Affliction shall be a means to bring many to Christ, a complaint of the untowardness of the Jews. God loves mercy more than sacrifice.
By afflictions the people wil returne to God, and hope in Christ to come. 4. both the kingdomes sinning (6. and thincking to be spared for their sacrifices, neglecting workes of mercie) 7. shal be punished. 11. but at last deliuered from captiuitie.
1In their affliction they will rise early to me: Come, and let us return to the Lord.Nella loro afflizione al mattino si alzeranno per venire a me. Su via torniamo al Signore;IN their tribulation early they wil rise vp to me: Come, and let vs returne to our Lord.In tribulatione sua mane consurgent ad me: / Venite, et revertamur ad Dominum, 2For he hath taken us, and he will heal us: he will strike, and he will cure us.Perocché egli stesso ci ha rapiti, e ci salverà; ci ha percossi, e ci guarirà.Because he hath wounded, and wil heale ys: he wil strike, and wil cure vs.quia ipse cepit, et sanabit nos; / percutiet, et curabit nos. 3He will revive us after two days: on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We shall know, and we shall follow on, that we may know the Lord. His going forth is prepared as the morning light, and he will come to us as the early and the latter rain to the earth.Egli ci renderà la vita dopo due giorni, e il terzo giorno ci risusciterà, e viveremo dinanzi a lui. Lo conosceremo, e seguiremo il Signore per conoscerlo. E preparata la venuta di lui, come l'aurora, ed egli verrà a noi, come vien alla terra la piova d'autunno, e quella di primavera.He wil reuiue vs after two dayes: in the third day he wil raise vs vp, and we shal liue in his sight. We shal know, and we shal folow, that we may know our Lord. As the morning light, is his coming forth prepared, and he wil come to vs as a shower timely, and late to the earth.Vivificabit nos post duos dies; / in die tertia suscitabit nos, / et vivemus in conspectu ejus. / Sciemus, sequemurque ut cognoscamus Dominum: / quasi diluculum præparatus est egressus ejus, / et veniet quasi imber nobis temporaneus et serotinus terræ. 4What shall I do to thee, O Ephraim? what shall I do to thee, O Juda? your mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth away in the morning.Che farò io a te, o Ephraim? Che farò a te, o Giuda? La vostra bontà è come una nuvola mattutina, e come rugiada, che al mattino sparisce.What shal I do to thee Ephraim? what shal I doe to thee Iuda? your mercie as a morning clowd, and as the dew passing away in the morning.Quid faciam tibi, Ephraim ? / quid faciam tibi, Juda ? / misericordia vestra quasi nubes matutina, / et quasi ros mane pertransiens. 5For this reason have I hewed them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments shall go forth as the light.Per questo io messi lo scalpello in mano a' miei profeti, dava io ad essi la morte colle parole della mia bocca. Così la tua condannagione verrà fuori come la luce;For this haue I hewed in prophets, I haue killed them in the wordes of my mouth: and thy iudgements shal come forth as the light.Propter hoc dolavi in prophetis; / occidi eos in verbis oris mei: / et judicia tua quasi lux egredientur.
6For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than holocausts.Perocché la misericordia io amo, e non il sagrifizio; e la scienza di Dio più, che gli olocausti.Because I would mercie, & not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more then holocausts.Quia misericordiam volui, et non sacrificium; / et scientiam Dei plus quam holocausta. 7But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant, there have they dealt treacherously against me.Ma costoro han violato il patto a imitazione di Adamo, ivi hanno prevaricato contro di me.But they as Adam haue trangtessed the couenant, there haue they preuaricated against me.Ipsi autem sicut Adam transgressi sunt pactum: / ibi prævaricati sunt in me. 8Galaad is a city of workers of idols, supplanted with blood.Galaad città di fabbricatori di simulacri inondata di sangue:Galaad a citie of them that worke idol, supplanted with bloud.Galaad civitas operantium idolum, / supplantata sanguine. 9And like the jaws of highway robbers, they conspire with the priests who murder in the way those that pass out of Sichem: for they have wrought wickedness.Sue fauci son come quelle di uomini ladroni, si è unita co' sacerdoti, che uccidono la gente, che si muove da Sichem: scellerate cose hanno fatte.And as it were the iawes of men that are robbers, partaker with the priests, of them that in the way kil those that passe out of Sichem: because they haue wrought wickednes.Et quasi fauces virorum latronum, / particeps sacerdotum, in via interficientium pergentes de Sichem: / quia scelus operati sunt. 10I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: the fornications of Ephraim there: Israel is defiled.Orribil cosa ho veduta nella casa d'Israele; ivi le fornicazioni di Ephraim: Israele è contaminato.In the house of Israel I saw an horrible thing: there the fornications of Ephraim: Israel is contaminated.In domo Israël vidi horrendum: / ibi fornicationes Ephraim, / contaminatus est Israël. 11And thou also, O Juda, set thee a harvest, when I shall bring back the captivity of my people.E anche tu, o Giuda: preparati alla messe, finchè io riconduca dalla cattività il mio popolo.Yea and thou Iuda put thee an hatuest, when I shal conuert the captiuitie of my people.Sed et Juda, pone messem tibi, / cum convertero captivitatem populi mei.
6:1
Calmet
Early, or in haste. All the people will repent. (Calmet)
6:2
Worthington
Cure us. God is always ready to receive penitents. (Worthington)
6:3
Calmet
Third. In a short time the Lord will easily set us free. But the prophet refers more directly to the resurrection of the faithful, and of Christ, Ephesians 2:5., and 1 Corinthians 15:4. (Calmet)
St. Paul mentions the third day according to the Scriptures, which nowhere else so clearly specify it. (Worthington) See St. Jerome; St. Cyrpian; Sanct.[Sanctius?] 9.
Know. Hitherto we have been reproached with voluntary ignorance in adoring idols, Osee 4:6. We will amend.
His, Christ's.
Calmet
Rain. It falls only in autumn and in spring, Deuteronomy 11:14. (Calmet)
6:4
Mercy. Hebrew chesed, (Haydock) "piety," etc., (Grotius) whence the word Assideans is derived, 1 Machabees 2:42. The captives flattered themselves, that as soon as they began to entertain sentiments of repentance, God would relieve them. But he answers that their virtue is inconstant, and that they must suffer in proportion to their crimes.
6:5
Mouth. I have ordered my prophets to denounce death unto them, and to treat them roughly, like a piece of marble designed for a statue. Septuagint, etc., "I have slain thy prophets," etc., by Elias, Jehu, etc. The former sense is preferable.
Calmet
Thy judgments, or condemnation. (Calmet)
Haydock
Hebrew, "and thy judgments light shall go forth." (Haydock)
Haydock
Pocock labours hard, but in vain, to explain this; as all the old versions, except the Vulgate have, "my judgments as the light," etc. Hebrew letters may probably have been ill joined, (Kennicott) as Meibomius suspects they have been also, Jeremias 23:33. Here umospoti caur, "my judgments as the light," etc., is exchanged for umishpatec or. This would be very easy when words were written undivided, as in ancient manuscripts. (Haydock)
Kennicott
"Some transcriber upon hearing umishpatecaor, from the person dictating to him, writ umishpateca or instead of umishpate caor. (Kennicott, Diss. 1.)
6:6
Mercy: sincere piety, ver. 4.
St. Jerome
"My victims are the salvation of the faithful, and the conversion of sinners." (St. Jerome)
Calmet
Knowledge, of a practical nature, which was deficient, chap 4:6., and 6:4. (Calmet)
6:7
Haydock
Adam. A compact was made with him, that if he continued faithful or otherwise, his posterity should be born in original justice or sin. (Haydock)
Calmet
He transgressed, and was expelled from paradise, as the Jews were from their land. Septuagint, "like a man:" like any who had not been so highly favoured with the law, etc. (Calmet)
Haydock
Adam means "a man," and sometimes it would be as well rendered in this sense. (Haydock)
6:8
Challoner
Supplanted with blood. That is, undermined and brought to ruin for shedding of blood; and, as it is signified in the following verse, for conspiring with the priests, (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem. Or else supplanted with blood signifies flowing in such a manner with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without embruing the soles of their feet in blood. (Challoner)
Haydock
Thus they would become unclean, and might easily slip. (Haydock)
6:9
Robbers. Jephte had infested those parts, and the country was noted for murders; whence more cities of refuge were appointed in it, Judges xi., and Josue 20:8. The prophet alludes to what had been said to Gad, Genesis 49:19.
Haydock
Out of, or to Sichem. They were jealous of people going thither, (Calmet) wishing to receive their offerings themselves. (Haydock)
6:11
6:8
Supplanted with blood.... that is, undermined and brought to ruin, for shedding of blood: and, as it is signified in the following verse, for conspiring with the priests (of Bethel) like robbers, to murder in the way such as passed out of Sichem to go towards the temple of Jerusalem. Or else ... supplanted with blood ... signifies flowing in such manner with blood, as to suffer none to walk there without imbruing the soles of their feet in blood.
6:2
God vvho punisheth, is alvvayes readie to heale finners, if they vvil repent.
6:3
S Paul (1. Cot. 15. v. 4) not only teaching Christs Resur. rection, but also expresly saying the third day, according to the Scriptures semeth to vnderstand this place, vvhere & in no other place; the day is so denly expressed.
6:6
Concordance •••. 9. v 13.
6:1
Tertullian † AD 220 An Answer to the Jews 13
… It was in accordance with a prophecy of Hosea, uttered on this wise: “Before daybreak shall they arise unto Me, saying, Let us go and return unto the Lord our God, because Himself will draw us out and free us. After a space of two days, on the third day”
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 On the Lord's Prayer 35
… O Lord, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice; in the morning will I stand before Thee, and will look up to Thee.” And again, the Lord speaks by the mouth of the prophet: “Early in the morning shall they watch for me, saying, Let us go, and return unto the Lord our God.”
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 8.16
16. O remarkable and wonderful disaster! O injury more noble than security! O prophecy, “He hath smitten, and He will bind us up, and revive us, and after three days He will raise us up,”
6:2
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 2.26
In Hosea: “After two days He will revive us; we shall rise again on the third day.”
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… They who hid the truth were themselves hidden; but they who received it were made manifest by the power of the Saviour, who not only rose from the dead, but also raised the dead with Himself. And in the person of these the Prophet Osee says plainly, After two days will He revive us, and in the third day we shall rise again, and shall live in His sight
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Letter to a Young Widow 1
… He will strike, and He will dress the wound and make us whole.”
Rufinus of Aquileia † AD 411 A Commentary on the Apostles' Creed 30
… And therefore in the one nature the power of human weakness, in the other the power of divine majesty is exhibited. The Prophet Hosea also speaks most manifestly of the third day in this wise, “After two days He will heal us; but on the third day we shall rise and shall live in His presence.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 18.28
… by the title of king, Christ is to be understood, “who is made,” as the apostle says, “of the seed of David according to the flesh.” This prophet has also foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third day, as it behoved to be foretold, with prophetic loftiness, when he says, “He will heal us after two days, and in the third day we shall rise again.”
6:3
St Hippolytus † AD 235 The Discourse on the Holy Theophany 2
2. Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But there is also that which is more honourable than all—the fact that Christ, the Maker of all, came down as the rain,
Novatian † AD 258 A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity 9
… “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and one who shall rise to reign over the nations; on Him shall the nations hope, and His rest shall be honour.” Or when he speaks of the time of the resurrection: “We shall find Him, as it were, prepared in the morning.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 20
… pray without ceasing .’ Those who are thus continually engaged, are waiting entirely on the Lord, and say, ‘Let us follow on to know the Lord: we shall find Him ready as the morning, and He will come to us as the early and the latter rain for the earth
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 22
… Since as we need this breath, so do we also the help that comes from Him; and if we be willing, we shall easily draw Him to us. And the prophet, to manifest this, and to point out the constant readiness of His beneficence, said, “We shall find Him prepared as the morning.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 6.5
… as it is said, “Turn ye unto Me, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord.” Or is it to be understood according to that way of speaking, “Turn, O Lord,” that is make me turn, since the soul in this her turning feels difficulty and toil? For our perfected turning findeth God ready, as says the Prophet, “We shall find Him ready as the dawn.”
6:4
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Miscellaneous Letters 7.77
… What of the debtor in the Gospel who will not forgive as he has been forgiven? Is it not more bitterly exacted of him for this? And what saith the pattern of prayer? Does it not desire that forgiveness may be earned by forgiveness?
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.5
… What mark of His mercy have we more ready at hand than that He Himself, through the prophet Hosea, is at once merciful as though reconciled to those whom in His anger He had threatened? For He says: “O Ephraim, what shall I do unto thee, or what shall I do unto thee, O Judah? Your kindness,” etc.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 22
… And if we fail to draw from out of His ever-springing goodness, the blame is all ours. This, for example, was His complaint against certain Jews, when He said, “My mercy is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”
6:5
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 21.7
… The king of Babylon uprooted them from their place and dispersed them; and after he had tried and persecuted them much, they did not amend, as He said to them:— In vain have I smitten your sons, for they did not accept chastisement . And again He said:— I have cut off the Prophets, and slain them by the word of My mouth.
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.57
… Nay the blessed Hosea inspires me with serious alarm, where he says that to us priests and rulers pertaineth the judgment, because we have been a snare to the watchtower; and as a net spread upon Tabor, which has been firmly fixed by the hunters of men’s souls, and he threatens to cut off the wicked prophets,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Ephesians 7
… for it was in order that they might attain so many blessings, that Paul was in prison. Surely this was from God’s exceeding love towards them: it is what God also saith concerning the Prophets, “I have slain them by the words of my mouth.” (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 113
1. At the outset the verdict which is in accordance with the truth satisfies but few. But the Lord speaking by the prophet says: “my judgment goeth forth as the light:”
6:6
St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 4.17.4
4. From all these it is evident that God did not seek sacrifices and holocausts from them, but faith, and obedience, and righteousness, because of their salvation. As God, when teaching them His will in Hosea the prophet, said, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.13
… a father in His mercy, a master in His discipline; a father in the mildness of His power, a master in its severity; a father who must be loved with dutiful affection, a master who must needs be feared; be loved, because He prefers mercy to sacrifice;
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 2.17
… but yet the world itself is inscribed with the goodness of its Maker , and the inscription is read by each man’s conscience. Nay, this very long-suffering of the Creator will tend to the condemnation of Marcion; that patience, (I mean,) which waits for the sinner’s repentance rather than his death, which prefers mercy to sacrifice,
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.17
… and if he be houseless, bring him into thine house; and if thou seest the naked, cover him;” also with, “Judge the fatherless, plead with the widow.” I recognise here that ancient doctrine of Him who “prefers mercy to sacrifice.”
Tertullian † AD 220 The Five Books Against Marcion 4.18
… feet with her kisses, bathed them with her tears, wiped them with the hairs of her head, anointed them with ointment, produced an evidence that what she handled was not an empty phantom, but a really solid body, and that her repentance as a sinner deserved forgiveness according to the mind of the Creator, who is accustomed to prefer mercy to sacrifice.
Tertullian † AD 220 On Repentance 8
… The matter were doubtful if He had not withal elsewhere demonstrated this profusion of His clemency. Saith He not, “He who hath fallen shall rise again, and he who hath been a verted shall be con verted?” He it is, indeed, who “would have mercy rather than sacrifices.”
Tertullian † AD 220 On Modesty 2
“But,” say they, “God is ‘good,’ and ‘most good,’ and ‘pitiful-hearted,’ and ‘a pitier,’ and ‘abundant in pitiful-heartedness,’ which He holds ‘dearer than all sacrifice,’
St Cyprian of Carthage † AD 258 Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews 3.2
… “Blessed is he who considereth over the poor and needy: in the evil day God will deliver him.” Also in the cxith Psalm: “He hath distributed, he hath given to the poor; his righteousness shall remain from generation to generation.” Of this same thing in Hosea: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than whole burnt-offerings.”
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Festal and Personal Letters of Athanasius 19
5. Samuel, that great man, no less clearly reproved Saul, saying, ‘Is not the word better than a gift ?’ For hereby a man fulfils the law, and pleases God, as He saith, ‘The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me.’ Let a man ‘learn what this means, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.6
… since, as in sickness, the suffering which pains us from time to time is more distressing than that which is not present. But more terrible still are those which the treasures of God’s wrath contain, of which God forbid that you should make trial; nor will you, if you fly for refuge to the mercies of God, and win over by your tears Him Who will have mercy,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.3
… And what as to that saying: “Let God be true but every man a liar, as it is written, That Thou mightest be justified in Thy words, and overcome when Thou art judged”? In order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice.”
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Concerning Repentance 1.12
… “For I am not come to judge the world, but that the world may be saved through Me.” I pardon willingly, I quickly forgive, “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Two Homilies on Eutropius 1.5
… and if such a man be righteous, all the more glorious is the crown which is wreathed for him: and if he be a sinner, He passes over his sins granting this as the reward of compassion shown to his fellow-servant. “For” He saith “I will have mercy and not sacrifice,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 30
… who did not so much as know the Scriptures, but making light of the rest of virtue, laid all the stress on their sacrifices; which thing He is also earnestly intimating unto them, when He sets down in brief what had been affirmed by all the prophets,
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 39
… “For ye would not have condemned,” saith He, “the guiltless.” Before indeed He inferred the same from what is said of the priests, in the words, “they are guiltless;” but here He states it on His own authority; or rather, this too is out of the law, for He was quoting a prophetic saying.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 50
… For this cleanses from sin. For “give alms, and all things will be clean unto you.” This is a greater thing than sacrifice. “For I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 75
… wherefore also, when He hath put them in their place, He mentions the charges against them. And they speak with meekness, but they have no advantage from it now; and very reasonably, because they passed by a work so much to be desired. For indeed the prophets are everywhere saying this, “I will have mercy and not sacrifice,”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 2 Timothy 6
… But what? “Be ye merciful, as your Father in Heaven is merciful.” ( Luke vi. 36 .) This is the work of God. If therefore thou hast not this, what hast thou? He says: “I will have mercy, and not sacrifice.” (
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom on the Epistle to the Hebrews 11
… then I said, Lo I come to do Thy will, O God!” ( Ps. xl. 6, 7 ), and again, “To what purpose do ye bring the incense from Sheba?” ( Jer. vi. 20 .) “Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs, for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.” ( Amos v. 23 .) But instead of these “I will have mercy and not sacrifice.” (
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 10.5
… In the epistle entitled “To the Hebrews” it is said, “To do good and to communicate, forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” And so, when it is written, “I desire mercy rather than sacrifice,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 20.24
… For “over sacrifices” either refers to works of mercy, which are preferable to sacrifices in the judgment of God, who says, “I desire mercy more than sacrifices,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 On the Catechising of the Uninstructed 14
22. If, however, grief has taken possession of us on account of something in which we ourselves have erred or sinned, we should bear in mind not only that a “broken spirit is a sacrifice to God,” but also the saying, “Like as water quencheth fire, so alms sin;” and again, “I will have mercy,” saith He, “rather than sacrifice.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount 1.23
… to love his enemies, to do good to those who hate him, to pray for those who persecute him;—who, I say, does these things, but the man who is fully and perfectly merciful? And with that counsel misery is avoided, by the assistance of Him who says, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 45.25
… and it is He Himself who has given us that wherewith they may be filled, and may be filled by you. Let them come (He says) and “worship Him with gifts.” What is meant by “with gifts”?…“Give alms, and all things are clean unto you.” Come with gifts to Him that saith, “I will have mercy rather than sacrifice.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 50.12
… gather them, “The Lord preserve them, and make them to live;” “Gather to Him His righteous: who order His covenant above sacrifices:” that is, who think of His promises above those things which they work. For those things are sacrifices, God saying, “I will have mercy more than sacrifice.”
Early Popes (Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals) The Epistle of Pope Anterus 1
… and that another episcopal seat should be assigned to bishops who endure persecution or straits. They contradict the sacred Scripture also, which testifies that God desireth mercy rather than judgment.
Pseudo-Clement The Recognitions of Clement 1.37
“In addition to these things, he also appointed a place in which alone it should be lawful to them to sacrifice to God. And all this was arranged with this view, that when the fitting time should come, and they should learn by means of the Prophet that God desires mercy and not sacrifice,
Pseudo-Clement The Clementine Homilies 3.56
… nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet.’ And to those who supposed that God is pleased with sacrifices, He said, ‘God wishes mercy, and not sacrifices’
6:1
1. In their tribulation they shall rise early to me. — These words pertain to the end of the fifth chapter, whence the Hebrews, the Chaldean paraphrase, and Pagninus refer them there, and begin the sixth chapter from those words: 'Come, and let us return to the Lord.' Vatablus, however, begins the sixth chapter from the last verse of chapter five, as I noted there. But all these come to the same thing, and indicate that the beginning of this chapter is connected with the end of the preceding chapter in this manner and sense: I will return to my place, says the Lord, until the Israelites afflicted and failing in tribulation acknowledge their guilt and seek my face. For when they shall be in tribulation, in the morning they shall rise early to me. Hence it is clear that tribulation here means both that which the Israelites suffered in the Assyrian captivity and that which the Jews suffered in the Babylonian captivity. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, and Theophylactus; for he threatened both to both in the preceding chapter, verse 5, saying: 'Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Judas also shall fall with them;' and verse 12: 'I will be as a moth to Ephraim, and as rottenness to the house of Judas.' Whence seeking his remedy, both Israel and Judas 'went to the avenging king, and he, says the Prophet, shall not be able to heal you;' wherefore, despairing of human aid, in tribulation you shall return to me your God, as is said here. Otherwise Arias, who understands by tribulation the captivity of the Jews, which they suffered from Titus and the Romans. But no mention was made of that in the preceding chapter: nor did the Jews in that captivity convert sincerely to the Lord, nor did God vivify them on the third day: rather he destroyed them and wiped them out with utter destruction. In the morning, — that is, quickly, speedily, hastily seeking from me that I free you from tribulation; namely, this morning was symbolic, when, after the night of captivity had passed and its seventy years decreed by God had been fulfilled, the Jews, being stirred up in hope by Daniel, Ezra, and other Prophets, yearning for the liberation at hand under Cyrus, supplicated God for it and obtained it: for morning and dawn were to the captive Jews the hope of near liberation, soon to be accomplished by Cyrus when the 70 years were completed. Mystically St. Jerome: 'Morning,' he says, that is, when the light of repentance shall have risen upon them through the face of faith. Allegorically Lyra: 'Morning,' he says, that is, in the preaching of John the Baptist, who like the morning star and dawn went before Christ the sun of justice, exhorting men to repentance, that through it he might prepare them for the grace and justice of Christ. Tertullian, book IV Against Marcion, chapter 43, understands this of pious women, who afflicted by the death of Christ, came in the morning to the tomb to anoint him; whence they merited to be the first to see him risen, whom he marvelously consoled. But this sense is accommodated. Come (supply, saying, and exhorting one another), and let us return to the Lord, because he hath taken us. — In Hebrew taraph, that is, he seized, or snatched us away, as if to say: Not Shalmaneser, not Nebuchadnezzar, but God the avenger was he who, on account of our crimes, through Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar snatched us away bound into Assyria and Babylon: whence he alone can free us and heal this wound, as he promised he would heal it, and therefore he will soon do so in fact. It refers back to what he said in the preceding chapter, verse 14: 'I will be as a lion to Ephraim, I will seize and go away; I will take away, and there is none to deliver;' and verse 13: 'He (the avenging king, namely the Assyrian) shall not be able to heal you, nor shall he be able to loose the bond from you.' verse 14. Because I will be as a lion to Ephraim, I will seize and go away; I will take away, and there is none to deliver;' HE SHALL STRIKE US, AND SHALL HEAL US. — In Hebrew יחבשנו iachbescenu, that is, he shall bind us, namely he shall bind up our wounds with bandages, and thus shall heal us. Whence the Septuagint translates, μοτώσει: for μοτά, says St. Jerome, are called the little linens which are inserted into wounds, so that they may consume the putrid flesh and draw out the purulent matter; and it is the art of physicians to heal great wounds over a long time, and through pain to restore health. The Lord therefore strikes us and heals us; because whom he loves he corrects, and not only heals but also vivifies after two days. Thus also the Isagoge ascribed to Galen, where μοτός is said to be fourfold: στριπτός, that is, twisted; ξιστός, that is, scraped, which would be formed from scraped linen material: τιλτός, that is, plucked, from the plucking and pulling of the material: βλωχνιωτός, which would be made from lamp-wick. The interpreter of the Royal Bibles translates the action as, he shall trouble us; because a surgeon, in order to cure a wound and remove pus, must cleanse it with a brush, trouble and scrape it; so that then μοτόν, or lamp-wick, healing may be inserted. St. Augustine elegantly says in the Psalm: "That," he says, "is the voice of the Lord: I will strike, and I will heal. He strikes the corruption of sin, he heals the pain of the wound. Physicians do this, they cut, they strike and they heal: they arm themselves to wound, they carry iron and come to cure." Morally, learn here that tribulation is the weapon of God, by which God recalls to himself and to salvation those men who flee from him and go toward ruin. For the afflicted, pierced by this weapon, prostrate and humbled, lay aside pride, acknowledge their guilt, and penitent, seek pardon from God; who soon spares the suppliants and embraces them in maternal arms. This is what the Psalmist says: "Thy arrows are fastened in me, and thy hand hath been heavy upon me," Psalm xxxvii, 3. Thus St. Augustine in Psalm xxi, sermon 2, teaches that God is a physician, who cures our vices by tribulation as by a medicine: "Under a medicine," he says, "placed, you are burned, cut, you cry out, the physician does not listen to your will, but to your health." And in book I On the Words of the Lord, sermon 18: "Drink," he says, "the bitter cup; for you have made it for yourself. Those precepts of mine which were given to the healthy are so sweet, so light, they have been despised: you have begun to labor, you cannot be healed unless you drink the bitter cup of temptations, tribulations, straits and sufferings. Drink that you may live. And lest the weak one should answer him: I cannot, I do not bear it, I do not drink: the healthy physician drank first, that the sick one should not hesitate to drink. For what is bitter in such a cup that he did not drink? If insult, he heard it first when he was casting out demons: In Beelzebub he casteth out demons. If bitter pains, he was bound, and scourged, and crucified. If death is bitter, he also died. If the infirmity shrinks from the kind of death, nothing at that time was more ignominious than death on the cross." The same, sermon 3 On the Maccabees: "The whole world is the furnace of a goldsmith. There the just like gold, the impious like chaff. There tribulation like fire, there God like a goldsmith. The pious man praises God, the gold shines brightly; the impious man blasphemes God, the chaff smokes; this one is purified, that one is destroyed by the same fire; God is praised in both." The same in Psalm xi: "Someone suffers tribulations, he is taught to love better things through the bitterness of inferior things, lest the traveler tending toward his homeland love a stable for his house." The same, in the book On True Innocence: "When the Lord permits, or causes that we be vexed by some tribulation, even then he is merciful: he who exercises faith, and delays help, does not deny aid, but stirs up desire." The same, epistle 87: "Prosperous fortune is a gift of the consoler, but adverse fortune is a gift of God warning." St. Gregory, in the Morals: "Tribulation," he says, "opens the ear of the heart, which the prosperity of this world often closes." St. Chrysostom, homily 4 On Penance, calls tribulation a plow: "With that, therefore," he says, "let us split our hearts, so that if any deceitful herb and wicked thought is in us, we may root it out completely, that we may present the land pure for the seeds of piety." The same, homily 4 On the Rich Man and the Poor Man: "Unless temptation," he says, "not a crown; unless contests, not prizes; unless races, not honors; unless tribulation, not remission; unless winter, not summer. And this is not only to be seen in men, but also in seeds. For in these much rain, much collision of clouds, much frost must occur, if the sprouting ear is to rise. When therefore the winter of souls comes upon us, let us also sow in this winter, that in summer we may reap." This was the sense, this was the practice of all the Saints: of Sarah, Tobias chapter iii, verse 21: "This all who worship thee hold for certain, that if his life shall be in trial, it shall be crowned; but if it shall be in tribulation, it shall be delivered;" Job, cap. v, 17: "Blessed is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastising of the Lord: for he woundeth, and his hands shall heal: he shall deliver thee in six troubles, yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee;" Psalms, Psalm. xv, 4: "Their infirmities have been multiplied afterwards: they made haste. But I will not gather their meetings for blood offerings;" Solomon's, Proverb. cap. iii, 11: "My son, reject not the correction of the Lord: and do not faint when thou art reproved by him. For whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth: and as a father in the son he pleaseth himself;" Jeremiah's, cap. xxxi, 18: "I have heard Ephraim bewailing himself thus: Thou hast chastised me, and I was instructed, as a young bullock unaccustomed to the yoke;" Jonah's, cap. ii, 8: "When my soul was in distress within me, I remembered the Lord;" Daniel's, cap. xi, 35: "And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried, and purged, and made white, even to the time appointed;" Zacharias's, cap. xiii, 9: "And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will try them as gold is tried: and they shall call upon my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God." Malachias's, cap. iii, 2: "And who shall be able to think of the day of his coming? and who shall stand to see him? for he is like a refining fire, and like the herb of fullers. And he shall sit refining and cleansing the silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and shall refine them as gold and as silver, and they shall offer to the Lord sacrifices in justice." Moreover, Philo, when accused along with other Jews before Caius Caligula by Apion, because he did not render divine honours to Caesar, being cast out from the court, responded to his fellow Jews: We ought to be of good courage, whom Caius is angry with; for it is necessary that the divine be present where human aid fails. Thus Eusebius, lib. II Histor. cap. v. Finally, St. Bernard in the Sentences: "Tribulation," he says, "confers three things: exercise, lest the virtue of love grow cold from the torpor of idleness; proof, that the strength of our constancy may become known to men by example; reward, that according to the measure of tribulation, we may receive an immense weight of glory." He then adds three remedies to match. "To adversity," he says, "three things are to be opposed: the struggles and distresses of the elect, which those who live piously endure; the afflictions and troubles of the Redeemer, which the most savage princes inflicted upon him; the disposition of moderating justice, whose height, like the top of Joseph's rod, we ought not to discuss, but to adore."
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3. HE WILL GIVE US LIFE AFTER TWO DAYS. — First, the Hebrews explain it thus, that is to say, After two, that is few, days, God will deliver us from Babylon, in which we are captives, afflicted, and as it were dead, and, as Ezekiel says in chapter xxxvii, as dry bones in a sepulchre we dwell; delivering us therefore from this civil death, namely captivity, "he will give us life," so that we may seem to ourselves to rise again into liberty, as into a new life. For just as servitude, imprisonment, sorrow, are a certain civil and moral death; so liberty, light and joy is moral and civil life: "for indeed to live, but to flourish and to be strong is life," as the Poet says. But this holds true in the Jews alone, not in the Israelites: for these were never delivered from Assyria. The Prophet has dealt with and deals with both. Add that all Catholics refer these things to Christ. I confess, however, that here there is an allusion to the liberation of the Jews from Babylon through Cyrus, and that it is touched upon incidentally and allusively. For he speaks to the Israelites, whose first day was the time of Assyrian captivity, and to the Jews, whose was the second equally miserable day of Babylonian captivity: after which there succeeded a third day, happy and auspicious, of redemption and liberation, which Cyrus began, Christ perfected. Second therefore, the Fathers and all orthodox Interpreters teach that the coming of Christ the Redeemer is here predicted to the Jews and Israelites. For Ezra, Zerubbabel, Haggai, Zechariah, Jesus son of Josedec, and other priests and Prophets repeatedly urged this upon them in captivity afflicted. The sense therefore is, that is to say, Endure, O Hebrews, a little while, hope, invoke God: because after two days, that is after a brief time, he himself will deliver you, begun through Cyrus, but fully and perfectly through Christ (for from Cyrus to Christ the Prophets are accustomed to ascend, and suddenly as it were to fly, as I said on Isaiah chapter lxv, 8), who is the saviour and redeemer promised to Abraham and to us from so many ages. For he himself will deliver us from sin, death and hell, and will restore us to grace, life and heaven; and thus he will give us life with holy, heavenly and divine life. Thus two days are taken for few and brief, Numbers ix, 22: "But if it were for two days (that is for a short time) or for one month, or for a longer time (the pillar of cloud) was over the tabernacle." Thus also chapter xi, 49; Isaiah, chapter xvii, 6, and elsewhere. The time therefore of 591 years (for so many there were from the Babylonian captivity, until the nativity of Christ) is called here two days: because to God (and to the Prophets elevated in the light of God) in respect of his eternity, and in respect of the eternal and heavenly salvation to be brought through Christ, "a thousand years are as yesterday which is past," as the Psalmist says, Psalm lxxxix, 4. Hence in the same respect and sense Haggai says of Christ, chapter ii, 7: "Yet a little while, etc., and the desired of all nations shall come." Thus Cyril, Arias, Vatablus, a Castro and others. And so the time of the nativity and first coming of Christ, namely the time of grace, of the New Testament and of Christianity, is called here the third day, both because it was about to come shortly; and because it was about to bring full life, joy, light, and an abundance (for the number three signifies this) of all goods; and because after the first day of the law of nature, and the second day of the Mosaic law, immediately as it were the third was about to succeed; but properly after the first day of Assyrian captivity, and the second of Babylonian captivity, as it were this third was to be the day of liberation in the future, as I said a little before; and because Hosea here alludes to the third day on which Christ rose from the dead. Whence I say Thirdly, this Prophet clearly looks to the resurrection of Christ, which took place on the third day after His passion, and he signifies and prophesies it here. For the liberation and redemption of the Israelites and Jews, as well as ours, accomplished through Christ, was completed and fully perfected in His resurrection: for this was the end and crown of His work. In it therefore Christ fully vivified us, both because in it He fully redeemed and sanctified us; and because it itself is the cause of our resurrection, both as an exemplary and as an efficient cause: whence in it Christ vivified us with Himself, as it were, and raised us to blessed and immortal life. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translates: He will heal us after two days, and on the third we shall rise, and we shall dwell (abide) in His sight, before Him; and the Arabic of Alexandria: He it is who will heal us, and will free us after two days, and on the third we shall stand alive before Him. This is what the Apostle says in Rom. chapter iv, 25: "Who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification." And Ephes. chapter ii, 5: "When we were dead in sins, He quickened us together in Christ (by whose grace you are saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." For from the resurrection of Christ we have as certain faith and hope of our resurrection, as if we had already in fact risen with Him; see what is said there. Thus the Fathers understand this passage everywhere, who from this place prove the resurrection of Christ and ours, such as St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Hugo, Lyra, Emmanuel, Mariana and others here; Origen, homily 5 in Exodus; Tertullian, book Against Marcion, chapter xliii; Cyprian, book II Against the Jews, chapter xxv; Lactantius, book IV, xix; Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechesis 14; Augustine, book XVIII of the City of God, xxviii; Rufinus in Exposition of the Creed; Gregory, homily 20 in Ezekiel; Gregory of Nyssa, book On the Knowledge of God, who think these things are said in the person of the Saints who rose with Christ at Jerusalem, and appeared there to many, Matt. chapter xxvii, 53. The same doctrine was taught by the ancient Hebrews according to Galatinus, book VIII, chapter xxii. And R. Moses in Beresith rabba, that is, the Great Genesis, explaining that passage Gen. xxii: "But on the third day, lifting up his eyes, he saw the place afar off," says: "There are many trinities of days in Holy Scripture, one of which is the resurrection of the Messiah." Whence that passage I Corinth. chapter xv, 4: "And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." Anselm there, and Dorotheus, in the Life of Hosea, expound this Scripture of Hosea; for nowhere else is the third day prescribed for Christ's resurrection. Isidore of Pelusium is added, who in book II, epistle 112, reads thus: "Then death will mourn, overcome by a stronger death. He will heal us after two days: on the third we shall rise, and we shall live with Him;" and he explains it of the resurrection of Christ, in which He Himself overcame and destroyed both His own death and ours. Moreover, these three days are thus marked out by Origen in the place already cited, St. Augustine in sermon 90 On the Seasons, and others: they count as the first day that on which Christ suffered and was crucified; the second, on which He was buried and descended to the lower regions; the third, on which He rose. Otherwise Ribera: The first, he says, day was the fourteenth moon, on which after the celebration of the Passover and the institution of the Eucharist, praying in the garden He was seized and began to suffer. The second is the fifteenth moon, namely the day of preparation, on which He suffered and was slain. The third is the sixteenth moon, on which He rose. But thus the sabbath would be the sixteenth moon; for this follows the 15th, or the day of preparation; whereas it is certain that Christ rose not on the sabbath, but on the Lord's day. See the Interpreters in Matt. chapter xii, 40. Moreover, Christ rose precisely on the third day, for various reasons. The first is that Jonas, chapter ii, was three days in the belly of the whale, and by this fact he prefigured that Christ would be three days in the sepulchre, and would rise on the third day, just as he himself came forth alive from the belly of the whale on the third day. Christ himself gives this reason in Matthew, chapter xii, 40. The second is that Christ had himself foretold this in John, chapter ii, 19: "Destroy, said he, this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The third is that if his flesh had remained longer in the sepulchre, it would have been corrupted. But this was not fitting, according to that passage in Psalm xv, 10: "Neither wilt thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption." The fourth is lest anyone should think that someone else had risen. The fifth is that Christ by dying destroyed death; it was fitting therefore that he should not be held long in death, but should soon, as its conqueror and triumphator, rise gloriously. The sixth is that the life of Christ as man was divine, and the most noble of all created things: it was fitting therefore that it should be restored immediately after the accomplishment of our redemption and satisfaction, especially because the divinity always, even in death, remained joined both to the body and to the soul of Christ. For what he once assumed, he never laid aside. Hear St. Leo, sermon 1 On the Resurrection: "Lest prolonged sorrow should torment the troubled minds of the disciples, he shortened the announced delay of three days with such wonderful swiftness, that while the last part of the first day and the first part of the third day concurred to make up the whole second day, and some space of time was lost, yet nothing was lost from the number of days." And soon after: "So swift was the vivification of incorruptible flesh that there was greater resemblance to sleep than to death. For the Divinity, which did not depart from either substance of the man assumed, by its power divided what by its power it joined together." The moral reason was that he might teach that the cross and death of the faithful would be brief, and as it were a three-day period in respect to blessed eternity. Therefore, as it were, he encourages them to the cross and death, in that from it as from sleep they will soon rise with him to eternal life. Mystically, various writers in various ways enumerate these three days. First, St. Augustine, sermon 90 On the Seasons: "The three days," he says, "we can not incongruously call the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, because the Father is a day, and the Son is a day, and the Holy Spirit is a day, and these three are one day." The Father vivified us by creating and giving nature; the Son by redeeming and giving his blood; the Holy Spirit by sanctifying and giving grace and justice. Second, Fulgentius in Albert, counts the first day as that on which the Son was begotten from eternity by God the Father; the second, as that on which man was born in time from the Virgin; the third, as that on which he rose from the sepulchre. Third, others say: The first day is the nativity of Christ; the second, the passion; the third, the resurrection. Fourth, Lyra and R. Solomon understand by the three days three temples and their times: The first day, he says, was the time of the temple of Solomon, to which succeeded the night of the Babylonian captivity; the second the temple of Zerubbabel, to which succeeded the night of the destruction by Titus and the Romans; the third the temple of Christ, that is, the Church which shall endure forever. Tropologically St. Bernard: The three days, he says, signify a threefold life: the first of nature and fault, namely of original sin; the second of grace; the third of glory; for in sermon 72 on the Canticles, explaining that passage from Canticles ii: "My beloved to me, and I to him, who feedeth among the lilies, until the day break, and the shadows decline," thus he says at the end: "When therefore two days precede in us, one indeed inspiring for the life of the body, the other breathing in the grace of sanctification, and the third remains in the glory of resurrection; it is clear that at some time what preceded in the head must be fulfilled in the body, truly a great sacrament of piety, and the testimony of the Prophet, who says: He will revive us after two days, on the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight." And more extensively, sermon 2 in the Vigil of the Nativity: "There are," he says, "three days of which we read: He will give us life after two days, on the third day he will raise us up: one under Adam, another in Christ, the third with Christ. Whence also there is added there: We shall know and follow that we may know the Lord. And here it is said: Tomorrow you shall go forth, and the Lord will be with you. These things are said to those who have divided their days in two, in which the day perishes in which they were born, which is the day of Adam, the day of sin, to which also Jeremiah was cursing: Cursed be the day wherein I was born; for we are all born in that day. Would that that day might perish in us all, the day of cloud and darkness, the day of shadows and whirlwind, which Adam made for us!" Then treating of the second day of the grace of Christ: "Behold," he says, "there has shone upon us the day of new redemption, of ancient reparation, of eternal happiness. This is the day which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad therein; because tomorrow we shall go forth. Whence, if not from the prison of this age, from the slavery of this body, from the chains of necessity, curiosity, vanity, pleasure. For what has our spirit to do with earthly things, etc. Keep this day in Christ, that you may walk as he also walked." Then explaining the third, he says: "O Juda and Jerusalem, fear not, tomorrow you shall go forth, that is, as soon as the soul shall have gone forth from the body, all affections together, all desires, by which throughout the whole world meanwhile dispersed and bound it was held, shall be dissolved, and it shall go forth from this snare, and the Lord will be with you," etc. The same again, sermon 5 among the small ones: "He will give us life," he says, "after two days, namely of knowledge and conversion; on the third day he will raise us up by the voice of the Word incarnate through his first resurrection; and we shall live in his sight vivified by his passion, more serenely illuminated by the knowledge of miracles and we shall follow that we may know the Lord, instructed by the conversion of his doctrine." Anagogically St. Jerome, whom Albert, Hugh and Clarius follow, thinks that here are noted three comings of Christ: the first "in humility," when he was born man; the second "in glory," when he rose; the third "in the habit of one judging;" and so the third day will be the day of judgment and universal resurrection, on which the Saints shall rise to life and eternal glory. Whence the Chaldean translates: Life will he give us in the days of consolation which are to come, and on the day of the resurrection of the dead he will raise us up, and we shall live with him. ON THE THIRD DAY HE WILL RAISE US UP. — He explains what he said "after two days;" for this is the same as on the third day. Whence Lactantius in the place already cited: "He will give us life," he says, "after two days on the third day." So also Tertullian, Theodoret, Clarius, Arias and a Castro here, and St. Gregory and Origen cited above. What this third day is, I have already said. For "he will raise us up" in Hebrew is יקימנו iekimenu; which the Hebrews and the Chaldean translate, he will make stand, he will support, he will sustain us. But others everywhere translate, he will raise us up; for it follows, "and we shall live;" and it preceded, "he will give us life." Therefore here we are dealing with a raising up to life, not with a sustaining in life. AND WE SHALL LIVE IN HIS SIGHT. — First, Theodoret, Theophylactus and Rupert explain it, as if to say "We shall live," namely with the life of glory and blessedness, especially when after the general resurrection we shall rise in a glorious body; for then we shall not only see God with the eyes of the mind face to face, but also Christ with bodily eyes. But because it follows: "We shall know and follow that we may know the Lord," hence we shall better understand these things of the life of grace, as if to say We shall live in his (God's and Christ's) grace and care which he has for us, nay in his sight; for we shall see him face to face, and in turn we shall be seen by him, and therefore to him as one beholding us we shall always strive to please, and we shall follow him and his laws and doctrine in holy conversation, so that day by day we may know, love, worship him more and more, until we attain to him, and see him face to face in the heavens. Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Hugh, Lyran, Arias, Vatable, Ribera and a Castro. Note here: The phrase "in his sight" can be expounded in three ways: First, that is to say, Living we shall see him face to face, as Vatablus says, namely Christ born in the flesh. Second, that is to say, We shall live so holily that we are always mindful that we exist in his presence and before his eyes, and therefore we shall strive to please him in all things and to obey him; in the manner that Enoch, Noah and other holy and perfect men are said to have walked with the Lord, Genesis chapter v, verse 22, and chapter vi, verse 9. See the remarks there. Third, that is to say, We shall live secure and happy in his sight, knowing that he continually beholds us, cares for us, rules us, protects us, who before, when we lived in sins, had turned his eyes, mind and care away from us; for "in his sight" is set in opposition to what he said in chapter v, at the last verse: "I will return to my place until you fail and seek my face;" or, as Jeremiah says in chapter vii, verse 15: "I will cast you away from my face, as I have cast away all your brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim;" For just as God casts Cain, Genesis chapter iv, verse 14, and all the wicked away from his face, so on the other hand he continually holds the pious in his eyes and mind. Wherefore David, seeking this for himself and his own, prayed in Psalm cxxii, verse 2: "Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hands of their masters: so our eyes look unto the Lord our God, until" he in turn benignly turn his eyes upon us, and "have mercy on us." For just as the sun, by its light, as if by an eye, illuminates, warms, vivifies, gladdens, and makes fruitful all things it beholds; so also God does, who is the uncreated and immense sun. Hence again the Psalmist prays throughout, saying: "Look upon me and have mercy on me;" for by looking upon us thou hast mercy and dost good: "Turn not thy face away from me: cast me not away from thy face; show me thy face; thy face, O Lord, will I seek." Likewise: "Lighten my eyes that I sleep not in death," Psalm xxx, verse 17. "The Lord lighten his countenance upon us," Psalm lxvi, verse 2. "Make thy face to shine upon thy servant," Psalm cxviii, verse 135, that is to say, Show me a bright, that is to say serene, joyful, cheerful, benign, friendly and beneficent face and countenance, not a dark, severe, sad, angry, threatening one. AS THE DAWN HIS GOING FORTH IS PREPARED,—that is to say, The nativity and rising of Christ, by which he shall go forth from heaven to earth, being born and dwelling, is prepared by God like the dawn; because just as the dawn dispels the darkness of ignorance and sin, and shall illuminate the Israelites and all men with the light of his doctrine and holy life. This is what the Apostle says, Romans chapter xiii: "The night is passed, and the day is at hand." For "is prepared" in Hebrew is nachon, that is to say, firmly and most certainly prepared, and by a fixed decree of God is confirmed, namely in God's predestination, the coming of Christ. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Hugh, Lyra and Vatablus. Anagogically, Isidore understands these things of the glory of the resurrection, by which Christ began to shine forth to the whole world like the dawn, and to exert his power and strength, according to that Psalm cix, verse 3: "With thee is the principality in the day of thy strength in the brightness of the saints," that is to say, Thou shalt be prince, O Christ, in the day, not of humility and the cross, but in the day of strength, that is to say of power and thy kingdom, with splendor, glory and most holy and sacred majesty, which shall appear in thy divine resurrection, ascension, sitting at the right hand of the Father, sending of the Holy Spirit, and conversion of all nations. Note: The rising of Christ, both divine and human, is rightly compared to the dawn. First, because, just as the dawn is the first light of day, so the first work of God the Father was the eternal generation of the Son; by the dawn therefore is signified his antiquity and eternity, according to that Psalm cix, verse 3: "From the womb before the day-star I begot thee;"; in like manner the first work of our redemption was his human generation, or incarnation. Whence St. Augustine and Justin Against Trypho expound that passage thus: Because, they say, from the womb of the Virgin alone, without the seed of man, before the rising of the day-star, after midnight Christ was begotten and born. Tertullian adds, book V Against Marcion, chapter ix: Just as stars appear at dawn, so at the dawn when Christ was born, a new star appeared to the Magi, indicating to them the rising of Christ as it were like the dawn. Secondly, just as the dawn covers the sun and as it were brings it forth; so the flesh of Christ being born concealed His divinity, and brought it forth with itself to us, and as it were gave birth to it. Thirdly, just as the dawn is a small light which grows until midday; so also Christ as an infant grew in age, wisdom and grace before God and men until the cross. Fourthly, just as in the dawn dew is produced from the air, which sprinkles herbs and plants, nourishes and makes them fruitful; so also Christ proceeded from heaven through the Virgin by the works of the Holy Spirit, who by sprinkling souls dead in sin with His grace vivifies them, and makes them fruitful in good works and merits. Whence for "out of the womb before the morning star have I begotten thee," the Hebrew, Symmachus, Aquila and the Fifth Edition have: "From the dawn to thee the dew of thy youth;" others translate: "From the dawn have I begotten thee dew." Thus Isaiah compares the generation of Christ to dew, cap. xlv, 8, saying: "Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above." See the things said there. Again, dew of youth among the Hebrews is the same as the flower and beauty of youth. Dew therefore, first, designates the sweetness, cheerfulness and sweetness of Christ; secondly, His heavenly generation from the Virgin, just as dew is born from the dawn by heavenly power, as R. Hadar-an says: whence from the Hebrew it can be translated: "Out of the womb of the dawn the dew of thy youth;" thirdly, the abundance of graces which was poured out upon Christ like dew. Hence the Chaldean translates: "The mercies of God shall be present to thee as dew, thy children shall sit confidently." Whence from this place Vatablus and Suarez, III part. tom. I, disp. xviii, sect. iii, prove that the fullness of grace infused into the soul of Christ was in the womb, namely in the first instant of His conception. Thus therefore Christ, begotten as dew, was the son of the dawn, that is of the eternal Father as God, and of the Virgin Mother as man. Hence Trismegistus took from this his saying: "God having the power of both male and female, brought forth the Word;" and from the same source Lactantius, lib. IV, cap. xiii, teaches that God is δίγονος and δίγονος, and therefore it was necessary that the son be born twice, in the first spiritual nativity ἀρρήτως, in the second carnal ἀπάτως. Moreover, by dew is signified that the son is consubstantial with both father and mother: for dew is indeed of the same substance as the matter from which it is made. Thus Molina, I part. Quaest. xxvii, art. 1, disp. ii. Finally our Maldonatus (whom Cajetan favors and the Chaldean version already recited) commenting on Psalm cix, thus expounds: "Out of the womb, that is out of baptism, to thee, O Christ, shall be born the dew of childhood, that is a multitude of children, or dew of adolescence and youth, that is a multitude of adolescents and youths, namely of the faithful and Christians: for dew is produced in abundance, and covers almost the whole earth: for it is like the finest rain, or drops, which fall most frequently and constantly. Again dew signifies the abundant grace given to these faithful sons of Christ. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Thy generation, offspring and posterity, O Christ, shall not be carnal, but spiritual, and abundant both in number and in grace, such as is dew. Fifthly, just as the light of dawn is most desired, most pleasing and most delightful to men who are wearied by the darkness of a long night; so also to men sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death most desired and most auspicious was the rising of Christ. Hence comes that which Job says, cap. xi, 17: "When thou shalt think thyself consumed, thou shalt rise as the morning star." And St. Peter calls Christ, and the Gospel of Christ, the morning star, epist. II, cap. i, 19: "Until the day may shine and the morning star arise in your hearts." AND HE SHALL COME TO US AS THE EARLY AND THE LATTER RAIN TO THE EARTH. — The early or timely rain in Palestine is that which falls in autumn after seeds are cast into the earth, so that they may fix roots in the earth and begin to germinate; the latter rain is that which falls in spring, so that it may thicken the crop, enrich it and ripen it. The former is called timely because it is of sowing; the latter is called latter because it is of the crop and harvest. For in Syria throughout the whole summer it scarcely rains, but the days are dry and clear. Thus St. Jerome and Vatablus. The Prophets compare both to Christ; because just as those rains came desired, so also Christ came desired, and made fruitful and vivified the earth, that is the souls of men.
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4. What shall I do to thee, Ephraim? — "He shows the affection of a parent toward his lost children," says St. Jerome, according to that passage in Isaiah v: "What is there that I ought to do more to my vineyard, that I have not done to it?" and Micah vi: "O my people, what have I done to thee?" The Prophet here returns to his own times and the incorrigible customs of the Hebrews of his age, on account of which they are destined by God for destruction, as he says in what follows. Here therefore he shows that they themselves are the cause of their own perdition, not God, who grieves over it and has attempted in every way to avert it, constantly striking their hard and rebellious hearts through the Prophets, now with threats, now with promises, now with scourges; so that on His part He has applied all things which could heal them and lead them to salvation both of soul and body. Wherefore morally Dionysius the Carthusian says: "These, he says, can be the words of the most merciful God to Christian sinners, gathering temporal things, and confessing with lips only, or entangled in other vices, whom God unceasingly invites to repentance, as if sharing in their damnation. Concerning which the Apostle says that He wills all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth. Hence also St. Peter, in his Second Epistle, chapter iii, says: The Lord dealeth patiently with you, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to repentance. To which Isaiah chapter xxx agrees, saying: Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy upon you. Let us not therefore despise the riches of His goodness and longsuffering. Christ also, the lover of souls, would rather be crucified again than allow anyone (as far as in Him lies) to be condemned." This will therefore in God is sincere, serious, and, as far as concerns His part, efficacious; it is therefore a will not of sign only, as some wish, but of good pleasure; otherwise indeed God would act falsely and in simulation, while He invites sinners to Himself with such sorrow and affection, if He had Him only in mouth and words, not in mind and heart, which it is impious to think, concerning which more in chapter xi, 9. YOUR MERCY. — The Hebrew חסד chesed signifies piety and mercy, and thence holiness; for mercy is the sign and cause of this. Whence chasidim are called merciful and pious men. The sense is, as if to say, What shall I do to you, O Hebrews? For you are obstinate in your crimes, and you do not admit my pious admonitions and inspirations into your mind; for although sometimes some thought and feeling of piety and mercy toward needy and wretched neighbors may touch you, yet it passes away like a cloud and morning dew, which immediately at the rising and heat of the sun vanishes, suddenly passes and departs, as if to say, Your piety and mercy is inconstant, unstable and evanescent. Thus the Chaldean, Rupertus, Lyra, Vatablus and Arias. Secondly, others here understand the mercy of God, not of the Jews, as if to say, I God would wish to have mercy on you, O Jews, and that constantly and continually, but you by your wickedness dispel this my will and mercy, just as the wind suddenly disperses clouds, and the rising sun suddenly absorbs the dew. Thus St. Jerome, Theophylactus, Hugo and Ribera. The former sense is more favored by what follows: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice."
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5. FOR THIS REASON I HAVE HEWN THEM IN THE PROPHETS. — For "hewn" in Hebrew חצבתי chatsabti, that is, I cut, I felled, I killed, and it is attributed to woods and stones, when they are struck so that they are hewn and squared; whence the Septuagint translates: For this reason I have cut down (the Syriac, I have lacerated; the Arabic, I have mown) your Prophets, which St. Jerome, Haymo, Rupertus and Hugo explain concerning false prophets, that is to say, I killed the false prophets, who were drawing you away from me and from true piety to impiety and superstition, so that those who were the cause of error by promising prosperity might be turned by their death into an occasion of salvation, as St. Jerome says. Thus God through Elias killed 450 prophets of Baal, III Kings, cap. xviii. Leo Castrius however, as also Theophylactus, understand true Prophets, and thus explain it, that is to say, I killed, that is, I exposed my Prophets to certain death and slaughter, when I commanded them to continually reprove your impiety; for I knew that they would be killed by you for this reason. Or, as Vatablus and Castro, that is to say, I blunted my Prophets, and as it were exhausted them; for I wearied them with continual goads, so much so that I reduced them almost to death; continually indeed driving and striking them, so that they might continually warn and strike you, now with threats, now with promises. But because the Hebrew has "in the Prophets," therefore our translator, the Chaldean and others translate it thus; hence a better and clearer sense will be, if we refer this hewing to the people. Whence St. Jerome, whom Haymo, Albertus and Hugo follow, thus explains it: "I have hewn you in the Prophets (that is, through the Prophets), and I have threatened with terrible words; I have brought forth a chisel, fires and cauterizing irons, so that you who despised me as merciful might fear me as offended." He explains and proves what he said: "What shall I do to you, Ephraim?" for your piety and mercy are most slight, your impiety most solid and hard like marble and adamant; for this reason I have attempted to break and hew it through the Prophets, but in vain; for while I strive to carve these marbles harder than flint, I have dulled my chisels and gravers; namely, my ministers and Prophets; for "I have killed them in the words of my mouth," that is to say, I have wearied and worn them out with continual oracles, warnings and commands; for these things stood greatly with them; for it was necessary for them often to set forth and pour out all good things and life itself together with the word: but the marbles hardened, they refuse to be carved, we have profited nothing by so much labor, so much expense, they will not be fashioned into the image of God, the creatures of his making. A similar complaint and pathos of God is through Jeremiah, cap. vi, 27: "I have made you a trier in my people a strong one, etc., brass and iron; all are corrupted. The bellows have failed, the lead is consumed in the fire, the founder has melted in vain: for their malices are not consumed. Call them reprobate silver, because the Lord has cast them away." See the words there. Thus Jerome Prado in Ezech. cap. xxiv, 12, Emmanuel, Mariana and others. I have killed them in the words of my mouth. — St. Jerome equally refers this as the preceding to the Jews, that is to say, "I have killed the negligent in the words of my mouth, so that before captivity came upon them I might punish sinners with the terror of words," that is to say, I have killed them, not in fact, but in words and threats. Better and more effectively others refer "I have hewn" to the Jews, and "I have killed" to the Prophets. Thus Lyranus, Arias, Castro and Prado already cited. The sense is what I gave a little before. AND YOUR JUDGMENTS SHALL GO FORTH AS THE LIGHT, — that is to say, I have hewn and killed you for this reason, so that "your judgments," that is, your justice, might arise and shine forth like light. For just as the sun shines through its rays, so the judgments and laws of God shine forth through works, as Castro says. Secondly, Vatablus, that is to say, Your affairs have turned out happily and prosperously for you. For just as darkness signifies misfortune, so light signifies prosperity and good fortune, that is to say, On account of the Prophets through whom I have hewn you, I have heaped my benefits upon you. But "judgments" do not signify benefits. Thirdly therefore most aptly, that is to say, "And," that is, for this reason, "your judgments," that is, your condemnation shall be seen as in clear light, and it shall appear to all to be just, and your crime to be inexcusable, as being obstinate after so many warnings, hewings and strokes of God. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugo, Lyranus, Arias and others.
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6. BECAUSE I DESIRED MERCY, AND NOT SACRIFICE. — St. Jerome here, and St. Chrysostom, Hilary and Euthymius, in Matthew chapter ix, 13, understand mercy not of men, but of God, as if He said: It is more pleasing to me to have mercy upon you, than to receive sacrifices from you; I am more delighted in your conversion and salvation than in victims. Christ favors this in Matthew chapter xii, 7. For when the Pharisees reproached the Apostles, because on the Sabbath they wished to pluck ears of grain, to relieve their hunger, Christ objected to them these words of Hosea, saying: "But if you knew what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, you would never have condemned the innocent," that is to say: If you knew how great is the mercy of God, you would likewise know that it is more pleasing to Him to relieve the hunger of the poor by plucking ears on the Sabbath, than for the Sabbath to be observed with such rigidity in idleness from works, when my disciples are suffering such hunger. But truly thus these words do not rightly cohere with the preceding ones, in which He threatened them with judgments, that is, condemnation; nor with the following: "and the knowledge of God more than holocausts." For this knowledge is of men; therefore also mercy. Add that it is not fitting to compare the mercy of God with the sacrifices of men. We shall therefore better understand these words of mercy, that is, almsgiving and beneficence of men toward needy and miserable neighbors. Thus the Chaldean, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Haymo, Albert, Lyra, Arias, Vatable and Augustine, book X of the City of God; St. Cyprian, book III Against the Jews, v, and others; indeed Christ in Matthew chapter xii, 7. For the sense of it is, that is to say: I permitted my disciples, being hungry, to pluck ears on the Sabbath, because I have mercy upon them, and I desire that they relieve their hunger. For I know that mercy is more pleasing to God than the rest of the Sabbath, indeed than sacrifice: learn therefore this from me, and with me put on and exercise this mercy toward my hungry disciples, so that you do not accuse them on account of the violated Sabbath, but excuse them on account of the relieved hunger, and have compassion upon them. Note first: The word because gives the reason for the preceding statements, especially those which He spoke in verse 4, where He accused their mercy, by which alone they were able to expiate their crimes and appease God, which would be unstable and false, because they would soon relapse into their accustomed lack of mercy and cruelty (for idolatry is cruel, as is heresy), that is to say: I commended mercy to you, and I accused lack of mercy, because the former is most pleasing to God, the latter hateful and most displeasing; for God prefers and chooses mercy over sacrifice. For the Jews were, as lacking in mercy toward their neighbors, so merciful and inclined toward sacrifices and external oblations, as if all piety and reconciliation with God consisted in these, thinking that if they performed them, all would be secure for them, and God would overlook their crimes, which error God here removes from them, asserting the contrary, namely: "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." And Christ in Matthew chapter xxiii, 23: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, who tithe mint, and anise, and cummin, and have left the weightier things of the law, judgment, and mercy, and faith!" Note second: From the fact that He says, "not sacrifice," some thought that the old sacrifices were not pleasing to God, indeed were hateful to Him. But this is an error: for they were instituted and commanded by Him throughout Leviticus, and they were acts of religion and worship of God. Therefore "not sacrifice" is the same as "than sacrifice," as the Septuagint, the Chaldean and others translate it. For the Hebrews, because they lack a comparative, express it by the negation of that which is less. Therefore what the Hebrews say, mercy I desire (that is, I love, I wish, I choose, I prefer; for this is the Hebrew חפץ chaphats), not sacrifice, this the Latins say: I prefer mercy to sacrifice, or I choose, prefer, set before sacrifice. Whence St. Augustine, book X of the City of God, chapter v: "Where it is written," he says, "I desire mercy more than sacrifice, nothing else ought to be understood than sacrifice (the mystical sacrifice of mercy) preferred to sacrifice (properly so called)." You will ask, how is mercy truly superior to sacrifice? I answer and say first: The act of sacrifice, as it flows from internal religion and devotion, is better and more noble than the act of mercy. It is evident, because the former regards God, the latter man; the former is an act of religion and worship; the latter of mercy, which is a moral virtue: but religion surpasses all moral virtues: for it is the worship of God Himself. Thus St. Thomas, II II, Question lxxxi, article 6. I say secondly: Mercy nevertheless surpasses external sacrifice, because that in the old law in itself, or from the work worked does not please God, but only from the devotion of those offering: mercy however pleases God through itself. And this is what the Prophet intends here; for the Jews, being unmerciful, placed the highest sanctity, piety and appeasement of God in these external sacrifices, as if they pleased God through themselves, and appeased Him by the victims of sheep and cattle. This God here reproves through Hosea, as through Isaiah cap. i, 11: "What is the multitude of your victims to me? etc., cease to do perversely, etc., relieve the oppressed." And Jeremiah cap. vii, 21: "Add your holocausts to your victims, and eat the flesh. For I spoke not to your fathers, and commanded them not, etc., concerning the word of holocausts and victims." And Psalm xlix, 13: "Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or shall I drink the blood of goats?" And Psalm l, 18: "For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; with holocausts thou wilt not be delighted." In like manner it is said I Kings cap. xv, 22: "Obedience is better than victims." And Psalm l, 19: "A sacrifice to God is a contrite spirit." In like manner therefore it could truly be said: Charity, humility, obedience, internal penance I will, not sacrifice, that is I prefer it to external sacrifice. Again, although sacrifice is more noble by reason of its object, which is the honor of God, yet by reason of necessity mercy is often more noble, and therefore to be preferred, so much so that then it would be evil to sacrifice, for example when service must be rendered to the sick. Thus Christ reproves the sons, saying to needy parents that corban, that is, that gift offered to God is better than to give to you, O father, Matt. cap. xv, 6. Thus St. Augustine condemns parents, who give their goods to a monastery, when they have needy children, and so he himself was accustomed to refute the offerings of such, as Possidius relates in his Life, cap. xxxiv. Thirdly, because mercy is often commanded by charity, and includes it; but it is established that acts of charity are nobler than acts of religion. Note here that by sacrifice all external worship is understood, as the worship of the sabbath, Matt. cap. xii, 7; but by mercy, all works of charity and internal piety; for this is what the Hebrew חסד chesed signifies, and this is evident from what he adds: "And the knowledge of God more than holocaust." Whence Pineda, lib. VIII De Rebus Salom. cap. i, thus explains: "Mercy," that is a mind well disposed toward me, "I will, not sacrifice." Fourthly, mercy surpasses sacrifice, if mercy is referred to the worship of God, and is commanded by the virtue of religion; for then there are two acts, one elicited by mercy, the other commanded by religion, which two surpass one of religion and sacrifice. Morally, learn here how great is the excellence of mercy, and how pleasing it is to God, who prefers it to His sacrifices. The reason is, because He Himself is a divine virtue and proper to God; for the highest good is supremely merciful and beneficent. Hence the Psalmist says: "His mercies are over all His works;" and the Church prays: "God whose property it is always to have mercy and to spare." God therefore prefers those things which are conferred on man through mercy, to those which are given to Him through sacrifice, both because He has no need of them, and no honor or glory accrues to Him from them; and because He seeks more the utility of man than His own, which is of pure love, and which is more glorious and supremely magnanimous, and plainly royal and divine. Hence Blessed Nazianzen, oration De Cura pauperum: "Be," he says, "a god to the calamitous." And St. Cyprian, tract. De Oratione Dominica: "When," he says, "anyone has mercy on the poor, he lends to God; and he who gives to the least, gives to God, spiritually sacrifices to God a sweet odor." For neither, he says in the same tract. De Opere et Eleemosyna, "will he be able to merit the mercy of the Lord, who himself has not been merciful." Whence he teaches below that in hunger mercy is to be preferred to food, by the example of the widow, who first made bread for Elijah, then for herself and her sons, III Kings cap. xvii: "To hungry children," he says, "another is fed first; nor in want and hunger is food thought of before mercy." St. Chrysostom, homily 36 to the People: "Mercy," he says, "is a greater grace than raising the dead." The same, homily 51 on Matthew, teaches that doing mercy is of greater worth than building magnificent temples: "for this temple (a living one, namely of the poor) is far more excellent than that (material one);" and homily 23: "Mercy," he says, "is a certain liberal art, having its workshop in the heavens, and possessing not man, but God as its master. This builds for us a dwelling in heaven, and prepares eternal tabernacles." St. Augustine, in the book On Almsgiving: "These," he says, "are the most pleasing sacrifices, mercy, humility, confession, peace and charity." The same, book IX of The City of God, chapter v: "Cicero," he says, "speaking in praise of Caesar, said: Of all your virtues, none is either more admirable or more pleasing than mercy." The same, sermon 34 On the Resurrection of the Lord: "See," he says, "if God does not give you a great reward for mercy. If you forgive a man in whom man has wronged you, God will forgive you in that wherein man has offended God." The same, tract. On Avarice and Lust: "I," he says, "the Lord have received, I will repay. I was hungry, and you gave me to eat, etc. I received the earth, I will give heaven; I received temporal things, I will restore eternal things; I received bread, I will give bread, but heavenly and eternal; I received hospitality, I will give a house; I was visited as a sick man, I will give health; I was visited in prison, I will give liberty," etc. The same, sermon 203 Of the Season: "There are," he says, "many kinds of mercies, which when we perform we are helped so that our sins may be forgiven us; but nothing is greater than that by which we forgive from the heart what each one has sinned." Author of sermon to the Brethren in the desert, sermon 5: "Mercy alone," he says, "leads man to God, mercy alone leads God to man, mercy alone humbling God, exalts us." Wherefore King Josaphat, according to Damascus, in History xxxvi, having left his kingdom and going toward the anachoretic life, bidding farewell to Barachias, whom he had set in his place in the kingdom, gave him this first commandment, not his own, but Christ's: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;" and again: "Be merciful, as your heavenly Father also is merciful. For this commandment," he says, "is especially required of those who are placed in supreme power, that they imitate him from whom they have received power. Moreover, in this matter especially will anyone imitate God, if he holds nothing more important or prior than mercy. To this is added, that nothing so much attracts subjects to benevolence as the grace of a benefit granted to the needy." St. John, who from mercy is called Eleemon, that is merciful, or the Almsgiver, helped all the wretched, and wept in the evening if no afflicted person had sought his aid that day. Hence he was enriched by God with goods both temporal and spiritual. Moreover, he himself recounts the origin of this virtue of his to others in this way, according to Leontius: "To me," he says, "when I was fifteen years old and was living in Cyprus, on a certain night a certain maiden appeared in a dream of extraordinary beauty, splendidly dressed, and crowned with an olive crown on her head. But when she stood near me and struck my fist with her hand, she frightened me awake from sleep. I asked her who she was and whence she came, and how she dared to approach me sleeping. But she, smiling and with a cheerful countenance, regarding me cheerfully and gently: I am," she said, "the first of the daughters of the great King. If you will make me your friend, I will be able to make you familiar to him; for no one has greater confidence with him than I, because I persuaded him to descend from heaven to earth and to take on human flesh. But when I came to myself and turned over in my mind what had been seen, I judged her to be mercy; immediately therefore rising, I went alone to the church; and I come upon a poor man who was naked and was greatly afflicted by cold. To him, having stripped myself of my garment, I give it, saying to myself: Let us know if it be true and not a deception, what has been seen by me; and before I came to the church, a certain man clothed in white, approaching me, gave me a hundred pieces of gold, who soon vanished. Then I understood the vision was not a phantom, but an open vision." Leontius recounts all these things in his Life. Palladius in the Lausiac History, chapter cxv, recounts that Eleemon the monk was so merciful to all that he even sold books, and immediately distributed their price to the poor. When asked why he did this, he said: "How can I persuade my master that I have learned his art accurately, unless I use it itself to exercise the art rightly?" And in the following chapter he commends Bisarion for the same virtue, in that he clothed a naked poor man with his own garment, he himself meanwhile being naked; indeed he even sold the Gospel so that he might help a poor man, saying: "That we might have confidence there, on account of obedience I sold that word itself, which always said to me: Sell what thou hast, and give to the poor." And in chapter cxviii, he celebrates Melania the Roman, in that she was beneficent to the whole world; and Olympias the granddaughter of Ablabius the prefect, in chapter cxlv, in that she distributed all her possessions to the poor. Finally, to omit other examples, Christ the Lord is to us both a living and burning mirror of mercy, and likewise a spur, who through the bowels of his mercy visited us, rising from on high, so that he might succor our miseries, which were very many and most grave. Wherefore he poured out this very thing entirely upon us, both in the incarnation, and in his life, and on the cross, so that Isaiah truly said in chapter liii, 4, of him: "Surely he hath borne our infirmities, and carried our sorrows." Dost thou wish therefore a living image of mercy? Behold Christ on the cross, where he is wholly misery, because he is wholly our mercy. Nor only on the cross, but also after death through all ages, nay in eternity he pours out himself wholly through mercy upon his own: "Being born he gave himself as a companion, eating in food, dying in price, reigning he gives in reward." For in being born he healed the miseries of our nativity and life, taking them upon himself, in dying he healed the miseries of our sins, satisfying for them; in eating and giving himself in the Eucharist to be eaten, he heals the infirmities and passions of each soul, nourishing it with heavenly food; in reigning he heals the misery of death and mortality, giving a body conformed to his own, namely immortal and glorious. Truly, he who clearly perceives the infinite miseries of his own soul, as well as of his body, and sees them healed by Christ at every moment with new and infinite mercies, cannot but admire them, emulate them, and be transformed into them, so that he may continually sing with the Psalmist: "The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever." AND THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD MORE THAN HOLOCAUSTS. — Understand the practical knowledge of God, namely joined with internal reverence of God, piety, charity, mercy. For he opposes internal piety to external, namely to holocausts. Whence it follows that the Hebrew חסד chesed here denotes not only mercy, but any acts of true and internal piety, and comprehends them, as I said above. For chesed properly signifies piety both toward God and toward men, namely a pious and inclined affection, benignity, beneficence, grace, charity, benevolence, gratitude, holiness or goodness. Hence חסיד chasid, that is, pious, a man of probity, a good and holy man, and chasida is called the stork, a bird pious toward its parents, and therefore a symbol of piety. Thus Castro here and Marinus, Forster, Pagninus and others in the Lexicons. Thus in Jonah chapter ii, 9, it is said: "They that observe vanities (idols) in vain, forsake their mercy (in Hebrew חסדם chasdam, that is, their piety toward God, and consequently toward men)"; where chesed properly signifies the fear and worship of God.
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7. BUT THEY LIKE ADAM (the first parent in paradise violating the covenant with God, and His condition and law concerning not eating the forbidden fruit) HAVE TRANSGRESSED THE COVENANT, — that is to say, They imitate their parent, namely the first transgressor of God's law and covenant; and therefore just as he was expelled from paradise, so also they shall be expelled from their land which is like paradise, namely Judaea. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Rupert, Hugh and Lyran. Clarius adds: Just as Adam, pressed by no hunger, incited by no concupiscence, but by his mere wantonness ate the forbidden fruit: so these sin from mere petulance. Secondly, the Septuagint took Adam to be a common name, not a proper one, signifying man; whence they translate: But they are like a man transgressing the covenant, or compact. So also Vatable and Clarius; but these two with Theodoret translate in the genitive: But they have transgressed my covenant like that of a man, that is, like a covenant made with a man, that is to say, They made no more account of the covenant made with me, than if they had made it with a man; whence from levity they soon rescinded and violated it. THERE HAVE THEY DEALT TREACHEROUSLY WITH ME. — The word "there" can be expounded in four ways. First, "there," namely in Adam, that is to say, From that time when Adam sinned, they began to deal treacherously with me; they have therefore notably imitated this transgression of Adam, nay rather continued it; Secondly, "there," namely in paradise, that is to say, In their land, namely in Judaea, which was pleasant and fertile like the earthly paradise in which I had benignly placed them, as Adam in paradise, "there," I say, in this paradise of theirs, and abusing my benignity and acting wantonly they kicked back. Thus St. Jerome, the Chaldee and Vatable. Thirdly, "there," namely in their sacrifice and holocaust, which they offer either to idols with idolatry, or to me with an impious mind and wicked conscience. Fourthly and genuinely, "there," namely in the transgression by which they transgressed my covenant: just as Adam "have they dealt treacherously with me," because they made this covenant with me, not with an angel, not with a man.
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8. GALAAD A CITY OF THOSE WORKING (that is, making, adorning and worshipping) AN IDOL. — Galaad was a celebrated mountain of the holy land, so called from the covenant made between Laban and Jacob, Genesis chapter xxxi, 48, which fell to the lot of the tribes of Ruben and Gad. From it a city built upon it was likewise called Galaad; and from the height of Ramatha, from which Jephte was born, Judges chapter xi, 1, and Ramoth Galaad, where Jehu was anointed king, IV Kings chapter ix, 1. This was a city of refuge, as appears in Joshua chapter xxi, 36, and I Paralipomenon chapter vi, 78; and therefore in it was a multitude of priests. Wherefore on account of the celebrity of the city, the idolaters had placed in it the seat of idolatry, and had built a temple and altars for idols, as the Prophet here signifies and rebukes, as if to say: Galaad, a priestly and holy city, has become the metropolis of idolatry and iniquity, so much so that the whole appears to be composed and made for it. Thus St. Jerome. The Chaldean renders: Galaad, a city of those inflicting violence. For the Hebrew און aven signifies iniquity, and from it violence, as also idolatry. For both are notable iniquities. SUPPLANTED BY BLOOD, — that is to say, Galaad shall be supplanted, captured and laid waste on account of the blood of the pious who worship God; which the idolatrous city has shed copiously and unjustly. There is emphasis in the word supplanted, that is to say: She herself supplanted, and by deceits and snares cast down the worshippers of God; hence she herself in like manner shall be supplanted, deceived and cast down into ruin. Whence in Hebrew, it is supplanted by blood; and thus in Latin it should be read here, Ribera contends. Thus in fact it came to pass that Galaad, which was first in crime, was likewise first in calamity and destruction. For because she was near to the Syrians, hence she was first conquered by the Assyrians in the time of Phacee, IV Kings, chapter xv, 29. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Ribera and others. Hence secondly, for supplanted by blood, Leo the Hebrew renders, oppressed by blood; the Hebrews and Pagninus, defiled by blood; the Chaldean, deceitfully shedding blood; Lyran, a snarer of blood. That is to say: Galaad was so given over to snares and slaughters of the pious and innocent, that by their blood she appears as it were supplanted, oppressed and submerged; she swam in the blood of others and innocent; now she shall swim in her own blood and innocent. Thirdly, the Septuagint, for to middam, reading מים maim, render, disturbing waters, that is, sound doctrine, as idolaters and heretics do, says Theodoret. Allegorically, Galaad, that is, the heap of testimony, is Jerusalem polluted by the blood of the Prophets, Christ and the Apostles, and other her witnesses, whom she with her scribes and priests killed and buried, as Christ objects to them, Matthew chapter xxiii, 29. Thus Leo Castrius according to the letter; I allegorically. Thus therefore the sense is, that is to say: The Galaadites lay in wait at the gorges of the mountains, so that those going to Jerusalem they might capture, plunder and kill. Whence Symmachus renders: Thy gorges like men of ambush. Furthermore the Septuagint, for חכי kechicke, reading with other points כחכי kochachi, render: Thy strength like a man of a pirate, that is to say: With the greatest force and strength thou dost invade those passing through to Jerusalem, as pirates do; כח coach indeed is force, virtue and strength. PARTAKER OF PRIESTS (namely Galaad, having gorges of robbers, was partaker and associate of priests, who on the way killed) GOING FROM SICHEM, — that is to say: The Galaadites were associates of the priests of Bethel, namely of idols and golden calves, who those worshipping God going from Sichem to Jerusalem at Passover, Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles, so that according to the law they might adore God in the temple, slew either by themselves, or through hired assassins sent by them. Thus St. Jerome. The Hebrew already word for word have: As robbers who watch a man, so the conspiracy of priests on the way by which one goes from Sichem, slay, namely travellers. For conspiracy Vatable renders, congregation; Pagninus, college; others, society. Here is noted the atrocity and dominion of the crime. For where many conspire to it, they shall accomplish nothing not; for armed with so many hands and so many counsels, impiety breaks through and levels all things. GOING OUT FROM SICHEM. — In Hebrew שכמה schema, that is in Sichem; for this is what the ה locale signifies. Thus Vatablus and Arias. But I say that ה here is not locale, but terminative of the proper name. For this city was called Sichem, or with the addition of ה Sichima. Whence the Septuagint and Symmachus translate, they slew Sichima, that is the Sichimites. But our translator, because mention is made here of a way to Jerusalem, rightly understanding the preposition מן min, that is from, translates going out from Sichem. For these idolaters did not kill those going into Sichem, but those going out from Sichem to Jerusalem. For Sichem is a city, named from Sichem the prince, who defiled Dina the daughter of Jacob, Genesis cap. xxxiv, 2, and in the time of Christ was called Sichar, whom Christ converted through the Samaritan woman, John cap. iv, 5; afterwards called Neapolis, today Napoloza. They err who think Christ alluded to these ambushes in Luke cap. x, in the parable of one going from Jerusalem to Jericho, who fell among robbers. For Jericho was to the east of Jerusalem, but Sichem to the north. Wherefore there was no way that went from Jerusalem through Sichem to Jericho. He names Sichem before other cities, both because from Samaria, which was the metropolis of the ten tribes, there was a direct way to Jerusalem through Sichem; and because Sichem was celebrated in religion, for Abraham and Jacob dwelt in it, and his well is shown there; and Joseph was also buried in it, Joshua cap. xxiv, 32. Again, Sichem was near the mountains Hebal and Garizim, on which Moses proclaimed the law, and blessings to those keeping it, and curses to those transgressing it, Deuteronomy cap. xxvii, 4. Hence many Sichimites persisted in the worship of God, while others turned aside to the golden calves of Jeroboam. Hence also pilgrims, seeing the holy places, saw (as they still do) Sichem and Jerusalem, just as Christians in Italy visit Loreto and Rome; finally also because near Sichem were Dan and Bethel, where Jeroboam set up the golden calves. There therefore was the seat of idolatry, and consequently there flourished persecution against the pious and faithful going to Jerusalem, whom they intercepted on the way and treated harshly. Furthermore, the Chaldean, Aquila, Theodotion, Vatablus, Clarius and Pagninus take Sichem not as a proper name, but as an appellative, signifying shoulder. Whence they translate: A band, or conspiracy of priests on the way kills with one shoulder, that is with unanimous consent, with equal zeal and effort. For thus thieves and soldiers, when they conspire in the plundering of a house or city, carry ladders, beams and other instruments with which to scale towers or break down doors for breaking in and plundering, as it were with one shoulder. Aquila translates in the accusative: A participation of priests on the way killed, that is cut off, the shoulders of travelers going to Jerusalem. BECAUSE THEY HAVE WROUGHT WICKEDNESS, — that is to say, The Galaadites lie in wait for the worshippers of God and kill them, because they have wholly given themselves over to crimes. For wickedness in Hebrew is זמה zimma, that is a sin, a crime, an abomination, namely a horrible and accursed wickedness. Learn here morally how great a sin it is to hinder works of piety, and to delay those who are hastening to salvation and to the worship of God, for example to the state of perfection. Whence St. Jerome, applying these things to heretics: "Let us say," he says, "that heretics (you say libertines, or otherwise Catholics, as mockers and scoffers of pious works) cut off the way, so that from Sichem, that is from good works, we may not go to Jerusalem, that is to the Church. These are as it were the jaws of robbers, and they kill those who through the way of this world desire to go to the truth. Sichem is interpreted work, that is shoulders: in shoulders we understand work, and all false priests hide the way, and kill men by evil works, lest they reach Jerusalem. But that the shoulder signifies work is shown by Jeremiah cap. xxxii, according to the Septuagint, Give thy heart in thy shoulder, that is, what thou understandest, turn into works. And of Issachar we read, Genesis cap. xlix, that he bowed down his shoulder to labor, and was a husbandman." Wherefore St. Chrysostom, lib. III Against the Detractors of the Monastic Life, places this as the ninth and supreme degree of malice: the first, he says, degree of malice and impiety is to neglect the very beasts and cattle of enemies wandering or fallen; the second and greater, not to help enemies themselves if they lack anything; the third, to despise unknown neighbors; the fourth, to despise those familiar to us; the fifth, to neglect not only the bodies but also the souls of brothers perishing; the sixth, to neglect even one's own children perishing; the seventh, not to provide others who might care; the eighth, moreover to prohibit those who of their own will wish to help them; the ninth, not only to bar them from salvation, but also to actively oppose their salvation. This is what the Apostle so earnestly admonishes and commands, I Thessalonians cap. v, 19: "Quench not the spirit." See the things said there, and especially here a wonderful example of the matter concerning Praetextatus, which St. Jerome relates in epistle 7 to Laeta.
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10. IN THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL (namely in the kingdom of the ten tribes) I SAW SOMETHING HORRIBLE (namely) FORNICATIONS OF EPHRAIM,—that is, idols and golden calves, which Jeroboam the king, sprung from Ephraim, introduced, and whom the tribe of Ephraim followed as their citizen and king, and soon all Israel, which is what he says: "Israel is defiled." For horrible in Hebrew is שעריריה scharerirà, the same as שערורה searurà, but by auxesis signifies something greater and more extensive, as Marinus notes in the Lexicon. Vatablus translates it, pollutions, defilements; Pagninus and Marinus, turpitude, foulness; Our translator, Jer. cap. v, 30, wonders: "Astonishment," he says, "and wonders have been made in the land;" but here he properly translates horrible, which excites horror and causes the hair and hairs of those hearing to stand on end from dread: שער sear indeed signifies hair, and from this seirim are called satyrs, hairy and hirsute. Such is idolatry, especially when common to an entire nation, once devoted and dedicated to God, which followed one man, namely Jeroboam, God the Lord of all being abandoned and despised.
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11. BUT ALSO JUDAH.—These words are to be connected with the preceding ones in this manner: "Israel is defiled, but also Judah." Thus the Hebrew, Chaldean and Septuagint. For Judah followed the idols of Israel. SOW A HARVEST FOR THYSELF.—"Sow," namely, O Israel, or rather thou, O Judah, as if to say, O Judah, thou also shalt be taken, equally as Israel, because thou hast imitated his crimes: nor shalt thou, as thou thinkest, sow and store up thy harvest, because the enemy the Chaldean will lay it waste; for he will reap what thou hast sown: thou shalt however sow and store up for thyself a harvest, which from ears falling to the ground throughout so many years of thy captivity shall grow up spontaneously and abundantly, when I shall have brought thee back from captivity through Cyrus, as if to say, Do not sow now, because enemies will not permit it; then however thou shalt sow: for thou shalt return from captivity, not Israel, who shall remain in it perpetually. For Hosea speaks concisely; and in few words comprehends much, as I said in the Proem. Thus Hugo, Dionysius, Ribera and Lyran, who thus briefly and plainly expounds: Leave thy harvest for the time when I shall convert thy captivity, and now do not concern thyself with it; then indeed thou shalt gather the harvest, although now thou art led captive. Secondly, Haymo and Hugo understand by harvest sons, as if to say, Sow a harvest, that is, beget sons, whom the enemy the Chaldean shall reap, that is, capture, or slay. But to this exposition they do not assent, nor do the following things cohere: "When I shall convert the captivity of my people." For although Ruffinus thus expounds it, as if to say, Thou also, O Judah, shalt be reaped, when the captivity of my people Israel shall be converted to thee, so that thou likewise mayest be captured; yet this does not answer to the Hebraism, by which to convert captivity signifies to free from captivity, not however to lead into captivity. Thirdly, Arias refers these things to the times of Christ, as if to say, Judaea shall be reaped by Titus and the Romans, when I shall loose the captivity of mankind from the power of the devil through Christ. This is allegorical. Add, that to sow a harvest signifies to reap, not to be reaped: for it is the act of him who reaps, not of him who is reaped; whence the Septuagint translates θρύγα, that is, vintage. Recent interpreters translate otherwise, and therefore explain otherwise: for instead of sow they read שת schat in the past tense, that is, sowed; whence they translate: Also Judah sowed, or sows a harvest, or a plantation. Which first some thus explain, as if to say, O Judah, by thy continuous crimes thou preparest for thyself a reaping, that is, destruction, when the captivity of my people was to be converted, that is, while I am thinking of thy captivity being overturned. Whence Theodoret and Theophylactus from the Septuagint read: But also Judah left his harvest, namely his crops and riches, because he followed the idols of Israel, and therefore was spoiled and cut off by the Chaldeans. Secondly, Clarius translates and explains, as if to say, Also, O Judah, Ephraim sowed a plant for thee, or against thee. For he planted groves for thee, and taught idolatry, by which he effected that I would not convert thee, but thou wouldst go forth rejected by me into captivity. Thirdly, Vatablus thinks that here is noted the deed of Jeroboam, by which he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah, IV Kings cap. xiv, 25 and 28, as if to say, Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam son of Joash, king in Ephraim, sowed for thee, O Judah, a plantation in Damascus and Hamath; for he himself restored these cities to thee, and planted Jews as inhabitants in them then, when he converted the captivity of the people, namely when he cast off and shook from his people, namely from Israel, the yoke of the king of Syria: and yet, thou, O Judah, when thou hadst received so great a benefit from God, wast ungrateful to him, didst despise him, and didst take to thyself the gods of the nations. WHEN I SHALL CONVERT (until I shall convert: for in Hebrew it is בשוב bescube, that is, in, or to the conversion of captivity), MY PEOPLE,—that is, thine, O Judah. It is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews often address him whom they are speaking to in the third person, as the Germans also do, when for the sake of honor they say: May the Lord say or do this, that is, thou, O Lord, mayest say or do this.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 2. «quia. ipse cepit et sanabit nos, percutiet et curabit nos » ; — ipse scil., non hostes, inala inflixit ; est primus resipiscentiae gradus, quo in reipublicae eversione et captivitatis miseria Dominum punientem agnoscunt, non in humanis causis haerent ; hebr. discerpsit nos, theocratiam destruxit cf. 5, 14 ; percussit nos et ( vulnus) obligabit ; LXX yczos2t « proprie autem pizza appellantur linteola quae inseruntur vulneribus, ut putridas carnes comedant et extrahant purulentias » ( Hier. ). Poenis eruditi didicerunt, quod antea agnoscere nolebant (3, 13 ), Dominum esse unicum salutis fontem. Verba haec praeterca animi submissionem, patientiam, fiduciam praeclare prae se ferunt, uti generatim prophetae pia hac animorum disposiuone instaurationis tempus praeparari docent (cf. Mich. "i, 9. Is. 63, 13 etc.. Ier. 3, 23). Eiectio in exsilium, dissolutio theocratiae est quasi mors populi ; cum plerique peccatis foedus illud cum Domino initum violaverint, a Deo, vera vita, separati vitam degebant miseram, quae potius mors erat dicenda, et Dei gratia et favore destituti animos etiam mortuos gerebant. Unde instaurationis bona vitae et suscitationis symbolo delineant
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v. 39 « vivificabit nos post duos dies : in die tertia suscitabit nos ct vivemus in conspectu eius » ; — quid sibi vult post duos dies etc.? Iam veteres explicant, bidui spatium poni, ut cito ( cf. Ephr. Ps. Ruf. Theod. Theod. M. Theoph. Darh. Lap. Mar. Tir. ) et facile ( Calm.) Deum salutem allaturum esse significetur, neque recentiores abnuunt (cf. Schegg, Keil Trechon ). Praeterea alii numeros hos ad certam signficationem revocare student ; Cyr. v. g. prinum tempus exordia intelligit generis humani, secundum, illa quae subsequuntur, tertium vero ultimum ac supremum, quo nobis Christus apparuit ; Haimo, ea pertexens quae h. 1. S. Hier. cum Iudaeis disputans innuit, haec refert ad primum et secundum Christi adventum et nostram per fidem ad vitam suscitationem, id quod duplici ratione pertractat. Scholz dies duos, par dietum tempus dicit miseriae, quod afflictis quasi tempus duplo longius videtur ( et nos remittit ad 13, 13. [s. 26, 47, quibus in locis tempus calamitatum cum parturientis doloribus confertur) ; sed quia verba haec vivificabit nos post duos dies tempore miseriae transacto, cum iam ope miseriarum ad resipiscentiam sint adducti ( cf. 5, 15), a populo dicantur, haec explanatio cadit. Si quis proverbialis loquendi modi mentionem iniecerit, uti v. g. Luc. 13, 32 ecce eiicio daemonia et sanitates perficio hodie et cras et tertia die consummor, respondebo, tale proverbium etiam apud Luc. non citra controversiam assumi, neque in tam sollemni effato apud prophetam meri proverbii esse locum. (uod aliis placet, haec non tam de fidelibus, quam de eorum capite, Christo, dici, qui post duos dies passionis et sepulturae ' tertia die sit resuscitatus ( cf. Rib. Lap.), verba sane non admittunt, cum neque de Christi morte neque de certo mortis tempore, ut dici queat post duos dies, ullus proferatur sermo. Commodissima et e re ipsa quasi nasci mihi videtur haec explicatio : cum Osee instaurationem tamquam foederis conclusionem proponat ( cf. 2, 16. 18), de instauratione illa in mentem revocat, quae facta sunt in prima foederis pactione et populum eadem ratione se ad eam praeparare, postquam resipuerit, describit, qua ad prius illud : postquam enim popaulus foederis pactionem a Domino propositam cum gaudio et prompta voluntate accepit, Deus Moysi mandavit : « sanctifica illos hodie et cras... et sint parati in diem tertium, in die enim tertia descendet Dominus coram omni plebe super montem Sinai » ( Ex. 19, 10. 41; cf. 13. 16). Eodem modo populus ad novum foedus instaurandum ex Dei clementia sese accingens, illud praeparatione praemissa post duos dies die tertia fieri ait, et cadem locutione eodemque schemate foedus novum tamquam veteris illius perfectionem designat. Generatim adverti licet, quoties in historia sacra dies tertius tamquam dies insignis, memoriabilis inveniatur : die fertio Abraham locum vidit sacrificio a Deo destinatum ( Gen. 22, 4) ; die tertio natalitius Pharaonis erat ( Gen. 40, 20 ) ; die tertio fratres loseph e carcere educti sunt ( Gen. 42, 18) ; viam trium dierum in solitudinem postulat Moyses, ut sacrificet Domino (Ex. 5, 3) ; die ter- (io et septimo immundus aspergi debuit aqua lustrali ( Num. 19, 19. 19); ad transitum Iordanis praeparatio erat praemittenda, post diem tertium transibitis lordanem et intrabitis ad. possidendam terram ( Ios. 4, 11) ; usque ad tertium diem Roboam populum differt ( 3 Reg. 19, 5 ) ; tertio die Ezechiam ascensurum esse in templum, Deus tamquam orationis exauditae signum praedicit ( 4 Reg. 20, 5) ; tertio die Tobiae et Sarae preces ad Deum ascendunt, tertia nocte benedictionem se consecuturos audiunt, tribus noctibus Dco iunguntur ( Tob. 3, 12 ; 6, 21 ; 8, 4) ; die tertio Esther spreto vitae periculo regem adit populum servatura ( Esth. 5, 4 ; 45, 4); die tertio Ionas e ventre piscis servatus est ( Ion. 2, 1). Quare non mirum erit, si dicamus diei tertio '* sacrum quid inesse, et populum post reditum ad Dominum praeparatione praemissa die tertio exspectare foederis instaurationem sollemnem ; prophetam vero hoc dicendi schemate a primo foedere deprompto nexum qui adsit inter primum et alterum voluisse declarare et secundi foederis naturam et indolem ex priore illustrare. Vivificabit, notat Calm. : « Scripturarum more captivitas, oppressio, servitus, morbus, periculum frequenter mortis nomine significantur ; malorum vero finis resurrectio, reditus ad vitam lucemque vitae renovatio etc. appellatur ». Vera haec quidem, at h. 1. non sufficiunt ; nam cum propheta in antecedentibus apostasiam a Deo et vitia perstrinxerat tamquam veram malorum causam, vita haec ad quam Deus revocat est. vita fidei, spei, caritatis, vita fervoris in cultu Dei, vita in Deo beata ( cf. 2, 19. 20) ; deinde, quia iudicium illud theocratiam dissolvit, vifa erit generatim in theocratiae instauratione ; hanc praecipue spectare videtur illud suscitabit nos 522g! — nos eriget, nos iam mortuos denuo suscitabit firmiterque constituet ; ita, dum singuli nova vita praediti sunt et ipsa theocratia nova forma novoque splendore sit excitata, « tivemus in conspectu cius » vera coram Deo vita, luce, prosperitate, Dei favore fruentur, tamquam verus populus Dei, qui coram Deo ambulat et in quo Deus sibi complacet ( cf. 9, 94) ; vivent, quia nulla iam apostasia, nulla peccati poena sanctis illis novi foederis est timenda (cf. 2, 18. 21 — 23). Ulteriorem ritae huius descriptionem in altera versus parte vates prosequitur, de qua infra. quam hoc Osee loco ; at simul fatetur aequales Osee ea verba non potuisse intelligere, sede ea mysterio abscondita fuisse usqué ad eventum. De tali autem verborum Osee explicatione iam Sanctius ingenue fatetur : « ego hic omnia invenio vehementer implexa, neque aliquid video, in quo curiosus animus non offendat » ; ipse alio modo rem expedire conatur : Ionae sortem omnibus notam abiisse in proverbium, quocirca, qui dolorem suum atque oppressionem consolari vellet, cum allusione ad Ionam optime dicere potuisse ea, quae populus dixerit apud Osee ; lonae vero historiam umbram Christi, qui tertia die ad vitam remigraverit, neminem negare; « cum igitur umbram intuentur, qui eo loquuntur modo, Ionam spectantes Christi resurrectionem, licet ignari, respiciunt » et ita demum Osee verba de Christo resurgente dici. Àt multa hic incerta asseri, clarum est ; num lonas ante Osee vixit? num tale proverbium exstitit ? num eo exstante prophetia in proverbio habetur de Christo ? Considerandus igitur est nexus, qui adsit inter populum et Messiam, quem nexum optime nos docet Isaias in vaticinio de servo Domini : quia Israel servus Domini peccat, alter servus Domini obedit; quia ille iacet prostratus, hic mortem subit, ut peccata et mortem illam expiet ; ex morte vero gloriose vivens vitam etiam suis largitur (cf. Is. 52, 13 — 53, 12 et vide quae ad h. 1l. notavi in comment.'). Ergo si apud Osee populus sanatur, vivificatur, suscitatur, id opus messianicum peractum supponit, id Messiam expiatione facta ad vitam rediisse et vitam aliis tribuisse dicit, cum membra non dicantur vivere nisi vita a capite accepta, proin viva membra vivum etiam caput suo ordine ac debito modo dicant. Et hunc nexum indicant Cyrillus, Hilarius, Rufinus, Theophylactus. Et Cyr. quidem ad h. l. etin Ioan. Ev. ad 9, 11-13 (M. 73, 928): « corruptione et morte percussos rursus curavit ipse tertia die i. e. ultimis temporibus, quando homo factus naturam sanam reddidit eam totam excitans a mortuis in seipso » ; Hilarius vero loco supra allegato : « sub persona populi resurrectio Domini descripta est; in Christo enim omnes resurrexisse nemo fidelium denegat » ; fere eadem Rufinus l. c. Theoph. autem ad h. l. : « percussae naturae iniecit Filium suum, seu uotaprov (cf. Os. 6, 1; LXX yorocst zu&;, uti supra) qui in. vulnere mortis constitutus sanavit nos resuscitavitque tertia die ». Quare Theod. ect Theoph. bene dicunt: « aivitzezac (adumbratur) per haec etiam Salvatoris post tres dies resurrectio ». Et certe non errabimus, si Dominum, quia sacrum istum numerum ternarium, qui toties in sacra historia cernitur, etiam sua resurrectione consecrare voluit, providentia sua rerum cursum et prophetae verba ita ordinasse dixerimus et direxisse, ut tertii diei et vitae in eo largiendae et suscitationis perficiendae mentio fieret. Vaticinium vero explicitum et directum verba minime exhibent. Quae sit nova illa vita, deinceps describit; consistit scil. in Dei cognitione, in studiosa divini beneplaciti impletione, in abundanti Dei benedictione; ita « sciemus sequemurque ut cognoscamus Dominum ; quasi diluculum praeparatus est egressus eius et veniet quast imber nobis temporaneus et serotinus terrae » ; — in hebr. se ipsos exhortantur : sciamus, persequamur (nitamur omni conatu ) ad cognoscendum Dominium ; ita. tollitur scil. illa Dei ignoratio, de qua vates conqueritur 4, 1 ; maior Dei cognitio in illa instauratione constanter promittitur ( cf. Is. 2, 3; 11, 9. Ier. 34, 34); veram autem et intimam Dei cognitionem plurima in se complecti bona, imprimis mandatorum impletionem, liquet, « haec est enim vita aeterna, ut cognoscant te ». . Dein proponit, quomodo Dominus iis illucescat, appareat : sicut aurora conspicuus (certus, stabilitus) est ortus eius (hebr. ) i. e. novo lumine pulsis [tenebris noctis nova vita et laetitia eos perfundet (cf. Rib.); imago aurorae spirat amoenitatem, pulchritudinem, splendorem et maioris luminis, quod in ipso sole fulget, est augurium; ita Dominus certe suis obviam it et qui semel eius lucis radium viderint, susceperint, ab ipsoa claritate in claritatem promoventur, donec post huius vitae auroram in die aeternitatis ipse sol iustitiae et gloriae omni velamine ablato eis affulgeat. Ex vulva aurorae ros descendit ad terrae fertilitatem ; etiam hanc benedictionem spirituali ratione largissime iis fieri, comparatione cum imbre explanat; pluvia enim praesertim in Palaestina conditio est perquam necessaria fertilitatis ; temporaneum imbrem vocat pluviam, quae iactis seminibus datur mensibus Novembri et Decembri, qua infusa coale- Scunt semina; serotinam autem, quae ad maturitatem perducit fructus et a medio Martio usque ad medium Aprilem exspectatur ( cf. Hatimo ). Dominus igitur large subministrabit fluenta gratiae suae — gratiam praevenientem et subsequentem in imbre temporaneo et serotino Alb. adumbratam cernit — , quibus irrigati fructus afferant amplissimos pro horreis Domini (cf. 9, 21. 22). Hic esse sermonem concludendum, ipsa materia prorsus exigit. Nam ad instaurationem eiusque indolem delineandam oratio ascendit, i. e. culmen et fastigium nacta est:tribulatione proposita declaratum est, quem tandem exitum per Dei clementiam et fidelitatem res populi Dei habitura sit:salus messianica iis offertur, in hac autem describenda munus prophetale absolvitur. In sequentibus oratio ex ultimo et altissimo hoc termino redit ad conditionem praesentem, ad populi scelera reprehendenda; unde ea quam adoptavi divisio ex ipso dicendi argumento enascitur.
6:4
v. 4 « Quid faciam tibi Ephraim, quid faciam tibi Iuda ? misericordia vestra quasi nubes matutina et quasi ros mane pertransiens » ; — 1. e. omnia tentavi, quid restat (cf. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap.) ? incipit, uti 2, 9 e rei visceribus et quaerit, uti Is. 1, 5. Quam merito ita quaerat, tum ex antecedentibus elucet, tum v. 5 ratio redditur. De qua re iure conqueratur, explicat : misericordia vestra, hebr. 45m (cf. 4, 1) non est Dei in eos benignitas, quae cito deficere debeat propter scelera eorum (cf. Ilier. Cyr. Theod. M. Haimo) verum, uti Ier. 2, 2, eorum pietas, eorum in Deum dilectio (Lap. Gord. Trochon), eorum bonitas (Chald. Syrus), eorum resipiscentia citissime evanuit, ut nubecula, quae mane conspicitur, sed a solis radiis statim dissipatur ac consumitur (Aib. ), uti ros qui extemplo a sole exhauritur et siccatur (Theod.). Exiguo enim tempore et ab initio foedere concluso fidem et fidelitatem Deo servaverunt et postmodum frequenter defecerunt neque ullam in Dei cultu constantiam exhibuerunt. Cum tam mobilis essent ingenii et adeo proni ad infidelitatem, Deus curam eorum gerens assiduam remedia tentavit; ita
Anc. — Tot conatus Deus per prophetam iam adhibuit ad populi correctionem ; at frustra, unde quasi desperantis in morem quaerit, quid demum faciendum sit. Nam fides eorum evanuit. Punivit per prophetas illorum scelera, morte eos mulctavit, manifesta iudicia In eos exercuit, quia fidem et Dei cognitionem in iis desideravit — ipsi vero ut apostatae peccarunt; huius apostasiae testis est Galaad, testes sunt sacerdotes, agmen latronum, testis et argumentum totus populus foede coram Deo maculatus. Etiam Iudae instabit iudicium (6, 4-11). Immo cum Deus avertere vellet captivitatem et sanare Israel, eo magis prodiit eorum iniquitas; in occulto et in aperto scelera perpetrant, neque Dei reverentiam vel memoriam habent. Ita quoque principes ; omnes quasi vitiorum igne succensi sunt, qui suis incrementis augetur, quo in furore festos dies celebrant idololatricos cum potationibus et rerum sacrarum irrisionibus ; animos enim gerunt dolis et fraudibus succensos ; fatalem hunc ignem ab aliis subministratum in animis suis condiderunt et foverunt in tantum, ut ipsos suos duces devorarent (1, 1-1). Ita a Deo abalienatus Ephraim gentium indolem ac naturam induit, factus est insipidus ac corruptus, robur eius emarcuit, vigor recessit ; superbia sua ruinam sibi accersivit, neque tamen ad Deum, supplex opem imploraturus confugit, verum exteris supplicat; at quo magis ab illis opem flagitant, eo magis a Domino affligentur (1, 8-12). Unde vae eis; praevaricantur, dum Deus eos vult salvare ; afflicti Deum affligentem non deprecantur, neque Deum largitorem agnoscunt beneficiorum, sed ab eo avertuntur; quare principes cadent et erunt subsannationi iis, a quibus opem efflagitabant ("1, 13-16). Haec reprehensio id potissimum addit ad antecedentia, ut Deus varios dicatur. adhibuisse et adhibere conatus, quibus eos a vitiorum semita coerccat, at. frustra. Admonitiones per symbola (cp. 1) et verba prophetica fructum non attulerunt. Quare Deus vehementer increpantis et incusantis in modum (cf. Cyr.Jinterrogat, quid ultra sit conandum, quid tentandum; est sermo quasi de eorum emendationis remedio efficaci desperantis
6:5
v. 5 « propter hoc dolavi in prophetis, occidi eos in. verbis oris met et iudicia tua. quasi lux egredientur » ; — dolavi:« sumitur metaphora a lapidibus, vel a lignis, quae ab artifice dolantur et expoliuntur, ut apta sint aedificio ; vehementer igitur eos corripui et crebris ictibus pulsavi, ut eos expolirem et ad rectitudinem et aequalitatem morum adducerem » (Rib. sim. Sanct.), admovit prophetalium admonitionum secures, uti Ps. Ruf. loquitur, « verbis terribilibus comminatus sum, scalpellum, ignes et cauteria protuli » (Hier.); in prophetis ; Deus enim est, qui 4n ?is loquitur (cf. Zach. 1, 9. 43). Et monitionibus prophetarum pondus addidit et auctoritatem : occidi eos i. e. saepe iam in reluctantes sententiam mortis protulit et exsecutus est; clades et stragem praedixit et singulis et toti reipublicae et haec vaticinia non carebant effectu, quare illi frustra moniti ?n ipsis verbis occidi dicuntur. Referunt v. g. Eliae res gestas (3 Reg. 17; 18, 40 etc.) vel comparant Is. 1, 9. 10. Ier. 4, 10 (Alb. Sanct.) ; attamen non opus est occidi accipere — mortem comminatus sum, praedixi ; verum iudicia, quae exercuit, ab ipsis verbis et orationis gradatione postulántur ; neque desunt exempla et privata et publica (ef. 9 Reg. 13, 9. 90. 14, 19-106. 15, 99. 16, 9-4. 34. 91, 18-94. 4 Reg. 1, 4. 2, 93. 21. 9, '1-10. 13, 3. 15, 29). Hebr. 2yr h. l. accipiunt scindere, secare, prosternere (cf. Is. 54, 9. Scholz). LXX de pseudoprophetis explicant dxe0sptwx (cf. Cyr.), uti ab aliquibus latinis interpretibus illud occidi eos (cf. Rup. Haimo, Alb.) intelligitur. Immo etiam de morte veris prophetis illata a populo aliqui explicant (cf. Ephr. Barh. Estius, Tir.). Ultimum membrum ita connectit S. Hier. : « et haec universa feci, ut iudicii, quo te iudicaturus sum veritas appareret, nullusque dubitaret vos iuste quae patimini fuisse perpessos » ; ideo ?udicia tua quasi lux egredientur « ut nemo iam quid merearis ignoret nec deformitas tua... delitescat » (Ps. Ruf.) ; ea scil. condemnationis et abiectionis iudicia fore ita aperta, ut solis instar omnium oculis occursent (cf. Sanct. Rib. Lap. Sa) ; Schegg comparationem reponit in cursu celerrimo, quo lux ingentia pervadit spatia, ita subito, de repente adfore iudicia ; at ipse terminus comparationis a simplicitate veterum abhorret neque iudicia illa, toties praedicta, ita subito vel inexspectato irruerunt. 'À verborum usu et significatione non abhorret, immo lucis symbolo magis accommodatur haec explicatio : ca feci, ut apud Israel iustitia quasi lux effulgeret et prodiret, ut Israel ad iustitiae ct rectitudinis normam et lucem reducerem. — Veteres versiones (LXX, ! Syrus, Chald.) praebent iudicium meum ; idem vertisse videtur S. Hier., nam explanat : « ut iudicii quo te iudicaturus sum veritas appareret » ; etiam Hamo scribit : « mea iudicia quasi lux egredientur, i. e. manifesta fient », vel potius : iudicium meum purum, uti lux, pellucide sanctum, splendidum splendore iustitiae, sine ulla reprehensionis umbra (cf. Scholz). Cur Deus conatus illos adhibuerit et cur iustitiam Israel expetat, ratio redditur
6:6
v. 6 « quia misericordiam volui et non sacrificium, et scientiam Dei plus quam holocausta » ; — hebr. 45r cf. 4, 1; in pietate, in dilec- tione sibi complacet ; fidem illam et fidelitatem expetit, de qua Ier. 2, 2; de scientia cf. 4, 1. Cultum externum, si interno spiritu destituitur, respuit; cf. Is. 14, 11; 66, 3. Mich. 6, "1. Ps. 49, 8 — 15 ; idque merito, nam cultus externus symbolum est hominis naturae adaptatum ad internam reverentiam, adorationem exhibendam et repraesentandam ; unde si mentis ad Deum subiectio deest, symbolum est mendax, inane. Atque quo magis Israelitae rebus externis et sensibilibus erant dediti, eo magis inculcari debuit, sacrificia mere externa nullatenus Deo posse esse accepta. Ea est enim hominum rudium superstitio, ut pressi calamitatibus placare studeant numen ritibus externis. Quare propheta monet, nihil iis profuturum esse, etsi praecepta ritualia omnia observarint, nisi vera animorum religione ad Deum redierint. Apta monitio, quia Israelitae in cultu externo satis diligentes fuisse videntur (cf. 4, 8. 15; 5, 6; 8, 11. 13). Quam longe absint a Dei beneplacito, et quam frustra igitur Deus illos conatus (v. 5) adhibuerit, declarat v. "I « ipsi autem sicut Adam transgressi sunt pactum ; ibi praevaricati sunt in me » ; — «ipsi autem imitati sunt Adam, ut quod ille in paradiso fecerat pactum meum legemque praeteriens, isti in terra facerent » (IIier.) et sim. interpretes latini; neque immerito ; nam Osee saepius ad historiam sacram in Pentateucho consignatam alludit (cf. 41, 8; 12, 3. 4. 12. 13) et ew» (cf. Iob. 31, 33) id omnino suadet ; óg &v8puzog (LXX, Syrus) enim languida est atque ieiuna ' comparatio ; « sicuti priscae generationes » (CAald.) meliore quidem sensu dicitur, sed num voci iste sensus inest ? Insuper praeceptum Adamo tamquam capiti generis humani datum, a quo pro toto genere tanta doependebant bona, iure optimo foederi vel pacto comparatur, immo multi gravesque theologi veri nominis pactum a Deo cum Adamo esse initum volunt. Ea comparatione gravitas peccati, inobedientia illustratur, cum tot adessent adiumenta ad Deo fideliter serviendum, tot rationes, quibus protoparens ad peccatum vitandum incitari debuit; illis quoque regio erat assignata « terra bona, terra rivorum ac fontium, terra frumenti ac vinearum, olei ac mellis, ubi absque ulla penuria comedes panem tuum et rerum omnium abundantia perfrueris » (Deut. 8, 8. 9), quam observatione mandatorum custodire debebant (cf. 1l. c. v. 19) ; in hac praecipua terrarum omnium (Ez. 20, 13) hisce Dei donis praeventi et circumdati, talibus promissionibus et minis eruditi, ?bi a Deo apostatae facti sunt (cf. 133). Alii (Schegg, Scholz) ex gentes explanant ; sed quo iure ? erit igitur cum Ros. Hitz. Keil in versione S. Hier. sistendum. Iam quo gravior sit accusatio et quo magis mentes obduratas percellat, eius testes et argumenta profert et aliqua documenta quasi digito demonstrat
6:8
v. 8 « Galaad. civitas operantium idolum, supplantata sanguine » ; — hebr. TN cf. 4, 185; 12, 12; civitas operantium niquitatem : ita proprie ; verum UN etiam nomen est pro idololatria, pro cultu vitulorum, ct S. Hier. asserit, in ea urbe trans Iordanem in possessione tribus Gad idolum consecratum fuisse et civitatem, quae utpote habitata 2 sacerdotibus (levitis cf. Ios. 21, 38) et una ex urbibus refugii celebrior fuerit atque maioris auctoritatis, habitanti trans Iordanem Israeli principium fuisse idololatriae et malorum omnium, et qua talem etiam primam ab Assyriis captam. Est Ramoth-Galaad (cf. 5, 1; Ios. 20, 8). Alii tamen non urbem, sed totam regionem Galaad (cf. Deut. 34, 4. 4 Reg. 10, 33. Iud. 20, 1) intelligunt ( cf. Winer s. v. Keil, Schegg). Praeter cultum idololatricum — vel ut veteribus et Schegg placet praeter idolorum fabricationem — increpat in iis sanguinis maculam 1. e. caedes, oppressiones ; hebr. verte : foedata sanguine (cf. Mar. Scholz) quasi vestigiis sanguineis impressa! vel fraudulenta sanguine i. e. locus sanguine occisorum refertus (cf. ler. 11, 9). Ita Chald. : civitas in dolis. effundentium sanguinem innocentem ; textus vulg. eiusmodi culpis urbem interitui esse mancipatam effert. Quomodo Galaad et latrociniis vacet et sanguini et sacerdotum impietatem (cf. 9, 1) secuta sit (Hier.), etiam clarius proponitur
6:9
v. 9 « et quasi fauces virorum latronum particeps sacerdotum, in via interficienlium pergentes de Sichem, quia scelus operati sunt » ; — « fauces virorum latronum sunt cavernae ceteraque loca abdita, in. quibus absconsi praetereuntes exspoliant et interficiunt » (Haimo, sim. Sanct.) vel, ut Rib. explicat, Galaad sitiens est caedis, sanguinis, latrocinii, uti latrones sanguinem et praedam sitiunt ; et hisce in criminibus sese adiungit et par est sacerdotibus, studio atque animo sacerdotibus consentit (Sanct.) ; *n via interficientium... narrat Hier. : « (quorum) cum intellizentiam iuxta historiam quaereremus ab Hebraeo, ita nobis expositum est : sacerdotes Bethel temporibus Paschae et Pentecostes et Scenopegiae, quando per Sichem, quae hodie Neapolis appellatur, eundum erat Ierosolymam, ponebant in itinere latrones, qui insidiarentur pergentibus, ut magis vitulos aureos in Dan et in Bethaven, quam in Ierosolymis et in templo adorarent Deum » ; sim. explanant Ephr. Cyr. Ps. Ruf. Haimo, Rib. Lap. Res non est incredibilis ; nam pios Israelitas in lerusalem ascendisse ad adorandum, certum est ex Tobiae exemplo (Tob. 1, 6), idemque colligi potest ex eo, quod Ezechias omnes Israelitas ad Phase faciendum Ierusalem invitabat (2 Par. 30, 1. 3. 11). S. Hier. legit *2r12 ut fauces.. textus mas. fert *3mn2, quam formam pro A2n scripg£ 2-2 "uq P 2r P tam explicant infinitivum, quem tamen TY2r| exspectaveris (ef. Keil), et vertunt : sicut latrones insidiantur viro (cf. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Scholz), ita. congregatio. sacerdotum (cf. Lap. Mar.) ; 33n scil. (cf. Prov. 21, 9; 35, 24) S. Hier. legisse videtur *3n socius, particeps ; pergit textus hebr. interficiunt. Sichem versus i. e. in via, quae ducit Sichem, ergo in viis publicis palam caedes et latrocinia. perpetrant.. Cum lectio *2(r12 sit difficilis et obscura et praeter. normam generalem efformata, mirum non est, in codicibus etiam inveniri alias formas faciliores 323, immo *2r552. (cf. de Rossi Scholz).LXX praebent xai 7 i672; aov i579; xt10x:02 ; formam igitur derivarunt a n32, ut iam notat Lap. Vertit Chald. : « oeciderunt humero uno » i. e. consensu uno, cooperatione commuui (cf. Soph. 3, 9 — Lap. Mar.), unde mmaz33 legit, uti lob 31, 22, quam interpretationem pauci alii secuti sunt. — Sichem urbs antiquissima est cf. Gen. 12, 6. 3318, sita in montanis Ephraim inter montes Ebal qui est ab aquilone et Garizim qui ab austro estetin cuius ima deelivitate quasi in. dorso montis ( — inde nomen D3x dorsi pars superior, humerus, &uot, ut ait S. flier. — ) posita erat; vocatur hodie Nablus (cf. Ges. Thes. Winer s. v.), Nabulus (Schol). — Aliorum versiones vide in cod. syr. hexapl. et in. fragm. hexapl. M. 16 e, 2937. Quia scelus, hebr. »3 etiam vertere potes : w/ique, vere, profecto ; quasi per exclamationem, quae indignationem spirat, eam sententiam concludit ; 323 vox est. gravissima, scelera designans turpissima ; cf. Lev. 48, 171 ; 19, 99; 20, 14. Iud. 20, 6. Ez. 22, 9; 293, A4. Unde iam praeter apostasiam et caedes et iniurias etiam vitiorum carnalium "mentionem ingerit (cf. 4, 11. 14), quae simul cum aliis etiam perstringit in v. 10 « in domo [sracl vidi horrendum ; ibi fornicationes Ephraim, contaminatus est Israel » ; — cf. ler. 18, 13; 3, 30 et supra 8, 3. Accusationem triplici hoc membro et complectitur et absolvit, innuens, quantopere vitia haec nauseam debeant creare et horrorem homini pio, quantopere igitur vindictam Dei ultoris expostulent. Sed, uti 4, 15 ; 5, 5. 8. 10. 13; 6, 4, ita etiam hoc loco iudaici regni incolae tamquam criminum et castigationis socii notantur et accusantur ;
6:11
v. 14 « sed et Iuda, pone messem tibi, cum convertero captivitatem populi mei » ; — ita stropha optime concluditur et finis respondet initio : quid faciam tibi Iuda ? postquam a v. 8 praecipue scelera Ephraim recensita sunt. Messis imago est iudicii, direptionis, cum scil. segetes demetuntur, abscinduntur, ita sy2 demetere, abscindere et Ier. 51, 33 : « filia Babylonis quasi area, tempus triturae eius ; adhuc modicum et veniet tempus messionis (4»yp) eius » ; quare Alb. bene exponit : parate, ut messione colligaris et abscindaris, et S. Hier. messionis tempus abductionem dicit in Babylonem. Ne igitur Iuda sibi impunitatem promittat (forte propter 1, '1), non sine acerbitate addit m3 etiam Iuda. S. Hier. legit imperativum Dv ;imperativum etiam efferunt LXX &pyov. 1guiàv c£xv1o, id quod cum irrisione dici censet Cyr. : « incipiens enim, Deus minatur, detondere Israel et vindemiare adeo nefandae impietatis consectatores, primitias te faciam irae » ; ea enim ad Galaad refert, cum LXX coniungant in versu antecedente : contaminatus est Israel et Iudas. Theod. et Theod. M. textum legunt et explicant ampliorem xai 'Io2ó« à274& 0tptopóv aoto0 *; dein &pxyov.. et hoc membrum tamquam promissionem explicant. Textus mas. fert TYZ ; unde : etiam luda, posuit messem tibi scil. ponens Deus, et hanc lectionem etiam exprimit Chald. : et ad cos quoque pertingent poenae. Quid Syrus secutus sit, incertum est ; at in editionibus imperativus signo vocali effertur. Et sane imperativus : tu ipse tibi designa abscissionem et tibi destina direptionem habet maius pondus, maiorem etiam comminationem et irrisionem ; unde cum vetustissimis testibus LXX et S. Hier. erit lectio mas. deserenda. Quod additur : cum convertero... si hoc loco adiungitur, magna laborat difficultate, quam iam veteres interpretes senserunt. Verba enim haec status in melius redintegrationem enuntiant. Sed quomodo luda iubetur designare sibi direptionem eo tempore, cum converterit Deus captivitatem ? Haec aperte inter se pugnant. S. Hier. in commentario integram sententiam interserit : cumque te Chaldaei messuerint, convertam rursum etc. lisdem vestigiis alii insistunt. Aib. v. g. orationem vocat eclipticam eamque eodem modo supplet; Lap. »3sz2 verti posse censet usque dum convertam (sim. Gord. Trochon); alii ita rem enodare conantur : postquam convertero captivitatem populi mei Israel etiam ad te, Iuda (Ps. Ruf.) ; at locutio haec semper sensu fausto occurrit, ut Rib. bene monet. Quare opümum est, cum Scholz hanc partem ad sequentem stropham trahere, ut sit membrum eiusdem fere significationis ac cum sanare vellem Israel i. e. dum populi miseriam avertere studerem et sanare Israel, co magis vitiis sese implicuerunt. Id iam Mar. sensit ; explicat enim : cum cogitarem avertere captivitatem, Iuda id sua impietate impcdivit. Iam accusatio augetur. Nam quanto magis Deus, ut populum ad saniora revocaret consilia, adlaborabat ( cf. *AXE"2), eo magis ipsi in peccatis insordescebant ; ità
6:1
… 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. …
… This fundamental structure is revealed in the following characteristic elements: a) the conversion of one's whole existence to Yahweh is required, of which obedience to his will will be the proof (cf. Hos. 6:1-6); b) this conversion requires an unlimited trust in Yahweh. …
… aspirations of the human heart (permanent familiarity with God: Gen. 3:8; Is. 38:18; Ps. 6:5-6; 73:25; otherworldly justice as the work of Yahweh: Jer. 31:29; Ezek. 18). The first hint appears in the 8th century B.C., under the veil of symbolism in Hos. 6:1-2: "Come, let us return to God, for it is he who has wounded us and will heal us: he has struck us and will restore us to health; after two days he will revive us and on the third day …
6:2
… Textkritik, Uppsala 1935; H. G. May, An interpretation of the names of Hosea's children, in Journal of biblical literature, 55 (1936), pp. 285-91; F. König, Die Auferstehungshaftung bei Os. 6, 2-3, in Zeitschrift für katholische Theologie, 70 (1948), pp. 94-100; A. Neher, Amos. …
6:5
… And they presuppose these precepts as known, when they inveigh against their violation: Am. 2:4-16; Hos. 4:6; 6:5-11; Is. 1:12; Jer. 6:19; Mic. 6:8; etc.
… Iud., II, 8, 7). They welcomed children whom they educated according to the ideal of the sect (loc. cit., 8, 2). At the time of Jesus they numbered about 4000. Characteristics instead contrary to every Jewish mentality are: the exclusion of bloody sacrifice (perhaps because of Is. 1, 11; Hos. 6, 5); the prohibition of any oath; turning toward the sun in prayer, instead of toward Jerusalem (cf. Ex. 8, 16); the belief in the pre-existence of souls and, if righteous, in their return, …
6:6
… Samuel, after reproaching Saul ("melior est oboedientia quam victimae," Hos. 6:6; Mt. 9:13; 12:7), applying the norms of holy war (Lev. 27:29) and the law of retaliation (Ex. 21:23-25), cut A. to pieces before the altar at Gilgal (1 Sam. 15).
… The essential element is true piety, obedience to the voice of God, the moral precepts (Hos. 6, 6; I Sam. 15, 22; Mic. 6, 6 ff.). …
… And if in the struggle against erroneous ideologies they sometimes expressed themselves with vehemence (cf. Am. 5:21-25; Hos. 6:6; Is. 1:11-14; Mic. 6:6-8; Jer. 6:20; 7:21 ff.; Ps. 49:7-15), they did not thereby intend to condemn sacrifices as such, willed and ordained by God himself, but to bring external worship …
6:7
Jeremias (Hebrew Yirmeyāh[â] = "Yahweh Exalts or Establishes")
… In a particular way he cares for Israel, with whom intimate relations exist, symbolized by the union of human marriage (1, 16; 7, 17-18; 31, 2; 44, 7 ff.), as in Cant. and Hos. 6, 7; 8, 1.
6:8
… "deceits" devised by J. to obtain the birthright (Gen. 27, 36; cf. Hos. 12, 4; Jer. 9, 3). B. Jacob (Genesis, Berlin 1934, p. 544), referring to the Thesaurus of Gesenius: "imitatur formas adiectivorum, quae colores similesque species designant," to Hos. 6, 8, and to the fact that in the accounts of Genesis J. finds himself between Edom (red) and Laban (white) and that later he blends the various colors in the sticks that he places in the …
6:9
… It is beyond doubt that they inculcate the observance of the commandments of the D. (Gampert): cf. Hos. 4:2, 13; 6:9; Jer. 7:9; etc. All their preaching is for the return to the pure monotheism of the origins, and is against idolatry, that is, for the observance of the first precept, the root of …
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.