Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God summons the priests and leaders to judgment, and accuses them of having been a snare to the people, and of having entangled them in their idols and crimes: For the spirit of fornication, He says, is in the midst of them. Hence He threatens hostile destruction upon them together with the people, and upon Judah, because it followed the wickedness of Israel, saying in verse 5: The arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face; Judah also shall fall with them. Finally, in verse 12, He says He will consume them like a moth and like decay, and in verse 14, tear them apart like a lioness.
Vulgate Text: Hosea 5:1-15
1. Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, and give ear, O house of the king: for to you is the judgment, because you have been a snare to the watchpost, and a net spread upon Tabor. 2. And you have turned aside victims into the deep: and I am the instructor of them all. 3. I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me: for now Ephraim has committed fornication, Israel is defiled. 4. They will not direct their thoughts to return to their God; for the spirit of fornication is in the midst of them, and they have not known the Lord. 5. And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face: and Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity, Judah also shall fall with them. 6. With their flocks and with their herds they shall go to seek the Lord, and shall not find Him: He has withdrawn from them. 7. They have transgressed against the Lord, for they have begotten strange children: now the new moon shall devour them with their portions. 8. Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah: sound the alarm in Beth-aven, behind you, O Benjamin. 9. Ephraim shall be in desolation in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel I have shown what is sure. 10. The princes of Judah have become like those who move the boundary: upon them I will pour out My wrath like water. 11. Ephraim suffers oppression, he is crushed in judgment: because he began to go after filth. 12. And I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah. 13. And Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound: and Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the avenging king: and he shall not be able to heal you, nor shall he be able to loose the chain from you. 14. For I am like a lioness to Ephraim, and like a lion's cub to the house of Judah: I, I will seize and go away: I will take, and there is none who can rescue. 15. I will go and return to My place: until you waste away and seek My face.
Verse 1: Hear this, O priests. — He rebukes first the priests, then the people,...
1. Hear this, O priests. — He rebukes first the priests, then the people, especially the leaders of the people, and finally the courtiers and princes of the king of Israel for idolatry: for the priests and leaders ought to have abolished this and taught the people to abandon it, and instructed them in the true worship of God. By "priests" St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Ribera, and others understand the false priests of the idols in Israel: for these were not true and legitimate, both because they were not of the tribe of Levi; and because they served idols; and because they were appointed not by God but by Jeroboam the idolatrous king, 3 Kings 12:28. Yet they can also be understood as true priests of God. For these were scattered throughout Israel to maintain it in the worship of God; but when Jeroboam introduced his calves, not only the people but also the priests, following the command of their king, worshipped these calves and Baal, and taught others to worship them, indeed compelled them.
For to you is the judgment, — meaning: God summons you to judgment and condemnation; that is, to accuse you for idolatry in a just judgment, and condemn you to the destruction to be inflicted by the Assyrians. "Judgment" therefore here can be taken: first, properly; second, improperly, by catachresis for dispute, accusation, reproof, rebuke, which usually takes place in a judgment; third, metonymically for condemnation, meaning: Appear at the judgment of God, to hear your sentence and condemnation. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus, Hugo, Ribera, and others. Differently the Chaldean and Isidore, meaning: Because yours is the judgment, that is, because it pertains to you to judge, because you wield authority in judgments; hence be present at this judgment of God — but not as judges, but as the accused.
Because you have been a snare to the watchpost, and a net spread upon Tabor. — For "watchpost" the Hebrew is mistpha, commonly maspha, which Vatablus, Arias, Pagninus, and Hebraists and innovators generally take as a proper name of a city. For Mizpah was a city situated on a mountain, and a famous one; for in it was the ark of the covenant, whence the people would come there for prayer. Hence Samuel also judged the people at Mizpah, 1 Kings 7:20. At Mizpah also dwelt Gedaliah and Jeremiah, Jeremiah 40-41. The Hebraists therefore translate: For you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor; and they explain this in two ways. First, Vatablus, Kimchi, and Pagninus, supplying the word "like," explain it, meaning: You are a scandal and stumbling block to the people, so as to capture and lead them into idolatry, and thence into ruin and destruction; just as hunters spread snares at Mizpah and nets on Tabor to catch birds and wild animals. Second, Arias explains, meaning: Jeroboam stationed watchmen and guards at Mizpah and Tabor, who would catch Israelites going to Jerusalem to the temple, and compel them to go to Dan or Bethel, and there worship the golden calves of Jeroboam. But, to omit other objections, against this version stands the fact that Mizpah was not in Israel, where Jeroboam reigned, but in Judah, where Rehoboam reigned, as St. Jerome teaches in Hebrew Places, Adrichomius, and others generally.
Therefore our Castro thinks that this city Mizpah was different from that Mizpah in Judea, and was situated in Israel, namely on Mount Gilead. For Mount Gilead was called Mitspeh or Maspha, that is, watchtower; or, as the Septuagint translates, ὅρασις, that is, vision, from the fact that Laban, making a covenant with Jacob, there called God, as a watchman, as witness and avenger of his covenant by oath, as I said on Genesis 31:48. And so Castro thinks Jeroboam stationed watchmen at Gilead, who would turn the people away from the temple and compel them to worship at Dan and Bethel. This sense seems probable and plausible. But against it stands, first, that no mention of these watchmen is made in the books of Kings or in all of Scripture, though something is hinted about them in Hosea chapter 6:9, as I shall say at that passage. Second, that Gilead is nowhere called Maspha except in Genesis 31:48, and that only in the Hebrew. Third, that Mitspah here in the Hebrew has the article of the dative case; for the Hebrew words literally read: Because you have been a snare to the Mitspah itself, and a net spread over Tabor. Therefore more recent interpreters wrongly translate it as "at Mitspa" or "upon Mitspa"; for Mitspa here is in the dative case. Fourth, because the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and St. Jerome plainly agree with our version, and translate: Because you have been a snare to the watching place, or watchtower. Therefore Mitspa here is not a proper name of a city, but an appellative noun meaning watching or watchtower.
One may ask, what is this watching? First, St. Jerome explains, meaning: You have become a snare instead of a watchtower, in the sense I shall explain shortly. For the Hebrew lamed in lemitspha sometimes means "for" or "instead of." Second, the abstract can be taken here for the concrete, in the Hebrew manner: watching, therefore, can be understood as the watched people, or the people committed to your, O priests and leaders of the people, care and watching, meaning: You, O leaders (for it is these He addresses), who ought to have watched, kept vigil, and guarded the people in the worship of God, have instead by your words and examples dragged them to idolatry. Thus Ezekiel was appointed by God as a watchman over the people, chapter 3:17: see what I said there. So Cyril, Albert, Hugo, Emmanuel, Mariana, and Lyranus. Or certainly, to the watching, that is, to prophecy, that is, to the Prophets, meaning:
You, O Israelites, have been a snare to the prophets and teachers, because you lay traps for them, and catch and kill them. So the Chaldee, Theodoret, Theophylact. Therefore mitspha, that is 'watching,' signifies either mitspha, that is 'the watched,' namely the people; or tsophim, that is 'the watchers,' namely the prophets; just as if you were to say: You have been a snare to the bishopric, that is, to the Bishop, and to those subject to the Bishop; whence the Syriac translates: For you have been snares to the watchman.
Wherefore, allegorically, Cyril understands this of the Jews who lay in wait for Christ (for He is the Watchman and Bishop of our souls, as St. Peter says in his first epistle, chapter 2, last verse) and His words and deeds everywhere, so as to drive Him to death and the cross, as they finally did. So also Leo de Castro, who thinks this is the literal sense, and accordingly explains this entire chapter, indeed the entire prophet, literally about Christ, in which he errs. For the prophet speaks of Christ allegorically, not literally.
Note: In the Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia between mispat, that is 'judgment,' and mitspha, that is 'watching,' as if to say: For you mispat, that is 'judgment,' is appointed, because you have been a snare lemitspha, that is 'to the watchtower.' Again, between pach, that is 'snare,' and mitspha, that is 'lookout,' as if to say: Instead of a lookout you have become a snare: for it was your duty to watch, and to warn and guard the people: but you yourselves have ensnared them, and led them into a snare, that is, into captivity to the enemy, according to the interpretation of St. Jerome given in the first place. Just as if you were to play upon words in Latin, and say: You watchmen have become plunderers or executioners; you guardians, traitors; you caretakers, betrayers; you defenders, despoilers; you shepherds, destroyers; you bishops, apostates. So the Fifth General Council, in its fifth session, from the words of St. Cyril, says this snare of Hosea is Theodore of Mopsuestia, and similar teachers of heresy and falsehood.
And a net upon Mount Tabor. — Supply the word 'like,' as if to say: Just as hunters spread a net for birds and wild beasts on Tabor, so you have laid traps for either the people, or the prophets and preachers. Now Tabor, or as the Septuagint and Josephus call it, Itabyrius, is a most beautiful mountain in the middle of the plain of Galilee, wonderfully rounded on all sides with equal proportions: at its summit a flat plain extends for twenty-six stadia: it enjoys the healthiest climate: it is planted all around with vines, olives, and other fruit-bearing trees: perpetually moist with dew, always green with the foliage of trees and multicolored herbs, and most fragrant with the sweet scent of flowers of every kind. Hence there is a great abundance of wild animals, and especially of birds, whose pleasant song makes it most delightful, and it is famous for hunting: whence hunters spread their nets there, as Hosea says here. In short, this whole mountain seems born and made for delighting the eyes and refreshing the spirit: and therefore Christ the Lord deservedly chose it both for His prayer and for His Transfiguration, in which, shining brighter than the sun and whiter than snow before Moses and Elijah, He gave His disciples some foretaste of heavenly beatitude and glory. So Bochart, Bredenbach and Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land.
Tropologically, Theophylact says: Watchmen, that is Bishops, Pastors and Prelates, whose duty it was to watch over the salvation of their subjects, become a net for them, when by false doctrine, or evil counsels, or by their conduct and example they entangle them with themselves and drag them into crimes and ruin; and this on Tabor, which name in Hebrew signifies either 'purity' or 'coming light,' says St. Jerome, because in the very beauty of the priesthood they bring foulness to souls; in purity itself they defile; in the very light they pour forth darkness; from the very height they cast the people into the depths, says Sebastian Barradius, book VII, chapter 5. Whence the Antiochene Arabic translates: Because you have become a snare for stumbling, and like a net spread over an abyss; and the Alexandrian Arabic: You have now become like snares in places of ambush, and like bait placed for hunting in the woods of animals.
Verse 2: And you have turned aside victims (namely from God, and from His temple, and...
2. And you have turned aside victims (namely from God, and from His temple, and from the altar of Jerusalem, to idols and their altars set up in Dan and Bethel: and this) into the deep, — namely of impiety. Whence the Chaldee translates: They sacrifice to idols most lavishly. For the Hebrews use verbs as adverbs. So Ribera. The Hebrew literally reads: Those who turn aside the sacrifice have gone deep, that is, they have gone into the depth of crimes, they have descended profoundly, they have fallen to the bottom of idolatry, and, as Hosea says, chapter 9:9: 'They have sinned deeply.' Isaiah uses the same phrase, chapter 31:6: 'Return as deeply as you had gone back' (in Hebrew: as you made deep).
you had gone back deeply (in Hebrew: as you made deep). Children of Israel.' And in chapter 30:33, Topheth is said to be, that is Gehenna, deep and wide; in Hebrew, it made itself deep and widened itself. So St. Jerome, Albert, Lyra, Arias, Ribera and others. Otherwise Vatablus and Clarius, who by 'depth' understand cunning and craftiness, as if to say: Apostates who turn aside from the true religion found a subtle and cunning way of sacrificing to foreign gods: for they say they worship idols in honor of God. So the French say: Voilà un homme profond, when they mean to denote a cunning and shrewd man.
The Septuagint refers this to the net which preceded, for they translate: Those who hunt have transfixed their prey; so that the Hebrew 'they made deep' is the same as saying that they deeply drove either their nets into the ground, or their spears and hunting-javelins into the bodies of their prey, namely the hunters: for one should read 'they transfixed,' as the Roman edition of Caraffa has it, St. Jerome, Theodoret and Theophylact; not 'they feared,' as the Complutensian and Royal editions have. The Syriac translates: And the hunters who hunt have covered their snares, as if to say: They have been caught in their own snares, which they had set for others; but I will instruct (reprove) them all, I know. Mystically, St. Gregory, homily 4 on Ezekiel, says: 'There are some who afflict themselves in prayer with lamentations, so as either to acquire earthly advantages, or to appear holy to men. What are these but people who carry their victims into the deep? For by the fact that what they seek is in the lowest place, they lay down the sacrifice of their prayer downward.'
And I am the instructor of them all, — as if to say: They sin deeply, yet I have never ceased to reprove them through the prophets and to instruct them, lest they commit so great a crime. So St. Jerome and the Septuagint, who translate: I am their teacher. Lyra translates less correctly: and I am the knower of them, as if to say: Let them not think they sin in My presence; for I know and see all their crimes. For the Hebrew musar does not mean knowledge, but correction, rebuke, chastisement: whence the discipline and correction of children is called musar. Therefore the Chaldee translates: I bring reproofs, or chastisements upon all of them: which Theodoret and Theophylact explain as future, as if to say: I will chastise them with destruction, I will punish them with captivity.
Verse 3: I know Ephraim (that is, as he explains rhythmically in Hebrew fashion, as if...
3. I know Ephraim (that is, as he explains rhythmically in Hebrew fashion, as if through an antistrophic song, when he adds): And Israel is not hidden from me. — Or rather, he calls Ephraim the royal and capital tribe; and Israel the remaining nine, which followed Ephraim's idolatry and rule; for he distinguishes Ephraim from Israel in verse 5, as if to say: I know the character and disposition of Israel, namely that it is most inclined to idols, and most turned away from Me, and that it readily followed the idolatry and golden calves of Jeroboam, who was their first king from the tribe of Ephraim, and so deeply impressed it upon its heart that, as if a fellow tribesman,
the whole people, and all subsequent kings, imitated and followed him in wickedness, nor could they be recalled from it by any warnings or threats of the Prophets, unless they were crushed by destruction and their hearts broken by harsh captivity. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Albert, Arias, Lyra and Vatablus.
Tropologically, note here that God knows and foresees the most intimate and secret thoughts, desires, inclinations, and intentions of minds. Whence in Scripture He is called the knower of hearts, because He searches the inmost parts and hearts. Therefore Isaiah, chapter 29:15, gravely rebukes the impious who think they are hidden from God, saying: 'Who sees us, and who knows us?' which is the same as if, he says, 'the thing formed should say to its maker: You do not understand,' You do not know me — which is impious; for it belongs to God to rule and preserve His creatures, which He created and formed from nothing: therefore He who created them likewise knows them intimately, penetrates and sees through them. The Wise Man says admirably, Proverbs 15:11: 'Hell and destruction are before the Lord, how much more the hearts of the children of men:' destruction, that is, eternal damnation, as if to say: God knows the lowest depths of hell; and who, how many, and how much on account of their sins are to be damned or have been damned; therefore much more does He know the secrets of each person's heart. Thus this argument from the greater to the lesser has force and is compelling, as if to say: When you sin most secretly in your chamber, indeed in your heart, when you think you are hidden, you are so far from being hidden from God that He simultaneously sees the punishments which you precisely deserve, and which He Himself has prepared for you in hell for that crime. You sin and satisfy an empty lust, and meanwhile you do not think of hell and the eternal fires that are being prepared for you by God. This is what the Apostle says gravely and significantly, Hebrews 4:12: 'The word of God is living and effective, and more penetrating than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature invisible in His sight: but all things are naked and open to His eyes.' See what I said there. And this is the reason why God foresees and foreknows all future contingencies, and all future free acts of the will, whether absolutely or conditionally — that is, if the will were placed in such and such a series of things and such circumstances, what it would do and choose; because He Himself foresees and fully comprehends the whole will, and all its hidden affections and inclinations, as well as all circumstances and things, and so sees the will itself, when placed and composed with such grace, temptation, and other circumstances, as certainly and infallibly, yet freely, determining itself to this or that. For he who knows and comprehends a cause with comprehensive knowledge, comprehends also all its effects and acts, even the free ones.
Verse 4: They will not set their thoughts to return to their God. — It can also be...
4. They will not set their thoughts to return to their God. — It can also be translated from the Hebrew,
namely: Their works (impious and idolatrous, to which they constantly devote themselves) will not allow them to return to the Lord. So the Chaldee and Vatablus, to which what follows fittingly connects:
Because the spirit of fornications is in the midst of them. — As if to say: They are so given to idolatry that they seem to be driven and maddened by the spirit and frenzy of idolizing, just as cows in summer, maddened by the heat, run about wildly and cannot be recalled or restrained by the herdsman. Vatablus interprets otherwise; for he understands the spirit of the false prophets, as if to say: They have been deceived by false prophets, and imbued with their doctrine and idolatrous spirit, they are mad for idols.
Verse 5: And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face. — He calls arrogance the...
5. And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face. — He calls arrogance the pride of Israel, by which, spurning God, it followed idols: again, arrogance here is taken for the punishment due to the sin of arrogance, as if to say: This arrogance of Israel shall be punished, so that the punishment answers to the sin, and says to him publicly, as if to his face: Behold, because, O Israel, you were so arrogant and rebellious against your God, therefore you are now deservedly humbled and punished by Him. Hence Vatablus and Pagninus translate: The pride of Israel shall testify against him, and that to his face. Whence, explaining, he adds: 'And Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity.' Therefore the Septuagint, instead of 'shall answer,' translates: Israel shall be humbled by the injury (the arrogance injurious to God) to his face; the Chaldee: the glory of Israel shall be cast down while they themselves watch.
'Shall answer,' therefore means: shall be punished and humbled in equal measure, so that one can justly reply to anyone complaining that he is being punished in this way because he was so arrogant. For punishment is owed and proportioned, and so it corresponds equally to the fault: just as a reward to virtue, a wage to labor, a harvest to the farmer, as Jacob says to Laban, Genesis 30:33, to which this alludes. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Albert, Hugo, Lyra and Ribera.
In his face. — That is, openly, publicly, while they themselves and all others look on and approve God's just judgment and vengeance. So the Chaldee, Theophylact and others already cited. Arias interprets otherwise, who by 'in his face' thinks shamelessness is signified, as if to say: The arrogance and pride of Israel is seen and shines forth in his face, with swollen, haughty and tumid eyes and eyebrows, according to that of Isaiah 3:9: 'The look of their face has answered them.' See what I said there. Blessed Caesarius, Bishop of Arles, truly said in homily 23: 'Whoever is proud is full of a demon.'
Morally, St. Gregory, book XXVI of the Morals, chapter 13, teaches from this passage of Hosea that lust is the punishment of arrogance: 'Hidden guilt,' he says, 'is followed by open punishment; so that interior faults are punished by exterior evils, and the heart that was secretly swelling publicly collapses.' He proves this from what Hosea said here: 'The spirit of fornication is in the midst of them.' Assigning the cause, he adds: 'And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face;' as if to say: The guilt
of the flesh answers in open lust. Therefore the purity of chastity must be preserved by the guardianship of humility. For if the spirit is devoutly pressed down under God, the flesh is not unlawfully raised above the spirit; the spirit retains its entrusted dominion over the flesh, if however under God it acknowledges the rights of legitimate servitude. For if by pride it despises its Author, it justly receives war from the subjected flesh.' He proves this by the example of Adam, who as soon as he rebelled against God in disobedience and pride, felt the sting of the flesh; and therefore, blushing, he covered his naked members with fig leaves: 'so that, defeated, he might learn what he had lost through his pride.'
And Israel and Ephraim shall fall in their iniquity. — This is a real answer, not a verbal one; about which he already said: 'And the arrogance of Israel shall answer in his face.' He distinguishes Israel from Ephraim, as the body from the head, the kingdom from the capital. For the tribe of Ephraim gave the first king, Jeroboam, and many of his successors thereafter to Israel: whence Ephraim contained the government and kingdom of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, and was their head and capital, as it were. The meaning, therefore, is as if to say: The ten tribes shall fall with their head, namely with their government, with their royal tribe Ephraim, and its king and kingdom, and this 'in their iniquity,' that is, on account of the merit of iniquity, because of their iniquity. For the preposition 'in' in Hebrew often signifies merit or demerit, and means the same as 'because of,' as anyone who reads the Psalms knows well.
I reckon them as strangers. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Albert, Hugo and Clarius. Rupert and Lyra add to this, who by 'alien children' understand disciples, associates, or subjects, whom they themselves taught their idolatry.
Second, Cyril, Theodoret, Theophylact, Clarius, Emmanuel and Mariana think they are called 'alien children' because they were begotten from foreign women, namely from the daughters of the nations, marriages with whom were forbidden them by God, Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:3. Whence the Chaldee translates: They have acted wrongly against the word of the Lord, because they have taken for themselves children from the daughters of the nations.
Now a month shall devour them, — as if to say: Every month the enemy and plague will rush upon them, and will strike and devastate them. Whence the Chaldee translates: Now I will bring against them peoples month by month, who will plunder the fruits of their land; and the Antiochene Arabic: Now robbers shall devour them, and their nation; and the Alexandrian Arabic: Assyria shall eat them, and all their goods. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Vatablus, Emmanuel and others: and it is clear from IV Kings 15:19 and 29 that under Pul, Tiglath-pileser, and Shalmaneser the incursions of the Assyrians into Samaria were frequent. Again, that God sent successive and continuous plagues one after another upon the Israelites is signified by Joel 1:4: 'What the caterpillar left, the locust ate; and what the locust left, the cankerworm ate; and what the cankerworm left, the blight consumed.'
Second, Clarius and Vatablus take 'month' synecdochically for a short time. They explain, they say, that 'now' which he had said, when he says 'month,' as if to say: After the time of a month, that is, the briefest of times, they shall perish with all their possessions: or, this month they shall be devastated and devoured. For the Prophet seems to have said this when the enemy and destruction were already imminent; whence he adds: 'Blow the trumpet in Gibeah.' This interpretation seems full and easy.
Third, Lyra, Mariana and Arias, following Rabbi Solomon, take 'month' to mean Ab, that is July: for they think that Samaria with the kingdom of Israel was captured and destroyed in July. But this is uncertain: what is certain is that in the same month of July Jerusalem was burned with its temple by the Chaldeans, and the entire kingdom of the Hebrews, or the posterity of Israel, IV Kings 25:8; therefore you may more certainly attribute these things to that.
Finally, the Septuagint translates 'month' as 'blight'; they seem therefore to have read chasil, that is 'blight,' instead of chodesh, that is 'month'; while Aquila translates 'new moon,' perhaps because he thought Samaria was destroyed on the first day of the month. This version of Aquila provides a notable allegory and tropology. For the new moon, or novilunium, which was for the Hebrews the first day of the month (for they began the month with the new moon), symbolically represents a new government, and consequently a change of the state of the nation and kingdom, as if to say: Shortly the new moon shall come, that is, a new monarch, namely Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar,
and their new government, which shall devour the Israelites and Jews, and their ancient nation, customs and kingdom. 'For a new king, a new law, a new people,' as the saying goes. And this is what the Hebrew chodesh means, namely, renewal, novelty, from the root chadash, that is 'he renewed, he made new': for hence the new moon, or calends, are called chodesh, because then the renewal of the moon takes place, and consequently of the lunar month, which the Hebrews used. And so all human affairs, all nations, all empires are under the moon, and are ruled by the moon, that is, by vicissitude, mutability, and as it were by fortune. They are therefore lunatic, and like the moon, and with the moon they quickly pass, run their course, and come to an end at the new moon, when a new king and new government arises.
Wherefore that heavenly woman of Apocalypse 12:1, representing the Church and the faithful, has the moon under her feet, because the faithful and saints are higher than the earth and the moon, that is, than all the changeableness of temporal things, and with St. Paul they have their mind and their citizenship in heaven.
With their portions. — The Septuagint: and their allotments: allotment, that is, the lots, namely the lands and fields, which had fallen by lot to each tribe and family, Joshua chapter 15; whence Leo the Hebrew translates: with their fields.
Verse 8: Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. — The trumpet was of horn, made...
8. Blow the trumpet in Gibeah, the horn in Ramah. — The trumpet was of horn, made from a horn: the horn was of bronze, sometimes of silver, as if to say: The enemy is at hand, battle or siege is imminent; therefore sound the alarm and summon the people to arms, to resist the enemy. Note: Gibeah and Ramah were famous cities in the tribe of Benjamin, neighboring each other and situated on a mountain: whence they received their name. For Ramah means 'high place,' Gibeah means 'hill.' Therefore the Septuagint translates: Sound the trumpet upon the hills, resound in the heights. Now Benjamin adhered to Judah, and these two tribes were united under the scepter and family of David at the time of Rehoboam, when the remaining ten tribes made their schism, electing Jeroboam as king. Therefore, after Israel, he announces destruction to these also, for he explains what he said: 'Judah also shall fall with them,' as if to say: O two tribes, do not think you will be immune from the disaster and destruction of Israel; rather, sound the trumpets: for I see in spirit that war and destruction are imminent for the ten tribes, who worship idols in Bethel and Bethaven: I see likewise that, once they are carried away, the enemy will turn against you as neighbors, and will equally devastate and destroy you. So St. Jerome, Hugo, Lyra, Ribera, a Castro and others. For this reason, after he said: 'Howl in Bethaven,' which was a city of the ten tribes, he adds: 'Behind you, O Benjamin,' as if to say: After Bethaven, which is behind you, O Benjamin, the enemy, creeping forward like a flame, will likewise invade and seize you:
For your own house is at stake when your neighbor's wall is on fire.
Another reason why in Gibeah and Ramah
and faithful forewarning. So the Chaldee, Clarius, Vatablus and a Castro. This interpretation is fitting and corresponds better to the punctuation of the Hebrew, Chaldean, Greek and Roman Latin Bibles.
He gives this when the Chaldee translates: Sound the trumpet and prophesy that destroyer peoples are coming against them, because they made Saul king over themselves, who was from Gibeah of Benjamin, etc., and because they did not at all accept the words of the prophet Samuel, who was from Ramah. But even if these things about Saul and Samuel are true, they are too remote; and the discussion here is not about them, but about the present idolatry, on account of which the Israelites were to be punished with destruction by the Assyrians, and the Jews by the Chaldeans.
Howl. — In Hebrew hariu, that is, cry out, shout together, namely to arms, because the enemy is present. Whence Vatablus translates: sound the alarm. The Septuagint: proclaim in the house of On; or cry out, as about a matter already desperate and lost, because the enemy is already plundering and setting fire to the city, and slaughtering everyone: for then the cry and wailing of children and women is usually heard: and this seems to be what our translator meant when he rendered it 'howl.' So Rupert, Haymo and Albert. Now the Septuagint translates 'in the house of On,' over which the Greek interpreters puzzle; but I say the Septuagint, instead of beth aven, read beth on by crasis. Therefore Bethaven, that is 'house of iniquity,' namely of the idol, is the same as Bethon, that is 'house of sorrow'; for idol and crime are called in Hebrew 'labor' and 'sorrow,' because it is their cause. Therefore from Bethaven, that is, from the house of sin, one goes to Bethon, that is, to the house of sorrow, both present and eternal, namely to hell.
Behind you, O Benjamin, — as if to say: From behind, the enemy presses and threatens you, O Benjamin; for he is already storming Bethaven, which is adjacent to you from behind; so Clarius, Vatablus and others. In Hebrew it is: after you, Benjamin, namely the enemy is in Bethaven. It is surprising that the Septuagint translates exeste, that is, 'he has gone out of his mind,' or Benjamin has been seized with mental stupor and ecstasy.
Verse 9: In the day of rebuke (of punishment, vengeance and destruction. Refer these...
9. In the day of rebuke (of punishment, vengeance and destruction. Refer these words both to what precedes: 'Ephraim shall be in desolation.' So the Hebrew, the Chaldee, the Septuagint and the Roman Latin, as if to say: O how greatly Ephraim shall be devastated in the day of destruction! and to what follows): Among the tribes of Israel I have shown faithfulness, — as if to say: In the day of destruction 'I have shown,' that is, I shall show that my threats were faithful and true, with which through the Prophets I threatened and foretold this destruction to them; I shall therefore show them my faithfulness, that is, truth or fidelity: for the destruction which I foretold and threatened shall come to pass. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Arias and Ribera. Others, however, separate these words from what follows, and refer them only to what precedes. Whence they take the following 'I have shown' properly in the past tense, as if to say: I have frequently and faithfully warned the ten tribes about the future destruction unless they repented: I have therefore fulfilled my word through faithful warning: therefore they cannot accuse Me or excuse themselves on the ground that they were not forewarned by Me. With these words, therefore, He shuts their mouths: for He calls faithfulness the sincere, friendly
Verse 10: The princes of Judah have become like those who remove the boundary, — namely...
10. The princes of Judah have become like those who remove the boundary, — namely someone else's, that is, of another's field and estate, that is, those who transfer, as the Septuagint and the Syriac translate, and advance the boundary, that is, the stone, post, or boundary column (by which one's own fields are bounded and divided from those of others), namely in order to add them, or part of them, to their own fields and estates: which is a sin of injustice and theft, forbidden by the law of God, Deuteronomy chapter 19:18. For the ancients used to mark the boundaries of their estates either with a stone buried in the ground, as is still done, or with an erected column, or a marker, so that it would be clear how far their estate extended, lest it be invaded or occupied by another. This stone, the boundary and sign dividing field from field, was called a terminus. Hence Terminus was a god for the Gentiles, under whose protection they believed the boundaries of fields to be, whose festival was called the Terminalia. We see such Terminus gods everywhere in Rome, preserved and displayed as monuments of antiquity in the gardens of the great. Now the meaning here is manifold.
First, as if to say: The princes of Judah remove the boundary stones of fields, and invade others' fields, and annex them to their own against right and law. So the Chaldee, Arias and a Castro. But although there may be an allusion to this, and although he may touch upon this crime of theirs in passing, nevertheless all that precedes and follows looks elsewhere, namely to idolatry.
Second, St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo, Lyra, Mariana and others explain it as if to say: The princes of Judah and the Jews themselves rejoice that the ten tribes have been carried off by the Assyrians, so that they may extend their own boundaries and occupy their land. But this is hardly credible, especially of the pious king Hezekiah, under whom the ten tribes were carried away. Again, even if he had done this, he would have done so lawfully: for Judah could justly have occupied the land of Israel once it was carried away: for he was its nearest heir, and could and should have succeeded it as a brother succeeds a brother. For all of Canaan had been given by God to Jacob and his descendants; whence if any of them died or were carried away, their brothers succeeded to their possessions. Finally, the reason opposed to the former interpretation tells against it.
Third, therefore, we shall better explain it thus, as if to say: The princes of Judah are like plunderers who move their own boundaries to invade others' land. For in the same way they themselves transfer the boundaries of My faith and worship, and of My Church, and wish to attach and join to themselves the gods of the nations, and their worship, temples and altars, and the nations themselves and the synagogue of the unfaithful. So Theophylact, Theodoret and Theodore of Antioch, who says: 'They transfer My boundaries and rights, transferring the honor due to Me to idols, in the manner of those who against
right move others' boundaries.' For this is what the word 'like' requires: for it signifies that they are not properly movers of boundaries, but only like them. Ribera adds, as if to say: The Jews, not content with worshipping the idols that were in Judah, also crossed into foreign territories, such as Bethaven, which belonged to the ten tribes, indeed even into Assyria, to worship their idols, and fill their temples and altars with their own sacrifices, and even to bring these idols from Assyria into Judah, as Ahaz did, IV Kings chapter 15:10 and 18. The following words demand this interpretation, for there follows: 'Because he began to go after filth,' that is, idols. And more clearly in verse 13: 'And Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to the avenging king.' For the Jews, just as the Israelites, pressed by enemies, fled to neighboring nations seeking help; and to obtain it, they allied themselves with them in faith and religion, and worshipped their idols, and even transferred them into Judah: whence Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea here, and other Prophets everywhere reprove this. For this reason our translator renders it not 'transferring' but 'assuming the boundary': because the Jews assumed these idols of the nations for themselves, as if they were their own protective and boundary god, such as was the god Terminus for the Romans. For the minor Prophets speak concisely, enigmatically, and in parables, and are therefore obscure, because with few words they signify many things and allude to many things.
Finally, the Alexandrian Arabic translates: Like those who have been changed in their measuring-lines: for in ancient times they used to measure fields and estates with cords; the Antiochene Arabic: The princes of Judah have become like one who has been released with his wings. This seems to look back to what was said in chapter 4:19: 'The wind has bound him in its wings.'
Tropologically, those who 'assume the boundary' in faith are heretics, who, transgressing the boundaries of religion established by the Fathers, assume for themselves as an idol the heresy of Luther, Calvin, etc. In morals, those who, transgressing the boundaries of justice or charity established by the Decalogue, take concubines for themselves, usurp the estates, houses and properties of others. Again, those who set as the goal and end of their actions not God's honor but their own; who seek dignities and prelacies; who pursue fame and reputation not in heaven but on earth; who strive to elevate and exalt their families beyond right and law.
I will pour out my wrath upon them like water, — as if to say: 'With a multitude of enemies, as with a flood of a river (or torrent), I will overwhelm them,' says St. Jerome and Theodoret. Whence a Castro: 'I will pour out,' he says, 'upon them my indignation like a flood.' He seems to allude to the flood of Noah, by which God overwhelmed all the impious. But since He says 'water,' not a river, not a torrent, not a flood; therefore second, more simply, with Vatablus and Ribera we shall understand it of water, which pours entirely out of an overturned and inverted vessel, so that scarcely a drop clings or remains; for water is entirely liquid and fluid, because it has nothing glutinous or viscous that would cling to a vessel, as oil, milk, honey, etc. have, which therefore if poured out leave a portion clinging to the vessel, as if to say: Just as water from an inverted vessel all pours out at once, so I will pour out all My anger and My entire fury upon them, all at once and at the same time. So Christ, Psalm 21:13, says: 'I am poured out like water,' as if to say: I have poured out all My strength, spirit, and blood like water poured out. So the Israelites, surrounded by the Philistines, repentant, called upon the Lord: 'And they drew water and poured it out before the Lord,' as if they were saying: We are before You, Lord, like this water poured out; whence it follows: 'And they said: We have sinned against You, Lord.' Therefore the Chaldee translates: And they filled waters, and poured out their heart in repentance. And St. Gregory on that passage: 'For what is it,' he says, 'to draw water, but to produce streams of tears from the deep confusion of a penitent soul?' etc.
Verse 11: Ephraim suffers oppression (The Hebrews call 'oppression' violence, whether it...
11. Ephraim suffers oppression (The Hebrews call 'oppression' violence, whether it comes from an enemy, or from an accuser, or from anyone else who uses force or injustice; for this is what the Hebrew osec means, as if to say: Israel shall be oppressed by the Assyrians unjustly, inasmuch as they are tyrants, yet justly with respect to its own crimes and God the just avenger; whence) he is broken in judgment, — both in the just judgment of God and in the unjust judgment of the Assyrians. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Hugo and Lyra. He alludes to a trial in which someone through the false accusations of lying witnesses, or of an unjust judge, is op-
pressed, condemned, punished. Whence for 'broken' the Hebrew is retsuts, that is, shaken, oppressed, trampled, laid low, prostrated. For thus the tyrant Shalmaneser was here as it were the judge, who unjustly shook, oppressed, despoiled, and killed the Israelites. Therefore 'judgment' here means vengeance and punishment inflicted as it were through a judicial process, which on God's part was just and a just retribution for crimes, but on Shalmaneser's part was unjust: for the Israelites had not harmed him.
Second, Vatablus takes 'judgment' in its proper sense, as if to say: Israel will be oppressed by force and unjust judgments among the nations, among which it will be captive. For this is what usually happens to foreigners, especially captives. Therefore when the Israelites, oppressed by the Assyrians, contended with them in court, and demanded back their rights and property, they were repelled by the Assyrian judge as foreigners and captives, and the case was awarded to the Assyrian oppressor.
Third, the Septuagint thinks the crime of Ephraim is denoted here, on account of which God resolved to pour out His wrath upon it. Whence they translate: Ephraim has oppressed his adversary, he has trampled upon judgment; because he began to go after vanities, namely after idols. For the injury done to God through idolatry is the origin of injury, oppression and injustice toward one's neighbor: just as conversely those who are faithful to God are also faithful to their neighbor. Namely, instead of asuc, that is 'suffering oppression,' the Septuagint with a different pointing read asoc, that is 'to oppress, to calumniate'; likewise instead of retsuts, that is 'broken,' they read with different points ratsots, that is 'to break,' that is, he oppressed, he broke: for the Hebrews use infinitives in place of the past tense.
Because he began to go after filth, — that is, after idols. For Scripture calls these filth and dung, because they are the most worthless and putrid divinities, to bring them into hatred and contempt. Second, the Chaldee translates: Because he went to wander after the mammon of iniquity, as if to say: Therefore Ephraim suffers violence and is crushed by judgment, because he himself in like manner oppressed the poor for bribes in judgment, and condemned the innocent. Third, Clarius, Arias, Vatablus and Pagninus translate: Because he began to go after a command; and explain it thus, as if to say: Ephraim willingly and of his own accord followed the command of Jeroboam about worshipping the golden calves, which he therefore worshipped. For in the Hebrew it is now read tsau, that is 'command.' But the ancients read otherwise, the Septuagint, Chaldee, St. Jerome and others, namely tsavi, and with the quiescent vau elided, tso, that is 'filth, dung,' namely idols. For these the Septuagint calls 'vanities.'
Verse 12: And I will be like a moth to Ephraim (as if to say: Gradually through the...
12. And I will be like a moth to Ephraim (as if to say: Gradually through the Assyrians I will pluck, corrode, consume and destroy the ten tribes:) and like rottenness (in Hebrew rachab, that is 'woodworm' (and so some think it should be read here, with Rabbi David: for woodworm corresponds to the moth which preceded), or 'decay' (for this is the rottenness of bones and wood, by which it corrodes and consumes them) to the house of Judah, — as if to say: I will consume the ten tribes through the Assyrians more quickly, as a moth quickly devours cloth, since it is soft; but the two tribes more slowly, as decay erodes wood more slowly, since it is hard. So St. Jerome, Lyra,
Vatablus. Moreover the Septuagint translates: I am like a disturbance to Ephraim, and like a goad to the house of Judah; the Syriac: I will be like a tremor to Ephraim, and a tremor to the house of Judah; the Antiochene Arabic: I who have troubled Ephraim, and I am like one biting the house of Judah; the Alexandrian Arabic: And I will cast down Ephraim. And so today we see God, like a moth, gradually and imperceptibly corroding, impoverishing and consuming sinful families, cities and provinces. The same is felt tropologically by the faithful, the cleric, and the religious in their soul, when they sin or grow lukewarm in God's service and their own duty: for now they perceive this grace being taken from them, now that virtue and strength, now another.
Note: He aptly compares God to a moth and a woodworm, because he called Israel and its idolatry 'filth': for moths and woodworms attack a garment or wood that is not clean and polished, but covered with age, dust, and other filth, squalid and as it were wasted. For experience teaches that moths are born from dust, mold and decay. Whence Pliny, book 11, chapter 35: 'The same dust,' he says, 'creates moths in wool and clothing, especially if a spider is enclosed with it; for it is thirsty, and absorbing all moisture, increases dryness.' And Horace, book II of the Satires, satire III:
Whose coverlet, a feast for moths and clothes-moths, rots in a chest.
Hence Martial, book II, threatens moths to a sordid man: Do not fear death, Naevolus, but fear the moths.
Wherefore tropologically, the moth aptly represents people given to the flesh and pleasure: for pleasure itself consumes them like a moth. Whence St. Gregory, explaining that passage of Job chapter 4:19: 'Those who dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, shall be consumed as by a moth,' says thus: 'The moth indeed does damage, but makes no sound: so the minds of the wicked, because they neglect to consider their losses, lose their integrity as if unknowingly. For they lose innocence from the heart, truth from the mouth, continence from the flesh, and through the passage of time, life from their years. But they do not feel it, while they are entangled with all their desire in temporal cares. Therefore they are consumed as if by a moth, because they endure the bite of sin without a sound, while they do not know how great are the losses of life and innocence they suffer.' Again, the moth, says the same Gregory, book XVIII of the Morals, chapter 11, 'builds its house by corrupting it,' so gluttony and lust corrupt the flesh in which they arise. Moreover the moth consumes papers and cloth without any profit to anyone, and finally consumes itself; gluttony and lust do the same.
luxury. There exists on this subject an elegant riddle about the moth: The letter fed me, yet what a letter is I know not. I have lived in books, yet I am no more studious for it. I have devoured the Muses, yet I myself have made no progress.
Finally, the moth secretly gnawing at cloths signifies God's hidden judgment, and thence hidden losses and slaughter, as Pineda notes on the passage of Job cited.
Verse 13: And Ephraim saw his sickness. — Namely that his empire was weakening,...
13. And Ephraim saw his sickness. — Namely that his empire was weakening, languishing, failing, and tending toward decline.
And Judah his wound (in Hebrew mazor, that is, his bandage, that is, his wound wrapped and bound with cloths. It signifies the wound and disaster which Judah received from Rezin king of Syria, and from Pekah king of Israel, who carried away many Jews, IV Kings, chapter 15:38 and chapter 16:5-6; so St. Jerome, who secondly adds that by this 'wound' can be understood the alliance and association by which Judah was bound to Israel in idolatry and crime; or rather the conspiracy and plot by which Rezin and Pekah conspired against Ahaz and Judah.
Moreover) Ephraim (to heal this wound of his) went to Assyria, — as if to a physician and surgeon, that is, he sent ambassadors to the king of the Assyrians, seeking help and protection from him. Menahem king of Israel did this, sending to Pul king of Assyria a thousand talents of silver, in order that he might confirm and protect his kingdom, IV Kings chapter 15:19. So St. Jerome, Haymo and Hugo. Again, Hoshea, the last king of Israel, did this, who submitted himself as a vassal to Shalmaneser, paying him an annual tribute, so that under his wings he might live and reign safely and quietly, IV Kings, chapter 17:3. So Theophylact and Arias.
And he sent to the avenging king. — 'He sent,' namely Judah, to loose his wound, about which he had spoken shortly before. For the Prophet here speaks alternately about Israel and about Judah, as is clear from what precedes and follows. So St. Jerome, Cyril, Haymo. Who is the avenging king? Dionysius, Arias, Ribera and others explain it thus: Judah, they say, that is Ahaz king of Judah, pressed and as it were besieged by Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel, sent ambassadors and gifts to seek help from Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, IV Kings, chapter 16:7. Therefore the Prophet calls him 'the avenging king'; Aquila and Theodotion translate 'judge'; Symmachus, hypermachonta, that is 'defender' (for 'to avenge' or 'to take vengeance' among the ancients meant to defend, and is sometimes so taken in Scripture, as I said at Romans 12:19), because he was a most powerful monarch, so that all princes and petty kings fled to him as to a protector and avenger. In Hebrew it is iareb, that is 'who will avenge,' that is, an avenger; the Chaldee: that he might come to avenge them; the Septuagint, the Syriac, the Arabic, Vatablus, Pagninus, Arias and Clarius retain the Hebrew iareb; but they err in thinking that this name is
a city of Assyria in which the king reigned. So Gideon was called by God Jerubbaal, that is 'avenger or champion of Baal,' because after he destroyed the altar of Baal, his father Joash, to protect him against the violence of the neighbors, said: 'Let Baal avenge himself upon him who dug up his altar,' Judges chapter 6:31. He seems therefore to allude to Gideon as much as to Jeroboam; for each was iareb, that is, an avenger, judge and champion of Israel; the former against the Midianites, the latter against Rehoboam; for Israel, oppressed by him, sent to Jeroboam, demanding him as the champion and leader of their freedom, III Kings, chapter 12:20.
Less correctly the Chaldee, Theodoret and Lyra take the avenging king to be Sua, the king of Egypt, to whom Hoshea king of Israel fled, pressed by Shalmaneser, and therefore was captured by him along with his whole kingdom and overthrown, IV Kings chapter 17:4; for these things pertain to Judah, not to Israel, as I said. Moreover, Sua was powerless and could not protect the Israelites. Whence he is not rightly called king iareb, that is, judge and avenger.
Mystically, some, says St. Jerome, take the king iareb, that is, the avenger, to mean Christ, who will not be able to save sinners on the day of judgment, as it is written: 'In hell who will confess to You?' Allegorically, Theophylact and Leo de Castro take the avenging king to mean the Romans, whose help the high priest Hyrcanus and the Jews invoked, but by whom they were destroyed through Titus; or certainly Julian the Apostate, who, most hostile to Christians, out of hatred for them made himself the champion of the Jews, and undertook to restore their temple; but in vain: for God, sending fire into the construction, consumed the work. So Socrates, book III, chapter 20.
Verse 14: For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, — as if to say: The avenging king will...
14. For I will be like a lioness to Ephraim, — as if to say: The avenging king will not be able to free you from the enemy, because I am God, who sends and strengthens enemies, indeed I am your enemy, who like a lioness attacks Ephraim. God's vengeance is aptly compared to a lioness: for she is the strongest and fiercest, especially when she has given birth and is nursing her cubs; to whom, despite everyone's objections and vain resistance, she carries home the prey she has caught and torn apart. The natural scientists, and among them Gesner in his work On the Lion, teach that the lion is so fierce that, to temper its ferocity, nature has implanted in it a quartan fever, from which it constantly suffers, and which it overcomes by fasting. For this is its medicine, whose clock is hunger and its stomach. The Hebrew scachal means any wild and fierce beast, such as a lion; the Septuagint translates 'leopard,' which is the fastest and most savage. So St. Jerome, who adds: 'So that whatever is savage in beasts, you may recognize in God's indignation. Nothing is swifter than a panther, nothing stronger than a lion. In the panther the swift destruction of the kingdom of Samaria through the Assyrians is signified, and in the lion the most powerful kingdom of the Chaldeans against Jerusalem and Judah some time later is shown, etc., so that (God) becomes like a panther, and is turned
into a lion, and is changed into beasts.' Whence He adds: 'I, I will seize and go away: I will carry off, and there is none who can rescue.'
Note: Just as in verse 12 he set God like a moth against the filth of Israel, so here he aptly sets God like a lioness against the avenging king, to whom Israel had recourse; for a lioness is stronger than that; so too God was stronger than Tiglath-pileser. Symbolically, God in this life chastises sinners gently like a moth, but on the day of judgment and in hell He will rage and tear them apart like a lioness. Then with a terrifying sound He will roar against them: 'Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels,' Matthew 25.
And like a lion's cub to the house of Judah. — For these cubs are usually bolder, being ignorant of dangers and traps: and fiercer, being more eager for blood, which they have recently tasted, especially because the blood boils and surges in youth. Wherefore Judah, when attacking enemies, is compared to a lion's cub; but when resting, to a lion, Genesis chapter 49, verse 9: 'Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you have gone up: resting you have crouched as a lion.' The confidence of the just is also compared to a lion's cub, Proverbs chapter 28:1: 'The wicked man flees when no one pursues: but the just man, like a lion (in Hebrew kephir, that is, a young lion), shall be confident without terror.' For a young lion is spirited and fierce, because its stomach constantly growls; and by hunger, as well as by its appearance and form, and the gape and roar of its mouth, it seems to be like the barking Anubis, especially as it grows and becomes a lion.
Verse 15: Going away I will return to my place. — Just as lionesses, having torn their...
15. Going away I will return to my place. — Just as lionesses, having torn their prey and seized their spoil, are accustomed to return to their den, and there devour it with their cubs: so I will prey upon both Israelites and Jews through the Assyrians and Chaldeans, and will carry them into captivity, and there I will consume and as it were devour them with servitude, tributes and burdens. So Haymo, Arias and Vatablus. The Chaldee translates: I will take away my majesty, and I will return to the place of my holiness, which is in heaven, until they know that they have sinned, as if to say: I will abandon the Jews with their temple, and
as if forgetting them and handing them over to their enemies, I will depart to heaven: for this is the place of God's throne and glory, from which He watches from afar the prisons and punishments of the guilty. So St. Cyril, Jerome, Theodoret and others. Vatablus refers these words to the following chapter, and begins chapter 6 here; for they connect with it and point to it, as will soon be clear.
Until you waste away. — In Hebrew ad ieshemu, that is, until they acknowledge their sin and guilt. So the Chaldee, Vatablus, Clarius, Arias and others; for asham means to sin and sin. But asham is sometimes put for shamam, that is, 'he desolated'; for the conjugations of imperfect verbs are frequently interchanged among the Hebrews, for example, the defective Pe-aleph type, such as asham, is interchanged with those that double the second radical, such as shamam. Whence the Septuagint translates: until they are scattered; our translator: until you waste away. This sense serves and precedes the former. For the Jews, awakened by disaster and destruction, acknowledged their sins and, repentant, returned to God, as is clear from the book of Baruch. For to this end all plagues sent by God upon cities, nations, families and individuals tend: namely, that by them He may lay low their pride, and that He may open, torment and wound the heart obstructed and hardened by lusts, so that the afflicted may acknowledge their crimes and God as their avenger, and repentant may run back to Him; since they see there is no other who can ward off these plagues and bring help in such great evils, according to Psalm 15: 'Their infirmities were multiplied; afterwards they made haste.' Therefore when you are scourged by God, do not run to the Assyrians, that is, not to princes and powerful men who cannot snatch you from the hands of God, but run to God Himself with David and the Ninevites, and humbly say: 'Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your great mercy. Against You alone have I sinned, and done evil before You.' Thus you will soothe the wrath of God, and wrest the scourge from the hands of the angry One, and win back and restore His former favor, grace and help to yourself.