God’s threats against the priests, the people, and princes of Israel, for their idolatry.
The prophet reprehendeth the priestes, and princes of both kingdomes, for drawing the people to idolatrie. 8. denouncing captiuitie for the same.
1Hear ye this, O priests, and hearken, O ye house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for there is a judgment against you, because you have been a snare to them whom you should have watched over and a net spread upon Thabor.Udite adesso, o sacerdoti, pon mente tu, o casa d'Israele, e tu, casa del re, ascolta: perocché di voi dee farsi giudizio, mentre in cambio di sentinelle siete divenuti lacciuolo, e rete tesa sul Thabor.HEARE ye this ô priestes, and attend ye house of Israel, and you the kinges house harken: because there is iudgement for you, because you are become a snare to speculation, and a nette spred vpon Thabor.Audite hoc, sacerdotes, / et attendite, domus Israël, / et domus regis, auscultate: / quia vobis judicium est, / quoniam laqueus facti estis speculationi, / et rete expansum super Thabor. 2And you have turned aside victims into the depth and I am the teacher of them all.E le vittime faceste cader nell'abisso. Io però vi ho istruiti tutti.And victims you haue declined into the depth: and I the teacher of them al.Et victimas declinastis in profundum; / et ego eruditor omnium eorum. 3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me for now Ephraim hath committed fornication, Israel is defiled.Io conosco Ephraim, e non è a me ignoto Israele: so come adesso Ephraim è fornicatore, e Israele è contaminato.I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: because now hath Ephraim fornicated, Israel is contaminated.Ego scio Ephraim, / et Israël non est absconditus a me: / quia nunc fornicatus est Ephraim; / contaminatus est Israël. 4They will not set their thoughts to return to their God: for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord.Ei non rivolgeranno i loro pensieri a tornare al Dio loro; perchè lo spirito di fornicazione li domina, e non conoscono il Signore.They wil not geue their cogitations to• returne to their God: because the spirit of fornications is in the middes of them, and they haue not knowen the Lord.Non dabunt cogitationes suas ut revertantur ad Deum suum, / quia spiritus fornicationum in medio eorum, / et Dominum non cognoverunt. 5And the pride of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel, and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Juda also shall fall with them.L'arroganza, che Israele porta sulla faccia, deporrà contro di lui; e Israele, ed Ephraim anderanno in rovina per la loro iniquità: anderà in rovina con essi anche Giuda.And the arrogancie of Israel shal answere in his face: and Israel, and Ephraim shal fal in their iniquitie, Iudas also shal fal with them.Et respondebit arrogantia Israël in facie ejus, / et Israël et Ephraim ruent in iniquitate sua: / ruet etiam Judas cum eis.
6With their flocks and with their herds, they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find him: he is withdrawn from them.Anderanno cercando il Signore coll'offerta de' greggi loro, e degli armenti, e nol troveranno: egli se n'è ito da loro.In their flockes, and in their heardes they shal goe to seeke the Lord, and shal not finde: he is taken away from them.In gregibus suis et in armentis suis vadent ad quærendum Dominum, / et non invenient: / ablatus est ab eis. 7They have transgressed against the Lord: for they have begotten children that are strangers: now shall a month devour them with their portions.Han mancato di fede al Signore; perocché han generati de' figliuoli bastardi: adesso un mese li divorerà colle lor possessioni.They haue preuaricated against the Lord, because they haue begotten strange children: now shal a moneth deuoure them with their partes.In Dominum prævaricati sunt, / quia filios alienos genuerunt: / nunc devorabit eos mensis, cum partibus suis. 8Blow ye the cornet in Gabaa, the trumpet in Rama: howl ye in Bethaven, behind thy back, O Benjamin.Suonate la buccina a Gabaa, la tromba a Rama: si alzin le urla a Bethaven dietro alle tue spalle, o Beniamin.Sound with the trumpet in Gabaa, and with the shaulme in Rama: howle ye in Bethauen, behind thy backe ô BeniaminClangite buccina in Gabaa, / tuba in Rama; / ululate in Bethaven, / post tergum tuum, Benjamin. 9Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shewn that which shall surely be.Ephraim sarà desolato nel dì della vendetta. Mi son dimostrato fedele riguardo alle tribù d'Israele.Ephraim shal be in desolation in the day of correction: in the tribes of Israel I haue shewed faith.Ephraim in desolatione erit in die correptionis; / in tribubus Israël ostendi fidem. 10The princes of Juda are become as they that take up the bound: I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.I principi di Giuda son come quelli, che smuovono i termini: verserò com'acqua sopra di essi il mio sdegno.The princes of Iuda are become as they that take the bound: I wil power out my wrath as water vpon them.Facti sunt principes Juda quasi assumentes terminum; / super eos effundam quasi aquam iram meam. 11Ephraim is under oppression, and broken in judgment: because he began to go after filthiness.Ephraim patisce oppressione, ed è soverchiato in giudizio; perchè si diede a seguire le sozzure.Ephraim is suffering calumnie, broken in iudgement: because he began to goe after filthines.Calumniam patiens est Ephraim, fractus judicio, / quoniam cœpit abire post sordes.
12And I will be like a moth to Ephraim: and like rottenness to the house of Juda.E io sarò come tignuola per Ephraim, e come tarlo per la casa di Giuda.And I as it were a mothe to Ephraim: and as the rotte to the house of Iuda.Et ego quasi tinea Ephraim, / et quasi putredo domui Juda. 13And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Juda his band: and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, neither shall he be able to take off the band from you.Sentì Ephraim la sua fiacchezza, e Giuda il suo male. Ed Ephraim ricorse all'Assiro e (Giuda) chiamò un re in sua difesa. Ma questi non potrà rendervi sanità, né liberarvi dal vostro male.And Ephraim saw his sicknes, and Iuda his band: and Ephraim went to Assur, and sent to the king reuenger: and he shal not be able to heale you, neither shal he be able to loose the band from you.Et vidit Ephraim languorem suum, / et Juda vinculum suum; / et abiit Ephraim ad Assur, / et misit ad regem ultorem: / et ipse non poterit sanare vos, / nec solvere poterit a vobis vinculum. 14For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion’s whelp to the house of Juda: I, I will catch, and go: I will take away, and there is none that can rescue.Perocché io son come una lionessa per Ephraim, e come un giovine lione per la casa di Giuda. Io, io farò mia preda, e me n'anderò, la prenderò, e a me nissuno la ritorni.Because I as it were a lionesse to Ephraim, and as a lions whelpe to the house of Iuda: I, I wil take, and goe: I wil take away, and there is none that can deliuer.Quoniam ego quasi leæna Ephraim, / et quasi catulus leonis domui Juda. / Ego, ego capiam, et vadam; / tollam, et non est qui eruat. 15I will go and return to my place: until you are consumed, and seek my face.Me n'anderò, e tornerò al mio luogo, persino a tanto che siate ridotti all'estremo, e cerchiate di me.Going I wil returne to my place: vntil you fayle and seeke my face.Vadens revertar ad locum meum, / donec deficiatis, et quæratis faciem meam.
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Challoner
Of priests. What is said of priests in this prophecy is chiefly understood of the priests of the kingdom of Israel; who were not true priests of the race of Aaron, but served the calves at Bethel and Dan. (Challoner)
Worthington
They had the name of priests, and pretended to act as such, 3 Kings xii. (Worthington)
There were some apostates among them, Osee 4:6. But they lost all authority.
5:2
Grotius
Depth, or pits of fire, where victims were sometimes thrown. (Iphigen.) (Grotius)
Calmet
By substituting th for t, we might read, "they have dug pits to take them," Osee 9:9., and Josue xxiii 13. (Calmet)
Haydock
Idolatry leads to the abyss. (Haydock)
5:4
Calmet
Known. Fornication had darkened their intellect. (Calmet)
5:5
Haydock
Answer. Septuagint, "be humbled." It appears openly, so as to deserve condemnation. (Haydock)
5:6
Calmet
Them. He will receive their victims no longer, Isaias 1:11. (Calmet)
Haydock
In vain do they expect to escape by this appearance of sanctity, while they continue in sin. (Haydock)
5:7
Challoner
Strangers. That is, aliens form God: and therefore they are threatened with speedy destruction. (Challoner)
Their offspring is rebellious, and deserves no longer to be called my people, Osee 1:9.
Calmet
Month. Every month the Assyrians shall come upon them; (Chaldean; St. Jerome) or, in the space of one month, they shall perish. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "the mildew shall eat them and their portions." (Haydock)
5:8
Calmet
Back. Bethel lay northwest of Benjamin. The two tribes would hear the distress of Israel, that they might beware and avoid the like misconduct. (Calmet)
Worthington
The captivity is here described. (Worthington)
5:9
That. Literally, "faith," (Haydock) that my word shall come to pass.
5:10
Calmet
Bound. This was a capital crime, under Numa, and forbidden, Deuteronomy 19:14. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Juda hoped to seize what was abandoned. (St. Jerome)
They deferred doing penance, and removed the boundaries set by their fathers, (Theodoret; Calmet) the virtuous patriarchs, whom they would not imitate.
5:11
Oppression. Literally, "calumny." (Haydock) (Isaias 52:4.)
Haydock
The Assyrians had no just reason for attacking Israel, though their crimes called for punishment (Calmet) from God. (Haydock)
5:13
5:14
Haydock
Lioness. Hebrew and Septuagint, "panther." (Haydock)
The Assyrians, instead of assisting, proved the ruin of both kingdoms.
5:15
Calmet
Place; to heaven. I will abandon my temple. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Face: "they will seek the absent." (St. Jerome)
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5:7
Children that are strangers.... That is, aliens from God: and therefore they are threatened with speedy destruction.
5:10
As they that take up the bound.... That is, they that remove the boundary, encroaching on the property of their neighbors: figuratively: going beyond the boundary of the laws of God.
5:1
There were no true priests in the tenne tribes (3. Reg. 12) but he calleth them by the title which they vsurped falsly pretending to do the offices of right Priestes.
5:8
The captiuitie is here described not only in bare vvordes but as in fact it shal happen vvith tumultes of vvare sounding of trumpets, crying, hovvling &c.
5:1
St Ignatius of Antioch † AD 108 Epistle to the Trallians: Shorter and Longer Versions 7
Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offence to all men, lest ye become as “a snare upon a watch-tower, and as a net which is spread out.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.57
57. Is the undertaking then so serious and laborious to a sensitive and sad heart—a very rottenness to the bones of a sensible man: while the danger is slight, and a fall not worth consideration? Nay the blessed Hosea inspires me with serious alarm, where he says that to us priests and rulers pertaineth the judgment,
Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 The Book of Pastoral Rule 1.2
… Thirsting for the things said, but perverted by the works observed, they take in mud with their draughts, as from polluted fountains. Hence also it is written through the prophet, A snare for the downfall of my people are evil priests (
5:2
Theodotus † fl. AD 160 Excerpts of Theodotus 1
V. The Spirit by Osee says, “I am your Instructor;”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 9
… Or else, if any doubts that in the land of Judea, subjugated as it had been long since by the hand of Pompey and of Lucullus, the publicans were heathens, let him read Deuteronomy: “There shall be no tribute-weigher of the sons of Israel.” Nor would the name of publicans have been so execrable in the eyes of the Lord, unless as being a “strange”
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Theodotus † fl. AD 160 Excerpts of Theodotus 1
V. The Spirit by Osee says, “I am your Instructor;” “Blow ye the trumpet upon the hills of the Lord; sound upon the high places.”
5:11
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Confessions 8.4
… For the enemy is more overcome in one of whom he hath more hold, and by whom he hath hold of more. But the proud hath he more hold of by reason of their nobility; and by them of more, by reason of their authority.
5:13
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 13.14
14. Having been bound, He came from Caiaphas to Pilate,—is this too written? yes; And having bound Him, they led Him away as a present to the king of Jarim
5:15
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.43
… For of this incident it is said by Hosea: “To seek my face they will watch till day-light, saying unto me, Come, and let us return to the Lord: for He hath taken away, and He will heal us; He hath smitten, and He will bind us up; after two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up.”
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Third: "The sins of my people they shall eat," who by their prayers and sacrifices abolish and consume them. Thus Rufinus and others. But this is a praise of the priest, not a reproach, of which the matter here is concerned. I say therefore, the sense is, as if to say, The priests "shall eat the sins of my people," not consuming them through prayers and oblations, as was fitting (for this is their office, and equally the oblations of the faithful demand and require it), but by praising them, dissimulating them, and taking them upon themselves and their own conscience and head. For acting thus they seemed to draw in and absorb the sins of the people, and were the cause that they were multiplied, and this so that "sins," that is, very many victims for sin, they might receive from the people and eat. For by flattering and diminishing the sins of the people they said: That is nothing, or a light sin; God knows us to be fragile and infirm: knowing such therefore He tolerates, and has compassion on them; be not therefore anxious, I take it upon myself, I will make satisfaction to God for you, and, as Theophylactus says, "let the condemnation be upon us," as the Jews saying to Pilate: "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Rupert, Hugh, Lyra, Ribera and others. And St. Gregory, homily 17 in the Gospel: "Why," he says, "is the word now used, the sins of the people they shall eat, except because they foster the sins of the delinquent, lest they lose temporal stipends?" Neither shall you swear: The Lord liveth, — as if to say, Do not swear by the life of the idol, which is in Gilgal, or in Bethel, attributing to it the name Lord, in Hebrew Jehova, which is the incommunicable name, and proper to the true God. For an oath is an act of latria: for in swearing by someone, they testified that he was infallible, the first and uncreated truth; and consequently that he was a deity and God: for those swearing called him as a witness of their assertion, saying, for example, The Lord liveth, that I have done or shall do this or that, as if they said: I swear by God and the life of God, that I have done or shall do this or that. As therefore a little before He forbade the worship of the idol, so here He forbids an oath by the idol: for this is a protestation and invocation of the deity and true God. Thus Theodoret, Albert, Hugh, Lyra and others. Because you have been a snare to me in Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. — For "to me" in Hebrew is mistpha, commonly maspha, which Vatablus, Arias, Pagninus and generally those versed in Hebrew and innovators take as the proper name of a city. For Mizpah was a city situated on a mountain, and it was celebrated; for in it was the ark of the covenant, whence the people gathered there for prayer. Hence also Samuel judged the people in Mizpah, I Kings vii, 20. In Mizpah also dwelt Godolias and Jeremiah, Jeremiah xl, 41. The Hebrew scholars therefore translate: For you have been a snare in Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor; and they explain this in two ways. First, Vatablus, Kimchi and Pagninus, understanding the word as, explain, as if to say, You are a scandal and stumbling block to the people, so that you may capture and lead them to idolatry, and thence to destruction and ruin; as hunters spread snares in Mizpah, and nets on Tabor, to capture birds and beasts. Second, Arias explains, as if to say, Jeroboam in Mizpah and Tabor stationed watchers and guards, who captured Israelites going to Jerusalem to the temple, and forced them to go to Dan or Bethel, and there to adore the golden calves of Jeroboam. But, to omit other things, this version is opposed by the fact that Mizpah was not in Israel, where Jeroboam reigned; but in Judah, where Rehoboam reigned, as St. Jerome teaches in the Hebrew Places, Adrichomius, and generally others. Wherefore our a Castro judges this city Maspha to be different from that Maspha of Judea, and to have been situated in Israel, namely in mount Galaad. For mount Galaad was called Mitsphe or Maspha, that is, a watchtower; or, as the Septuagint translates it, ὅρασις, that is, a vision, from the fact that Laban, making a covenant with Jacob, called God there, as it were a watcher, as witness and avenger of his covenant by oath, as I said at Genesis xxxi, 48. Therefore a Castro judges that Jeroboam appointed watchers in Galaad, who would turn the people away from the temple, and compel them to worship in Dan and Bethel. This sense appears probable and plausible. Yet it is opposed, first, because no mention is made of these watchers in the books of Kings, and in all Scripture, although something of them is hinted at in Osee cap. vi, 9, as I shall say in that place. Second, because Galaad is nowhere called Maspha, except at Genesis xxxi, 48; and that only in the Hebrew. Third, because Mistpha here in the Hebrew has the article of the dative case; for thus the Hebrew texts have it word for word: Because you have been a snare to me at Matspha, and a net spread upon Thabor. Therefore the moderns translate badly, in Mitspho or upon Mitspha; for Mitspha here is of the dative case. Fourth, because the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and St. Jerome plainly agree with our version, and translate: Because you have been a snare to watchfulness, or to a watchtower. Therefore Mitspha here is not a proper name of a city, but an appellative signifying watchfulness, or a watchtower. You will ask, what is this watchfulness? First, St. Jerome explains it, as if to say, You have been a snare for watchfulness, in the sense which I shall presently give. For the Hebrew lamed in lemitspha sometimes signifies for. Second, an abstract term here can be taken for a concrete one, after the Hebrew manner: watchfulness therefore can be taken for the watched people, or for your, O priests and princes of the people, care and watchfulness committed to you, as if to say, You, O leaders (for he addresses these), who ought to have watched, kept vigil and guarded the people in the worship of God, have drawn that same people by words and examples to idolatry. Thus Ezechiel was appointed by God a watcher of the people, cap. iii, 17: see the words there. Thus Cyril, Albert, Hugh, Emmanuel, Mariana and Lyran. Or certainly for watchfulness, that is, for prophecy, that is, for Prophets, as if to say: You, O Israelites, have been a snare to the prophets and teachers, because you lay snares for them, and capture and kill them. Thus the Chaldean, Theodoret, Theophylactus. Mitspha therefore, that is, watchfulness, signifies either mitspha, that is, the watched, namely the people; or tsophim, that is, watchers, namely the prophets; just as if you were to say: You have been a snare to the episcopate, that is, to the Bishop, and to those subject to the Bishop; whence the Syrian translates: For you have been snares to the watcher. Wherefore allegorically Cyril takes these things of the Jews with respect to Christ (for he is the watcher and Bishop of our souls, as St. Peter says in his first epistle, cap. ii, at the end) and laying snares everywhere by his words and deeds, so that they might lead him to death and the cross, as they finally did. Thus also Leo Castrius, who thinks this to be the literal sense, and therefore explains this whole chapter, indeed the whole prophet, of Christ literally, in which he is mistaken. For the prophet speaks of Christ allegorically, not literally. Note: In the Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia between מצפט mispat, that is, judgment, and מצפה mitspha, that is, watchfulness, as if to say, To you mispat, that is, judgment, is due, that is, soon judgment comes to you, because you have been a snare to watchfulness, because you were watchers, and ought to have forewarned and guarded the people: but you yourselves have ensnared it, and brought it into a snare, that is, into captivity to enemies, according to the exposition of St. Jerome assigned in the first place. Just as if in Latin you were to play on words, and say: You watchers have become plunderers or spies; you guardians have become traitors; you curators have become betrayers; you defenders have become despoilers; you shepherds have become destroyers; you Bishops have become apostates. Thus the Fifth General Council, in action v, from the words of St. Cyril, calls this snare of Osee to be Theodore of Mopsuestia, and similar teachers of heresy and falsehood. And a net upon Mount Tabor. — Supply the little word as, as if to say: Just as hunters spread a net for birds and beasts on Tabor, so you have laid snares either for the people, or for the prophets and preachers. Moreover Tabor, or, as the Septuagint and Josephus call it, Itabyrius, is a most beautiful mountain in the midst of the plain of Galilee, wonderfully rounded with equal proportions on every side: on its summit a level plain of twenty-six stadia extends: it is most healthful in its temperate climate: it is covered everywhere with vineyards, olives, and other fruit-bearing trees: it is moistened with perpetual dew, always green with the foliage of trees and variegated herbs, and most fragrant with the sweet odor of flowers of every kind. Hence there is great abundance of wild beasts, and especially of birds in it, by whose pleasant song it is most delightful, and it is famous for hunting: whence hunters spread nets upon it, as Hosea says here. Finally, this entire mountain seems to have been born and made for refreshing the eyes and restoring the soul: and therefore Christ the Lord merited to choose it both for prayer and for His transfiguration, in which, shining brighter than the sun and whiter than snow before Moses and Elijah, He gave to His disciples some specimen of heavenly beatitude and glory. Thus Bochart, Bredenbach and Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land. Tropologically Theophylactus: Watchers, that is Bishops, Pastors and Prelates, whose duty it was to watch over the welfare of their subjects, become a net to them, when either by false doctrine, or by wicked counsels, or by morals and examples they entangle them with themselves and drag them to crimes and to ruin; and this on Tabor, which name in Hebrew signifies, according to St. Jerome, either purity, or coming light, because in the very beauty of the priesthood they bring foulness to souls; in the very purity they defile; in the very light they pour forth darkness; in the very height they precipitate the people into the depths, says Sebastian Barradius, book VII, chapter v. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translates: Because you have become a snare for offense, and like a net spread over the abyss; and the Arabic of Alexandria: Now you have become like snares in places of ambush, and like food which is placed in hunting in the forests of animals.
5:2
2. And you have turned aside victims (namely from God, and His temple, and the altar at Jerusalem, to idols and their altars erected in Dan and Bethel: and this) into the deep, — namely of impiety. Whence the Chaldean translates: They sacrifice to idols abundantly. For the Hebrews take verbs for adverbs. Thus Ribera. The Hebrew words literally have: Turning aside the victim they have deepened, that is they have gone into the deep of crimes, they have descended deeply, they have fallen into the bottom of idolatry, and, as Hosea says, chapter ix, 9: 'They have sinned deeply.' The same phrase is used by Isaiah chapter xxxi, 6: 'Be converted as you have deeply withdrawn' (in Hebrew as you have deepened), O children of Israel.' And chapter xxx, 33, Tophet, that is Gehenna, is said to be deep and enlarged; in Hebrew he has deepened and enlarged it. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Lyra, Arias, Ribera and others. Otherwise Vatable and Clarius, who by depth understand cunning and subtlety, as if to say: The apostates who turn aside from true religion have found a subtle and cunning reason for sacrificing to other gods: for they say they worship idols in honor of God. Thus the French say: Voilà un homme profond, when they wish to denote one who is cunning and astute. The Septuagint refers these things to the net which preceded, for they translate: Those who catch game have fixed it; so that the Hebrew deepened is the same as deeply or nets into the ground, or spears and javelins into bodies they have fixed, namely the hunters: for confixerunt must be read, as the Roman edition of Carafa, St. Jerome, Theodoret and Theophylactus have it; not they feared, as the Complutensian and Royal editions have it. The Syriac translates: And hunters who hunt covered snares, as if to say: They are caught in the snares which they spread for others; but I will instruct (correct) them all, I know. Mystically St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezekiel: 'There are, he says, some who afflict themselves in prayer and lamentation in order that they may either acquire earthly goods, or appear holy to men. What do these do but carry victims into the deep? who by this, that they seek things which are in the depths, place down the sacrifice of their prayer downward.' And I am the instructor of all of them, — as if to say: They sin deeply, yet I have never ceased to correct them through the prophets and to instruct them, lest they commit such great wickedness. Thus St. Jerome and the Septuagint, who translate, I am their teacher. Lyra translated less correctly, and I am the knower of them, as if to say: Let them not think they sin in my presence; for I know and see all their crimes. For the Hebrew musar does not signify knowledge, but correction, reproof, chastisement: whence the discipline and chastisement of children is called musar. Wherefore the Chaldean translates: I bring corrections, or chastisements upon all of them: which Theodoret and Theophylactus explain by the future tense, as if to say: I will chastise them by destruction, I will punish them with captivity.
5:3
3. I know Ephraim (that is, as he explains rhythmically in the manner of Hebrew, as it were by an antistrophic song, when he adds): And Israel is not hidden from me. — Or rather he calls Ephraim the royal and capital tribe; but Israel the remaining nine, which followed Ephraim in idolatry and dominion; for he distinguishes Ephraim from Israel, verse 5, as if to say: I know the character and nature of Israel, namely that it is most prone to idols, and most turned away from me, and that it followed the idolatry and calves of Jeroboam, who was their first king from the tribe of Ephraim, with ready mind, and impressed it so deeply in his soul, that the whole people, and all the kings thereafter, imitated and followed him in this crime, and could not be recalled from it by any warnings or threats of the Prophets, unless they were crushed by destruction, and their hearts broken by hard captivity. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Albert, Arias, Lyra and Vatable. Tropologically, note here that God knows and foresees the most intimate and secret thoughts of minds, desires, inclinations, intentions. Whence in Scripture he is called the knower of hearts, because he searches the reins and hearts. Wherefore Isaiah, chapter 29, verse 15, severely rebukes the impious, who think they hide from God, saying: 'Who sees us, and who knows us?' which is the same as if 'the work of art, he says, should say to its maker: You do not understand,' you do not know me, which is impious; for it is God's to rule and preserve his creatures, whom he created and formed from nothing: therefore he who created them, likewise knows them intimately, penetrates and perceives them. Excellently the Wise Man, Proverbs 15, 11: 'Hell, he says, and perdition are before the Lord, how much more the hearts of the children of men:' perdition, that is eternal damnation, as if to say: God knows the depths of hell; and who, how many, and how much on account of their crimes are to be damned, or have been damned; therefore much more does he know the secrets of each one's heart. Thus this argument holds and binds, from the greater to the lesser, as if to say: When you sin in your chamber, nay in your heart most secretly, when you believe yourself hidden, so far are you not hidden from God, that at the same time he himself sees the punishments which you precisely deserve, which he himself has prepared for you in hell for that crime. You sin, and fulfill an empty concupiscence, meanwhile not thinking of hell and eternal fires, which are prepared for you by God. This is what the Apostle says gravely and significantly, Hebrews 4, 12: 'The word of God is living and effectual, and more piercing than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of the soul and the spirit, of the joints also and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in his sight: all things are naked and open to his eyes.' See the sayings there. And this is the reason why God foresees and foreknows all future contingent things, and all acts of free will that are to be, either absolutely, or conditionally, if namely in such or such a series of things, and in such circumstances, the will were to be placed, what it would do and choose; because namely he foresees and fully comprehends the whole will, and all its hidden affections and inclinations, as also the circumstances and all things, so that he sees it placed and composed with such grace, temptation, and other circumstances certainly and infallibly, but freely to determine itself to this or that. For he who comprehends a cause with comprehensive knowledge and comprehends it, comprehends also all its effects and acts, even free ones.
5:4
4. They shall not set their thoughts to return to their God. — It can also be translated otherwise from the Hebrew, namely: They shall not permit their works (impious and idolatrous, with which they are constantly occupied) to return to the Lord. Thus the Chaldean and Vatable, to which aptly coheres what follows: Because the spirit of fornications is in the midst of them. — As if to say: So devoted are they to idolatry, that they seem to be driven and to rage with the spirit and zeal of idolatry, as cows in summer, raging with heat, run about, and cannot be recalled and restrained by the cowherd. Otherwise Vatable; for he understands the spirit of false prophets, as if to say: They are deceived by false prophets, and imbued with their doctrine and idolatrous spirit, they rage in idols.
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5. And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face. — By arrogance he calls the pride of Israel, by which, despising God, it followed idols: again arrogance here is taken for the punishment due to the fault of arrogance, as if to say: This arrogance of Israel shall be punished, so that the punishment may correspond to the fault, and to it publicly, as if saying to its face: Behold, because, O Israel, thou hast been so arrogant and rebellious against thy God, hence thou art now justly humbled and smitten by him. Hence Vatablus and Pagninus translate: The pride of Israel shall testify against him, and that to his face. Whence, explaining further, he adds: 'And Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity.' Wherefore the Septuagint, for "shall answer," translate, "the injury (arrogant injury to God) of Israel shall be humbled in his face"; the Chaldean, "the glory of Israel shall be brought low in the sight of all." "Shall answer" therefore, that is, shall be punished equally and humbled, so that to one justly complaining it can respond that he is thus punished because he was so arrogant. For punishment is owed and measured out, and thus it responds equally to the fault: and to the sinner, as reward to virtue, wages to labor, fruit to the farmer, as Jacob says to Laban, Genesis xxx, 33, to which there is an allusion here. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Albert, Hugh, Lyran and Ribera. In his face. — That is, openly, publicly, with all others seeing, and approving the just judgment and vengeance of God. Thus the Chaldean, Theophylactus and others already cited. Otherwise Arias, who thinks that "in his face" signifies impudence, as if to say: The arrogance and pride of Israel is seen and shines forth in his face, with eyes and eyebrows inflated, high and swollen, according to that of Isaiah iii, 9: 'The knowledge of their countenance hath answered them.' See what is said there. Truly did Blessed Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, say in homily 23: 'Whoever is proud is full of a demon.' Morally, St. Gregory, book XXVI of the Morals, chapter xiii, teaches from this passage of Hosea that lust is the punishment of arrogance: 'An open blow,' he says, 'follows a hidden fault; so that by external evils interior things are punished, and the heart falls publicly which was swelling in secret.' He proves this from the fact that Hosea here said: 'The spirit of fornications in the midst of them.' Assigning its cause, he adds: 'And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face;' as if to say: The fault of the flesh answered with lust openly. Therefore the custody of humility must be preserved with the purity of chastity. For if the spirit is piously pressed down under God, the flesh does not illicitly lift itself above the spirit; indeed the spirit, having dominion over the flesh committed to it, if nevertheless it recognizes under God the rights of legitimate servitude. For if it contemns its author by being proud, it justly sustains battle with the subject flesh.' He proves this by the example of Adam, who as soon as he was disobedient and proud against God, felt the sting of the flesh; and therefore, blushing, he covered his naked members with fig leaves: 'so that being overcome he might learn what he had lost by being exalted.' And Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity. — This is a real response, not a verbal one; of which he already spoke: 'And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face.' He distinguishes Israel from Ephraim, as body from head, kingdom from metropolis. For the tribe of Ephraim gave the first king Jeroboam to Israel, and many of his successors thereafter: hence Ephraim contained the empire and kingdom of Israel, or of the ten tribes, and was as it were their head and metropolis. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The ten tribes shall fall with their head, namely with their empire, with their royal tribe Ephraim, and its king and kingdom, and that 'in their iniquity,' that is, by merit of iniquity, on account of their iniquity. For thus the preposition 'in' among the Hebrews often signifies merit or demerit, and is equivalent to 'on account of,' as is well known to those reading the Psalms. I esteem as strangers. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Albert, Hugh and Clarius. To this Rupert and Lyran agree, who by strange sons understand disciples, familiars, or subjects, whom they themselves taught their idolatry. Secondly, Cyril, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Clarius, Emmanuel and Mariana think that strange sons are called those whom they begot from foreigners, namely from the daughters of the gentiles, whose marriages were forbidden them by God, Exodus xxxiv, 16, and Deuteronomy vii, 3. Hence the Chaldean translates: They have acted wrongly in the word of the Lord, because they have taken for themselves sons from the daughters of the gentiles. Now he shall devour them month by month, — that is to say, Through individual months the enemy shall rush upon them and plague, and shall strike and lay them waste. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it: Now I shall bring against them peoples through individual months, who shall lay waste the fruits of their land; and the Arabic of Antioch: Now robbers shall devour them, and their nation; and the Arabic of Alexandria: Assyria shall eat them, and all their good things. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Vatablus, Emmanuel and others: and it is evident from IV Kings xv, 19 and 29, that under Phul, Tiglath-Pileser, and Shalmaneser there were frequent incursions of the Assyrians into Samaria. Again, that God sent plagues one after another successively and continually upon the Israelites, is signified by that passage in Joel i, 4: 'That which the palmerworm hath left, the locust hath eaten: and that which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten: and that which the bruchus hath left, the rust hath eaten.' Secondly, Clarius and Vatablus take month, by synecdoche, for a brief time. They declare, they say, that now, which he had said, when he says month, that is to say, After the space of a month, that is, a very brief time, they shall perish with their possessions: or, in this month they shall be laid waste and devoured. For the Prophet seems to have spoken these things with the enemy and calamity now at hand; whence he adds: 'Blow the trumpet in Gibeah.' This sense appears full and easy. Thirdly, Lyra, Mariana and Arias from R. Solomon, take month to mean Ab, that is, July: for they hold that Samaria with the kingdom of Israel was captured and destroyed in July. But this is uncertain: it is certain that in the same month of July Jerusalem was burned with the temple by the Chaldeans, and the whole kingdom of the Hebrews, or of the posterity of Israel, IV Kings xxv, 8; you would therefore more certainly attribute these things to them. Finally, the Septuagint for month render rust; they seem therefore for chodesh, that is, month, to have read חסיל chasil, that is, rust; but Aquila rendered it new moon, perhaps because he thought Samaria was destroyed on the first day of the month. This version of Aquila gives forth an illustrious allegory and tropology. For the new moon, or new moon, which was to the Hebrews the first day of the month (for they began it from the new moon), symbolically represents a new empire, and consequently a change of the state of the nation and kingdom, that is to say, Soon shall come the new moon, that is, a new monarch, namely Shalmaneser, and Nebuchadnezzar, and their new empire, which shall devour the Israelites and Jews, and their old nation, customs and kingdom. 'For a new king, a new law, a new people,' as is commonly said. And this is signified by the Hebrew חודש chodesh, namely innovation, newness, from the root חדש chadash, that is, he made new, he renewed: hence indeed the new moon, or calends are called chodesh, because then the innovation of the moon takes place, and consequently of the lunar month, which the Hebrews used. Therefore all human things, all nations, all empires are under the moon, and are ruled by the moon, that is, by vicissitude, mutability, and as it were by fortune. They are therefore lunatic, and like the moon, and with the moon they quickly run their course, pass away, and are finished in the new moon, when namely a new king and a new empire arises. Wherefore that heavenly woman, Apocalypse xii, 1, representing the Church and the faithful, has the moon under her feet, because the faithful and saints are higher than the earth and the moon, that is, than all the mutability of temporal things, and with St. Paul have their mind and conversation in heaven. With their portions. — The Septuagint, and their lots: lots, that is, lands and fields, which by lot fell to each tribe and family, Joshua cap. xv; whence Leo the Hebrew renders it, with their fields.
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8. Sound the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. — The trumpet was made of horn, horny; the horn of brass, brazen, sometimes of silver, silvery, that is to say, The enemy is at hand, battle or siege is imminent; therefore sound the trumpet and call the people to arms, that they may resist the enemy. Note: Gibeah and Ramah were celebrated cities in the tribe of Benjamin, neighboring, and situated on a mountain: whence also they received their name. For Ramah means the high place, Gibeah the hill. Wherefore the Septuagint translates: Sound the trumpet upon the hills, resound in the high places. Moreover Benjamin adhered to Judah, and these two tribes were united under the scepter and family of David in the time of Rehoboam, when the ten remaining tribes made a schism from him, choosing Jeroboam as king. To these therefore, after the destruction of Israel, he announces, explaining that which he said: 'Judah also shall fall with them,' that is to say, O two tribes, do not think that you will be immune from the calamity and destruction of Israel; rather sound the horns: for I see in the spirit that war and destruction are imminent to the ten tribes, which worship idols in Bethel and Bethaven: I see likewise that, when these are carried away, the enemy will turn himself upon you as neighbors, and will likewise lay you waste and destroy you. Thus St. Jerome, Hugh, Lyra, Ribera, a Castro and others. For this reason, when he had said: 'Howl in Bethaven,' which city belonged to the ten tribes, he adds: 'Behind thee, O Benjamin,' that is to say, Behind Bethaven, which is behind thee, O Benjamin, the enemy like a flame spreading forth will likewise invade and seize thee: For thy matter is at stake when thy neighbor's wall is on fire. Another reason why he should sound the trumpet in Gibeah and Ramah, and a faithful forewarning. Thus the Chaldean, Clarius, Vatablus and a Castro. This sense is fitting and more corresponds to the division of the Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek and Latin Roman Bibles. The Chaldean gives, when he translates: Sound the trumpet and prophesy of the peoples coming against them as destroyers, because they made Saul king over them, who was of Gibeah of Benjamin, etc., and because they did not at all receive the words of Samuel the prophet, who was of Ramatha. But even if these things concerning Saul and Samuel be true, yet they are more remote; nor is the matter here concerning them, but concerning the present idolatry, on account of which the Israelites were to be punished with destruction by the Assyrians, and the Jews by the Chaldeans. Howl. — In Hebrew הריעו hariu, that is, cry out, shout aloud, namely to arms, because the enemy is at hand. Whence Vatablus translates, sound the trumpet: the Septuagint, preach in the house of On; or cry out, as it were concerning a matter already despaired of and proclaimed, namely that the enemy now plunders and burns the city, and slays all: for then is wont to be heard the cry and howling of children and women: and this seems to be what Our Author meant, when he translates, 'howl.' Thus Rupert, Haymo and Albert. Moreover the Septuagint translates, in the house of On, in which the Greek interpreters torment themselves; but I say the Septuagint read בית און beth aven for בית און beth on, by crasis. It is therefore the same, Bethaven, that is the house of iniquity, namely of an idol, which is Bethon, that is the house of sorrow; for an idol and wickedness in Hebrew are called labor and sorrow, because it is the cause of these. From Bethaven therefore, that is from the house of sin, one goes to Bethon, that is to the house of sorrow, both present and eternal, namely to hell. Behind thee, O Benjamin, — that is to say, Behind thee the enemy presses and is imminent, O Benjamin; for he now assails Bethaven, which lies behind thee; thus Clarius, Vatablus and others. In Hebrew it is, behind thee Benjamin, namely the enemy is in Bethaven. It is wonderful that the Septuagint translates ἐξέστη, that is, he went out of his mind, or was seized in a stupor and ecstasy of mind, Benjamin.
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9. In the day of correction (of punishment, vengeance and destruction. Refer these words both to that which precedes: 'Ephraim shall be made desolate.' Thus the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint and Latin Roman, that is to say, O how much shall Ephraim be desolated in the day of destruction! and to that which follows): In the tribes of Israel I have shown my faith, — that is to say, In the day of destruction 'I have shown,' that is I shall show my threats to have been faithful and true, by which through the Prophets I threatened them with this destruction and foretold it; I shall therefore show them my faith, that is my truth or faithfulness: for the destruction which I foretold and threatened shall come to pass. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Arias and Ribera. Others however separate these from what follows, and refer them only to what precedes. Whence that which follows 'I have shown,' they take properly in the past tense, that is to say, I have often faithfully warned the ten tribes of the future destruction, unless they should repent: I have therefore made good my faith through faithful warning: therefore they cannot accuse me nor excuse themselves, in that they were not forewarned by me. With these words therefore he closes their mouth: for he calls faith sincere, friendly
5:10
10. The princes of Juda have become as those that remove the bound, — namely an alien bound, that is of another's field and land, that is transferring, as the Septuagint and the Syriac translate it, and moving forward the bound, that is the stone, stake, or boundary pillar (by which their own fields are limited, and divided from those of others), namely so that they may join them, or their part, to their own fields and lands: which is a sin of injustice and theft, forbidden by the law of God. Deuteronomy cap. xix, 18. For the ancients were accustomed to use either a stone buried in the earth, as is still done even now, or an erected pillar, or a title to limit their lands, so that it might be clear how far their land extended, lest it be invaded or occupied by another. This stone, the boundary, and the sign dividing field from field, was called a terminus. Hence Terminus was a god to the Gentiles, in whose protection they believed the boundaries of fields to be, whose festival was called Terminalia. Such gods Termini we see preserved and displayed throughout Rome, as monuments of antiquity, in the gardens of the great. Now this sense is manifold. First, that is to say, the princes of Juda transfer the boundaries of fields, and invade the fields of others, and adjoin them to their own against right and law. Thus the Chaldean, Arias and a Castro. But although it may allude to this, and as it were touch upon this crime of theirs in passing, nevertheless all the preceding and following matters pertain to another, namely to idolatry. Second, St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Lyran, Mariana and others expound it, that is to say, the princes of Juda, and the Jews themselves, rejoice that the ten tribes have been led away by the Assyrians, so that they themselves may extend their own boundaries, and occupy their land. But this is scarcely credible, and concerning Hezekiah the pious king, under whom the ten tribes were led away. Again, even if he had done this, he would have done it lawfully: for Juda could justly have occupied the land of Israel when led away: for it was his nearest heir, and he could and ought to succeed to it as a brother to a brother. For all Chanaan was given by God to Jacob, and to his posterity; whence if any of them died, or were led away, brothers succeeded to their possessions. Finally, the reason opposed to the former opinion stands in the way. Third, therefore we shall expound it better thus, that is to say, the princes of Juda are like robbers, who transfer their boundaries, so that they may invade those of others. In like manner they themselves transfer the boundaries of my faith and worship, and of my Church, and wish to join and couple to themselves the gods of the Gentiles, and their worship, temples and altars, and the Gentiles themselves and the Synagogue of the unfaithful. Thus Theophylactus, Theodoret and Theodore of Antioch, who says: 'They transfer my boundaries and laws, the honor which is due to me, transferring it to idols, in the manner of those who against law transfer the boundaries of others.' For this is what the word quasi demands: for this signifies that they are not properly transferrers of boundaries; but only similar to them. Ribera adds, that the Jews, not content to adore the idols which were in Juda, also passed into alien boundaries, so that in Bethaven, which was of the ten tribes, nay even into Assyria, they might worship their idols, and fill their temples and altars with their victims, nay so that they might bring these idols from Assyria into Juda, as Achaz did, IV Kings cap. xv, 10 and 18. This sense is demanded by what follows, for it follows: 'Because he hath begun to go after filthiness,' that is idols. And more clearly vers. 13: 'And Ephraim went to Assur, and sent to the avenging king.' For the Jews, equally as the Israelites, pressed by enemies, fleeing to neighboring nations for aid; and in order to obtain it, they associated themselves with them in faith and religion, and worshipped their idols, nay transferred them into Juda: whence Jeremias, Ezechiel, Osee here, and other Prophets reprove this everywhere. For this reason Our [translator] rendered it, not transferring, but assuming the bound: because these idols of the Gentiles the Jews assumed for themselves, as their god protector and boundary god, such as the god Terminus was to the Romans. For the minor Prophets speak concisely, enigmatically, parabolically, and therefore are obscure, because in few words they signify much, and allude to much. Finally the Arabic Alexandrian renders: As those who have been changed in their cords: for formerly they measured fields and lands with cords; but the Arabic Antiochian: The princes of Juda have become, as one who is dismissed with his wings. It seems to look back to what was said cap. iv, 19: 'The spirit hath bound him in his wings.' Tropologically, 'taking up a boundary' in faith are heretics, who transgressing the boundaries of religion sanctified by the Fathers, assume for themselves as it were an idol the heresy of Luther, Calvin, etc. In morals, however, those who transgressing the boundaries of justice or charity sanctified by the Decalogue, assume for themselves concubines, usurp the lands, houses and estates of others. Again, those who set before themselves the scope and end of their actions, not the honour of God, but their own; who covet dignities and prelacies; who seek name and fame not in heaven, but on earth; who strive to raise up and exalt their families beyond what is right and lawful. Upon them will I pour out my wrath as water, — that is to say, 'By a multitude of enemies like a certain inundation of a river (or torrent) I will seize them,' says St. Jerome and Theodoret. Whence a Castro: 'I will pour out, he says, upon them as a flood my indignation.' It seems to allude to the flood of Noah, by which God overwhelmed all the impious. But because he says 'water,' not river, not torrent, not flood; hence secondly, more simply with Vatablus and Ribera we shall understand it of water, which from an overturned and inverted vessel is entirely poured out, so that scarcely a drop adheres or remains; for water is entirely liquid and fluid, because it has nothing glutinous or viscous that adheres to the vessel, as oil, milk, honey, etc. have, which therefore if poured out, leave a part of themselves adhering to the vessel, that is to say, Just as water from an inverted vessel is entirely poured out all at once, so I will pour out my burning anger and all my fury upon them at once and in a single moment. Thus Christ, Psalm xxi, 13, says: 'I am poured out like water,' that is to say, I have poured out all my strength, spirit, and blood like water poured out. Thus the Israelites surrounded by the Philistines, repenting invoked the Lord: 'And they drew water and poured it out in the sight of the Lord,' as if to say: We are before thee, O Lord, like this water poured out; whence it follows: 'And they said: We have sinned against thee, O Lord.' Wherefore the Chaldean renders it: And they drew waters, and poured out their heart in repentance. And St. Gregory on that passage: 'For what, he says, is it to draw water, except from the deep confusion of the penitent soul to produce streams of tears?' etc.
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11. Ephraim suffers calumny (The Hebrews call calumny oppression, whether it be done by an enemy, or by an accuser, or by any other person committing violence or injury; for this is what עשק osec signifies, as if to say Israel shall be oppressed by the Assyrians unjustly, as by tyrants, yet justly with respect to their own crimes and God the just avenger; hence) broken (is he) in judgment, — both by the just judgment of God and the unjust judgment of the Assyrians. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo and Lyran. He alludes to judgment in which someone is oppressed, condemned, punished by the calumny of false witnesses or an unjust judge. Hence for broken the Hebrew is רצוץ retsuts, that is, shaken, oppressed, trampled, laid low, prostrated. For thus the tyrant Salmanasar was here as a judge, who unjustly shook, oppressed, despoiled and slew the Israelites. Judgment therefore here is vengeance and punishment inflicted as if by judgment, which on God's part was just and a just avenging of crimes, on Salmanasar's part unjust: for the Israelites had not harmed him. Secondly, Vatablus takes judgment properly, as if to say Israel shall be oppressed by force and by unjust judgments among the nations, among which he shall be captive. For thus it is wont to happen to foreigners, especially captives. When therefore the Israelites, oppressed by the Assyrians, contended with them in judgment and sought to recover their right and property from them, they were repelled by the Assyrian judge as foreigners and captives, and the cause was adjudged to the Assyrian oppressor. Thirdly, the Septuagint think that here is denoted the crime of Ephraim, on account of which God determined to pour out his wrath upon him. Hence they translate: Ephraim oppressed his adversary, trampled upon judgment; because he began to go after vanities, namely after idols. For injury to God through idolatry is the origin of injury, oppression and injustice toward one's neighbor: just as conversely those who are faithful to God are faithful also to their neighbor. Namely, for עשוק asuc, that is, suffering calumny, the Septuagint read with different pointing עשוק asoc, that is, to oppress, to commit calumny; thus for רצוץ retsuts, that is, broken, they read with different pointing רצוץ ratsots, that is, to break, that is, he oppressed, he broke: for the Hebrews use infinitives for the past tense. Because he began to go after filth, — that is, after idols. For Scripture calls these filth and dung, because they are the vilest and most foul deities, so that it may bring them into hatred and contempt. Secondly, the Chaldean translates: Because he went to err after the mammon of iniquity, as if to say: Therefore Ephraim suffers violence and is oppressed in judgment, because he himself in like manner for bribes oppressed the poor in judgment and condemned the innocent. Thirdly, Clarius, Arias, Vatablus and Pagninus translate: Because he began to go after the commandment; and thus they explain it, as if to say Ephraim willingly and of his own accord followed the commandment of Jeroboam concerning the worship of calves, which he therefore worshipped. For in the Hebrew צו tsau, that is, commandment, is already read. But the ancients read otherwise, the Septuagint, the Chaldean, St. Jerome and others, namely צוי and with the elision of the quiescent vau, צי tso, that is, filth, dung, namely idols. For the Septuagint call these vanities.
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12. And I will be unto Ephraim as a moth (that is to say, I will gradually through the Assyrians gnaw, corrode, consume and destroy the ten tribes:) and as rottenness (in Hebrew רקב rachab, that is, woodworm (and thus some here think it should be read with R. David: for woodworm corresponds to the moth, which preceded), or decay (for this is the rottenness of bones and wood, by which it corrodes and consumes them) to the house of Juda, — that is to say, I will consume the ten tribes through the Assyrians more quickly, as a moth eats cloth, since it is soft, quickly; but the two tribes more slowly, as decay eats wood, since it is hard, more slowly. Thus St. Jerome, Lyran, Vatable. Moreover the Septuagint translates: I as a disturbance to Ephraim, and as a goad to the house of Juda; the Syriac: I will be as a commotion to Ephraim, and a commotion to the house of Juda; the Antiochene Arabic: I who have disturbed Ephraim, and I as one biting the house of Juda; the Alexandrine Arabic: And I will cast down Ephraim. Thus even today we see God, like a moth, gradually and imperceptibly gnaw away, impoverish and consume wicked families, cities and provinces. The faithful, the cleric, and the religious understand the same thing tropologically in the soul, when he sins, or grows lukewarm in the service of God and his own duty: for now he perceives that this grace, virtue and strength, now that, now another is being taken from him. Note: Aptly God is compared to a moth and to a woodworm, because he called Israel and its idolatry filth: for the moth and woodworm invade a garment or wood, not sound and polished, but covered with age, dust, and other filth, squalid, and as it were emaciated. For experience teaches that moths are born from dust, dampness and decay. Whence Pliny, lib. xi, cap. xxxv: 'the same,' he says, 'dust in wool and garments creates moths, especially if a spider be enclosed with it; for it thirsts, and absorbing all moisture, increases dryness.' And Horace, lib. II Serm. satyr. III: Whose bedclothes, food of cockroaches and moths, rot in the chest. Hence Martial threatens moths to a filthy man, lib. II: Fear not death, Naevole, but moths. Wherefore tropologically, the moth aptly represents men devoted to flesh and pleasure: for pleasure itself consumes these as a moth. Whence St. Gregory, explaining that passage of Job cap. iv, 19: 'They that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, shall be consumed as by a moth,' thus says: 'For the moth indeed does damage, and makes no sound: thus the minds of the wicked, because they neglect to consider their losses, lose their integrity as if unknowingly. For they lose innocence from the heart, truth from the mouth, continence from the flesh, and through the passage of time life from their age. But they do not feel this, while they are wholly wrapped up in temporal cares. As if therefore consumed by a moth, they endure the bite of guilt without sound, while they are ignorant of how great losses of life and innocence they suffer.' Again the moth, says the same Gregory, lib. XVIII Moral. xi, 'builds itself a home by corrupting it,' thus gluttony and lust corrupt the flesh in which they arise. Moreover the moth eats papers and cloths without any fruit to anyone, and finally consumes itself; gluttony and lust do the same. ria. There exists on this matter an elegant riddle of the moth: A letter fed me, nor did I know what a letter is. I lived in books, nor am I more studious from it. I ate the Muses, nor yet have I myself profited. Finally the moth gnawing secretly at cloths signifies the hidden judgment of God, and from it the hidden damages and destruction, as Pineda notes on the passage of Job cited.
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13. And Ephraim saw his weakness. — Namely, his empire weakening, languishing, failing, and tending toward decline. And Juda his band (in Hebrew מזור mazor, that is, his binding, that is, his wound wrapped and bound with cloths. It signifies the wound and calamity which Juda received from Rasin king of Syria, and from Phacee king of Israel, who led away many Jews, IV Kings, cap. xv, 38, and cap. xvi, 5 and 6; thus St. Jerome, who adds secondly that by this band can be understood the binding and association by which Juda was bound to Israel in idolatry and wickedness; or rather the conspiracy and conjuration by which Rasin and Phacee conspired against Achaz and Juda. Furthermore) Ephraim (in order to heal this wound of his) went to Assur, — as if to a physician and surgeon, that is, sent ambassadors to the king of the Assyrians, asking from him aid and protection. This was done by Manahem king of Israel, sending to Phul king of Assur a thousand talents of silver, in order that his kingdom might be confirmed and protected, IV Kings, cap. xv, 19. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo and Hugo. Again, this was done by Hosee, the last king of Israel, who subjected himself as it were as a vassal to Salmanasar, paying him an annual tribute, so that under his wings he might live and reign safely and peacefully, IV Kings, cap. xvii, 3. Thus Theophylactus and Arias. And sent to the avenging king. — 'Sent,' namely Juda, in order to loose his band, of which he spoke a little before. For the Prophet here speaks alternately of Israel and of Juda, as is evident from what precedes and follows. Thus St. Jerome, Cyrillus, Haymo. Who is the avenging king? Dionysius, Arias, Ribera and others, who explain thus: Juda, they say, that is, Achaz king of Juda, pressed and as it were besieged by Rasin king of Syria and Phacee king of Israel, sent ambassadors and gifts for the purpose of seeking aid to Teglathphalasar king of Assur, IV Kings, cap. xvi, 7. This one therefore the Prophet calls the 'avenging king;' Aquila and Theodotion, judge; Symmachus, ὑπερμάχοντα, that is, defender (for to avenge or vindicate, among the ancients, signified to defend, and thus is sometimes taken in Scripture, as I said Rom. cap. xii, 19), because he was a most powerful monarch, so that all princes and petty kings fled to him as it were to a guardian and avenger. In Hebrew it is ירב iareb, that is, he who avenges, that is, avenger; the Chaldean, that he might come to avenge them; the Septuagint, Syriac, Arabic, Vatablus, Pagninus, Arias and Clarius retain the Hebrew iareb; but they err in thinking that this name is of a city of Assyria in which the king reigned. Thus Gedeon was called by God Jerobaal, that is, avenger or defender of Baal, because when the altar of Baal was destroyed by him, Joas his father, in order to protect him against the force of neighbors, said: 'Let Baal avenge himself upon him, who has broken down his altar,' Judges, cap. vi, 31. It seems therefore to allude to Gedeon, as well as to Jeroboam; for each was iareb, that is, avenger, judge and defender of Israel; the one against the Madianites, the other against Roboam; for Israel, oppressed by him, sent to Jeroboam, asking him to be the avenger and prince of their liberty, III Kings, cap. xii, 20. Less correctly the Chaldean, Theodoretus and Lyranus by the avenging king understand Sua king of Egypt, to whom Hosee king of Israel fled, pressed by Salmanasar, and therefore by the same was captured and overthrown with his whole kingdom, IV Kings, cap. xvii, 4; for these things pertain to Juda, not to Israel, as I said. Add that Sua was powerless, and could not protect the Israelites. Whence he is not correctly called king iareb, that is, judge and avenger. Mystically some, says St. Jerome, by the avenging king, that is, avenger, understand Christ, who will not be able to save sinners on the day of judgment, as it is written: 'In hell who shall confess to thee?' Allegorically, Theophylactus and Leo Castrius by the avenging king understand the Romans, whose aid was invoked by Hyrcanus the high priest and the Jews, but by them through Titus they were destroyed; or certainly Julian the Apostate, who was most hostile to Christians, made himself for their hatred the avenger of the Jews, and attempted to restore their temple; but in vain: for God, sending fire upon the building, consumed the work. Thus Socrates, lib. III, cap. xx.
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14. For I am like a lioness to Ephraim, — that is to say, The avenging King will not be able to free you from the enemy, because I am God, who send enemies and strengthen them, nay I myself am your enemy, who like a lioness invade Ephraim. God's vengeance is aptly compared to a lioness: because she is most strong and most fierce, especially when she has borne and nourishes her cubs; to which, all resisting in vain and striving uselessly, she carries home the prey which she has seized and torn apart. Physicians teach, and among them Gesner in his work on the Lion, that the lion is so fierce that in order to mitigate his ferocity, nature has implanted in him a quartan fever, which he constantly suffers, and which he overcomes by abstinence. For this is his medicine, to which hunger is his timepiece and his belly his clock. The Hebrew שחל scachal signifies any beast however savage and wild, such as the lion; the Septuagint translate it as a leopard, which is swiftest and most cruel. Thus St. Jerome, who adds: 'So that whatever is savage in beasts, you may know this in God's indignation. Nothing is swifter than a leopard, nothing stronger than a lion. In the leopard swift through the Assyrians is signified the destruction of the kingdom of Samaria, and in the lion most strong against Jerusalem and Judah somewhat later in time is shown the kingdom of the Chaldaeans, etc., so that he becomes (God) like a leopard, is turned into a lion, is changed into beasts.' Whence he adds: 'I, I will seize and go: I will take away, and there is none that shall deliver.' Note: Just as in verse 12, God opposed to himself as a moth the filthiness of Israel, so here aptly God opposes to himself as a lioness the avenging king, to whom Israel had recourse; for the lioness is stronger; thus also God was stronger than Tiglath-Pileser. Symbolically, God in this life chastises sinners gently as a moth, but on the day of judgment and in hell will rage and tear them as a lioness. Then with horrible sound he will roar upon them: 'Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels,' Matt. xxv. And as a young lion to the house of Judah. — For these cubs are wont to be bolder, as being ignorant of dangers and snares: and more fierce, as being more greedy for blood, which they have recently tasted, especially because blood boils and seethes in youth. Wherefore Judah, attacking enemies, is compared to a young lion; but resting, to a lion, Gen. cap. xlix, verse 9: 'Judah is a lion's whelp. To the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast lain down as a lion.' The confidence of the just also is compared to a young lion, Prov. cap. xxviii, 1: 'The wicked fleeth when no one pursueth: but the just, as a lion (in Hebrew כפיר kephir, that is a young lion) shall be confident without fear.' For a young lion is spirited and fierce, because his belly constantly growls at him; and by hunger, as much as by appearance and form, and by the gaping of his mouth and his roar, he seems to be like the barking Anubis, especially when he grows and becomes a lion.
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15. Going, I will return to my place. — As lionesses are wont to return to their den, having torn and seized their prey, and to devour it there with their cubs: so I through the Assyrians and Chaldaeans will plunder both the Israelites and the Jews, and will lead them into captivity, and there will consume them with servitude, tributes and burdens, and as it were devour them. Thus Haymo, Arias and Vatablus. The Chaldee paraphrast translates: I will take away my majesty, and return to the place of my holiness, which is in the heavens, until they know that they have sinned; that is to say, I will abandon the Jews with the temple, and as if forgetting them and delivering them to enemies, I will depart into heaven: for this is the place of the throne and glory of God, from which he looks from afar upon the prisons and torments of the guilty. Thus St. Cyril, Jerome, Theodoret and others. Vatablus refers these things to the following chapter, and here begins chapter vi; for they cohere with it, and tend toward it, as will presently be evident. Until you shall be in want. — In Hebrew עד יאשמו ad ieshemu, that is, until they acknowledge their sin and guilt. Thus the Chaldee paraphrast, Vatablus, Clarius, Arias and others; for אשם asham means to sin and sin. But asham is sometimes put for שמם shamam, that is, he desolated; for the orders of imperfect verbs are often interchanged among the Hebrews, for example, defective Pe aleph, such as asham, are interchanged with those doubling the second, such as shamam. Whence the Septuagint translates, until they are scattered; our version, until you shall be in want. This sense serves the former and precedes it. For the Jews, aroused by disaster and destruction, acknowledged their sins, and returning penitent to God, as is evident from the book of Baruch. For all the plagues sent by God upon cities, nations, families and men tend to this end, namely that he may lay low their pride, and may open, torment and wound the heart obstructed and hardened by lusts, so that afflicted they may acknowledge their crimes and God their avenger, and may return penitent to him; since they see there is no other who can drive away these plagues and succor such great evils, according to that of Psalm xv: 'Their infirmities have been multiplied, afterwards they made haste.' Therefore when you are scourged by God, do not turn to the Assyrians, that is, not to princes and the powerful, who cannot snatch you from the hands of God, but turn to God himself with David and the Ninevites, and say as a suppliant: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. To thee alone have I sinned, and have done evil before thee.' Thus you will appease the wrath of God, and will wrest the scourge from the hands of the angry one, and will restore and recover to yourself his former favor, grace and aid.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 1 «Audite hoc, sacerdotes, et attendite domus Israel, et domus regis auscultate ! . quia vobis iudicium est, quoniam laqueus facti estis speculationi et rete erzpansum super Thabor ». — lllud tergeminum verbum aud:te magnum aliquid indicat, quod timere debeant (Sanct.) ; deceptores et deceptos alloquitur, quia culpa est in utrisque, et quia etiam populi maxime interest, superiorum ordinum corruptionem, insidias, machinationes cognoscere. Sacerdotes vocat, non quod sacerdotes sunt de familia Aaron, sed . quod ita vocantur a populo (/Wier. Cyr.) ; quamvis forte aliqui ex domo Aaron, sparsi per urbes regni israelitici, etiam inter illos recenserentur (Lap.) ; domum regis illos dicit, qui consilii aut honoris gratia assistunt regi, principes et primores (Sanct.), qui regio plerumque sanguine orti familiam regis constituunt. Cur et quid audiant, subiungit : iudicium scil. Dei et ultio in eos devolvitur, iis instat (cf. Haimo, Rib.), illud iudicium, quod iam minatus est supra 4, 3. 5. 6. 9. 10. 14. 19 ; non tantum de sua in eos increpatione vel de sua in eos ferenda sententia (Theod. Th-^od. M. Theoph.) loquitur. Populo vero utile est ac necessarium scire quid et cur ducibus immineat : facti sunt scil. qui duces et pastores et tutores esse debebant, laqueus q. d. causa peccatorum et ruinae et rete, occasio et ratio, cur populus peccatis implicaretur, sua demum prosperitate, libertate privaretur; quibus? speculationi, LXX «3; oxoxía, Chald. doctoribus vestris, Syr. speculantibus, q. d. prophetis veris, quos igitur (si eam interpretationem adoptaveris) insidiis et persecutionibus male tractaverint, impediverint (cf. Theod. Ephr. Theod. M. Theoph. Barh.), vel speculationi i. e. iis super quos officium et munus invigilandi sacerdotibus et principibus incumbebat,*ipsi populo (cf. Cyr. Alb. Sa, Men.) — quae interpretatio, etsi vix ad verbum, ad sensum tamen valde apta est. In hebr. habetur npyo5, quam vocem veteres secundum etymologiam verterunt; at cum in membro parallelo Thabor nominetur, certe etiam h. 1. cum recentioribus (cf. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Scholz, Trochon) Mizpah, Maspha, oppidum in Galaad intelligi debet (cf. Iud. 10, 1'1; 41, 29), quod etiam Ramoth in Galaad, Ramath Hamizpeh vocatur (Deut. 4, 43. Ios. 13, 26 ; 20, 8. 3 Reg. 4, 13; 22, 3. 4 Reg. 9, 1). Thabor « mons est in Galilaea, situs in campestribus, rotundus atque sublimis, et ex omni parte finitur aequaliter » (S. Hier.), in campo Esdrelon, circa 1330 pedes super planitiem eminens (Scholz). Cur haec duo commemorentur, varia opinantur : montes et colles aucupio et venationi maxime aptos esse ; ibi idola praecipue coli, vel, quod rabbini commenti sunt, in Thabor et Maspha castella esse collocata, quibus piae ad Ierusalem et templum peregrinationes interciperentur (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap.) ; si nonallusio ! continetur nobis ex 1. Paronomasiam inter Q35yit3 et nsyo effert Lap. : « perinde ac si latine ludas ac dicas rerum particularium ignorantia impervia, vates per modum synecdoches ex regione trans et cis Iordanem singulos montes conspicuos elegisse dicendus est, quo accuratius significet, ubique ac continuo et aperte insidias strui et quasi decipulas poni, ut populum erroribus et vitiis illaqueatum teneant et misere perdant. — Qua ratione vero praecipue laqueus facti sunt, explicat
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v. 2 « et victimas declinastis in profundum ; et ego eruditor omnium eorum »; — prior pars certe ad procerum peccata pertinet ; altera illud iudicium vobis v. 4 explicat, Deum scil. haec omnia et eos omnes sua ultione persecuturum et castigaturum. Regum et sacerdotum crimen incusatur, quod cultum sacrificialem pessum dederunt et corruperunt, adorationem, quae praecipue per sacrificia fiat, omnino perverterunt !, vel quod populum tamquam oves occisionis et victimas in ruinam et praecipitium detrudunt. Iam de aliorum interpretaüionibus pauca sunt addenda : LXX prorsus alia exhibent : 6 (scil. 66xtvov) oi &yvptuovttc 12» Üzpxv vacénmtav ; similiter Syrus : et venatores venantes absconderunt laqueum. Chald : victimas immolant multas. Ex recentioribus alii : immolando aberrationes auferre volunt ; alii : caedes atque declinationes (a rectitudinis tramite ) profundarunt i. e. maxime cumularunt ( cf. Ros.. ) ; alii : aberraüones expandere optime norunt (cf. Keil ; Delitzsch ad Ps. 101, 3). Quibus tamen obstat, quod B"eUv notione abstracta explicant, id quod indoli linguae repugnat (cf. Fürst C. ). Alii rite nomen personale ibi cernunt ; at varie cetera concipiunt : Hitz. ad arabicum et aethiopicum confugit, ut hanc extorqueat versionem : tumultuantes valde declinaverunt a meta ; alii : rebelles valde praevaricati sunt ( mutant nmi — Ewald, Nowack, cf. Scholz); alii: declinantes (a iure) valde corruperunt ( Fürst) ; alii rebelles caedes plurimas committunt ( Schegg ) ; ita quoque Pusey, qui aliam adhuc notionem simul exprimi vult, scelerum scil. ac caedium perpetratores crimina ita in profundum abscondere et occultare velle, ut Deus ea non cognoscat (? ), quae sane mira est cogitatio et in eo quoque peecat, quod unum idemque verbum duplici significatione et explicatione adhibetur. Scholz nuperrime ope arabicae dialecti Dv? idem significare censet quod 2:53 cavea Gucupis, unde vertit : ut. perdant, abscondunt caveas, i. e. omni studio in abscondito et tecte ponunt careas ; ità tertium habetur membrum ad laqueum et rete. Sed illa. derivatio est et incerta et, etsi certa esset, per longiores tantum ambages ad hanc significationem pervenitur. Deum fore castigatorem omnium et singulorum et qualis quantusque futurus sit, ex eius accuratissima cognitione omnium scelerum probatur
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v. 8 «ego scio Ephraim et Isracl non est absconditus a me, quia nunc fornicatus est Ephraim, contaminatus est Israel » ; — emphasin habet repetitio, habet modus asserendi per affirmationem et oppositae rei negationem, habet illa unius populi in duas quasi partes partitio, habet fornicationis et profanae immunditiei, quae a sacris excludat, mentio : haec omnia apud Deum alta mente esse reposita indicat. Idque eo magis quia cernit eos quam maxime abesse ab omni resipiscentia,
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v. 4 «non dabunt cogitationes suas, ut revertantur ad. Deum suum, quia spiritus fornicationum in medio eorum et Dominum non. cognoverunt » ; —bene notat Lap. hebraeum verti : non permittunt opera eorum, ut revertantur ad Deum i. e. peccata et scelera eorum impediunt, quominus ad meliorem mentem et Dei cultum redeant ; id tangit vates, quod omnibus qui Dei cultum abiecerunt, potissimum malae mentis subsidium et vinculum est : impliciti sunt et obcaecati et stupefacti sceleribus : et tamen qui negant ac negligunt Deum, suum Deum i. e. numen supremum qui sit eorum Dominator et unicum ac summum bonum et tale etiam iis revera esse exoptat, abiiciunt ac renuunt. Cur reverti renuant, addit simul declarans quae sint opera, spiritus scil. fornicationum ( cf. 4, 12. 13. 14 ) et Dei ignoratio et neglectus (cf. 4, 1. 6) ; etiam ipsi « veritatem in iniustitia detinent » ( Rom. 1, 18), eam vitiis suffocantes et exstinguentes. Quare ad alterum etiam gradum progrediuntur, ut impudenter peccantes hanc temeritatem aperte prae se ferant
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v. 5 « et respondebit arrogantia Israel in facie eius, et Israel et Ephraim ruent in iniquitate sua ; ruet etiam Iudas cum eis » ; — hebr. et testatur superbia Israel in facie eius 1. e. arrogantia eorum palam apparet et contra eos testimonium dicit ( ef. Is. 3, 9), peccata minime occultare student, potius de iis gloriantur ; quare ruinam fore subiungit propter iniquitatem ( 7 cf. 4, 45 YN), in qua Iuda quoque implicabitur —sed post casum Israel (Theod.) — scelerum ufpote socius (cf. 4, 15) — studiosa enim illa admonitio, ne ascendant in Bethaven etc., et scelerum Israel exaggeratio poenaeque denuntiatio id agunt, ut Iudaeos quoque iam ad idololatriam pronos deterreant, simulque innuunt id vitium iam in Iudaea serpsisse. Et revera, uti iam Salomonis tempore initia cepit (3 Reg. 11, 7), ita inolevit sub Roboam (3 Reg. 14, 23) et sub Abiam (1. c. 15, 3. 19. 13) ; cultus Baal floruit sub Ioram (2 Par. 21, 11) et Ochozia ( 2 Par. 22, 3) et Athalia ( 4 Reg. 11, 18), et principes Iuda etiam coluerunt idola (2 Par. 24, 18) ; ips* Amasias deos filiorum Seir adorabat et illis adolebat incensum (92 Par. 25, 14 ), neque abstulit excelsa ( 4 Reg. 14, 4) neque abstulit Azarias ( Ozias — 1. e. 15, 4); sub eius filio loatham « adhuc populus delinquebat » ( 2 Par. 27, 29), Achaz vero Daal impense coluit ( 9 Par. 28, 2 et seq. ). LXX, Chald. et Syrus ^29 explicant : et humiliabitur superbia (Q6pt; ) Israel — at bene S. Hier. vertit et respondebit i. e. testatur contra ipsum, ita ut non abeat impunitus ; nam verbo inest haec notio ; cf. Num. 35, 30. Deut. 19, 18. 2 Sam. 14, 16. Iob 16, 8, eamque recentiores quoque sequuntur. Talem porro ruinam, ni statim resipuerint, fore minatur, quae sit ineluctabilis, neque ullis ad Deum precibus vel sacrificiis redimatur
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v. 6 e in gregibus suis et in armentis suis vadent ad. quaerendum Dominum et non invenient, ablatus est ab. eis » ; — iunc scil. quando illa ruina imminebit, frustra largissima offerent sacrificia, quasi cum integris gregibus et omnibus armentis venient ad sacrificandum ; auget loquendi inodum et exaggerat, ut Dominum tunc fore inexorabilem ostendat, dum eos, ut nunc revertantur, stimulat. Haec enim de futura illa calamitate dici (ef. Hier. Theod. Sanct. Lap.), non de conditione iam praesente (Scholz), verba ommino suadent ! et ipsa ratio addita « Dominus ablatus est, recessit, sese retraxit ab eis » confirmat, quae non de praesenti tempore valet, quo ad resipiscentiam per prophetae munus et adhortationes 1. DEL verum futurum explicamus, uti 2s dum ea quae cum his cventibus futuris roexsistunt, perfecto enuntiantur oxi5, von ; similiter adverte, perfectum tempus adiungi ad eos invitat, verum de futuro. Tunc enim non invenient, quia « a recedentibus et ipse discessit » (Hier.). Hisce minis ad extremam calamitatem vates progressus est; in sequentibus denuo ad causam regreditur mentione peccatorum facta et calamitatis et excidii seriem delineat ; quare hoc loco prior orationis pars est finienda, neque v. 6 (cum Keil et Scholz) ad sequentem trahendus.
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Summatim, uti 4, 1-3, longiori tractationi praemittit rei argumentum : peccatum et poenam v. "| « /n Dominum praevaricati sunt, quia filios alienos genuerunt ; nunc devorabit eos mensis cum partibus suis » ; — hebr. 433 est fide violata derelinquere, prodere (cf. Ex. 21, 8. Ier. 3, 90 ; 5, 11 etc.), ergo rebelles et infideles facti sunt et hanc a Deo alienationem etiam in filios, in dignam scil. talibus parentibus sobolem transfuderunt ; ipsi patres sunt apostatae et apostatarum generationem etiam educant, atque in filiis cognoscitur et relucet patrum praevaricatio (— in- . de quia) ; filios gignunt alienos, non quasi ex alienigenis uxoribus procreatos (Chald. Theod. Theod. M. — et meminerunt etiam IHier. Cyr. Theoph.), sed quia eos non Deo, sed idolis gignunt et consecrant (Cyr. Theoph. Alb. Rib.), eos suo exemplo in Dei ignoratione et idolorum cultu instituunt, ergo eos indole a Deo aliena imbuunt (Scholz) ; sunt proin alieni, quia noh in semine verorum filiorum Dei reputari possunt (Rwp.); nomen idem fere dicit, quod 1, 9 non populus meus (Sanct. Calm.) et 1, 2 filii fornicationum (Schegg). Longam igitur per generationes seriem perniciei et altis radicibus fixam a Deo abalienationem indicat; eis poenam denuntiat : mensis devorabit. Aliqui id explanant in praesentiarum, cum festinatione, quasi mense uno vel proxime instante vos hostes devorabunt (Hier. Sanct. Schegg, Trochon), alii : per singulos menses i. e. crebro et diu hostium vastatio ingruet (cf. Chald. Alb. Rib.) ; Aq. interpretatus est neomen:as ! i. e. kalendas (Hier.) ; commodissime igitur festos eorum dies uno in exemplo dici accipimus, et eos iri devoratum propter scelestas sollemnitates, quas idolis celebrassent (cf. Scholz) ; cum partibus 1. e. cum possessionibus in distributione terrae sorte singulis assignatis (cf. Hier.), vel generatim cum bonis temporalibus (ftup.), I. e. et homines et cetera bona terrae (Trochon) cedent hostibus; sed cum p5n pars quandoque etiam de Deo dicatur, qui sit summum bonum et quasi hereditas nostra (cf. Ier. 10, 46. Ps. 16, 5; Ps. 13, 96 hebr.) et apud Is. $7, 6 idola quoque hoc nomine vocentur (cf. quae ad eum locum notavi), omnino probari potest, quod Scholz adoptavit, ita appellari h. |. vitulos Bethaven et Dan, qui simul cum cultoribus suis sint prosternendi (cf. 8, 5). Sollemne est, idola simul cum adoratoribus conteri, in captivitatem abduci (cf. Is. 46, 4 ; 2, 18. 90. Ier. 48, 5 ; 49, 3. Am. 14, 15. Mich. 4, 71; 5, 12 etc.). « His dictis protinus mira prophetici spiritus acrimonia sic inclamat, devorationem illam iamiam imminere significans » (Fup.), iam bellicum strepitum et furorem ob oculos ponens, ut. illustri figura res non dici, sed geri videatur (Rib.),
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v. 8 « clangite buccina in Gabaa, tuba in Rama, | ululate 1n. Bethaven, post terqum tuum, Beniamin » ! — hebr. vociferamini, de clamore quoque bellico ; « buccina pastoralis est et cornu recurvo efficitur, tuba autem de aere efficitur vel argento, qua in bellis et sollemnitatibus concrepabant » (Hier.) ; cf. Num. 10, 2 — 10; Lev. 25, 9. De Gabaa et Rama ita Hier. : « istae duae sunt in tribu Beniamin vicinae sibi mutuo civitates, i. e. Gabaa, in qua natus est Saul ; et Rama, quae est iuxta Gabaa, in septimo lapide a Ierosolymis sita » utrumque oppidum in colle situm ; unde apte ex illis signa periculi instantis in regionem late personare exhibentur (id quod custodibus et speculatoribus incumbebat ; cf. Ez. 33, 4 — 6. Am. 3, 6. Ier. 4, 55; 6, 1); Bethaven vel Bethel oppidum est in monte Ephraim (Iud. 4, 5. 1 Reg. 13, 2), non longe a Silo, in via qua pergitur in Sichem. Tumultus igitur bellicus a meridie septemtrionem versus spargitur ; quare mens prophetae non est Assyriorum irruentium impetum et terrorem describere, quippe qui semper a regione septemtrionali meridiem versus invadant; verum, uti v. 12. 14 et praesertim v. 15 indicat, ipse Dominus ex loco suo, i. e. ex templo quasi egressurus et bellum et fugam illaturus proponitur rebelli populo suo, uti Is. 66, 6. Am. 14, 2 : « Dominus de Sion rugiet, et de Ierusalem dabit vocem suam » ; Ioel 3, 16 ; Ier. 25, 30 (cf. Scholz). Idem periculum, quod in Bethaven devolvitur, etiam in Beniamin serpet 1. e. uti Israel, ita etiam Iuda ! ruet ; cf. v. 5. Hic est sensus : post tergum tuum, Beniamin, hebr. pone te vel post te. Locutio probabiliter est proverbialis ( Schegg ), forte desumpta a persequente, qui post fugientem currens ei stragem inferre nititur ; ergo a tergo instat et imminet hostis ; id vel generatim dicitur, vel forte etiam cum veteribus intelligendum erit ita, ut expugnato regno Israel, quod a tergo ( a septemtrione) adiacet Beniamin, hostis in Beniamin bellum et vastationem delaturus dicatur; postquam scil. bellica vociferatio audita est in Bethel ( post tergum Beniamin ), tunc Beniamin sit de simili periculo monendus, quia strepitus revertetur in Beniamin. Propius tamen ad prophetae mentem explicabimus : Dominum expeditione bellica egressum et progressum in regni Israel excidium, inde reversurum et similem stragem illaturum ( quasi a tergo) Beniamin ; bene enim facies Beniamin ad urbem et templum dirigitur. Quod Scholz contendit, Beniamin non opprimi, iam v. 5. 10. 12. 13 refutatur ; neque verum est, Beniamin fore post Israel, ut Israel secum in fugam abripiat. Expeditione bellica indicta contra Israel et Iuda v. 8 in sequentibus pro utroque regno eius successum delineat, et primo quidem pro Israel
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v. 9 « Ephraim in desolatione erit in die correptionis ; in tribubus Israel ostendi fidem » ; — hebr. Ephraim erit in vastitatem, i. e. fiet regio deserta et vasta; ergo populi abductionem significat. Hanc poenam ut diu praedictam non sine acerba ironia innuit. Ipsi fidem foede violarunt, Deus autem fidem se servasse dicit; « in die supplici decem tribuum ostendi mea fidelia verba, quae per prophetas comminatus sum, ut quod sermone praedixeram, opere comprobarem » ( Hier. sim. Cyr. Theod. M. Rup.); talem vastationem et dispersionem iam per Moysen minatus est, Dominus ( Deut. 28, 64; 29, 28), repetiit per prophetas; unde si complet, ostendit, manifestat fidelia, firmiter promissa ! (cf. hebr. ) in sorte tribuum Israel. Dein de regno Iuda
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v. 10 « facti sunt principes Iuda quasi assumenles terminum ; super eos effundam quasi aquam iram meam » ; — hebr. quasi transferentes terminum ex Deut. 19, 14; 27, 1'1 cf. Prov. 22, 28; 93, 10; unde eorum crimen non in eo est, quod terram Israel a suis incolis relictam occupaverint ( Hier. Ps. Ruf. Alb. ), sed « similes facti sunt terminos transferentibus et olim definita transgredi volentibus; qui enim soli Deo convenientia, ipsique iure dicata, caritatem inquam, honorem, adorationem aliis tribuunt .... isti omnino terminos mutant » ( Cyr. sim. Trochon ) vel « quemadmodum illi, qui divisionum in campis signa auferunt, dominii iuri nocent, sic vos, inquit, cum tanta esset inter me et idola intercapedo . . . firma iura dissolvistis nomen meum honoremque idolis attribuendo » ( Theod. M. — sim. Theod. Theoph. Rib. Lap. ). Cum igitur iura omnia et humana et divina conculcent, pervertant, immutent —- locutio certe erat proverbialis — iram Dei experientur, idque cumulatissime, « perinde ac rubri maris aqua super Pharaonem . ad ostensionem virtutis Dei effundebatur » (Theoph.) ; « in aquis 1. Ephr. : « notam feci iustitiam iudiciorum meorum et veritatem verborum meorum ». torrentibus et late regionem aliquam inundantibus exprimi exercitum copiosum et fortem, res est nota. . . sic Is. 8, 1; 30, 928. Ier. 46, 8 » ( Sanct. ) ; comparatio docet, excandescentiam Dei (cf. hebr.) et furorem subito diluvii instar magna cum copia et vehementia iri devolutum (cf. Gen. 19, 24). Redit ad Israel, denuo expeditionis bellicae effectum delineans
5:11
v. 11 « calumniam patiens est Ephraim, fractus iudicio, quoniam coepit abire post sordes » ; — uti v. 10 priore loco peccatum, dein poenam, ita hic prius poenam declarat, dein causam, peccatum, subiungit. In hebr. oppressus est Ephraim. Solet vulg. EY etc. vertere calumniari i. e. astute aliquem aggredi, eum dolo petere, ei molestiam creare ; confractus est iudicio Dei ! per hostes exercito, cf. 5, 1. 8. Et causa est : quia voluit (in hebr. non sine emphasi 5n consilium certum cepit et exsecutus est) sequi sordes, i. e. idola et illas spurcitias, quae cultum comitabantur (cf. Hier. Theoph. Aib. ). Hebr. *y recentiores vertunt praeceptum (cf. Sanct. Mar. Scholz, Trochon) et explicant hominum praeceptum i. e. cultum idolorum ; at id satis languide dici, in aperto est. Melius est 13 accipere cum S. Hier. quasi Ny, cf. NY, *NY Is. 4, 4; 28, 8. Zach. 3, 3. 4. Prov. 30, 12 sordes, stercora etc. Nam in tali oratione, quae causam affert ruinae et confractionis Ephraim, certe gravissima accusalio exspectatur ; Osee idololatriam graviter perstringere solet ; eiusmodi derisio idolorum etiam in nominibus cognatis idolorum habetur, quae v. g. stercorei, trunci p533, abominationes D'Y, nàiayin res detestandae et exsecrandae nominantur (cf. Lev. 26, 30. Deut. 29, 16. 17. 1 Reg. 21, 26 ; 2 Reg. 21, 21 ; 23, 24. Ez. 8, 10 ; 16, 36 ; 20, 7. 8. 31. Ier. 4, 1, 7, 30 ; 13, 27 etc. etc.). Eadem Hier. versio suffragium fert ab antiquis versionibus, quae omnes praeceplum minime exprimunt, verum res inanes et vanas (LXX, Syrus), mammon mendacii ( Chald.) i. e. idololatriam turpem et evanidam insinuant, uti etiam interpretes graeci explicant. Iudicio utrique regno denuntiato, assignatis causis, effectibus descriptis demum ad eum progreditur vates, qui est auctor et effector eius supremus, qui ceteris omnibus tantum ut suis administris utitur ad sua consilia exsequenda. Quare vehementer asserentis in modum clamat
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v. 12 « et ego quasi. tinea Ephraim et quasi putredo domui [uda » ; — similitudo effert, paulatim, sensim obviam ferri regnum ruinae, sed ita tamen, ut vires deficiant omnisque demum vigor auferatur, donec subito uno quasi ictu leviter tacta omnia in ruinam collabantur. lta in utroque regno accidisse facile apparet (cf. Sanct. ). Tinea vestimenta 1. Negat Schegg , quia desit in hebr. praepositio 2, vel 12. ita hebr. posse intelligi : at consumit, putredo vel caries ligna, quod utrumque fit longo tempore ( Hier.) et morsu tacito et lento, at certo certius omnis rei vigor exeditur specie externa manente, exeditur vitio interno in rei visceribus quasi nato. Ita utrumque regnum ex vitio interno omni demum vi est. destitutum. Comparatio etiam saepius adhibetur ; cf. Iob 4, 19; 13, 28 ; 27,18. Prov. 25, 20. Is. 50, 9; 51, 8. — Prov. 12, 4; 14, 30. Eccli. 19, 3. Simul innuit, Dei agendi et vindicandi modum morsu procedere tacito ac . lento, verum rei viscera succidente. Et revera, sensit uterque populus se mültis modis labascere; saepe enim tentatus ab hostibus et male concisus est, saepe et externa et intestina vexatio illum debilitavit ( Sanct. ), verum calamitatibus istis non est edoctus neque ad verum adiutorem exquirendum eruditus. Hanc quasi longam aegrotationem exhibet
5:13
v. 13 « et vidit Ephraim languorem suum et Iuda vinculum suum et abiit Ephraim ad, Assur. et misit ad, regem ultorem ; et ipse non poterit sanare vos, nec solvere poterit a vobis vinculum » ; — in calamitatibus non ad Dominum confugerunt, verum ab Assur auxilium stulte sperabant, implorabant, magnis muneribus emebant et servitutem pro ope nanciscebantur. Iam veteres h. 1. de Manahem mentionem faciunt ( cf. Hier. Cyr. Haimo, Rup. Alb. Sanct. ), qui Phul regi « dedit mille talenta argenti, ut esset ei in auxilium et firmaret regnum eius » (4 Reg. 15, 19), et commemorant etiam simile ab Achaz factum: (1l. c. 16, "I. 8. 2 Par. 28, 20: « dedit regi Assyriorum munera et tamen nihil ei profuit »). Languor Ephraim certe sunt bella illa intestina et fere continuae rerum subversiones, quibus thronus Israel concutiebatur, dum tot coniurationes et caedes regum fierent. Iam post Ieroboam II interregnum i. e. tempus turbidum per 11 annos fuisse videtur, donec Zacharias filius eius regnum capesseret (cf. notam ad 1, 1), contra quem Sellum coniuravit, « percussitque eum palam et interfecit » (4 Reg. 18, 10) ; Sellum uno mense regnavit, et ascendit Manahem... et percussit Sellum et interfecit eum (l. c. 14) et aliis certaminibus et varia crudelitate regnum caede occupatum firmat - et per decem annos tenet (l. c. 17) « fecitque quod malum erat coram Domino » (l. c. 18). Contra Phaceiam, filium eius, coniuravit Phacee et percussit eum (1l. c. 95). Et Iuda vidit 3?» i. e. ulcus suum !. « Possumus vinculum, pro quo in hebr. scriptum est mezor et Aquila interpretatus est éz(Secty vel cóvSecyov 1. e. colligationem sive coniurationem, et ad illud tempus referre, quando Rasin et, Phacee filius Romeliae multa de tribu Iuda millia vastaverunt, quod frustra Iudas adversus reges duos non Dei sed Assyriorum auxilia flagitarit » (Hier.). Et hoc vulnus ludae erumpere coepit sub Ioatham (4 Reg. 15, 37), multoque magis sub Achaz (4 Reg. 16, '), qui misit nuntios ad Theglathphalasar, regem Assyriorum, dicens : servus tuus et filius tuus ego sum, ascende et salvum me fac. Sed cum in subsequentibus solius Ephraim mentio fiat, haec ante Achaz dicta esse videntur. Neque enim ante Achaz ea deerant in luda, quae ulcera vel vulnera erant (cf. Is. 2, 6 - 141; 3, 8. 9; 5, 18- 24) vel falsam in hominibus repositam fuisse fiduciam arguunt (cf. Is. 9, 12 et seq.). Verum ad Dominum, qui possit sanare (Ex. 15, 26. Deut. 39, 99. Is. 19, 92. Os. 1, 1), non confugiunt, sed Ephraim misit ad regem ultorem ; adnotat Hier. : « ubi LXX posuerunt [arib, nos iuxta Sym. ulterem vertimus ; nam Aq. et Theodotion ! iudicem interpretati sunt » et ad nominis explicationem bene nos mittit ad Iud. 6, 31. 32; 1» est qui vindicat, ulciscitur, litigat (ExSxoc, &xBuceaeg Cyr.) et ita rex vocatur, ut indoles eius describatur ; ab eo, qui totus natura sua in litigationem et oppressionem, in ultionem et vindictam propendet, quaerunt et petunt opem, pacem, amicitiam ; id est ac si de spinis ficus quis colligere velit ! Erit iis Assur ultor, quia revera demum poenas ab iis exiget extremas. Plerique iure Assur intelligunt ; aliqui regem Aegypti (Theod. ob 1, 11 ; Theoph. Barh.), ad quem utique Osee, ultimus rex Israel, auxilii petendi causa, quo se Assyriorum dominationi subtraheret, nuntios misit (& Reg. 171, 4). At solus rex Assyriorum ultor exstitit pro Ephraim et Iuda. Cur humana auxilia, potentia, sapientia opem ferre non valeant, ex- Picat
5:14
v. 44 « quoniam ego quasi leaena Ephraim et quasi catulus leonis domui Iuda ; ego, ego capiam et vadam, tollam et non est qui eruat » ; — iram scil. Dei provocant petentes auxilium ab exteris ; furor et potentia, cui nemo resistere potest, terror et horror similitudine illustrantur, paucis « iudicii severitas » (Aib.) ; cf. 13, "1. Populus Dei leo est, si Domino adhaeret (cf. Gen. 49, 9. Num. 23, 94; 24, 9), a quosi defecerit, ipsum Dominum quasi leonem diripientem experietur (cf. Is. 15, 9 ; 38, 13. ler. 4, 159, 6; 50, 11. Am. 3, 8). Hebr. bri 1co, a rugitu dictus, modo Xé«v, modo 2éxtvz h. ]. zivxp in graeco vertur ; *22 leo est iuvenis robore pollens, cf. Ez. 19, 2. 3 : mater tua educavit unum ex catulis suis et factus est leo *23. et didicit praedari et comedit homines ; unde hebr. in utroque membro leo robore et viribus adultus tamquam ultor apparet ; « ut quidquid saevum in bestiis est, hoc in Dei indignatione cognoscas » S. Hier. et graecam interpretationem explanans addit : « nihil panthere velocius, nihil lcone forüus : in pàan- 1. Aq. 1o» &izazovza, Theod. xóv *owz», Sym. zovzozr»; cf. cod. syr. hexapl. there velox per Assyrios regni Samariae significatur interitus, et in leone fortissimum contra Ierusalem et Iudam aliquanto post tempore regnum ostenditur Chaldaeorum ». Exsultantis in modum et terrorem incutientis vociferatione addit : ego, | ego discerpam et vadam (hebr.) sieut leo, qui praeda discerpta imperterritus, quietus, nullius vindictam timens vel curans vadit. Aliter Ha?mo : «ego comprehendi ab hostibus faciam et vadam cum eis, ut etiam in captivitate positi praesentiam meae vindictae sustineant, qui peccaverunt, et tollam eos de proprio solo et non est, qui eruat, h. e. qui a mea potestate eripiat ». Olim populum suum sustulit et portavit in humeris suis (Deut. 1, 31; 32, 11. Ex. 19, 4. Num. 11, 12), nunc iam tollet eum, ut eum auferat de terra ; olim ut pater, qui portat parvulum filium suum, nunc ut leo rapiens atque discerpens.
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At eversio theocratiae via est et praeparatio novae eiusque gloriosioris instaurationis (cf. 1, 10; 2, 18; 3, 9) ; calamitate enim et iudicio erudietur populus; hunc fructum ruinae Dominus praestolatur ; quare v. 18 « Vadens revertar ad locum meum, donec deficiatis et quaeratis faciem meam » ; — multi censent continuari metaphoram leonis, qui discerpta fera raptaque praeda vadat et redeat in speluncam suam (cf. Ps. Ruf. Theod. Theod. M. Theoph. Rib. Sanct. Mar. Tir. Men. Trochón ) ; at aptius illa relicta de Deo verba accipiuntur, qui sicut tamquam vir bellator egressus est ad pugnam et ruinam inferendam (cf. Is. 42, 13), ita peracta ultione dicatur reverti * ad locum suum, i. e. ad coelum (cf. Hier. Chald. Lap. Calm. Schegg, Keil, Scholz), ut ibi quasi quiescat et. consideret in loco suo (Is. 18, 4 — cf. Aib.) i. e. praestoletur successum et fructum ultionis. Ita illud reverti eo sensu dicit Deum se retrahere a populo (cf. Hier. Cyr.), quatenus eos in calamitate diu iacere permittat, non quasi nullam eis curam impertiens ( Theod. Theod. M. Theod.), sed « ut quem propitium praesentemque non senserant, iratum et absentem requirant » ( Hier. ). Populi poenitentiam exspectat (cf. Ier. 3, 22. Mich. 1, 9). Status ille theocratiae prostratae et dissolutae designatur separatione Dei a populo, eius, qui inhabitare et inambulare antea solebat in populo suo, reditu in coelum, unde foedus cum populo initurus quasi descenderat et in tabernaculo foederis et in tem- 1. In hebr. legitur forma exhortationis et oa quidein ex codice babylonico qui an. 916 p. plo habitaverat. Cognatum est apud Ez. gloriam Domini relinquere templum (cf. 11, 23) ; donec deficiatis i. e. moerore conteramini, donec animi duri et contumaces frangantur malorum perpessione, ita ut faciem Dei quaerant, precibus, desiderio ad verum bonum suum in Dei cultu quaerendum animos applicent ; in hebr. donec culpae poenas dederitis ; Dx cf. 10, 2; 14, 1. Is, 294, 6. Ier. 2, 3. Nam sola vexatio dabit intellectum (Is. 28, 19. Alb.). Unde 6, 4 « ?n tribulatione sua mane consurgent ad me : venite et revertamur ad Dominum » ; — i. e. omni studio et fervore quaerere, mane, mature et diligenter rem persequi, 4m? quasi simul cum aurora se ad opus accingere. Rem perpendit Cyr. : « ó£0pic?- c» hoc loco videtur significare semel a somno dementiae qua tenentur cxcitatos, et quasi e nocte atque tenebris de cetero in lucem et diem ingressos inter se cohortando acclamaturos, decere ad Dominum reverti ». Cum enim, uti Theoph. monet, per clementiam Dei ad poenitentiam non sint adducti, per severiora castigati sunt, ut in corporalibus afflictionibus quae per molles medelas curari nequeunt, opus est austerioribus pharmacis. Nam « illa est maxima tribulationum vis, ut caecos aperiat oculos et languentes instimulet et ad officium revocet » ; cf. Prov. 1, 27. Ps. 82, 4'i. Is. 26, 16 (Sanct.). Et in hac mutua inter se cohortatione ! praeclare elucet studium, quo sua quisque conversione non contentus alios quoque eodem fervore imbuere nititur. Iam Dominum agnoscunt et cognoscunt, res et eventus ex Dei norma metientes :
5:10
… Meanwhile, it is known from Am. 2:10; 4:6-9; Hos. 5:10; 6:1 etc.; to speak of a "Deuteronomistic redactor" is to fall into a petitio principii. …
5:13
1 and 2 (3 and 4) Book of Kings
… The content of R. also finds frequent verification in other historical books, and in the prophetic ones (cf. among many cases: Hos. 7, 7; 8, 4 = II Reg. 15, 10, 14, 25; Hos. 5, 13; 7, 11; 8, 9; 12, 2 = II Reg. 15, 17-20; Am. 7, 10; 4, 1-6 = II Reg. 14, 23-29; It. 7, 1-12 = II Reg. 16, 5; It. 36, 1-37, 38 = II Reg. 18, 13-19, 37, etc.). …
… To enter into the game of political powers, trusting in one's own arms and in the stronger kingdoms, means no longer having faith in the covenant, in God's faithfulness and omnipotence; it is to set out toward syncretism and idolatry (Hos. 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 10:4 ff.; 12:2; 14:4).
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.