neck of Israel from the yoke, the jaws from the muzzle, while in the desert I turned away from him the arms and yoke of enemies, and made it so that he often rested from the labour of the journey, "and I laid down," that is, I sent down from heaven manna, by which "he might eat." Thus St. Jerome. The yoke is therefore exalted above the jaws, when it is lifted and removed from them, or, as Vatablus holds, when in rustic fashion it is removed from the neck of oxen, and suspended on their horns, so that it hangs and flows down through the jaws. For thus oxen breathe, and are somewhat refreshed in the midst of the labours of ploughing and threshing. Allegorically, Christ exalts and removes from us the yoke of sin, of the devil and concupiscence, saying: "Come to me all you that labour and are burdened, and I will refresh you," Matt. xi, 28. For either he removes temptations and difficulties, or he so softens them by his grace, that this yoke of them does not appear to bind the jaws, nor to straiten the neck. AND I LAID DOWN TO HIM THAT HE MIGHT EAT, — that is, as Symmachus and Vatablus hold, I laid down food to him: for this is signified by the Hebrew אוכיל ochil: which others render, I will make him eat, namely both the good things of the land of Chanaan, and manna, by which I nourished Israel in the desert. Thus St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Haymo, Albert, Lyra and others. Allegorically by manna understand the Eucharist, by which Christ nourishes his own, of which St. Jerome says: "I laid down (I Christ) to them, leaving the kingdoms of heaven, that I might eat with them, having assumed the form of man: or I gave them the eating of my body, I myself being both food and guest." For laid down, in Hebrew it is את at, which by apocope is placed for אטה atte, future hiphil, from the root נטה nata, that is, he declined. Some take at as an adverb, signifying quietly, as if he should say: I exalted the yoke of the nations, and removed it from the jaws of Israel, and made it so that he rested from wars in Chanaan through Joshua, and that in quiet he might eat of its fruits. But this signification and version is doubtful and uncertain. For learned Hebrews hold that at, when it becomes adverbial, signifies secretly, covertly, hidden, from the root לאט laat, that is, he hides.
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5. HE SHALL NOT RETURN TO THE LAND OF EGYPT. — This is here a pathetic discourse, and therefore confused, in which many things are to be supplied: for God here assumes the pathos of a parent, or of a jealous nurse, as if to say, I affected and drew Israel to myself with such charity, with so many benefits; but he has a cold heart, and turned away from me, he does not wish to return to me, but thinks to return to Egypt, that he may implore its aid against the Assyrians. What then? Will he bear this with impunity? He will not bear it: I will hedge his way with thorns, and will make it so that by roads besieged by the enemy he cannot return to Egypt, and so that the Assyrian may seize them unexpectedly and lead him captive into Assyria, and Assur himself be his king (rather tyrant). Whence the Chaldean renders: They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assur (namely Salmanasar) shall rule over them. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Lyra, and Hugh. Otherwise Arias, as if to say, They ought to go and implore aid, not of Egypt, nor of Assur, but of the Lord God, so that non revertetur signifies not a future thing, but a debt and obligation, and is the same as he ought to return: for thus the Hebrews sometimes speak, saying: This shall not be done, that is, this ought not to be done.
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6. THE SWORD HAS BEGUN, — that is to say: Now the Assyrians through frequent incursions have begun to lay waste and kill the Israelites, and will not cease until they consume the "chosen and heads," that is counselors (as the Hebrew has it) and their princes together with the whole people. That this happened thus is evident from the history in the fourth book of Kings, chapter xv and following.
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7. AND MY PEOPLE (Israel) SHALL HANG IN SUSPENSE AWAITING MY RETURN (that is to say: Israel, with mind suspended, shall hope and wait, so that I, returning as is my custom, may free him from the Assyrians, whom, as if departing, I had already abandoned him, but he shall be deceived: for because he himself persists in his rebellion against me and in the worship of calves, I will cause that) A YOKE (of the Assyrians) SHALL BE IMPOSED UPON THEM (all) TOGETHER (with none excepted), WHICH SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY, — but shall be perpetual. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Haymo, Clarius and others. Secondly, that is to say: Israel hangs in doubt whether he wishes to turn to me and return, or not. Thus Leo the Hebrew and the Chaldean translator, who rendered: My people hesitates whether to turn to my law. Arias agrees, who explains it, that is to say: Israel, proud and stubborn, does not wish to be the first to call upon me for reconciliation, but waits for me to be the first to demand reconciliation with him, as if I were the offender and guilty, and he the offended and plaintiff. To this also R. David accedes; whom Pagninus and Vatablus follow, who translate the Hebrew mesubati, which Our translator rendered, my return, as aversion, or rebellion of mine, and give this sense: Israel, pressed on all sides in his aversion from me by straits and enemies, hesitates what to do, where to flee, whose aid he ought to implore. Note: For "a yoke shall be imposed upon them" in Hebrew it is, "they shall call him to a yoke." The Interpreter read על ol, that is yoke, just as the Chaldean, who rendered: They shall incur a grave infirmity together. Now they read with another pointing על al, that is high, lofty, namely God. Whence they render: They called upon the Most High, that is to say: The Prophets called upon Israel to return to God. The Septuagint renders: God shall be angry over his precious things. Again, for "shall not be taken away" in Hebrew it is, "shall not be exalted," or "shall not be exalted," namely the yoke, that is it shall not be taken away from the jaws of Israel, as I explained in verse 4. Others understand a different subject of the verb supplied, namely Theodotion, "shall not exalt," namely them, God; the Chaldean, "shall not exalt," supply the head, Israel depressed by the Assyrians; Vatablus, "shall not exalt," supply Israel God, that is shall not praise, nor celebrate God, because he turns away from him to idols, that is to say: Israel hangs in doubt whether he will return into favor with me; and although the Prophets call upon him frequently to return to the Most High, yet there is no one who returns to God and exalts and worships him.
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8. HOW SHALL I GIVE THEE UP, EPHRAIM, SHALL I PROTECT THEE, ISRAEL. — For protect, in Hebrew it is אמגן amagghen, which if you derive from the root ganan, that is, to cover, to cover over, signifies I shall cover, I shall protect, and, as the Septuagint and Aquila translate it: I will compass thee with a shield. Some, however, think that amagghen is of contrary signification (for many Hebrew words are of this kind, which sometimes signify one thing, sometimes its contrary); whence Theodotion translates it, ἀφοπλίσω σε, that is, I will strip thee, and I will take from thee ὅπλον, that is, the shield, with which I had protected thee before, says St. Jerome, and the Chaldean paraphrase, I will destroy thee. Secondly, if you derive amagghen from the root מגן magan, that is, to deliver, it signifies I will deliver thee, namely to the Assyrian enemies. Thus Symmachus, Leo the Hebrew, and Pagninus. These senses, although verbally diverse, indeed contrary, nevertheless aim at the same sense, as it were the end and scope. For God here assumes two persons and two alternating affections, namely that of a loving father, who shrinks from punishing his sinning son out of love, and that of a severe judge, who is determined to punish him as guilty. For there is in this interrogation of God a great pathos, in which, as it were, love struggles with sorrow and anger, namely the supreme mercy of God with His justice and vengeance. For God, says Cyril here, as if suspended, turns Himself both ways, and hesitates whether He ought to protect or to destroy Israel, of such a lost and ruined life, so as to show how much He desires to have mercy on him, if he will repent, and how unwillingly He descends to his impenitent destruction. The sense therefore is, as if to say, "How shall I give thee up," that is, what shall I do with thee, or to thee, O Israel? Shall I protect thee in the manner of old as a father? But thy obstinate aversion from me and rebellion stands in the way: and thy atrocious crimes cry out to heaven, and demand vengeance from me. Shall I destroy thee through the Assyrians, as Sodom, Admah, Zeboim, the cities of the Pentapolis? But how will my paternal affection toward thee permit this? When I destroyed Sodom, I was touched with sorrow of heart within: but now if I destroy thee, my son, I will wound my heart with sorrow more than thine. For my heart seems to me to be split, torn and dissected (in anthropopathic speech) if I cast off thee, whom I have loved as a son, as my own bowels, and deliver thee to the Assyrians, lay thee waste and scatter thee. What therefore shall I do? Which way shall I turn? Shall love prevail, or sorrow? Mercy, or justice? Let love prevail, let mercy prevail. He says therefore: MY HEART IS TURNED WITHIN ME, AT THE SAME TIME MY REPENTANCE IS STIRRED UP. — Leo the Hebrew translates: My heart is turned within me, and at the same time my repentances are kindled within me, as if to say, While I thus struggle with myself, I am overcome by mercy and paternal piety. And so I turn and overturn my heart, I change my sentence, I recall my decree concerning the complete destruction of Israel; and as if repenting, I am troubled in the inmost sense of my soul, and am struck with sorrow that I wished to destroy him utterly. I will not therefore destroy him as Sodom, but will chastise him as a son; I will punish, not so as to destroy, but so as to amend him.
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9. I will not execute the fury of my wrath (so as to destroy him, as his crimes demanded. Finally) I WILL NOT TURN BACK TO DESTROY EPHRAIM. — Thus St. Cyril, Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Albert, Hugh and others. He adds the reason: Because I am God (and not man). — That is to say, I am not like men, who in inflicting punishment often overstep the bounds of justice through anger: I am God, who in punishing not only do I usually not exceed the bounds of justice, but I keep myself within them, says Antonius Fernandius, vision xxix, section iii. Namely, man drunk with fury does not know how to moderate his nature, I know how; man pours himself out into vengeance; I temper vengeance with mercy, indeed I overcome it, for in me mercy is exalted above judgment: therefore as much as God surpasses man, as heaven surpasses earth, so much does my magnificent and divine clemency surpass justice and vengeance, and all the crimes of all men whatsoever, which it absorbs as easily as the sea swallows a drop of water. Thus St. Cyril, Theodoret and others. Otherwise the Chaldean and R. David, that is to say, Man when offended revokes his promises; but I, although offended by Israel, nevertheless the promises which I made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob his fathers, I will keep and fulfill in deed. All therefore receive these things for good; Arius alone receives this for evil, that is to say, Let my decree stand fixed for destroying Israel: "because I am God, not man," that is to say, Because I am an immutable God, not man, who is easily bent and changes his mind. But this is wrong: for all these other things breathe not vengeance and hatred, but the highest love and clemency. Morally, learn here how different is the sense of God and men in forgiving offenses. Man devises vengeance for an offense, God reconciliation. Man punishes to destroy, God punishes to amend. Man is moved by passion and anger, God by reason and justice. Man foolishly thinks it would be a disgrace to him if he should first seek reconciliation: God counts this as honor to himself. This is a worldly, indeed a diabolical magnanimity of men, to be stubborn in offenses and quarrels; and for this reason many judges wage enmities, because neither party wishes to be first to seek reconciliation, much less to ask pardon, even if they offended first. Let preachers unteach them this wisdom of the world, indeed this folly and madness, and show that it is not a disgrace, but an exceptional honor and praise, if someone first approaches the adversary concerning reconciliation. For this is a sign of a noble mind, of a powerful anger, of a meek, humane, indeed divine spirit: for he imitates God as his leader, who first prevents us sinners with his grace, and invites us to return to his favor. See St. Chrysostom, homily On quarrels and anger, vol. V, where he teaches excellently that it is honorable to go before the other party and invite them to reconciliation; because this reconciliation and going before is a heroic virtue, and a great good for both, whose cause and author is not one who is asked, but one who asks. "For he who comes first," he says, "anticipates all the gain. For if you leave off anger at the request of another, it is credited to him whose prayers obtained it. For you have not obeyed God, but gratified him in fulfilling the law." Christ first descended from heaven to us, that he might call us back to himself. The Christian therefore is, and the follower of Christ, who imitates the same. It is the mark of a small and narrow mind to cherish injuries, of a great and lofty mind to abolish them. Whence Moses asking pardon from God for the rebellion committed by the people: "Let the strength of the Lord be magnified, therefore," he says, "as thou hast sworn, saying: The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and crimes," Num. xiv, 17. Thus the Emperor Theodosius, as St. Ambrose testifies, in his sermon On his death, said he had received a benefit when he forgave; indeed Hadrian, although a pagan, when created Emperor said that the power of avenging private injury had been taken from him: for it befits an emperor to avenge only public injuries to the state, but to forgive private ones; for clemency is his proper attribute. Thus Sanchez, on verse 7. IN THE MIDST OF THEE AM I HOLY, AND I WILL NOT ENTER INTO THE CITY, — that is to say, Cruel enemies, when they capture a besieged city, enter it and lay it waste: not so I, I will not enter thy cities to lay them waste, because I am holy, and I dwell in the midst of thee, and therefore I desire to correct thee and, once corrected, to save thee. Thus Lyra, Rupert and St. Jerome. I will not therefore destroy thee as Sodom, but I will preserve thy remnants, indeed thee wholly, O Jerusalem, under the pious king Hezekiah, I will protect and defend thee from Sennacherib. For this is what Isaiah foretold in chapter xxxvii, 33: He shall not enter into this city, and shall not shoot an arrow into it. Although indeed these things pertain to Ephraim, yet they pertain also to Judah and Jerusalem, as I shall now say; yet they pertain more to Ephraim. Whence our Prado rightly explains thus in Ezech. iv, 3: "In the midst of thee am I holy," that is, hitherto have I been worshipped and honored by thee, "and I will not enter into the city," that is to say, It does not therefore befit me to enter the city of Shechem (or Samaria, which was the metropolis of Ephraim), a sink of idols, because I have determined to save its citizens. For God sustains the person of a judge, who does not wish to turn his mind to those things which he refuses to punish; and therefore he does not enter the places of the wicked, lest, seeing their crimes, urged by justice, he be forced to punish them. Secondly, the Hebrews, Haymo, Albert and Hugh explain it, that is to say, I dwell in the midst of thee, O Israel, and I worship, nor will I abandon thee and my seat, so as to enter another city or nation. Hence R. Solomon, R. Abraham, R. David, and even now the Jews foolishly believe that God dwells only among the Jews. To this the Chaldean adds, who explains concerning Jerusalem, that is to say, Jerusalem is my city, I have my temple there, I dwell in the midst of it; I will not therefore abandon it, so as to enter another temple or city. Although indeed these things pertain to Israel, that is to say to the ten tribes primarily, yet secondarily they pertain to Judah; for Hosea prophesies to both; especially because the ten tribes had from the institution of God the ancient right to Jerusalem and to the temple, nor could they take it from themselves, however much they turned aside to idols. Thirdly, that is to say, I God deign to dwell in the midst of thee, O Israel, even though I enter no city or place, both because I am present in all places, and because I have no need of place, nor am I confined: for I am infused, poured forth, and spread throughout the whole world. Thus Theodoret and Lyra. Fourthly, otherwise Sanchez, that is to say, In thee, O Ephraim, are some holy ones (as Hosea, Joel, Amos and other Prophets) who were not in Sodom and all the Pentapolis; who, if they cannot altogether restrain, can yet blunt the strict sword of the avenger's wrath. Wherefore I will not enter the cities of Ephraim in the manner in which I once entered Sodom through angels, to see its crimes and avenge them by fire. Morally, behold here the bowels of charity, clemency and condescension of our God, by which he strives to draw to himself the most wicked sinners, such as the Israelites were, in the cords of Adam; he grieves and repents, he groans and sighs from the depths of his heart, that he must chastise them, he changes and revokes his sentence concerning their destruction. Hear St. Jerome: "In the midst of thee am I holy, and I will not enter into the city, that is, I am not one of those who dwell in cities, who live by human laws, who reckon cruelty to be justice. The highest right is the highest wrong: but my law, and my justice is to save the corrected." Let those theologians consider these things more deeply, who place in God the reprobation, either positive or negative, of the damned, not on account of their demerits, but from mere good pleasure of God; for they believe that God, before all foreknowledge of works, indeed before foreknowledge of the fall of Adam and of original sin (as some of them wish), from among men chose these, namely the elect, with an absolute and efficacious will unto glory, and destined for them alone the means and aids congruous and efficacious unto salvation; but all the rest, as being damned, he neglected, reprobated negatively, and placed in the series of the damned; from which it will infallibly come to pass that all these without exception will be damned; and therefore God denies them congruous aids, indeed (as some wish) even sufficient aids unto salvation, inasmuch as he has determined to leave them in the mass damned by original sin, and therefore to permit them to fall into actual sins, and to be hardened in them and to die, and thus to be damned. How, I ask, do these things agree with the words of our Prophet, and of all the others, in which God protests, nay swears, that He desires from His heart the salvation of all men, even of sinners and the obstinate (such as these Samaritans were), that He wills not their death and perdition; and that He grieves and groans from His inmost bowels, and therefore continually through the Prophets reproves their crimes, threatens punishments, exhorts and invites them to penance, promising them pardon and grace? If any king or prince were to do all these things toward a rebellious people, would not all say that he sincerely and supremely desires that the people return to him and be reconciled to him, and thus escape the death owed to rebels, live and be saved? But God is far better, more benign and more clement, far more sincere, far more truthful than any king or prince. Indeed, those who think otherwise seem first to ascribe to God deceit or hypocrisy, so that outwardly He says and promises what inwardly He does not think or will. For if God rejected and reprobated all the damned before the foresight of their demerits negatively, therefore inwardly in His mind He did not will their salvation, nay He willed to abandon them so that they would perish and be damned; therefore when outwardly through the Prophets He says He wills their salvation, wills not their death, He says this in pretense, and only as to external appearance and semblance: for He cannot truly and from His heart will contradictories, namely to will their salvation and at the same time not to will it. Therefore that voice of God through Isaiah, chapter 5, verse 4, to the Jews will be feigned and simulated (which the Christian mind, nay the human mind, shudders to think): "What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?" And Jeremiah, chapter 2, verse 5: "What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity?" And verse 12: "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and ye gates thereof, be very desolate. For my people have done two evils: They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have digged to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah is full of similar complaints of God. Such also are Proverbs 1, verse 24: "I called, and you refused: I stretched out my hand, and no one regarded." Ezekiel, chapter 18, verse 30: "Be converted, and do penance, etc., make to yourselves a new heart, etc.; and why will you die, O house of Israel? Because I will not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God; be converted, and live." Second, this opinion greatly restricts God's clemency and goodness, namely to the elect alone, who are few; but concerning all the others, who are very many, it makes Him more rigid than any Turkish king or Tartar toward his people. Let cruelty be far from the most benign God. Moreover, it ascribes reprobation, damnation, hardening, and consequently the commission of sins which follows from it, to God the best and most holy, and to His providence and care; when both Scripture and the nature of things teach that these are to be ascribed to the sinner. Why do they attribute to God the most clement, from whom they are most alien, and not to man, to whom they are proper? Hosea cries out, chapter 13, verse 9: "Thy destruction, O Israel: only in me is thy help." How therefore do some say most wrongly: Thy destruction is not thine, but from God reprobating! For what is reprobation, even negative, but destruction, and that extreme and eternal? Ecclesiasticus cries out, chapter 15, verse 11: "Say not: It is through God that I am without wisdom and knowledge of salvation: for the things which thou hatest, do not thou," that is to say, It is not through God, but through thee that it stands that thou dost not pursue the way of salvation, because thou doest those things which God hates, and therefore thou departest from this way. For if thou dost not those things which God hates, God and wisdom, or knowledge of the saints, will come to thee. "Say not: He hath deceived me," that is, impelled me into error: "For wicked men are not necessary to him." Now if God from Himself, before the foresight of works, reprobated the impious, will not the impious be able to say rightly: It is not through me, but through God that it stands that I am reprobated by Him from the beginning, and I could not resist this decree of His, nor could I escape His reprobation— Wherefore not a few wise men turn away from these dogmas, and especially from reprobation, both negative and positive, before the foreknowledge of works and the end of each man's life, and judge that it should be eliminated from the chairs and pulpits, as doing injury to the equity, holiness, goodness and mercy of God, equally as to the redemption, merits and charity of Christ, and as bringing upon men lukewarmness toward good works and proneness to sin, and soliciting them thereto. Indeed, I know many who, from the preaching and teaching of that opinion, lived miserably, driven either into despair or into madness; some even who killed themselves. For always, when they set before their imagination the decree of God concerning their own salvation or damnation, as though it were some inescapable fate, and that doubtful and uncertain, hanging over their head, and were unable to shake it off, they succumbed at last and fell into distrust or insanity. Finally, this opinion impelled Calvin and the heretics to say that God is the author of evil works equally as He is of good works. Let us therefore feel, say, teach and preach what the Prophets and Apostles preached, namely that God is benign toward all, and wills and desires from His heart the salvation of all, and therefore the cause of the reprobation of each is his own sins, not any sins whatever, but only those in which he ends his life; and that God has reprobated no one except him whom He foresaw would die in sins, as St. Augustine teaches in the book On Correction and Grace, chapter xiii, and Prosper in his Response to chapters ii and iii of the Gauls. For God gave to each this life as it were a stadium, in which he should run and contend until death: if he contend rightly, He will choose him, crown him and glorify him; if wickedly, He will reprobate and damn him. As long therefore as we are in this life, we are in the way, in the stadium and in the contest, that is, in the state of meriting glory or demeriting hell: in death there will be an end, as of life, so also of merit or demerit. Wherefore it is in the power of each, as long as he lives, either to act well, and thus merit and be chosen for glory; or to act badly, and thus be reprobated. This is what God declared to the Hebrews through Moses, Deuteronomy xxx, 15: "Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil, that thou mayest love the Lord, etc., and live." And Ecclesiasticus chapter xv, 14: "God from the beginning made man, and left him in the hand of his own counsel. He added His commandments and precepts: if thou wilt keep the commandments, they shall preserve thee. He hath set water and fire before thee: stretch forth thy hand to which thou wilt. Before man is life and death, good and evil: that which he shall choose shall be given him." That God did thus with the angels and Adam is clear, and the authors of that opinion confess it; therefore He does the same with men after the fall: for through Christ He determined to raise up fallen men and restore them to their former, nay even a higher degree, and deigned in fact to restore them, as is most manifest in those who were baptized and became just, nay great saints, of whom nevertheless some afterwards perished through their own pride or other fault, and even now perish and are damned. This sense is worthy of God, worthy of Christ, worthy of the Church. Let us therefore feel with the Wise Man concerning God in His goodness, from whom, as Isaiah says in chapter xxviii, 21, to inflict or bring evils is alien and foreign, but proper to Him is to have mercy and to spare. For, as the Psalmist says: "His mercies are over all His works." And the Wise Man, chapter xi, 27: "But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest souls;" in Greek more significantly, δέσποτα φιλόψυχε. He Himself therefore is φιλόψυχος, and, as the Apostle says, to Titus iii, 1, φιλάνθρωπος, who from mere love created souls, and redeemed them when lost by the blood of His Christ, and therefore does not will them to perish, but to be saved, and therefore supplies to each sufficient graces and means to salvation, nay abundant and overflowing, from this immense love with which He pursues them; so that those who perish ought to attribute it not to God, but to their own sloth or malice, as this Prophet says here. See among others Gregory of Valencia, I part. Question xxiii, disputation 1, point 3. You will say: God chose this series of things, in which He foresaw that all these, namely the reprobate, would sin, and therefore were to be damned: therefore He willed and intended to neglect them, and to reprobate them before all foreknowledge of works. For why did He place them in this series of things, in which they were infallibly to be damned, unless because He willed to cast them away? otherwise indeed He could have placed them in another series, in which He foresaw they would be saved. I answer by denying the consequence: for from this equally would follow that God intended the sins of the reprobate, because He foresaw them in the same manner in such a series in which He placed them, to be certainly future; but this is to speak impiously and blasphemously. The cause therefore why He placed them in such a series was not that, namely that He intended to reprobate or damn them; but because it was free for Him to choose whatever series He willed, especially because God foresaw that whichever series He chose, there would always be some who, with the common aids of grace (for He willed not to give extraordinary and most powerful aids to all; for He reserved this as it were as a privilege for the few) from the freedom, facility and frailty of will would fall short and sin, and therefore would be reprobated and damned. That therefore He chose this series in fact, in which He foresaw these would fall short and be damned; not that one in which He foresaw these would persist in grace and be saved, but others would fall short and be damned; this was of His free choice and power: for He Himself is the supreme Lord of all things. I pass over the other hidden causes of this choice, which He had and has many times in His mind: for it is neither possible nor right for man to scrutinize these; it suffices us that this was not the cause, namely that He wished to reprobate these before others before the foreknowledge of works, as I have already shown. For He gave them, equally as to others, the common aids of grace, with which they could easily live well and be saved and ought to (and God willed and intended this), just as many others with the same have lived well, and have been saved. Let them therefore attribute to their own freedom, frailty and negligence, not to God, nor to God's reprobation, that they were unwilling to cooperate strenuously with the grace of God, as so great a matter demanded, and therefore were reprobated.
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10. After the Lord they shall walk (because the Lord) AS A LION SHALL ROAR, — and by His fear shall strike and compel all to follow Him, and walk after Him. This was indeed done first, when God roared and raged in the desolation and captivity of the Israelites as a lion. For then many of them, broken by the plagues and struck with fear of God, returned to God, and worshipped and invoked Him in the Assyrian captivity, seeking pardon and liberation. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo and others. Secondly, when Ezechias convoked and invited the Israelites in Jerusalem to the worship of God, II Paralipomenon cap. xxx. Again and rather, when the Jews returned from Babylon into Judaea: for then many of Israel, that is from the ten tribes, mixed with the Jews, returned with them to Jerusalem, and there in the temple worshipped God. Thus St. Cyril, Theodoret, the Chaldean Paraphrase, Albert and Hugh. Thirdly and chiefly, Christ incarnate and preaching, and roaring as a lion, both through Himself and through the apostles, many Israelites both from Samaria and Judaea, as well as from Egypt, Assyria and every region of the world were converted to Him, and flew to Him as doves, whom He Himself placed in His houses, namely in particular Churches, where they served God piously and holily, serve and shall serve. For the Hebrews, St. Jerome and others everywhere hold that flying to Christ is what the Prophet means here. Note: Christ preaching through Himself and the apostles is compared to a lion: first, because He Himself as a lion terrified sinners by fear and threats of judgment and hell, and in truth in judgment shall terrify the damned by inflicting eternal fire upon them; secondly, because as a lion as it were a king dominates other beasts and animals, so Christ dominated philosophers, sects and errors, both of the Gentiles and of the Jews; thirdly, because He spoke with supreme authority and majesty as a lion; fourthly, because with supreme and leonine strength He led true Israelites out of the captivity of sin, the devil and hell. BECAUSE HE SHALL ROAR, AND THE SONS OF THE SEA SHALL BE AFRAID, — that is, men of the sea, for example islanders. Thus in Isaiah cap. xxiii, 10, Tyre is called "daughter of the sea," because it is an island; or "sons of the sea," that is of the West (for the Mediterranean sea is to the west of Judaea; hence sea in Scripture signifies the West), that is western peoples, as if to say: All the most remote Israelites, who had fled to the West, equally as western nations, hearing this roar of the lion, that is of God and Christ, "shall be afraid," in Hebrew יחרדו iecherdu, that is shall tremble, and shall submit to Him. For, as Amos says in cap. iii, 8: "The lion shall roar, who shall not fear?" It signifies that the voice, terror, power and ruling grace of Christ shall reach even to the most remote Israelites, equally as to nations. Otherwise Theodoret; for by sons of the sea he understands fish, as if to say: So terrible shall be the roar of God, that even fish shall flee, and hide themselves in the depths of the sea. Mystically, the sea is this present world, various, surging and tempestuous: the sons of the sea therefore are the sons of this world, whom Christ roaring struck and converted.
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11. AND THEY SHALL FLY AWAY LIKE A BIRD OUT OF EGYPT, AND LIKE A DOVE OUT OF THE LAND OF THE ASSYRIANS. — Namely, when I, God, shall roar through Cyrus proclaiming liberty, so that the Jews return from Babylon to their homeland, and much more when I shall roar through Christ, proclaiming liberty from sin and hell, then the Israelites scattered among the nations shall gather to me from all sides, namely from the sea, that is from the west; from Egypt, that is from the south; and from Assyria, that is from the north and east, so that under my guidance they may return through Ezra into Judea, and much more through Christ may return to the Church, which is their first and true homeland, where I shall place them "in their houses" and dwellings, namely in the local Churches. Thus the Chaldean translator, who rendered it: They shall walk after the Lord, and his word shall be as a lion that roars: for as soon as he roars, the exiles shall be gathered from the West. As a bird which comes openly, so shall come those who were driven into exile in the land of Egypt: and as a dove which returns to its dovecote, so shall return those who were carried away into the land of Assyria, that is to say, the Israelites, equally with the nations, terrified and stirred by the majestic voice of the lion, that is of God and Christ, shall flock to him and to his faith and following. Note: By Assyrians and Egyptians, he understands by synecdoche any regions and nations whatsoever: yet he names these before others, because the Israelites had fled there, or had been carried away in the time of captivity, and from there like doves flew back. You may ask, first, what bird of Egypt it is, and why Israel returning from captivity is compared to it? I answer that it is the ibis, or the hawk; for both were held in honor by the Egyptians, and were sacred, indeed were worshipped with divine honors. By it therefore he signifies not only the swift return of Israel, but also its safety, and dignity, honor and reverence, by which it shall be sent back honorably and gloriously to its homeland by the enemies themselves. For the Egyptians, says Strabo, worshipped three terrestrial creatures, namely the ox, the dog and the cat: two of the flying creatures, the hawk and the ibis: of the aquatic creatures two, the scaled fish and the oxyrynchus. The hawk is a rapacious bird, named from seizing, and therefore is the swiftest. Whence the Ethiopians, wishing to signify a thing done quickly, depict the hawk; because this bird is almost the swiftest of all others, as Diodorus says, lib. IV, cap. 1. The same bird is called sacred by Virgil, XI Aeneid., when he thus sings: How easily the hawk, sacred bird, from the high rock, Pursues with wings the dove sublime in the cloud. Furthermore, the hawk was held in honor and veneration by the Egyptians. First, because the hawk is a hieroglyph of the sun, both on account of the prolific power with which it is endowed; for it is the most fertile among birds; and because it is the most long-lived; and because it gazes steadily upon the brightness and rays of the sun; and because it has the sharpest eyes and sight: whence Plutarch interprets the hawk as Osiris and the sun; Origen calls it the messenger of Apollo; and because every thirtieth day the female is accustomed to unite with the male just as the sun with the moon. Hence also Zoroaster, according to Eusebius, said that God has the head of a hawk; for God is the sun of justice. Mal. iv, 2. Second, because other birds when they tend upward do not move in a straight, but in an oblique course: but the hawk alone, seeking the heights, flies in a straight path. Third, because the hawk is a symbol of the winged mind, and one flying upward to heaven, and consequently of the priest and priesthood; which true and legitimate priesthood Israel alone possessed. Fourth, because the hawk is a symbol of glory and victory, both because it holds the principal place in agility of flight; and because it is the most warlike and resourceful of birds, so that when fighting it always conquers other birds, and is never conquered. For this reason Darius, king of the Persians, who promised himself the victories of the whole world, wore a cloak distinguished with gold, in which three hawks as if with beaks clashed with one another, inscribed with this word, νικητικώτατος, that is most victorious. And Antiochus, illustrious for so many victories, desired to be called by the cognomen of the hawk. These and many more things are related by Pierius, hierogl. 21, cap. ii, vi and xix. The ibis is indeed so peculiar to Egypt that it is not found elsewhere. Now the ibis is a species of stork, tall, with rigid legs, and a long beak. Hence Egypt is represented on obelisks and coins by the ibis, both because the ibis cannot live anywhere but in Egypt; and because Egypt has the shape of Δ; whence it is also called Delta; the ibis has the same shape, both in its beak, if it opens it; and in its gait, by which it brings its feet to the equal lines of a triangle. Moreover, the ibis was dedicated to Mercury, who was held to be the master of all the heart and of discourse: hence it is also a symbol of the heart, especially because the ibis wonderfully benefits the heart, as physicians assert: and because the ibis weighs exactly two drachmas, according to Plutarch; which is indeed the weight of the heart of a newly born child. Furthermore, the ibis, by cleansing the bowels with its beak, taught men the use of the enema; hence it is a symbol of health and salvation, especially because, as Cicero says in book I of On the Nature of the Gods: "The ibises destroy the greatest multitude of serpents, and thus they avert plague from Egypt, when these birds kill and consume the winged serpents brought from the vastness of Libya by the African wind: from which it comes about that they neither harm by the bite of the living, nor by the odor of the dead." Whence the Poet calls the ibis "satiated with serpents." Hence also Josephus writes, in book II of the Antiquities, chapter v, that Moses, placed in command of the armies of the Egyptians by Pharaoh, when he moved his camp against the Ethiopians, because he was about to proceed through places full of serpents, enclosed a vast multitude of ibises in papyrus arks, and having sent them against the serpents, he penetrated unharmed into Ethiopia by means of them, and subdued it. This is from Pierius, Hieroglyphics 34. You will ask, secondly, why he calls the dove "the bird of the Assyrians" rather than the eagle, and why he compares Israel returning to a dove, not to another bird? I answer, first, because the flight of the dove is direct, and equally constant. Second, because doves were held sacred among the Assyrians, and it was unlawful to kill them: whence such a multitude of these birds grew up there, that they flew over the mouths of approaching merchants. For this reason Hosea says here: "And they shall fly away like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove from the land of the Assyrians." Hence also Tibullus, in book I: Why should I tell how the white dove, untouched, flies frequently through the cities, cultivated by the Palestinian Syrian? Eusebius testifies, in book VIII of the Preparation, chapter v, that when he had arrived at Ascalon, a city of Syria, he marveled at the multitude of doves, and when he asked the reason, he heard that by law among them the killing of doves was forbidden. The reason was that the flatterers of Semiramis, the first queen of the Assyrians, feigned that she was transformed into a dove, and in that form they worshipped her as a goddess. For this reason Martial, in book XIII, sings thus of the dove: Do not violate tender doves with your hard tooth, if the sacred rites of the Cnidian Goddess have been entrusted to you. Third, because the dove, being timid, quickly flies away at the shadow even of a hawk. For, as the Poet says: The dove is frightened by the slightest rustling of a feather. Thus the Israelites, being timid, once given permission by Cyrus, immediately fled from Babylon, and thereafter trembled at the very name of Babylon and of idolaters, according to the old proverb: The shipwrecked man fears every strait. And: Phaeton would have avoided the sky, if he had lived. Fourth, because doves love their mate uniquely, as much as their nest and their young; whence even if they are taken elsewhere, as soon as they become free, they immediately fly back there: for this reason they are accustomed to be used in the siege of cities, as messengers. For the besieged send and receive letters back and forth to friends through them. Thus Brutus used them in the siege of Mutina, of which the Poet says: What does the watchful siege, what do the citadels Or ramparts avail, through impassable spaces The messenger of heaven going? as Pliny says, in book X, chapter xxxvii. Thus the Christians, besieging Ptolemais, obtained it by means of a carrier dove through a wonderful stratagem. For when the Sultan had sent letters through a dove, by which he signified that he would soon lift the siege, the Christians intercepting it, sent contrary and forged letters, inscribed in the Sultan's name, through the same dove into the city, by which it was signified that the Sultan, being occupied with other matters, could not come to the aid of the city; and therefore they would make peace with the enemy on the best terms. Thus the besieged surrendered the city to the Christians, as Egnatius relates, and from him Aldrovandus, in the Prolegomena to the Ornithology. Moreover, fathers of families, as Lipsius teaches in book II of the Saturnalia, chapter vi, who went to the theatre or circus, from which they could not return so quickly, used to carry doves with them in their bosom, and would send them forth with tablets as messengers home to announce what they wished, and this he proves from Varro, in the book On Agriculture, who says: "One can observe that doves are accustomed to return to the place, since many in the theatre release them from their bosom, and they return to the place; which they would not release unless they were to return." This is especially true of the doves of Syria and Palestine, which even if carried away a hundred miles from the dovecote, if they are allowed to fly freely from a high place, immediately by a wonderful sense of smell or natural sagacity, return directly to their dovecote in a few hours: for which reason merchants and citizens still use them as messengers to announce goods brought and other news. For carrying them with themselves to ports or to other cities, they send them back home with letters, as grave men told me in Rome, who lived in Syria and saw this very thing with their own eyes. The same thing is related at length and confirmed by the Reverend Father Stephen Mantegazza of the Order of St. Dominic, in his Jerusalem Itinerary, book II, chapters xxii and xxiii, where he relates that he saw this in Cairo in Egypt, and adds that in the whole East, the inhabitants use doves as messengers and couriers, which they lack, with great saving of cost and time, and that they are trained for this; and that Godfrey of Bouillon, who recovered the Holy Land six hundred years ago, and was the first of the Christians to be made king of Jerusalem, intercepted in the siege of Jerusalem a dove which was sent by the Sultan with letters to the besieged: and he in turn sent a dove with letters to the besieged in the castle of Hesara. With these doves therefore the Prophet rightly compares the Israelites, as if to say: You will fly away from captivity to your homeland, just as your doves, detained somewhere, fly away to their dovecote and nest. Tropologically, let the faithful love the Church, the Religious his Order, as a dove loves its dovecote, and if by any chance he is taken away from it, as soon as he is able let him fly back to it, so that he may say with Job, chapter xxix, 18: "I shall die in my nest, and as the palm tree I shall multiply my days." And with the Psalmist, Psalm lxxxiii, 4: "For the sparrow hath found herself a house, and the turtle a nest for herself, where she may lay her young; thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God," as if to say: Thy altars are those to which I long, as a bird to its nest. Concerning these Isaiah says, chapter lx, 8: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" see the remarks there.
11:12
12. HE HATH COMPASSED ME ABOUT. — Here Hosea returns to his own times and to the former threats. Whence Lyra, Arias, Pagninus and Vatablus begin chapter xii from here. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Do you wish to know the reason why, notwithstanding my so great mercy and love, Ephraim is to be condemned to eternal captivity, as I continually cry out? And it is at hand, namely because he has indeed deceived me by his lying (for he denied the worship due to me), and the rest of the tribes by deceit: for he deceitfully seduced them to the worship of golden calves, which he craftily substituted for me. BUT JUDA IS A WITNESS WITH GOD, AND WITH THE SAINTS FAITHFUL, — as if to say, But Juda did not do thus, because at the same time under Ezechias the pious king, by his faith, worship and life he adhered to God, and to his parts neglected by Israel, and therefore as it were inferior, "a witness" of truth descended, namely of the divinity of God; and so "with the saints" both the patriarchs and prophets, and rather the priests and Levites (for these in the schism of Jeroboam retained the worship of God, and therefore fled from Israel to Juda and Jerusalem, as is evident from II Paralipomenon xiii, 9), he was "faithful" to God, and truly preserved his religion and obedience faithfully, steadily and constantly (for this is what the Hebrew neeman signifies); and therefore when Ephraim and Samaria shall be destroyed, then Juda and Jerusalem shall stand and flourish. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Emmanuel, Mariana and others. The Complutensian edition wrongly reads "faithful ones" for "faithful". Note: Our interpreter reads ed, that is, witness; now they read od, that is, still. Again rad he took as an infinitive from iarad, that is, he descended: now they take it as a preterite of the verb rud, that is, he ruled; whence they translate: But Juda still rules with God. Thus the Chaldean, Leo Hebraeus, Lyra and Pagninus, as if it allude to the struggle of Jacob with the angel bearing the person of God, with whom when Jacob prevailed, he was called Israel, that is, ruling God, Genesis xxxii, 28. But the sense comes to the same thing, as if to say, When Ephraim shall be laid waste, Juda shall retain his rule and scepter, because he consents and conspires with God; for he retains his faith and worship, as his faithful witness; whence he reigns aided and protected by God, and so he seems to reign from God and with God: for God's kingdom was earthly in Juda, as it is heavenly in heaven. Whence the Chaldean translates: But the offspring of Juda were strong in the worship of the Lord; and the Arabic Alexandrian: Juda a witness with God removed from them, and became faithful and holy. Otherwise Arias and Albertus, as if to say, Juda stood in the worship of God as his faithful witness, even when he descended from the splendor of the kingdom, namely when Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam, occupied the greater part of the kingdom, and led it away to golden calves. Again Vatablus and Lyra think that the mystery of the Holy Trinity is here intimated. For "faithful" they translate in the dative, and with the saints faithful: and by the saints, they take God who went before, in persons three, in essence one, as if to say, Juda descended with God; with God, I say, who is most holy, and thrice holy in three persons (so that it could be called in the plural kedoschim, that is, holy ones, both because he is most holy, and because in him are three most holy persons) equally as most faithful. For in a similar manner and reason God is called Elohim in the plural. But the first sense, as it is the plainest, so it is the most genuine. Furthermore the Septuagint punctuates these otherwise, and so translates: He hath compassed me about in lying, Ephraim, and in iniquity the house of Israel and Juda: now God hath known them, and the people shall be called holy of God; the Septuagint is followed by the Syriac: He hath compassed me about, Ephraim, in lying, and the house of Israel and Juda in deceit, until the holy and faithful people descended with him and God; and the Arabic Antiochian: Consider (find the way) how you may remove lying, O house of Ephraim, and iniquity, O house of Israel and Juda: for now you have known the Lord, and you shall be called to God a holy people. Finally, the Hebrews refer this to the passage of the Red Sea, concerning which St. Jerome relates this history or fable: "When Israel went out of Egypt, when on one side was a mountain, on the other the Red Sea, and on the third side the army of Pharaoh surrounded them, and the people were enclosed; while the other tribes despaired of salvation, and some wished either to return to Egypt or to fight, Judah alone faithfully entered the sea; whence he also merited to receive the kingdom; and this is what is now said: Judah is a witness of the words of God, and as a supporter and avenger descended with God into the sea, and among the saints was most faithful, so that he would believe the words of commanding God." But whatever may be the case concerning this history, certainly it is not treated here (although it may be alluded to), but concerning the schism of Israel made by Jeroboam, in which Judah faithfully persisted in the worship of the true God. Morally, Judah, that is, a faithful confessor and witness of God, descending with him in the apostasy of Israel, is the true Christian, who, while others fail from faith, piety, chastity or justice through fear of punishments, or hope of riches and honors, persists in these things with God and for God steadfast unto death, even with the loss of goods, reputation and life. Thus, when almost the whole world was Arianizing, St. Athanasius alone stood invincible for the faith of the Homoousios, as it were the Atlas of the Church, and routed that heresy and triumphed over it. The leader and standard-bearer of these is Christ; concerning whom St. John says, Apocalypse i, 5: "Who is the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth: who hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." The tribune is Moses, saying Deuteronomy iv, 26: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that you shall quickly perish," if you depart from God to idols. The chiliarchs are the Apostles, appointed to this by Christ, Acts i, 8: "You shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and Samaria, and even to the uttermost part of the earth." The standard-bearer is St. Paul, chosen to this by Christ, Acts xxii, 15: "Thou shalt be his witness unto all men, of those things which thou hast seen and heard." Hence he himself says Romans i, 9: "For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make a remembrance of you." And Philippians i, 8: "For God is my witness, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ." And I Thessalonians ii, 10: "You are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly, and without blame we have been to you that have believed." The primicerius is St. Stephen, as is evident Acts vii, concerning whom Paul therefore says Acts xxii, 20: "And when the blood of Stephen thy witness was shed, I also was standing by, and consenting." The prodromus is Joshua cap. xxiv, 22: "You are witnesses," he says, "because you have chosen you the Lord, that you may serve him." The prophet is Samuel, I Kings xii, 5: "The Lord," he says, "is witness against you, and his Christ is witness in this day, because you have found nothing in my hand" of gift, oppression, or injustice or crime. The soldiers are Christians, who, while others fail to heresy, lust, or other crimes, persist in faith, continence and virtue. The triarii are martyrs, such as Antipas, who preferred to be enclosed in a brazen ox and burned, rather than deny the faith of Christ, Apocalypse ii, 13: "In those days Antipas was my faithful witness, who was killed among you." The rear guard will be closed by Elias and Henoch, future martyrs of Christ, and to be killed by Antichrist, Apocalypse xi, 3: "I will give," he says, "unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days." And to pass over the ancients, we have an illustrious, and that recent and domestic example of forty martyrs from our Society, whose Provincial and leader was Fr. Ignatius Azevedo, who in the year of our Lord 1570, on the 15th day of July, sent to Brazil to teach and convert the barbarians, were intercepted near the island of Palma by a Calvinist pirate, James Soria, separated from all other laymen and Ecclesiastics, who were being carried in the same ship, because they were Jesuits, all to a man pierced with daggers, guns and lances for the faith of Christ and for the steadfast profession of their religion, and cast into the sea; while Ignatius, as a leader, holding aloft the image of the Blessed Virgin, exhorted all to undergo death and martyrdom courageously: he therefore, with his head split by the sword, awaiting death unmoved, pierced through with three lances, fell down crying out: "I call to witness, he said, mortals and angels, that I am dying for the profession of the Catholic Roman faith, from which I think not even the breadth of a nail should be withdrawn;" and looking toward his companions: "My little sons, he said, fear not death, fight bravely the battle of the Lord; God will supply strength, He who shows forth crowns. Give thanks to Him who calls you to them." Next to him was Diego Andrada, pierced through with daggers as he was being cast into the sea: "Let us fight, he said, companions, bravely, with blood freely shed: for we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ." Wherefore two of the companions, who were infirm and could easily have hidden, of their own accord leap from their bed, and having put on a garment offer themselves half-naked with their throats exposed. Indeed, John Sanctius, although he was not of the Society, nevertheless joined himself to the other companions, that he might obtain this palm of martyrdom; which he also obtained. Finally, Emmanuel Alvarez, inflamed with the ardor of martyrdom, rebuking the heretics, having received many blows and wounds, with hands, feet and bones broken, dying a long and hard death: "For me, he said, O brothers, do not grieve, but rather envy: for I profess openly that I have never merited so great a good, so glorious a death; for fifteen years I have served God and the Society; God has most liberally compensated and rewarded all my services, all my labors with this noble laurel of martyrdom!" Thus Peter Ribadeneira in the Life of Father Francis Borgia, book III, chapter xi: "Truly the life of the saints is an interpretation of Scripture," says St. Jerome, nay rather a living sermon, delighting, teaching and moving the reader. Most excellently St. Clement, book V of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter i: "He who, he says, is condemned for the name of our Lord God, this one is a holy martyr, brother of the Lord, son of the Most High, a receptacle of the Holy Spirit, through whom the illumination of the glory of the Gospel each of the faithful has received, when they were deemed worthy of an immortal crown, and by the testimony of his sufferings, and by fellowship in his blood, that they might be conformed to the death of Christ in adoption." And St. Cyprian to Fortunatus, On the Exhortation to Martyrs: "Martyrdom, he says, is a baptism in grace greater, in part more sublime, in honor more precious: a baptism in which angels baptize; a baptism after which no one sins; a baptism which consummates the increase of our faith; a baptism which, departing from the world, immediately joins us to God." And at the end: "The eyes are closed in the persecutions of the earth, but heaven is opened: Antichrist threatens, but Christ protects; death is brought, but immortality follows; the world is snatched away when he is slain, but paradise is shown forth when he is restored; temporal life is extinguished, but eternal life is repaired. What is the dignity, and what the security to depart hence joyfully, to depart amid pressures and straits gloriously, to close in a moment the eyes by which men were seen and the world, and to open them immediately that God may be seen and Christ?" Just as the balsam shrub when cut distills balsam— various and exquisite torments, even with body torn and flayed, to confess Christ the Son of God, though departing, yet with a free spirit? how much more to have sought heaven leaving the world? how much more to stand among angels, forsaken by men? how much more, with all worldly impediments broken, to present oneself free in the sight of God? how much more to have become a partner of passion with Christ in the name of Christ? how much more to have carried away an immaculate conscience from the confession of the name? how much more not to have obeyed human and sacrilegious laws against the faith? how much more to have publicly testified the truth by voice? how much more to have subdued by dying the very death which all fear? how much more through that very death to have obtained immortality? how much more, torn and flayed by all the instruments of cruelty, to have overcome torments by torments themselves? how much more to have struggled with strength of mind against all the pains of a mangled body? how much more not to have shrunk from his blood flowing forth? how much more to have begun to love his own sufferings after faith? how much more to have reckoned the loss of his life not to have gone forth?" O strengths, O noble triumphs! What remains? except that hearing the trumpet call of the Apostle, Hebrews chapter xii, 1, being emulators of their virtue, with Judas as faithful witnesses with God, let us descend into the arena, and fighting generously for Christ, religion and justice, let us obtain the same or a similar palm of martyrdom: "Therefore we also, having so great a cloud of witnesses imposed upon us, laying aside every weight and the sin that surrounds us, let us run by patience to the contest proposed to us, looking upon the author and finisher of faith, Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame." Let no one excuse himself and say: Those blessed times of martyrdom have now passed, persecutors have ceased, Nero, Decius, Diocletian have gone away; for the enemy fails no one: a persecutor continually harasses you, now the demon, now the flesh, now the world: fight fiercely against these, overcome them, and you will be a martyr. If you courageously reject companions and little women soliciting you to obscene acts, and flee with Joseph, you will be a martyr of chastity: if you patiently endure the plundering of goods, frauds, and injuries, you will be a martyr of patience: if you cheerfully bear contempt of yourself, depression, and reproaches, you will be a martyr of humility: if you vigorously undertake and fulfill the various and difficult commands of Superiors, you will be a martyr of obedience. Thus the Blessed Peter Faber, the first companion of our founder St. Ignatius, exercised throughout his entire life by him through various commands and mandates, finally recalled to Rome, although physicians dissuaded the journey on account of intense heat, preferred to obey rather than to live: therefore the life which he had spent in obedience, he laid down in obedience, and for this reason among other laurels in heaven he obtained this one as the principal, that he be a victim of obedience. For after his death, appearing to a certain holy person, he showed him his glory, saying most joyfully repeatedly that he most healing, by which wounds are healed; thus the martyrs, cut and slain, scattered the fragrance and example of their virtue throughout the whole world, by which the souls of the infirm are healed and stirred up to the same glory; concerning whom St. Chrysostom, in his homily On the Holy Martyrs, says: "Flame, he says, besieging them on all sides, and sparks leaping forth into their wounds, and any wild beast tearing at their wounds more cruelly, just as if they were adamantine, and they saw these things happening in others' bodies, thus generously and with that fortitude which befitted them, they persevered most constantly in the words of confession; and enduring in all these evils, they at the same time displayed both the unconquered strength of their spirit and the grace of God most excellently." Then comparing them to the sun: "While, he says, as if certain saffron rays streams of blood flowed forth from them on all sides, and their body shone forth much more brightly than the sun itself in heaven." St. Gregory of Nazianzus, as St. Maximus cites him in his sermon On Patience, relates an allegory of a tree which, when cut back, sprouts forth, and contends with iron; and it is so far from dying that rather by death itself it lives, by cutting it germinates, and by being lopped off it grows back. This tree, says Nazianzus, is "the philosophical man, who is illustrated by misfortunes, and transforms all troublesome things into material for virtue, and is beautified by adversities themselves." Horace depicts this one thus, in ode iv, book IV: As the ilex shorn by hard axes, With dark fruitful foliage in the cold, Through losses, through slaughters, from the very Iron draws wealth and spirit. Thus "assuredly it helps to go to God through perils." Pliny writes, in book XXXVII, chapter ix, and Isidore, in book XIII, chapter xvi, that alectorian is a gem of crystalline appearance the size of a bean, which is found in the ventricles of roosters, and that Milo of Croton used it and was invincible in contests. Be that as it may, such is the alectorian of constancy of spirit, which receives and repels all the darts of enemies unharmed, concerning which Chrysostom in Nicetas says: "Blessed, he says, is that one attacked on all sides, who stood more firmly, and receiving six hundred darts on his shield made no surrender: he exhausted the demon's quiver, nor did he fall, indeed he was not even moved from his position for so much as a moment." Thus is the asbestos stone, which when placed in fire becomes ignited, but when removed appears whitened and purer, as Pliny testifies in book XXXVI, chapter xix. Thus is the salamander, which lives in fire: therefore Francis I, King of France, assumed it as his emblem, with this couplet inscribed: The fierce bear, the cruel eagles, and the twisted serpent Have yielded to your flame, O salamander. But hear the martyrs themselves writing from prison and proclaiming to St. Cyprian, book V, epistle 12: "What could be more glorious or more happy for any human being from divine favor than to confess the Lord God among the very executioners themselves? than among the raging secular power of obedience to have met death, and therefore to enjoy wondrous joys in heaven. Thus in his Life, book II, chapter xxviii, Nicholas Orlandinus narrates this, and asserts that he received it from the letters of the Reverend Father Andrew Oviedo, Patriarch of Ethiopia. This is what St. Bernard says, sermon 2 on the Feast of All Saints: "True martyrdom is voluntary poverty, and much more so chastity and obedience." "What is more wonderful, or what martyrdom more grievous, than to hunger amid feasts, to be cold amid many precious garments, to be pressed by poverty amid the riches which the world offers, which the evil one displays, which our appetite desires? Will he not deservedly be crowned, who has thus contended, rejecting the world as it promises, mocking the enemy as he tempts, and (what is more glorious) triumphing over himself, and crucifying his lustful desire?" The same, sermon 1 in the Octave of Easter: "Remember," he says, "that baptism is both unique and daily, and similarly martyrdom. For there is also a kind of martyrdom, and a certain shedding of blood in the daily affliction of the body. There is also a kind of baptism in the contrition of the heart and the constant flow of tears." The same, sermon on the Blessed Virgin, on that passage of the Apocalypse xii: "A woman clothed with the sun, and on her head a crown of twelve stars," assigns to her the twelfth star and gem as "martyrdom of the heart." For she herself, as the same author says in sermon 4 on the Lord's Supper, was "a martyr not by the sword of the executioner, but by the bitter sorrow of her heart: whom she loved she wept for, whom she loved she grieved for," standing by Christ crucified! The same in the Sentences: "Martyrdom without blood is threefold: frugality in abundance, which David and Job had: generosity in poverty, which Tobias and the widow exercised: chastity in youth, which Joseph used in Egypt." St. Augustine teaches the same, sermon 250 On the Seasons: "Against deadly," he says, "enticements let us struggle, knowing that daily martyrdoms are not lacking to Christians in this." And St. Gregory, homily 35 on the Gospel: "To bear," he says, "insults, to love those who hate us, is martyrdom in hidden thought." And St. Jerome in the Epitaph of St. Paula calls her a martyr: "For," he says, "not only the shedding of blood is reckoned as martyrdom, but also the immaculate service of a devoted mind, daily martyrdom. That crown is woven of roses and violets, this one of lilies." Whoever therefore strives to be a judge and witness, when he descends into the arena with God, and persists faithful with his saints. For to him both crowns are promised, and are owed and will be given. For it is fitting that he who descends into the arena faithful with God and his saints should ascend with them equally gloriously to the palm in heaven. Finally, beyond others, the Church numbers among martyrs those who, ministering to those laboring with disease out of charity, are afflicted with the same and die. A notable example is in the Roman Martyrology, on the 28th of February, where we read thus: "At Alexandria, commemoration of the holy Presbyters, Deacons, and many others, who in the time of the Emperor Valerian, when a most severe plague was raging, ministering to those laboring with disease, most willingly met death, whom the pious faith of the ancients was accustomed to venerate as martyrs." Where Baronius from Eusebius, book VII of the History, chapter xvi and following, cites St. Dionysius of Alexandria, Bishop, in his letter to Hierax, speaking thus of the same: "From the Fathers who were most excellent in virtue, they met death in this manner, of whom some were presbyters, others deacons, some from the people, much praised for their virtue; so that this kind of death, which was undertaken on account of incredible piety and steadfast faith, seemed to lack nothing of the splendor of martyrdom. Wherefore wisely St. Pachomius (as his Life has it) said to a certain monk wishing to leave the cloister to seek martyrdom: "Brother, bear the struggle of monks bravely and strenuously, and when you have conducted your life so as to be subject to no reproach, so as to please Christ, you will have in heaven the fellowship of martyrdom." See St. Cyprian (or whoever is the author), treatise On Double Martyrdom, namely of passion and of action, that is of holy life: for by this we bear witness to God and glorify him equally as by that: "Let the faithful," he says, "render their whole life as martyrdom, that is testimony, to God: which is so far from being to be neglected, that unless it precede, the martyrdom which is borne by blood is not martyrdom. For in vain will you have offered your neck to the executioner, unless you have first put to death the members which are upon the earth, that is, the affections which war against the spirit, hatred, envy, pride, lust," etc.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Quia puer Israel et dilexi eum et ez Aegypto vocavi filium meum » ; — primam populi electi aetatem designat, dum in Aegypto degeret et in populum excresceret (Theod. M.) ; sim. Ier. 2, 2. Ez. 46, 'i. ' *3 — dum (quando), quia ; priore significatione explicat S. Hier.: « dum, inquit, esset puer et parvulus et captus in Aegypto teneretur, in tantum eum dilexi, ut mitterem servum meum Moysen . . . » et consentit Syrus (12), dum chald. Y1w etiam ut hebr. *» utramque in se significationem complectitur ; femporalem praeferunt Sa* Mar. Tir. , dum LXX, Aq. Sym. Theod. vertunt dvi. xatz, vel ótt vjxiog ; et revera utradue significatio, uti in germanico da, potius in unam coalescit. Israel dilectus a Deo, quando erat in Aegypto parvulus, et quia erat quasi puer « sui impos, se regere impotens, neglectus ab omnibus, ab Aegyptiis oppressus et neci destinatus opisque indigus, . . solet enim puerorum parvitas, imbecillitas et pericula matres allicere ad eorum amorem et curam » (Lap.). Idque potissimum, quia « de sanctorum stirpe descendens, in ipsis mihi consecratus fuerat exordiis et inter tot gentes toto orbe dispersas, unus populus qui Israel vocaretur, electus est, cuius merita affectione praeveniens meum puerum, meum, inquam, filium nuncupavi » (Ps. Ruf.). Verba alludunt ad Ex. 4, 22: « filius meus primogenitus Israel, dimitte filium meum » ; cf. Deut. 32, 6. Is. 14,2; aservitute eos liberavit et dignitate theocratica insignivit: « vos eritis mihi in regnum sacerdotale et gens sancta, ... in peculium de cunctis populis » (Ex. 19, 85. 6). Paucis plurima complexus, quid Deus pro populo fecerit, inculcat ; neque unquam continuam illorum curam dimisit, dum eos per prophetas doceret et assiduo ad se cultumque suum vocaret v. 2. Ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum (LXX «& c&xva ; sim. Chald., dum hebr. Aq. Sym. Theod. singularem numerum rite exhibent), quia « Israel singulariter qui- dem dicitur, sed pluraliter intelligitur » (Hier.). Verum cum totum vetus testamentum ex Dei ordinatione umbra sit corporis venturi, i. e. Christi (cf. Col. 9, 11) et proinde ita sit constitutum, ut revera adumbratis lincamentis Christum referret et in figura et umbra repraesentaret eum, qui populi pars et propago nobilissima (cf. Lap. Tir.) futurus erat, via sternitur ad intelligendam S. Matthaci argumentationem 2, 15, Christum fuisse in Aegypto, indeque esse vocatum, ut adimpleretur, quod dictum est a Domino per prophetam dicentem : ex Aegypto vocavi filium meum. Deus enim tempora messianica delineat et praedicit vel conceptis verbis vel ipso cursu rerum, quae sint adumbrationes, figurae, tvpi rerum futurarum. Nam, uti bene notat S. Thomas (Quodlib. VII. qu. 6 art. 16) : « sicut enim homo potest adhibere ad aliquid significandum aliquas voces vel aliquas similitudines fictas, ita Deus adhibet ad significationem aliquorum ipsum cursum rerum suae providentiae subiectarum... spiritualis sensus s. Scripturae aecipitur ex hoc, quod res cursum suum peragenutes significant aliquid aliud, quod per spiritualem sensum accipitur. Sic autem ordinantur res in cursu suo, ut ex iis talis sensus possit accipi, quod eius solius est, qui sua providentia res gubernat, qui solus Deus est ». Idque eo magis congruum esse videtur, quia vetus testamentum foedus Dei et praeparatio quaedam est et prima quasi delineatio regni Dei, quod constituturus erat per Christum in universis gentibus ; sane igitur decuit, ut initia foederis iam repraesentarent quasi in germine et inchoata quadam conformatione foedus illud sublime et aeternum, ut regni praeparatio et prima delineatio iam exhiberet potissima illa lineamenta, quibus regnum illud constare demum debuit. Ita consilii divini unitas, providentiae maiestas, potentiae sublimitas egregie illustratur. ' — Quae vero intercedat inter populum Israel vocatum ex Aegypto et puerum Iesum rerum similitudo, vide apud Rib. Sanct., vel etiam accuratius et plenius apud. Frassen ( Disquisit. bibl. IV 6 n. 10. ed. 2; Lucae 1769 ; I p. 397). Populum, quem Deus in filium adoptaverat, continua cura et institutione cireumdedit et fovit; sed quid populus rependit?
Orationis nexum et vim bene declarat Ps. Ruf.:« contextio explanationis vim censoris ostendit, qui praeteritae nobilitatis ad hoc inferat mentionem, ut'eos graviter urat, quos degenerasse conqueritur. Enumeratis ergo criminibus denuntiatisque suppliciis intulit subito memoriam praeteritae dignitatis, ac si diceret : en dolor, en lacrimae! et quod hoc genus hominum est, quod sub tanta vilitate censetur ? Post quae veluti suscepta responsione proclamát » :
11:2
v. 2 « vocaverunt eos, sic abierunt a facie eorum ; Baalim immolabant et simulacris sacrificabant » ; — vocationem illam et invitationem Deus per tempora subsequentia populo sine ulla interruptione per seriem prophetarum promulgavit ; vocaverunt, non tantum Moyses et Aaron (Alb. Sanct. Rib.), verum ii, qui serie non interrupta Dei mandata continuo ad populum deferebant, prophetae (cf. Sa, Mar. Lap.) *. At Israel vocem Dei sprevit. Dene Chald. : « misi prophetas meos ad eos docendos ; illi autem a conspectu eorun vagati sunt » ; sic abierunt ; plerique similitudinis notam in priore membro supplent ; ita LXYX xa6o; perexaAécato a)to0g, oUctwg &xüyovto, «resiluerunt sic, quomodo vocati sunt i. e. secundum universam multitudinem et secundum tribus, totum genus, totae familiae ; sic enim quondam de Aegypto exierunt » ( Cyr. Theoph.) ; ita Syrus; ita Rib. Sanct. Schegg, Keil; at particula 2 id non exigit, cum saepius sine comparatione instituta vim sententiae augeat et affirmet ( uti 2X ), vel oppositum quoddam ad antecedentia cum emphasi efferat; cf. Ps. 61, 9; 63, 3 (hebr.). Prov. 11, 19; 98, 2. Ps. 48, 6 ; 90, 12 ( hebr.) ; abierunt i. e. animo et mente ab iis, qui vocarunt et monuerunt, recesserunt, terga iis verterunt cum comtemptu, suam scil. libidinem et cupiditatem sequentes, et ad quid abierint, addit, ad idololatriam.scil., cui iam in deserto operam dabant et quam semper adeo perfracte retinuerunt ( cf. 4 Reg. 1], 8. Ez. 16, 15; 20, 8. Amos 5, 23. 26); Baalim, varios modos innuit, quibus Baal nominabatur et colebatur (cf. Iud. 2, 41. 4 Sam. "1, 4. 1 Reg. 18, 18) etstmulaeris thura adolebant ( hebr.) i. e. statuis et symbolis, quibus Baal et Astarte repraesentabantur. .— Et tamen Deus tenera cura et sollicitudine eos prosequebatur
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v. 3 « et ego quasi nutricius Ephraim, portabam eos in brachiis meis ; et nescicrunt, quod. curarem eos » ; — cf. Deut. 4, 315; 32, 11. Is. 40, 11; 46, 3. 4; 63, 9; hebr. un ! (a 931), ambulare facere, conducere, gressus dirigere, quod quia nutricis est, S. llier. genus posuit universum pro actione singulari ?, Syrus et Chald. notionem ducendi exprimunt ; e. g. hic : « et ego per angelum missum a facie mea deduxi Israel per viam rectam... » ; neque solum ductor viae fuit, verum lassos et fatigatos sinu et brachiis exceptos portabat, ? uti pater portat et sinu fovet parvulum filium suum ; hoc symbolo tenerrimam curam, sollicitam custodiam, insignem protectionem, maxima beneficia, paternam dilectionem et maternam prorsus teneritudinem depingit. At quid illi retribuere solebant? nescierunt i. e. tot ac tantis potentiae divinae et. benignitatis documen- 1. Forma ex chaldaico deprompta, pro 5 hebraico, quam grammatici tiphel vcl faphel vocant, uti Syri schaphel et sim. 9. Vel formam quandam a verbo 13 legit; priorem lectionem commendant LXX avv- £x00:0a, quam vocem de nutrice explicant, quae infantis pedes complexa infantem portet (cf. Theoph.) ; alii vero de dispersorum collectione (TAeod. M.); Cyr. praeter illam explanationem etiam adnotat, Hebraeorum aliorumque editionem habere: y£yovey &; ctÜryó; tc '"Egpat. 3. Textus mas. exprimit 3. personam : portabat cos Dnp super brachia sua — at certe tis non sunt eruditi, non perceperunt et intellexerunt, Dominum esse solum servatorem et medicum Israel (cf. 6, 1), eum tamquam talem noluerunt agnoscere, colere, venerari, sed eum neglexerunt, abiecerunt ; nam hoc est nescire Dominum. Vim sententiae perpendit Sanct. : « omnem sensum omnino exuisse videtur ille, qui cum alterius gestetur in sinu, qui illi de cibo opportuno ac delicato provideat, ignoret tamen, unde tam promptum habeat alimentum. Nescire vero dicitur aliquis, qui licet ingenio sit acuto et quid erga se fiat, probe cognoscat, nihil tamen refert officii ac gratiae ». Curam hanc per longa saecula populo ingrato impensam et beneficentiae suae conatus repetitos delineat ulterius
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v. 4 « in funiculis Adam traham ! eos, in. vinculis charitatis et ero eis quasi exaltans iugum super mazillas eorum ; et declinavi ad. eum ut vesceretur » ; — UN « pro Adam Aquila et Symmachus et LXX et Theodotio homines transtulerunt, ut dicerent in funiculis hominum » ( Hier.) i. e. funiculis illis, quibus ligari homines solent ac trahi, nempe beneficiis et amore (cf. Ephr. Rib. Sanct. Sa, Mar. Men. Tir.); idque etiam parallelismus membrorum exigere videtur in. vinculis charitatis i. e. amore, benignitate, officiis, quibus ceteroquin animi hominum capiuntur; illi vero omni lapide duriores nulla beneficentia emolliti sunt neque adstricti, est enim « durissimae cervicis populus » (Deut. 9, 6. 13. 31, 91. Ex. 34, 9 etc. ). Solus Aib. : « funiculi Adam poenae sunt et maledictiones, quibus vinctus est Adam a Domino, cum peccaret » ; Dei in populum benevolentiam et beneficia etiam reliqua membra describunt : ?ugum ezxaltans super mazillas ; sensus generatim est : laborem et molestiam iis alleviabam ; « utitur metaphora agricolae boni, qui iugum bobus adimit, ut quiescant et comedant » (Rib.). Ceterum locutionem rite explanant Rib. Sanct. Lap. Sa, Mar. Men. Tir. mentionem iniicientes de capistro ct. freno, quod cum iugo coniunctum erat et ori indebatur et maxillas stringebat ; et ita àugum ad os et maxillas pervenit et sublato capistro iugum exaltari super maxillas, iugum tolli a maxillis dici poterat. Aufertur capistrum, ut pabula captent boves ; quare pergens in eadem mcetophora addit et declinavi ad eum ut vesceretur, abunde Deus populo suo alimenta providit, non solum enim dedit eis escam manna in deserto (Hier.), sed etiam terram optimam concessit ct frugum abundantiam (cf. Textus mas. habet 1x2x* ; formam verbalem. veteres versiones. exprimunt : « inter- 1. Ea quae repetita vice fiunt diuque durant, iu hebr. tempore imperf. (fut.) dicuntur, quod S. Hier. modo per imperfectum e. gr. v. 2, mcdo per futurum vertit. pretatus est Sym. : e£ declinavi ad eum cibos » ( Hier.) ; Syrus : « et inclinavi eis et comedebant » ; Chald. : «etin deserto multiplicavi eis bona ad comedendum » ; erit igitur legendum *aN'*,, fut. a 122, notione eadem, qua Gen. 39, 21. Is. 66, 12 scil. dare, porrigere. Alii textum mas. sequentes 'ON per modum adverbii explicant, uti 1 Reg. 21, 17 (hebr.) et sim. ONU Is. 8, 6. 2 Sam. 18, 6. Iob 15, 11 (?) significatione placide, quiete (Lap.), suaviter ; dein bv23x-youw, uti sim. T'as Ter. 46, 8 (cf. Keil); sed ad hanc explicationem difficile 1'5x adaptatur, unde versio prior et emendatio textus mas. praeferri debet. LXX initium versus vertunt £v 6x20092 &v020zwv ( forte an dolores, vel 5an inane, vanum, iniquitas ?), quod aliqui iungunt cum antecedentibus : sano ipsos in corruptione hominum (Cyr.J, scil. alios populos pessum dedi, Israel sanavi ; alii cum sequentibus : cum lege hominum perituri fuissent, eripui ipsos arcano modo amori meo copulans ( Theod. M.), vel a pernicie hostium eos liberavi ( Theod. ) ; alterum membrum explicant LXX xxt £10 £coyxt a0tot; ó; paxiQov &vy0pwno; &xi tX; cinióva; ajzo9, omittunt unum by sicut codices aliqui ( Scholz) et maxillam ferire tamquam leve ac mite poenae genus interpretantur Cyr. Theod. Theoph. Tertium demum membrum : «ai &ztgMéopat xpóz aotóv, óovicopat aoo ; legerunt scil. Y9*3N et b3'N (a 525); id quod de minis interpretantur : torve eum intuebor, ut certe fortitudinem meam cognoscat (Theod. Theod. M.); at S. Cyr. explicat de aspectu benevolo, quo Deus doctrina et virtute rebelles sibi animos subiiciens contra nos sed in bonum nostrum praevaleat.—Simul haec versio est. exemplo, quomodo ex iisdem fere consonantibus hebr. exigua mutatione sensus plane diversus colligatur. Ceterum Aq. Sym. Theod. textum hebr. satis presse sequuntur ( cf. cod. syr. hexapl.). Cum igitur adeo abusi sint divinis beneficiis et amore, Dominus eos abiicit et duris tradit tyrannis
11:5
v. 9. « non revertetur in terram Aegypti et Assur ipse rez eius, quoniam noluerunt converti » ; — contextus omnino exigit, ut prius etiam membrum minas intentet ; est ergo sensus : non condemnabo eos tali servitute, qualem olim in Aegypto servierunt et quam norunt, verum Assur, cuius iugum est utpote ignotum, terribilius, sit dominator eorum ac tyrannus ; durius enim est poenam minitari ?gnotam, quam contumax nondum est expertus, quam eam, quam iam saepius subiit et ad quam propterea callum fere obduxit. Ita orationis vis et emphasis habetur. Os. 11, 5-7 145 cum S. Hier. etiam Syrus et Chald. Dei monitionibus aures praebere noluerunt, quare etiam Deus in servitutem eos tradet illius regis, quem nolunt ; alias Dominus est et vocatur rex populi sui ; nunc Assur hoc nomine insignitur, quo indicio foederis populique abiectio quam maxime declaratur. llli vero servituti post stragem et vastationem colla submittent (cf.
11:6
9, 1) v. 6« coepit. gladius in civitatibus eius et. consumet electos eius et comedet capita eorum » ; — « coepit gladius, sive irruet !, ut interpretatus est Aq. aut vulnerabit, ut Sym. transtulit. Et vide quantum pondus sit miseriarum, ut non agri vel possessiones ac rura vastentur, sed medias civitates hostis introeat et consumat electos eius, sive brachia illius, ut interpretatus est Sym. ... et devoret capita vel consilia eorum » (Hier.). Hisce verbis S. Hier. iam deprehendimus, quomodo textum hebr. intellexerit. LXX xi 558£vro:v Gouziix ; sim. Syrus. Recentiores explicant girabit, circumibit gladius, saepe perculiet cf. Ier. 30, 23 a verbo 5n ; dein et delebit. vectes eius et. devorabit propter consilia eorum; LXX non "73 legerunt sed 1*T*2 &v tai; yspst» aox09. uti Syrus quoque. S. Hier. 113 membra praecipua reipublicae intellexit, uti Chald. verüt forles ; QYT3 rami sunt arboris, inde analogia quadam, ut videtur, membra corporis, et alia analogia*: vecles et repagula (ef. Ez. 17, 6; 19, 1&. Iob. 18, 13; 4f, &. Ex. 25, 13; 27, 6 etc). Quo sensu h. l. vox adhibeatur, non adeo liquet : gladio enim vectes ac repagula civitatis absumi, satis durum et alienum est ; nobiles vero et principes dici vel vectes vel fulcra civitatis, fortasse tolerari potest, cum etiam clypei &, 18 nominentur. In tali calamitate frustra Dominum auxiliatorem praestolabuntur ; tempus enim adest iugi et servitutis ineluctabilis : talis videtur esse sensus textus vulg. v. "1 «et populus meus pendebit ad. reditum meum ; iugum autem imponetur eis simul, quod non. auferetur » ; — « tunc plebs miserabilis, quae ad me reverti noluit, meum ad se reditum praestolabitur... quia peccata grandia grandibus sunt punienda suppliciis, imponent eis qui derelicti fuerint de populo (rege eorum ac principibus assyrio mucrone truncatis) iugum gravissimum servitutis et imponent pariter, quod non auferetur iuxta literam, nisi spiritualiter tollatur in Christo » (Hier.) ; sim. Ps. Ruf. seris precibus et gemitibus ingratis fore ait ut populus exposcat, ut Dominus auxiliator fieri dignetur ; et ita etiam plerique latini explicant (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Sa, Men. Tir.) ; Alb. vero exponit de populi resipiscentia, qua ipsi ad Deum redire desiderant ; alii sensu contrario : haesitat, an ad me redeat ? necne (cf. Lap.). opertus cst. 2. Hoc sensu otiam Syrus explicat : haesitat in reditu ad me, et Chaid. in reditu ad legem S. Hier. certe legit os-bN i. e. ad iugum vocabunt eum ; textus mas. habet oy-bw. LXX easdem fere literas legerunt : 6 6€ 0cóz £xi 1x típix abtoU. 0ujo07zoetat SY. by 5w* (cf. Syrus : Deum. vocabunt); in priore membro legerunt 3iwa3 xatomxía, (cf. Gen 27, 39 xa1oíix5s), pro. 3*0 aposfasia, rebellio, aversio, quam vocem S. Hier. alias transtulit aversionem (cf. Ier. 2, 19; 3, 22; 5, 6. Prov. 1, 32 ; infra 14, 5 contritiones) ; sicut etiam h. l. capi debet (cf. Mar.). Hebr. igitur verte : po- pulus meus suspensus est (fixus est) in. aversione a me i. e. pertinaciter rebellioni contra me adhaerescent (de Non cf. Deut. 28, 66. 2 Sam. 21, 12). Quae sequuntur : et ad superna (sursum !) vocant eum, simul (tamen) non extollit (caput) i. e. etsi quis populum adhortetur sursum ! vel surge! tamen non extollit caput — vix apte dicuntur ; nam locutio oy-oN sursum vel ad superna vocare, satis mira videtur et magis ad recentiorem loquendi modum efformata ; dein : non vult caput extollere, ut iugum denuo adaptetur i. e. rebelles sunt et contumaces, videtur esse metaphora longe petita, neque in antecedentibus praeparata, neque in verbo simplici latens, nisi suppleveris quae praecipua sunt. Quare in hac altera parte sensus quem effert S. Hier. planior est et facilior et commode etiam ex hebr. fluit, dummodo 5 legas pro 59. et Qu pro B'231! ; praeterea aptissime cohaeret cum sequentibus ; immo ea supponunt, comminationem ruinae ineluctabilis praecessisse et irae inexorabilis mentionem esse ingestam. Denique iugum exprimunt Aq. Sym. Theod. (cf. cod. syr. hexapl.).
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v. 8 « Quomodo dabo te, Ephraim? protegam te Israel ! quomodo dabo te sicut Adama, ponam te, ut Seboim »? — dare est tradere hostibus (cf. Mich. 5, 3), ut rite expressit Chald. ; ait Dominus : quomodo te Ephraim, cui Iacob patriarcha benedixit, penitus deseram et abiiciam ? Eundem sensum alterum membrum in hebr. habet, ati S. Hier. agnoscit in explanatione : « in hebr. scriptum est amaggenach (33328), quod Aq. transtulit verbum 23 Gen. 14, 20 tradere ; haec notio contextui nostro apta est, quamquam etiam LXX et Syrus priorem sequantur. Vulg. sensus hic est : sed qui possem te tradere hostibus et penitus abiicere? Immo te protegam, te fovebo! qui enim possem te funditus evertere, ut Adama et Seboim? Hae sunt urbes Pentapoleos, quae simul cum Sodoma et Gomorrha iusto Dei iudicio eversae sunt (Deut. 29, 23) ; urbes istae in exemplum abierunt destructionis, quam nulla sequatur instauratio ; cf. Is. 13, 19. Ier. 49, 48 (cf. Mal. 1, 4) 50, 40. Soph. 9, 9. Etiam has sententias esse interrogatione legendas, contextus omnino suadet et iam diserte monet Alb. quatuor esse quaestiones ; sim. Sa, Tir., et interpunctatione vulg. indicatur. Sunt tamen qui cum S. Hier. aliter distinguunt: quomodo dabo te? i. c. « quid faciam tibi, qua te arte corripiam? quo potero sanare medicamine ? Sicut Adama ct Seboim ponam te . . . ponam itaque et vertam te in solitudinem et delebo usque ad cineres atque favillas, sicut delevi Adama et Seboim » (Hier.), et sim. Haimo, Rup. Rib. Mar. ; suffragantur LXX «t ce ótx00) ; & 'Aóaux Üfcouaxt ce x«l xg Xefjottu, saltem secundum explicationem Cyr. Theod. Theoph., dum Theod. M. potius priorem amplectatur, cum dicat : « auxilio certe te dignum non iudico, contra vero dignum tibi impositum iri supplicium cognosco, si catastrophen illam patieris, quae Sodomae.. contigit ». In explicatione S. Hier. maior cernitur Dei indignatio : « quomodo te tractabo, an protegam te ? nullo modo ; quin potius poenas sumam, funditus te delebo » ! Et hac sententia et condemnatione prolato viscera Dei commoventur miserantis ; misericordia ductus sententiam revocat (ef.Cyr. Theod.). Sed quamvis hac ratione affectuum quaedam varietas et orationis pathos oriatur, tamen admitti nequit, cum prima iam interrogatio ex hebr. misericordem Deum demonstret '. Hanc misericordiam conceptis verbis proponit et rationem affert, cur non omni severitate animadvertat in Israel sed post ruinam concedat instaurationem : « conversum est tn me cor meum, pariter conturbata est poenitudo mea » ;—i. e. cor habet patris amantissimi, viscera misericordiae, quae maxime commoventur spectata filii miseria ; « intimo animi sensu quasi poenitens conturbor » (Tir.), dum filii calamitatem mente contemplor, dum iudicia in eum devolvo. Hebr. commotae sunt. (acmota fuerant viscera eius super fratre suo » et 3 Reg. 3, 26. Haec viscerum Dei commotio optime depingit Patrem, qui non vult mortem peccatoris, sed ut convertatur et vivat ; tangitur scil. dolore cordis intrinsecus hominum miseriis; dum punit, misericordia praevalet adeoque diligit populum electum, ut dicat apud Ier. 31, 20 quasi admirabundus : num revera Ephraim adeo dilectus est mihi et in tantum filius deliciarum, ut etsi contra eum locutus sim, tamen eius memoriam continuo servem et viscera mea super eum conturbentur ? * Quare ruinam populi sanabit :
Transitum ad sequentia bene innuit S. Hier. :« quia videbatur dura sententia nequaquam eis locum poenitentiae derelinquens, nunc Deus parentisad Israel loquitur affectu », est enim memor beneficiorum et pacti initi et promissionum et suae misericordiae ; quomodo igitur eos penitus posset conterere (cf. Ps. Ruf.) ? Quare miserantis affectu quaerit
11:9
v. 9 « non faciam furorem irae meae, non convertar ut disperdam Ephraim, quoniam Deus ego et non homo, in medio tui sanctus, el non ingrediar civitatem » ; — i. e. non penitus destruam ; furor irae vel ardor, aestus irae est Dei iustitia, quae punit nulla habita misericordiae ratione tantum, quantum peccatum meretur i. e. nulla veniae spe ostensa vel generatim vel pro particulari quodam iudicio, quod iamiam devolvendum sit ?. Et ab hoc misericordiae consilio ait se nunquam recessurum non convertar ; dona enim Dei sine poenitentia sunt et si quid absolute vult et promittit, nulla hominum malitia et perversitate a sententia abducitur. Cur nolit disperdere Ephraim, rationem affert : quoniam Deus ego et non homo ; id varie elucidant vel a divina veracitate : Deus ego et verbum meum in aeternum permanet (Chald.) et firmitate consilii atque constantia, vel communius adivina clementia, cui proprium est salvare, misereri, parcere : « homo ad hoc punit, ut perdat ; Deus ad hoc corripit, ut emendet... lapsis manum porrigit, errantes ad salutem vocat » (S. Hier.) ; divinam clementiam non potest hominum improbitas exhaurire, sicut exhaurit quotidie atque exstinguit humanam (Sanct. ; sim. Cyr. Theoph. Tir.). Deus enim servator est et salutis largitor (cf. Ex. 34, 6. 7]. Is. 12, 2. 3), cuius miserationes sunt super omnia opera eius (Ps. 144, 9). — Alia ratio in Dei sanctitate cernitur, qua se in medio Israel manifestat : utpote sanctus iustitiam et sanctitatem vult et in populo, quem sibi elegit et separavit a gentibus, hanc sanctitatis normam valere et exprimi desiderat; cum igitur tamquam talis in medio Israel habitet, quomodo opus suum frustrari et excidere pateretur ? Ut sanctus non est auctor excidii, sed iustitiae effector ; quare non ingrediar civitatem sc. ad eam vastandam et perdendam, uti ingressus est Pentapolin, ad quam alludit (ita Ps. Ruf. Sanct. Rib. Men. Tir.), non ingrediar tamquam hostis, qui omnia indiscriminatim percutiat (Rup.). Verba haec varie explicant : numquis me impediat, ne ingrediar et te puniam (Sa) ? non ingrediar in aliam civitatem neque habitabo, nisi in lerusalem (Chald. Mar. — at ita id suppletur, quod rei caput est) ; non ingrediar ad liberandam civitatem (Ephr.) ; non habito ego, uti homines solent; non moenibus concludor, non more hominum ago (cf. Hier. Theod. Theod. M. Theoph. — sed quorsum talia ?) ; S. Cyr. haec verba loquentem facit Iudam : i. e. murum habebo Deum, securitatem et tutamen et spem in ipsum mihi faciam, ipse solus mihi ad salutem sufficiet, non opus est ingredi civitatem, ut ab hoste sim securus — sed etiam hic quod praecipuum est, suppleri debet, neque ullum adest in textu vestigium, Iudam loqueutem induci. Alii demum Y quam vocem veteres unanimiter urbem intellexerunt et quae in locutione adeo obvia a nemine Hebraeorum aliter concipi potest (cf. Hitz.), etymologia ab «y effervescere excogitata explanant : non veniam in e[fervescentia, in aestu irae (cf. Keil, Trochon) — sed haec significatio voci nullibi inest, neque ler. 15, 8. Apud Danielem ?'? custos invenitur ; unde si beth essentiae quod vocant in subsidium vocatur, explicari posset : non veniam tamquam custos, ultor — at et vocis significatio longius abest pro Hebraeis et ipsa sententia, Deum non esse venturum ultorem, rei omnino contradicit ; nam venit ultor et custos legis violatae ; et si exceperis, praedici eum ultra post instaurationem iam non puniturum, id iterum textui inseris, quod rei caput est. Quare cum nullum subsidium emendandi textus suppetat, vel explicationi propositae acquiescas oportet, vel vulnus textus insanabile profitearis. Hucusque promisit, se non penitus deleturum Israel. Iam magis distincte enuntiat, qualis futura sit ipsa instauratio
11:10
v. 10 « post Dominum ambulabunt, quasi leo rugiet ; quia ipse rugiet et formidabunt filii maris » ; — praecipua instaurationis praecellentia et indoles est, ut omni religione et fide Domino adhaereant ; antea recesserunt a Domino idola secuti ; tunc iam non post idola ibunt sed totis animis Deum sequentur (cf. 2, 11; 3, 5) : haec summa est instaurationis. Quomodo autem ad illam adducendi sint, declarat dicens : quas: leo rugiet.. Deus voce sua potenti, cui resistere et obniti non audebunt, eos ab errore et scelere revocabit ; et emphasis gratia repetit : utique ipse rugiet ; leone autem rugiente omnes bestiae contremiscunt ; quis resistet, si Dominus de Sion rugiet, si leo de Iuda vocem dederit ad regnum aeternum stabiliendum (cf. Gen. 49, 8-10. Is. 66, 6. Amos 1, 2. Ier. 25, 30)? Quare formidabunt i. e. trementes accurrent filii de mari (hebr.) i. e. de regione longinqua maritima, a partibus occidentalibus ; hae enim partes apud Hebraeos maris nomine designantur ; filii igitur Dei congregabuntur ad Dei vocem ex terris remotissimis ; has alio etiam schemate indicat
11:11
v. 11 « et avolabunt quasi avis ex Aegypto et quasi columba de terra Assyriorum, et collocabo eos in domibus suis, dicit Dominus » ; — triplici designatione (maris, Aegypti, Assur) pro temporum ratione filios Dei ex universis terris congregandos innuit, quos Dominus pacifice terram inhabitare faciet ; in hebr. repetitur : formidabunt i. e. trementes advolabunt quasi avis 1. e. magna cum multitudine et celeritate, et quasi columba, quae magno studio et velocitate et stupenda quadam certitudine columbare ex dissita etiam regione exquirit et invenit (cf. Is. 60, 8). Concludit effatum Domini addens, quo quasi sigillo apposito rei veritatem divina veracitate et potentia confirmat et testatur. Vaticinium hoc expositores graeci (Cyr. Theod. Theoph.) et Tir. de reditu ex captivitate babylonica explicant, et leonem rugientem Cyrum interpretantur ad reditum invitantem, trementes autem filios aquarum hostes intelligunt trementes et timentes piscium instar et piscium in modum captu faciles, Babylonios scil. quos Cyrus devicerit (cf. Cyr.). Alii ad tempora messianica unice referunt. Audi S. Hier. : « haec Hebraei ad adventum Christi referunt, quem sperant esse venturum ; nos iam transacta convincimus, quia et de Aegypto et de Assyriis, hoc est, ab oriente et occidente et ab aquilone et meridie venerunt et quotidie veniunt, qui discumbunt cum Abraham, Isaac et Iacob » ; sim. Haimo, Rup. Sa, Rib. Mar. Men. Scholz, ita ut qui ex gentibus facti sint filii Dei, cum timore ac reverentia accedant simul cum populo electo hostium terroribus erepto (Is. 14, 1.2; 49, 14; 60, 9. Amos 9, 12). Alii mediam quandam viam tenentes haec historice de captivi populi revocatione, typice vero et potissimum de Evangelii tempore esse intelligenda docent (cf. Sanct. Lap.). Valere de tempore post iudicium in Israel devolutum, adeoque non posse exponi neque de ipsa calamitate ingruente, neque de Ezechiae tempore qui omnes ad Dei cultum invitaverit (2 Par. 30 — cf. apud Lap.), verba ipsa et contextus ratio (cf. v. 7. 9) clarissime demonstrant. Instaurationis igitur tempus delineant, idque eo modo, quo prophetae solent. Reditum scil. in Palaestinam vates annuntiat et indolem instaurationis spiritualem, quae in Dei legis observatione consistat, clare designat. Proinde generali quadam ratione normam proponit, secundum quam theocratia erit restituenda. Ipsam theocratiam novam uno conspectu et complexu exhibet, ea quae tempore separata sunt et paulatim per sua incrementa augescunt, vel ea, quibus praeparantur, non inter se discernens, sed communi et universali modo proponens. Et revera reditu in Palaestinam, ad quem invitabantur omnes, respublica ludaeorum denuo est constituta, in qua multi fideliter Domino servierunt, donec initiis istis et praeparatione praemissis messianica illa theocratia universalis fundaretur ODE gentes sinu suo exciperet (cf. 2, 18; 3, 5). Demum argumentum orationis complectens et apostasiam factam et conversionem futuram quasi per modum epiphonematis effert ultimo versu, quem LXX rite ita exhibent : cireumdedit me in mendacio Ephraim et in impietate domus Israel et Iuda ; nunc cognovit eos Deus et populus sanctus vocabitur Dei; mendacium est idololatria, est apostasia a Deo, utpote foederis violatio et sollemnis promissionis et fidelitatis neglectio turpissima (cf. 4, 2; 7, 1. 3; 10, 13). Hisce sceleribus Dominum quasi operuerunt, totam Dei terram oppleverunt ac macularunt, tali quasi comitatu Dominum, qui tabernaculum suum inter eos fixerat, stipantes honorarunt vel tanta scelerum cohorte in Dominum undique ac coustanter impetum fecerunt (cf. Ps. 171, 5 ; 21, 11 circumdare de impetu hostili). Ita vetus populi conditio. At quaenam subsecutura est instauratio? nunc cognovit.. Deus populum suum non repulit, sed tamquam suum agnoscit, ad se attrahit, suo amore suisque donis exornat, — in oppositione ad 14, 6; 4,6; 5, 6; 8, 4; 9, 13. 1'1— itaut denuo sit et agnoscatur ab omnibus veluti populus ille, quem Deus sibi elegerit, qui et habitu externo et moribus sit populus Deo consecratus, sanctus, uti decet populum Dei, qui est in medio eius sanctus ( v. 9). Bene Theod. M.: « familiares mihi omnes faciam ( cixeiósoyat) ; hoc enim valet locutio illa novi eos; et quidem in numero esse meorum facta ipsa docebunt, quoniam tot tantaque bona me adiuvante assequentur ». S. Cyr. legit et explicat : templum sanctum (vaz;, pro Aa2;) vocabitur Dei. E Hunc esse genuinum textum, multa suadent ; imprimis, quia sensus optimus est et brevi formula antecedentia apte complectitur et quia ex altera parte textus hebr. et vulg. non solum obscurus est, verum, uti iacet, intelligi plane nequit;
11:12
v. 19 « circumdedit me in megattone Ephraim et in dolo domus Israel ; Iudas autem testis descendit. cum Deo et cum sanctis fidelis » ; — in hebr. et Judas adhuc descendit ( vel dominatur ?) cum Deo et cum sanctis fidelis '. Prior pars clara est ; negatio est apostasia, qua in Deum impetum fecerunt ; dolus est perversitas illa, inconstantia, fallacia, hypocrisis, qua et Deum et idola venerati sunt moribus pariter corruptis. Verum quid altera pars? Ad eam explanandam Hebraeos fabulam tradidisse iam meminit Hier., Iudam scil. ceteris tribubus desperantibus salutem in persecutione Pharaonis ad mare rubrum descendisse cum Deo in mare et inter sanctos fuisse fidelissimum. Commentum hoc rabbinicum id saltem demonstrat, locum hunc visum esse ita praeter rem et contextum adeoque obscurum, ut fabula excogitata opus esset. S. Hier. explanat : ludas i. e. duae tribus quae habebant templum, legem, prophetas, erant testes gradientesque cum Deo et cum sanctis, i. e. vel cum angelis, vel patriarchis et prophe- -. 4. S. Hier, legit vy testis ;. textus mas. fert 37 adhuc ; 13 varie. explicant ; iam S. Hier. Dotat : « rad ct descensionem et fortitudinem significat ; pro quo Aq. traustulit £ztxpatttav ». 1 alii derivant a 13 vagatur. cum. Deo i. e. Deum uegligeus (? — Fürst L.) vel lascive agit cum Deo (Fürst C. keil) ; alii pro. t'* descendit i. e. revertitur in terram suam (Scholz — sed lud 19, 21 *t* scribitur) ; alii a zy13 doninatur. tis et ceteris Dei servis fideles (sim. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Sa, Men. Tir.). At nemo non videt, tales laudes minime Iudaeis attribui posse, neque unquam attribui a prophetis ; aliud Osee de Iuda nos docet (cf. 4, 15; 9, 8. 10. 12. 13. 14; 6, 4. 11; 8, 14) et Iudam scelerum consortem describit eo modo, quo hic LXX rem exhibent. Haémo : « vir ecclesiasticus (Iudas-qui laudat Deum) non superbit, sed humiliatur cum Deo et cum sanctorum choro fidelis est » (sim. Rup.) ; Alb. verba refert ad humilem dominationem domus David ; alii : dominatur cum Deo i. e. Dei ope dominium retinebit et cum sanctis i. e. Deo sancto fidelis erit ac stabilis (Mar.). Haec explanatio id commodi habet, ut conditionem futuram prosperam adumbret; at verba aegre eam suscipiunt, praeprimis nm"Ütp non potest dici de Deo, cum 5X praecedat, et pluralem maicstaticum fingere non liceat. Textus igitur hebr. et latinus insanabili vulnere laborat, neque in eo exponendo frustra sudandum est. Syrus ita habet : circumdedit me in mendacio Ephraim, et domus Israel et luda in dolo (nota contra textum hebr. et latin. quo loco Iuda ponatur!), donec descenderet populus Dei, populus sanctus et fidelis (nota populus sanctus : ergo Up O7 non a"P'rp ey). Chald. : « et qui de domo Iuda, validi fuerunt in cultu, donec abduceretur populus Dei de terra sua et ii qui serviunt coram me in domo sanctuarii, vocantur populus sanctus ; tunc erant stabiles » ; etiam hic populus sanctus cum textu LXX consonat. Textus hebr. quem LXX supponunt, non multum in literarum forma discrepat a mas.; quod ut cernatur, utrumque subiicio : LXX : ?2w* vTp an 5x DYT! Uy ;mas.:TON2 D'vtTp Dy N Dy T1 "Y (cf. ad *ow* 2, 4. Is. 19, 18 ; 32, 9; 01, 6, 62, 4 etc).
11:1
… 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). …
11:8
… valley of Siddim by Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, aided by three other kings (Gen. 14:1-9). A. was destroyed, along with the other guilty cities, by the cataclysm that struck Sodom and Gomorrah, within whose "circle" it lay (Gen. 19:24; cf. Deut. 29:23; Hos. 11:8).
The four cities became the type of perversity and of the ruin that follows it (Deut. 29:22; Sodom, Ex. 16:79; Sodom and Gomorrah Is. 1:9; 13:19; Jer. 23:14; 48:18; 50:40; Am. 2:9; Admah and Zeboiim Hos. 11:8). "A witness to so much wickedness remains a smoking wasteland and trees that bear unripe fruit, and, in memory of an unbelieving soul, a standing pillar of salt" (Wis. 10:6).
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.