Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
To Israel, wantonly reveling in its crops and wealth and worshipping the gods of the Gentiles with games and festivals as the givers of these things, He threatens captivity, in which they will eat the bread of mourning and polluted food. Second, verse 9, He teaches that they imitate their parents, who worshipped Baal-Peor, Numbers XXV, and the men of Gibeah, who killed the Levite's wife by rape. Hence, verse 14, He threatens them with the slaughter of their children, a womb without offspring, and dried-up breasts, and that by abandoning and disowning them forever He will hand them over to enemies, so that they are utterly destroyed and become wanderers and fugitives throughout the whole world.
Vulgate Text: Hosea 9:1-17
1. Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not exult like the peoples: because you have played the harlot, departing from your God; you have loved a harlot's pay upon every threshing floor of wheat. 2. The threshing floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the wine shall fail them. 3. They shall not dwell in the land of the Lord: Ephraim has returned to Egypt, and in Assyria he has eaten polluted food. 4. They shall not pour out wine to the Lord, and they shall not please Him: their sacrifices shall be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it shall be defiled, because their bread is for their own souls; it shall not enter the house of the Lord. 5. What will you do on the day of the assembly, on the feast day of the Lord? 6. For behold, they have departed because of the devastation: Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them; nettles shall inherit their desirable silver, thistles shall grow in their tents. 7. The days of visitation have come, the days of retribution have come: let Israel know that the prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad, because of the multitude of your iniquity and the multitude of your madness. 8. The watchman of Ephraim is with my God: the prophet has become a snare of ruin on all his ways, madness in the house of his God. 9. They have sinned deeply, as in the days of Gibeah: He will remember their iniquity and visit their sins. 10. Like grapes in the desert I found Israel; like the first fruits of the fig tree in its first season I saw their fathers; but they went in to Baal-Peor and alienated themselves to shame, and became abominable like the things they loved. 11. Ephraim has flown away like a bird; their glory has departed -- from birth, and from the womb, and from conception. 12. Even if they should raise their children, I will make them childless among men; and woe to them when I withdraw from them. 13. Ephraim, as I saw, was Tyre founded in beauty: and yet Ephraim shall lead his children out to the slayer. 14. Give them, O Lord. What will You give them? Give them a womb without offspring and dried-up breasts. 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I hated them: because of the wickedness of their deeds I will cast them out of My house; I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. 16. Ephraim is struck; their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even if they should beget children, I will slay the beloved of their womb. 17. My God shall cast them away, because they have not listened to Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Verse 1: Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not exult like the peoples, for you have played the...
1. Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not exult like the peoples, for you have played the harlot, forsaking your God; you have loved a harlot's hire upon every threshing floor. 2. The threshing floor and the wine press shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail them. 3. They shall not dwell in the Lord's land: Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and shall eat unclean food in Assyria. 4. They shall not pour out wine offerings to the Lord, nor shall their sacrifices please Him: their sacrifices shall be like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it shall be defiled, for their bread shall be for their own appetite only; it shall not come into the house of the Lord. 5. What will you do on the day of the appointed feast, on the day of the festival of the Lord? 6. For behold, they have gone away from destruction: Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents. 7. The days of visitation have come, the days of recompense have come: let Israel know that the prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad, because of the greatness of your iniquity and the greatness of your hatred. 8. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God; but the prophet is a snare of a fowler on all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. 9. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins. 10. Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel; like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they went to Baal-Peor and consecrated themselves to that shameful thing, and became detestable like the thing they loved. 11. Ephraim — their glory shall fly away like a bird: no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. 12. Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them until no one is left. Woe to them indeed, when I depart from them! 13. Ephraim, as I have seen, was like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim shall bring out his children to the slayer. 14. Give them, O Lord — what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. 15. All their wickedness is in Gilgal, for there I came to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds, I will drive them out of My house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels. 16. Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up; they shall bear no fruit. Even though they bring forth, I will slay the beloved fruit of their womb. 17. My God will reject them because they have not listened to Him, and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Furthermore, we think with Maurer and Ackermann that this discourse was delivered at the same period as the three earlier orations appear to have been composed, namely around the times of Jeroboam II, under whom the Israelites won a notable victory over their enemies, from which they were raised to the hope that they would henceforth be free from all calamities.
First, a reversal of the goods of fortune, namely: first, famine and failure of wine, 1-2; second, voluntary exile or captivity, 3; third, disruption of ceremonies, pollution of sacrifices, and cessation of festivals, 4-5; fourth, the impending destruction of the nation and devastation of the land, 6.
Second, a reversal of the goods of soul and body: there will be exchanged, first, the wisdom and prophecy of Israel for folly and deception, 7-8; second, singular holiness for the most grievous and shameful sins, 9-10; third, fertility and glory for barrenness and disgrace, 11-14.
Third, a reversal of the goods of their state will be transferred: first,
Second, 'upon,' that is, at 'every threshing floor of wheat you played the harlot,' namely you worshipped idols; because on the threshing floors themselves, as well as at the wine presses, or near them, they instituted dances and games in thanksgiving, praising their gods for having given them a bountiful harvest or vintage. So say St. Jerome, Hugo, Lyranus, and Arias — that is to say: The full granaries and abundant harvest which God had given you, you attributed not to God but to idols, and you instituted festivals and games for them, which is the greatest ingratitude and impiety. So say Theodoretus and Theophylactus, and St. Cyril, whom hear: 'The Gentiles,' he says, 'were accustomed, when plowing was to begin, to sacrifice to demons, seeking fertility; likewise when it was time for reaping and treading the vintage, they poured libations and offered sacrifices, singing vintage songs with great joy. The Lord therefore now accuses Israel, who was doing the same thing as the nations, which had not known God. Therefore you have played the harlot, he says, you have loved rewards, etc.; you sought not from God but from idols the fertility of your fields, which they did not give you; for this is what it means: The threshing floor did not know them,' etc.
Verses 2 and 3: THE THRESHING FLOOR AND THE WINE PRESS SHALL NOT FEED THEM (that is to say: Beca...
2 and 3. THE THRESHING FLOOR AND THE WINE PRESS SHALL NOT FEED THEM (that is to say: Because Israel loved the threshing floors and granaries of the harvest, and sought them and gave thanks for them not to Me, their giver, but to idols, who have no right or power over them, therefore I will claim these things from ungrateful and impious Israel, and I will cause the threshing floor to yield no grain and the wine press no wine to feed them; therefore) THE WINE SHALL DECEIVE THEM (that is to say: The vines which seemed to promise them many grapes and much wine will disappoint them and produce little or no grapes and wine, and so will frustrate their hopes; moreover, I will cause them to be devastated by the Assyrians; hence) THEY SHALL NOT DWELL IN THE LAND OF THE LORD (that is, of Canaan, which God promised and gave them; but EPHRAIM HAS RETURNED (will return), (namely Israel, destroyed and fugitive) TO EGYPT, AND IN ASSYRIA (as a captive) HE ATE (will eat) POLLUTED FOOD. That is, he will eat food offered to idols, and foods forbidden by the law of Leviticus XI, and therefore unclean. So say St. Jerome, the Chaldean Paraphrast, Theophylactus, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus, and others. See what was said at chapter VIII, 8. It was a great disgrace and punishment, and a sin among the Jews, to eat polluted food instead of holy bread. Hence the Maccabees preferred to be tortured rather than eat pork forbidden by the law (II Maccabees VI, 48). Likewise Daniel (chapter I, 8) and St. Peter (Acts XI, 8) abhorred the unclean foods of the Gentiles. Similar is that saying of Horace, Book II, Epistle 2: 'But when the sheep were lost by theft, the goats by disease, / the harvest betrayed their hope, the ox was worn out by plowing.'
Verse 4: THEY SHALL NOT POUR OUT WINE TO THE LORD
4. THEY SHALL NOT POUR OUT WINE TO THE LORD — that is to say: Not to God, but to idols and the devil they will sacrifice and pour libations, and, as the Apostle says (I Corinthians X, 20), they will drink 'the cup of demons' (that is, offered to demons), not of the Lord. So say St. Jerome, Haymo, Arias, and Vatablus. Second and more likely, that is to say: I will punish them with barrenness and famine, so that they will not even have wine to pour out to God in sacrifices. This is clear from what was said just before.
Note: God in Leviticus and Numbers XV ordained that in every animal sacrifice — whether of sheep, goat, or ox — drink offerings should be used as accompaniments, namely bread or fine flour sprinkled with oil, salt, and wine. For a sacrifice was like a banquet of God. Hence victims in Scripture are called bread, that is, food of God. In a banquet, both food is required — namely bread and meat with salt — and drink, namely wine, which was either poured out on the ground in honor of God or drunk by the priests, and this was called 'to pour a libation' and 'a libation.' Hence Christ too, in the sacrifice of the Eucharist, instituted the species of bread as food, and the species of wine as drink to be offered as a libation, that is, to be consumed by the priest in honor of God. See what was said in Leviticus and Numbers XV.
AND THEY SHALL NOT PLEASE HIM — that is to say: The offerings and sacrifices of Israel, lacking a drink offering (namely wine), will not please God, because they are incomplete and illegitimate, and because they are offered by idolaters outside Jerusalem and the temple, in Assyria, where Israel is held captive. In Hebrew: 'they will not be sweet to Him,' that is, they will not be sweet and pleasing to God; just as a feast is unpleasant and disagreeable in which wine is lacking, in which one only eats but does not drink. Hence he adds:
Note: He here explains the polluted food of Israel, which he mentioned at verse 3, as the bread of mourners, which is customarily eaten at funerals and obsequies — called by the Greeks νεκρόδειπνα, that is, the supper of mourners; by the Latins parentalia, because they are offered to deceased parents, says St. Jerome, and through them these last duties of justice and piety are paid. Moreover, this bread and food was unclean for the Jews, for in Numbers XIX, verses 11, 14, and 16, God ordains that all who have touched a dead body, or attended a funeral, or eaten from the funeral bread or feast, are contaminated and unclean for seven days.
Tropologically, St. Jerome says: Heretics, who act for the sake of pleasures in order to deceive the people and devour the houses of widows, have the bread of mourners — that is, deadly words by which they speak iniquity against the Lord, a bread that does not enter the house of the Lord. Likewise every sinner eats the bread of mourners, because nothing is joyful for him, even if he feasts and dances; for there can be no true joy where there is a bad conscience, for it always carries with it a gnawing worm and a stinging remorse.
Tropologically, apply these words rightly to priests who sacrifice unworthily, not out of piety but for the sake of gain and gluttony: for their sacrifice, although on the part of the victim, namely the Son of God, it is most pleasing to God, nevertheless on the part of the offerers, it is as if one kills a father's son and kills the one offering himself. It is therefore the bread of mourners. Hence the Chaldean Paraphrast translates: 'Their sacrifices will be like abominable bread.' So says Delrio, adage 951. Again, Theophylactus applies this to a sacrifice made from unjustly acquired goods; for this is the bread of mourners, because it is from the goods of the oppressed, and therefore of those who mourn.
Hermas, the bishop and martyr, a disciple of St. Paul, in the book The Shepherd, which was approved by St. Dorotheus, Damasus, and many of the ancients, in Vision V, Commandment 10, relates that an angel appeared to him in the figure of a shepherd and, among other things, said: 'Sadness is the most wicked of all spirits and the worst servant of God, and it destroys all spirits and afflicts the Holy Spirit, and a sad prayer does not have the power to ascend to the altar of God. For sadness sits in his heart. When, therefore, the prayer of a man is mixed with sadness, it does not allow the pure prayer to ascend to the altar of God. For just as wine mixed with vinegar does not have the same sweetness—'
Verse 5: WHAT WILL YOU DO ON THE SOLEMN DAY, ON THE DAY OF THE FEAST OF THE LORD? First, ...
5. WHAT WILL YOU DO ON THE SOLEMN DAY, ON THE DAY OF THE FEAST OF THE LORD? First, the sense is: In captivity, Israel will not be able to celebrate the feast of Passover, Pentecost, and similar feasts, which they celebrated with joy in Jerusalem. So say Theodoretus, Arias, and Lyranus.
Second, and more forcefully, St. Jerome, Haymo, Albertus, Hugo, Clarius, and others explain it thus: You will not celebrate your former feasts, O Israelites, in the temple, being placed in captivity; but you will keep an everlasting feast and solemnity of My vengeance, by which I will publicly punish you with captivity, poverty, and the sword. For this is called the solemnity of the Lord, because in it the solemn justice and glory of God will shine throughout the whole world and be celebrated by all nations. So Jeremiah says (Lamentations II, 22): 'You invited as to a solemn feast those who would terrify me on every side.' By the same expression and figure of speech, the impious who are to be destroyed and killed in this solemnity of God are called the offering and victim immolated to divine justice; and the Assyrians and Chaldeans who kill and slaughter them are called lawful priests. So Isaiah says (XXXIV, 6): 'A sacrifice of the Lord in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.' And: 'The day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompenses for the judgment of Zion.' Hence war against the impious is called holy, and the soldiers are called sacred priests, as if authorized and consecrated by God. So Jeremiah says (chapter VI, 4): 'Sanctify, O Chaldeans, war against her (Jerusalem).'
6. FOR BEHOLD, THEY HAVE GONE AWAY FROM DEVASTATION — that is, they will set out and flee to Egypt because of the destruction and devastation of Samaria. See what was said at chapter VIII, verse 8.
EGYPT SHALL GATHER THEM, MEMPHIS SHALL BURY THEM. Memphis, now called Cairo (commonly Alcaire), or rather ancient Memphis was across from Cairo, on the other side—
Verse 7: THE DAYS OF VISITATION HAVE COME (that is, of punishment and destruction, which ...
7. THE DAYS OF VISITATION HAVE COME (that is, of punishment and destruction, which will be) THE DAYS OF RECOMPENSE — in which God will repay them with punishments for their crimes.
KNOW. The translator read ידעו iden in the imperative; now they read ידעי ieden in the future, that is, 'they will know.' The Septuagint, however, read ינע ianoa, that is, 'Israel will be afflicted like a mad prophet.' The sense is: Let no one flatter you, let no one deceive you; for the days of your chastisement and punishment are at hand: therefore know now — or then you will know by actual experience — that foolish and mad were the prophets who promised you that you would not be captured nor destroyed, but that you would live securely and—
Second, St. Jerome and Lyranus think that Israel himself is here called 'a foolish prophet' — that is to say: Know, or then all will know, that Israel was a foolish and mad prophet, that is, one rashly babbling many things, like a madman driven by some frenzy or spirit — because he promised himself security and all good fortune, when behold, he has already been captured and devastated.
Third, St. Jerome again, Haymo, Albertus, and Hugo understand this of the true Prophets — that is to say: Know and take heed now, or then you will know and take heed whether the Prophets who threatened destruction, and whom you called fools, were mad, or rather spiritual men, that is, inspired by the Holy Spirit. The first and second senses are more fitting and clearer, for they compare the people to little birds, the false prophets to fowlers, and their preaching to a snare. So says Vatablus.
Verse 8: THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM WAS WITH MY GOD: THE PROPHET HAS BECOME A SNARE OF RUIN ...
8. THE WATCHMAN OF EPHRAIM WAS WITH MY GOD: THE PROPHET HAS BECOME A SNARE OF RUIN (in Hebrew, of a fowler, who catches birds and drives them to ruin) ON ALL HIS WAYS, MADNESS (in Hebrew mastema, that is, hatred, as I said) IN THE HOUSE OF HIS GOD. First, Theodoretus explains it thus: Ephraim, through the laws and Prophets which he received from God, was established as a watchman and teacher of all nations, to teach them by word and example the worship of God and the way of virtue and salvation. But he became a snare to them, by madly worshipping idols and the vices of idolaters.
Second, Vatablus: Ephraim made for himself a watchman, that is, false prophets, and wishes to hear them along with his God — that is, he wants to hear and worship both idols and God, both false and true prophets, which is sheer madness.
Third, the Chaldean Paraphrast and Lyranus: The watchman of God, that is, a true Prophet, is in Israel; but Israel has laid a snare for him, to kill him; and thus he arouses against himself the hatred of God, who established this watchman in His house, that is, His Church.
Fourth, and genuinely: 'The watchman with my God,' that is, the Prophet who ought to have been according to God, and as if authorized and appointed by God as a Prophet, or who claimed to be familiar with God and sent by Him, and therefore was obligated to foretell and teach Israel the truth, and to watch from his high vantage point for enemies and impending evils and to forewarn and avert them — this one ensnared the people, and like the snare of a fowler deceived them with his false prophecy and teaching, by which among other things he proclaimed, as if received from the mouth of God, that Israel had nothing to fear from the enemy and from devastation; and thus he was the reason why Israel persisted in its ways, that is, in impious deeds, and especially in its idolatry, which is the greatest 'madness'; for 'in the house of his God,' that is, in the temple of his idol which he worshipped as his God, he incites him to adore an idol, that is, wood and stones, for from these the idol is constructed.
The watchman, then, is here the false prophet and deceitful teacher. But who? St. Jerome, Haymo, and Hugo take it as Jeroboam. For he, having been made king, ensnared the people and compelled them to worship the golden calves he had set up in Dan and Bethel. Second, Albertus and Denis the Carthusian take it as Ahijah the Shilonite, who, although he was a true watchman, that is, a Prophet of God, nevertheless incidentally became a snare to Israel, because he predicted and as it were promised the kingdom to the impious Jeroboam, who was the cause of the idolatry and ruin of Israel. Third, more plainly and fully, take it of all false prophets; for they lied that they were sent by God, and thus ensnared and deceived the people. These too are the foolish and mad prophets of whom he spoke in the preceding verse.
Verse 9: THEY HAVE DEEPLY CORRUPTED THEMSELVES, AS IN THE DAYS OF GIBEAH
9. THEY HAVE DEEPLY CORRUPTED THEMSELVES, AS IN THE DAYS OF GIBEAH. In Hebrew it is 'they went deep'; the Syriac says 'they sought the deep,' that is, they fell into the depths, namely into the abyss of crimes, and, as Vatablus says, they made a deep defection, from which there seems to be scarcely any hope or possibility of emerging; and, as Prado says (on Ezekiel XIII, 3), from the deep and inmost heart, with their whole affection, they departed from God and worshipped idols. As for the days of Gibeah, St. Jerome, Haymo, and Hugo refer this to the time when Saul was made king in Gibeah, when the people demanded a king from Samuel against God's will — that is to say: Just as Israel formerly established Saul, so now they have established Jeroboam as king against My will. Better, the same Jerome, Cyril, Theophylactus, Lyranus, Vatablus, Ribera, and others refer this to the monstrous rape committed by the men of Gibeah against the Levite's wife, for which they were all slaughtered. See the history in Judges chapters XIX and XX. The sense therefore is: Just as the men of Gibeah and the Benjaminites sinned deeply, that is, most grievously, by their foul and insane rape, killing the Levite's wife, and then most stubbornly defending their deed in a foolish war in which nearly all were killed almost to the annihilation of the entire tribe of Benjamin — so now the Israelites sin most grievously by spiritual fornication, that is, public idolatry, common to all ten tribes, and they most stubbornly uphold and defend it, and will not allow themselves to be called away from it by any warnings or threats of the Prophets; rather, they rejoice to be confirmed and perfected in it by the voices and oracles of the false prophets. Therefore they will be destroyed by God like the men of Gibeah.
Verse 10: LIKE GRAPES IN THE WILDERNESS, I FOUND ISRAEL (that is to say: I chose Israel an...
10. LIKE GRAPES IN THE WILDERNESS, I FOUND ISRAEL (that is to say: I chose Israel and led him out through Moses from Egypt into the desert, and he was most dear to Me and My delight, as grapes found by a traveler afflicted with hunger, thirst, and weariness in the desert are delightful; and like) THE FIRST FRUITS OF THE FIG TREE — that is, the first and early figs (for pomum in Latin means all fruits that have a soft rind), which in Jeremiah XXIV, 2, are called premature, elsewhere firstfruits, or early-season figs. The Septuagint (Isaiah XXVIII, 4) translate them as 'premature figs.' Because after a long deprivation of them they are eagerly desired, they have become proverbial, signifying something very desirable and long-sought-after; for we greatly crave the first fruits, especially figs, because we have abstained from them, being unripe, for a long time, namely a whole year. Unripeness and delay sharpen desire, so that as soon as they ripen or show themselves, they are eagerly seized. In a similar way, I nourished Israel, poor and hungry in the desert, with manna from heaven. But he, ungrateful and rebellious, spurning Me, defected to Baal-Peor, that is, Priapus, and worshipped him (Numbers XXV, 1; see what was said there). The sense therefore is: Israel, now worshipping calves, imitates his forefathers, who first worshipped Baal-Peor.
Note: Instead of 'like the first fruits of the fig tree,' the Septuagint translate: 'Like a watchman on an early fig tree.' For just as a watchman (scopus, that is, a lookout) announces something coming from afar, so the early fig announces the maturity of the crop, as Billius learnedly noted in his commentary on Oration 32 of Nazianzen.
AND THEY BECAME DETESTABLE, LIKE THE THINGS THEY LOVED — namely, just as the idol of Priapus was most foul and abominable, and just as the Midianite harlots whom they loved and with whom they fornicated were abominable — the very women who lured them to the worship of Priapus. Hence Arias and Vatablus translate: 'They became abominable according to the love of those women,' that is, of the harlots — meaning: just as these harlots and the love and fornication with them were abominable. As the Psalmist says (Psalm CXIII, 8): 'Let those who make them become like them (like the images and idols)' — that is, let the idol-makers and idolaters become logs, stumps, stupid in mind, destitute of all sense worthy of a human being and of all strength, with closed and dead minds, says St. Augustine and Jerome; for such are idolaters accustomed to be, similar to their idols. Hence, in scholastic fashion, St. Thomas rightly teaches (I-II, Question XVIII, article 2) that human acts take their species from their objects, so that if the object is good, the act is good; if the object is evil and abominable, the act is evil and abominable, and that in the particular species of virtue or vice to which the object belongs; for the object, loved and desired by the will, transfuses its goodness or malice into the will itself. The Arabic translates: 'They were deluded in their works, and became like the senseless.' Therefore the sinner is foolish and senseless.
Verse 11: EPHRAIM — LIKE A BIRD THEIR GLORY HAS FLOWN AWAY, FROM BIRTH
11. EPHRAIM — LIKE A BIRD THEIR GLORY HAS FLOWN AWAY, FROM BIRTH. This is a Hebrew metathesis, or transposition of words; for they should be arranged thus: The glory of Ephraim, like a bird, that is, most swiftly, has flown away from birth, etc. He calls their children their glory, for children are the honor and glory of their parents, as is said in Proverbs X, 8. The sense therefore is: The children of Ephraim, in whose multitude, beauty, and strength Ephraim himself gloried, will soon die; some 'from birth,' that is, as soon as they come into the light; others 'from the womb,' because they will be miscarried — that is, I will cause mothers to suffer miscarriage and abort their offspring; others 'from conception,' because the seed once conceived will soon dissolve, so that an embryo cannot be formed from it — that is, I will punish your wives with barrenness and a defective womb, and I will cause them either not to conceive offspring, or to miscarry what is conceived, or to lose what is born shortly after. That this is the sense is clear from what follows: 'Even though they bring up their children, I will bereave them,'
The Antiochene Arabic translates: 'Ephraim flew like a bird, and their eminence (fame, nobility) became like a valley and like shallow waters.' The Alexandrian Arabic: 'Ephraim is like a flying bird, and like the pain of a woman in labor: such is their glory; because he raises his children as strangers among the sons of men; woe to them, because they have departed from My ways.'
Verse 12: BUT WOE TO THEM WHEN I DEPART FROM THEM
12. BUT WOE TO THEM WHEN I DEPART FROM THEM. This is a gradation: first, He threatened them that He would prevent their offspring from being born; second, that He would kill those already born; and here, third, He threatens them with total desolation, and hence devastation and destruction — that is to say: Woe to them when I deprive them not only of children, but also of My care and providence, and uproot them from Me; for then the Assyrians will invade and destroy them.
Note: There is a double reading here. The first is בשורי besuri, with sin (which is the same as samech), meaning 'when I depart.' So read and translate our Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, Jonathan the Chaldean Paraphrast (whom Galatinus, Book I of De Arcanis fidei, chapter V, asserts preceded Christ by 42 years), who translates: 'Woe to them when I remove My majesty from them'; R. David, R. Abraham, R. Solomon, Vatablus, and others.
The second reading is בשרי besari, that is, 'My flesh'; hence they translate: 'Woe to them when My flesh is from them.' So read the Septuagint and Theodotion, whom the Greek Fathers follow — Cyril, Theodoretus, Theophylactus, Dorotheus in the Synopsis, and Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechesis 12). For this reason, Theodoretus and Theophylactus think there is here a prophecy of the Incarnation of Christ. Indeed, Raymundus, whom Lyranus cites, reads it thus: 'Woe to them — My incarnation is from them' — that is to say: Woe now to the Israelites when they are destroyed by the Assyrians, but far greater woe when I, Christ, take flesh from among them; for then they will persecute and kill Me, though I am their kinsman, and therefore they will be utterly destroyed by Titus and the Romans and will be desolated forever. So also say Lyranus, Burgensis, Mariana, Galatinus (Book I, chapter VIII), and Leo Castrius, who contend that the Jews corrupted this passage and wrote besuri ('when I depart') instead of besari ('My flesh'), because they hated and rejected the Incarnate Word.
Therefore Cyril and Theophylactus give another, better interpretation of this Septuagint version, closer to the Vulgate edition, namely this: 'Having heard,' says Theophylactus, 'the Prophet's threats from God against Israel, he prays that neither he himself, nor his fellow tribesmen and kinsmen according to the flesh, may be partakers of that future wrath. Therefore he says: My flesh is from them, that is, outside of them. May I, I pray, be far removed from them, both I and my flesh, that is, my kinsmen and fellow tribesmen.' Thus the Apostle calls the Jews 'his flesh,' that is, his kinsmen according to the flesh (Romans XI, 14). In a similar way, Cleonus in the tragedy of Seneca exempts Jason from the common guilt and assembly, saying: 'And far from your assembly he stood pure.'
Verse 13: EPHRAIM, AS I HAVE SEEN, WAS LIKE TYRE
13. EPHRAIM, AS I HAVE SEEN, WAS LIKE TYRE — that is to say: Ephraim, as I myself saw, was equal to Tyre in wealth, prosperity, strength, fortification, and especially in abundance of offspring and every honor and glory, so long as he worshipped God and kept His law, says the Chaldean Paraphrast; because he was fortified by the help of God just as Tyre was by the sea, says St. Jerome. But because he now forsakes God, trusting in himself and his idols, God will take away all his glory, and especially his sons, in whom he is so accustomed to glory — He will give them, both those fighting in war and those defeated and captured after war, to be killed by the Assyrians and their king. For He calls him 'the slayer.' So say St. Jerome, Albertus, Lyranus, Vatablus, and others. Tyre was formerly what Venice is now. On the glory of Tyre, I have spoken at Isaiah XXIII and Ezekiel XXVI. Vatablus agrees, who translates and explains it thus: 'I saw Ephraim like Tyre,' namely, at first flourishing in peace and abundance of things, but soon devastated on account of idolatry.
Third, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodoretus translate 'rock' instead of 'Tyre'; for this is what the Hebrew צור tsor means, and hence the city founded on a rock was called in Hebrew Tsor, in Chaldean Tor, in Greek and Latin Tyrus — that is to say: Ephraim was like a most fortified citadel, namely like a rock and hardest cliff, which, fixed in the earth, despises all storms, hurricanes, and winds — that is, all attacks of enemies. But because he sinned against God, God will take away his strength and vigor, so that he will be forced to hand over his sons to the Assyrians for slaughter. So says St. Jerome.
Fourth, the Septuagint, reading צ for צ — namely צוד tsud ('hunting' or 'capture') instead of צור tsor ('Tyre') — translate: 'Ephraim, as I saw, offered his sons for hunting or capture, so as to lead them out to slaughter.'
Verse 14: GIVE THEM, O LORD (the punishments and chastisements they deserve
14. GIVE THEM, O LORD (the punishments and chastisements they deserve. But what punishments?) WHAT (I say) WILL YOU GIVE THEM? (What punishments in particular is it fitting for me to invoke upon them, and for You, O Lord, to inflict on them? Namely, that they may lose the children whom they love desperately and of whom they make ill use, and thus be supremely tormented.) GIVE (therefore) THEM A WOMB WITHOUT CHILDREN AND DRY BREASTS — that is to say: Punish the wives of Ephraim with barrenness, so that they do not conceive children, or if they conceive and bear some, they cannot nurse and nourish them, for their breasts are dry. But if You cut off the occasion of their pride and idolatry, which they commit through their children, O Lord, You will likewise remove the stock that is hateful to You. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, the Chaldean Paraphrast, Theophylactus, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus, and others. Arias alone takes this in a good sense, as if God here moderates and diminishes the punishment decreed for the Israelites, so that the sense would be: Lest the Israelites be too greatly tormented by seeing their grown children captured and killed by the Assyrians, grant, O Lord, that they may either not be conceived, or once conceived and born may soon waste away and die. Vatablus also translates somewhat differently, without the interrogation: 'Give them, O Lord, what You are going to give; give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.' The Alexandrian Arabic: 'Give them, O Lord, according to their recompense; and give them wombs that do not bear and dry breasts.' The Antiochene Arabic: 'Ephraim I saw in a state of wealth... Give them, O Lord, a womb that does not bear and a dry breast.' The Syriac: 'Give them, O Lord, what You give (will give) them; give them a barren womb and dry breasts.'
St. Bernard says splendidly (Sermon 31 on the Song of Songs): 'Ingratitude is the enemy of the soul, the emptying of merits, the scattering of virtues, the loss of benefits. Ingratitude is a scorching wind, drying up for itself the fountain of piety, the dew of mercy, the streams of grace.' The same author (Treatise On the Interior House, chapter XXX): 'Pride, just as it is the origin of all crimes, so it is the ruin of all virtues. Pride alone rises up against all the virtues of the soul, and like a general and pestilential disease, corrupts them all.' The same (Sermon 54 on the Song of Songs): 'The evidence of pride is the privation of grace.' Conversely, the evidence of humility is an abundance of graces. If, therefore, you see someone deprived of grace and its gifts, know that he is proud; but if you see someone abounding and growing in them, know that he is humble. For humility is the mother and procurer of gifts, of which pride is the dissipator; for God gives grace to the humble, which He takes away from the proud.
Verse 15: ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS IS IN GILGAL
15. ALL THEIR WICKEDNESS IS IN GILGAL. For in Gilgal the Israelites rejected all governance by God, both political and sacred. Political, because not wanting to be ruled by God, in Gilgal they asked Samuel to give them a king, and so he gave them Saul. Sacred, because in Gilgal they set up idols, which, spurning God, they worshipped. So say St. Jerome, Theodoretus, Hugo, Lyranus, Vatablus, and others. On Gilgal, see what was said at chapter IV, 20.
FOR THERE I CAME TO HATE THEM. The Hebrew כי ki, that is 'because,' often does not signify a cause but is enclitic, added for emphasis; indeed sometimes it signifies an effect. So it is taken here — that is to say: 'Because,' meaning 'therefore,' there I began to hate them and turn away from them. So say Ribera, a Castro, and others.
I WILL DRIVE THEM OUT OF MY HOUSE — namely, out of the temple, as the Chaldean Paraphrast explains, or rather out of the Holy Land, which was entirely like one household and family of God, in which under His wings and protection the Israelites lived safely and happily, like children under a parent's care, and on account of which they bore the name of Israel and the people of God. There too God sent His Prophets, like a father of the household, to instruct and form them. 'Therefore I will drive them out of My house,' so that, estranged from Me, they may go as captives to the nations and to the idols they worshipped. So say St. Jerome, Theophylactus, Lyranus, Arias, and others.
ALL THEIR PRINCES ARE REBELS — that is to say: All the kings of Israel, from the first Jeroboam to the last Hosea, have departed from God to the golden calves.
Verse 16: EPHRAIM IS STRICKEN, THEIR ROOT IS DRIED UP
16. EPHRAIM IS STRICKEN, THEIR ROOT IS DRIED UP. He compares Ephraim to a tree, formerly luxuriant in leaves and fruits, then struck by blight and withering because its root has dried up, and therefore unable to produce fruit — that is to say: Ephraim, that is, the people of Israel, like a tree struck and withering at the root, will produce few or no fruits, that is, children. This is clear from what follows. Hence the Chaldean Paraphrast translates: 'The house of Israel is like a tree whose root has been struck by blight below, and its leaf withers above; it will bear no fruit.'
Furthermore, the root of Israel can be understood as the fertility bestowed on them by God (with Rufinus and Lyranus), or the royal power, that is, the kings and princes (with Theodoretus and Theophylactus). For these, like a root, sustained and gave life to the entire people. Hence Arias aptly says: The root is the king, the trunk is the royal tribe of Ephraim, the leaves and branches are the other nine tribes — that is to say: The last king of Samaria (who is like the root), namely Hosea, together with Samaria and the whole tribe of Ephraim (which is like the trunk of the tree), will be devastated by Shalmaneser; whence all the remaining tribes (which are like the branches) will soon be devastated by the same, so that the kingdom and commonwealth of Israel will utterly wither, its root having been dried up. To such a degree that, even if they 'beget' children, 'I will kill the most beloved,' or, as Vatablus and others translate, 'the most desired things of their womb,' that is, their dearest children, who were their desire and delight. Hence the Chaldean Paraphrast translates: 'I will kill the beauty of their bowels.' For children are the pledges of their parents, and as it were their very inner parts.
Verse 17: MY GOD (not theirs) WILL REJECT THEM, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO HIM, AND TH...
17. MY GOD (not theirs) WILL REJECT THEM, BECAUSE THEY DID NOT LISTEN TO HIM, AND THEY SHALL BE WANDERERS AMONG THE NATIONS. This is what Jeremiah laments (Lamentations I, 8): 'Jerusalem has sinned grievously (a sin of spiritual fornication, namely idolatry — for he speaks of Jerusalem as of a virgin playing the harlot); therefore she has become unstable' — that is to say:
'The wrath of the heavenly husband bore this crime with difficulty, And forbade you to return to your own home.
Hence, a wanderer, you stray hither and thither with no settled abode: You have no home, though everywhere there is a home.'