Book 1
The divine Joel prophesies in the times, as it seems, in which those also appointed before him would be thought of, I mean Hosea, and certainly also Amos. For it seems to the Hebrews that he should be arranged not after Micah, but with those ones. And he denounces, as it seems to me, those of Israel, and makes a very great outcry against them, as having come at last to such a point of arrogance, stupefaction and insensibility, as to be checked in no way at all from evils, nor indeed to be overcome by calamities so frequent, and all but brought on them in a row to love, although no time had slipped in, during which any respite from the evil, however brief, might appear to have occurred. And we will find the blessed prophet Isaiah coming through similar words. For he said, "And the Lord Sabaoth was moved to anger against his people, and laid his hand upon them and struck them; and the mountains were provoked, and their carcasses became as dung in the middle of the road. In all these things his anger has not been turned away, but his hand is still high." You understand how they have suffered this and that, and the hand of the one striking them has remained high, as if on the point of inflicting other blows upon them. For in the same way that the most incurable of afflictions sometimes require not one incision, but still more; so too the human mind, having arrived at the limit of insensibility, needs a more frequent blow, which with difficulty recovers it at least to the point of being able to hasten to relearn what leads to benefit. It seems, therefore, that the blessed prophet Joel, since Israel has remained unadmonished after very many blows, wisely makes the rebuke, advising them at the same time to abandon their shameful ways and choose to turn toward what is pleasing to God. Moreover, he adds the promise of things most dear to them, if they should choose to repent; and he gives them courage that they will encounter a good and most gentle Master. This, then, is the purpose of his whole prophecy; but we will speak of each of the subsequent things in turn, following the contemplations of the things set before us. The word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Bethuel. The Prophet says that the word of the Lord came to him, so that we might assign faith to the prophecy, being firmly disposed and confident that what has been foretold will in every way and entirely come to pass. The Savior himself confirms us in this, saying, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away." For truth is not a false-speaking thing, and whatever God might say will surely be exact. For he is the one who "confirms the words of his servant, and makes the counsel of his messengers true." Therefore, most artfully and wisely he demands faith from his hearers, since he is not a false speaker like some, that is, reporting what seems good from his own heart, but speaking from the mouth of the Lord in the spirit, as he has most clearly stated. And Bethuel is necessarily added, so that no other Joel besides him might be thought of. For perhaps many, or rather without a doubt, were called by such a name; but not all of them were from Bethuel. For the sake of security, therefore, as I think, Bethuel has been added again. Hear this, you elders, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land. Have such things happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers? Tell your children about them, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. He refers the aged to the antiquity of times and memory, and has ordered them to consider when indeed, and on what occasions, they have seen similar things, inflicted by divine wrath, upon their own fathers or those even further back, saying that they must now consider whether the tales are not strange and unusual, and perhaps not yet known to any of the ancients; moreover, he says, it is fitting for the others to understand very well if such things have happened among them; and it will be a subject of unending tales, not lasting for one, nor for two or three generations, but rather leaping through, and far beyond. For just as we say that brilliant narratives are worthy of being heard by the many, and those which might happen to be followed by the need to rejoice; so too, things that reach the limit of disaster and suffering seem to be in some way worthy of memory. For such things all but compel forgetfulness, and having a more burdensome impact, they demand to be remembered out of excessive shamelessness, and contend with the reputations of the most pleasant things; and just as good things have a memory that is not unprofitable, so I suppose do unfortunate and grim. For some things sharpen the hearers toward the pursuit of virtue; while others teach them to shun the experience of evils before their approach; and through the things for which others have been punished, it does not permit some to seek to be caught in the same things. What the caterpillar left, the locust has eaten; and what the locust left, the cankerworm has eaten; and what the cankerworm left, the blight has eaten. The word of the holy Prophets is always somehow hidden, and bringing forth reluctantly the very grim parts of the narratives on account of the untamed tempers of their hearers, they overshadow them with possible obscurities, and by fashioning riddles and parables they provide no small benefit. But their word also proceeds sometimes through useful examples; such as is found in the most wise Ezekiel: "The great "eagle with great wings, long in its expanse and "full of talons, which has the leading part, to enter into Lebanon, "and it took the choice parts of the cedar, the tips of "its tenderness it nipped off, and brought them to the land of Canaan." For it cleverly indicated the ruler of the land of the Babylonians, who shears off the choice ones from Israel, and transfers the plunder home. And that there have been failures of fields, and shortages of seasonal produce, and very often harsh and long famines throughout the land of the Jews, the sacred scripture has said. For already some, when a famine was pressing, have come to such a state of necessity as to buy a donkey's head for fifty shekels. And the women who fought over the children would show the savagery of the want at that time. For when the two had devoured the one, they demanded to be judged by the rulers concerning the living one. Therefore, if in these things the prophetic word signifies for us the failures of fields and the destruction of crops, the matter would be understood even so as unbearable; for to be afflicted in succession and immediately by so many and harsh plagues, how is it not utterly hard to bear, and not unworthy of being remembered? But if indeed the visions, overshadowed by the more apparent things, also lead us away to other thoughts, it seems to us that the Prophet by caterpillar and locust, cankerworm and blight, and the terrible and unbearable damages from them, signifies the devastations at each time, and hints at the manners of captivities; by which they have been consumed and have perished, just as if those who made the assaults had all but devoured and destroyed them like the plunder in a field. Therefore, there have been many successive uprootings of the land of the Jews, both when the neighboring nations made war at times, and those who had ruled Egypt. For while Rehoboam was administering the royal honor in Jerusalem, Shishak king of Egypt came up, and took the palace, and having emptied all the treasures in it, and having taken the golden spears and the shields which Solomon had made, brilliant and victorious he returned home again. And indeed Hazael the Syrian also brought no small plagues upon them; and Pul king of the Babylonians also took the tribes beyond the Jordan; and in addition to this, Necho Pharaoh king of Egypt, when Josiah was ruling, marched against Samaria, and subjected the land to tribute; for he demanded a hundred talents of gold. Therefore, the things that have happened at various times are very many; but there have been four terrible and noteworthy sackings. For when Hoshea son of Elah was reigning in Samaria, Shalmaneser the Assyrian came up, and deported Israel to the borders of the Persians and Medes. Then, after a short time had passed, and when Jeremiah was prophesying, Nebuchadnezzar took Jerusalem by force. And Israel was released with difficulty through Cyrus the son of Cambyses, when the seventy years were completed. Then in due time came Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes. This man, having arrived in Judea, both burned the divine temple, and took the vessels in it, and forced those throughout all Judea to be negligent of their ancestral customs; at which time also the events of the Maccabees happened to become splendid and admirable achievements. And a fourth war came upon those from Israel, that of the Romans, when they were also scattered to every wind. The Prophet, therefore, seems to wish to convey his own message to us obscurely and faintly, and as it were in the form of examples through such narratives; the caterpillar and the locust and the cankerworm and indeed the rust, either signifying obliquely the wars themselves that ran upon them one after another, or else the commanders of the armies, of whom we have just now made mention. But if someone should wish to record a more moral interpretation in these things, he would not fail in what is fitting; for if a soul were seen being devoured by frequent and successive passions, and, as it were, destroying each virtue little by little, adding this to that on account of indolence, how would it not be accurate to say of it: What the caterpillar left, the locust has eaten, and what the locust left, the cankerworm has eaten, and what the cankerworm left, the rust has eaten? For like rust and the other evils, the good things in us are somehow ravaged by wicked and unclean powers falling upon the mind, and which are accustomed to consume with insatiable teeth. Therefore, vigilance is good; and indeed the Proverb-writer benefits us not a little, saying, "If the spirit of the ruler "rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for healing will pacify "great sins." For passions, when rebuked at the beginning, are both calmed and checked; but if they find a wide and, as it were, unadmonished path to what is worse, they seize the whole soul through and through, and cannot endure the reasoning that would punish. Awake, you who are drunk from their wine, and weep; lament, all you who drink wine to drunkenness, because gladness and joy have been taken from your mouth. Without trouble, I think, one might again perceive clearly from this, how exceedingly wise was the divine Paul, exhorting and saying to those ensnared for salvation through faith in Christ, sometimes, "Awake, you who sleep, "and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you;" and at other times again persuading them to love endurance in suffering, in this way also saying "If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with "sons; for what son is there whom a father does not "chasten?" For God, as it were, strikes down those who sin, although He is a lover of mankind, not willingly, but as if turning them by necessity, and making this a means of help for them. Just as, of course, those skilled in medicine also apply to the sick even the very harsh medicines, making the need to feel pain a cure for their affliction. For see how, having first shown the scourges and proclaimed the things that come from wrath, he all but "restrains their jaws with bit "and bridle," according to what is written, and commands them to proceed in a human way, changing their mind to choose to do what was better and more fitting. For he says, Awake, you who are drunk from their wine. Do you hear how he then rebukes them as children who are out of their minds and somehow already drunk, as if to say that if they had been sober in the beginning, what came from the caterpillar alone would have been sufficient punishment for them; but since they have remained insensible to the first wrath brought upon them, the second has been added, and after that the third, and it has even proceeded to the fourth. Nevertheless, he now commands even those awakened and sobered up late, who have, as it were, sent away from their mind a kind of drunkenness—the love of pleasure and the choice to sin excessively—to come to a perception of what has happened, weeping and wailing over their own sins. But it should be known that for each of us also there is, as it were, a private wine, which makes the heart drunk. For we divide up the passions, so to speak, and one of us has turned without restraint to the love of money, while being sick with other things as well; another, again, has thought on the things of the world, and has fallen sick with the love of the flesh, being wholly devoted to luxury and loves of pleasure; while another has fled to some other sin. But we hasten towards such abominable and God-hated passions, some not very eagerly, but others using their full impulses, and having an unadmonished inclination of the mind. For this reason the Prophet says, "Become sober, you who are drunk with their wine;" and he advises that it is fitting to lament those who drink wine to the point of drunkenness. For as I just said, some do not stop their love of pleasure at the point of satiety and sufficiency, but as it were, drink to the point of drunkenness, and stretch beyond all measure; from their mouth, he says, both gladness and joy have been taken away. For Christ speaks the truth, that in every way and altogether those who mourn now will be comforted; but for those accustomed to live luxuriously, the need to shed tears will follow, because the end of arrogance will be lamentation and wailing, and it brings down those who love it into the pit of Hades. And David also speaks the truth when he says to God, "In death there is no one who remembers you; and in Hades who will confess to you?" and again, "For the dead will not praise you, Lord, nor all those who go down into Hades; but we who are living will bless you, Lord." But if indeed the meaning of the preceding things were understood also in a more earthly way, if the causes of gladness have been consumed by both the caterpillar and the others, doubtless the gladness and joy of those who have suffered is destroyed along with the fruitful harvests. For it is necessary to be gloomy at the things that happen grievously and are accustomed to cause pain and are not unable—I mean, with regard to being able—to waste away the heart with bitter and unbearable grief. Because a nation has come up against my land, strong and without number, its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its molars those of a lion’s cub; it has laid my vine waste, and my fig trees into splinters; searching, it has stripped it bare and cast it down, it has made its branches white. Wishing the tear of repentance to contend, in a way, with the things that have happened, that is, those things expected to be and which are all but present, he subtly narrates the things that will be, and placing the assault of gloomy things almost before their eyes, he gives something to those who are struck, and a lament, and as it were teaches a mournful song to those who have been commanded to wail, and he then persuades them to say that: "A nation has come upon my land, strong and without number, and as for the sharpness of its teeth, it yields little to lions and their cubs." Now, the matter is true, even if it might be understood of the locust, the wingless locust, and the caterpillar. For the thing is invincible, and the assault of such creatures is utterly irresistible, and it is able to destroy root and branch the things in the fields, I mean both fruits and grass; and to destroy fig trees and vines, and to render the appearance of the tilled land bad and uncomely. But if the discourse should turn again to the inhumanity of the ravagers, and the complete desolation of the country, it would signify nothing other than that their whole country has perished, and the prominent among them have also been consumed, those who surpassed the measure of the common herd in glory and wealth; so that they are understood to be in the rank of a fig tree and a vine; before they endured withering; just as it is surely understood of the perceptible vines themselves, if they happen to fall among the teeth of locusts; for by drinking up the moisture in the plants, and sucking up all their life-giving power, they do not wither after a long time, but for this reason cause them to appear white. Therefore, the teeth of the consuming enemies have utterly consumed and sent into complete uselessness those who are ranked as vines, or are in the form of fig trees, either striking them down with swords or bringing them under the yokes of slavery. But one might understand, if one should choose to think spiritually, such things again also of sinful men; into whose mind and heart, as in the manner of the locust and the wingless locust, and indeed also of the caterpillar, the wicked demons somehow always enter, and the manifold and multiform passions themselves, and indeed they make them appear useless and most uncomely, having cast off the flower of piety, and having no righteousness in themselves a shoot. And I would say that it would be fitting for them to weep without ceasing, and to lament to God; and to strive to obtain through frequent prayer forgiveness and help, so that they might be, even if late and with difficulty, wise and strong, and able to escape what has befallen them. And they would suffer this, and most especially, those whose mind has foolishly turned to the need to heed those accustomed to heterodoxy and to undermine the correct doctrines of the Church, concerning whom it might be said, and very appropriately, "Their teeth are the teeth of a lion, and their molars are those of a lion's cub;" for the nation is hateful to God, counterfeit and sinful, and devouring and consuming the mind of the simpler ones with its seemingly wise words, so that no remnant of orthodoxy is seen in them. These wither the master's vineyard, they render the garden devoid of figs, and show it bare and laid waste, "for whom judgment does not tarry," but "is just" in due season. Those, therefore, who are accustomed to live in ignorance, will be food for the locust and the beetle and the caterpillar, and will remain destitute of all seemliness, and there will be nothing at all flourishing in them; but the wise and God-loving soul, richly adorned with the doctrines of truth, and having its heart almost teeming and very well-adorned with fruits of righteousness, will surely say with boldness, according to the bride understood in the Song of Songs, "Let my kinsman come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his choice trees." For sweet are the fruits of piety, and the choice fruits of true learning are sweet to the Savior of us all, Christ, who is also our kinsman, as born from a sister, the holy virgin. Lament to me as a bride girded with sackcloth for the husband of her virginity. He commands them not to make their repentance a secondary matter, nor as something done in passing, or simply indolently, nor the grief understood in it, but earnestly striving and contending not moderately with what is most burdensome of other things, so as to make the toils of equal weight with the sins. For a newly-wed maiden is wont to bewail excessively her dead bridegroom, and to receive sharp sorrows for this, so as to set her mind beyond consolation, and to think that no manner of mourning worthily is sufficient for her; for the female nature is confessedly prone to tears and fond of mourning, but most of all she who sees her virginal and youthful bridegroom lying pitifully in his bed, dead and breathless. To her, he says, the multitude of the Jews must indeed be compared, to ward off wrath, and to check with lamentations the divine movement coming, as it were, irresistibly upon them, taking courage that the Lord of all is "gracious and gentle," loving mankind, "and of great mercy and repenting of evils" according to what is written. Nevertheless, the Synagogue of the Jews has not mourned the bridegroom from heaven, that is, Christ; for she herself killed and treated him with insolence. Therefore, she is excluded from the divine bridal chambers, and is outside the sacred marriage, and completely without a share in the feast, henceforth disinherited, and cast out and furthest from the hope of the saints; but in her place has been called the new and unwrinkled, the all-holy and wise, and the bride from Lebanon, the beautiful dove, that is, the Church from the Gentiles, who also confesses the very passion of the Lord, and almost weeps over it by suffering with and mourning, and loves to take up her own cross and follow him, and to go through these things for the sake of love for him. And her virginal bridegroom would be understood to be Emmanuel; although she seemed to have been adulterated and to have fornicated with Satan, in the manner of having been led astray; through the regeneration from above, which we have received richly through the Spirit, denying the carnal. For it is written concerning Christ, "He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the power to become children of God, to them that believe on his name: who were born not of "blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of "man, but of God." Therefore, pushing aside the birth according to the flesh, we appropriate the spiritual one, according to which the church from the gentiles, that is, those who have believed in Christ, would be understood as a pure and all-holy virgin, to whom the divine Paul also clearly writes, "For I have espoused "you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to "Christ." Sacrifice and libation are taken away from the house of the Lord; mourn, you priests who minister at the altar. Because the fields are ruined, let the earth mourn; because the grain is ruined, the wine has dried up, the oil has failed, they have withered. It is as if he were to say clearly: Eucharists have ceased, and there is absolutely no one left to offer sacrifice, no one bringing an offering and the firstfruits of the crops, that is, the sacred sheaf as a firstfruit of the wheat harvest dedicated to God, according to the law of Moses; and no one, he says, placing the firstfruits of the seasons in a basket, and going to the house of the Lord, and offering up to God also the thanksgiving odes, which it was the custom to proclaim. For this reason, he commands the chosen race to mourn, I mean the priests, not laboring for the sake of gains, but as grieving over the peoples under their charge, and appointed for the sacred and renowned ministry, so that even before others they might propitiate the God of all, and imitate the hierophant Moses himself, who presided over Israel and said to God, "I pray, Lord, this people "has sinned a great sin, and if you will forgive their "sin, forgive it; but if not, blot me also out of this "your book which you have written." For the office of the priesthood mediates between God and the peoples, and for those appointed to so august a ministry, boldness in supplications would be fitting, I think, and very reasonably so. For they all but consecrate their own life to God on behalf of all, by eating the sacrifices for sin. This also the God of all says through the voice of Hosea, "They shall eat the sins of my people, "and in their iniquities they shall take their souls," that is, when the peoples do wrong, transgressing what seems right to the law, then, indeed then, he says, the ministers of the divine altars will take their own souls to God on behalf of them. And he says 'they will take' instead of 'they will offer' or 'they will dedicate'. For what was dedicated to God was said to be taken. And what is the reason for their mourning? The fields are ruined, he says, and indeed also the grain, stripped bare by the teeth of locusts, and as if by fire, burned up by the rust. For it burns up and withers what is in the fields. And he says that the land itself must, as it were, lament, since its fruits have perished. For the grain is ruined, the wine has dried up, the oil has failed, they have withered; that is, all things from it are gone, and the things for which it was right to be greatly admired, as the mother and nurse of good fruits. And let these things be said by us as concerning perceptible matters; but indeed every most approved priest will lament for those who, out of immeasurable delusion, do not accept the purification through faith, and have not loved to be sanctified by Christ. For they will remain entirely and in every way destitute of spiritual fruitfulness, and they will be in want of everything that knows how to nourish and leads them to spiritual manliness, having no grain or wine, and deprived of the need for oil; the saying is mystical. For to those who accept the faith, Christ will present himself as the bread of life; for he said, "I am the bread of life;" as wine that gladdens the heart of man; understand again what I say; and he will anoint also with oil, that is, the spiritual and sanctifying oil, and understood as in participation of the Holy Spirit; but those having a harsh disposition, bitter and ungodly, a disobedient and stubborn mind, he will surely show to be in want, and entirely without a share in the good things just now mentioned by us. And it must be known that the most wise Paul also, ministering as a priest to the gentiles the gospel of Christ, almost mourned for the disobedient from Israel. For he said, "Because I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart for my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites." But, as I said, the saying in this is mystical and hidden. Lament, you farmers, for the wheat and barley; because the harvest of the field has perished. The vine has dried up, and the fig trees have become few; the pomegranate, the palm tree, the apple tree, and all the trees of the field are withered, because the sons of men have shamed joy. Truly a mourning, a pain and a lamentation for those accustomed to tilling the land, the utter destruction of what is in the fields, and the inability to gather anything at all from them, and sometimes after long toils. to see the things in the gardens and the choice trees now withered and dead, and the vines together with the crops destroyed, and the very wild wood perishing along with the gardens. For it says, all the trees of the field are withered, because the sons of men have shamed joy; and "have shamed joy" is instead of: the inhabitants of the land have made the season one of shame and disgrace and reproofs leading to punishments and judgment, a season in which it was fitting to rejoice in prosperity, gathering the things from the fields, and to fill the storehouses with grain, to sing the vintage songs to the grape-treaders, and to delight in the flocks of sheep, with abundant and flourishing grass spread before them. And in this again the word seems enigmatically to call "farmers" those who at that time presided over the Jewish orders, whom it said must mourn, as all in the country, so to speak, that is, the inhabitants of the land, were about to go to destruction, who might be understood as being in the category of wheat and barley and beautiful trees. But we will apply the force of these thoughts in a more fitting way to the scribes and Pharisees; who, being in the position of husbandmen, acted insolently toward Christ, and killed the heir, that they themselves might have the garden, and become masters of the vineyard henceforth, almost exulting as in crops over the populous multitude of their subjects, and being accustomed to harvest the most distinguished among them, like a pomegranate, like an apple. But the Roman war took them, it consumed great and small, the brilliant and the distinguished, understood as being like fig trees, as I just said, or perhaps like a vine, a palm, and an apple, and in trees, as in barley and wheat; for their ways are different, and the measure of life is not one for all. For since it once compared the land of the Jews to a field, and called the leaders husbandmen, the word has preserved the metaphor throughout, comparing those under them in various ways to crops and trees. But if someone should think that these things must also be transferred to a moral exegesis, he will think well. For the vine, the fig tree, and the other trees, which are accustomed to be crowned with beautiful fruits, must be compared to virtues and the achievements of the mind. But if someone is wise and quick-witted, and a cultivator of good glories, he will bear a flourishing and well-wooded garden in his mind and heart, nourishing in himself virtue in its many forms, and every manner of goodness. But if he is lazy and a lover of pleasure, and has inclined far too much toward baser things, he will surely lament, as his goodness withers, and his mind suffers great barrenness. Therefore, the prudent must take care of the good things in their hearts, which will certainly be present, if at least they choose by their goodness to gladden God, the giver of heavenly gifts. Gird yourselves and mourn, you priests; lament, you who minister at the altar. Go in, lie in sackcloth, you who minister to God, because the sacrifice and the drink offering have been withheld from the house of our God. Through these words, it as it were exalts what has happened, and places it among unbearable terrors, showing that the matter requires the most fervent prayer, by the fact that even the priests themselves must wail. Nevertheless, the... has something skillful. word. For since, having most unwisely sat before the precincts of idols, although God was striking them in his anger, they sought help from there, the God of all usefully assigns to his own ministers the leading of the supplication, and to preside with fortitude over the efforts toward repentance, so that those who have transgressed might know that unless they chose rather to seek what is pleasing to God, and offered their prayers to him, they would not escape his anger. He said, therefore, that it was necessary for those who minister, almost to lend to others the labors in prayers, beating of the breast and lamentation and the wearing of sackcloth, by which is signified the putting away of luxury and rest, hardship and toil, and the right and blameless practice of a holy life. Then, making the cause of the toil clear, he says that sacrifice and libation have been withheld from the house of God; the saying is harsh; for he does not say that sacrifice and libation have been reduced, or rather, diminished, but rather have been withheld, which is significant of a complete overthrow. A terrible and truly burdensome thing for those who preside over the peoples, if in no way God is to be served by those under their yoke. Sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn service, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land into the house of our God, and cry out earnestly to the Lord, alas, alas, for the day. In what way it is fitting for them to make their lament, he again makes clear, and he appears as a wise guide to them of the way to repentance, and he shows clearly the things through which the God of all might become gentle and well-disposed. This was, I think, also of one wanting to check the anger, and to remove what causes pain, and to restrain what is harmful, and to grant them again to prosper, and to be abundant in good things. Therefore he said that, sanctify a fast, that is, you should hold it in the order of a votive offering, and in the manner of a sacrifice the truly all-holy and blameless fast. For it is not fitting for the flesh to be worn down by abstinence from food, but for them, having fasted, to do the things at which God would reasonably be provoked. For if during a time of fasting we are not going to cease from our own wills, but to oppress those under our hand "for strife and contention, and to strike the humble with the fist" according to what is written, we have not yet fasted holily and purely; but we will reasonably suffer the loss of our labors, God having cried out "Is not this the fast that I have chosen, says the Lord." It is necessary therefore to abstain from wickedness, and to follow, and very vigorously, the decrees of the lawgiver, directing the heart toward anything whatsoever of the things pleasing to him, and submitting the neck of the mind, singing and saying "Behold my humiliation and my toil, and forgive all my sins;" and indeed, in addition to this, also that prophetic word "Behold, we will be yours, for you are the Lord our God." For this is a spiritual offering and a pure sacrifice pleasing to God "more than a young calf," more than a lamb from the flocks, more than a kid from the goats, more than fine flour and frankincense. For "God is well pleased with spiritual sacrifices." And sanctifying the fast, let us proclaim a solemn service, that is, the fulfillment of the divine wills, with which would fittingly follow the uprightness, the good conduct of manner, the readiness for anything whatsoever of the words that pertain to piety; and we will accomplish the ways of the solemn service, the elders having been gathered in the churches, and all the inhabitants of the land having run together, and weeping very intensely for the whole day, and being steadfastly disposed, that in every way and altogether God will have mercy; for he is "Long-suffering and of great mercy and true," "Taking away iniquities and passing over injustices and not holding his anger for a testimony, according to what is written, because he is a willer of mercy." Because the day of the Lord is near, and as misery from misery it will come. Before your eyes foods were destroyed, dried up, and from the house of our God gladness and joy. He says, the day of the Lord, on which the things from wrath would come to pass, either by the locust brought upon them and consuming the things in the fields and sending the terrors of famine and want, and instilling the very fear of death itself, that is, of the Babylonians destroying everything, attacking both cities and villages, working one evil upon another, and always heaping misery upon misery for the inhabitants of the land, so that they could not even, so to speak, take a short breath, nor could any good thing come in between, by which it was likely that they could have even a partial and moderate comfort, they who were now unbearably consumed by the frequency of evils. But since, when the fruits were already ripening, and the crops were now all but calling the reaper to themselves, and the grape cluster was darkening and yearning to be pressed, the attack of the locusts happened to occur, he says foods were utterly destroyed from before their eyes, as if those things that were in sight were snatched away, though they were set before them, as it were, and they had the readiest enjoyment of them; and he again affirms that there has been removed from the house of the Lord both gladness and joy. For they were sacrificing, exulting in the bountiful harvests from the fields, and they practiced the ways of gladness, offering thank-offerings because they were richly showered with the good things of the earth. But we will find that something of this sort has also been suffered by those especially who have acted insolently toward Christ. For the bread of life has in a way already come before their eyes, "He who came down from "heaven and gives life to the world," "the grain "of wheat that fell into the earth," and sprang up manifold, the spiritual wine, that knows how to make glad the heart of man. But since they have not ceased to act insolently with their disobedience, spiritual foods have been removed from their eyes and, as it were, from their midst. For the participation in every good thing has departed from them, and from the house among them gladness and joy have been removed. For they have been given over to desolation, and the wretched ones continue "without a king or ruler, without a sacrifice or an altar, or a priesthood or manifestations." And in another way too we say have been removed from their eyes both the foods and the gladness and joy. For our Lord Jesus Christ said that, "Man shall not live on "bread alone, but on every word "that proceeds from the mouth of God." And that the word is food for the mind, no one would doubt. This has been removed from the multitude of the Jews; for they have come to be in want of spiritual food; they have not understood the things of Moses. For the divine Paul also writes, "To this day, when the "old covenant is read, a veil lies over their heart;" and they have hated the divine decrees given through Christ. Therefore all spiritual food has been destroyed for them, not that it itself suffered destruction, but by no longer being available to those who have suffered, and, as far as they were concerned, not existing at all. But our Lord Jesus Christ distributes to those who believe in him the need to live luxuriously, and to revel in the good things from above. For it is written that "The Lord "will not let the soul of the righteous hunger, but he will overthrow "the life of the wicked." Heifers leaped at their mangers, treasures vanished, wine-presses were demolished, because the grain dried up. What shall we store up for ourselves? Herds of cattle wept, because there was no pasture for them, and the flocks of sheep vanished. And at times the God-inspired scripture attributes speech to irrational animals, artfully diversifying the natures of things into what is charming and elegant, and writing, as it were, in character the dispositions of which it would be fitting to think. Then what is the wonder, even if it should say that heifers happened to leap about, and herds of cattle to weep? For as famine was unbearably oppressing them, perhaps they would have both leaped up and died, if they had perception of what was brought upon them. And he says that treasures have vanished and wine-presses have been demolished, perhaps of no deemed worthy of concern, because nothing was being gathered from the fields, but the sickle in the vineyard and on the grape-cluster was idle, and perhaps the ear of corn had withered in the fields, dry and fruitless. For this reason they say, "What shall we store up for ourselves?" But that, as I said, along with the cultivated fruits, the grasses of the wilderness also perished together, he makes it clear, saying that the very flocks of sheep have vanished, utterly destroyed by famine, and deprived of their accustomed and most beloved pasture. And these things will also apply wisely to the misfortunes of the Jews, who have acted insolently, as I said, toward Christ the Savior of all. To you, O Lord, will I cry, for fire has devoured the beautiful places of the wilderness, and a flame has burned up all the trees of the field, and all the beasts of the plain have looked up to you, because the springs of waters have dried up, and fire has eaten up the beautiful places of the wilderness. By "beautiful places of the wilderness" he means perhaps those things growing of their own accord in the unplowed plains; and by "trees of the field," the noble plants in gardens and parks, that are accustomed to bloom with the fruitful seasons; these things both the locust and the blight have almost devoured, as it were in the form of fire. He makes the prayer to God usefully and most skillfully, teaching that one must least of all seek the cessation of the misfortune from another, but to offer supplications only to the one who is able to save, and as the one who brings on out of wrath the things that are accustomed to cause grief. For he says that one must by no means think that such evils happen automatically, but rather that they have been brought upon them as from divine wrath; and this the God of all himself says to us through the voice of another prophet, "Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord has not done?" For none of the things accustomed to afflict either cities or countries would happen, if it were not done with God permitting it. For He saves whom He would choose, and delivers from evils. He persuades them, therefore, to seek release from the things that have caused grief from God, casting as far away as possible the notion that they ought to have needed the hand and help of the falsely named gods in their affairs. And he says that the springs of water have been dried up. For with rain not watering the earth, and with blight added to this, and the locust armed, and the locust-larva jumping, and the caterpillar crawling, how was it doubtful that their means of life would completely and utterly come to nothing? And with the grass also being destroyed, it was somehow entirely necessary for the cattle also to suffer destruction. And I would say that perhaps also for the Jews who turn to God in the last times of the age, it would be fitting to say such words, being afflicted and lamenting in their lack of good things. For the good things for the mind have been consumed for them as if by fire, and a spiritual locust has devoured them, and the springs of water have been dried up. "For he commanded the "clouds not to rain rain upon them," according to what is written, and they have become an impassable and waterless land, which will not be inhabited. But concerning us who have been justified by faith, God proclaimed beforehand, and of the gifts through Christ he indicated that the supply would be most abundant, saying, "In that day the mountains shall drip with "sweetness, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the "springs of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord "and shall water the torrent of the reeds;" and indeed also in another way, "I am the Lord God, I will hearken to "the God of Israel, and I will not forsake them, but I will open "rivers on the mountains, and in the midst of the plains into marshes, "and the thirsty land into aqueducts;" therefore we are in these things. But if they should walk to repentance and look up to God, and they themselves also say, "To you, Lord, I will cry," they will receive the springs of water, and they will draw with us the spiritual water "from the springs of salvation," and they will be given to drink "the torrent of delight" from God the Father, and they will have the fountain of life in their hearts. And there will be set before them for delight also the beautiful places of the wilderness, that is, a good and abundant pasture, to a knowledge of them turning away the divine and evangelical [teaching] understood in Christ. Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim on my holy mountain, and all the inhabitants of the land will be confounded, because the day of the Lord is present, because near is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and mist. The form of the war is again described for us elegantly. And it would be true for both, whether it be understood perchance of the locust and the locust-grub, or whether one might take it of the Babylonians themselves. For he says that since the war has already stepped inside the gates, and has been all but proclaimed throughout all the land of Zion, that is, in all of Judea, all things will be filled with confusion and fears. For the day of the Lord is present, that is, the matter is no longer only a prediction, but the sufferings are in sight, and they have come into the actual experience of what was long ago announced, from which it was far better to have chosen to turn to better things, and to shake off the experience of evils before the attack and its arrival. Therefore he does not permit them to shrink from repentance, but commands them to put away, as it were, their fallen state of mind and their sloth, and to turn quickly to diligence, and in general to the will to defend themselves, clearly by adding God to their side, and wiping away the charges of their ancient accusations by the practice of better things. For this reason he says the day of the Lord is near, on which they will be as in mist and darkness, fearing the famine from the locust, that is, the misery and disaster threatened upon them by the Assyrians. Like the dawn a numerous and strong people will be poured out upon the mountains; its like has not been from of old, and after it none will be added for years to come, for generations of generations. Before it a consuming fire, and behind it a burning flame; like a paradise of delight is the land before its face, and behind it a plain of desolation, and there is no one who escapes it. He seems to call 'dawn' either the dew at dawn, which, whenever it is poured all over the mountains, leaves nothing on them unwatered; or the first rays of the sun, and the immediate and initial shining of the day's light, which almost spreads out upon the peaks of the mountains before all else, and reddens the hills. Thus he says the strong people will be upon the mountains, perhaps the locusts, that is, by similarity to them, the Assyrian, understood henceforth as an incomparable multitude; for he says that its like has not been from of old, nor will it ever be. And since in the invasions of the locusts whatever falls in their way is immediately consumed, and if anything by chance should happen to be left over, this too is the work of those that follow the first; he said a consuming fire is what is before it, and a burning flame what is behind and follows. And I think an army of enemies would do this very thing. For those coming a little later will surely follow the arrogance and ruthlessness of those who have arrived first; and they will make the land like a paradise of delight, utterly shearing it bare, and squandering what is found. But the saying holds true also if it were applied to the locust itself. Like the appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen so will they pursue. As the sound of chariots on the tops of the mountains they will leap, and as the sound of a flame of fire consuming stubble, and as a numerous and strong people drawn up for battle. He says that the locust and the locust-grub, if they should be carried over lands and cities, will be in no way inferior to the most warlike horse; for it will leap upon the land in such a way as perhaps even to imitate the rattling of chariots. For they leap upon all the peaks of mountains, and they fly down upon every hill, and they produce a sound like that of a flame burning up stubble. For they say that the devouring in the fields is not done by them without a noise, but a certain bleating and discordant echo is produced by their teeth, as what falls into them is shattered, as if a wind were fanning a flame. But again to compare it to a crowd of enemies, the unseemly nothing; for it rushes in a multitude, and yields little to those who fight bravely in battle. For the thing is voracious and because of its immeasurable multitude not easily conquered, but rather even difficult to encounter. The same account could also be given concerning the Assyrians; and if someone wished, perhaps, also concerning the expedition of the Romans themselves, who like locusts devoured Israel for having impiously transgressed against our Lord Jesus Christ, it would not be so bad. From his face peoples will be crushed. For, as I said, the thing is completely invincible and hard for men to conquer, an assault of the cankerworm and the locust. Every face like the burning of a pot. For it is true that by unbearable terrors and griefs at times even the bloom of faces withers and somehow blackens into ugliness, being all but changed in color by the disturbances of the mind. They will run like warriors, and like men of war they will scale the walls. For running down equally with the most warlike, being superior to hesitation and fears, they will even be raised above the walls, as if practicing a bold assault. And each will march in his own way, and they will not swerve from their paths, and each will not keep away from his brother. The locust is kingless, yet it marches out in order from a single command. And they say that they go in rows, and fly as if in formation, and are least of all separated, but so attend one another, as if they were brothers, nature itself awarding the mutual love. Weighed down in their weapons they will march. And by weapons I suppose he means the teeth, by which they wage war, and the achievements as in battle, with the grass being consumed, and the crop falling, and plants withering. And they will fall upon their darts, and they will not be finished. Locusts do not strike those being warred against with the points of darts, nor is a bow drawn by them; from where would it be? but they strike as it were with the destruction of edibles, and with the terrors of famine and want. But that for those who have fallen under such a calamity the loss of things in the fields would not suffice, but that having invaded their very homes and cities and troubling them terribly, they will have the army of locusts, that is, the Assyrian himself, he showed by saying And they will not be finished. It is as if he were to say, And this will not be the end of the wrath, but it would go even beyond; for he says: They will seize the city, and run upon the walls, and climb up on the houses, and enter through the windows like thieves. Before their face the earth will be thrown into confusion, and the heaven will be shaken, the sun and the moon will be darkened and the stars will not give their light. You hear that they will fly down even upon the walls, and as if ravaging the grass itself, equally with those accustomed to clothes-stealing, they will burst in through windows, confusing peoples, and all but stirring up everything, so that heaven itself already seems to have been shaken, and the sun and moon, and indeed the stars, to have held back their own light as it were. And again in these things the account has become hyperbolic for us, showing the calamity to be both unbearable and very painful for those who inhabit the earth. But the account is accurate, even if it be understood again as about an army of men, if they should choose to overrun countries and a city. For, pouring over everything equally with the locusts, they ravage the fields, and they also afflict cities, being raised above walls and running into the houses themselves, and rivaling the terrors of an earthquake in their savagery. And the Lord will give his voice before the face of his power; for his camp is very great, for the works of his words are strong; because the day of the Lord is great, great and very manifest; and who will be sufficient for it? I have already said before, that the Prophet's aim is to show the calamity to be terrible and hard to bear, so that they might turn to willing to do better things, and indeed also to deliberate more prudently, those who have grieved the lawgiver by their deviations into wickedness. For the excess of pain knows, it knows how to easily transfer some, as if by necessity, to choosing henceforth to do what is pleasing to the one who is able to save and has the strength to deliver. Therefore, the Lord, he says, will give his voice before the face of his power, practically acting as a general and inciting them as against enemies. For it would be fitting for no other, except for those who act as shield-bearers and are placed before the others, to stir up the fighting spirit and to consider the army camp their own. And through these things he subtly indicates that the terrors do not have a spontaneous attack, nor indeed have they simply happened by chance, but rather that they have been brought on by God, who is clearly grieved and is now justly punishing. And he terrifies them, saying both that the camp is very great, and that the works of his words are mighty. And it is impossible that what God should command to happen would not in every way and entirely come to pass. And indeed he said to one of the holy prophets—this was Jeremiah: "Are not my words like a burning fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock?" For the word of God penetrates as if through everything, and whatever he might speak, nothing withstands it, but rather even hard and resistant things yield; for it is easily shattered, and it gives way to the master's will, even unwillingly. Therefore, great and manifest is the day, he says, on account of the report, which runs through all men, of the terrible things that will be brought upon them. And who will be able for it? That is, no one on earth would be so stubborn and strong as to be able to stand against the divine wrath. And the divine David was very wise when he cried out to God, "You are terrible, and who will stand against you because of your anger?" And now says the Lord our God, Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and with weeping and with lamentation, and rend your hearts and not your garments; and return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, long-suffering and full of mercy, and repents of evils. Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave behind him a blessing, a sacrifice and a libation for the Lord our God? From this you might learn, and very clearly, that it was for no other reason that he set forth the narratives on high; and that he proclaims beforehand to them a disaster that is harsh and entirely difficult to endure, than so that he might henceforth persuade them to come to repentance. For he does not allow them to despair; but he affirms, and very clearly, that if they should choose to think better things, and to correct their own ways at least in the second instance to what is pleasing to God, the things from his wrath will cease completely, and their affairs will pass over into the breadth of good order. And what the manner of both their return and of their prayer should be, he makes plain, saying thus, And now says the Lord our God, Return to me with all your heart. Let the things that are past be cast aside, he says, and let the things that have gone before depart into oblivion; appear better than yourselves in the second instance, propitiate God with fasting and toil, with lamentation and wailing. For it will surely follow for those who have chosen to do these things that they must henceforth be in comfort and luxury. For just as the end of ease, and of falling into pleasures, always concludes in wailing and punishment; so the outcome of gentleness and of the toils of repentance comes into the breadth of prosperity. Therefore, it is useful to weep over sins, and to be grieved according to God. For as the blessed Paul writes, "For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret." And Christ himself also blesses those "who mourn now, for they will be comforted." And indeed our wise Solomon also says something of this sort enigmatically: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting." However, it is necessary to consider this: how great the power of fasting is. It tames the Master, it calms his anger, it overturns punishment. For by tormenting ourselves, we very effectively, as it were, turn away the divine wrath that is raging and savage against us, and we easily restrain the hand of the one who strikes. For if it is true that by merely confessing our sins we are justified by God's pity, how could anyone doubt that by wasting ourselves away with the toils of ascetic practice, and as it were asking for justice, we will gain from God the forgiveness of our sins? Therefore, he commands them to mourn and to rend themselves, not their garments at all, but rather to unfold spiritually the harsh and hardened heart into which the divine fear does not penetrate. So Paul writes to the Corinthians, "You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return for the same—I speak as to children—you also be open." Therefore, it is necessary to widen the heart, as it were, for God, and almost to rend the mind, that it might receive what is His. For to feign grief by tearing one's garments rashly and in vain would in no way benefit those who have chosen to do this; but opening the heart and storing up in it what is pleasing to God would bring no small gain; for this thing will lead to salvation. And that they will not fail to achieve their purpose by making supplications, he confirms by saying that the Lord of all is both loving-kind and very merciful, compassionate and good, and repenting of evils. For even if He should choose to inflict evil on those who have sinned, yet He will be gentle, and not for long; for He easily changes to willing what is good. This, I say, is what it is to repent of evils. And the Prophet, usefully cutting short the rash counsel of those who despaired of salvation, says, Who knows if he will repent and leave a blessing behind him, that is, he will grant to those who turn back a share in a blessing, so that they may again offer a libation and a sacrifice to him, and rejoicing and being glad may light the thank-offerings. Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly, gather the people, sanctify the congregation, choose the elders, gather the infants that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal-canopy. Between the porch and the altar the priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep, and they shall say, Spare your people, O Lord, and give not your inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them, lest they should say among the nations, Where is their God? Through these words he very effectively rouses them to repentance, and usefully commands them to leave no means of diligence for this purpose untried. For he said it was necessary, using a clear and loud proclamation, to sanctify a fast, to proclaim a service, and to gather in the congregation those who ought to serve, it is clear that is, the grieved God of all. And these would be "Young men and maidens, old men with children," and in addition to these, newborn and suckling infants, and indeed bridegrooms, and newly-wedded brides, perhaps running out of bridal chambers still garlanded and refusing their marriage beds, disdaining luxury and drink, and embracing austerity; with applause curtailed, and songs and words of good omen, which it is the custom for some to utter sometimes for those who have married, being silent; and lamenting along with the bridegrooms. For what one of the wise men among us said is true: "Music in a time of mourning is an inopportune tale." Therefore, when divine wrath is hanging over us, it is necessary to mourn, not indeed to love exulting in drinking and luxuries. For that reveling at the wrong time would not escape blame and justice, one of the holy prophets will make clear, saying of those from Israel: "And the Lord of hosts called in that day for weeping and for mourning and for baldness and for girding with sackcloths, but they made for themselves gladness, slaughtering calves and sacrificing sheep, and saying, Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Therefore, one must turn to lamentations and tears when wrath is hanging overhead, and hav- Let drinking be cast aside. But the Prophet says that even the sacred and chosen race must join the mourners, and at the very foundations of the temple, and between the altar to wail earnestly, crying out and saying, Spare, O Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, for the nations to rule over them, so that they may not say among the nations, Where is their God? But if his discourse was only about the locust, why do they not rather ask for deliverance from famine and want? But they are terrified of falling into the hands of enemies, and they beg to be spared mockery and reproach. It is likely, therefore, and I would say even true, that in the riddles concerning the locust the invasion of the Assyrians was written of secretly. But if someone should wish to understand such things even of the locust itself, he would reasonably marvel at the economy of the prophetic decrees. For the very manner of the punishment all but cried out against the folly of Israel, and in addition against the weakness inherent in them. For they exchanged for "gods that are not gods," and forsaking the Creator of all things they have worshiped Baal. But behold, they consider the array of the locust unbearable, the locust larva is armed and they have fallen, they have no help from the falsely-named gods; but those who are defeated by the locust larva and the locust, what cure could they still give to their worshipers if they were to fight against enemies, and were besieged by the phalanxes of the enemy?