Book 1
AMOS was a goatherd, and in pastoral customs and laws brought up; and he made his abode in the desert to the south of the land of the Jews, which extends as far as the borders of the Indian sea, and stretches into the land of the Persians, and countless barbarian tribes graze upon it, and it is very well-suited to be able to feed flocks of sheep; for it is good for pasture and wide and crowned with various kinds of grass. And Amos was from the village of Tekoa, situated at the very feet of the desert. And since he was a good man, and a worker of all gentleness, he was immediately enriched with the spirit of prophecy, and he prophesied not in Jerusa- lem, but while still among the flocks themselves, at the beginning of his customary and practiced concerns, then also having arrived in Bethel itself. For Tekoa was not so much under the kingdom of Judah, but under that of Ephraim. That the accounts we have given concerning these things are true, you will observe effortlessly, and you will be fully informed by his own words; for he prophesied in Bethel, as I said, saying that the altars of laughter would be destroyed, and the rites of Israel would be made desolate; and adding to these, "And I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with a sword." But the priest of Bethel; this was Amaziah; gnashed his teeth at the Prophet. Then he sends to Jeroboam king of Israel saying "Amos makes conspiracies against you "in the midst of the house of Israel, the land is not able to bear "all his words; because thus says Amos: By "a sword Jeroboam shall die, and Israel a captive "shall be led away from his land. and Amaziah said to "Amos: O seer, go, depart into the land of Judah, and there "live, and there you shall prophesy. But at Bethel no longer "continue to prophesy, for it is the king's sanctuary, "and it is the king's house; and Amos answered and said "to Amaziah: I was not a prophet, nor a son of a pro- "phet, but I was a herdsman, a gatherer of sycamore fruit, and "the Lord took me from the sheep, and the Lord said to "me: Go, prophesy to my people Israel." He was taken, then, from the flocks, and he prophesied in Bethel, where the first Jeroboam, son of Nebat, also set up a golden calf. And I think it is somehow useful to note that the Amos who was the father of Isaiah was a different person. But what and on what subjects at all were the words from him, by taking up the matters before us we will clarify as much as possible. The words of Amos, which were in Accarim of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Jerusalem. These, he says, are the words of the prophecy of Amos from Tekoa, which were in Accarim. But it must be known that the Hebrew version does not know this word at all, that is, 'in Accarim'; for they have only said, 'The words of Amos from Tekoa.' But the other interpreters, instead of 'in Accarim,' have put, 'among the herdsmen.' These, therefore, he says, are the words of Amos from Tekoa, which came at the time of still shepherding, and in the very sheepfolds. And concerning Jerusalem itself he says he did not so much hear, but rather saw the words. For God made the things themselves manifest and virtually present to the holy prophets along with the revelations, so that the words seemed to have become somehow visible, with the vision of things that would come to pass perhaps running concurrently with what God might say. However, this is worthy of investigation: for how could anyone think that the words came concerning Jerusalem alone, when through the voice of the same prophet God accuses both Judah and Israel? For he said again, "Thus says the Lord: For the three "impieties of the sons of Judah, and for the four, I will not turn "them away, because they rejected the "law of the Lord, and did not keep his commandments. "And their vanities which they made led them astray, "after which their fathers followed; "and I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations "of Jerusalem." Then, following these things, "Thus says the Lord: "For the three impieties of Israel, and for the four, "I will not turn him away." And having brought forward the manners of their sin, he threatened terrible things, and his discourse has a very great rebuke against both. How then could the words be understood as having been for Jerusalem, when God says, "I will send "a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem." What, then, will be the manner of our defense? Come, let us consider. We say, then, that it is the custom of the holy prophets, sometimes to distinctly call the two tribes in Jerusalem, Judah and Benjamin, Israel, and at other times again to name the ten other tribes in Samaria Israel, that is, Ephraim, but most often they do not distinguish. And since all are of the blood of Israel, so also they name the twelve tribes. But if they should wish perhaps to signify to us the entire Synagogue of the Jews, we will find them no longer using the name of Jerusalem in a restricted sense. The words of the prophecy of Amos, then, were concerning the whole multitude of the Jews, both that in Jerusalem and that in Samaria; but how they might be concerning them, it is necessary to say. Therefore, the manner of our defense is twofold. For first, he has introduced the God of all recounting the sins of the Synagogue of the Jews; then having announced beforehand the things that would be against them, And he added to these things the good things that come from gentleness, and that in due time there would be a great sparing of them and a renewal to their original state. For Amos himself said again, as from the person of God, "Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, says "the Lord. For, behold, I command, and I will sift among all "the nations the house of Israel, as one sifts in "a sieve, and not a fragment shall fall upon the earth." He necessarily also foretells the coming redemption through Christ, and that they will pass over to a renewal, and will be in a state of well-being, as God has mercy on them. And he spoke thus again, "In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is "fallen, and I will rebuild its fallen parts, and "I will raise up its ruins, and I will rebuild "it as in the days of old." Therefore, the words are concerning Jerusalem. And in another way, they might reasonably be understood to be concerning her. For Syria and the kings of Damascus, and not a few of the neighboring nations, ravaged the land of the Jews, at different times different ones rising up and devastating it, carrying off plunder, and doing things out of unrestrained anger, so that they came into extreme misery. Therefore, to all these who had sacked her, the Prophet introduced God threatening desolation, and said they would be punished for their unholy deeds. Therefore, on behalf of Jeru- salem, or rather, on behalf of the whole congregation of the Jews, were the words of Amos spoken. And we shall know this clearly by examining the times of the prophecy; for it is written next: In the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. But I suppose someone will say, 'And what is the benefit for those who read this, to have to examine curiously, and very minutely, the times of the reigns of those just named, I mean Uzziah and also Jeroboam?' And to this we say that the matter is necessary, as it contains within itself the whole circumstance, as it were, of the prophecy, as if in birth pangs. For he threatens destruction and uprisings and conflagrations to Syria and Damascus and to the barbarians dwelling near Judea, and from this came the beginning of his divine oracles. Therefore it is necessary to learn the reasons why the times of the reigns were added, what and how many things were accomplished by each, how he lived, and what is worthy of hearing in both. Having turned aside, then, into apostasy, both Israel and Judah were disciplined in many ways. For when the rulers of Damascus and the Syrians would run down and besiege them, they plundered the lands among them; and when, in turn, the Moabites and Idumeans, the Gergesenes and Elamites, the Azotians and the inhabitants of Accaron were maltreating Samaria, and indeed also the kingdom of Judah, using unbridled impulses and an insatiable will, and being driven to extremes of rage; and indeed we shall find that they have done this in various ways; for instance, when Ahab was king of Samaria and over Israel. And it is written thus in the third book of Kings, "And the son of Ader gathered "all his force, and went up and besieged "Samaria, and thirty-two kings with him and "every horse and chariot; and they went up and besieged "Samaria and made war against it." See then that the king of Damascus, that is, Ader, made allies against Israel, thirty-two other rulers of the neighboring nations, and thus made war on the land. But also in the times of Joash king of Judah, Hazael the Syrian made war on Jerusalem. And it is written again in the fourth book of Kings, "Then Hazael "king of Syria went up and fought against Gath, and "captured it. And Hazael set his "face to go up to Jerusalem. And Joash king "of Judah took all the holy things that Jehoshaphat and "Jehoram and Ahaziah, his fathers and kings "of Judah, had dedicated, and his own holy things and all the the gold that was found in the treasuries of the house of the Lord and of the house of the king and sent it to Hazael king of Syria, and he went up from Jerusalem." For they did such things according to divine wrath, since Israel had offended, by turning away exceedingly and being terribly excited about the worship of idols. But the foreigners, when they conquered, were insulting the glory of God. For the wretched ones thought to themselves that the hand that helped them had grown weak, and they have dared to behave insolently against the glory of God. And so the Syrians, having grown weak, when Ader was briefly besieging Samaria, made a false pretext for their cowardice, saying, "The God of Israel is a God of mountains and not a God of valleys." For they thought that those of Israel had conquered because God was able to save only in the mountains or on the hills. 'We have been defeated, then,' they say, 'because the God of Israel is a God of mountains; but if we could join battle on the bare plains, we would certainly overcome them, since the God of Israel is weak in the valleys.' But these are charges of Hellenic delusion, and the terrible unguarded speech of those who do not know the true God by nature. Therefore, God who is all-powerful was indignant with the foreigners, and very rightly so, because even when conquering Israel, as I said, they offered thank-offerings to their own gods, and talking nonsense they thought they had prevailed even over God Himself. As time went on after the reign of Ahab, and of certain others in between and in succession, a king was proclaimed over Israel in Samaria, Jeroboam, another besides the first, who was the son of Nebat, but his namesake and of like mind and impious. But in the times of his reign the compassionate God at last pitied Israel, who was weighed down by unbearable hardship, and He freed them from their troubles through the hand of Jeroboam, although he was exceedingly wicked and an apostate. For he so prevailed over the foreigners, as even to recover again cities that had been taken away from them in the times of past kings, and to subject them to his own scepters, and to inflict very many evils on those who had formerly conquered. For it is written about him in the fourth book of Kings: "In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash began to reign over Israel in Samaria for forty-one years; and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who made Israel sin. For he restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, and that they were reduced to a few, confined and destitute and abandoned, and there was no one to help Israel. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the seed of Israel from under heaven; and he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Joash. Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his mighty deeds, how he waged war, and how he recovered Damascus and Hamath for Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?" Behold, he says clearly that those of Israel were afflicted, with no one to save them, so that they were few and scattered; yet that they were saved from the hand of Jeroboam. And he has put 'from the hand' instead of 'by the hand'. For he himself was not the one crushing Israel, but rather fighting for and defending it; and he recovered Damascus, and won back the border of Israel and performed many mighty deeds. While Jeroboam was reigning, Azariah, also called Uzziah, is anointed king over Judah in Jerusalem. who was no less burdensome to the nations, and vigorously pressing upon those who had ravaged Judea. For he was a pious and God-loving man. But when he had prevailed over the enemies, with God permitting him to conquer, he became sick with arrogance, and went by his own commands to that it was necessary then also to act as a priest to God, and indeed he dared to go up to the divine altar itself, and to offer incense. But immediately God rebuked him. For he was marked with leprosy, a terrible and incurable affliction, so that as one unclean according to the law he might be sent out of Jerusalem, and might cease then both from acting as a priest to God, and from the sacred rite he had unlawfully practiced, and from defiling the divine temple. And the sacred Scripture spoke thus concerning him in the fourth of Kingdoms: "In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. Except the high places he did not remove, because the people were sacrificing and burning incense on the high places. And the Lord touched the king, and he was a leper until the day of his death." And these things are in Kingdoms, but in the second of Chronicles a leaner narrative is given concerning these things. It is as follows: "And all the people of the land took Uzziah, and he was sixteen years old and they made him king in the place of his father Amaziah. He built Elath, he restored it to Judah after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Amaziah his father had done. And he was seeking the Lord in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the fear of the Lord, in his days he sought the Lord, and the Lord made him prosper. And he went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath and the walls of Jabneh and the walls of Ashdod, and he built cities in Ashdod, and among the Philistines the Lord made him strong, against the Philistines and against the Arabs who dwelt upon the rock, and against the Meunites. And the Meunites gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name was known as far as the entrance of Egypt, because he was exceedingly strong." Then it says next concerning him: "And he did wrong against the Lord his God, and he entered into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. And they stood up against Uzziah the king and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense; go out from the sanctuary, because you have rebelled against the Lord; and this will not be for your glory from the Lord God. And Uzziah was enraged, and in his hand was the censer to burn incense in the temple; and while he was enraged with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, above the altar of incense. And the chief priest and the priests turned to him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they hurried him out from there, and indeed he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had rebuked him." Concerning Uzziah's being made a leper, these things suffice; but that he became a mighty man, and campaigned against the lands of the Philistines, and became so great in strength as to build cities among them, and to impose tribute, and to bring under his own scepters those who were once very proud, the sacred Scripture has taught sufficiently. Therefore, since the prophetic word has introduced to us at the beginning the future desolation of the Philistines, the memory of the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam has become necessary, for they were conquered through them, as we have at least said before. We know, therefore, that Damascus was also burned by the hand of the Assyrians, and the tribes of the Philistines were no less ravaged. But since it is of these those things being later, we will of necessity attach to the times of both Jeroboam and Uzziah the things that happened to the foreigners, and no less to the leaders of the Assyrians themselves. And since the Prophet has added "Two years before the earthquake," we have necessarily also made mention of Uzziah being struck with leprosy. For since he dared to act as a priest unlawfully, he was struck with leprosy when God reproved him, and Jerusalem was shaken by an earthquake, and through this it was clear to those at that time that God was indicating his own wrath. And he said, The Lord has spoken from Zion, and from Jerusalem he has given his voice, and the pastures of the shepherds have mourned, and the top of Carmel has withered. In these words the whole purpose of the prophecy is revealed to us, and the force of what is set forth might reasonably be understood as a kind of definition and preface of the entire oracle, overshadowed by great obscurity. For the word is composed as from a likeness and a metaphor, and as from what is wont to happen to the well-rooted summits of mountains, or sometimes also to the bare plains. For mountains, though luxuriant with thickets and woods, and plains again, crowned with much and abundant grass, when some destructive thing or perhaps a plague, or another of the maladies from the air, unexpectedly wither. In this way human affairs also fail, and sometimes bitter and unbearable calamities strike cities and countries, destroying and corrupting both small and great. For what would an enemy's sword spare, or, let us say, a plague, utterly cutting down both the one distinguished in wealth and glories and powers, and the obscure and downtrodden? Therefore, the word has now become for the Prophet especially fitting to his accustomed ways. For he was, as I said, a goatherd, and the trope is made as from the fact that the pastures of the flocks are often destroyed. What then is the truer meaning of what has been said? He says the Lord spoke from Zion, as from his own place, and from Jerusalem, as from that which was allotted to him; for the incorporeal is not in a place. But since that famous temple was in Jerusalem, the place somehow seemed to be his own, at least according to the supposition of the ancients who still had small thoughts about God. But instead of "spoke," the Hebrew version has put "roared," that is, he bellowed, in the manner of lions. When this happened, he says, the pastures of the flocks mourned; and by "pastures of the flocks" he means the nations of the foreigners, as being subject to certain shepherds, their own rulers, who lead and carry the people under their hand to whatever they please. Therefore they mourned, that is, they have been in dejection and in every evil; for mourning happens for the dead. And the cause of their calamity was that God roared down, and as it were threatened destruction. "For a lion," he says, "will roar, and who will not be afraid?" But not only did the pastures of the flocks mourn, but in addition to this the top of Carmel also withered; and by "the top of Carmel" he means Jerusalem. For Carmel is a mountain situated in the country of the Jews, on which also Elijah the Tishbite dwelt. And often the whole land of the Jews is signified by the name of Carmel. Such is what was said by God through the voice of another prophet to the sons of Israel: "And I brought you into Carmel to eat "its good things and its fruits, and you entered "and defiled my land, and you made my inheritance "an abomination." Since, therefore, Jerusalem was named the most notable and distinguished of the other cities in Judaea, he calls it the top of Carmel, as being lifted up in glory, as excelling in pre-eminence, as conspicuous beyond the others, on account of having the divine temple, and the kings from the tribe of Judah who reigned at various times. But it is the custom of the holy prophets to hide their words providentially in obscurities, because of the unbridled impulses of the hearers. For they would not have they tolerated those speaking openly, very much stirred up to audacity, and rebuking the holy prophets and saying, “But speak to us and announce to us another delusion.” And the Lord said, “For the three impieties of Damascus and for the four I will not turn away from it, because they sawed with iron saws the pregnant women of Gilead. And I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the foundations of the son of Hadad. And I will break the bars of Damascus, and I will destroy the inhabitants from the plain of On, and cut off a tribe from the men of Harran, and the renowned people of Syria shall be taken captive, says the Lord.” The divine Moses marvels at God as both good and long-suffering, and very rightly. For since Israel had made a calf in the wilderness, and said foolishly, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt,” he had necessarily offended. But since God threatened to destroy them completely, then Moses fell down and besought, and indeed persuaded the Creator to remit the punishment for those who had sinned, he offered up songs of thanksgiving, saying, “The Lord God is compassionate and merciful, long-suffering and very merciful and true, and keeping justice and mercy for thousands, taking away iniquities and injustices and sins, and will not clear the guilty, visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children and upon the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” The peoples of the Jews did not understand this correctly. For they thought God to be so harsh and implacable and long in wrath, as to bring the faults of the fathers upon the children’s children. And so mocking this very thing, they would say, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge.” For this reason God says to the prophet Ezekiel, “Son of man, what is this parable to you in Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth were set on edge’? As I live, says the Lord, this parable shall no longer be spoken in Israel. For all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son, they are mine. The soul that sins, it shall die. And the son shall not bear the sin of his father, nor shall the father bear the sin of his son.” For how is the Lord of all still long-suffering and very merciful and true, if He does not remit sins, and cleanse the guilty, but rather extends His indignation to the third and fourth generation? What then is the meaning? He is, as I said, both long-suffering and incomparably good, and does not immediately bring punishment upon those who have sinned. But He postpones it, even to a second generation, so that perhaps some intervening repentance might check His wrath. But if this should not happen, and the third and fourth from the first should be caught in the same, or even worse evils, and be found to be imitators of their ancestors' impiety, then indeed, then at last He brings the punishments, bestowing upon the generation a sufficient long-suffering for those who have already passed; this is the visiting of the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation. Does He not then say, having been long-suffering with Damascus many times, shall I not at last be indignant, and very rightly, for three and four sins? For what have they done? Many other things indeed. Yet they will pay the penalty for their excessive cruelty. For I will turn away from them, because they sawed with iron saws the pregnant women of Gilead. Now Gilead is a small city of Judea, situated on the border of the land of the Palestinians. The Syrians captured this beforehand, and destroyed it with complete ruin, cutting with iron saws the pregnant women, and together with the infants melting away the raw embryos of women. But the iron saws he calls the wheels of the wagons, with which it is the custom for the Syrians to thresh the grain on the threshing-floor. And so somewhere God also says through the voice of Isaiah to the Synagogue of the Jews, “Behold, I have made you as the wheels of a threshing-wagon, new, saw-toothed.” Therefore, it is similar As if he were to say, for instance, to Damascus: I will determine your judgment, for what you have threshed and crushed those in Gilead, so as not even to spare those still in the womb, to whom mercy from all follows and is owed. That some from Damascus treated the people of Israel cruelly and savagely, you may learn effortlessly by paying attention to the words of the prophet Elisha. For he arrived in Damascus. And when he met Hazael, while Hadad was still sick, "The man of God," it says, "wept, and Hazael said, 'Why does my lord weep?' And he said, 'Because I know what evil things you will do to the sons of Israel: their strongholds you will send up in fire, and their chosen men you will kill with the sword, and their infants you will dash to pieces, and their pregnant women you will rip open.'" Since Damascus has done these things against Gilead, and rather against the whole land of the Jews, he threatens to burn down the house of Hazael and Hadad, and to break the bars of Damascus. These things were done partly and at times by Uzziah and Jeroboam; for they themselves also took Syria and conquered it by force; and as time went on, also by the king of the Assyrians. Then he says, and I will destroy inhabitants from the plain of On. On the prophets call Bethel, in which the accursed Jeroboam set up the golden calf. But from that time on it was their custom to call every idolatrous land so. Therefore, the inhabitants in the land and plain of On, that is, of vanities, which is idols; for so the others have interpreted; I will destroy and cut off, he says, and I will cut down no less also a tribe from the men of Harran, which is a town somewhere surely bordering Damascus, having most warlike inhabitants. And he says that the renowned people of Syria will be taken captive. By renowned, he means either the one greatly famous, or the mercenary and one gathered to them for assistance; for, as I said, they would hire their foreign neighbors when campaigning against the land of the Jews; or renowned means the one called from outside and a sojourner. For it must be known that the Hebrew version, instead of "people of Syria," says "of Cyrene"; for the Syrians are colonists of the Cyrenians. And we remember that, as is written again in the fourth book of Kingdoms, Ahaz was reigning over Jerusalem, and Pekah and Rezin, the kings of Syria and Damascus, went up against Jerusalem, laying waste the cities of Judah under it. And since Ahaz, reigning over Judah, was in unbearable fear, he hired Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian with money for assistance. "And the king of the Assyrians," it says, "heard him, and the king of the Assyrians went up to Damascus and captured it, and carried it away captive, and put Rezin to death." Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Gaza, and for the four, I will not turn them away, because they took captive a captivity of Solomon, to shut them up in Edom. And I will send a fire upon the walls of Gaza, and it shall devour its foundations. And I will destroy the inhabitants from Ashdod, and a tribe shall be taken from Ashkelon, and I will bring my hand upon Ekron, and the remnant of the foreigners shall perish, says the Lord. I think it necessary before all else to say this, that neither the Hebrew version, nor indeed that of the others, mentions Solomon, but the Hebrews have said, "Because they took them captive," while the others have added, instead of "of Solomon," "a complete" or "perfect" one. But we will necessarily follow the writing of the seventy. Gaza is therefore accused; this is a city of the Philistines, which is now Palestine; as having taken captive a captivity of Solomon, to shut them up in Edom. And if we understand it thus, as at least the other interpreters have published, they have not made an ordinary devastation against Judea, but having taken a sufficient number of captives, they have given them into the hand of the Edomites. The Idumaeans, though descended from the blood of Esau, have always held hostile thoughts toward those of Israel, with whom the Gazites and the Azotians and the Ascalonites, and those of the so-called Accaron and some others of the foreigners, cooperating and becoming allies, prepared to take the cities of Judea by force. But if indeed, according to the writing of the seventy, we should say that they took captive the captivity of Solomon, it is necessary to understand that somehow. For Solomon was a most powerful and all-mighty king, and he so ruled over the neighboring nations that he even built many cities among them, and in them established Israel, with Hiram giving them to him. And it is so written in the second of Chronicles: "And it came to pass after twenty years in which Solomon had built "the house of the Lord and his own house, and the "cities which Hiram gave to Solomon, Solomon built them "and settled there the sons of Israel. And Solomon came "to Emath Soba, and prevailed against it, and "built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the "fortified cities he built in Hamath." And again, after other things: "And whatever Solomon desired according to his desire "to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in "all his kingdom. All the people that were left of "the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and "the Hivite and the Jebusite, who are not of Is-"rael, were from their sons left after "them in the land, whom the sons of Israel did not destroy, "and Solomon brought them up for tribute unto this day." Therefore, having allied themselves with those from Idumaea, the Gazites and Azotians and the rest have destroyed these cities, namely those named after Solomon, so that they no longer lie under the kingdom of Judah, but are assigned, as it were, to the unholy leaders of the Moabites. For this reason, he says Gaza will be consumed by fire along with the others, and the Azotians and the tribe of Ascalon will be utterly destroyed, and Accaron will fall under the hand of the smiter; and with them the remnant of the foreigners will certainly be destroyed together. For it is likely that they have served as mercenaries, and some of the neighboring barbarians have been called for aid. It is seen, therefore, to be a grievous thing and full of all danger, to conspire with the wicked and to love to be armed against those beloved by God, and to persecute saints. For even if they sometimes suffer on account of their stumblings, being disciplined by God, yet he will not utterly neglect those who are his own; and having disciplined them usefully, he will cast into destruction the vessels of wrath, that is, those who rushed against them with unbridled anger, surely according to that which was well said to Babylon concerning the sons of Israel: "I gave them "into your hands, but you showed them no mercy." For the excess of torment from those who were commanded to do this is exceedingly displeasing even to an indignant God. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away from it, because they delivered up the captivity of Solomon to Idumaea, and did not remember the covenant of brothers. And I will send a fire upon the walls of Tyre, and it shall devour its foundations. But the Tyrians again, in addition to those from Damascus, and indeed also the Azotians, the Gazites and Ascalonites, and those from Accaron, having surpassed the forbearance befitting God, and having been conquered, in a way, by the excess of their impieties, will be subjected to wrath, at least according to the meaning of the oracle, and will endure the ultimate punishment of all. And the charge against them is that they delivered up the captivity of Solomon to Idumaea, and being unmindful of the very covenant of brothers. What, then, the captivity of Solomon is, the argument has sufficiently shown us; but how it was delivered up to Idumaea, and by the Tyrians, it is necessary to say. For having enslaved a number not easy to count of those from Judah and Israel, they have sold to the Idumeans. But they, having made their blood brothers and free men from of old into the portion of captives, both oppressed them with the bitter yoke of slavery and forced them to live by the laws of the Greeks, the wretches all but mocking the glory of God, as though He had neither preserved for them the freedom from their fathers, nor indeed had the strength to grant them a state of well-being. And so the God of all says through the voice of another prophet, accusing not moderately those who shut up the captivity of Solomon into Idumea. "And "what are you to me, Tyre and Sidon and all Galilee "of the foreigners? Are you rendering a recompense to me, or "are you bearing a grudge against me? Swiftly and speedily I will "return your recompense upon your heads, for "what you took, my silver and my gold, and my "choice and beautiful things you brought into your temples, "and the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel you "sold to the sons of the Greeks, that you might drive them out from "their borders." Now a border, as it were, of those of Israel, is Judea in a bodily sense, but the law in a spiritual sense, outside of which they have come to be, being unnaturally sold to the sons of the Greeks. The Tyrians have done this, along with the others, having forgotten the covenant of the brothers itself. And this might be understood by us in three ways. For who are the brothers, and what is the covenant, come let us say, being guided by the sacred writings to the thoughts on this matter. Hiram, who was king of the Tyrians at the time, was one of the most beloved friends of the divine David; then after him he became beloved to Solomon, so as to make covenants of unanimity with him, to cooperate with him in all things, and to contribute the necessary care while he was completing the divine temple. And he brought very many gifts, and he himself also gained even greater and richer ones. Therefore, he either says that, that the Tyrians made war on Israel, forgetting the covenant of the brothers out of love, who had come to such a disposition and affection, that they seemed to be even of the same blood; or that the Idumeans, having descended from Esau, were brothers to those of Israel, but made war, having had no regard for the covenant of the brothers. For Esau had hostile and enemy thoughts against Jacob, being grieved in the beginning on account of the birthright; but when he was departing from the hearth of Laban at the proper time, and wishing to return home again with both his wives and children, he met him as a brother. For they embraced and kissed one another, and spoke what was fitting for friends, and treading upon their old difference, they made covenants of harmony and peace. But they were in this state. But the Tyrians, forgetting the covenant of the brothers, pitted the clans against each other, and persuaded them to hold their blood brothers as slaves, rendering the Idumeans far too strong over the vanquished by their own conspiracies. And if indeed someone should say this also of the Moabites themselves, who were of the blood of Lot, that the Tyrians violated the covenant of brothers, it is clear that it means the one from Abraham to Lot. For since the herdsmen of both fought, "Abram said to Lot," he says, "Let there be no strife between me and you, and between my "herdsmen and between your herdsmen, for we are "brother men." Therefore, for this reason he says it will be justly burned, and shaken from its very foundations. For "You shall not be with the majority for evil" is useful everywhere. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Idumea, and for the four, I will not turn them away, because they pursued their brother with the sword. The word now passes to the Idumean himself, that is, those of Esau, and it says very well that they too will be subjected to the consequences of wrath. For they made war on Israel, who was their brother, and did not shrink from raising the insolent and savage sword against those who were near and of their blood, not of the law having been mindful of nature, not having been mindful of anything human, but accustomed to conquering those outside and most hostile with enmities against brothers, and perhaps being very proud of this. Therefore let them hear from us too, "Why do you boast in wickedness, O mighty one?" And it might be said of them, and very appropriately, "Whose glory is in their "shame." For what it was better to love to put as far away as possible, these things indeed honoring with an utterly wicked judgment, they will hear again, "Woe "to those who call evil good and good evil, who "put darkness for light and light for darkness, who say "the bitter is sweet and the sweet is bitter." And he ravaged a womb upon the earth. The crimes of the Idumeans are usefully enumerated, and he goes back to Esau himself, showing them to be of low birth and sprung from an unholy father, so that we might perhaps understand that which is obliquely indicated through the voice of Isaiah, "For from the seed of serpents shall come forth the offspring of asps." He narrates, therefore, that their forefather Esau also almost ravaged the good things that had come to him from the womb and birth, and cast down to the earth the dignity of the birthright, deeming the thing worthy of almost no account for the sake of bodily food; for he sought a pottage of lentils, and having received it, he gave up the gift of nature. "For this reason," it says, "his name was called Edom;" which is, earthy, whence, I think, those descended from him are henceforth called Idumeans. Therefore the dignity from birth and womb he ravaged, it says, to the earth; he exchanged it for an earthy thing. They would be held liable for the same crimes who put the enjoyment of carnal things before spiritual things, and choose temporary things instead of eternal things, and things that are shaken instead of things that are not shaken, and despising the glory that is from God, but having most unwisely preferred the splendid things among men, which also, like shadows, pass by those who possess them. And very usefully the divine Paul cries out, "Lest there be any "fornicator," he says, "or profane person like Esau, who for one "meal sold his birthright." And he has seized his terror for a testimony. He again mentions another matter, able to slander the Idumean, as having always been awkward and wicked, and most hostile and warlike to those of his own blood. It is written, then, in Numbers, "And Moses sent "messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, Thus "says your brother Israel: You know all the "hardship that has found us; and our fathers went down "into Egypt, and we sojourned in Egypt many "days, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our "fathers. And we cried out to the Lord, and the Lord heard "our voice and sending an angel "brought us out of Egypt; and now we are in Kadesh, a city "on part of your border; we will pass through your "land; we will not pass through fields or through vineyards, "nor will we drink water from your cistern; by the king's highway we will "go; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left, until "we have passed through your borders. And Edom said to him, You "shall not pass through me; but if not, I will come out against you in "war. And the sons of Israel say to him, "We will go along the mountain; and if I and my cattle drink of your water, "I will give you a price, but "it is no matter; we will go along the mountain. "But he said, You shall not pass through me. And Edom came out to "meet them with a heavy host and with a strong hand. And "Edom was not willing to allow Israel to pass through "his borders, and Israel turned away from him." Observe then again in these things, how terrible and beyond all reason are the crimes of lack of affection. For Israel did not ask for water from Edom without payment, but he was in arms, and drew up for battle, and having begrudged them passage alone, and having proceeded to this point of awkwardness was convicted, that if Israel had not turned away, he would not even have spared their blood. He has seized, therefore, his terror for a testimony. For they indeed they refused and drew back, fearing to make war, so that they might not seem to neglect love towards their brothers; but he made their drawing back, or rather their cowardice in this matter, which he also signifies by the name of dread, a pretext for a harsh protest against them. For he threatened plainly, that if he would not depart from the borders belonging to him, he would go out against him and make war henceforth. Therefore Edom was without love for his kinsman, and not moderately guilty of the charge of brother-hating; for this reason he was justly also hated by God; "For God is love," according to the voice of John, "and he who abides in love, abides in God." Therefore he who has chosen to live without love is not in God; how could he be? But he will rather lie outside of intimacy with God. And his anger he kept for a victory; and I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the foundations of her walls. This is indeed the third transgression of Esau. For his anger, clearly fierce towards enmity and impiety, he kept for a victory, that is, for complete victory, and to the very end. For he in no way ceased from his impious undertakings, although, as I have already said, Esau had departed from that ancient impiety, and no longer sought to kill Jacob, but rather changed to gentleness and brotherly love. For when he returned from the hearth of Laban, he embraced him with weeping; and somehow tears are always wont to be shed even in times of extreme joy; but those descended from him were exceedingly harsh, in the awkwardness of their ways surpassing even the wickedness of their forefather. But it is true, that in every way and altogether "The ways of the resentful lead to death." For this reason he also says I will send a fire upon Teman; this is a metropolis of Idumea; and it shall devour the foundations of her walls; for it has been burned by conquering enemies, and Teman has perished along with the others. Hating brothers will therefore end in fire and flames, and rising up against those of one's own blood, or even those gathered into unity and one-mindedness from spiritual kinship; but the boasts of love are free from such evils. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away from them, because they ripped open the pregnant women of the Gileadites, that they might enlarge their borders. And I will kindle a fire upon the walls of Rabbah, and it shall devour her foundations with shouting in the day of war, and it shall be shaken in the day of her consummation, and their kings shall go into captivity, their priests and their princes together, says the Lord. The savagery of the Damascenes is also recorded in the case of the Ammonites. For they too killed the pregnant women of the Gileadites, not in defense of some others, nor indeed lending their wrath to foreigners, but for themselves, so that they might have a wider domain, and the borders of their kingdom extending very far, with all the land of the Jews laid waste, and those of Israel completely overthrown, as though God had suffered powerlessness, and He who promised to save, and to show Himself invincible to those who wish to make war, had truly grown weak. So then, having also captured the cities, they dared to mock the protecting God, and to the falsely-named gods they lit thank-offerings and sang victory odes. For this reason He says that Rabbah will be burned; this too is a metropolis of the land of the Ammonites; and He says that it will perish with a shout, that is, with the Babylonians shouting their war-cry against it. For they have taken it with a whole army, with Nebuchadnezzar overrunning the land of the Ammonites. And they shall go as captives, he says, the subjects together with their rulers, and those appointed to serve their own gods, having no help from them. For what could a deaf idol do, or how could it help anyone? And the proponents of the heresies are like those who cut open pregnant women, so that they might enlarge the borders of them. For in order that they may appear to be leaders of many, they do violence to wretched souls, and by deceptions from their words they cause them to miscarry a faith that is, as it were, raw and unfulfilled, speaking to them perverted things, and belching out things "from their own heart, and not from the mouth of the Lord." For no one says, "Jesus is Lord," except "in the Holy Spirit," nor "Jesus is anathema" except in Beelzebul. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of Moab, and for the four, I will not turn away from it, because they burned the bones of the king of Idumea to lime. And I will send a fire upon Moab, and it will devour the foundations of their cities, and Moab will die in weakness, with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet. And I will destroy the judge from her midst, and I will kill all her rulers with her, says the Lord. The Moabites again have acted impiously, not moderately, so as to drive even them beyond the inherent gentleness and forbearance of the God of all. But their accusation is the sin against the dead; I mean the burning of the bones of the king of Idumea; and burning them in such a way as to finally reduce them to dust and lime. What then is the crime? Hatred and inhumanity and unbridled savagery against those of Israel. For one might say that the bones of the aforementioned king were burned for no other reason than solely on account of those of Israel. And since the story is clear, I will relate it briefly. It is written in the fourth of the kingdoms "And it came to pass after the death of Ahab that the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. And King Joram went out on that day from Samaria and mustered Israel, and he went and sent to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab has rebelled against me; will you go with me against Moab to war? And he said, I will go up; I am as you are, as your people are my people, as your horses are my horses. And he said, By what way shall I go up? And he said, By the way of the wilderness of Edom. And the king of Israel and the king of Judah and the king of Edom went, and they made a circuit of a seven days' journey; and there was no water for the camp nor for the cattle that were at their feet." Observe, therefore, how the king of Edom, that is, of Idumea, also took up arms with the kings; and since they were in want of water, they sent for the blessed prophet Elisha, and they begged that what they sought might be given from God. When this happened, the Moabites were captured; for it is written again after other things, "And Israel rose up and struck Moab, and they fled from before them. And they went in, advancing and striking Moab, and they overthrew the cities, and on every good portion of land each man threw his stone and filled it, and they stopped up every spring of water, and cut down every good tree, until only the stones of the wall were left torn down." Therefore, those from Moab, being enraged that those of Israel had at times conquered, while the king of Edom aided them and marched with them, since they could not otherwise harm a dead man, they sinned against his remains, consuming them with fire, not even sparing his bones any longer, adding, as it were, to the destroyed of Israel the one who had from time to time been their helper. Therefore, their cities will be burned, and He says they themselves will perish in weakness, not wasting away by disease, nor consumed by common ailments, but with a shout and with the sound of a trumpet, that is, as in war and battle; and He threatens that also judges and rulers and all her leaders will perish together with those under them. For they were in charge of counsel and enterprises, and of the whole impiety they were surely the instigators to the others. Thus says the Lord: For the three transgressions of the sons of Judah, and for the four, I will not turn away from them, because they have rejected the law of the Lord, and His commandments they have not kept, and their vanities which they made have led them astray, which their fathers followed after them; and I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the foundations of Jerusalem.To the lawless nations has also been added the one instructed by the law, that is, Judah; for the Judge is no respecter of persons. That He endured him while he was always sinning, and persevered for a long time, is shown by the fact that He was moved only at the third and indeed also the fourth sin. And yet it was surely necessary, as is reasonable, to allot to the other nations, since they do not have the divine law, a more abundant gentleness, and to lavish upon them the length of His forgiveness, but to demand punishment for indifference immediately from Israel, since he was nourished in the divine commandments and was not ignorant of the profitable path, but He endured even those who knew the law as if they did not know it. But when He at last beheld them carried away to the limit of wickedness and of awkward reasonings, then He says He will send the fire upon Jerusalem itself, and consume even to its very foundations the city that is so brilliant and renowned. And the crimes of those of Israel are very many; but most of all God blames them for following the errors of their fathers. For the ones still yoked to the greed of the Egyptians, and nourished in their customs and laws, kindled their worship for a calf; but the others, having escaped that most wretched slavery, and being instructed in many ways by the divine commandments so as to know clearly what is pleasing to God, were caught going backwards, and being dragged down into the error of their fathers, and perhaps even fearing as unseemly not to be seen in equal evils. For they too have worshipped the golden heifers. And the cause of such impiety for them has been that they rejected the law of the Lord, and were unwilling to keep His commandments. Therefore, as long as we are keepers of the law and lovers of God, and are diligent to keep the commandments, we shall be found wise and sagacious, and knowledgeable of every virtue, and indeed enriched in all such things. But having inclined toward indifference, and having disregarded the divine laws, we shall hereafter be carried about by every wind, deprived of the best mind and understanding. And we shall be "portions for foxes," with the unclean spirits dragging us this way and that. Rightly and wisely, therefore, does the divine David sing concerning every righteous man, "The law of his God is in his heart, and "his steps shall not be tripped." Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away from him, because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals, those who trample on the dust of the earth. He does not leave him unpunished, but rather subjects to punishments Israel, that is, the tribes in Samaria. And that they themselves, sinning unguardedly, have all but consumed the tranquility owed by God to the weak, the turning away for three and four sins would show, which having suffered they must necessarily be subjected to terrible things, and be in every evil. Therefore, the divine David, fearing this thing, and knowing it to be a cause of destruction, implored, saying, "Do not turn Your face from me, and "do not turn away in wrath from Your servant." For wrath always follows, and, as it were, accompanies the turnings away. And what are the crimes of those of Israel, he clearly states. For they have sold, he says, the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, that is, they did not endure to speak rightly and justly, and to render for each of those being judged the justice that accords with the law. But if it happened that a man was righteous, sober and gentle, modest and unboastful; for such a one would be understood as both righteous and poor, or poor in spirit; being brought to judgment by one of the more powerful, this man is sold to his enemies, although the law clearly proclaimed, "You shall not take "person in judgment;" and again, "You shall not slay the innocent and the just." For the one entrusted with judging is certainly established in the order of God, to whom alone judging is proper. "For there is one lawgiver and judge," according to the voice of the saint. Therefore, the one who falsifies the account of justice and shows partiality will certainly insult the divine dignity, and offends God who says, "Execute true judgment, and show mercy and compassion every one to his "brother." He accuses them, therefore, of selling the just and the poor to their enemies, and of being accustomed to doing this for the sake of a few and most worthless gains, which would scarcely suffice for those who received them for the purchase of sandals. But it was far better, having chosen to honor righteousness and what is pleasing to God, to be intoxicated rather with the honors from Him, and indeed to have the wealth that comes from a good reputation. "For a good name," he says, "is to be chosen rather than great riches." It should be known that through the voice of Isaiah He says something like this to the mother of the Jews, that is, Jerusalem: "Your silver is dross; your wine merchants mix wine with water; your princes are rebellious, companions of thieves, loving gifts, seeking rewards, not judging the fatherless, and not attending to the case of the widow;" and again through the voice of Jeremiah, "Her leaders judged for a reward." It is therefore everywhere accursed not to render judgment that is right and blameless, but in a burdensome manner and discredited by its inequality. And they struck the heads of the poor with their fists. He clearly reproaches and accuses them of oppression and greed, as being unholy and merciless, and those whom it was better to deem worthy of care and to choose to honor, and to love to restore with assistance out of love, they were accustomed, on the contrary, to do wrong, wasting away with unbearable and bitter sorrows those who are burdened with poverty. But our Lord Jesus Christ records what is done to them as done to His own person. For He says, "Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to Me." Therefore, we shall offend God in no small measure, by taking advantage of the weak and "striking the humble with fists," as it is written, and embittering with sorrows those who are weighed down by poverty, although we ought rather to extend to them the hand of mutual love. "For poverty," he says, "humbles a man, but the hands of the diligent make rich;" and the disciple of Christ also writes somewhere that "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." And they have turned aside the way of the humble. You will understand this in two ways: for either it means that they have thought arrogant things, and have come to such a measure of God-hated arrogance, as to reject even brothers, unless they are swimming in wealth and have splendid possessions, and to go with hatred, as it were, and in the same way as those who have not excessively practiced the passion of love of money, who are also humble, thrusting away the vain turmoil of life; or else, that having become teachers and leaders of the people, they pervert the way of the weaker, that is, of the humble, it being clear that these do not of themselves have an accurate knowledge of what is expedient, but rather adhere to the voices of their instructors. And the multitude of this kind is very great. For some live rather un-curiously and in simplicity, and depend on the voice or instruction of their teachers, and whatever way they learn is good, they love exceedingly. Therefore, the wise and God-loving among those allotted to lead show the straight path, by which, rushing along, they achieve a life pleasing to God. But those who have thought little of the divine law pervert the way of the humble, causing them to be outside of what is reasonable and truly fitting; such as Jeroboam did, having persuaded them to worship the man-made heifers; and having turned them away from the path that is straight and of the good, I mean of being devoted to the God and Lord who is so by nature and in truth. They turn aside from the way of the humble, those who do not hesitate to say to the one who is simple in mind, "Come with us, share in "unjust blood." They also turn aside from the way of the humble, those who twist the correctness of ecclesiastical dogmas to what seems right to them, persuading the mind of the more simple to go down a crooked and perverse path; and for indeed there is nothing right among them, but rather distorted and unseemly little sayings, and compositions of words, full of impiety and ignorance alike. And a son and his father went in to the same girl, so that they might profane the name of their God. He again accuses them for passionate and unrestrained pleasures, and has shown them to be neglectful of all decency in this one trespass. For it was better to be master of the passions and to overcome improper and loathsome pleasure and to cut off desires, and having resolved to rebuke the wills of the flesh and persuading to be still the law that rages in our members. But they were far behind such brilliant virtue, and were perhaps defeated by the passions of the flesh. Then how is it not wise, even in shameful things, to choose the better, and to consider that it is of the most exceedingly improper things for a son to leap upon his father's bed, and for a father to delight in raging unholily upon his son's very bed, and to choose to commit a terrible deed, which even without the law through Moses nature knows to be shameful, and deems worthy to condemn with movements of wrath? And indeed Reuben, having wronged his father's bed, offended not moderately; and the divine Paul was exceedingly indignant about such a thing being done by some; and these were Corinthians, to whom he also writes, saying, "It is actually reported that there is "fornication among you, and such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles, "that a man has his father's wife." But he did not stop his indignation at this; but he delivered the one who had done it "to Satan for the destruction of the flesh." Therefore, those who are guilty of such offenses profane the name of their God. And we do not say, by any means, that they imputed profanation and impurity to the divine nature. For how could they, or from where? But rather they cause the God of all to be blasphemed, as being a ruler of profane peoples. And indeed He said somewhere to the Jews, "Because of you my name is blasphemed continually "among the Gentiles." For just as those who live rightly are said to sanctify God, so also would those who practice an unclean and inglorious way of life be understood to profane Him. And binding their garments with ropes they made curtains next to the altar, and they drank wine from false accusations in the house of their God. Our Lord Jesus Christ, teaching that the divine temples ought to be maintained for no other reason than to glorify in them the God of all, and to make the worship that is fitting for him, once rebuked the Jewish merchants; for they were bringing into the temple sheep and oxen and doves; and indeed, "making a whip "of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, saying, 'It is written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer."'" And the sacred writing noted, "His "disciples remembered that it was written, 'The zeal for your house will consume "me.'" And the divine Paul also rebuked some who were accustomed to daring such things; for he writes thus: "Do you not have "houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church "of God and humiliate those who have nothing?" Therefore, it is seen to be unprofitable everywhere to dare to misuse the divine houses, as if they were common and belonged privately to each person. For where would the reverence due to God still be kept, if we serve the pleasures of the flesh in his sight? and in those places where we ought to be seen as radiant through solemnity, to be laughed at there, slipping into what is unseemly, and willing to do what is not right? which indeed he does not permit some to do without blame, and very rightly so. For they did not, he says, keep the altar free from hangings, but having fallen under them, they dared to get drunk and to fulfill the works of pleasure, so that they might also hear God saying clearly, “And I am a witness, says the Lord.” From what sort of absurdities would a drunken man abstain, whose mind is deranged and is prone to every kind of evil whatsoever? For the God of all sees even "the things in darkness," according to what is written, and nothing at all is unseen by him; but it seems somehow that the things in churches especially are done by us as if he were almost present and watching. And if it is truly most shameful, and has the ultimate condemnation from the law, to get drunk at all, how is it not beyond all description tending towards depravity, for such people to be seen even in the churches themselves? And what is still more burdensome, if the things for luxury are collected from unjust and wicked gains? Those who do this will hear God saying clearly, “Is my house a den of robbers?” Therefore, the crimes of others will be of great benefit to us, and through the things by which others have stumbled, we will become better, if we avoid their ways. For the temperate would reasonably be safer, if indeed they wished to live according to the law, if they chose not to emulate the wicked. But if it were said to Judah, that is, the two tribes in Jerusalem, Binding their garments with cords they made hangings next to the altar, the argument would rightly hold to the interpretation just now stated by us. But if indeed the offense were also brought against Israel, I would say that not in the house of him who is God by nature and in truth, nor next to the altar were the tents woven by means of the hangings, that is, the things of drunkenness were done, but in the house of their god, that he might mean Baal, or some other of those made into the form of an idol by human invention. How then could it still be counted as a crime for Israel, to be in a house of idols, perhaps, and beside the profane altar itself to get drunk with wine and weave tents? Because they have honored these things, and made the temples of their supposed gods workshops of drunkenness as well as of every shameful pleasure, although it was necessary rather to desire to worship God purely and with all sanctity, and to enter the house that is truly holy, and to consider the altar venerable. But they, eager to consider things so venerable and admirable as nothing, having honored things far more shameful, even dared to act insolently towards their own gods, trampling everywhere on the divine dignity, and fearlessly insulting the glory fitting for the one and only God by nature, when having also placed it upon those falsely named, they endured to esteem it of no account. But I destroyed the Amorite from before them, whose height was like the height of a cedar, and he was strong as an oak; and I dried up his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath. Do you see how he then shows them to be impiously insulting and choosing to despise, and him whom they ought rather to delight with songs of thanksgiving and with obedience in every single thing, they have chosen most foolishly and senselessly to grieve, because of their exceedingly great awkwardness of manners, and to drive to forgetfulness the good things they have suffered? For I, he says, destroyed the Amorite from before them; that is, I brought down the barbarian races, signified perhaps by the one Amorite, as being hard and rather coarse; I prepared to conquer the one who was so overgrown and unbreakable, so as to seem now somehow to be raised to the height of a cedar, and to imitate the strength of the exceedingly sturdy oak. For there was no other but I alone, he says, who withered him, and struck him down to the roots, and almost dried up his fruit. For since he has spoken as if about a tree, the discourse plausibly persists in the figure, and says that the harm came to its root, and that in this way the fruit also was destroyed. For the wood in the forests would not die in any other way, except in this manner. For that they were destroyed, when those from Israel, the Amorites and Hivites, Girgashites and Perizzites and Jebusites, with God clearly fighting alongside, no one would doubt. Bitter therefore it is to despise Christ, who gave us [the power] "to tread on serpents and scorpions and on all the power of the enemy," who destroys those who resist, and subdues the stronger; "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness of this age, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And we have conquered all of these in Christ. And if we are to grieve our own Savior and Redeemer by turning aside to laziness, we will be at a loss, I know, for a reason and a pretext able to deliver us from punishment and fire. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and led you about in the desert for forty years, that you might inherit the land of the Amorites. He clearly explains what He said, and as if the discourse were going backwards, He reveals in brief the things from the beginning to the end. For I delivered them from slavery, He says, and freed them from the greed of the Egyptians; and I nourished them in the desert, sending down the manna to them from above, and in a manner befitting God sending forth springs of water, and from the steep rock bestowing outflows of unexpected streams. And the toil of their journey was not for small things, but so that they might inherit the land of the Amorites, which was promised to their fathers. But they have slipped into such stupidity, as perhaps not even to know my love and philanthropy towards them. It is necessary, therefore, for us who are in Christ through faith to remember, that we too have been freed from slavery, and just as from Egypt we have moved into the desert, that is, into a wide and truly most pure way of life, unmixed with what is worse, I mean, the Evangelical way; we have been enriched with the bread from heaven, the one giving life to the world. For we are strengthened in Christ, and we have had springs of pure waters in the writings of the holy Apostles; for thus also the prophet Isaiah named them, saying, "And draw water with joy from the springs of salvation." And what could the springs of salvation be, rather than surely those who send forth for us the saving and life-giving word, and evangelize the mystery of Christ, and initiate into the mysteries all under heaven. And I took of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for sanctification. Are not these things so, O sons of Israel? says the Lord. And you gave the sanctified ones wine to drink, and you commanded the prophets, saying, You shall not prophesy. It is a great matter for reproach and for condemnation for every evil to be, as it were, charged with ingratitude by God, who distributes to us all things, both those for glory and those sufficient for life. For although there were many nations throughout the world, He made Israel alone the chosen one, and to this glory God then called and raised him, so that some, those who loved a holy and most lawful life, were even adorned with the dignity of prophecy, and the young men among them were taken for sanctification, that is, those more mature in mind and having intellectual strength. For some were sanctified according to the law, those called Nazirites, letting the hair of their head grow for the Lord, abstaining from wine and the things from it—I mean vinegar and grapes and raisins and grapestones—and keeping very far away from dead bodies. And the discourse concerning these things is deep. Nevertheless, God honored them, both as prophets, as I said, and by raising up some of them to be sanctified typologically. But they, rejecting in an unseemly way this so brilliant and admirable glory, gave wine to drink to the sanctified ones, that is, those who had upon themselves a vow of sanctification. For they persuaded them to despise sanctification itself, surely saying that the law of God is absolutely nothing, and that for men to wish to be sanctified and to fulfill the customary rites for this purpose is useless. For even if the law was in shadows, yet it was not entirely deprived of the doctrines of truth; for the form of piety flashes forth in its types. But to rebuke the holy prophets themselves belongs to those who completely shake off the word of God, and who do not endure to be instructed, and who are ignorant that they have been honored, since, being from among them, they were taken up for communion with God. And he further asks in their midst and says, Are not these things so, O sons of Israel, says the Lord? Is it so, he says, that you will determine what is false even of such manifest matters? Will God need witnesses to convict you, who have chosen to slander such evident things? Therefore one must be sanctified, and with a steadfast mind attend to God, not admitting the opinions of the wicked. "For evil communications corrupt good manners," and the words of pleasure-lovers carry one away from sanctification and all reasonableness. Therefore we shall rather adhere to the voices of those who speak for God, to whom the Savior himself also bears witness, saying, "It is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Therefore, behold, I roll beneath you, in the way that a cart full of stubble rolls. It was the custom for the ancients to transport by carts the things from the fields and whatever fills the threshing floor, and this practice is preserved to this day among those who inhabit the land of the east and of the west. And the wheels roll together with the axles, the wood creaking heavily and gratingly, and the loads placed upon them all but crying out. Therefore I myself, he says, the Master of all, will be as the thing that rolls under the cart, that is, the axle; for it, as I said, rolls the wheels with itself, having them fixed and fitted to it. And I will cry out as if against the impious, no longer being able to bear the grievous burden of their transgressions. "For they have rejected the law of the Lord, and his commandments they have not kept, but their vanities, which their fathers made, have led them astray," and they have forgotten me, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, who destroyed the Amorite from before their face, who took from their sons for prophets and from their young men for consecration. But I have honored them, but they themselves have descended to such an evil counsel, as to "bind their garments with cords, to make curtains next to the altar, and to drink wine from false accusations in the house of their God," and to give "the consecrated ones wine to drink, and to command the prophets, saying, 'You shall not prophesy.'" Therefore, being all but laden with such impieties of yours, like an axle under a cart that is full of stubble and sheaves, I will make the loudest outcry. And what harm will come from this, or what sufferings will again befall them, he makes clear immediately in what follows. However, it is necessary to say this, that it is truly a terrible thing to provoke God, and to finally slip into such wickedness that our sin becomes unbearable to him, even though by nature he is exceedingly gracious, good, and gentle. Therefore, one must by all means refrain from loving to offend him; but if anything should happen and one should suffer a human failing, one must not be seen to delay in repentance, nor indeed allow one's faults to grow, but rather, using a sobriety befitting a saint, to draw them back, and to hasten to transport the ailing mind to what is better. For in this way God will be forbearing, and since he is good, he will bestow his mercy. And flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong man shall not retain his strength, and the warrior shall not save his life, and the archer shall not stand, and he that is swift of foot shall not be delivered, nor shall the horseman save his life, and he will find his heart in mighty deeds; the naked shall be pursued in that day, says the Lord. Nothing will save, he says, in the days of wrath those who have offended; not swiftness of foot will deliver the swiftest runner from evils; not strength of body the one who is strong; nor military experience the one who knows tactics and has practiced archery excellently and is admired for it; useless to those who use them is both the swiftness of horses, and in addition to this, knowing the cavalry battle. but each of these, he says, will find his own heart in dominions, that is, overpowered by fears and yielding without a fight to those who wish to lay waste the victory. For then there will be cowardice among those of Israel, and such dominion of the Babylonians, that even the unarmed man will be able to pursue, that is, to prevail over those in arms, even if one of the Babylonians is without a breastplate; and the unarmed and unequipped man will be able to pursue those in full armor. Therefore, when God shakes down into weakness those whom he chooses to harm, nothing could help. And this I think is what is said to us in another way through the voice of the psalmist: "He will not delight in the strength of the horse; nor is he pleased with the "legs of a man," and again, "A horse is a vain thing for "safety, neither shall he be saved by his great strength." For such things are completely useless, if God does not contend with them. For he is the Lord of hosts, who gives sinews to the weakened, and enervates those who have grieved him, and with him "one shall chase a thousand, and two in turn shall move "ten thousand," and a great and countless multitude will be consumed by perhaps two or three resisting them, unless God defends.