Book 6
Sow for yourselves unto righteousness, reap unto the fruit of life, enlighten for yourselves the light of knowledge, seek the Lord until the fruits of righteousness come to you. The manner of exhortation is ever twofold. For either, by explaining the punishment that will befall those who wish to be indolent, we are accustomed to frighten them away and very sternly toward choosing to live splendidly; or, by announcing the honors prepared for the decent, we make those who are being instructed more eager for the need to proceed hereafter to the better and more lawful life. The God of all is doing something of this kind now as well. For he has threatened those who have gone astray with wars, the calamities, the leading into captivity to foreigners, the burnings of cities, the savagery of the combatants. But he does not stop the word of exhortation at this point, but behold, again, he also helps them in another way, and indeed, having forsaken what is useless and the cause of all their misery, he bids them choose what is by nature most beneficial, just like farmers, sowing for righteousness, and harvesting for the fruit of life. For as the blessed Paul writes, "Whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." And "He who sows evil things will reap evil things," according to what is written; but the worker of righteousness will be full of salvation and life, brilliant and enviable, and will gather in the wine "that makes glad the heart of man." And besides this, those who wish to be well-pleasing must house in their mind and heart the light of true knowledge, which those who worship "the creation rather than the Creator" do not have. And how one might be able to sow for righteousness, and indeed also to harvest for the fruit of life, and to receive the brilliant light of knowledge, he himself indicated, adding: Seek the Lord until the fruits of righteousness come to you. And God would be sought by us, not locally; for this is foolish, since the divine is not in a place; but as in a disposition of soul, and in the eagerness of a mind that has assented to everything whatsoever that is pleasing to Him, and looks to a right and polished knowledge, which has no cause for reproach from any quarter. For having thus found him, we will also be enriched with the possession of other good things. Or does Christ not speak the truth when He says, "Without me you can do nothing?" But I think this is in no way doubtful to those accustomed to think rightly. For this is our possession of every good thing with God, and through God, and from God. One might say, and very reasonably, that *sow for yourselves for righteousness* and what follows it, is not only for the worshipers of idols, but also for those who turn away from the right faith, adhering rather to "deceitful spirits, "in the hypocrisy of demons, whose consciences are seared," as, at any rate, the most wise Paul writes. These sow indeed by engaging in labors for knowledge and learning; but not for works of righteousness, but for injustice and impiety, "Deceiving and being deceived," and "Wounding the weak conscience of the brothers, for whom Christ died." Therefore, they do not harvest for the fruit of life; from where? But for punishment and judgment. And at any rate Christ said, that "Whoever "causes one of these little ones who believe "in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a millstone hung around "his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the "sea." Therefore, let them love the truth; this is the light of knowledge; thus God is sought; from this, fruits of righteousness will spring up for them unto life; and wine will also be harvested, not physical, but rather spiritual and through the Spirit, which gladdens both heart and mind. Why have you been silent about impiety, and harvested its injustices, eaten false fruit? because you trusted in your chariots, in the multitude of your power, and destruction will rise up among your people, and all your walled cities will be gone. Again he accuses them, as having chosen from pleasure in wickedness to be quiet about things they should have least been quiet about, and as having been most unwisely silent about things at which it was likely God was not moderately grieved. For it was necessary, he says, with all strength to thrust away impiety towards me and to rebuke those who advise shameful things, and doing this to be in every good thing, they were silent, they accepted the ways of error; there was not among them one who stood against those who innovated those things, not setting against them the things from the law, and bringing to remembrance what had been decreed. For it is written, "You shall have no other gods besides "me;" and again, "You shall not make for yourself an idol." But they had very little regard for these things at all. For they were silent, honoring impiety, that is, apostasy. Therefore they have harvested the fruits of their injustice in this matter, they have eaten a false fruit, that is, they have held a hope that is both fragile and unprofitable. For the true fruit, which is able to save and to benefit, is love for God, and the boasts of righteousness; but a false fruit would reasonably be understood as that of impiety; for it certainly brings down to an abominable end. What, then, is the false fruit that has come to them from their impiety, He immediately showed. For He adds, Because you hoped in your chariots, in the multitude of your power, destruction shall rise up among your people, and all your fortified places shall be gone. For you have acted impiously, not moderately, He says, having served wood and stones, and having dishonored the one God who is so by nature and in truth. Then, when war was announced, and had already come even within your gates, you did not seek help from Me, but you took courage in your own powers and in the multitude of your chariots, and you supposed you would overcome the strength of the enemy, the solicitude and aid of your falsely named gods being sufficient for you for this. This shall be a false fruit for you. For there will be destruction against the peoples, and every brilliant and well-fortified city will be shaken down. For what God does not establish, will in every way and entirely fall. Let these things be said also by us, or rather by God, to those who wish to attend to the unholy heretics, and who pretend to be disciples of things pertaining to life and understanding. These men pass over impiety in silence. For they endure hearing those who blaspheme, although they owe it to make the greatest possible denunciation against them. They will therefore indeed share in their own ill counsel, and will reap the fruits of injustice. for they will eat falsehood, receiving spurious and rejected knowledge, and being taught perverted things, and whatever attempts to counterfeit the beauty of the truth. And that all their power will fall, with God overthrowing it, and they will go to ruin and destruction, how could anyone doubt? As the ruler Salmana from the house of Jerubbaal, in the days of war dashed a mother to the ground upon her children; so will I do to you, O house of Israel, because of your evils. In the book of Judges it is written that Israel turned aside after the Baalim from time to time. For this reason they offended God, and were delivered into the hands of Midian, for seven whole years. And they endured such harsh oppression from their conquerors, that they even lived in rocks, and were saved only with difficulty by hiding in them, and making the difficult places a fortress, because they were utterly exhausted for battle. It happened therefore that from time to time those who fell into the hands of the Midianites were cruelly killed, so that children perished together with their wretched mothers, all mercy having been removed. And their rulers were Oreb and Zeeb, and Zebah and Salmana. And the calamity was prolonged until God, having pitied the afflicted Israel, raised up Gideon, who was also renamed Jerubbaal by his father and the locals, for such a reason. For when God had instructed him by the voice of an angel, he pulled down the pillar of Baal, and cut down his grove, secretly and by night. But when the inhabitants of the town, hastening at dawn to perform their usual rites, were present in the sacred precinct, and saw Baal thrown down, and the oak grove fallen upon him, they at once suspected the piety of Gideon, and ascribed the cause of the matter to him. Then they went to his father, saying, Give us your son, that we may kill him, "because he has pulled down Baal." To this he replied; "Will you," he says, "avenge Baal? If he is a god, let him plead his own case against the one who pulled him down." From this, Gideon was henceforth renamed Jerubbaal, which is interpreted "Let Baal plead." Just as, then, he says, Salmana, the leader of the Midianite multitude, from the house of Gideon, that is, of Jerubbaal, dashed a mother upon her children, in this very same way the general of the Assyrians cruelly and inhumanly, and without any pity he will use war against you, and will dash the mother to the ground with her children. And these things will happen because of your wickedness. For he does not punish in vain, being a righteous judge, the God of all. But if the sins of those who have offended him should then extend beyond measure, then he brings on them accordingly the things that come from wrath. If then we would avert his anger, we must first avert very well both sinning, and, as it were, provoking to indignation the divine and most gentle nature, and perhaps even forcing it unwillingly to this by the excess of our offenses. But it must be known that some of the preceding commentators say that it was not Shalman, the ruler of the Midianites, who dashed the mother upon the children, from the house of Jerubbaal, that is, of Israel; for sometimes the whole is signified by the leaders; but rather that Gideon dashed the mother upon the children in the house of Shalman. But I think the other would be better, and have support from what is fitting, and not this rather. For just as at that time, when Israel inclined to the Baalim, the children were dashed along with their mothers among them by the hand of foreigners, so also now that Ephraim has turned aside to idolatry, the children will be dashed again by the hand of barbarians, that is, of the Assyrians, along with those who bore them. I think, therefore, that the argument is plausible, and will better preserve the similarity, as from an ancient image, to more recent events, if the force of the preceding is understood in this way. In the morning they were cast off. The king of Israel was cast off. Again, the other interpreters, and indeed also the Hebrew writing, have clearly said that they were cast off as in the morning, signifying by this that Israel had fallen away from fellowship with God, as it were, in a very short time, that is, quickly and without delay. For the time of the morning is very brief; for as soon as the light of day begins to dawn, it makes the morning; but when the sun has risen and sent forth its first ray, it is immediately dissolved and has passed away. Therefore, as in the morning, that is, in a little, and brief, and very contracted time, they were cast off together with their leaders. For we shall either understand it thus, or we shall take it in another way. For when God does not yet bring punishments upon human offenses, or even makes the extension of his forbearance longer, it is not at all unlikely to compare him to those who sleep at night. And indeed the blessed Prophets have cried out to us in many ways, signifying this very thing. For the most wise Jeremiah says, "Be not as a man sleeping, or as a man who is not able to save;" and the divine psalmist at one time says, "Awake, why do you sleep, O Lord? Arise and do not cast off forever;" and at another time, seeing him awakened for the help of some, says, "And the Lord awoke as one sleeping." He seems, then, to call the morning the time of his, as it were, watchfulness over them; for in the morning we rise from sleep. Therefore, when God is watchful over them, and, as it were, now awakened to visit what they have done, they will become cast off and rejected; although because of his very great forbearance he, as it were, even slumbered over them, in the time that has already passed. And he says that the king was also cast off with the multitudes, since the kingdom of Ephraim would very soon be taken away from their midst. For having returned, as I said, to Judea after the time of the captivity, they all came under one king, just as, of course, both in the beginning and before the times of the captivity. For those from the tribe of Judah reigned in Jerusalem, while all of Israel still existed. Because Israel was a child, and I loved him, and out of Egypt I called his children. As I called them, so they went away from my face. In these things the argument seems to us to be contending against an objection from some people. For let someone be conceived of as considering that, or even saying openly: If they were going to fall away, and from the face of God, those of the blood of Israel were to become in due time, and to be both abominable and hated, why were they even called in the beginning? To these things God, and very fittingly, explains in a certain way, saying, Israel is a child and I loved him, and out of Egypt I have summoned his children. Jacob, he says, was an unfeigned man, who was renamed Israel. For this reason I loved him; for while they were still in the womb, "Jacob I have loved," He says; "but Esau I have hated." Since, therefore, I have loved him, for this reason I also delivered his children from the oppression of the Egyptians. "For I show mercy to thousands of those who love me." What then of those honored and chosen on account of their fathers, those honored by the grace of freedom, and delivered from slavery and toils? Have they shown honor? Have they been eager to gladden with good will the God who protected them? By no means, he says. For they have run away from the Master, they have departed from the one who honored them, they have insulted the one who called them. And how have they departed? Was it one by one and a few at a time, having slipped from right thinking, and being seduced by certain deceits? Not at all. For they departed in the same way as they were indeed called, that is, as a whole multitude and by tribes, every clan and every household. For so they went out of the land of the Egyptians in due course. And we remember that when Pharaoh was scarcely promising to let Israel go, and wished to learn about the multitude departing from him, saying clearly, "Who are they that are going?" Moses answered, "With our young men and with our elders we will go, with our sons and daughters, and our sheep and our cattle." Therefore the call was by whole tribes and by multitude, by clan and by household; and in the same manner was the apostasy, the ugliness of which he particularly signifies when he says *they departed from my face*. For those whom the Master of all might choose to hate, He would not even visit, I mean according to that which is sung in the psalms, "Look upon me and have mercy on me." For it is written that "The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous;" and He Himself somewhere says "And on whom shall I look, but on the humble and the quiet, and him who trembles at my words?" They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images. And I bound Ephraim's feet, I took him up in my arm, and they did not know that I heal them in the corruption of men. I drew them with the bonds of my love. He shows the immeasurable and god-fitting gentleness inherent in him. For to bestow good things on those who have already believed and acknowledged him and have chosen to worship him alone would have a fitting reason, and the matter would not be beyond what is likely; for one honors, if he should choose to act rightly, one who is already his own and who has run to him; but to appear as the provider of every good thing even to the profane who do not yet know him would have an excess of philanthropy and wonder, and a truly god-fitting demonstration of gentleness. Therefore the Savior himself also said, pitying our condition and, as God, bestowing a mercy in no way fitting for the lovers of sin, at one time that "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick," and at another time again, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." And the most wise Paul also greatly marvels at the incomparable forbearance of God who rules over all, and says that "Christ came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am first." They, therefore, he says, that is, those of Israel, were wandering in Egypt, they did not yet know the true God, me; but rather they were detected bringing sacrifices to the Baals, that is, to the idols, burning incense to the carved images, that is, to the objects of worship of the natives. But I, since I am kind and good, although Ephraim was in such a state of perversity—that is, Israel as a whole, as is indicated here by one tribe—I bound his feet, he says. And what this is, He Himself clarified, saying, I took him up in my arm. But the a similarity of the matter, as from what is done with infants. For those who take up small babies in their hands, as it were, bind their feet, bringing their feet together. For I think the thighs and knees of everyone who is seated must be drawn together; this is what "I bound his feet" means; just as it is indeed written about Abraham, that he bound the feet of Isaac his son, when he expected to sacrifice him to God. But it is necessary to know that the edition of the Hebrews, and indeed that of the others, does not have "I bound his feet"; but they have rather put "I have become as a nursing-father to Ephraim." Therefore, I was such to them, but they did not know, that is, they did not understand, they did not perceive that by destroying others among them I bring about their correction. For this is what "I heal them by the destruction of men" means; for the Egyptians were first destroyed by the ten plagues, since Pharaoh would not relent. And after the plagues of the Egyptians, the Hittites, Hivites and Amorites, Canaanites and Jebusites were destroyed, whom Israel, having conquered by force, has inherited the land of promise, since God cleared every steep place for them, and bestowed the ability to overpower their enemies. Therefore, he says, they do not perceive that by destroying men of the same race as them, I set their affairs in order. And I stretched them, that is, I bound them fast and held them as in bonds of love. But if they had been wise, they would surely have understood and reasoned among themselves, why these nations were destroyed by God, and we were brought in to replace them. For understanding thus, that I have hated the sinner, and I do not take into account the worshiper of demons, they would perhaps have ceased from choosing to do similar things. Therefore, it is necessary for those who wish to please God with sound reasoning and a good mind to make the wrath upon others a cause for their own security. But it is altogether terrible that the matter of ingratitude is, and how one who has fallen into this disease, having been convicted of all absurdities, would be justly punished, and from this it is easy for us to see. For the ungrateful man, he says, is as a blasphemer. And I will be to them as a man slapping his jaws; and I will look upon him, I will be able to help him. For since He said that He had loved and taken Ephraim into his arms as an infant, and bound him as if in bonds of love, although he was still profane and sinful, for this reason He says He will also turn him back when he sins; "For whom the "Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he "receives." But see how He promises that the manner of rebuke will not be devoid of God-befitting gentleness. For He says that the motions against them will be equal to slaps on the jaw by the hand of a man. This would be understood as the motion of a father, who mixes that which comes from wrath with forbearance and love, and as it were, gently, and scarcely striking with his hand, so that he may not be entirely unreproved. And since He has loved, He also promises to look upon him. For He deems worthy of His oversight those whom He chooses to honor, and He is able towards us, managing with God-befitting skill and power those who choose to be sick with disobedience. For if He does not help by persuading, He of necessity turns them to choose to do the better thing, and by afflictions drives them toward that which is most beneficial for us and necessary for salvation. Let therefore the God of all hear from us, "O Lord, in a little affliction is your "chastisement to us;" this is the slap; and again, "Chasten us, O Lord, but in judgment and not in wrath, "lest you make us few." For to be chastened is not bitter to those who are of a right mind; but to be punished in wrath is both terrible and hard to bear, and rather the matter is full of destruction. Ephraim dwelt in the land of Egypt, and Ashur himself was his king, because he would not return; and the sword grew weak in his cities, and it ceased in his hands. And they shall eat of their own counsels. That in every way and altogether, to be estranged from God, having refused to unrestrainedly choose to do evil things, and in some way to be insolent with disobedience, even though He was calling him to salvation, the blessed Paul will clarify, saying, "See to it, brothers, that you do not refuse Him who calls;" and it will be no less manifest through the things set before us. For, he says, the all-wretched Ephraim, having abandoned the land that bore him, made that of the Egyptians his own, as it were, fearing the calamities of war. And he came to be under Assur himself, and he brought his neck under foreign scepters; for he slipped into this misery. And if anyone should ask the cause, he will hear the One who knows all things saying: Because he was not willing to return. For when God proposed amnesty and commanded him to go, as it were, without looking back, and thus to return to what seemed good to Him, turning from worthlessness and leaping out of the pits of idolatry, he was terribly negligent and was not willing to return. For this reason, then, he was captured, and came under the hand of those who hated him. For the sword grew weak in his cities, and it ceased in his hands, that is, in no city of Ephraim was any man found who was skilled in battle and able to wield a sword. For the hands of those accustomed to hold it were paralyzed and, as it were, loosened. But since they have both thought and done evil things against themselves, they will eat the fruits of their own ill counsel. It is a bitter thing, therefore, to dare to dishonor the one who saves by acts of disobedience, and even if it were possible for some to escape transgressions through the gentleness of God, to be negligent is not without penalty. For we shall dwell in Egypt, that is, we shall be altogether and in every way exiles and wanderers, and not by leaving the physical land and migrating to another, but by leaving the inheritance of the saints. And we shall also be under Assur, that is, the ruler of this age, and under him we shall lie as slaves and captives, submitting to his will, on account of the weakening and cessation of the sword among us. For it is not, it is not possible for those who love sin to be able to take up "the full armor of God," "and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God." And you will understand the sword as, so to speak, the most warlike and God-loving movement of our mind, which, by bringing forth against the passions and setting against the devilish evils, we travel the pious and blameless path, and we place upon our own heads the boasts of the evangelical way of life. And his people hanging from his dwelling; and God will be angered at his precious things, and will not exalt him. The meaning of the preceding is utterly inexpressible, and the composition of the words is rough, and it would require much clarification for those who wish to understand. But what it wishes to signify, in brief, is this. Ephraim, he says, went away to the Egyptians, and came to be under the king, Assur. Then, as if someone were inquiring and saying, 'For what reason and in what way was it permitted to suffer, or how did Israel come to be enslaved to foreigners?' he sets forth the reasons in order, and says, first, that "he was not willing to return;" for with gentleness being offered, he was captured, he says, being in this regard negligent and disobedient; then, that "the sword also grew weak in his cities." For there was not, as I said, anyone to stand against the Assyrians, or renowned in tactics, as God paralyzed their fighting spirit, and perhaps shook even the one exceedingly strong in battles with cowardice. And there is another cause for his falling under Assur. And what is it? For the people, that is, Ephraim, all but hung from him, that is, from Assur, and wished to depart from his dwelling to that of the Persians and Medes. And we certainly do not say that Ephraim himself would have wished to suffer this, but insofar as it came to what he had transgressed, he all but sought to suffer such terrible things, since, when it was possible to escape the wrath by choosing to turn to better and more fitting things, he all but hung from Assur, and the one that bore him leaving, that is, his own dwelling, he foolishly longed to go to that one's, although God had declared that He would in every way and entirely bring such things upon him, if he would not choose to repent. But since they slipped from this purpose, God will be angered at his precious ones. The precious and select and prominent ones of the peoples, namely, kings and leaders, who were also carried away with the common herd, pitiful and slaves, and in the rank of captives, because they have led astray those under their hand, and have become a snare to those who, if they themselves had willed it, were able to hasten on the straight path. For the leader always guides the subordinate. Therefore, they will be humble and cast off, although they had possessed the greatest glory. For glory is always attached to the thrones of the kingdom. But God would not exalt them. For the kingdom of Ephraim has ceased, as I have already said many times. Therefore, we especially who are in Christ must be on our guard against the inclination towards evil things, especially when God is holding us back; or if we do not do this, we will willingly place the yoke of the devil upon ourselves, all but hanging from love for him, and proceeding with all eagerness to be under him henceforth, and to fulfill what seems good to him. But if this should happen, we will provoke God, and so henceforth we will be humble, having a low and trodden-down mind, as God weakens us and does not endure to raise us up with courage for what is good. How shall I deal with you, Ephraim? Shall I protect you, Israel? How shall I deal with you? I will make you as Admah and as Zeboiim. My heart is turned within me, my repentance is stirred up together. I will not act according to the anger of my wrath, I will not abandon Ephraim to be blotted out, because I am God and not man; the Holy One in you. He introduced the reproaches, showing that in every way and entirely the sharpest wrath ought henceforth to be brought upon them for having done unholy things, and having been impious against God beyond measure, so that no manner of sparing was any longer left for them. But since He is good, the source and origin of gentleness, He checks the impulse, not rebuking it as having arisen irrationally, perhaps, from a better consideration; for the divine and ineffable nature would never miss the thoughts or actions most fitting for it; but, as it were, holding back what is according to their deserts, and through gentleness preventing what is most fitting for them, that is, utter destruction, and their needing to be dug up as from the very root. For this reason He says, How shall I deal with you? What way, He says, shall I use in arranging matters concerning you? Shall I protect you and defend you again, and show you to be unconquerable to those who wish to plot against you? Then how will this happen? For it would be more fitting to be punished than to prosper, for those who have done terrible things against God. Therefore, assigning what is deserved, and decreeing punishments equal to your transgressions, "I will make you as Admah and as Zeboiim." These are cities of Sodom, which the fire from heaven consumed down to their very foundations. But I will not do this either, He says, although it justly ought to happen. But I will postpone it; for I have changed my mind. And I will not use unrestrained wrath; I would not give Ephraim over to complete blotting out, although he has become wicked. For what reason? For were they not worthy to suffer it? Yes, He says, but "I am God and not man," that is, good, and not yielding victory to the impulses of wrath. For such a passion is human. Why then do you still punish, he says, if you are God not overcome by wrath, but rather following an innate gentleness? I punish, He says, for I am not only good, as God; but besides this also holy, hating injustices, turning away from the polluted, rejecting the God-hated, and converting the sinner, cleansing the profane, so that he may be joined to Me again. Therefore the Prophet benefits us, crying out and saying, "Seek the Lord, and when you find him, call upon him; and when he draws near to you, let the "impious man forsake his ways and a lawless man his counsels, "and let him turn to the Lord, and he will be pitied." For it is necessary for us, if we consider it of great importance to be with God, to refrain from sinning with all our strength, and to remember the one who says, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." And I will not enter into a city. I will walk after the Lord. Sometimes the knowledge of future events runs precisely through the mind of the holy Prophets, as the thing is illuminated in them by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, sometimes in the midst of their own words, that is, those from above and from God, they have cried out in advance the voices of certain ones, either of those repenting, or giving thanks, or leaping for joy at the things which God promises will cheer them. We will find the blessed Hosea to have experienced something of this kind now as well. For the God of all was promising gentleness, and said that He would not utterly destroy the sinners, because He was God, evidently good, and not a man; for the one who is above all creation is not like us. But they, as if having recognized their own transgressions, and now somehow blushing at the very great and unexpected grace, promise to cease from the things they have devised for themselves, through which they also have stumbled. And what these things are, God has again informed us through the prophet himself. For a little before, accusing both Judah himself and Ephraim, he said, "And Israel forgot him that made him and built shrines, and Judah multiplied walled cities; and I will send fire upon his cities, and it shall devour their foundations." For Ephraim, that is Israel, having erected altars and shrines to idols throughout Samaria, slipped into apostasy, forgot God, and considering genuine love for him of no account, they continually provoked him; But Judah, on the other hand, although trusting in God, being saved by him and through him from ancient times, sharpened him to anger, in many and other ways, but especially through this one. For when God had threatened to send upon them the Assyrian to destroy the land, he fortified his own cities, thinking that, even if God did not wish it, he would be saved by the strong walls of the cities, and would overcome the hand of the one fighting him. Therefore, when God promises good things out of gentleness even to those who have stumbled not moderately, they themselves who are being saved say that they will cease from their absurd undertakings and also indeed their counsels. And indeed let Judah cry out, I will not enter into a city, that is, I will have God as a wall, I will make hope in him my security, I will run under the right hand of the one who saves, he himself alone will suffice for my salvation; I will confess that it is vain and utterly useless to expect that, when war overruns the land, I will be saved by entering a city; therefore I will not enter into a city; but let Israel, that is Ephraim, cry out the other thing; and that is, I will walk after the Lord. I will cease, he says, from my former accusations, henceforth I will follow the divine laws, I will make the God of all my guide. But if anyone should go towards what seems good to God, he will surely know him alone, and will offer reverence to him, and will worship absolutely no other besides him. He shall roar like a lion, for he himself shall cry out, and the children of the waters shall be amazed; and they shall fly like a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of the Assyrians; and I will restore them to their houses, says the Lord. When the time had already come, and the season was completed, in which Israel was at last to be released from captivity, Cyrus the son of Cambyses, having taken power over the Persians and Medes, with a heavy multitude and an irresistible force, marched against the country of Babylon itself, and of the Assyrians, God having raised him up for this. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah, proclaiming in advance the capture of Babylon, says concerning the Medes and Persians, "They shall set upon you, and Babylon shall be taken, and you will not know it; you were found and were taken, because you resisted the Lord;" Concerning Cyrus, "A lion has gone up "from his thicket, a destroyer of nations has set out, and "has gone forth from his place to make your land a "desolation, and your cities will be laid waste, so that they "are not inhabited." But that it was the God of all who gave Cyrus the power to rule, the prophet Isaiah will fully inform us, saying: "Thus says the Lord to my anointed, to Cyrus, "whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him; "and I will break in pieces the strength of kings, I will open before him "doors, and cities shall not be shut. I will go before "you and level the mountains; I will break in pieces the doors of bronze, "and shatter the bars of iron, and I will give you the treasures "of darkness, hidden, unseen I will open to you." Cyrus, therefore, having conquered and taken the land of the Babylonians by force, released Israel. And indeed, having returned, they have inhabited their own land. The prophet Hosea interprets this narrative, saying: "He shall roar like a lion." Who shall roar? Cyrus, evidently. It is as if he were to say, perhaps, "A terrible and mighty war from Cyrus will strike against the land of the Babylonians." But when he roars, and as some lion cries out against his adversaries, the children of the waters will be astonished. And he says "will be astonished" instead of "will be terrified." By "children of the waters" he means the Babylonians, who, yielding in no way to the children of the waters, that is, to those that swim in the waters, namely fish, in cowardice, having become easily frightened and unmanly by experience itself, will be captured. The race of fish is most prone to cowardice, and it flees from noises, and avoids even the mere shadow of the hunter. When, therefore, Cyrus roars, he says, and cries out something terrible and dreadful against the land of the Babylonians, the children of the waters will be terrified with fear, that is, the Babylonians, yielding in no way to the fish in cowardice. Then, like a bird and a dove, those who had formerly fled together into Egypt will fly away from it; and those caught in the snares of captivity will flee from the land of the Chaldeans. And then they will return and inhabit their own land. Since it is possible, then, to have good things, by submitting the neck of our mind to God, and acting under Him alone, let us not willingly walk towards what is grievous, drawing down upon ourselves, as it were, a self-summoned chastisement; although it is possible, as I said, to be established in the certainty of prosperity, delighting the Master through a lawful conduct and life, and through genuineness towards him. Ephraim has surrounded me with falsehood, and the house of Israel and Judah with impiety. God, being good and merciful by nature, and having an unwillingness to strike anyone at all, is yet necessarily called to a corrective indignation, whenever the offenses of some go beyond reason and measure. This he teaches us again through the preceding words. For he almost says: Here and there, and as it were in a circle, to one casting and turning about the eye of the Godhead, everywhere it was possible to see the falsehood and impiety of both Ephraim and Judah. And he calls "falsehood" the playthings of idolatry and the worship of vain things; and "impiety," perhaps, the insolence against God. For how is it not a terrible and most extraordinary impiety to cast off the God who exists by nature and in truth, and to incline ignorantly to wood and stones; that is, to worship creation rather than the creator, and to attempt to crown with masterly honors things that have been brought into being by him? Now God has known them, and he shall be called a holy people of God. The house of Ephraim and Judah has surrounded me with falsehood and impiety, he says; nevertheless, even so I will be gracious, bringing upon them a measured chastisement. For I have known them, that they would not be able otherwise to learn better things, unless they should suffer some of those things that cause grief and call them to an awareness of their sins. God, therefore, has known them, that is, He has not been ignorant of the way of repentance that benefits them. And the matter will not be unprofitable for them. For from this it will result that they are also ranked among the holy peoples of God. For once the... has been melted away the wickedness within them through labor and tribulations, they will be both pure and sanctified, and having learned by experience, that genuine love for God will be for them the cause of all delight and prosperity, just as, of course, the crimes of apostasy cast them into the pits of slavery and tribulation. But Ephraim is an evil spirit, he pursued the scorching heat, all day he multiplied empty and vain things, and made a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil was carried into Egypt. The discourse turns again from the common multitude to those from the tribe of Ephraim who had reigned over Israel in Samaria, whom he also calls an evil spirit because of their stubborn disposition, and their extreme and unrestrained inclination to apostasy from God. For he pursued the scorching heat, he says; for although it was possible for him to be under my shadow, he went away as a deserter, as it were, to the scorching heat. He calls the scorching heat the burning that comes from tribulations, and the consuming disaster. And so the wise author of Proverbs enigmatically calls labors thus, and says, "A prudent son is saved from the heat; but a lawless son becomes blasted by the wind in the harvest." Therefore Ephraim, since he is an evil spirit, pursued the scorching heat, that is, he sought and willingly fled to the scorching heat; but the wise say concerning God, "Under his shadow I delighted, and I sat down." And they call the shadow the protection of the help from God and from above. But Ephraim has not done this. For he sought the scorching heat. How, or in what way? All the day long he multiplied empty and vain things, that is, at every time he both did and planned cold and useless things. And what are these things? He made a covenant with the Assyrians. I have already said before, and many times, that some of the kings in Samaria, and of those in Jerusalem, at one time attempted to buy with money peace with the Assyrians and security from them, and at another time called upon the aid of the Egyptians, trafficking for the promise of their favor, sending the products of their own land, clearly along with other things. The land of the Samaritans was olive-bearing, and oil was prized in Egypt, as their land did not have it. Therefore, hope in men is empty and vain. And indeed let him who trusts in God dance over him who trusts in men, saying that passage from the Psalms: "Behold, the man who did not make God his helper, but hoped in the abundance of his wealth, and strengthened himself in his vanity; but I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, I have hoped in the mercy of God forever and ever." But it is especially fitting for lovers of equity who wish to live securely to love being under the shadow of God, by provoking him in no way, and so to shun offending him as one would the very gates of hades. And the Lord has a controversy with Judah, to vindicate Jacob; according to his ways and according to his deeds He will repay him. Just as by naming Ephraim, he indicated that we should understand those from the tribe of Ephraim who had reigned, so here also he indicates those from the tribe of Judah who were reigning at various times, by the name of the ruling tribe. Having therefore rebuked Ephraim, that is, those from Ephraim who ruled Israel, both calling them an evil spirit and saying they multiply empty and vain things by making covenants with the Assyrians and carrying oil into Egypt, he then proceeds to accuse those from Judah in turn, and says that the God of all will indeed enter into judgment with them, as if somehow vindicating Jacob, I mean the Patriarch, as having been wronged in no small measure, because his descendants chose not to think like him, nor to follow their father's mind, but to shake off the desire to imitate him as something utterly improper. Therefore he promises to vindicate Jacob, whose glory has been wronged by the wickedness of his children, by repaying those who have wronged him according to their ways, and according to their their practices. In the womb he supplanted his brother, and in his labors he was strong toward God, and he was strong with an angel and prevailed. He usefully enumerates the successes of Jacob, setting them forth for the purpose of rebuking those who have chosen to think and do other things; for somehow by the comparison of the good, the wicked is rebuked, and by the exhibition of praiseworthy things, that which is not so is wont to be accused. Therefore, that Jacob was well-disposed from his very swaddling clothes, or rather even before birth-pangs, he tries to show through the supplanting of his brother in the womb. For even if what was done was an operation of divine power; for we do not say that the infant in the embryo and womb supplanted Esau by himself; but rather, according to foreknowledge, as to one who would be good, God put in him the success of what happened. So also He said, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." And this was according to the election of grace, God choosing the one who would certainly be better, as again in foreknowledge. But these things were in the womb. But when he came to maturity, or rather, was now perfected among men, In his labors he was strong toward God. For when God providentially sent him into toils and labors, he was not weak, he says. For is it not toil, to depart from his father's hearth, and to arrive at Laban's, and to endure servitude, and to bear the labors of shepherding? And how or to whom is this doubtful? Therefore in labors he was strong toward God. Not as fighting against God, but rather obeying, and as it were prevailing by fulfilling what was commanded. For although it was possible for Jacob to grow rich without toil, and to prosper while staying at home, God did not leave him untrained; but rather on the pretext of the fears from Esau, He prepared him, as he went to a foreign land and city, to endure unbearable labor, so that having kept the genuineness of his love for God even in the afflictions themselves, he might rightly be admired. Therefore he was strong in his labors toward God. But he was also strong with an angel, he says, and prevailed. For an angel wrestled with him as in the form of God. Then also his thigh grew numb. Nevertheless, the divine Jacob confessed the greatest grace in the wrestling. For he said, "Because I have seen God face to face, and my soul was saved." Therefore, the mystery concerning Christ was prefigured through the wrestling with the angel. For those from Jacob were destined to strive against Christ, whom the word of the prophets named "the Angel of great counsel"; and some would grow numb, not having accepted the redemption from him; but others would also confess, that they have seen through him and in him face to face the one and by nature, and truly God. For in himself Emmanuel showed us the Father, saying, "He who has seen me, has seen the Father." Therefore, the manner of the contest prefigured the mystery. Nevertheless, God records what happened as an achievement for Jacob. They wept and entreated me; in my house they found me, and there it was spoken to him. But the Lord God the Almighty shall be his memorial. He again recalls other histories, showing us Jacob as illustrious and well-esteemed from every side. For it is written in Genesis that Levi and Simeon, the sons of Jacob, cruelly and inhumanly killed the Shechemites, being kindled to anger over Dinah their sister, whom Emmor the son of Shechem had defiled. Then the blessed Jacob was very fearful from this; and expecting to be utterly destroyed immediately with his children and all his household, he rebuked those who had done these things, and so he said, "You have made me hateful, so that I am odious to the inhabitants of the land, both the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and I am few in number, and they will gather against me and cut me down, and I will be destroyed, I and my house." And the young men in no way ceased their audacity, for they replied, saying, "But should they treat our sister as a prostitute?" But since, as I said, the just man was exceedingly fearful, he fell down again to the God who saves. Then He promised to deliver him from his fears, and not in a long time, so says the righteous God "Arise, go up to the place Bethel, and dwell "there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared "to you when you were fleeing from the face of Esau your "brother." Then, as the blessed Jacob was about to go up to Bethel, and to come to the divine house—for Bethel is interpreted as the house of God—he spoke to his whole house and to all who were with him, "Remove the "foreign gods from your midst, and purify yourselves, and change "your garments, and rising up let us go to "Bethel, and let us make there an altar to the God who "heard me in the day of affliction, who was with me and "saved me in the way that I went. And they gave to Jacob "the foreign gods which were in their hands, "and the earrings that were in their ears, and Jacob hid "them under the terebinth that is in Shechem, and he destroyed "them to this day." When this had been done, the divine Jacob was in good hope. For he was completely freed from the suspicion of the Shechemites, as God calmed with His own power those who were travailing with war against him. For the sacred scripture says next, "And a fear of the Lord was "upon the cities that were around them, and they did not pursue after "the sons of Israel." And when an altar was raised in Luz, which is Bethel, "God appeared, it says, to Jacob,"and blessed him, and said, I am your God, increase "and multiply; nations, and assemblies of nations will come from you, "and kings will come from your loins, and the "land, which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, to you I have given it; "and to your seed after you I will give this land." These are the histories he recalls for us in the present prophetic oracle. Therefore Jacob was indeed a supplanter from the womb, but you are always being supplanted, and do not rather supplant sin. And he was very industrious, and well-esteemed in his labors and genuine towards God; but you, delighting in apostasies, act insolently, you have not honored the provider of all good cheer for you. Your fathers wept and entreated me, He says. For if they were ever under suspicion of suffering from some plot, they wept and entreated me. For they expected to be saved through me alone; but you fortify cities, and think that, even if I should not wish it, you will perhaps be saved, and will prevail over your adversaries. And they indeed found me in my house. For Jacob went up, as I said, to Bethel, and God appeared to him, and there was spoken to him the promise of blessing, just as we have recently shown; but you, on the other hand, do not seek God in his house, but rather run, and very eagerly, into the precincts of Baal; you seek oracles not from God, but the prophecies from demons. And the divine Jacob, going up to Bethel, that is to the house of God, destroyed the idols, but you, on the contrary, set up a carved god in the house of God; for they set up in Bethel the golden calf, although Bethel is interpreted, as I said, as the house of God. For this reason also God says through the voice of Jeremiah concerning the Synagogue of the Jews: "What has the beloved "done in my house, an abomination?" that is, an idol. And the divine Jacob, and those going up to the house of God, to be purified and even the garments themselves he commanded to be changed, but you are seen as profane and impure, and going with unwashed feet into the divine house you do not blush, he says. And since Jacob was such, for this very reason the Lord Almighty will be a memorial to him. For he is preserved in the memories of God, and has an ever-flourishing renown. For God glorifies those who love him. Therefore, for I will say again something necessary for your benefit, the glories of the fathers will condemn us, for not choosing to think the same as they, and to be adorned through similar manners and endeavors. And we will be condemned, not as having wronged our own only souls, but, as it were, having also plotted against the good reputation of their fathers, and shaming their ancestral nobility. And you shall return in your God, keep mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God always. The promise of grace is mingled with a threat. For the word for the present is rather of one threatening than of one promising purely; nevertheless the threat is out of love, and the oracle calls to correctness of thoughts and to a desire for good order. For, he says, the divine Jacob was wise and most excellent, and had as the fruit of his own mind that which is dear to God. But you did not imitate your father. Nevertheless you too shall return in your God, that is, even if you are an outcast and an apostate and insolent, yet you will return, and not willingly, to choosing to live rightly. And you will return being chastised in God, that is, through God. And since good reasoning has not persuaded you to go on the right path, and to love to think what is right, the scourge will overcome you entirely and in every way, and will quickly bring you over to the choice and knowledge of what is beneficial. These things, therefore, as I suppose, would fittingly signify to us the saying, "And you shall return in your God," containing a threat, as I said, very well mingled with good promises. Then, furthermore, as to one already being scourged, and in the very act of being struck, God exclaims, "Keep mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God always." For just as if some master to a servant being chastised, and in the very act of being scourged, should say with both restraint and indignation, "Be temperate and obedient, and do not despise a master's commands;" in the same way, I think, the God of all says to Ephraim, who is in a way being struck and disciplined by the calamities of war, "Keep mercy and judgment, and draw near to your God always." It is as if he should happen to say, "For this reason, know that you are being struck, because you have not kept nor honored the things dear and beloved to me." Mercy therefore signifies love; and love is the fulfillment of the law, "For it works no evil to its neighbor," according to the voice of the blessed Paul. And judgment signifies righteous action, that is, justice, and the observance of the divine will. For the law is called judgment in the divinely inspired scripture. And to draw near to God always would imply a genuine desire and inclination of the mind towards him, and not to be fond of clinging to others who are not gods, or to creation perhaps, that is, to wood and stones. And he will draw near to God and will be near in disposition, who knows how to be distinguished by good deeds and has kept the faith uncorrupted in himself. For sin often intervenes and separates from God. In the same way, clinging to the voices of unholy false teachers also drives one away again from intimacy with him—a spiritual intimacy, obviously. Therefore, those wishing to be near God must avoid the things through which they would become far off. Canaan, in his hand is a balance of unrighteousness, he loved to oppress. And Ephraim said, 'But I have become rich, I have found rest for myself.' All his labors will not be found for him because of the iniquities he has sinned. For as far as pleasing God was concerned, Ephraim would have kept mercy and judgment and drawing near to him always. But since he has slipped from a good mind, and has made no account of things so venerable and precious, he has become equal to the foreign Canaanites, both godless and impious, and especially rejoicing in the ways of worthlessness, and with a barbarous mind being uncontrollably overcome by the desire for what belongs to others. Therefore Ephraim should have been seen as an emulator of his forefather Jacob, and loved to walk in the footsteps of his righteousness. But he has become a Canaanite. For a balance of unrighteousness has been found in his hands, that is, inequality and greed. For he has honored, equally with the nations who do not know God, accursed oppression. And that he acted criminally in doing this, he did not deign to consider; but he took pleasure only in being rich and living luxuriously, as if God were not watching, as if He no longer observed those on the earth, and those wishing to do wrong justly rebuking. And it would be a clear proof of the utmost folly, that Ephraim hastens to be rich by every means, and to consider the charges of plunder and violence as nothing, but, as it were, to make a boast henceforth out of excessive madness of those things for which he ought rather to have blushed. For he said, "Yet I have become rich, I have found rest for myself." What then says God to these things? "All his labors shall not be found for him, because of the iniquities which he has sinned." For it is true that, "Wealth unjustly gathered will be vomited up," according to what is written. And indeed, to those who wish to gather from injustice, and to be rich from greed, let someone now proclaim through the voice of a saint, "It were better for you to do judgment and "good justice;" for before the divine tribunal, "Treasures will not profit the lawless, but righteousness will deliver "from death." And as the writer of Proverbs says, "Better "is a small portion with the fear of the Lord, than great treasures with "fearlessness." And again the same: "Better is a little getting "with righteousness, than great revenues with iniquity." Yet our actions, and the quality of our works, sometimes make us worthy of the nobility of the holy fathers, but also assign us to sinful fathers. For we will differ in no way from those who have lived in impiety, if we imitate their ways. For this reason we say Ephraim is called Canaan; for he has thought the things of foreigners. And the Canaanites are foreigners, and famed for their godlessness. Therefore some were also reproached, hearing fittingly for their own bold deeds, "Seed of "Canaan, and not of Judah." But I am the Lord your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt; I will yet make you dwell in tents as in the day of a feast. And I will speak to the Prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and by the hand of prophets I was represented. He called Ephraim Canaan, as I said, proving clearly that he had hated mercy and judgment, and had chosen rather greed and inequality and every form of injustice. But behold, again he tries to show that not only had he become such towards men, but indeed also that he was refusing to draw near to God through his very deeds. He accuses him, therefore, as one who has ignored the Redeemer, as one who through his follies has insulted Him who brought him out of the house of bondage with signs and wonders, and with great power, and with a high arm. For He says, I brought you up out of Egypt. And in saying, "I brought you up," He brings to remembrance the things that happened to them, until they entered into the land promised to the holy fathers. And these things are countless, and beyond all wonder. But that their forgetting of these things was inexcusable, He showed by adding, "I will yet make you dwell in tents as in the day of a feast." And what is this, you will ask again. The law given through Moses commanded that in the seventh month, on the fifteenth day, the feast of tabernacles should be celebrated. And what the reason for this is, the lawgiver himself made clear to us, saying concerning the feast of tabernacles, in Leviticus: "In the seventh month "you shall celebrate it. You shall dwell in tents for seven "days. Every native in Israel shall dwell in "tents; that your generations may see that I made the children of Israel to dwell in tents, "when I brought them out "of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God." Therefore, in remembrance of the exodus from Egypt that had happened, they celebrated the feast. Then how could you, he says, forget me who brought you out of Egypt, while you are still under tents, and making the matter a pretext for a feast? For "I will yet make you dwell in tents as in the day of a feast." He says, "I will make you dwell," instead of "I cause to dwell," that is, I make you dwell in tents, in the days of the feast for these things. Therefore the forgetfulness is inexcusable. But perhaps you sought to know some of the things that were to come, and wished to be meddlesome about your own affairs; and why was it necessary to approach the false prophets of Baal, that is, those of the falsely named gods, and to seek such things from them, and not rather to remember wisely, that I speak to the Prophets, and I have multiplied visions, that is, from me will be every word of prophecy, and already has been, not from any other of the falsely-named gods. For to me alone belongs both to know the future, and to remember the things that are past. But they have imitated me, he says, the false seers and false prophets honored by you. This is the meaning of "I have been likened by the hands of the Prophets." You sought to know the future from them. Then, fabricating my words, and imitating the works of my Prophets, they belched out to you things from their own heart. And so Jeremiah the Prophet, for instance, placed wooden yokes around his neck, as God commanded the thing to be done. But the false prophet Hananiah, opposing his words, took and broke the yokes, and said "Thus says the Lord, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon." This is, as I said, the meaning of "I have been likened by the hands of the prophets." An accusation, therefore, against Ephraim, is that although having a clear reminder from the feast of tabernacles, of the exodus that happened from Egypt, he forgot God, and that he did not rather seek him, as the one speaking to the Prophets, as the one who had multiplied visions; but he was rather attached to the deceptions of the false prophets who fabricate the things of God through both words and deeds. If Gilead is not, were the sacrificing rulers in Gilgal therefore false? and their altars like tortoises upon the fallow land of a field. That they were attached to false seers and false prophets, going up and sacrificing both in Gilead and Gilgal, he convicts them through these things; and he takes for his proof these two cities especially, in which the error was more out of place than in others, and every manner of piety towards God was disdained, but all things that incite were in vogue, and full of the utmost madness. And so, in the passages above, concerning Gilead, God said, "There Gilead has despised me, a city working vanity," that is, idols; for the people in it were makers of idols; and concerning the other, "All their evils are in Gilgal; for there I have hated them because of the evils of their practices." But it is necessary to add some of the things that happened to the Gileadites, for thus we will understand the meaning of the things set before us. Phul king of the Assyrians, being the first to come against Samaria, made the two tribes beyond the Jordan a kind of first-fruits of the spoil, and he took all their cities, and Gilead before the others. God mentions this, as if in passing, saying, If Gilead is not. If Gilead is not, he says, and is not now saved; even if it has perished, and it is not possible from it to convict the drunkenness of Ephraim, because it is not seen now, were then the sacrificing rulers in Gilgal false, and not real? But Gilgal is a city beyond the Jordan, in which especially, gathering together small and great, they were attached to the defilements of idolatry. Therefore if Gilead is not, who is he that dares to say, that the sacrificing rulers in Gilgal were also false, and not real? But they were not a dream nor shadows, nor some of the obscure, but bright and conspicuous rulers and leaders, raising up high and prominent altars to the carved images, like tortoises in the fields. But he says tortoises, not indeed the animals; do not think this; but rather the mounds of earth, which some would make, raising the irrigation channels into hills; and countless such things have been zealously made by farmers. And he says sacrificing rulers, either generals and leaders of the troops, or those of the blood of Levi, wearing the leadership from the law. For they also perished along with the others, and not a few in number have served the carved images. For so it is written in Ezekiel, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my holy places, among all the foreigners who are in the midst of the house of Israel; but the Levites, who have removed themselves from me in the straying of Israel who strayed from me after their own thoughts, and they will bear their iniquity." And Jacob fled into the plain of Syria, and Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he kept watch. The discourse now returns again to the examination of both the genuineness and gentleness of the forefather, and of the awkwardness and impiety of those who came from him. And it marvels, as it were, at his endurance in small matters, then it brings the matter forward for the refutation of the negligence of the ten tribes in the greatest matters. For how would one not admire Jacob, who endured such bitter and unbearable toil, and did not refuse to serve Laban for wives and marriages? But even if the forefather's wage was very small; for it was a marriage, as I said; nevertheless he kept watch and maintained his faithfulness to the one who had promised the marriage. And he toiled not in his own city or land or hearth, but being a newcomer, and living in a foreign land. And such was Jacob, but let us also see the charges against those of Israel. He was not sent into a foreign land; but being in the condition of one conquered by the spear, serving the Egyptians, and once enduring wageless sweat, by the power of God he was delivered from the land of the oppressors, and settled in the land promised to the fathers. The marriage of a woman was not set before him as a reward for having kept the law, but rather an abundant supply of every good thing, "a land flowing with milk and honey," the ability to crush those who resisted, glory and wealth, and the boasts from these things, and what of the things for prosperity and luxury was not? But he did not keep watch. For he transgressed, considering the observance worthy of almost no account. It is therefore clear that, being immoderately inferior to the gentleness of the fathers, they will not even be partakers of the forbearance granted to them; for the Judge is just. And by a Prophet the Lord brought Israel up out of Egypt, and by a Prophet he was preserved. In these words He makes clear to us the reason why Israel did not keep the appointed commandment, and despised God when He said, "You shall have no other gods besides me," and why they did not wish to love to vie with the gentleness of the fathers; for He rebukes that those of Israel came to be under the kingdom of men at all, although God reigned over them through holy Prophets, and nothing was lacking to them for being blessed. For we remember that while the blessed Samuel was still living and prophesying, they asked for a king. And indeed at this God was angered, and as one who had been insulted, He was not moderately grieved, nevertheless He appointed Saul. Therefore He strongly accuses, that they came to be under the kingdom of men at all, not enduring to be ruled by God through Prophets. For God, He says, saved Israel, and brought him out of the house of bondage, with Moses acting as mediator, who also was a prophet and the first-fruit of prophets; and not only did He bring him out of Egypt, He says, but He also preserved him. For he remained worshiping the one who is by nature and truly God. But when they came to be under kings, they ran aground from their love for God. For first Solomon built both altars and precincts for the Baalim; then after him the accursed Jeroboam made the golden calves. Therefore He accuses them as not having kept a most excellent economy, that of being ruled by God, I say, through prophets, but having instead chosen to fall under the hand of men, which indeed became for them a cause of apostasy. Ephraim angered and provoked to wrath; and his blood will be poured out upon him, and the Lord will repay his reproach to him, according to the word of Ephraim. That it became bitter and perilous, and a cause of ruin for those of Israel, to choose rather to be under the kingdom of men, in these words he tries very well to show us. For behold, He says, Ephraim, that is, Jeroboam from the tribe of Ephraim, has angered and provoked me, the Master of all, and has called me to every form of irritation, by innovating with calves, and my own to them having put on a boast. Therefore, he himself has become the cause of his own destruction; his blood will come upon him. But since, when he set up the heifers in Bethel and Dan, he addressed those of Israel, "Let it be enough for you to go up to Jerusalem; behold your "gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt;" for this reason, then, and very rightly, he says he will pay to me, the judge, the penalties for the reproach. For it is outright insolence and admittedly a reproach against God, to dare to attribute to lifeless materials the brilliant and admirable accomplishments that came about through Him. Therefore, in accordance with the reproach of Ephraim himself, that is, in equal measure to his blasphemies and unholy utterances, the things from wrath will be brought against him in return. For just as, as far as his undertaking and words went, God was thrust out from the glory that befits Him and Him alone; so also will he himself be thrust out from his own rule. For the kingdom of Ephraim will cease in due time. For as I have already said before, after the return from Babylon no one from the ten tribes ever again reigned in Samaria, but they were all in Jerusalem under one man, the one from the tribe of Judah at the time. He took His ordinances in Israel, and set them for Baal, and died. And he added to his sinning yet more, and they made for themselves a molten image from their silver according to the likeness of idols, works of craftsmen finished for them. In these things he does not accuse the ten tribes in part, but all of Israel, and says that although ordinances were given to them through Moses, by which they were taught in what manner they ought to serve God, and how they should offer sacrifices, they themselves as good as decreed such things for Baal, that is, for the idols. For sometimes a part signifies the whole. For they no longer sacrificed to God, but rather they performed the feasts for the works of their own hands, and they brought the worship, the first-fruits, the adoration, the gifts, the thank-offerings; and depriving God of His own glory, they dedicated it to the carved images. But having done this, Israel, he says, died, and again he added to his sinning. It is as if he were to say: The one who did it has been punished, the one who dared has been destroyed, he knew the Master's indignation, who brings the penalty of blood upon those who go astray; and he by no means ceased from his own foolishness, but would rather be caught in other and equal charges. For we have read in Numbers that the sons of Israel committed fornication, being inflamed with illicit pleasures, and they were attached to the women of the Moabites. Then, for this they were required to pay the ultimate of all penalties. And the things written are as follows: "And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began "to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called "them to the sacrifices of their idols: and the people did eat of their "sacrifices, and bowed down to their idols. "And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the "Lord was kindled against Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, "Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before "the Lord against the sun, that the fierce anger of the Lord may be "turned away from Israel. And Moses said unto the "tribes of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined "unto Baal-peor." And when this indeed had been brought to completion, a not insignificant multitude of those from Israel had fallen. See, therefore, that by offering the ordinances of God to idols in the time of Moses, Israel died miserably. For the one who went astray was slaughtered by the swords of his own people, not by a foreign hand; but he added to his sinning. For they have made for themselves a golden molten image, and the works of a craftsman, and gods fashioned by the skills of artisans. And the Word, as it were, smiles at their vain counsels. For they have believed them to be gods, whom they themselves fashion. Therefore let the psalmist also exclaim to these, "May all who make them "become like them, and all who trust "in them." They themselves say: Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed. Through For this they will be like a morning cloud and like the morning dew that goes away, and like chaff blown from the threshing floor and like smoke from a chimney. He accuses them again, that not only have they been impious, fashioning the silver given by God into the image of idols, and ascribing the name of divine glory to things made from wood and stones; but they have also slipped into such ignorance, or rather even of foolishness and inhumanity and beast-like savagery, or even beyond these things, as not even to spare their own children, but to slaughter them for the demons; although God detested the deed, and would never endure the very utterance, either to speak it to others, or to hear it from someone. For the Master is not bloodthirsty, nor indeed does he delight in the destruction of men; far from it; "For He created all things that they might exist," as it is written, "and the generations of the world are wholesome." But since the inventor and agent of death is the apostate dragon, for this reason he delights in the slaughter of men. That, therefore, even the mere word for this is hated by God, He makes clear, saying: They themselves say, Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed. The word is not mine, He says, nor would I ever utter such a saying; but the worshippers of demons themselves say that it is necessary to sacrifice men to them. Then He ridicules the thought and derides the undertaking, adding and saying: For, in all likelihood, they had no calves; for this reason they have honored manslaughter. But let it be, He says, that you have been deceived, and have honored carved and molten gods. Why did you also drench their altars with human blood? But we have read in the Books of Kings, that there was Jonathan son of Ahaz, who reigned over Judah; indeed he "walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and offered incense "in the high places, and also made his own son pass through "the fire," and sacrificed to the demons him who was begotten and born of him. But since they have done such things, they will be, He says, like a morning cloud and like dew, like chaff and like smoke from a chimney, that is, having been seen for a little while, they will go away to destruction and will proceed to nothingness. For a morning cloud, that is, a mist, and dew and chaff and smoke from a chimney, are easily dispersed, and are scattered in a very short time, or rather, even in a single hour. For what substance has either chaff or dew, or the vapor formed from smoke?