Book 7
But I am the Lord your God, who establishes heaven and creates the earth, whose hands have created all the host of heaven, and I did not show them to you that you should go after them. The ugliness of false opinion is somehow always refuted when true knowledge is brought into the midst, and it is as if a light shines in night and darkness, the word which instructs toward the correctness of reasoning. That, therefore, being filled with the utmost of all evil counsel, and reaching the highest end of wretchedness of reasoning, those of Israel have honored a molten thing and the works of carpenters, running past the true God and God by nature, He refutes them, saying that He is the one who establishes heaven, and has fashioned the earth, and is the maker of the stars. But He reproaches them, that, having disregarded as worthless the ability to learn the glory of the maker through the things that have been made, they have made these things a pretext for their own error. But they were not made for this reason, that they might wrong the divine glory, being taken up by those on earth under the assumption that they are gods, but so that, as the sacred scripture said, "from the greatness and beauty of created things proportionately" the mind of those who understand might leap up to the possible comprehension of the power and skill of the maker. Therefore the Creator did not show us creation so that it might be worshipped by us. And at any rate he also testified beforehand, saying through Moses, "And lest, looking up to heaven and seeing the sun and the moon and the stars and all the host of heaven, you be led astray and worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under heaven." But they called gods those things that were allotted for a display of seasons and were stitched into the order of luminaries, and they dared to worship them, and seeking things yet more shameful than these, the wretched ones have honored a molten image and pieces of wood as gods, worshipping the art of coppersmiths and carpenters. And I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and you shall know no god but me, and there is no savior besides me. I shepherded you in the wilderness, in an uninhabited land, according to their pastures. In these words there is a great refutation of their insensibility, and the ways of his assistance are set forth in order, demonstrating the magnitude of the ingratitude of those of Israel. And he refutes them, not as being ignorant, as I think—how could they be?—but as having been brought, through their very great awkwardness and a reasoning inclined to insensibility, almost even to a forgetfulness of what they ought always to have remembered. For the accursed Jeroboam, having set up the calves for them, said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt;" but they, although knowing that this matter was the achievement for them not of any other, but of God, offered thank-offerings to handmade calves, and persuaded one another, I know not how, to attribute to them the pre-eminence of the divine achievements. Therefore, as though they were drunk with the wine of Sodom, he practically pierces them through, saying that he himself is clearly the one who brought them "out of the house of bondage," and commanded through Moses, that "You shall have no other gods but me," and that he alone is the one who saves and effortlessly achieves whatever he wishes, he himself who nourished them in the wilderness, and in a desert and trackless and waterless land, releasing springs of water, and sending down the manna, and bestowing the bread of angels even from heaven, and in the manner of a good shepherd feeding them to contentment, according to their pastures, that is, their departures. For those of Israel were in want of no good thing in the wilderness, although they were always changing places, and encamping in a rough and fruitless land. It is necessary, therefore, to always remember what we have from God, and to be fond of keeping forgetfulness of these things as far away as possible from our own mind, as a cause of destruction, and as provoking to indignation God, the giver to us of all prosperity. For the ungrateful person is like a blasphemer, according to what has been wisely said by someone. And they were filled to satiety, and their hearts were lifted up; for this reason they forgot me. Just as the most experienced of physicians, by thoroughly examining the causes of diseases, hasten to check them with remedies from their art; in the same way, I think, God of all, looking into the inner mind and heart, investigates the causes of the passions within us, and so then restrains the sickened mind with fitting medicines. He therefore accuses those of Israel of having been brought to a forgetfulness of him who supplies them with all life-sustaining things and all that would appear to make them renowned; although the law clearly foretold, "Take heed to yourself, lest you forget the Lord your God, so as not to keep his commandments and his judgments and his ordinances, which I command you today; lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and dwelt in them, and your flocks and your herds have multiplied for you, and your silver and gold have multiplied for you, and all that you have has multiplied for you, your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, where snake biting, and scorpion, and "thirst, where there was no water." For luxury always has a powerful ability, and to revel in unexpected honors, both to carry us away into forgetfulness of God, and to be able to shake the human mind toward anything whatsoever that is amiss. But I think Israel, having leaped away, will suffice for a proof, having found in the breadth of prosperity an occasion for this terrible sickness; and since they were stronger than the nations, with the all-powerful God clearly defending them, they have fallen sick with arrogance, ascribing perhaps to themselves and not to the protecting God the splendor from their achievements. Therefore, then, luxury is precarious and hard to manage, and like a smooth path to apostasy from God; but moderate affliction is by far better. And the voices of the saints will confirm this for us. For one said, "Lord, in affliction we remembered you; in a little affliction "your discipline is upon us;" but the most wise Paul, set down for us affliction as the root and origin, as it were, of every good, saying, "For affliction produces endurance, and end- "urance, character, and character, hope, and hope does not put to "shame." and the divine David also sings somewhere, "It is good for me that you have humbled me, that I might learn your "statutes." And I will be to them as a panther and as a leopard; by the road of the Assyrians I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her cubs, and I will tear open the covering of their heart, and there the whelps of the wood will devour them, the beasts of the field will tear them apart. For since the breadth of their cheerfulness became for them a cause of destruction and an occasion for apostasy, for this reason, then, afflictions are brought on, and in proportion to their sicknesses. For indeed bodies that are very sick and already decayed would in no way yield any longer to mild medicines, but would rather need both iron and fire. Therefore, since the greatness of the divine gentleness profited the children of Israel little, that I may not say nothing at all, a savagery befitting a wild beast is brought upon them. And he compares himself to the fiercest and most voracious of beasts, and that have a very great tendency towards cruelty. not that the divine and ineffable nature would in any way be subject to such angers, but perhaps he teaches this again, that the Assyrians will use such unrestrained angers, being inhuman and hard-hearted, and what of such things would they not be, when they are captured; but what is done would seem to be of God, since He himself has permitted it to happen, inflicting upon those who have sinned so savagely the anger that is fitting for them. I will therefore find them as a panther and as a leopard; for they will be carried away to the land of the Assyrians. and I will meet them as a bear bereaved of her cubs, that is, one that is perhaps hungry, or rather, is greatly distressed, her cubs having been taken away; for then they say the beast especially reaches the height of its innate fury. And I will tear open the covering of the heart. By "covering" here he means their security. And the security of the heart is the courage that one might have against enemies; when this indeed is torn apart, the passions of cowardice enter in, so as even to grant victory to the enemy without a fight. It is therefore as if he might be saying, "I will bring them down into the uttermost cowardice," although those who are against them are compared to a hungry and bereaved beast, I mean, to the bear. And that, having been caught in the bonds of captivity, and having been carried away into the land of the Assyrians, they will have no escape from evils, but evils will follow them, as it were, even there, he showed by saying, And there the whelps of the wood will devour them, the beasts of the field will tear them apart. For the untamed races of the Assyrians, he compares to whelps in the woods and to wild beasts, being greatly inclined toward savagery. In your dispersion, Israel, who will help you? Where is this king of yours? and let him save you in all your cities; let him judge you, of whom you said, "Give me a king and a ruler." And I gave you one in my anger, and I had in my wrath a band of iniquity. I have already said briefly in the preceding parts, that God was accusing the children of Israel, because I know not how choosing to be yoked rather to human yokes, and rejecting the kingdom under Him, God, although He had reigned over their ancestors through holy Prophets. For He said that "By a prophet "the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt, and by a prophet he was preserved." But you, he says, scorning to act under God, cried out against the blessed Samuel, saying, "Behold, you are old, and your sons do not walk "in your way; now, therefore, set up a king over us "to judge us, like all the other nations." Therefore, since you think you have deliberated well, having raised up a king over yourself, like the other nations, and you expected to be saved by him, where then is he now? Behold, it is time for a demonstration: let him fight your war, let him arm himself splendidly, let him save the cities, let him defend those under his hand, let him drive back those who oppose, let him vigorously drive away those who wish to ravage homes and cities. But perhaps you will say, "Although it seems that I asked, you are the one who both gave and anointed Saul in the beginning." Yes, He says, but in anger I gave the leader, and I had in my wrath a twisting of injustice, as having been wronged by you, He says; and all but thrust out from the thrones of the kingdom, as far as your opinion was concerned, I was exceedingly wroth. Nevertheless, I appointed him, though knowing, He says, that the matter was not necessary for your benefit, but so that experience of the events might fully inform you well that in this you have made a foolish and useless decision. For where is he now, or what benefit could there be hereafter from him for those who are being warred against? But if you had been again under my mercy and hand, you would surely have been seen to be in a better state than your enemies. Therefore, "Vain is the salvation of man," according to what is written, and "A horse is a false hope for salvation," is the hope placed in rulers; but God rescues very easily those whom He chooses, and those whom He would observe honoring the hope placed in Him. Ephraim, his sin is hidden; pains as of a woman in childbirth will come upon him. This is your wise son, because he will not stand in the destruction of children. This, I think, is what is meant by "He conceived trouble and brought forth "iniquity." For in the beginning, Jeroboam, so that he would not lose the scepters, when Israel wished to fulfill the sacrifices according to the law, and for this reason was traveling up to Jerusalem, devised the golden calves. and he received into his mind a sowing of evil seed, as it were, buried, just as the sin was also hidden. But the time of labor pains, he says, will also come. And this would be understood again as that of the war and the captivity. For even if it did not happen to Ephraim himself, yet it came upon his descendants at times, that is, the successors of his rule, because they became imitators of his impiety. He speaks, therefore, as to the synagogue in Samaria and says, Who will save you? Is it this wise son of yours? And in saying "this," he points out either the one ruling at the time, who also received the reputation of seeming to be wise; for this always accompanies those in power; or else he hints at something else, fitting for the time in which the word of the prophecy came. For while Ahaz was ruling over Judah in Jerusalem, "in the eleventh "year, Hoshea son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, "who did what was evil in the sight of the Lord." But at that time Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, marched against Samaria. "And Hoshea became," it says, "his servant." But the Assyrian was very angry with him for such a reason. For he sent messengers to him, asking for tribute and the usual things; but he, not enduring to be ordered about by that man, sent an embassy to So, king of Egypt, asking for help from him. Grieved at this, Shalmaneser besieged Samaria for three whole years. Then, having taken Hoshea captive, he made him a prisoner and enrolled him among the servants, and he resettled Israel in the territories of the Persians and Medes. Therefore, the prophetic word seems to us to be pointing out Hoshea son of Elah in these things, whom he also calls wise, not because he was truly wise, but he somehow speaks ironically; for he seemed to be wise among Israel, and to have planned very wisely, for choosing to call for aid for them from Egypt. but he was caught out, having acted and planned in a cold and useless way. Who then, he says, will deliver you from suffering incurable calamities? This your prudent son, because he will not endure in the crushing of children. For with your children being crushed, he says, not even he himself would endure; for he will be taken as a slave and a captive along with the others; he will go to the Assyrians. Wise, therefore, is the one who sings, "The Lord is my strength and my song." For from him is all power, and all salvation; and there is no savior besides him. From the hand of Hades I will rescue them, from death I will redeem them; where is your judgment, O Death? Where is your sting, O Hades? Having spoken things out of anger to the sinners, and having foretold the things that would come from grief, he has returned again to a god-fitting gentleness, and he has indicated by adding that the race on earth has not been utterly turned away, nor has it been given over to unbridled and endless corruption, but there will be some forbearance in due time and a recalling to the original state in Christ, that he will rescue from the hand of Hades, and will redeem from death, it being clear that he means those who have come under it, on account of adopted sin, and the transgression of Adam in the beginning. For such a promise has been made again, not to Ephraim alone, that is to those of the blood of Israel, but rather to all upon the earth. For as the divine Paul writes, "Is God the God of the Jews only? Is he not also of the Gentiles? For he has justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." For he has redeemed us from the hand of Hades, that is, from the tyranny of death, and the manner of the redemption is understood as the death of Christ. For he willingly endured the slaughter on the wood for our sake, and has triumphed over principalities and powers, having nailed the handwriting that was against us to it. For then, then "all iniquity stopped its mouth;" and the power of death was abolished, since sin was taken away; for this is the victory of death, and the sting of Hades. Thus also the wise Paul interpreted for us. For he said, "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law." Therefore, with the sin of all being destroyed in Christ, we ourselves might also reasonably say, Where is your victory, O Death? Where is your sting, O Hades? "For it is God who justifies, who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died" for us, or rather "who gave himself a ransom for all," one worth more than all, through whom and in whom we have been enriched to return again to incorruption. Is comfort hidden from my eyes? Because this one will make a division among brothers. We shall read the first verse of the proposed text as a question, and with a pause, and it would suggest some such thing to us if we choose to understand it correctly. Human nature, he says, has fallen sick with manifold sin, and has inclined not moderately towards transgression; for this reason it was justly condemned to death. Then what will be the manner of help for those who have suffered this, or how they might escape what has happened, I myself will consider, or rather I have already determined. Or is there anyone among you, come to such a point of madness, as to think and say that there is some manner of comfort and consolation, which the divine and pure mind has not seen? For I am a craftsman, and powerless in nothing, but I know all things well, and without delay I accomplish what seems good. And yet, he says, this one will make a division among brothers. And through these words he proclaims to us our Lord Jesus Christ. For he is the comfort of all, the manner of the cure; the Father predestined him before eternal ages as Savior and Redeemer for those held by death. He said that he makes a division among brothers. And what this is, we have heard from Christ our Savior of all saying, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to cast peace but "a sword. For I came to set a man against his "father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law "against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be those "of his own household;" and again, foretelling somewhere to the holy disciples the things that would be, "Brother will deliver up, he says, "brother to death," and a father will rise up against his sons. For since he has destroyed the tyranny of the devil, and rescued the deceived from the snares of idolatry, he has so bound them to love for himself, that those who have believed disregard even natural affection, and have renounced brothers and fathers and homes and families, and have supposed that to cleave to Christ would be sufficient for them for all joy. And so indeed the blessed David, as from the person of those who have accomplished this, somewhere sings and says that "My father and my mother have forsaken "me, but the Lord took me in." The Lord will bring a scorching wind from the desert upon him, and it will dry up his veins, it will make his springs desolate; it will dry up his land and all his desirable vessels. He transfers the discourse to the very person of death, and compares Christ to a south and scorching wind, which he says will be brought from the desert at times. But it is necessary to know, and before all else, this, that the country of the Jews has a wide and vast desert, lying in the southernmost parts, and if ever the wind from there happened to blow down violently, they were exceedingly fearful, as the country was being dried up. And it seems to some that the very veins of waters in the earth make their supplies more sluggish, and are checked by the blasts of the violent and fiery wind. Therefore, from what they know and have experienced, he makes his arguments. Therefore, the prophetic word has told us that Christ will be brought against death like a scorching wind, which will dry up all his springs and his veins. He persists, therefore, in the figure, and very rightly, and, as from that which is accustomed to happen, he makes the declaration of the mystery. And the veins and springs of death, we say are the ways of destruction, that is, the evil and opposing powers. For through them, as it were, the multitude of those who are ever perishing from time to time is supplied. Thus you will understand also his desirable vessels. For vessels that destroy those on earth and are precious to death one might reasonably say, are either the evil and opposing powers, or certain unholy ones on the earth, servants of his wickedness, who also destroy others along with themselves. When, therefore, the scorching wind has blown, he says all the land of death will be dried up. And again the word is made as from a metaphor. For it is as if he might say, Death was grazing on those on the earth as on a field; but it will be dry, death will not find pasture. For corruption has been abolished, since Christ set life before all, and permitted incorruption to be made recoverable. Samaria shall be made desolate, because she has rebelled against her God; they themselves shall fall by the sword, and their infants shall be dashed to the ground, and their pregnant women shall be ripped open. Having very well finished the discourse concerning Christ, and having foretold the mystery of universal redemption, the blessed prophet again wails over the calamities of those who have offended, and all but laments those in Samaria. For though it was possible, he says, to enjoy, and very richly, the good things from his clemency, they have run as deserters toward the things that would come upon them from wrath, because they chose to oppose God, and to raise their own will against the Lord's commands, and all but to seem to be set in opposition, or even to be in the lot of those who have truly resisted him. Therefore, with all mercy removed, they themselves will be the work of the sword; and strange methods of inhumanity will be devised against both women and children. for together with the newborn infants a premature they will suffer death, and those not yet called to be and to live, and the sword will anticipate the coming forth of the enemies through birth-pangs. Therefore, it is a bitter thing to oppose God, and truly a cause of destruction, as is seen by experience itself. Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have grown weak in your iniquities. Take words with you, and return to the Lord your God; say to him, so that you may not receive iniquity but may receive good things, and we will offer the fruit of our lips. Assur shall not save us, we will not mount upon horses; we will no longer say, Our gods, to the works of our hands. One might greatly admire in this again the skillfulness of the prophet, and the arrangement of his discourse. For it is composed in a manner befitting a saint, and is full of the mystagogy from above. For he has proclaimed beforehand the future redemption through Christ, and that in due time death will be weakened, and the sting of Hades will be rendered inactive; and in addition to these things, that no manner of exhortation and comfort could be conceived at all, which was not known to God. And what after this? It was necessary henceforth to advise them to think and do those things which lead to their salvation, and, as it were, to hasten to bring back to sobriety those who are drunk; not with wine; from what? but rather from worldly love of pleasure, and from loving to adhere to the deceptions of demons. Therefore, lest, being inclined to indolence by the promises of goodness and love for mankind, they should make no account of him who knows how to discipline, for this very reason he usefully brings them back again to the remembrance of the terrible things, saying that Samaria will be destroyed, because she stood against her God; then adding to these those other things, which indeed appear not ineffectively to terrify and distress the hearers. for he says that infants will be dashed to the ground; and that the mothers themselves will be destroyed together with the embryos, not yet having brought forth from the womb into the light the much-desired burden. Therefore, having first terrified them with these dreads, then, at the opportune moment, he sends into the hearts of those being admonished the word that calls to repentance, exhorting them well that it is necessary to turn back, and to return to God. But by saying that you have grown weak in your iniquities, he gives them to understand, that in every way and altogether their weakness will cease along with their iniquities, and if the ways of apostasy should be removed, the terrible things also will depart. And he smooths the way of the return to God; for he says that sinners will indeed be in a better state and under the forbearance of God, not by offering things from wealth, not by dedicating gold, not by choosing to honor with silver vessels, not with sacrifices of oxen, not by pleasing with slaughters of sheep, but if they would offer words, and choose to speak well, propitiating the Master of all. for take words with you, say to God, so that you may not receive iniquity but may receive good things, that is, so that you may not be punished in equal measure to your iniquities, but rather may be enriched by the provisions of good things, and promise to bring to him the things from your lips, thankful odes and confession. For such things are the fruits of the tongue. But cry out that, he says, and promise firmly, that neither shall Assur save us, nor indeed shall we mount upon horses; nor shall we say any more, Our gods, to the works of our hands. For these were the ways of apostasy. For these things they have offended, because they both served idols, and, having dishonored the ever-saving God, they have assigned their hope to helps from men. And when the Egyptians were at war with them, they called upon the Assyrian; and again when the Assyrians had taken up arms against Samaria, they hired with money the Egyptian horse-archers, that is, those skilled in cavalry warfare. For this reason they also heard God saying clearly, "Woe to those who go down to Egypt "for help, who trust in horses and in chariots;" and they were mocked, and very justly, being eager to make their champion "an Egyptian man and not God, the "flesh of horses," as it is written. Therefore they promise to depart both from worshipping idols and from still having their hopes in men. And this is a correction of those who have already stumbled, calling to gentleness the Creator of all, who says through the voice of the Prophet, "Turn away from your iniquities, O house of "Israel, and they shall not be a punishment of injustice for you." In you, he will have mercy on the orphan. This is the voice of the Prophet, urging to repentance, and making the Master's serenity manifest, and cutting away the hesitation of one willing to repent. For do not doubt, he says, O Israel, that you will obtain what you pray for, if you should offer repentance. For the God in you knows how to have mercy and to pity orphans. Thus says also the divine David, "He will take up the orphan and the widow," from one thing I think, that is, from persons who are by nature most to be pitied, showing the loving-kindness of the divine and ineffable nature. But if someone should wish to ascribe the matter of orphanhood also to Israel itself; for it was all but lost from God the Father, although He says clearly, "Israel is my firstborn son;" I for my part would say that it is right to understand it in this way too. It is necessary, therefore, being confident that the Master of all is both good and ready for loving-kindness, to repent without hesitation, and by corrections for the better, to release the causes of previous stumblings. I will heal their dwellings, I will love them freely, because my anger has turned away from them. The word from God is introduced immediately as a neighbor, and almost next door, promising to heal the sick, and to love freely, that is, that the effects of mercy and love, and the increase of every good thing, should now henceforth appear to be at work confessedly and openly. And in addition to these things, it shows that His anger towards them has ceased, and that His beloved loving-kindness will not depart. And again the word in these things seems to us not to mention only the conversion of Israel according to the flesh, but rather to bring in also the calling of the Gentiles; because not "all those from "Israel, these are Israel;" but rather those are counted as children who follow "in the steps of the faith in uncircumcision "of our father Abraham." Therefore, the calling of the Gentiles is also contributed, and the appropriation to God in Christ through faith and sanctification; and in addition to this is also signified the supply of spiritual things, and the abundance of grace, that is, clearly, of that in Christ. I will be as dew to Israel. In every way enriching and watering the mind of those called to repentance, with comfort from above, that is, clearly, that through the Spirit; for the dew is from above. He shall blossom as a lily. He will give forth, he says, a sweet smell in Christ, and the fragrance of a holy life, and he will henceforth be a choice flower. And he shall cast his roots as Lebanon, his branches shall spread. By this he shows that the mind of believers is not easily shaken, nor as it were ready to be overcome by evil spirits. For it will be so secure and established, just as indeed the plant of Lebanon, which sends its root down to a great depth; and with its branches above, it spreads not moderately. For as the root luxuriates, the growths of the shoots are in every way vigorous. And he shall be as a fruitful olive tree. Clearly evergreen and fruitful; for such is the plant. And his smell as of Lebanon. The thing of Lebanon is exceedingly fragrant. For this reason also the law of Moses proclaimed it as sacred to God. For it prescribed in many ways that the fine flour offered for sacrifice should be sprinkled with frankincense. Therefore, he says, the fruit of those called will be fragrant, and well-pleasing as a sacrifice to the virtue-loving God. They shall return and shall sit under his shadow. They will cease, he says, from their former accusations, and will return vigorously to worship the "living and "true God," and will be under him in a single-minded way, not expecting to be saved from enemies by another, but from him alone. Fulfilling this well, the Church from the Gentiles says concerning the Savior of all in the Song of Songs, "In his shadow I delighted and sat down." To those accustomed to do this, let the divine David also proclaim, saying, "The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night." This was accomplished for the ancients by God, when a cloud overshadowed them in the desert, and elegantly revealing the tent from above and from God. And he says `they will sit down` very well, so that the steadfast and securely established disposition of those who turn may be understood through this. They shall live and be satisfied with grain. These are the worthy gifts of conversion and of steadfastness. For he says they will be partakers of eternal life, and in an abundance of power, clearly spiritual power. For I think this is what "they will be strengthened with grain" signifies. And it is written that, "Bread strengthens man's heart." For bodies are pleased by suitable foods, but the divine and heavenly Word invigorates the soul of man. For how can it be doubted that one who turns from error to the knowledge of God would pass from weakness to power, and leaping up strongly from the pits of depravity to the pursuit of virtue? If indeed the charge of weakness is truly to fall back into indolence and worldly pleasures, and to love to be attached to the worship of idols; while a glorious achievement of spiritual strength is understood to be to choose eagerly to do good, and besides this to consider nothing better than love for God, and to travel without stumbling and with a vigorous mind the path to this. And his memorial shall blossom like a vine, as the wine of Lebanon to Ephraim. God said somewhere to the mother of the Jews, that is, the Synagogue, "But I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true." And our divine David also sings somewhere about it, "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out nations and planted it. You cleared the way before it. It sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the river." Therefore Israel was a vine with goodly branches; but since it has stumbled in many ways, "The Lord took away its hedge, all who pass by the way have plucked its fruit. A boar from the forest has ravaged it, and a wild ass has devoured it." For it has been set, as it were, to be trampled on by those who wish to do wrong, as pasture for swine and asses, that is, for pleasures and irrationalities. For this reason they have withered. Nevertheless, his memorial flourished anew in Christ, that is, clearly, the memorial of Israel. And he says memorial, because not all have believed, but the remnant has been kept, as it were, for a memorial of him. And the grace from God has become to Ephraim, that is, to Israel, like the wine of Lebanon, that is, fragrant and yielding little to frankincense in its fragrance. Such is the word from Christ, and concerning it the blessed David says, "Wine gladdens the heart of man," to which a sacred word urges us to hasten to partake very eagerly; for it goes thus: "Eat, and drink, and be drunk, O friends." For the things through Christ are not offensive to the saints, and are more useful when taken to the point of intoxication. What has he yet to do with idols? For if he should come to be, he says, in the fullness and partaking of such venerable and heavenly goods, he will completely depart from the desire to stray, and to be attached to the works of his own hands. For lacking what good things anymore will he seek them from another? Or is such a search also completely unprofitable for those who have gone astray? For what will lifeless matter bestow on anyone? to whom it was also justly said by God, "Do good, and do evil, and we will know that you are gods." But handmade things could never harm men; for how, or from where? Nor indeed could they give them anything good or beneficial. Therefore let them hear, and very rightly, "The gods who did not make the heaven and the earth shall per- "let them be destroyed from the earth and from under this "heaven." So therefore, he signifies that which is fixed and firm in love towards God, saying What has he to do any more with i- dols? I humbled him, and I will strengthen him. I, he says, am able to afflict those whom I might see disregarding the ways of genuineness toward me; but I will again strengthen those who would choose to practice virtue, and to know the God who is by nature and in truth. Therefore, neither the affliction, that is, the weakening of Israel, was from them; nor indeed would the transition to being able be thought a gift of demons, but it is a God-given good, just as, of course, being weak was a result of the stirrings of wrath. Wisely therefore, and with love for God, our great David sings in the psalms, "My strength "and my praise is the Lord." I am like a dense juniper tree, from me your fruit is found. The juniper is a plant, so dense and with such abundant foliage, as to seem to be in some way a man-made roof, neither yielding passage to the rays of the sun, nor indeed to the downpours of rain, even if torrential ones should ever pour over the earth. That, therefore, being under God they will have unassailable shadowing, that is, help, he implies by saying, I am like a dense juniper tree. But that all fruit-bearing for those under God would come about in no other way than in Christ and through Christ, he himself will fully inform, saying in the evangelical decrees, "Without me you "can do nothing." Therefore let him say with good reason to each of the faithful, if one should be brilliant and praiseworthy, and in the boasts of virtue, From me your fruit is found. Who is wise and will understand these things? Or prudent and will know them? For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just will walk in them; but the ungodly will be weak in them. He says that the one who understands these things is very wise and most prudent. For the comprehension of the divine words is not available for those who wish to readily take it, nor could one understand "a parable and a dark saying, the words "of the wise and their riddles," as it is written, except through the torch-bearing from above, with Christ sending into the mind and heart, as a brilliant ray, the grace from himself. And he teaches that to be able to traverse the straight and pleasing path to God is completely effortless for lovers of seemliness; but the matter is not smooth for those who are not so minded. For the desire and eagerness for everything good strengthens the one group, and persuades them to be carried in an unrestrained course towards the will to be well-pleasing; but for the other group, the inclination and tendency toward worthlessness and sin, would render them cowardly and unmanly, and not having from God the ability to achieve virtue, because they have not honored it in the first principles, nor has their goal been with a view to this. Therefore if we are sagacious and wise, we will ask from God the ability to do what is fitting, and he will grant it in every way, being a lover of mankind, and he will fill us with spiritual strength through Christ, through whom and with whom to God the Father be the glory, with the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.