The manifold sins of Israel, and of their kings, hinder the Lord from healing them.
Since Ieroboam made schisme in religion that kindom hath fallen into manie distresses: 10. and not repenting shal indure more.
1When I would have healed Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria, for they have committed falsehood, and the thief is come in to steal, the robber is without.Mentre io volea risanare Israele, si scoperse l'iniquità di Ephraim, e la malvagità di Samaria; perocché hanno data opera alla menzogna; i ladri vanno in casa, e gli spogliano, e fuora gli assassini.VVHEN I would heale Israel, the iniquitie of Ephraim was reueled, and the malice of Samaria, because they haue wrought lying, and the theefe hath entered in spoyling, the robber without.Cum sanare vellem Israël, / revelata est iniquitas Ephraim, / et malitia Samariæ, / quia operati sunt mendacium; / et fur ingressus est spolians, / latrunculus foris. 2And lest they may say in their hearts, that I remember all their wickedness: their own devices now have beset them about, they have been done before my face.E non istiano a dire in cuor loro, che io rappello la memoria di tutte le loro malvagità; di presente son essi circondati dalle loro empie invenzioni; queste sono sotto i miei occhi.And lest perhaps they may say in their hattes, that I haue remembred al their malice: now haue their owne inuentions compassed them, they haue bene done before me.Et ne forte dicant in cordibus suis, / omnem malitiam eorum me recordatum, / nunc circumdederunt eos adinventiones suæ: / coram facie mea factæ sunt. 3They have made the king glad with their wickedness: and the princes with their lies.Colla loro perversità hanno dato piacere al re, e a' principi colle loro menzogne.In their malice they haue reioyced the king: and in their lies the princes.In malitia sua lætificaverunt regem, / et in mendaciis suis principes. 4They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested a little from the mingling of the leaven, till the whole was leavened.Son tutti adulteri, son come un forno acceso dal fornaio: la città fu per un poco tranquilla dopo mescolato il lievito, finché il tutto non fu lievitato.Al they committing aduoutrie, as it were an ouen heated of the baker: the citie was quiet a litle from the comistion of leauen, til the whole was leuened.Omnes adulterantes, / quasi clibanus succensus a coquente; / quievit paululum civitas a commistione fermenti, / donec fermentaretur totum. 5The day of our king, the princes began to be mad with wine: he stretched out his hand with scorners.È il giorno del nostro re: cominciarono i principi ad impazzire pel troppo bere; ed egli porse la mano a que' buffoni.The day of our king, the princes begane to rage by reason of wine: he streched out his hand with the scorners.Dies regis nostri: cœperunt principes furere a vino; / extendit manum suam cum illusoribus.
6Because they have applied their heart like an oven, when he laid snares for them: he slept all the night baking them, in the morning he himself was heated as a flaming fire.Apersero a lui il cuor loro come un forno, mentre egli ad essi tendeva insidie: egli riposò tutta notte, quand'ei si cuocevano, la mattina egli fu acceso come ardente fiamma.Because they haue applied their hart as an ouen, when he lay in wayte for them: he slept al the night baking them, in the morning himself heated as a fire of flame.Quia applicuerunt quasi clibanum cor suum, / cum insidiaretur eis; / tota nocte dormivit coquens eos: / mane ipse succensus quasi ignis flammæ. 7They were all heated like an oven, and have devoured their judges: all their kings have fallen: there is none amongst them that calleth unto me.Furono tutti ardenti come un forno, e divorarono i loro giudici: tutti i loro regi cadder per terra: non havvi tra loro chi alzi la voce verso di me.Al were heated as an ouen, and haue deuoured their iudges: al their kinges are fallen: there is none amongst them that crieth vnto me.Omnes calefacti sunt quasi clibanus, / et devoraverunt judices suos: / omnes reges eorum ceciderunt; / non est qui clamat in eis ad me. 8Ephraim himself is mixed among the nations: Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned.Ephraim si mescolò colle nazioni. Ephraim diventò come un pane messo sotto la cenere, e non rivoltato.Ephraim him self was mingled in the peoples: Ephraim is become as harth-baken-bread, that is not turned.Ephraim in populis ipse commiscebatur; / Ephraim factus est subcinericius panis, qui non reversatur. 9Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.Divorarono gli stranieri le sue ricchezze, ed ei non se n'è accorte, anzi è venuta ben presto a lui la canizie, ed egli non vi pon mente.Strangers haue eaten his strength, and he knew not: yea hore heares also were powred out on him, and he was ignorant.Comederunt alieni robur ejus, et ipse nescivit; / sed et cani effusi sunt in eo, et ipse ignoravit. 10And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these.E Israele co' proprj occhi vedrà umiliata la sua superbia: e non torneranno al Signore Dio loro, e dopo tutte queste cose non cercheranno di lui.And the pride of Israel shal be humbled in his face: neither did they returne to the Lord their God, & they haue not sought him in al these.Et humiliabitur superbia Israël in facie ejus; / nec reversi sunt ad Dominum Deum suum, / et non quæsierunt eum in omnibus his.
11And Ephraim is become as a dove that is decoyed, not having a heart: they called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians.Ephraim è divenuto come stolta colomba priva d'intelletto. Invocarono gli Egiziani, andarono a trovare gli Assiri.And Ephraim is become as a doue seduced, not hauing an hart: they inuocated Aegypt, they went to the Assyrians.Et factus est Ephraim quasi columba seducta non habens cor. / Ægyptum invocabant; ad Assyrios abierunt. 12And when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowl of the air, I will strike them as their congregation hath heard.E quando saranno andati, io stenderò la mia rete sopra di essi, e li trarrò abbasso come un uccello dell'aria, ne farò strage come hanno udito a dire nelle loro adunanze.And when they shal goe forth, I wil spred my nette vpon them: as a foule of the heauen wil I plucke them downe, I wil beate them according to the hearing of their assemblie.Et cum profecti fuerint, / expandam super eos rete meum: / quasi volucrem cæli detraham eos; / cædam eos secundum auditionem cœtus eorum. 13Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against me: and I redeemed them: and they have spoken lies against me.Guai a costoro, che si son ritirati da me, saran distrutti, perchè hanno peccato contro di me: io fui il loro liberatore, ed eglino proferiron menzogne contro di me.Wo to them, because they haue reuolted from me: they shal be wasted because they haue preuaricated against me: & I redemed them and they haue spoken lies against me.Væ eis, quoniam recesserunt a me ! / vastabuntur, quia prævaricati sunt in me, / et ego redemi eos, / et ipsi locuti sunt contra me mendacia. 14And they have not cried to me with their heart, but they howled in their beds: they have thought upon wheat and wine, they are departed from me.E non alzarono verso di me la voce del loro cuore, ma urlavano nei loro letti; ruminavano sul grano, e sul vino. Son'iti lungi da me.And they shaue not cried to me in their hart, but they howled in their chambers: vpon wheate and wine they chewed the cudde, they are reuolted from me.Et non clamaverunt ad me in corde suo, / sed ululabant in cubilibus suis: / super triticum et vinum ruminabant; / recesserunt a me. 15And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms: and they have imagined evil against me.Ed io fui loro istitutore, e io alle braccia loro diedi vigore, ed eglino pensarono a mal fare contro di me.And I haue taught them, and strengthened their armes: and against me they haue thought malice.Et ego erudivi eos, et confortavi brachia eorum, / et in me cogitaverunt malitiam.
16They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became like a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, for the rage of their tongue. This is their derision in the land of Egypt.Tornarono a voler essere senza giogo, simili ad un arco infedele. I loro principi periranno di spada, colpa della furiosa lor lingua. Tali furono i loro scherni nella terra di Egitto.They returned, that they might be without yoke: they became as a deceitful bow: their princes shal fal by the sword, for the furie of their tongue. This is their scorning in the Land of Aegypt.Reversi sunt ut essent absque jugo; / facti sunt quasi arcus dolosus: / cadent in gladio principes eorum, a furore linguæ suæ. / Ista subsannatio eorum in terra Ægypti.
7:1
Worthington
Israel. God divided the kingdom, that by this chastisement the people might be converted. But Jeroboam set up calves, and caused them to grow worse. (Worthington)
How often did God send his prophets to reclaim them!
Without. Most of the kings were of this stamp, while foreign nations invaded the land.
7:2
Haydock
Face. I do not search (Calmet) into their past lives; they sin publicly, and without ceasing. I have been too indulgent. (Haydock)
7:3
Challoner
Glad, etc. To please Jeroboam and their other kings, they have given themselves up to the worship of idols, which are mere falsehood and lies. (Challoner)
Calmet
We do not find one good king of Israel. (Calmet)
Haydock
But Jeroboam principally caused Israel to sin. (Haydock)
His infernal policy changed the religion of his subjects.
7:4
Calmet
Leaven. Jeroboam invited the people simply to a feast, and used no violence to make them adopt his novelties. But they soon prevailed, and brought on ruin. The cake, or whole nation, was burnt, (ver. 8.) as well as the princes, ver. 7. (Calmet)
7:5
Worthington
Princes. The chief men joined in the schism and idolatry. (Worthington)
Calmet
Mad, with drinking at the king's coronation, or at his coming to the crown. (Calmet)
Bacchus presents three cups to the wise; the fourth is the cup of petulance, the fifth of shouts, the sixth of debauchery, etc. (Athen. Dipsc. 2:1.) (Ecclesiasticus 31:38.)
Scorners. Septuagint, "pestilent people," who turn religion and piety to ridicule. Instead of repressing them, the king admits them to favour.
7:6
Calmet
Them. Jeroboam seduces the subjects of the house of David, by indulging the passions of the great and small. He may then sleep; the poison gains ground. (Calmet)
Haydock
But soon his own family will feel the direful effects of his policy. (Haydock)
7:7
Judges, or rulers. Idolatry proved fatal to all, ver. 3.
7:8
Mixed, like oil and flour. (Hebrew)
Thevenot. Levant. xxxii
Ashes. Thin cakes (Calmet) of this kind are used by the poor, in Spain, (Sanctius) and by the Arabs. (Thevenot. Levant. xxxii.)
Calmet
Turned. There was no time allowed by the enemy, who came and took the Israelites away. (Calmet)
Worthington
They became like other nations, and would not repent. (Worthington)
7:9
Strangers: kings of Assyria, Damascus, etc.
Hairs. He is grown old in misery, and yet is insensible of it, and sees not that he will shortly cease to be a people, Isaias 7:8.
7:10
Calmet
Humbled. Hebrew, "answer," Osee 5:5. Pride is visible on his face, though he be so much reduced. (Calmet)
Worthington
For all these sins Israel shall be severely punished. (Worthington)
7:11
St. Jerome
Decoyed. Hebrew, "stupid," Osee 4:11. The dove is the only bird which is not grieved at the loss of its young. (St. Jerome)
Theodoret
It returns to the same nest, though repeatedly robbed, forgetting past dangers. (Theodoret)
Thus Israel is not reclaimed, though idolatry has so often proved its ruin.
Egypt. Jeroboam had returned thither, and at his return brought about a division of the kingdom, 3 Kings 11:40. Osee, the last king, applied to Sua, and this provoked the Assyrians to destroy the kingdom. They pretended that it was tributary to them, after Phul had been invited to assist Manahem for a thousand talents, 4 Kings 15:19., and 17:4. Thus was a worldly policy confounded.
7:12
Calmet
Heard the menaces of Moses, (Deuteronomy xxvii.) and of the prophets, 4 Kings 27:13. (Calmet)
Septuagint, "I will instruct (or chastise) them by the hearing of their misery," (Haydock) when it shall become the subject of conversation throughout the world.
7:13
Lies, attributing their deliverance to the golden calf, (3 Kings 12:28.; Calmet; Exodus 32:8.; Menochius) and always denying my justice or power.
7:14
Haydock
Thought: "ruminated." (Haydock)
St. Cyril
Hebrew, "assembled, or been afraid." Septuagint, "they were cut," (Calmet) in honour of idols, hoping to avert the famine. (St. Cyril)
7:15
Menochius
Arms. I gave them my laws and power to resist the enemy. (Menochius)
7:16
Returned, imitating Apis, the folly of Egypt. They have repeatedly followed idols in Egypt, and in the desert, under Jeroboam, Achab, Jehu, etc.
St. Jerome
Deceitful. Septuagint, "bent." Theodoret reads, "unbent." It never hits the mark, (Calmet) but wounds the person who uses it. (St. Jerome)
Derision. The Egyptians laugh at them; (Calmet) or thus they acted heretofore, in Egypt. (Chaldean)
7:3
Made the king glad, etc.... To please Jeroboam, and their other kings they have given themselves up to the wicked worship of idols, which are mere falsehood and lies.
7:1
God punishing al the Ievves by diuiding their kingdom into two (3 Reg. 12.) would haue cured them: but Ieroboam king of the tenne tribes drevv al his people into grosser sinnes then before: by making a schisme & setting vp idols to be adored for God.
7:5
Al the chief men of the tenne tribes consented to the schisme & idolatrie of their nevy king Ieroboam.
7:8
Became like to pagane idolaters:
and impenitent.
7:10
For al these sinnes they shal be seuerely punished.
7:2
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 11.15
… Therefore, each man must keep his own heart with all watchfulness; for when the Lord comes in the day of judgment, “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts,” “all the thoughts of men meanwhile accusing or else excusing them,” “when their own devices have beset them about.”
7:4
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 13.4
… at one time falling into the fire of burnings, when, according to what is said in Hosea, they become adulterers, like a pan heated for the cooking from the burning flame;
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 22.17
… If ever you feel the outward man sighing for the flower of youth, and if, as you lie on your couch after a meal, you are excited by the alluring train of sensual desires; then seize the shield of faith, for it alone can quench the fiery darts of the devil. “They are all adulterers,” says the prophet; “they have made ready their heart like an oven.”
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 130.10
… In Job it is written of behemoth that “his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.” Our foe uses the heat of youthful passion to tempt young men and maidens and “sets on fire the wheel of our birth.” He thus fulfils the words of Hosea, “they are all adulterers, their heart is like an oven;”
7:7
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.57
… 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, and devour their judges with fire, and to cease for a while from anointing a king and princes,
7:9
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 2.13
… Against whom that reproof of the Lord is specially aimed by the prophet: “Strangers have devoured his strength and he knew it not: yea, grey hairs also are spread about upon him, and he is ignorant of it.”
7:11
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 31.2
… Cease not to adorn yourself with good works—the true bracelets of a Christian woman. Rend not the letter written on your heart as the profane king cut with his penknife that delivered to him by Baruch. Let not Hosea say to you as to Ephraim, “Thou art like a silly dove.”
7:12
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 6.11
… “I will improve them by hearing of their suffering.”
7:13
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.2
… Rather, will not the Lord Himself have reason to denounce men so irreligious, nay, so unthankful, in the words which He has already uttered by the prophet Hosea, ‘Woe unto them, for they have fled from Me; destruction upon them, for they have transgressed against Me; though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 23.9
… they shall be wasted because they have transgressed against Me;” and again: “Woe to them when I shall depart from them.” For “thine own wickedness shall reprove thee, and thy apostasy shall rebuke thee. Know thou and see that it is an evil and a bitter thing for thee to have left the Lord thy God;” for “every man is bound by the cords of his sins.”
7:15
St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 1.2
… destruction upon them, for they have transgressed against Me; though I have redeemed them, yet they have spoken lies against Me .’ And soon after, ‘They imagine mischief against Me; they turn away to nothing
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 13.12
… “Wherefore the Lord waiteth to have compassion upon us;” and He is waited for by us, when we say: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me;” and: “I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.” He strengthens us when He says: “And I have chastised them, and strengthened their arms; and they have imagined evil against me;”
7:1
1. WHEN I WOULD HAVE HEALED ISRAEL, THE INIQUITY OF EPHRAIM WAS REVEALED. — Many understand this of the time of Jeroboam, who made a schism from Rehoboam, and becoming king of the ten tribes introduced idols, namely golden calves in Israel, as if to say: When I would have healed Israel from crimes and idolatry, which Solomon had introduced by worshipping the gods of his foreign concubines, III Kings, chapter xi, 31, then Jeroboam, sprung from the tribe of Ephraim, broke forth, who set up golden calves in Dan and Bethel, whom all Samaria followed, working a lie, that is, worshipping the idols of the calves. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Haymo, Hugh, Lyra, Clarius and Ribera. To these are added Theodoret, Theophylactus, Arias and Sanchez, who understand this of Jeroboam and all the other kings of Israel; for they emulated Jeroboam as a leader in crime and idolatry. But it is objected that in the time of Jeroboam Samaria did not yet exist, because it was founded after 60 years by Omri the father of Ahab, III Kings, chapter xvi, 14. Again, God then wished to heal not only Israel, but rather Judah, which was the source of evil and idolatry; nor was it then revealed, as if the iniquity of Ephraim had previously lain hidden, but it began to be and to exist. I say therefore that the Prophet speaks of the time of Jehu: for under Jehu he began to prophesy; whence he names him at the beginning of the prophecy, saying chapter i, 4: "Yet a little while, and I will visit the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu." For through Jehu God wished to heal and to root out idolatry: whence He commanded him, IV Kings, chapter ix, 6, to overthrow Baal and the house of Ahab, and to kill his 450 prophets; which Jehu did at the beginning of his reign. But soon, fearing the same thing as Jeroboam, namely lest, if the people should return to God and His temple in Jerusalem, they should likewise return to the kingdom and to the king of Judah; for this reason he relapsed into idolatry, and to the people golden ca— Thus even now we see politicians persuade princes to embrace heresy, so that they may protect or increase their state and principality. Thus heresy was brought into Holland; for those who wished to rule in it introduced heresy under this pretext, that if the Dutch should permit the Catholic faith, they would certainly be subjected to the Spanish yoke: for the Catholics, they said, driven by scruples of conscience would wish to return to their ancestral and legitimate prince, namely to the king of Spain; therefore, in order that we may exclude the Spaniard, we must exclude the Catholic faith. The same was the paralogism of Elizabeth, queen of England. For since she, on account of her spurious birth and condemned by the Roman Pontiff, was incapable of the kingdom, in order to avert the thunderbolt of the Pontiff and the Pontificals, and to establish the kingdom for herself, she made a schism from the Pontiff and the faith, and introduced heresy, and therefore God immediately cut down her kingdom and line, as He once cut down the house of Jeroboam, Ahab, Jehu, and other kings, who rejected the worship of God and sanctioned the worship of idols. The same has happened to the Dutch, who, having cut off their head, are acephalous, and among themselves are waging internecine wars with heresies and hatreds, by which they will consume themselves, unless they return to the unity of the ancient religion, and equally to the republic and to their ancestral head. May God grant them to understand this. BECAUSE THEY HAVE WROUGHT A LIE. — In Scripture, as there is a threefold truth, of mind, of mouth and of deed: of mind, when its knowledge is equal to and conformed to its object, namely when the mind knows things as they truly are on the part of the thing; of mouth, when words are conformed to the mind; of deed, when works are conformed to their rule, namely to right reason, duty and law: so conversely there is a threefold lie, namely of mind, of mouth and of deed: of mind, is the error by which the mind is deformed from its object, namely by which it falsely judges of a thing; of mouth, is a false utterance, by which contrary to what it feels in the mind, it speaks; of deed, is a crime by which a man deviates from his duty, from right reason and law. By these three modes this can be understood here. For the Samaritans, introducing idolatry and false religion, were introducing error to the mind in faith; blasphemy to the tongue, by which they spurned God and praised idols; crime to the deed, namely in sacrifice and external worship of idols. Properly therefore "a lie" signifies here false and lying worship of idols, and the idol itself. For an idol is a false god and deity; since it is stone or wood, it lies in claiming to be God, and sets itself against God, who is truth and the true deity. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugh, Theodoret, Theophylactus and others. Wherefore Socrates said he would rather worship a dog than an idol, because a dog, being a work of nature and living, is more worthy than an idol, which is a work of art and lifeless. The same man said he marvelled that, whereas the makers of images strove with the utmost effort that stone should be made as similar to man as possible, they did not equally take care that they themselves like stones and would appear to be, and would be. This is what the Prophet says, Psalm 113, 4: "The idols of the gentiles are silver and gold, the works of men's hands: they have eyes, and shall not see; they have ears, and shall not hear, etc. Let them become like to them that make them: and all such as trust in them." Diogenes, as Laertius testifies in book VI, used to go to idols from time to time and ask something of them. When those wondering why he did this asked him: "So that I may become accustomed," he said, "not to be moved, if ever I do not obtain from men what I ask." The same man, when asked by a tyrant from what kind of bronze especially idols ought to be made: "From that," he said, "from which Harmodius and Aristogiton were cast," hinting that those ought to be removed along with him, because those were tyrant-slayers. The same man used to say "that good men are idols of the gods." Since the gods are the best, it is proper to their nature to do good to all, to harm no one. This image shines forth better in wise and good men than in statues, since gods are incorporeal. Fabius, the conqueror of Hannibal, when he had taken and plundered Tarentum, when a scribe asked him what he had decided about the statues of the temples: "Let us leave," he said, "the angry gods to the Tarentines." Thus Plutarch in the Roman Apophthegms. Secondly, as Clarius and Arias hold, just as to do the truth in Scripture is to do what the duty of each requires, so to do a lie is to act against duty and obligation. Thus the devil, a liar, "in the truth," that is in the duty, subjection and faith which he owed to God, "did not stand," John 8, 44. The sense therefore is, as if to say: The counselors and leaders of Samaria transgressed their duty, and the faith which they owed to God and to the commonwealth. For they ought to have persuaded King Jehu toward true religion and the true worship of the one God; but they instead led him into idolatry, and thence into the destruction and ruin both of themselves and of the whole nation and kingdom. For they lied in saying that the kingdom of Jehu would be stable if he kept the people at home in the worship of calves, so that they would not go to Jerusalem. They lied, I say, for all the firmness of a kingdom rests upon true religion, true faith, true worship of God. St. Augustine teaches this in his book On the City of God, which he wrote on this argument, where in book I, chapter 33, he says: "Scipio did not think the commonwealth happy with walls standing but morals falling," among which religion and piety hold the first place. And in book II, chapter 18, after enumerating the vices which invaded and destroyed pagan Rome, he adds that its empire was established and made firm by the cross of Christ. For he says: "In this filth of the worst morals, heavenly authority especially ought to have come and helped, which would persuade voluntary poverty, continence and benevolence, justice and concord, and true piety, and the other luminous and strong virtues of life, not only for living this life most honorably, not only for the most harmonious society of the earthly city, but also for obtaining eternal salvation, and a certain eternal heavenly and divine commonwealth of the people, to which faith, hope, and charity enroll us as citizens." And soon after: "For God thus showed in the most opulent and renowned Roman empire how much civil virtues could avail even without religion, so that it might be understood that with this added, men become citizens of another city, whose king is truth, whose law is charity, whose measure is eternity." Thirdly, some translate it: Because they do not keep faith with one another; for whoever does not keep faith with God, neither does he keep it with man: wherefore where heresy is, there likewise fraud and deceit flourish. Castrius refers this to the Samaritans, who against the faith given to King Ahab, killed his seventy sons, when Jehu ordered it, IV Kings chapter 10, 7. But God had ordered these to be killed; therefore the Prophet reproves them here more on account of idolatry than on account of this slaughter, especially because there was danger lest the impious offspring follow the idols of the impious father. Yet the Prophet also censures this slaughter on account of the treachery, as I shall say below. AND A THIEF ENTERED IN TO SPOIL, A ROBBER WITHOUT. — And this explains the lie, and means the same thing as that is, or certainly and, that is therefore, as if he were to say: Because the Samaritans fraudulently and falsely persuaded King Jehu to the worship of calves (St. Jerome with others, as I said at the beginning of the chapter, attributes these to King Jeroboam); therefore Jehu himself, following their fraudulent counsels, entered secretly into the reins of government like a thief, concealing his hidden wickedness and idolatry; but when he had fully gained control of affairs, like a robber he acted openly, forcing all to his idols and despoiling those unwilling, or killing them. Thus Nebuchadnezzar is called "a robber," Jeremiah chapter 18, 22. See the things said there. Secondly, you may explain it thus, that is to say: And, that is therefore, thieves and robbers both domestic and foreign invade the cities and fields of the Israelites, and lay them waste and plunder them. For when true religion is eliminated from the commonwealth, thefts, robberies and all crimes enter in, as he said these entered into Gilead and Samaria in the preceding chapter, verse 9. Thus the Chaldean, Lyra and Arias. Again, God sent the Syrians and Assyrians upon them, who laid them waste, as is said in IV Kings, chapter 10, verse 32. Thus Theodoret, Theophylactus, Dionysius and Ribera. For these in the books of Kings are called "brigands," that is plunderers, marauders, whom the Belgians call vrijbuiters. The Septuagint usually translates it monozônos, that is of one, namely an exceptional, belt, as if to say, excellent in war, and who are distinguished from others by an exceptional belt, and are splendidly equipped and armed. Thus Suidas. For the Hebrew gadid signifies an equipped and ready soldier. Thus also in former times soldiers were called robbers, either from the side, that is from serving, as Festus wishes, book X; or from hiding, because they attack enemies from ambush after the manner of robbers. Note: Jehu here is compared, first, to a thief and robber; secondly, verse 4, to a baker kindling an oven of idolatry, and fermenting the people with its leaven; thirdly, to a bird-catcher seducing and catching doves, verse 11; fourthly, to a deceitful bow, verse 16, because in overthrowing Baal, he seemed to be overthrowing idols, and soon restored them.
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2. AND LEST PERHAPS THEY SAY, that is to say: Lest they think and complain, calling to my remembrance the sins of their fathers in the past, and therefore I strike the sons out of vengeance rather than out of a desire to heal them, I will enumerate to them their modern impious machinations, which in these days they have perpetrated shamelessly before my face, so that they cannot deny or excuse them. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Lyra, Ribera and Arias. The Septuagint refer these to the preceding things, and translate: That they may sing as if singing in their heart. that is, as St. Jerome says, that as it were partners they may consent with the thief and robber, and sing with them the same song; or, as Theodoret says, that seeing such great calamities of theirs they may groan and sing dirges, not publicly, lest the enemy mock them, or punish them more severely, but silently in their heart. Thirdly, the Chaldean translates: And meanwhile they do not consider in their hearts that all their evil deeds are manifest before me; soon their evil works (that is the vengeance and punishments of evil works) shall encompass them, which are open before me, that is to say, Soon it shall come to pass that they see me to know and see their works, when namely they shall feel my blows and scourges. Thus Vatable.
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Wherefore no prayer can be better than that by which one prays for kings and princes, both Ecclesiastical and secular, that God may grant them, or make them, prudent, pious and vigorous. This is what Ecclesiasticus cries out, chapter 10, verse 2: "According to the judge of the people, so also his ministers: and such as the ruler of the city is, such also are they that dwell in it. A foolish king shall destroy his people." Hence the Arabic here translates: Their kings were made glad in iniquity, and their princes in lying; and their confidence is like swine grunting, and like one who makes food and waits for it until it ferments, so shall be the days of their kings; and the Syriac: In their malice they made their kings glad, and in their malice all their princes: they burn like a furnace burning for baking.
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4. ALL ADULTERATING, that is all committing idolatry. It is a metaphor from a baker kindling an oven, as if to say the Israelites like a heated oven burn with lust and ardor for worshipping idols. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Vatablus. Whence the Hebrew texts have: All those grow hot with adultery (idolatry), as a furnace kindled by a baker. For the Hebrews call a baker a cook, as also the ancient Latins did. Whence Festus Pompeius: "We understand, he says, that among the ancients a cook and a baker were the same person." Grammatically it signifies the lust and concupiscence of adultery, not extinguished by the very act of adultery itself, but rather kindled like a furnace into which twigs are cast. Whence Salonius, in the Parable of Solomon, which is found in volume I of the Library of the Holy Fathers, thus explains that passage from Proverbs xxx: "The leech hath two daughters, saying: Bring, bring, and they are never satisfied." The leech is the devil who always thirsts for blood, that is desires to draw men to sins, and ceaselessly kindles the thirst for sinning: the two daughters are lust and avarice, which imitate the devil's thirst and ardor, saying: Bring, bring; because just as he is never satisfied by sinning, so neither are lust and avarice. For the more anyone luxuriates and fornicates, the more he delights. Similarly the more anyone accumulates riches for himself, the more THE CITY RESTED A LITTLE FROM THE MIXTURE OF LEAVEN, UNTIL THE WHOLE WAS LEAVENED, that is to say, Just as a baker puts leaven into a mass of flour, and then with the furnace kindled rests; soon indeed the leaven quietly and silently spreads through the whole mass, and infects it with its sourness and leavens it: which done the baker brings the mass into the kindled furnace, and bakes bread in it (whence the Syriac translates: He ceased from the city making the dough until it should be leavened); thus Jehu did not wish to use force upon the people. "For whatever is done by necessity is quickly dissolved; what is seized upon by will persists," says St. Jerome. Jehu therefore did not compel the people to worship the calves, but permitted the idolaters gradually and secretly to spread the leaven of their idolatry through the people, until by his permission and connivance, indeed by his benevolence, the whole people should be infected and corrupted by this crime: then having convoked them by his decree he established the worship of the calves, which the people eagerly received, and acclaimed the king with favorable shouts. Whence the whole was cast by him into a kindled oven, that is into an impulse and ardor, indeed a fury of idolatry, and public and burning idolatry like a furnace kindled by him burst forth. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Albert, Hugh, Lyran and Ribera. MIXTURE, that is the king rested from the mixture, that is from the corruption of the city, which amounts to the same thing as what Our Interpreter translated: "The city rested," namely with the king resting, and tacitly dissembling "from the mixture," that is from the corruption and open depravation of the king. Thus Ribera. For the Hebrew meir is the same as from the city. The more recent translators render it, from stirring up, namely, the baker rested, so as to kindle the furnace, and they give this sense: In those places where furnaces are public, bakers are accustomed at night to go through the streets calling out to women and stirring them up, so that they knead the dough: after they have ceased to stir them up, they meanwhile kindle the furnace, and heat it vehemently for so long, until the women bring the leavened dough and shaped into loaves, so that it may be baked in the very hot furnace, whose heat the Prophet here compares to the most fervent zeal of the idolaters in worshipping idols. They are, he says, like a furnace kindled by a baker, which he is accustomed to kindle immediately after he has ceased stirring up the women for the purpose of kneading the dough, which burns so vehemently for so long, until the bread is brought by the women. Thus Vatablus and Clarius from R. David. This version agrees with what preceded: "All adulterating as a furnace kindled by a cook;" and explains that. But according to our Interpreter there is here another similitude, and a very apt one; for just as before he compared the ardor of idolatry of Jehu and Israel to a kindled furnace: so here he compares it to leaven, which immediately pervades the whole mass. Whence the Apostle uses the same comparison, I Cor. cap. v, 6: "Know you not that a little leaven corrupteth the whole mass? Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste." Although the matter comes to the same thing, and the second sense contains and includes the first, Jehu therefore was like a baker, who kindled the furnace of idolatry, both by permitting the golden calves, and by his connivance stirring up others, who would spread the leaven of idolatry in the mass, that is in the assembly of the people, which when the whole was infected by it, Jehu brought it by public decree, temple and worship into this furnace of his idolatry and thoroughly baked it. Finally Pagninus translates: The baker ceased from the city, that is, as the Chaldean translates: They will quickly depart from their cities. Allegorically Leo Castrius (although he himself thinks this to be literal) refers these things to the Jews, who, swollen with the leaven of wrath and pride, when they had corrupted the people, demanded and obtained that Christ be crucified by Pilate. Thus Plautus says: "My wife on account of that woman lies entirely in ferment," that is, swells with anger and puffs up, just as leaven raises and puffs up dough. Elegantly does Peter, Abbot of Celle, treat this passage of Hosea, in the year of the Lord 1181, in his book On Breads, chapter iv, at the end, in volume VIII of the Library of the Holy Fathers: "Even the Egyptian, resting from external work, he says, while he does not notice, ferments. Just as dough, not only when leaven is mixed into it does it ferment; but much more when he who mixed it ceases from the mixing, and the dough itself, well covered as if resting falls asleep — so malice conceived in the soul, even if it seems for some time (perhaps, because opportunity is lacking) to cease from evil work: yet all the more fiercely, as it were, does it rage in the heart, in that it does not pass into work. Whence Hosea: The city rested a little from the mixing of leaven, until the whole was leavened, as if to say: So that it may more zealously carry out the evil it has thought, it more cunningly for a time holds back its hand. For a fire covered over by the heaping on of tow does not sleep, but creeps; it is not extinguished, but is revived: so the evil will, like a hidden flame, devours at last the necessities heaped upon it, and casts them off, like a torrent, the obstacles of delays." Whence he infers: Therefore one professing religion dangerously tastes the leaven of the world. The Novice hears a worldly word, ambitious, alluring, is not moved; but the imagination has received the leaven, which will recur in the cell of the mind, and will solicit it to return to the world, to ambition, to marriage, and perhaps will overcome it. We see the same thing in innocent boys and girls. To this sentiment of Hosea pertains that saying of Oedipus: "From the restless, quiet is often feigned." Thus tropologically heretics, says St. Jerome, at first rest and promise all things peaceful, but secretly teach their doctrines, and thus the cancer gradually creeps into the peoples. St. Jerome adds from the tradition of the Hebrews, that Jeroboam (for he himself receives these things concerning him, as I said: I concerning Jehu) when he did not dare suddenly to change religion for fear of sedition and rebellion, secretly sent certain men who would stir up the people, so that they would ask the king for a domestic god, namely Lares and Penates, that is, the calf which they had worshipped in Egypt: this was done willingly by them, but especially by King Jeroboam: "Therefore, he says, they were like a burning oven, prepared for baking if you put anything in it; for they burned with desire." Thus Elizabeth, Queen of England, as Sander testifies in his book On the English Schism, the Catholic faith restored by her sister Mary the Queen in England, succeeding her in the first year of her reign she subverted, establishing heretical magistrates, who in Parliament would request, indeed decree, that heresy be restored. Politically, wise and good princes should imitate this counsel of Jeroboam or Jehu, but in good. Thus Alfonso, King of Aragon, as Guicciardini testifies, when he was thinking of war, or was plotting something else, before his deliberations and thoughts of mind were understood, he would quietly spread a rumor through his men that the king for these or those reasons ought justly to undertake such things. Hence it came about that with great applause and praise of all his counsels and undertakings were approved, when those things which had already been held by the calculations of all, and as it were by their prejudgments to be just or necessary, were publicly proposed. In Hebrew it is a hendiadys: He rested from the city, from acclaimed the king Jeroboam, says St. Jerome, or rather King Jehu, saying: This is the day of our king, namely royal, happy and auspicious (thus says the Psalmist: "This is the day which the Lord has made, let us exult and rejoice in it"), and then the princes themselves began to rage as if drunk and feasting, forgetful of God to worship idols: and then the king himself EXTENDED HIS HAND (to the cups) WITH THE MOCKERS, that is, began to do the same as the mockers already mentioned, namely the princes and their followers, who mocked God, or rather the king with vain praises and acclamations, as if to say: He willingly began to drink with them, to mock, to play the buffoon, to praise idols, to despise God. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Lyran, Ribera and others. See here, how much more adultery than an enemy destroys kings and princes. Thus Mariana. Note: The Hebrew אלצ lets, which our author translates as mocker, signifies a proud man, a scoffer, who mocks all things divine and human, utterly corrupt, pestilential, who like a plague infects and corrupts others, such as are often found in courts, who change and deprave even good princes entirely. Otherwise the Chaldean, Arias, Pagninus and Vatablus; for they explain it, as if to say, On that day when they inaugurated the king, the princes began to drink with him, and from that time they are constantly devoted to drinking, not to the commonwealth; or, as Clarius says, they made him sick, offering him a cup full of wine, so that they might accustom him to drinking, and thus weaken him, and take away his mind and counsel, so that he would constantly drink with drunkards, jest with jesters, and mock with other mockers. For the Hebrew החלו hechelu signifies both to be sick and to begin. Again, for חמת chamat, that is to rage (for it is the infinitive from the root חם iacham, that is, it grew hot, he was angry, he rages), they themselves read חמת chemet, that is, a skin, a flask.
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5. The day of our king (It is a mimesis: for he imitates and expresses the voice of the people applauding, and congratulating both the king and their gods, namely the calves sanctioned and set up by the king, as if to say, The people, being now wholly corrupted by the leaven of idolatry, acclaimed King Jeroboam, or Jehu: who from among the people would resist his will and idolatry, having learned the mind and consent of the people, slept, that is, was secure like a man who sleeps the whole night), cooking them (that is, allowing them to cook themselves, that is, to ferment completely, and to make a mass of impiety: whence just as a baker, having fermented the dough by night, brings it into the oven in the morning, which he heats the same night, and which again the same morning he heats with extreme fire and flame: so Jehu cast the people, consenting and willing in the furnace of idolatry; nay) HE HIMSELF, KINDLED LIKE A FIRE OF FLAMES (as if to say, Jehu himself not only like a baker kindled the flame of idolatry, by which he would bake the idolaters; but also, as if converted into that very flame, inflamed all the Israelites. Wherefore by this flame) ALL WERE HEATED LIKE AN OVEN (WITH SUPREME ARDOR, as if with fire) THEY DEVOURED THEIR JUDGES (by alluring and compelling them, so that they too would follow the raging people, and worship idols with them, nay, by their decree command them to be worshipped: hence also) ALL THEIR KINGS (who followed Jeroboam, or rather Jehu, into the same furnace of impiety) FELL; thus St. Jerome, Albert, Haymo, Hugo and Lyran. and it liquefies the parts of the body: and because by that heat the vital and animal spirits are dissolved, aided in that dissolution and consumption by vehement thought, which is fixed on the thing loved; hence from vehement love follows fainting and languor, and weakness of the whole body: to which sadness and sickness of mind from the absence of the thing loved contributes. See Richard of St. Victor, book On the Degrees of Charity, chapter iv, and book On the Degrees of Violent Charity, where he fully explains how love wounds, binds, liquefies, brings on fainting and languor. The bride felt these heats and effects of love, saying, Cant. ii, 5: "Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love." And chapter viii, 6: "The lamps thereof are lamps of fire and of flames." Secondly, the Chaldean and others consider this flame to be that of snares, injury and violence against neighbors, which is wont to spring forth and arise from the flame of idolatry; for the Chaldean thus translates: Like an oven their heart burns in their snares: all night their fury is drawn out, until morning it rages like a flaming fire, as if to say, Just as a baker, having kindled the furnace at night, sleeps until morning, and then again stirs up and increases the fire of the furnace, so that the furnace, being kindled, vomits forth new and sparkling flames: so the Israelites rest at night, thinking and meditating on ways of snaring and harming their neighbor, until morning: then indeed each one rises, so that like kindled fire he may vomit forth the snares and harms meditated on at night against his neighbor, and accomplish them in deed: wherefore the Israelites "were all heated" by this malignity "like an oven," so as to please King Jehu, and therefore "devoured," that is, killed, "their judges:" and "all their kings," that is, the 70 sons of King Ahab, slain by their hand, "fell: there is none that crieth to me for them," as if to say, They gave them no space before death to turn themselves to the Lord, and to call upon him, but suddenly slew them all: and thus they lost both their souls and their bodies. Thus Theodoret, Theophylactus, Arias and Vatablus. Tropologically, an impious king, such as Jeroboam was, is the baker of the demon; for all subjects apply their heart to the king as an oven to be kindled: let the king see what fire he casts in, whether the heavenly fire of divine love, or the infernal fire of vices. The impious king casts in the infernal fire, and by it bakes the sweetest breads, that is, sins, for the demon, who will repay him with equal favor: for in hell he will kindle an oven for him, in which he may burn eternally. Thus Sebastian Barradius, book IX, chapter xii of the Concordance of the Gospels.
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8. EPHRAIM IN PEOPLES HIMSELF WAS MINGLED. — He gives the cause of such great crimes, as if to say: The reason why Ephraim, that is Israel, was kindled as a furnace of impiety, is that he made a covenant and friendship with neighboring peoples and nations, and conversing with them imbibed their impiety and crimes, according to that Psalm cv, 35: "They were mingled among the nations, and learned their works, and served their graven images," etc. Thus Theodoret, Vatablus and Arias. EPHRAIM BECAME BREAD BAKED UNDER ASHES, WHICH IS NOT TURNED, as if to say: Just as dough which is baked under ashes near the fire, if it is not turned, is insensibly burned up and consumed; so also Israel remaining in the ashes and filth of idolatry, and not turning himself through repentance to God, shall be burned up by enemies. For "strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not," as if to say: The Assyrians gradually wore away the strength of Israel and plundered him, which however he himself did not notice, thinking himself to be tending toward ruin and destruction, and that he was being punished by God on account of having abandoned him through the worship of calves. Thus Cyril, Theodoret and Theophylactus. Or "he knew it not," that is, he did not understand, he did not come to his senses. Whence the Chaldean renders: The house of Ephraim is like bread baked under ashes, which before it is turned is eaten, either by the hungry, or rather by the fire by which it is baked; peoples have plundered their substance. Note: In bread baked under ashes many conditions of Israel are noted. First, obstinacy, namely that it is surrounded on all sides with ash, that is, filth, and persists in these, nor does it depart from them and return to God, even while it is being baked by the fire of tribulation from him. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret and Theophylactus. Whence tropologically St. Gregory, lib. XXXII Moral. vi: "Ephraim became," he says, "as bread baked under ashes which is not turned. For from a well-ordered nature our intention is born, which rises toward God, but from wickedly accustomed conversation there is present a pleasure, which presses the present into the world. But bread baked under ashes is cleaner on that part which it hides below; and filthier on that part where it carries ash above. Whoever therefore neglects the intention by which he ought to have sought God, as it were after the manner of bread baked under ashes presses the cleaner part below: and when he willingly tolerates the cares of the world, as it were carries heaped ash above." And lib. XI, cap. vi: "If we shake the ash of earthly thoughts from the mind, we turn bread baked under ashes as it were." Second, the swiftness of vengeance and destruction; for bread is baked under ash, not in an oven, by the poor and hungry, so that it is immediately eaten by them: again that bread if it is not turned, is soon burned up: so also Israel was immediately devoured and burned up by the Assyrians. Thus the Chaldean, Albertus and Vatablus. Third, imprudence, namely that Israel remaining in his sordid and destructive desires, did not turn himself to the other side, so that he might see the disasters and destruction threatening him on account of those. Thus Clarius. For desires and sins are like bread baked under ashes, which has two faces, or surfaces; the lower, toward the earth; the upper, toward the fire and ashes: thus the lower face of sin is earthly pleasure, which the sinner beholds and seizes; the upper is ash, that is, death and fire, that is, punishment and hell which certainly follows the pleasure of sin as it were from behind, and is connected with it: the sinner does not behold this: whence by it imprudent and incautious, when he least expects it, he is seized and burned up. Wherefore the Syrian renders: Ephraim became a little cake, it was baked, it was eaten, as if to say: As soon as it was made and baked, it was also eaten. For thus children eat a little cake as soon as it is baked. The Arabic Alexandrian: Ephraim became as a burned place, and he himself does not change; the Arabic Antiochian: Ephraim was kindled, not returning.
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9. The strangers (Assyrians) have eaten his strength. — "Strength," that is, the fruits and riches that strengthened him: "For bread strengthens the heart of man," Psalm ciii, 15. Mystically, strangers are demons, who weaken the powers of the soul by suggesting desires, while he does not notice. Whence St. Jerome says: "And he himself knew not, thinking his adversaries to be friends, and counting his devourers to be guests." Thus also St. Gregory in book XXXIV of the Morals, cap. iii. Wherefore rightly St. Bernard, sermon 2 On Lent, adapts this to a Religious man who pours out his heart to external things, and thus dissipates and loses his spiritual strength. "Wretched," he says, "is the man who, going entirely into those things which are without, and ignorant of his interior, thinking himself to be something when he is nothing, deceives himself. As water poured out am I (says the Psalmist in the person of man), and all my bones are scattered. And another Prophet says: The strangers have eaten, he says, his strength, and he knew not. For looking upon the outer surface, he suspects all things are safe for him, not feeling the hidden worm which gnaws at his interior. The tonsure remains, the garment has not yet been changed, the rule of fasts is kept, the psalms are sung at the appointed hours; but his heart is far from me, says the Lord. Attend carefully to what you love, what you fear, whence you rejoice or are saddened: and under the habit of religion you will find a worldly spirit, under the garments of conversion you will find a perverse heart." AND GREY HAIRS ARE SPREAD UPON HIM (that is to say, Israel is now near to captivity and destruction, as an old and grey-haired man to death: Israel grows grey, grows old, tends toward destruction. It is a catachresis), AND HE HIMSELF KNEW NOT, that he was near to destruction, much less did he know that he was to be destroyed because he had abandoned God and idols. Thus St. Jerome. Otherwise Haymo, Hugo and Lyra, that is to say, Israel has come to greyness, death and destruction: and thus then he began to be wise, and to recognize his guilt and the cause of his destruction. For no one is so foolish as not to be wise in death. Thus Ptolemy, as is found in his Life prefixed to the Almagest, was wont to say: "The last promises of man are grey," that is, wise, serious, as much as late and final. But with this explanation "and he himself knew not" does not cohere rightly. Tropologically, St. Jerome, referring these things to heretics and other impious men: "The strangers have eaten," he says, "that is, demons, his strength; but grey hairs are spread upon him, nay, have flourished, that is, he erred for a long time, and nevertheless knew not his old age and antiquity, concerning which it is written in Hebrews iv: That which grows old and waxes aged is nigh unto vanishing away. Although it is said to a just man and to an Ecclesiastic in Wisdom iv: Grey hairs are the wisdom of a man; why should it not be said to the wicked and heretic: Grey hairs are the folly of a man? Concerning this old age Daniel said to the elder: Grown old in days of evil. Whence also in the book of the Shepherd (if it please anyone to receive its reading), the Church first appears to Hermas with a grey head: then as a young maiden and bride adorned with hair." Fittingly therefore does Blessed Isidore of Pelusium apply and twist these words of Hosea to Pelagius the aged heresiarch, and grown old in evil days, when he himself was now revealing the heresy previously hidden, and like Cain a wanderer was spreading it through the monasteries of Egypt, writing to him in the year of the Lord 403, book I, epistle 314: "Grey hairs," he says, "are spread upon Ephraim, and he himself knew not, growing young in vicious affections. In the same way to you also a great multitude of years has brought greyness, and yet you have a rigid and inflexible spirit, migrating from one monastery to another, and searching and exploring the tables of all."
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10. AND THE PRIDE OF ISRAEL SHALL BE BROUGHT LOW IN HIS SIGHT. — In Hebrew, the pride of Israel shall therefore answer in his face, that is, it shall testify against him openly and manifestly, namely that he is justly brought low and overthrown on account of his pride. See the things said at chapter v, 7.
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11. AND EPHRAIM IS BECOME AS A DOVE THAT IS DELUDED, NOT HAVING A HEART. — "Heart," that is mind, sense, prudence. A similar saying is found in Suidas: "A dove sitting;" for this bird is simple and easily seduced and captured either by a hawk or by a fowler. For "deluded" in Hebrew it is פתה potha, that is flexible, easy, seducible: the Septuagint ἄνοος, that is senseless, foolish, as Isidore of Pelusium reads it, book IV, epistle 137; Aquila and Symmachus, deceived; Leo the Hebrew, foolish, which namely easily allows itself to be captured and deceived, because simple and lacking heart, that is intelligence and sagacity: again heart, that is with a wise mind and memory. Whence the Syriac translates: Ephraim is become as a dove girl (of tender age, and therefore ignorant, inexperienced and seducible, to which there is no heart, mind, and strength of mind; the Arabic Alexandrian: Ephraim is become as senseless birds, and there is not to him intelligence; the Arabic Antiochian: Ephraim is become as a dove not having understanding, nor heart. For first, a dove brings forth eggs and hatches chicks each month, and sees each one Moreover a domestic dove from doves of another dovecote, and enticed by the whistle of a fowler, enters into it willingly, and permits itself to be captured. Finally fowlers are accustomed to place a blinded dove in a net, which leaping about and playing in the net, and thus ensnaring itself, allures the other doves to the same place. That is called by the Greeks παλεύτρια, according to Suidas, from παλεύειν which means to seduce, or to lead into a snare. Whence Aristophanes in the Birds speaking of doves says: "And compels the decoy dove (doves) bound in the net." Similar decoy ducks I have seen in Belgium, which joining themselves to wild ducks in lakes and marshes, led them away into nets, to the great pleasure and profit of the hunters. Thus the Israelites willingly ran into snares and fowlers, namely into Assyrians and Egyptians, and gave themselves and their possessions to them, and esteemed their enemies as friends. This is what Hosea explains by adding: "They called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. And when they shall have gone, I will spread my net over them, and I will bring them down as the fowls of the air." This was especially true in Hosea the last king of Israel: for when he was tributary to Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, most powerful, he foolishly rebelled, and against him implored the aid of Sua king of Egypt; wherefore Salmanasar being indignant, overthrew Samaria with the king and kingdom, IV Kings chapter xviii, 10. Morally, such are they who do not avoid occasions of sins, for example the company of girls, or of wicked companions, but rather seek them out, whence they fall into sins and hell. What is more foolish than willingly to give oneself to the Assyrian, that is to the demon, than willingly to hurl oneself into eternal ruin? Thus Theophylactus. Truly St. Augustine, book I of Confessions chapter xiii: "What is more miserable than a wretch not taking pity on himself?" Wisely St. Ephrem admonishes, ode To those who sin continually and rarely repent, tome I: "Flee," he says, "the scorpion, whose sting you know: flee the serpent whose destructiveness you have tested. He who a second time strikes against the same stone is blind or out of his mind." Thirdly, the dove denotes one ungrateful toward one who has deserved well of him. For the male when he has become stronger, expels the father from the company of the mother, and thus joins himself to her in marriage, says Horus, hieroglyphics 54, and Aldrovandus in Dove, page 418. Thus Israel was ungrateful to God who had deserved so well of him, and expelled him from the throne of his mother, namely the Synagogue, which Finally he compares Israel imprudent to a dove seduced and foolish, because there is also a wise dove, of which it is said: "Who will give me wings as a dove, and I will fly, and be at rest? etc., whose wings are silvered, and her back parts in the paleness of gold," Psalm lv. Thus St. Jerome. Symbolically, the heart is the boss of the breast, and the boss is a symbol of the heart. For nobles used to wear a boss on the breast, so that by looking at it men might think themselves rational, if they excelled in heart and mind. Again, the heart in secret discourse denotes counsel, as Pierius says in Hieroglyphics xxxiv, and conversely the boss is called by Macrobius ἀπό τῆς βουλῆς, that is, from counsel: therefore both the boss and the heart are a symbol, a monitor, and an index of counsel. Hence Solomon prays in III Kings iii, 9: "Thou wilt give thy servant a docile heart," that is, wise and full of counsel, "that he may be able to judge thy people." On the other hand, princes and subjects lack a heart, who govern or are governed without reason and counsel, who do not consider what they choose, what they do, what end the matter will have, into what difficulties and troubles they cast themselves; but rashly seizing upon the bait of pleasure, riches or honors, they attack it with the loss of life, status and soul. Thus Jeremiah says to the Jews, cap. v, 21: "Hear, O foolish people, who have not a heart." And the Wise Man, Prov. cap. vi, 32: "But he that is an adulterer, for the want of heart shall destroy his own soul." And cap. xi, 12: "He that despiseth his friend, is wanting in heart." And cap. x, 13: "A rod for the back of him that wanteth heart." Thus Plautus says of a woman: "Whose breast is wise; for a heart cannot be:" because she has none. Thus Tertullian, lib. IV, cap. x Against Marcion, says that he has neither heart nor brain. Therefore the sinner appears not to have a heart, who foolishly and imprudently pursues and embraces small things before great, transitory before solid, momentary before eternal; because Plutus, Venus, pride, etc. have snatched it from him. Illustrious examples at the letter are at hand. Gabriel Inchino, Canon of the Lateran Church, relates from Prosper, serm. 1 On the Purity of the Heart, a wonderful thing about a rich miser, who when he was dead, his heirs opened the body, and examining each part, found no heart: searching for it everywhere, they finally found it hidden and buried in a heap of his golden coins; and they even saw a demon in the form of a dragon sitting upon the heart and tearing it apart, and heard it saying to them: "This gold and silver is the price of the heart, which your friend sold to me, and therefore it is justly mine, and I can use it as I please." Similar is what we read in the Life of St. Anthony of Padua: for when he himself was delivering a funeral oration at the funeral of a certain rich miser, and was pressing the words of Christ: "Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also," moved by enthusiasm: Look, he said, at the treasure of the dead, you will see how true this saying of Christ is: there you will find the heart of the rich man; wherefore they sought it in him, and found it. St. Bernard teaches elegantly and with forceful words, in the book On the Nature and Dignity of Love, cap. i, that the impious and carnal do not have the heart of a man, and that it has flowed away into their belly, and been changed into that of a brute. For applying to them that passage from Psalm. xxi: "My heart is become like wax melting in the midst of my belly," he adds: "For the heart is indeed placed in a narrow part of the body, where, as it were, in the middle of the citadel of the upper senses, and of the lower body as of a humbler people, it might rule and dispense a certain commonwealth, and the whole region round about of thoughts and actions; but melting with a degenerate softness to the fire of carnal concupiscence, it has wholly flowed away into the belly, and into the midst of the belly, namely, knowing nothing but the things that are of the belly, and from the belly into the lower things of the belly confusing all, degenerating all, adulterating all, perverting the natural affection of love into a certain brutish appetite of the flesh; not only seeking what is not lawful with the insults of the body in the passions of shame, but so forgetful of his ancient nobility, that he who was created for God alone, is esteemed by his corrupted and corrupting ones to be rather the natural dwelling-place of lust, and the brothel of all vices. Unhappy those who so debased themselves, nature protesting, that the place of their soul, which was proper to God the creator, and communicable to no creature, they made the seat of Satan; the seat of filthiness and all uncleanness." 11 and 12. THEY CALLED UPON EGYPT, THEY WENT TO THE ASSYRIANS (as if to say, Now the Israelites are accustomed to call upon the aid of the Egyptians, now of the Assyrians. Whence soon again in their manner they will call upon it): AND WHEN THEY SHALL HAVE DEPARTED, I WILL SPREAD MY NET OVER THEM, so that by the Assyrians they may be caught as in a net, from whom they hoped for aid, as is clear from IV Kings xv, 29, and cap. xvii, 24; thus Theodoret: he calls the net the army of the Assyrians. Hence secondly, as if to say, When Hosea seeks aid from his king Egypt shall invoke, 'they have gone,' that is, they shall go and the captive Israelites shall be led 'to the Assyrians.' Thus St. Jerome. But if thus they have gone, it does not correspond with when they shall have set out I will spread a net over them. For in this sense the net was spread by God before they went and set out into Assyria, because by this net they were captured and led away. Tropologically, they invoke the Egyptians and Assyrians who seek not the favor of God, but of men, flatter them, give gifts, so that they might obtain the prebend or position to which they aspire, but God spreads a net over them; namely, disgust, troubles, rivalries, ignominies, diseases, death, etc., by which they are ensnared, and live miserably, and waste away. AS A BIRD OF THE SKY I WILL DRAW THEM DOWN, that is to say, I will draw down the Israelites from the highest and most fortified city of Samaria (for this was built on Mount Somer, and from this was called Samaria, IV Kings xvi, 24), which I will give to be assailed and laid waste by the Assyrians, just as birds are drawn down from the highest trees by the art of fowlers, namely by sent falcons, captured and killed. According to hearing, that is to say, Just as Israel once heard and was warned by Moses, Deuteronomy cap. xxvii and cap. xxviii, namely that he would be punished by God if he turned away from him to the gods of the nations, so now he shall be punished and struck by him. Thus Vatablus, Clarius and a Castro. Otherwise others, that is to say, Just as their whole assembly was heard crying out and seeking help from the gods and nations, so I shall strike and punish the whole equally. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo and Lyran.
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13. I redeemed them (I freed them both from Egypt and from other enemies, namely from the Midianites through Gideon, from the Philistines through Samson, from the Ammonites through Jephthah, etc.): AND THEY SPOKE LIES AGAINST ME, that is to say, They nevertheless ascribed this redemption not to me, but either to idols or to other nations, falsely claiming that the gods of the nations had saved them, not I: thus St. Jerome, the Chaldean, Theodoret, Cyril, Vatablus and others. Thus the Hebrews led out of Egypt, when Moses was absent and received the law from God on Sinai, made for themselves a calf, namely Apis, and cried out to it: 'These are thy gods, O Israel, that brought thee out of the land of Egypt,' Exodus xxxii, 8. THEY HOWLED, that is to say, The Israelites howled from miseries and afflictions, namely from the lack of wheat and wine, from hunger, thirst, etc., knowing nothing but to groan and weep, and not mindful then that my help was to be implored. Thus Arias, Ribera and a Castro. Secondly, St. Jerome, Theophylactus, Hugo and others, that is to say, They howled after the manner of Gentiles reveling or raging, who by howling and horrible cries seek the help of gods, thinking that by these they will strike and pierce the ears of gods, as happens among men.
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14. OVER WHEAT AND WINE THEY CHEWED THE CUD. — He does not say they ate, but they chewed the cud, so that he might show them to be like beasts, says St. Jerome, which do nothing but eat and chew the cud, that is, bring back the eaten food into the mouth and chew it again, and so continually put and send food from the mouth into the stomach and from the stomach into the mouth, that is to say, They think of nothing else, they dream of nothing else but food and the belly and the way of obtaining it, for this reason they weep, for this reason they howl, saying with their fathers: 'Who will give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt freely: cucumbers come into our mind and melons,' Numbers xi, 4. For the rest they do not think from whom to ask these things; or if they are given to them, to whom they ought to give thanks, because 'they have turned away from me.' Hence they attribute all things to fortune or to their gods, not to my providence. Thus Vatablus, Clarius and Arias. מגרוד meghera, as if you were to say, drag: for to gluttons the earth, equally as a clock, is the gullet and the belly. 15. And I instructed them (I taught them the law and the way of salvation through Moses. Secondly, 'I instructed,' that is, I reproved and corrected their wicked ways through the Prophets: for this is what the Hebrew יסרתי iitsarti signifies. Thus Leo the Hebrew. Thirdly, Arias: 'I instructed,' he says, that is, like a physician I gave them sound counsels and remedies. Fourthly, 'I instructed' them in war, namely I constrained and girded them with the sword, says Vatablus; for what follows): AND I STRENGTHENED THEIR ARMS) so that they might overcome their enemies. Thus David says Psalm cxliii, 1: 'Who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.' I instructed them therefore and strengthened them in so many and such great ways); AND (that is, but they) THOUGHT EVIL AGAINST ME, so that they might rebel against me and follow and worship the gods of the nations.
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16. THEY TURNED BACK (to their former nature, depraved disposition and customs) THAT THEY MIGHT BE WITHOUT A YOKE, that is, that they might be children of Belial, unbridled, lawless, rebels, who shake off every yoke of law and God, as an untamed heifer. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it: They turned away that they might fail from the law. The interpreter reads with the Chaldean לל ol, that is, yoke, but now they read על al, which the Rabbis, Vatablus, Pagninus and Clarius translate as, the Most High, the Most Exalted, from the root עלה ala, that is, he ascended on high. They therefore translate: They return, but not to the Most High, but to the golden calves. It seems to note Jehu, who, when he had overthrown Baal and appeared to be about to worship the true God, soon returned to his vomit, and again restored the worship of the calves, which Jeroboam had set up. The Septuagint translates: They turned back to vanity, that is, to idols. Tropologically, to vain riches and honours of the world. Allegorically, Christ instructed the Jews; but they turned away from him, shook off his law, and pierced him with the arrows of their tongue, crying out: "Crucify, crucify him." Thus from Cyril, Leo Castrius. Again, Israel is a deceitful bow, because it shoots its arrows of confidence and prayer in another direction, namely to idols, leaving me, to whom it ought to shoot them, says de Castro. Secondly, a deceitful bow is one which appears to be drawn and ready to shoot, when it is slack and unfit. Whence Theodoret reads from the Septuagint: They became like a bow not taut, but slack, which inflicts no harm upon enemies; although the true reading of the Septuagint version be contrary, namely: They became like a bow drawn tight. Which St. Jerome thus explains tropologically of heretics: "Because," he says, "they are always ready for battles and contentions to the ruin of their hearers." These same are a deceitful bow, as our version has it, "because, like their patriarchs the Jews, instructed in the holy Scriptures, they turn the words of the Lord of the Law and the Prophets and the Gospel against the Lord;" for they corrupt the Scriptures, and with them God their author, and his very faith and truth, which rightly applies to them that passage of Psalm lxxvii, 57: "They turned themselves into a perverse bow." Where St. Augustine: "A bow," he says, "perverted not for the name of the Lord, but against the name of the Lord, according to that: Thou shalt have no other gods besides me. But by a bow is signified the intention of the soul." Hence tropologically, a perverse or deceitful bow are those who direct the intention which they ought to direct to God, to creatures, for example, those who direct their fastings, prayers, almsdeeds, which they ought to direct to the honour of God, to popular favour. Thus Guadalupensis. Again, a deceitful bow are those who through monstrous ingratitude abuse their riches and power against those by whose works they obtained them; as Claudian relates of Eutropius and Abundantius, lib. I in Eutrop. Thus Delrio, adage 949. So a malicious tongue wounds God, who gave it for his praise. So a murderer with his hand as it were wounds God the giver, while he kills God's image, namely man. So everyone who sins, whether by his talent, or eloquence, or riches, or other gifts of nature or fortune given by God, fights against God for the demon. THEIR PRINCES SHALL FALL BY THE SWORD (of the Assyrians) FOR THE RAGE OF THEIR TONGUE. — Because namely, with raging and indignant mad tongue, they vomited forth blasphemies against me, contending for their idols, when they sought help from them against enemies, despising me. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Albert, Hugh and Lyran. Whence the Chaldean translator renders: On account of the perversity of their tongue; the Septuagint, on account of the folly (that is, stupidity) of their tongue, by which they say to wood: Thou art my God, and to stone: Thou hast begotten me, says Cyril. Otherwise Vatablus and Arias; for they understand the rage of God, as if to say: They shall fall, because their cursing tongue stirred up the rage of God, who will destroy them. THIS (IS) THEIR DERISION IN THE LAND OF EGYPT, as if to say: This is their ancient custom, this their ancestral nature; for thus did they mock and deride me of old, dwelling in Egypt and worshipping Apis. Whence the Chaldean translator renders: These are their works, while they were in the land of Egypt. Thus St. Jerome, Theophylactus, Albert and Hugh. Otherwise Clarius and Vatablus. For they take derision passively, as if to say: They shall be mocked by the Egyptians, when they seek help from them; for they will say: Go to the Lord your God, go to your Assyrians, let them help you. Or, as Lyran, they shall be mocked by God himself, according to that Psalm ii, 4: "He that dwelleth in heaven shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall deride them."
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4. « Cum sanare vellem Israel, revelata est iniquitas Ephraim et malitia Samariae, quia operati sunt mendacium et fur ingressus est spolians, latrunculus foris » ; — cf. 6, 5; 1, 19; 11, 3. Deus prophetas misit admonitores; reges idololatras populumque variis afflixit calamitatibus — iam Ieroboam I per prophetam est admonitus 3 Reg. 13, 1; ab alio, ab Ahia, eius domus excidium praedicitur 14, 10 ; Iehu propheta eversionem domus regis Baasa praedicit 16,1; maxima et eousque inaudita miracula Deus patrat per Eliam et Eliseun (3 Reg. 11 —4 Reg. 9) et alios quoque prophetas Israeli mittit (cf. 3 Reg. 20, 29. 41; 99, 14. 4 Reg. 9, 1; 14, 25); iusto Dei iudicio domus Ieroboam et domus Baasa et domus Achab et domus Iehu delentur et mediis in coniurationibus et caedibus internis Israclitae ab hostibus quoque externis affliguntur, fame ac siccitate castigantur, sed etiam, ut Deus beneficiis eos emolliat, opportuno saepius auxilio recreantur (cf. 3 Reg. 18, 40; 20, 13. 4 Reg. 13, 5. 23; 14, 25 — 28) — at frustra omnia. Valet ctiam de iis verbum Zer. 5, 3 : «atirivisti eos et renuerunt accipere disciplinam ; induraverunt facies suas supra petram et nolucrunt reverti » ; uti fit quandoque in morbis, ut remedio applicato augeatur magisque erumpat aegritudo, ita obduratio et obfirmatio in malo altiores in dies egit radices. Id sacra quoque historia inculcat, continuo repetens : « et fecit malum coram Domino nec recessit a peccatis leroboam... quibus peccare fecit Israel ». In quibus potissimum se prodiderit iniquitas, explicat : quia operati sunt mendacium 1. e. idololatria: exercuerunt (cf. Hier. Cyr. Theod.) ; ita enim. idolum et cultus cius appellatur ( cf. Is. 5, 4. 5. Ier. 10, 14; 16, 19) ; et nominis rationem reddit haud incongruam Aib. : « idololatria mendacium est, quia contraliatur primae veritati ». Latius vocem accipit Lap. : «in Scripturis triplex est veritas mentis, oris et operis... triplex mendacium : mentis error, oris mendax locutio, operis scelus, quo homo deviat ab officio, a recta ratione et lege. Samaritae invehentes idololatriam invehebant menti errorem, plspliciiama in lingua, scelus in opere ». Crimini contra Deum vim et oppressionem adiunxerunt contra homines et occultam insidiis dolisque nocivam et apertam abiecto omni pudore (vel quod Ephr. habet, iudicum rapacitatem et privatorum: hominum avaritiam describit) ; id enim dicit : fur ingreditur ct irruit, vagatur longe lateque, spoliat !, turma foris ( hebr. ) ; ille clanculum tectis insidiis, haec palam viribus coniunctis. Veterum multi furem intelligunt Ieroboam, qui vitulorum cultum introduxerit et populum Dei auxilio spoliaverit (cf. Hier. Rib. ) ; alii malunt Iehu (cf. Lap. Tir. Men. Gord.), alii omnes reges Israel ( Sanct.) ; sed generatim totius populi regnique impietatem et malitiam notari, etiam ostendit
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v. 2 «et ne forte dicant in cordibus suis omnem malitiam eorum me recordatum, nunc circumdederunt eos adinventiones suae, coram facie mea, factae sunt » ; —textus latinus ? effert, Deum studia eorum pessima, quae adsint et per dies singulos perpetrentur, quasi digito demonstrare, ne falso sibi persuadeant, se propter praeterita solum facinora plecti ( cf. Hier. ) ; aptior est textus hebr., describit enim, quantopere inoleverit Dei oblivio : et non dicunt cordi suo (non apud se recogitant) : omnium malitiarum eorum recordor (conscius sum ) i. e. etsi Deus illos per prophetas et. varia iudicia moneat et beneficiis alliciat, tamen eius memoriam in animos suos reducere nolunt; neque Deum vindicem et acerbius etiam puniturum timent; verum ab impiis studiis obsessi sunt (Cyr.), nova continuo addentes peccata ( Alb. ), ita ut undequaque iis stipati, vestiti, involuti appareant ? ; et haec aperte perpetrant, nulla habita Dei inspectantis reverentia ; sunt illa coram Deo, ultionem eius expostulantia. Quantopere circumdentur et obvolvantur iniquitatibus, ulterius demonstrat, docens impia quadam conspiratione omnium ordinum et summa approbatione ducum ac principum illa mala fieri :
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v. 3 « in malitia sua. laetificaverunt regem et in mendaciis suis principes » ; — i. e. qui mala serpentia resecare et coercere debebant, illa summopere laudant, praedicant applaudentes et exsultantes. Veteres id speciatim referunt ad populi obedientiam et promptitudinem, cum Ieroboam vitulorum ,cultum induceret et Israelitas a foedere Dei retraheret; ceterum cf. v. 1. Unde omnes quasi incendio quodam maximo ardent iniquitate eamque habent altissime animis inhaerentem et longe lateque grassantem ; id duplici effert metaphora
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v. 4 «omnes adulterantes quasi. clibanus succensus a coquente ; quievit paululum civitas a commistione fermenti, donec fermentaretur totum » ; — apostatas a Deo et vitiorum turpitudine profligatos bene vocat adulterantes cf. 1, 2. 2, 9. 4, 43. 14; quasi clibanus, flamma enim erant pleni, ferventi scil. et velut flagranti cupiditate (Cyr.); instar furni ad coquendos panes vehementer accensi aestuant libidine ct furore idololatriae et ardore iniustitiarum !. — Quae sequuntur, magnis implexa sunt difficultatibus. S. Hier. versionem suam ita explanat : « leroboam cum erroris in animas eorum misisset incendium,... paululum conquievit, ut non vim faceret populo, sed suae eum dimitteret voluntati, donec fermentaretur omne mendacium ; quidquid enim necessitate fit, cito solvitur ; quod voluntate arripitur, perseverat. Ideo et hic. quia translationem a clibano sumpserat, qui ad coquendos panes succenditur, servat in reliquis, ut in commixtione fermenti totius populi monstret assensum ; quo scil. et rex et populus pari in idololatria ardore corruerint ». S. Hier. fere reliqui interpretes latini sequuntur ; at. Sanct. Tir. Lap. non Ieroboam, sed Iehu intelligunt, qui ab initio regni sui plurimos e sacerdotibus Baal interfecit, statuam Baal confregit, eius aedem destruxit etc. cf. 4 Reg. 10, 95; eo tempore quievisse videbatur civitas et populus a fermento, a cultu idolorum ; sed illud fermentum olim iain inspersum mox denuo vim suam fatalem exseruit et totum populum pervadens in idolorum cultum abripuit. Satius erit, textum latinum cum S« generaliori ratione explanare : « ut addito fermento exspectatur, duin tota massa inficiatur, sic illi videbantur aliquando Deum colere, at. interim fermentabatur in eorum cordibus idololatria, totique corrupti sunt ». Vel quievit civitas i. e. populus Israel omnino permisit et patienter tulit sibi ingeri fermentum illud et a prima eius aspersione usque ad plenam lermentationem, qua omnes ordines sint infecti, nihil prorsus restitit, verum passus est se abstrahi a cultu Dei et domo David. Igitur. fermenlum vocat impietatem omnem et. praecipue idololatriam a regibus impiis populo insitam (cf. Cyr. Theod. M. Ps. Ruf. Theoph.). Hane explicationem praefero, quia a comnistione.. donec temporis notionem exhibet, terminum clare dicens a quo ct ad quem ct quia in priore acceptione (quievit à commistione i. e. interdum ab idololatria recessit) additum illud donec etc. iam non apte explanatur? . Textus mas. fert yr mia cessat excitans ; sensus esse videtur : fermentum sua vi massam pervadit et inficit, non opus est, ut qui illud inspergit, ulteriores addat conatus : ita quoque idololatriae fermentum populi animos occupavit et corruptione infecit : populus libenter impiis regum ducumque consiliis acquievit eaque ultro amplexus est et promovit, neque opus erat, ut reges et principes malo exemplo semel proposito ulteriores adderent conatus corruptionem populo instillandi. [ta sensus fere idem est qui in vulg. et quantum in re obscurissima requiritur, et ad contextum aptus est et historiae veritati consonat. — Notatu dignum est, praeter S. Hier. etiam Syrum, Chald. et quintam versionem graecam civitatis vocabulum hoc loco exprimere ; Syrus : « deficiet ( cessabit) ab urbe subigens massam donec fermentetur », et Chald. : « migrabunt cito ex civitatibus suis » ete. In versione communi graeca duplex invenitur lectio : 6; xJ:iGavog xatontvog ei «rjtw xataxaUuaro; zo «7; gÀoyóc; ita v. g. apud Cyr. Theoph. et id etiam versio coptica ( cf. Duodecim prophet. in lingua aegypt.... Henricus Tattam p. 90) cet arabica exprimit. Aliter autem apud Theod. et Theod. M. : & xA. x. eig m&jtw xavaxaüctt aoroU; dxó c7; gÀoyós, l. e. « libidinum ignis hostilem flammam iis infert ; nam sicut fermentum commistam farinam convertit in naturam suam, ita impietatis fermentum a Ieroboam primo rege vestro importatum, et vos et eos qui pro tempore reges vestri fuerunt, foetoris sui omnes participes fecit » ( Theod. ). | Ex aliorum interpretationibus haec sufficiant : Schegg : ardent mala cupiditate ; at quiescunt et tacite considerant, donec opportunitas sceleris perpetrandi adsit. Keil : mala cupiditate succensi similes sunt furno, quem pistor vespere succensum per noctem, dum fermentatio fit, ardere sinit et mane vehementius succendit. Scholz: comparantur fornaci, quae sine pistoris opera ( vertit enim «ut clibanus succensus sine pistore » ) continuo i. e. a commistione fermenti usque ad fermentationem peractam, ad panes coquendos parata sit ; neque enim indigent qui eos ad scelera incitet ; incitans quiescere et dormire potest ( cf. v. 6). — Alias explicationes ( v. g. Kimchi ) vide apud Lap. Iam quanta cum promptitudine regum impietati assensum praebuerint, quales sint principes et ipse rex, exemplo ad vivum depicto adumbrat v. D « dies regisnostri ! coeperunt! principes furere a vino, extendit manum suam cum illusoribus » ; — festiva ac laeta acclamatione regem salutant ; hac iubilatione simul ei obedientiam et obsequium spondent, applaudunt enim et congratulantur regi, et iure merito hunc applausum veteres interpretes regi fieri dicunt, qui idololatriam vel inducit vel renovat et promovet (cf. Ilier. Cyr. Sanct. Rib. Lap. ). Reiecto rege theocratico et l. lta veteres interpretes ; legerunt. itaque nn; textus mas. fert on ie. uti. explicant aegrotabant, sed hiphil verbi "nn est affligere : cf. Prov. 13, 12. Mich. 6, 13; quaro domo David spreta exsultartt regibus, ! quos ipsi coniurationibus et caedibus ad thronum adduxerunt vel qui fraude et scelere regnum sibi arripuerunt. Hoc scelus est Israel et in illo gaudio vesano, quod fausta acclamatione describitur, apostasiam a Deo et ad omne flagitium promptitudinem declarant. Caeci duces suos sequuntur. Et quales duces ? principes furunt vel ardent (hebr.) vino, i. e. ebrietati vitiisque quae ex ea sequuntur, luxuriei, omnium bonorum dilapidationi, crudelitati et oppressioni, qua ingluviei satisfaciant, dediti sunt ; rex ipse blasphemus est et religionis irrisor ac contemptor ; illusores (V5,VY ^) enim homines sunt qui divina et humana irrident, corrupti, pestilentes ( Lap. ) cf. Prov. 24, 21 ; Ps. 4, 4; cum talibus rex extendit manus i. e. illudere, scurram agere ; cf. Is. 58, 9 extendere digitum, qui est irridentium gestus ; vel, ut aliis placet, cum talibus rex habet familiare commercium. Merito interpretes ultimo membro regem subintelligunt ; ita enim aptissimus adest sermonis progressus : omnes reipublicae ordines describuntur : populus, principes, rex; omnes eadem scelerum conspiratione et mutua approbatione cernuntur impliciti ; quare falso ScAolz explicat : populus extendit. i; Hanc populi ad impietatem sequendam pronitatem, qua regis exemplum plebs est aemulata, ulterius delineat
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v. 6 « quia applicuerunt quasi clibanum cor suum, cum insidiaretur eis ; tota nocte dormivit coquens cos ; mane ipse succensus quasi ignis flammae » ; — v5 quia, vel profecto, vere sententiam et affirmat et auget. Secundum ea, quae ad v. 4 notata sint, ita sensum declaro: corda et animos regi obviam tulerunt, se promptos ac paratos exhibebant ad omnia, quae rex ab iis postularet ; scil. ad defectionem a Deo et domo David et ad idola colenda ; animos suos tamquam clibanum, quem rex pro lubitu pessimis studiis succenderet, obtulerunt nec intellexerunt ipsis ?nsidias strui, interitum ac perniciem parari; nam regis malitia et impietas in populi excidium et castigationem vergit ; cf. Prov. 25, 5; 31, 4. 5. Eccli. 10, 3 : «rex insipiens perdet populum suum »; neque opus habebant reges labore ad populum seducendum : tota nocte dormivit.. (cf. v. A) cessabit excitans ( vel cessat ab excitando); ignis enim semel susceptus sua vi ingens incendium et conflagrationem efficit, ita etiam clibanus animorum inventus est vehementer succensus; mala enim rapide augescunt. Additur mane ex vi comparationis. Veteres plerique etiam hoc de uno Ieroboam vel Iehu intelligunt ( cf. Hier. Cyr. Rib. Sanct. Lap.); at praestat cum Theod. Sanct. communem regni israelitici labem et conditionem illam intelligere, quam sacra historia toties commemorat : « et fecit malum coram Domino, ambulavitque in via Ieroboam et in peccatis eius, quibus peccare fecit Israel ». ! Alii hebr. B2*N3 dum ipsi insidiantur explicantes hunc sensum efferunt : fraudes et insidiae latitant in eorum animis, ut in elibano, easque ibi celant et occultant, donec opportunitas (mane) adsit et flamma demum erumpat (cf. Ros. Schegg, Keil, Scholz). At cum 2p notionem habeat afferendi et in contextum id optime conveniat : animos suos sua sponte regi obviam ferunt, se ad omnia paratos exhibent, quibus rex scelera excoquenda et perpetranda immittat, — non censeo a priore explanatione esse recedendum. Neque abest ab ea Chald. : « accesserunt ad consilium peccatorum et non sunt cunctati ; sicut clibanus ardet cor eorum in insidiis suis ; tota nocte protrahitur furor eorum usque mane, aestuat ut flamma ignis ». Syrus membrum prius vertit :«incaluit cor. eorum ut fornax insidiis suis » et sim. LXX &ve£xxo0moay Gi; xA. ai xapbiat aot ; in sequentibus satis differunt: iv «o xxtaóbisotiv &otoUe ÓXnv t3» vUxza Uxvou 'Eppzip àvsziMjsÓn; pro Qn5Nw legebant D*YY9N, dum Chald. DA5N exprimit. Ceterum prius membrum ad sensum expresserunt ; vix opus est assumere, illos aliter legisse v. g. nm (Deut. 32, 22. Is. 64, 1 Ier. 15, 14 etc.) pro a?p, quam vocem Aq. Sym. Theod. quoque exprimunt (cf. cod. syr. hexapl.). At demum populi iniquitate ipsi duces ac reges castigati sunt, nam « labor labiorum ipsorum operiet eos » (Ps. 139, 10) et qui ventum seminat, turbinem metet (Os. 8,7) ; unde v. '1 « omnes calefacti sunt qua- 8i clibanus et devoraverunt iudices suos ; omnes reges eorum ceciderunt, non est qui clamet in eis ad. me » ; — coniurationes dicit et caedes regum adeo frequentes in Israel ?; simul cum regibus eorum domus saepius dicuntur deletae, i. e. principes et familia regis. Qui Dei fidem et foedus violant, etiam hominibus fidem minime servant. Et miserrima haec rerum conditio pacisque ac tranquillitatis subversio eos non ad meliorem frugem reducit ; Deum ultorem non cernunt neque ab eo opem expostulant ; id demum miserrimum est, miseriis insordescere neque ad eum confugere qui sanaturus sit miserias. Unde vates non sine acri dolore concludit : non est qui clamet in eis ad. me, iam multo peiores facti, quam tempore iudicum, quo saltem hostium oppressione afflicti clamaverunt ad Dominum (cf. Iud. 3, 9. 45; 4, 3; 6, 1; 10, 10-16).
7:8
v. 8 « Ephraim in populis ipse commiscebatur, Ephraim factus est subcinericius panis, qui non reversatur » ; — i. e. sese admiscet, de eo quod continuo fit vel perseverat; factum est regnum Israel sicut regna omnium nationum, quia recesserunt a Domino (Hier.), quia idola coluerunt (Barh.), quia nationum erroribus se inserunt (Ps. Ruf.), secundum illud Ps. 103, 33 : « commisti sunt inter gentes et didicerunt opera eorum et servierunt sculptilibus eorum », uti notant Theod. Alb. Rib. Sanct. et insuper foedere et matrimoniis aliarum nationum societatem et affinitatem (Ephr.) inierunt (cf. 3 Reg. 16, 31. 4 Reg. 3, 9. 15, 19. 20; 16, 2) et gentium ritibus ac moribus se polluerunt; ita fiunt subcinericius panis... i. e. exemplo utitur panis super lapidibus vel in cineribus calidis cocti, qui si non sedulo versatur, pars inferior redigitur in cremium ct cineres, dum superior cruda manet et esui inepta (cf. Cyr. Ps. Ruf. Theoph. Sanct.); sunt igitur coram Deo plane inutiles, nauseam moventes, crudi et intractabiles vel quasi in cineres redacti et combusti vel sordibus maculati (cf. Lap.). Talis placenta iacens inter prunas igne consumitur ac demum comburitur, ita et Ephraim ab iis ipsis, quorum mores et societatem amplectitur, devoratur ac perditur :
Cum talis sit rerum conditio, populus, qui a Deo electus erat, ut se- paratus a ceteris ipsi esset sanctus (Lev. 20, 24. 26. Num. 23, 9), dignitate hac theocratica spreta indolem gentilium induit Deoque est nauseae : ita
7:9
v. 9 « comederunt alteni robur. eius et tpse nescivit ; sed. et cani effusi sunt. in eo, et ipse ignoravit » ; — vires, florens reipublicae conditio, possessiones pereunt ab alienis, quia ii, qui idololatriam omniumque vitiorum incentiva apud Israel promovebant et ita fundamenta regni funditus evertebant, etiam acies invexerunt hostiles, regiones ubcres vastarunt, divitias devorarunt (cf. Cyr. Sanct.) ! ; — et nescivtt sc. se devorari, infirmari ab alienis, scil. non sensit neque perspexit, illos excidium demum afferre (cf. Rib.) ; quod aliqui explicant : causam calamitatis non agnovit, illam a Deo immitti — longius abest neque verbi simplicitati concordat, qua id quod modo dictum erat Israel nescire asscritur. Stoliditatis est et periculi summi virium defectum non advertere ; at maioris etiam fatuitatis, ne senescentis ac collabentis quidem aetatis signa apertissima percipere ; quare dicit non sine acerbitate : etiam c«- nities sparsa est in eo et ipse nescit (hebr.) i. e. populus iam apertissime senescit, civitas iamiam;aetate et imbecillitate pressa collapsura est, neque tamen. morbum internum advertit. Alii canos capillos effusos ultuimam populi epocham intelligunt, ad quam usque scil. ad captivitatem In errore permanserit (Hier.), vcl insipientiam, quam in prima aetate sit complexus, usque ad canos i. e. senectutis tempora perdurasse (Ps. Ruf. Alb. Rib. Sanct.), vel illos quamvis longo tempore elapso non resipuisse (Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Theoph.). Miserum statum non agnoscunt, e contra arrogantia efferuntur, quare etiam afflictiones augeri minatur
7:10
v. 10 « et humiliabitur superbia Israel in, facie eius ; nec. reversi sunt ad Dominum Deum suum et non quaesierunt eum in omnibus his » ; — hebr. num.. idem ac 5, 9 et testatur iniquitas Israel in facie eius ; vel si ny altera notione accipitur : et humiliata est superbia Israel in facie i. e. aperte, ita ut humiliationem ac oppressionem ignorare non potuerint, attamen neque sic ad Dominum redierunt. Propter hoc membrum versio haec et humiliata est ! . . omnino exigitur ; nam propheta sermonem auget, dicens : illos aliquoties ita prostratos esse, ut calamitatem dissimulare nulla ratione potuerint, at ne in iis quidem necessitatibus ad Deum confugisse, verum apud exteros auxilium quaesivisse. Miseriam non sentire, stuporis est; verum miseria agnita verum respuere remedium et nocivum amplecti, fatuitatis. — Quamvis verba v. 10* sint eadem quae 5, 9 leguntur, tamen hoc loco alia significatione accipienda sunt, quae membro altero indicatur et praecipue illis verbis : in his omnibus i. e. licet haec illis acciderint (cf. Is. 9, 19. 47. 91. Amos 4, 6-11), tamen Dominum non exquisierunt. Altera explicatio : ipsa eorum facies testatur et inscriptam gerit superbiam et arrogantiam et non sunt reversi . . nexu interno membri utriusque caret et membrum posterius satis debile priori adderetur, et illud in his omnibus plane supervacaneum esset. Quid remedii spreto Domino quaesierint, iam declarat
7:11
v. 11 « et factus est Ephraim quasi columba seducta, non habens cor ; Aegyptum invocabant, ad. Assyrios abierunt » ; — ? insipientiam illam v. 9 cum ea, quae in proverbium abiit, columbarum simplicitate comparat ; « simplicitas enim sine ratione stultitia est » (S. Hier. ; cf. Cyr.) ; comparationem varie illustrant : sola columba ablatos pullos non dolet, non requirit, et ideo huic recte comparatur Ephraim, quod vastatum per partes populum non sentiat, sed negligens sit salutis suae (Ephr. Hier.) ; pullis ablatis iisdem in locis nidificare solet futurorum improvida (Theod. Theod. M. Theoph.) ; nihil suspicans periculi facile capitur (Rib. Lap.) ; ita et Ephraim est non habens cor i. e. mentem, sensum, prudentiam (Lap.), cum cor Hebraeis 1. Hanc quoque exprimunt LXX et Chald. (fut). et optime tempore praeterito Syrus. sit et intellectus et voluntatis quasi receptaculum. Hanc fatuttatem eo declarat, quod modo ab Aegyptiis contra Assyrios, modo ab Assyriis auxilium efflagitant in medio positi inter has duas nationes belligeras, a quarum altera spoliabantur tamquam hostes vel tamquam subditi opprimebantur. Iam Ieroboam aufugerat in Aegyptum (3 Reg. 11, 40) !, Manahem in auxilium vocat Assyrios (4 Reg. 15, 19) ; qui eum oppugnabant, forte ab Aegyptiis opem exspectabant (cf. Scholz), Osee demum rebellare nitens contra Assyrios nuntios misit ad Sua regem Aegypti (4 Reg. 17, 4), at « maledictus qui confidit in homine et ponit carnem brachium suum et a Domino recedit cor eius » Ier. 17,5 ; cf. Is. 30, 2; 31, 1-3. Fortasse ad id vates immediate alludit (cf. Scholz). At frustra humana expetunt auxilia; ipse Dominus perdet eos; ita
7:12
v. 129. « et cum profecti. fuerint, expandam super eos rete meum ; quasi volucrem coeli detraham eos ; caedam eos secundum auditionem coetus eorum » ; — bene Sanct. : « prosequitur, opinor, propheta metaphoram vecordis columbae . . . . dum enim columba avide ac temere cibos captat, in laqueos se induit quos pararat auceps. Hoc ergo significat Deus facturum sese, cum Ephraim auxilium sibi ab externis quaesierit, qua in re persimilis est columbae, quae grana quaerit et captat inter laqueos et pedicas et dum secum agi putat, commodius, propius est periculum et mors » ; cf. 5, 14 ego,ego capiam. In hebr. castigabo eos secundum nuntium ad. coetum eorum ?, quem nuntium aliqui vetera iam vaticinia (Lev. 96, 14. Deut. 98, 13) explicant (Sanct Rib. Lap. Keil), alii oracula per prophetas edita (Schegg) ; populum non sine repetita monitione perire, Deus urget. Recte plerique interpretes versum de auxilii petitione intelligunt ; pauci profectionem iam ipsam in exsilium abductionem exponunt et retis expansionem alias esse volunt in captivitate a Deo contumacibus inflictas poenas (cf. Hier.). At ipsa imago priorem explicationem omnino suadet ; etsi enim, ait, ope auxilii humani imminens periculum evadere et effugere velint, et omnem conatum adhibeant, ego reti eos capiam et si quasi aves libere et in tutissimis locis versarentur, ego eos in servitutem detraherem. | Excidio annuntiato v. 12 comminatio ad fastigium adducta est. Subdit considerantis in modum aliqua, quae ex meditatione interitus populi sua sponte quasi nascuntur; et primo quidem infortunium instans eiusque originem et causam denuo animo lustrat et perpendit
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v. 13 « Vae eis quoniam recesserunt a me ; vastabuntur, quia praevaricati sunt in me » ; — hebr. quia fugerunt vel avolarunt, vagati sunt a me : cf. v. 11. 12; quasi studium, sedulitatem denotat celeriter et quam longissime fugiendi et vagandi a Domino et simul quam sint instabiles, mobiles, fugitivi ac vagabundi, qui Dominum reliquerunt. Notat S. Hier. : « in hebr. scriptum est vastatio eis ; Sym. interitum, Theod. miseriam interpretatus est ». Maiore cum emphasi dicitur : vastatio eis explicaturque vae ; cf. Is. 13,6 ; 33, 1. ! Ex peccato necessario miseria et excidium gignitur; cum enim Deus sit summum bonum atque unicum, qui ab eo recesserint, infelices sint oportet. Unde Cyr. : cótzet xp o93ày. àv mpooxpobovra Oso. Facinus apostasiae augetur, quia Deus multis magnisque beneficiis eos sibi devincire studuit : « e£ ego redemi eos et ipsi locuti sunt contra me mendacia » ; — non tam de liberatione ex Aegypto (Hier. Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Alb.) loquitur, quam de salute in rebus angustis saepe praestita, de ope Dei iis saepe impensa, uti rite explanant Ps. Ruf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Schegg, Scholz, Trochon, et Dei promptam semper et paratam voluntatem resipiscentes beneficiis ac donis exornandi commemorat ; ipsi vero mendacia locuti sunt et loquuntur i. e. beneficia a Deo accepta idolis adscribunt, spreto Deo idola colunt et laudant (bene iam veteres ad Ex. 32, 4 remittunt : « hi sunt dii tui Israel » ; cf. Hier. Cyr. Theod. M. Theoph. Alb. et cf. 3 Reg. 19, 28. Ps. i1, 19 et supra 7, 1) ; vel Deo res ipsorum curae esse negant (cf. Soph. 4, 12. Is. 29, 43. Ez. 8, 12). Uti beneficiis, ita calamitatibus quoque animos obduratos obtulerunt : v. 13 quae locuti sunt contra Dominum (cf. Cyr. Rib.), simulque notat, quo studio, qua vehementia idololatriae inhient et contra Dominum furant. Si principes iudicio obvolvuntur, etiam populum complicem scelerum puniri per se constat. Talis vero erit castigatio, ut iis ipsis, i. e. Aegyptiis (cf. v. 11), a quibus opem efflagitabant, subsannationi et derisui sint. futuri : ista. subsannatio eorum... (cf. Rib. Vat. Scholz, Trochon). Alii explicant de subsannatione qua olim in Aegypto Deum affecerant et quam nunc instaurant; furor scil. linguae idem nunc est apud illos, qui iam aderat in Aegypto ad Dei contumeliam (cf. Hier. Cyr. Alb. Sanct. Lap. Schegg) ; eadem exprimit Chald. « ista opera eorum, dum essent in terra Aegypti; .» et Sym. «oto dowtw Ó dg0tytavio iv Alyórto ; et versio quinta cytt,» Aacziursay. | po At prior explicatio magis ad sermonis concinnitatem accommodata est, qua peccato poena subiungitur et quidem eum in modum,ut rebellioni mors, fraudulentiae, qua Dei spem fallunt, irrisio respondeat.
7:14
v. 44 « et non clamaverunt ad. me in corde suo, sed ululabant in cubilibus suis » ; — i. e. pondere malorum pressi non sincere, non affectu animorum (Cyr.) ad Deum clamant opem flagitantes ; etsi labiis clamant, cor longe abest a Deo (Theod.), sed ululant, quasi desperantes inconditos edunt gemitus et ululatus in domibus suis etiam noctu, ut malorum ingruentium pondus declarent ; « moesti in cubilibus suis sedentes flebant et muliebriter eiulabant » (Rib.) ; noz scil. et stratum considerationi, dolori, suspiriis adaptatur (cf. Ps. 4, 5; 6, 1; 62, '1. Dan. 2, 29; 4, 2. 10). Alii cubilia ad idolorum cultum et fornicationem referunt : eiulasse eos in templis idolorum (Alb.), cantica talium vocari ululatum (Hier.), vel impudicos designari et foedos clamores et malarum cupiditatum voces (Cyr.) ; alii cubilia habitationem a Deo assignatam, terram promissam explicant, ut quae eos a laboribus in deserto susceptis reficeret (Theod. Theod. M. Theoph.) ; at utrumque artificiosius. Angori& huius exemplum et occasionem affert : propter triticum et. vinum angustiantur hebr. i. e. de defectu, penuria, sterilitate, vel ariditate ; recogita v. g. famem septem annorum tempore Eliae ; et Deum eiusmodi plagis eos visitasse ex minis in Lev. 26 et Deut. 298 expressis omnino colligitur. Ita textum hebr. Syrus vertit, idque verbi parallelismo ululabant confirmatur et forma yin" potest derivari a "W3 timere cf. 10, 5. Deut. 1, 17 ; 18, 22 etc. Cum LXX vertant &xi c(t xazetégvov:o — verbum alludit ad cruentas incisiones, mutilationes in cultu Baal etc. fieri solitas, cf. 3 Reg. 18, 28 ; Lev. 19, 28. Deut. 14, 1, cf. Cyr. Theoph. — legerunt T1áni3 cf. 1. c. Ier. 16, 6; 41, 5 et ita revera codices aliqui legunt (cf. de Rossi) ; alii explicant : se congregant (cf. Mich. 4,14 — vel in priore lectione *33 cf. Ps. 56, 7; 59, &. 1 Reg. 17, 20. ler. 30, 23), cui explicationi etiam Chald. calculum adiicere videtur, praebet enim : « in ubertate tritici et vini quod erant colligentes » i. e. propter frumentum coetus religiosos et pompas sollemnes cogunt in idolorum honorem, ut ab iis messem uberrimam etllagitent (cf. Lap. Mar. Calm. Trochon). At certe prior hebr. textus interpretatio erit praeferenda. — S. Hier. verbum videtur derivasse a nm fauces, ita ut sit quasi ingurgitare (Lap.), vel potiu, respexisse Lev. 11, 3. &. 7 aa Y ruminare ; unde eius versio facilo explicatur ; eaudem fuisse Sym. vide in cod. syr. hexapl. Quod vulg. habet : « super triticum et vinum ruminabant, recesserunt a me », — ita explanat S. Hier. : « propterabundantiam rerum omnium corruerunt; quod etiam Ezechiel in Sodomis et Gomorrhis factum esse commemorat, ut nihil aliud nisi cibos et luxuriam ruminarent !.... simul ut ostenderet eos iumentorum similes, non dixit comedebant sed ruminabant, et ideo recesserunt a Domino ». Et Ps. Ruf. : « cum ubertatem frugum omnium contulissem, ita ut de conviviis ad convivia instaurata transirent, instar pecudum.. cibos retractabant et a me recedebant ». Secundum hanc acceptionem sensus est priori membro oppositus: neque calamitatibus, neque rerum abundantia ad Dei memoriam et cultum adducti sunt. Triticum et vinum commemorat, quia iis Palaestina excellebat. Id factum innuit, quod Moyses vaticinatus est : « incrassatus est dilectus et recalcitravit » (Deut. 32, 13). Quo magis pateat populi animus durus atque ingratus, alia recenset beneficia, quae apostasiam maiore culpa onerant, et lamentantis in modum mentioni beneficiorum iterum (cf. v. 13) eorum malitiam opponit
7:15
v. 15 « et ego erudivi eos et confortavi brachia eorum ; et in me cogitaverunt malitiam » ; — institutionis per Moysen et prophetas datae beneficium recenset (cf. Haimo, Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap.), bene Cyr. : « ego eos lege institui et sapientes et utilitatis gnaros et viam iustitiae et omnis decentiae rectam administrationem scientes effeci, ut iam etiam apud se gaudentes dicerent : beati sumus, Israel, quoniam quae placita sunt Domino, nota sunt nobis» (Baruch 4, 4). Dein commemorat auxilium in terrae promissae expugnatione et in bellis feliciter gestis praestitum ; si quid valebant, Deo iuvante valebant ; alludit ad prosperum rerum statum v. g. sub Ieroboam II 4 Reg. 14, 25 - 28. — Ipsi vero neque doctrina neque rebus prosperis Deo devincti, cogitaverunt malitiam « meam potentiam ad idola transferentes dicentesque non me esse Deum, sed vitulos quos ipsi fecerunt. Numquid aliquid possunt facere aut nocere mihi? Sed quod solum agere potuerunt, contra me -—: mala » ( Haimo ) ; est idem quod v. 13. 14. Hanc malitiam ulterius declarat eiusque poenam addit
7:16
v. 46 « reversi sunt ut essent absque iugo, facti sunt. quasi arcus dolosus ; cadent in gladio principes eorum a furore linguae suae. Ista subsannatio eorum in terra Aegypti ». — Iugum Dei et foedus excusserunt ; « quomodo a principio fuerunt, priusquam vocarem eos per Abraham et Moysen et erant absque iugo legisque notitia et cunctis nationibus miscebantur, ita etiam nunc reversi sunt in pristinum statum, ut absque iugo et frenis deferrentur per praecipitia » (Hier.). Etiam in hac versione Hier. concordat cum quinta: &zéozyox» iva Otwkqooiw veo CuqoU. Ag. Sym. &vé£atpeav ei; tà py, Est Cuyóv (cod. syr. hexapl.). Hebr. ad verbum: reverluntur i. e. recedunt, declinant ; non iugum, 53 w5 — ita scil. erit legendum quod Chald. exponit : ut deficiant a lege. In hebr. id dici videtur per modum exclamationis ad vehementes affectus contumaciae declarandos. LXX et Syrus. vertunt : in nihilum, ergo N5 y? Textus mas. fert oy Nb ; veteres id tamquam apocopen ab nby altitudo vel "5v altissimus * considerant (cf. Vat. Pagn. Clarius apud Lap.) ; recenüores vertunt non sursum (cf. Keil, Scholx), sed phrasis haec : non se vertunt sursum i. e. ad Deum non convertuntur, nimis sapit modernum loquendi modum ; quare lectio illa praeferri debet, quam S.Hier., versio quinta et Chald. supponunt. Eorum contumaciam, qua Dei exspectationem, ut humano modo loquar, fefellerunt, locutione proverbiali illustrat arcus dolosi cf. Ps. '1'1, 5*1 ; fraudulentus, fallax est, qui spem iuste conceptam fallit; ita aquae dicuntur mendaces, fallaces, quae fluere cessant, quando iis quam maxime indige- 1. Ita quoque Fürst, qui oy N5 —— Dwv5N € Nb idolum interpretans vertit : convertuntur id idolum, cum 3*vj etiam Is. 52, 8 accusativo iungatur. rent homines (cf. Iob 6, 15 etc. hebr. Ier. 15, 18) ; unde arcus dicitur, qui ineptus est propter nervum remissum ad sagittas iaciendas, vel qui inepte factus alio sagittas mittit, quam eas dirigi vult sagittarius (cf. Rib.). S. Hier. id accuratius ita expendit : « ut quem Deus contra adversarios intenderat, ipsi contra Dominum verterent et mitterent adversus eum blasphemiarum sagittas »; sim. Ps. Ruf. Alb. Sanct., qui confert Zach. 9, 43 extendi mihi Iudam quasi arcum i. e. per Iudam Deus hostes prosternere vult. LXX óc «otov ivtevau£vov ; explicat Cyr. : « non. se submittentes ad poenitentiam, non remittentes intentionem, qua ad tantum dedecus dementiamque pervenerunt » ; advertit tamen alios interpretatos esse óc cóLov dvestoauguivov, idque explicat : « quos potius conveniebat quasi arcum contra hostes intendi et ad oppugnandum paratos valide ferire, non animadverterunt, quo pacto semetipsos velut emissis ab arcu sagittis acerbe vulnerarent » ; sim. Theoph. Theod. legit et explicat toov 0) «&xausvov « similes facti arcui laxato (xexavvwouivo ) et non intento, qui nullam perniciem hostibus infert » ; ita etiam Theod. M. Hebraeum exprimunt Syrus et Chald. Membro duplici peccatum delineavit; eodem modo poenam subdit : cadent in gladio : perimentur morte violenta, iusto Dei iudicio per hostes interimentur, bello peribunt ; principes qui scelerum et apostasiae suasores et duces sunt; furor linguae est insania linguae sceleratae (Sanct.), sunt detestabilia illa mendacia
7:3
… Thus the opposition and condemnation expressed by Hos. 7, 3-7; 8, 10, 15; 13, 10 ff. are not against the monarchical institution, in favor of a regime of liberty; but against the syncretistic and schismatic policy of the kings of the north. …
7:5
OSEE. - Israelite prophet (Hos. 7:5), whose book stands first among the Minor Prophets. …
7:7
1 and 2 (3 and 4) Book of Kings
… The content of R. also finds frequent verification in other historical books, and in the prophetic ones (cf. among many cases: Hos. 7, 7; 8, 4 = II Reg. 15, 10, 14, 25; Hos. 5, 13; 7, 11; 8, 9; 12, 2 = II Reg. 15, 17-20; Am. 7, 10; 4, 1-6 = II Reg. 14, 23-29; It. 7, 1-12 = II Reg. 16, 5; It. 36, 1-37, 38 = II Reg. 18, …
M. was a contemporary of the prophet Hosea, in whose book there are allusions to the troubles of that troubled period of the Kingdom of Israel, particularly to the frequent conspiracies and usurpations of the throne (cf. Hos. 7:7; 8:4; even more Isa. 9:19-20).
7:11
1 and 2 (3 and 4) Book of Kings
… The content of R. also finds frequent verification in other historical books, and in the prophetic ones (cf. among many cases: Hos. 7, 7; 8, 4 = II Reg. 15, 10, 14, 25; Hos. 5, 13; 7, 11; 8, 9; 12, 2 = II Reg. 15, 17-20; Am. 7, 10; 4, 1-6 = II Reg. 14, 23-29; It. 7, 1-12 = II Reg. 16, 5; It. 36, 1-37, 38 = II Reg. 18, 13-19, 37, etc.). …
… To enter into the game of political powers, trusting in one's own arms and in the stronger kingdoms, means no longer having faith in the covenant, in God's faithfulness and omnipotence; it is to set out toward syncretism and idolatry (Hos. 5:13; 7:11; 8:9; 10:4 ff.; 12:2; 14:4).
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.