Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He threatens destruction upon Damascus for three and four crimes, especially because it raged against the Jews. He does the same to Gaza, verse 6, and to Tyre, verse 9, and to Edom, verse 11, and to the Ammonites, verse 13.
Vulgate Text: Amos 1:1-15
1. The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa: what he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2. And he said: The Lord will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem He will utter His voice: and the beautiful pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 3. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with iron threshing sledges. 4. And I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. 5. And I will break the bar of Damascus, and will cut off the inhabitant from the plain of the idol, and him who holds the scepter from the house of pleasure; and the people of Syria shall be carried away to Cyrene, says the Lord. 6. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole captivity, to deliver them up to Edom. 7. And I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour its palaces. 8. And I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon: and I will turn My hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish, says the Lord God. 9. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment: because they delivered up the whole captivity to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brothers. 10. And I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour its palaces. 11. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment: because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated his compassion, and held his anger beyond measure, and kept his indignation forever. 12. I will send fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the palaces of Bozrah. 13. Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment: because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their border. 14. And I will kindle fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it shall devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, and with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind. 15. And Milcom shall go into captivity, he and his princes together, says the Lord.
Verse 1: 1. AMONG THE SHEPHERDS. — So read the Roman, Chaldean, Symmachus, and the Old Edition, meaning: Amos was one of the...
1. AMONG THE SHEPHERDS. — So read the Roman, Chaldean, Symmachus, and the Old Edition, meaning: Amos was one of the shepherds of Tekoa. Less correctly Aquila reads en poimnikterophois, that is, "in pastoral places" (and so read the Plantin Bible and St. Jerome's text in the Commentary), because then one must supply the substantive "places" or "shepherds." The Septuagint retains the Hebrew word as if it were a proper place name, and translates: "Who came from Accarim," because instead of נקדים nokedim, they read נקרים naccarim. Whence in the Septuagint, naccarim should be read instead of Accarim. Therefore Theodoret and others incorrectly read Kiriath-jearim; the Complutensian edition reads Accarpi. Some think that Amos was not a shepherd but a merchant rich in flocks, who had many shepherds of his flocks under him, such as Abraham, Job, and Mesha king of Moab were, 2 Kings 3:4, who in Hebrew is called noked, just as Amos is called here. But Amos himself refutes this in chapter 7:14, saying: "I am a herdsman, gathering sycamore fruit, and the Lord took me while I was following the flock." Therefore Amos was a cowherd, or, as St. Jerome says, a shepherd. Both are called noked in Hebrew (whence nekoda, Ezra 2:48, that is Nicodemus, says Marinus in his Lexicon), meaning "one who brands" or "marks," that is a herdsman and shepherd who brands his own cattle with his own marks, dots, or spots, to distinguish them from those of others, and so that it is clear to all that they are his. For the root נקד nakod means a point, mark, or spot which is burned or impressed on an animal. Whence St. Isidore in the Life of Amos: "Amos," he says, "was a shepherd and rustic," etc. Morally, learn here that God chooses the weak things of the world to confound the strong; for the power of God in
our weakness is made perfect, 1 Corinthians 12:9. For the Holy Spirit is so powerful that He raises the poor, the ignorant, and the wretched to the highest knowledge, dignity, and rank. Hear St. Gregory, Homily 30 on the Gospels: "Behold, he says, I contemplate David, Amos, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and Matthew, and I wish to consider what kind of craftsman this Holy Spirit is; but in my very consideration I fall short. For He fills the harp-playing boy and makes him a psalmist. He fills the shepherd-herdsman who gathers sycamores and makes him a Prophet. He fills the abstinent youth and makes him a judge of elders. He fills the fisherman and makes him a preacher. He fills the persecutor and makes him a teacher of the nations. He fills the tax collector and makes him an Evangelist. O what kind of craftsman is this Spirit! No delay is taken for learning in anything He wills. For as soon as He has touched the mind, He teaches; and merely to have touched is to have taught. For as soon as He illumines the human soul, He transforms it: it suddenly denies what it was, and suddenly possesses what it was not." Of Tekoa. — It was a city of Judea, from which came the wise and eloquent woman whom Joab sent to David to obtain Absalom's return from exile, and who was therefore called the Tekoitess, 2 Samuel 14:4. "Tekoa, says Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land, is a city situated on a mountain, abounding in the richest pastures, distant from Bethlehem by two leagues (each league containing three thousand paces; for it was six thousand paces from Bethlehem, as I said at the beginning from St. Jerome). Rehoboam fortified it with buildings; from this place came Amos the shepherd." William of Tyre, book 8 of the Holy War, chapters 1 and 15, says "it was also the home of the prophet Habakkuk. Now Tekoa is a village, says St. Jerome, at the ninth milestone from Aelia, toward the south." Mystically, Tekoa in Hebrew means the blast of a trumpet or horn; because, as St. Jerome says, the words of Amos, at the time when the people of Israel were torn away from the Lord and were serving golden calves, or torn away from the kingdom of the house of David, rang out with a clear voice like a blaring trumpet. For Amos here sounds the war trumpet for the Chaldeans to invade and punish Israel; whence he also prophesies by his very name. For Amos means "a people torn away," so that whenever the Israelites called his name, they would remember that they were Amos, that is, a people torn away from God and from the house of David. WHAT HE SAW (what he received by divine revelation; for this revelation and prophecy is called a vision, or the word of the Lord, concerning which see more at Isaiah 1:1) CONCERNING ISRAEL. — This can be translated "against Israel," but better "concerning Israel," because Amos foretells not only adversities but also prosperities for Israel. "The first, Hosea, says St. Jerome, prophesies to the ten tribes, which are called Ephraim, Samaria, the house of Joseph, and Israel. The second, Joel, prophesies to Jerusalem and the two tribes, making absolutely no mention of Israel. The third, Amos, by no means to Jerusalem,
which was governed by the tribe of Judah, but preaches to Israel and in Samaria." The same is clear from chapter 7:10, where it says: "Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying: Amos has rebelled against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land cannot bear all his words. For thus Amos says: Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall go into captivity from its own land. And Amaziah said to Amos: O seer, go, flee to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there; but do not continue to prophesy at Bethel." However, Amos also prophesies incidentally about other nations, and about Judah as if by comparison and contrast: for he compares, sets together, and contrasts Israel with them. IN THE DAYS OF UZZIAH KING OF JUDAH -- who by another name is called Azariah: "When, says St. Jerome, among the Assyrians Sardanapalus was reigning, of whom the famous orator says: He was more shameful in his vices than in his name; and among the Latins, Procas Silvius, whom Amulius succeeded in the kingdom after expelling his brother Numitor; who being killed, Romulus, having gathered a band of shepherds and robbers, founded the city bearing his name." Therefore Amos prophesied these things at the very beginnings of Rome. Moreover, Uzziah was called Azariah, meaning "help of God," because God helped him so that, after his father was killed by rebels, he might seize the paternal kingdom and obtain illustrious victories against the Philistines, Arabs, and Ammonites, as is narrated in 2 Chronicles 26:7 and 16. He was called Uzziah, meaning "strength of God," for the same reason; or because, as St. Jerome says, he was struck with leprosy by the strength of God when he usurped the priesthood by offering incense. AND IN THE DAYS OF JEROBOAM. — This Jeroboam is not the son of Nebat who made Israel to sin by setting up golden calves, but the son of Joash, son of Joatham, son of Jehu, and consequently the great-grandson of the same Jehu, under whom Hosea, Joel, and Amos prophesied, says St. Jerome. Note from 1 Kings 14:28: Jeroboam began to reign in the 15th year of Amaziah, father of Uzziah, and he reigned 41 years; Amaziah reigned 29 years; therefore Amaziah ceased to reign and to live in the 45th year of Jeroboam. Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, succeeded him; but because he was a child of only three years, the kingdom was administered through guardians for 13 years, until the 27th year of Jeroboam: for in that year Uzziah, or Azariah, began to reign on his own, being now 16 years old, and he reigned thereafter for 52 years, as is said in 2 Kings 15:1. Whence it follows that in the last 14 years during which Jeroboam reigned in Israel, Uzziah also reigned in Judah; so that the last 14 years of Jeroboam coincide with the first 14 years of Uzziah's reign, during which Amos must have prophesied. So Arias and Ribera here. Better, others, such as Torniellus in the Annals, Cajetan on 2 Kings 15, and a Castro here, deny this interregnum between Amaziah and Uzziah, and consider the same year of Jeroboam to be called now 45, now 27; because this year was the fifteenth from the time when he reigned alone after his father's death; it was also the twenty-seventh from the time when, while his father was still alive, he was made king by him and began to reign with him; so that these 27 years are to be reckoned from the 4th year of Joash, Jeroboam's father, when Jeroboam, made partner in the kingdom by his father, reigned with him for 11 years. From this opinion it follows that Jeroboam reigned with Uzziah not only 14 but 27 years, as I discussed more fully on Isaiah 7:8; whence also Amos, during the reigns of Uzziah and Jeroboam, prophesied in this 25th year of Uzziah, namely two years before the earthquake, which occurred in the 27th year of Uzziah, as I shall now show. Eusebius in the Chronicle supports this, when at the 17th year of Uzziah and following years he notes: "Among the Hebrews the prophets Hosea, Amos, Isaiah, Joel, and Jonah were prophesying." TWO YEARS BEFORE THE EARTHQUAKE. — This earthquake is also mentioned by Zechariah, chapter 14:5, saying: "You shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah." One may ask: what was this earthquake, when, and for what reason did it occur? First, Lyra, following R. Solomon, and Arias consider it to be the one in the vision of Isaiah, chapter 6, when he saw the Lord sitting on a throne and the Seraphim acclaiming Him, "Holy, holy, holy," and it is said: "The posts of the door were moved at the voice of those who cried, and the house was filled with smoke." But first, this was an imaginary vision presented to Isaiah's mind, not an actual earthquake; second, it was an imaginary shaking of the temple and heaven (for God was sitting in the heavenly temple), not of the earth; third, that vision occurred in the fifty-second year of Uzziah, when he died, as Isaiah says; but at that time Jeroboam was neither reigning nor alive,
since he died in the 14th, or rather 27th, year of Uzziah, as I showed just before. Lyra responds that the vision of Isaiah occurred in the year when Uzziah died a death not natural but civil, namely when, struck with leprosy for usurping the priestly office, he was expelled from the temple, human society, and the kingdom, and in his place his son Jotham assumed the administration of the kingdom. Whence the Chaldean paraphrase translates: "In the year when Uzziah was struck." But the word "died" literally signifies natural death, not civil, as all other interpreters teach; who therefore commonly hold that the vision of Isaiah was shown in the 52nd and last year of Uzziah. I say therefore that this earthquake occurred in the 27th year of Uzziah, and consequently that Amos, prophesying these things two years before the earthquake, prophesied them in the 25th year of Uzziah. Whence from this 25th year of Uzziah and from this prophecy of Amos, Isaiah in chapter 7:8 counts 65 years, after which he predicts the kingdom of Israel would be overthrown. For precisely 65 years elapsed from the 25th year of Uzziah to the 6th year of Hezekiah, when Samaria and the kingdom of Israel were destroyed by the Assyrians, as I showed on Isaiah 7:8. This is the common opinion of scholars and interpreters, namely of the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Cyril, Remigius, Procopius, Rupert, Hugh, Lyra, Clarius, and others. Torniellus and other chronologists largely agree, though they consider this earthquake to have occurred in the 25th year of Uzziah, and consequently that Amos began to prophesy two years before, namely in the 23rd year of Uzziah. Moreover, all the same authors, except Torniellus and one or two others, following Josephus, Antiquities book 9, chapter 11, add that this earthquake occurred because of the pride of King Uzziah, who, puffed up by his victories and successes, arrogated to himself the priestly office and offered incense on the altar of incense. For God punished this royal pride with three plagues, as well as portents, says Josephus. For first, as soon as the king threatened death to the priests who were forbidding him access to the altar: "Behold, the earth was violently shaken." Second: "The temple being split open from above, the rays of the sun struck the king's face, which was immediately touched with leprosy." Third: "By the same earthquake before the city, in a place called Eroge, half of a mountain inclining toward the west was torn away, rolled through a distance of four stadia, and finally stopped against the eastern mountain, blocking the public road and crushing the royal gardens under its ruins." So Josephus and others already cited from him. See here in passing how sharply God punishes the proud, especially the sacrilegious and those who invade holy things. A fourth plague was added: the king, touched with leprosy, was expelled from the temple and kingdom, and until death lived a private and separated life according to the law; therefore his son Jotham administered the kingdom. So Scripture and Josephus. The cited authors therefore hold that in the 27th year of Uzziah he offered the incense, and therefore, struck with leprosy and shaken by the earthquake, withdrew from the temple and palace, and lived as a private citizen for 25 years, namely until
the 52nd year in which he died, and his son Jotham succeeded him, who was then 25 years old. Whence it follows that Jotham was born in the same 27th year in which his father Uzziah was struck with leprosy. Therefore it is necessary to say that Uzziah had the kingdom administered through nobles until Jotham grew up and could govern; but because we read this nowhere, some doubt this entire matter, and think that this earthquake does not pertain to Uzziah's sin and leprosy, but occurred at another time and for another reason, especially because Josephus in the cited passage suggests that Uzziah was leprous for only a short time. For he says: "And after he had lived for some time as a private citizen outside the city, with his son Jotham administering the state, he finally died consumed by grief at the age of sixty-three, in the fifty-second year of his reign." Whence Torniellus in the Annals holds that Uzziah was struck with leprosy in the 48th year of his reign, when his son Jotham was already 16 years old and could administer the kingdom on his behalf. Nevertheless, the former opinion of so many authors already mentioned is favored by the fact that it aptly combines and reconciles Amos with Isaiah 7:8, and from it is clear that Amos prophesied these things 65 years before the destruction of Samaria, namely in the 25th year of Uzziah. It is also favored by the fact that Scripture, 2 Chronicles 26:16 and 21, indicates that Uzziah, struck with leprosy sooner, lived leprous for a longer time. For verse 16 says: "When he had grown strong (which came about through the victories he obtained against the Philistines, Arabs, and Ammonites in the first twenty-five years, as it seems, as is said in verse 6 ff.), his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he neglected the Lord his God: and entering the temple of the Lord, he wished to burn incense." And verse 21: "King Uzziah was therefore a leper until the day of his death, and he dwelt in a separate house, full of leprosy, for which he had been cast out of the house of the Lord." The words "until the day of his death," and "he dwelt," and "he had been cast out" indicate that his leprosy and separation were of long duration. Third, it is favored by the fact that God seems to have wanted to forewarn the already insolent Uzziah through Isaiah and Amos, lest he imitate the crimes and sacrileges of the kings of Israel, who through themselves and priests appointed by them offered incense to their gods, namely the golden calves in Dan and Bethel, 1 Kings 13:1 and 33; otherwise he should know that he would be expelled from the kingdom, just as for the same sin the kingdom of Israel with its king was to be destroyed after 65 years. Conversely, so that the kings of Israel, seeing the punishment and expulsion of Uzziah for his usurped priesthood two years later, might conclude that the same would happen to them, and that the prophecies and threats of destruction which Amos and Isaiah had directed at them were true. And this seems to be the reason why Amos and Isaiah so precisely date their prophecy: Amos saying, "Two years before the earthquake," Isaiah: "Within sixty-five years, Ephraim will cease to be a people." Fourth, it is favored by the fact that we read nothing about any other earthquake different from this one of Uzziah's time, either in Scripture or in Josephus, Josippus, Eusebius, or other historians. Therefore it does not seem to have been any other than this one of Uzziah's time.
Finally, Amos, just as by his name (for Amos in Hebrew means "a people torn away," as I said), so also by this earthquake signifies the upheaval of the hearts of Israel, by which they, tearing themselves away from God and from the kingdom of David, had made a schism and divorce, setting up and worshipping golden calves; and for this reason, then as at many other times, God sent this earthquake, to simultaneously threaten the land and the people, and to portend their exile and destruction. So in the year of the Lord 458, Antioch, when it embraced the schism and heresy of Nestorius, was shattered by a great earthquake, as Baronius narrates from Marcellinus. Likewise the Pontic region was shaken for the heresy of Eutyches in the year of the Lord 499, as the same author narrates from Theodore the Collector, book 2. For the same heresy, in the year of the Lord 518, in Dardania twenty-four fortresses collapsed in one moment from a continual earthquake, and of these, two were swallowed up with all their inhabitants, and others with many; and shortly after, in the same year, the Emperor Anastasius, a Eutychian, was struck by lightning from God and perished. So Marcellinus in his Chronicle. Likewise, when St. John Chrysostom was driven into exile, Constantinople trembled with an earthquake, in which part of the imperial bedchamber collapsed. Whence the terrified Emperor, sending a notary, recalled him, so that it was plainly established that "the Lord had shaken the earth on account of His righteous one," as Palladius says in the Dialogue, and Theodoret, book 5, chapter 33. So much for the title of the Prophet; now he begins his prophecy, and says:
Verse 2: 2. FROM ZION HE WILL ROAR -- as if to say: The true God, whose temple, throne, and oracle from the mercy seat upheld by...
2. FROM ZION HE WILL ROAR -- as if to say: The true God, whose temple, throne, and oracle from the mercy seat upheld by the Cherubim is in Zion (and not in Dan and Bethel, as you, O Israelites, indeed idolaters, falsely presume) -- this God, I say, powerful and zealous avenger of His temple, worship, and holiness, through me and through Hosea, Isaiah, and other Prophets sent from Zion and Judah, will roar like a lion, when He pronounces and proclaims through us the terrible sentence of devastation and destruction against the impious Israelites and other neighboring nations, on account of their various crimes. In a similar sense Isaiah says, chapter 31:4: "As the lion roars, and the young lion over his prey, etc., so the Lord of hosts will come down to fight upon Mount Zion." And verse 9: "The Lord said, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem," as if
to say: God who resides in Zion, and is worshipped there with sacred fire and sacrifices, will spring forth from there like a roaring lion as a severe avenger against His enemies, namely against the impious who have violated His worship and divinity either by idolatry or by other crimes. So St. Jerome. THE BEAUTIFUL PASTURES OF THE SHEPHERDS SHALL MOURN (that is, will lament) -- namely, the pastures; by which he metaphorically means the beautiful cities and palaces, as well as the fields and meadows of Judea, as if to say: Just as when a lion roars, the shepherds flee with their flocks, and therefore the pastures, deserted and desolate, seem to mourn and grow barren, so when God roars and rages against the Israelites and other nations through the Chaldeans, all their beautiful cities and houses, as well as their fields and plains, will be devastated and desolated, their inhabitants and cultivators being slain or led away, so that they seem to grieve and mourn. For just as fields and meadows are metaphorically said to laugh when they bloom, so also to mourn when they are laid waste. So Remigius, Hugh, and Vatablus, and St. Jerome, who notes that Amos, being a shepherd, fittingly uses metaphors drawn from pastures: "It is natural, he says, that all craftsmen speak with examples from their craft, and each person brings forward comparisons from whatever occupation he has spent his life in; for example, one who is a sailor and helmsman compares his sadness to a storm, calls loss a shipwreck, and calls his enemies contrary winds. Conversely, he calls prosperity and joy a most peaceful dawn and favorable winds, calm seas and still waters. On the other hand, whatever a soldier says sounds of shield, sword, breastplate, helmet, lance, bow, arrow, death, wound, and victory. On the lips of philosophers are always Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle; orators praise to the skies the Gracchi and Catos, the Ciceros and Hortensii, etc. So too Amos, who was a shepherd, not in cultivated places but in the vast expanse of the desert, where the ferocity of lions is found and the slaughter of cattle, used the language of his craft; so that he called the terrible voice of the Lord the roaring and growling of lions, comparing the overthrow of Israelite cities to the solitude of shepherds and the dryness of mountains." This is what is commonly said: The sailor talks of winds, the plowman of his oxen. And Sirach 38:26: "He who holds the plow and boasts of the goad, drives oxen with a prod and is occupied with their work, and his talk is of the offspring of bulls," etc. Finally, the Arabic Antiochene version translates: The shepherds of flocks were saddened; the Arabic Alexandrian: The shepherds mourn for the pastures, because the top of Carmel has dried up.
AND THE TOP OF CARMEL SHALL WITHER. -- "There are two mountains of this name," says St. Jerome. "One, in which Nabal of Carmel, the husband of Abigail, lived, toward the southern region, 1 Samuel 25. The other near Ptolemais, which was formerly called Acco, overlooking the sea, on which Elijah the prophet on bended knees obtained rain. If therefore he speaks of the Carmel where Nabal lived, it is more fitting for shepherds' flocks, because it is near the wilderness. But if of the one that is near the shore, it pertains to the kings and the pride of the kingdom of Israel, whom he says will be laid waste like desert mountains as captivity approaches." Either Carmel, therefore, can be understood here, and both, being fertile, have become proverbial, and are symbols of fertility, abundance, and joy. Whence in the Punic, or Arabic language, which is close to Hebrew, even today in Andalusia the most pleasant and beautiful estates are called Carmenes, says Delrio, adage 980. More conveniently, however, one may take it of the former, which was associated with pastures and shepherds; for from it Amos, being a shepherd, drew his pastoral comparison. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The Carmels of Israel and neighboring nations -- that is, their estates, fields, vineyards, pastures, wealth, abundance, and joy -- will be destroyed by the Chaldeans. Furthermore, in the word "top" are indicated kings and royal citadels, palaces, gardens, and estates; and symbolically the power, dominion, and glory to be destroyed by the Babylonians. Whence the Chaldean paraphrase translates: The habitations of kings shall be desolated, and the fortress of their citadels shall become a desert. Theodoret agrees, who by "top" understands both Jerusalem, which was the head and summit of Judea, and Samaria, which was the summit of Israel, that is, the ten tribes, Isaiah 7:8-9. Finally, Albert and Hugh hold that here is literally predicted the drought, barrenness, and famine to be sent and inflicted by God upon Israel and the impious nations.
Moreover, Carmel here denotes not only the fields and wealth of Judea, but also of other nations; for every fertile, rich, and splendid field and place is proverbially called Carmel. That this is so is clear from what follows; for the proposition: "The Lord will roar from Zion, etc., and the beautiful pastures of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither," set forth at the beginning as a theme, he then explains in the following verses about Damascus, verse 4, saying: "And I will send fire upon the house of Hazael, and it shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad." Therefore the beautiful pastures of the shepherds and the top of Carmel of Damascus are the house of Hazael and Ben-hadad. And about Gaza, verse 7: "I will send fire upon the wall of Gaza, and it shall devour its palaces." Therefore the beautiful pastures and the top of Carmel of Gaza are its wall and palaces. And about Tyre, verse 10: "I will send fire upon the wall of Tyre, and it shall devour its palaces." Therefore the beautiful things and Carmel of Tyre are its wall and palaces. He says the same about Edom in verse 12, and about Ammon in verse 14, and about Moab in chapter 2:2, and about Judah in chapter 2:5, and about Israel in chapter 2:6, 13, and 15. 3. THUS SAYS THE LORD: FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS (the Arabic Antiochene incorrectly translates "regions" or "climates") OF DAMASCUS, AND FOR FOUR, I WILL NOT TURN AWAY ITS PUNISHMENT. -- Amos begins with the threats that God directs against nations hostile to Israel, because they afflicted Israel: first, so that from the punishment of its enemies, Israel may know that its God cares for it and holds it dear; second, so that from the punishment of the unfaithful -- namely the Damascenes, Gazaeans, Tyrians, Edomites, Ammonites, and Moabites -- it may estimate its own punishment, namely that of the faithful,
"For if they do these things in the green wood, what shall be done in the dry?" says Christ, Luke 23:31. One may ask first: What does "for three transgressions of Damascus, and for four" mean? Vatablus, Clarius, Emmanuel, and Mariana take three and four as seven, that is, very many crimes of Damascus, as if to say: Damascus makes no end of sinning, but continually heaps crime upon crime; if it had sinned only two or three times, I would have spared it; now because it does not cease but continually adds one thing to another, I will not spare it. For the number seven in Scripture is a symbol of multitude and totality, because God created all things in seven days, Genesis chapter 1, and all days and all times pass in the continually recurring seven days of the week. So it is said in Ecclesiastes 11:2: "Give a portion to seven, and also to eight," that is, distribute portions of bread and alms to all the needy. Proverbs 24:16: "Seven times, that is, frequently, in a day the just man falls." Zechariah 3:9: "Upon one stone are seven eyes," that is, many watchful guards. 1 Samuel 2:5: "Until the barren has borne seven," that is, many children. Psalm 119:164: "Seven times a day I have praised You." This meaning seems straightforward; for three and four make seven, especially since he repeats the word "for," saying "and for four;" therefore these four crimes are different from the three that preceded; if different, then joined to the three prior ones, they make seven. Better, others hold that here only four crimes of Damascus are denoted; for "four" means the same as "the fourth," as the Syriac and Arabic translate; for the Hebrews often use cardinal numbers for ordinal ones. Examples are found in this same expression in Proverbs 30:15: "Three things are insatiable, and a fourth (Hebrew וארבע vearba, that is, 'and four') that never says 'Enough.'" And verse 18: "Three things are too wonderful for me, and a fourth (Hebrew vearba, that is, 'and four') I do not understand at all." Similar are verses 21 and 29. Moreover, they use this phrase for climactic effect, to signify the eminence of the fourth over the three that preceded. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Haymo, Hugh, Lyra, and others. Similar is that passage of Virgil, Eclogue 3: The wolf is harmful to the folds, the rain to ripe fruits, the winds to trees, and to us the anger of Amaryllis. As if to say: The fourth and last, namely the anger of Amaryllis, is the saddest of all for us. And Theocritus, Idyll 8, from whom Virgil borrowed this in his usual manner: The storm is a dreadful evil for trees, mud for waters, the snare for birds, nets for wild beasts; but for a man, the love of a tender maiden -- as if to say: the love of a maiden is most to be feared by a man above all other things, because it steals away his heart and mind. Similar is Proverbs 30:16: "Three things are insatiable, and a fourth that never says 'Enough': the grave, and the barren womb, and the earth that is not satisfied with water; but fire never says 'Enough'" -- as if to say: fire is the most insatiable of all. And Proverbs 6:16: "There are six things that the Lord hates, and a seventh His soul detests, namely one who sows discord among brothers" -- as if to say: God hates this one most of all. The meaning therefore is, as if to say: For three transgressions of Damascus, and especially for the fourth, I am angry and will not spare but will punish it. What this fourth crime is, He explains by saying: "Because they have threshed Gilead with iron threshing sledges." Similarly He explains the fourth crime of Gaza in verse 6, and the fourth of Tyre in verse 9, and the fourth of Edom in verse 11, and the fourth of Ammon in verse 13, and the fourth of Moab in chapter 2:1. One may ask secondly: What are these four crimes of Damascus? And further, is this number of crimes to be taken definitely or indefinitely? Rupert, Albert, Lyra, Dionysius, Palacius, and Arias take it definitely, holding the three crimes to be idolatry, incest, and murder; Albert, however, holds them to be robbery, punishment, and the sword, with which the Damascenes persecuted and afflicted the Israelites. The fourth the Prophet expresses by saying: "Because they threshed Gilead with iron threshing sledges." But the three preceding ones the Prophet does not express; therefore they seem to be fabricated from the imagination of the interpreters. I say therefore that three and four are taken here indefinitely, and signify the very many crimes of the Damascenes, which they perpetrated under King Hazael both against the Hebrews and against other nations, 2 Kings 8. For the number three is familiar in Sacred Scripture and is the first number of multitude; hence it is its symbol: "For all things are three, and three itself extends in every direction," says Aristotle, book 1 of On the Heavens, chapter 1. Understand "all" not as "only," but as "primarily"; for neither unity nor two make all, but as soon as there are three, if each is present individually, we say all are present. Whence St. Chrysostom, Homily 41 on Matthew, explaining chapter 13:33, "In three measures of flour": Three measures, he says, are
The same is said by others generally. The Seraphim cry out three times "Holy, holy, holy," Isaiah chapter 6. There are three Theological virtues by which we worship God: faith, hope, and charity. Three parts of penance by which we reconcile ourselves to Him: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. Three good works by which we earn His favor: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Arithmetic teaches that the number three is found in everything. For the world is threefold: namely, angelic, corporeal, and human. The soul has three faculties: intellect, memory, and will. There are three hierarchies of angels, and in each three orders. Their three offices are: to purify, to illuminate, to perfect. Their knowledge is threefold: morning knowledge, which is in the Word; evening knowledge, which is of things in themselves; and noonday knowledge, which is the open vision of God. Chastity is threefold: virginal, widowed, and conjugal. Heaven is threefold: empyrean, sidereal, and aerial. In the sun there are three things: substance, ray, and light; so in God, who is the uncreated Sun, there are three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In every thing there are three: essence, power, and operation; or being, species, and order. In composite things there is matter, form, and union. There are three regions of the air: the lowest, the middle, and the highest. In a tree and plant there are three things: leaves, flowers, and fruits. So in all things the Most Holy Trinity has placed traces of Itself, from which we might recognize and contemplate It. In man there are three spirits: animal, vital, and natural. Three operations of the vegetative soul: nutrition, growth, and generation. The good is threefold: useful, pleasurable, and virtuous. There are three orders of things: of nature, of grace, and of glory. Three principal parts of the body: belly, heart, and brain. Three artificial causes and causes of artisans: efficient, formal, and final. Philosophy is threefold: ethical, physical, and mathematical. A syllogism has three propositions: major, minor, and conclusion. The law is threefold: of nature, of Moses, and of Christ. Three distinctions and parts of time: past, present, and future. Place is threefold: highest, middle, and lowest. A triangle has three angles as well as three sides. Angles are of three kinds: right, acute, and obtuse. The dimensions of a body are three: length, width, and depth. Finally, God created and arranged all things in a triad -- namely, in measure, number, and weight, Wisdom 11:21. These and more are found in Peter Bongus's book On the Mysteries of Numbers, in the section on the number three. For these reasons, therefore, the number three is a symbol of multitude, fullness, perfection, and totality.
many things. But when a unit is added to the ternary so that it becomes quaternary, then the greatest multitude, surpassing the common and ordinary, is signified. So Virgil: O thrice and four times blessed, that is, most greatly blessed, indeed most blessed of all. And Seneca in Hippolytus: "O thrice and four times favored by a prosperous fate!" Hence God too is called "thrice greatest, thrice happy, thrice holy." The cause and origin of this idea and phrase is the uncreated ternary, namely the Most Holy Trinity Itself; for It is most holy, most happy, greatest, and embraces all, indeed infinite goods in Itself, and communicates them to the ternaries created by It, and therefore It implanted in the minds of men, even of pagans ignorant of the Holy Trinity, this august opinion about the number three, so that with Aristotle, book 1 of On the Heavens, chapter 1, they would consider the number three to be the principle of multitude, and would use it in sacred rites as something more sacred, because it was considered more powerful and efficacious for all things, as Pliny says, book 28, chapter 3, and Macrobius, book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 6. Hence for the ancients, the triad was most complete and sacred, so much so that whatever was said or done three times was considered valid and efficacious. Hence the French also use très, that is "thrice," to signify the superlative, namely the highest and greatest in its kind: très-bon, that is, "the best"; très-sage, that is, "the wisest"; très-riche, that is, "the wealthiest," etc. Moreover, "the number three is most suitable for settling any disputes, as it contains in itself a beginning, middle, and end," says Dionysius of Halicarnassus, book 3. Wherefore Plutarch, in his treatise On the Teaching of Pythagoras, relates that the unit was called Apollo by the Pythagoreans, the dyad (that is, duality) strife and boldness, the triad justice and virtue, which is the mean between two vices. For in the ternary, they said, the unit itself is the middle, like a center and divinity, by which equal distribution is governed and to which, as to an end, everything is referred; hence the ternary is like a circle and the embrace of all things; for in the ternary there is a beginning, middle, and end: whence all things are three. And the ancient theologians, to indicate that beginning, middle, and end are to be referred to God, offered three things in sacrifices. And three things were established by the philosophers in the worship of God: adoration on account of reverence; incense on account of the distribution of the sweetest knowledge of divine things and of heavenly and earthly virtues; a hymn, according to Pythagoras, on account of the harmony of heaven. Hence Nicomachus: "They pour libations three times," he says, "and sacrifice three times, who ask God to fulfill their vows." Theocritus, Idyll 2: Thrice I pour, thrice I pronounce these mystic words. Virgil, Georgics 4, on the sacrifices of Ocean: Thrice he poured liquid nectar on the burning Vesta: thrice the flame, applied beneath, flashed to the top of the roof. Ovid, Fasti 3: Thrice he sprinkles his head, thrice lifts his palms to heaven.
And so the meaning of this passage, says St. Jerome, is as if to say: "I waited a long time for the Damascenes to do penance for their crimes, and therefore I was unwilling to punish the sinners, so that they might eventually be converted and receive healing; but because for the third and fourth time they do the same things, I am forced to change my mind and correct the offenders with plagues." And so Theodoret: "The phrase 'for three and for four' signifies multitude," he says, "that is, as he adds, infinite iniquities." So too Ribera, Delrio adage 971, and others cited above. This meaning is fitting and would seem plainly genuine if the Prophet had said "for three and four crimes;" for thus we say: "O thrice and four times blessed." But because he does not join four to three, but rather separates and disjuncts four from three, saying "and for four," the more genuine meaning seems to be the one I indicated in Question 1, namely that four is taken for "the fourth," and the meaning is: Because Damascus has perpetrated three, that is, very many, crimes, and not content with these has added a fourth, outstanding and enormous above all the rest, for this reason it is plainly unworthy of pardon, and therefore I will not spare but will punish it. Or as a Castro puts it: Since I have spared the Damascenes once, twice, and a third time, for the fourth enormous crime which they have added to the others, I will by no means spare them but will punish them. This fourth crime is what follows: "Because they threshed Gilead with iron threshing sledges." For why does the Prophet single out and mention this one crime among so many, unless because this was the fourth and the enormous one? He does the same and names as the fourth crime the offenses of Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab in verses 6, 9, 11, 13, and chapter 2. For since after "four," meaning the fourth crime, he adds this one, he plainly indicates that this is the fourth. For it was altogether enormous and surpassed all the others -- this crime that with unheard-of cruelty they threshed the Israelites, namely the Gileadites, with iron threshing sledges. Tropologically, St. Jerome says: "The first sin is to have thought evil things; the second, to have consented to perverse thoughts; the third, to have accomplished in deed what one determined in mind; the fourth, after sin, not to do penance and to take pleasure in one's own transgression. This is what all heretics do, who not only think and do evil things, but by their teaching deceive all simple people, and in the manner of the Damascenes -- who are interpreted as 'drinkers of blood' -- they drink the blood of those whom they have deceived." And Rupert: "The first crime is a perverse will, and then the sinner dies inwardly. The second is to have accomplished the will in deed, and by this act the sinner is dead and carried out; but he can still be raised, just as the Lord raised that young man who was being carried dead through the gate of the city. The third crime is to have turned the deed into a habit; and then the sinner is dead and buried; but he can still be raised to life, just as the Lord raised Lazarus, already buried four days and decomposing. The fourth crime is to take pleasure in one's own sin, and to resist with a spirit of pride God who calls to repentance and His law which reproves. This crime is diabolical: for it is an impenitent heart, and rebellion, and defense of crimes," and therefore plainly unworthy of pardon and almost unforgivable. Finally, some Hebrews, whom George of Venice follows in his Problems of Sacred Scripture, volume 5, number 114, hold that Amos here signifies that it is difficult for those who fall into the same
sin four times or more to be converted, as if to say: For three transgressions I will convert them, but for the fourth I will not convert them; rather I will leave them to themselves and to their crimes and voluntary habitual sin. This is tropological, not literal, as they themselves hold. I WILL NOT TURN HIM AWAY. -- Some codices read "it" (feminine), namely Damascus; but the Roman, Hebrew, and interpreters generally read "him," namely the people; for Damascus signifies its people. By metonymy, the container is put for the contained, the city for its citizens and inhabitants. In Hebrew it is לא אשיבנו lo aschibennu, that is, "I will not cause him to return, I will not bring him back." Vatablus: "I will not recall it," namely My fury, but will pour it out and complete it upon Damascus. The Septuagint: "I will not turn away from them," that is, "I will not turn My face away from the Damascenes," says Theodoret, "but, angry, I will firmly turn it toward them, to pour out My wrath upon them." Whence the Arabic version translates: "I will not turn back from them." For when God avenges someone's crimes, He is said to fix His gaze upon him; conversely, David asking for God's pardon and grace says: "Turn Your face away from my sins," Psalm 51:11. But because no prior mention has been made of fury or of God's face, the second and genuine meaning is: "I will not convert him" (Damascus, that is, the people of Damascus) to Me, or to My pardon and mercy, but will leave him in his crimes, as well as in My wrath and vengeance. Whence the Chaldean and Pagninus translate: "I will not spare him, but will punish him severely." So St. Jerome, Albert, and Hugh. Hence the Syriac translates: "I will not withdraw, I will not cause to return from them." The Arabic Antiochene: "I will not repent concerning it." Or: "I will not restore him to his place," as if to say: From captivity I will not bring him back to his native soil. Related to this is Sanchez's explanation: "I will not turn him back," that is, I will not recall him from death, which by God's judgment and decree will so certainly come upon him that it must be judged to have already arrived. He therefore seems already dead, because destined for certain death: from this I will not turn him back, that is, I will not bring him back, I will not free him. Third, Arias translates aschibennu as "I will repay him," that is, I will avenge his crimes, and thus reads it as a question and explains: Shall I not repay him for three and four, that is, very many crimes? I will certainly repay and punish him. The Arabic Alexandrian version translates in a new way: "For three and for four crimes of Damascus I am not afflicted with sadness," as if to say: The sins do not afflict Me, but afflict the sinner himself. Better is the same version at chapter 2:1: "I will not delay, I will not prolong," namely the punishment. Irrelevant is Rupert's interpretation: "I will not turn it back," namely the top of Carmel to its former greenness and fertility. Erroneous is R. Solomon's view, who contends from this passage that a penitent sinner is received by God only three times, and the fourth time is not received. Indeed, some theologians hold that a sinner sometimes sins so gravely and frequently that as punishment God denies
him sufficient help for repenting; whence it happens that he cannot repent and be converted. This occurs, however, when he has filled up the measure of sins determined by God, to which they apply Matthew 23:32: "Fill up then the measure of your fathers." But this is true of copious and efficacious help; of sufficient help it is false. For otherwise the sinner would no longer be a wayfarer, but would be like one of the damned, as if already damned, being deprived of the help necessary for salvation, without which it is impossible for him to be saved, and he must necessarily be damned. Morally, learn here that it is a grave punishment from God when He does not convert sinners, nor recall them from their sins, but leaves them in them and hardens them, as He hardened Pharaoh; for then they rush into ruin both present and eternal, as happened to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:3. See what is said there. "Impunity is the offspring of carelessness, the mother of insolence, the root of shamelessness, the nurse of transgressions," says St. Bernard, book 3 of On Consideration, chapter 5. BECAUSE THEY THRESHED GILEAD WITH IRON THRESHING SLEDGES. -- This is the fourth and supreme crime of Damascus, and therefore unforgivable as regards vengeance; for on this account God destined Damascus for the sword and destruction of the Assyrians, as if to say: Damascus has perpetrated three, that is, very many, crimes; these I overlooked, and would still have spared them. But because it added a fourth, so cruel and horrible, I will no longer spare but will rise up as avenger and rage against it, as it raged against Israel. Certain vengeance therefore awaits it, certain destruction. Note: From the time of Joshua there were perpetual wars between the Syrians, whose capital was Damascus, and the Israelites, both on account of proximity and on account of the disparity of faith and customs. The Syrians therefore often afflicted Israel, God overlooking it; but intolerable was the affliction by which they threshed them with iron threshing sledges, which consequently God could not overlook and endure. This affliction occurred under Hazael king of Syria, and Elisha, weeping, foretold it to him when he promised him the kingdom: "I know, he said, the evil things you will do to the children of Israel. You will set fire to their fortified cities,
and you will kill their young men with the sword, and you will dash their little ones, and rip open their pregnant women," 2 Kings 8:12; and that it happened so is evident from the same book, chapter 13:4: "The king of Syria had crushed them," it says; and verse 7: "The king of Syria had slain them and reduced them like dust in threshing." Whence it is clear, says Theodoret, "that the Damascenes, casting Israelite women into a sort of threshing floor, cruelly threshed them with iron-shod wheels as if they were ears of grain." WITH IRON THRESHING SLEDGES. -- The Hebrew חרוץ charuts means a drag or threshing sledge, by which, being driven over the harvest, the grains are shaken out, ground, and threshed; whence the threshing sledge (tribula) seems to be named from "grinding" (terendo). For the root חרץ charats means to press, shake out, cut up, cut down. For the Hebrews threshed with iron-shod and toothed carts, like threshing sledges. This, says St. Jerome, is a type of cart that rolls on iron-toothed wheels underneath, so that, after the grain has been shaken out, it may crush and break up the straw on the threshing floor. Whence the Septuagint translate: "They sawed with iron saws"; Symmachus: "with iron wheels"; the Zurich Bible: "with iron rakes"; others: "with iron-shod wagons"; Vatablus: "with iron threshing sledges." Some take this metaphorically, so that by this phrase only the severity of the affliction is signified, by which Hazael afflicted the Israelites, so that he "slaughtered and crushed them like threshing sledges threshing grain on the threshing floor," say St. Jerome and Clarius. But others generally take it literally, both because Elisha himself foretold the same to Hazael in the passage cited; and because an enormous cruelty is signified and punished here; and because in ancient times victors would so punish the vanquished, especially the unfaithful, savage, and barbarous. Thus David treated the Ammonites, because they had mistreated and mocked his ambassadors: "he sawed them, and drove iron wagons over them, and cut them with knives and passed them through the brick kiln," 2 Samuel 12:31. Morally, learn here how hateful cruelty is to God and men, and how God repays like for like, being cruel to the cruel, indeed forcing them to perish by the same torment they inflicted on others; because this cruelty is justice and just vengeance. For this reason here through Amos, as well as through Isaiah 14:29 ff., Jeremiah 47 ff., Ezekiel 25 ff., and other prophets, He threatens the fiercest punishments upon the Philistines, Edomites, Tyrians, and other nations, because they raged against Israel, the people of God. Wherefore Aristotle gives Alexander this instruction: "Be sparing in shedding human blood, because this belongs to Him who knows the secrets of hearts." Periander in Ausonius: You who are terrible to many, beware of many. Cassiodorus on Psalm 10: "What good does it do the cruel to persecute those whom they see always increasing through persecutions?" The wife of Hannibal was detested and hissed, as was Hannibal himself, who, looking at a ditch full of human blood, called it a beautiful spectacle. So Fulgentius, book 9, chapter 11. To the cruel Sulla, Q. Catulus said: "With whom shall we finally live, if in war we kill the armed and in peace the unarmed?" So Eutropius on Sulla. Augustus Caesar, when he heard of Herod's slaughter of the innocents, said: "I would rather be Herod's pig than his son" -- for the Jews did not slaughter pigs. So Macrobius, Saturnalia book 2, chapter 4. A saying of Nero is: "When I am dead, let the earth be consumed with fire." So Dio Cassius in the Life of Nero. Wherefore Nero's mother Agrippina, when she was being killed by his order, showing her belly to the centurion who was drawing his sword, cried out: "Strike here! This must be pierced with the sword, which gave birth to that monster." So Suetonius in his Nero. Such are the Phalarises, Mezentiuses, Maximinuses, Timons, and Diocletians. Gaius Caligula used to exclaim frequently: "Would that the entire Roman people had a single neck!" -- namely, so that he could cut it off with one blow.
So Eutropius. His also was this saying: "Remember that all things are permitted to me against all people." Vitellius, after Otho had been killed along with his followers, while Otho's partisans were horrified by the stench of corpses, said: "A slain enemy smells excellent, and a slain citizen smells even better." But this same Vitellius, with his hands finally tied behind his back, a noose thrown around his neck, his garment torn, was dragged half-naked into the forum amid mockeries, and at last at the Gemonian stairs was mangled with the tiniest cuts and finished off, and thence dragged with a hook into the Tiber. So Fulgosius, book 9, chapter 11. Thus wretchedly perished, God avenging, and indeed Nero killed himself. Thus also miserably perished Caligula, Maximian, Diocletian, Hannibal, and Herod. Truly Thales of Miletus, when asked what difficult thing he had ever seen, responded: "An old tyrant." Wherefore the tyrant Phalaris used to say: "I who have experienced both would rather be subject to tyranny than exercise it. For the subject, secure from other evils, fears only one tyrant; but the tyrant fears both those who plot against him from outside and those by whom he is guarded." So Stobaeus, Sermon 47. Someone desiring a tyrannicide inscribed beneath the statue of Brutus: "Would that you were alive!" -- because through Brutus's efforts Tarquin had been expelled from the city. And beneath Caesar's statue these verses were inscribed: Brutus, because he expelled kings, was made the first consul; This man, because he expelled consuls, was made the last king. Not long after, Caesar was stabbed to death in the senate house with twenty-three wounds by senators. Mithridates by a single letter killed eighty thousand Romans scattered throughout the cities of Asia for the purpose of trade, and sprinkled so great a province with unjust but not unavenged blood. For he was reduced by the Romans to such straits that he took his own life by poison. Wherefore he himself, with the greatest torment, at last forced his spirit, which resisted the poison (from his long use of it), to succumb. St. Cyprian, in his treatise On the Lord's Prayer, says men surpass beasts in cruelty: for the lions spared Daniel in the den into which the Medes had cast him; and when Ahab was persecuting Elijah, the ravens fed him, 1 Kings 17: "O detestable cruelty of human malice!" he says, "Wild beasts spare, birds feed, and men plot and rage." The same author says to Demetrianus, under and together with Decius and Valerian, persecutors of Christians: "You deprive the innocent, the just, the beloved of God, of their homes; you strip them of their patrimony; you oppress them with chains; you shut them in prison; you punish them with beasts, the sword, and fire. Nor are you even content with a quick summary of our sufferings and a simple, swift brevity of punishments: you apply long torments to bodies to be torn, you multiply numerous tortures for entrails to be lacerated; nor can your ferocity and cruelty be content with customary torments: ingenious cruelty devises new punishments. What is this insatiable fury of butchery? What is this insatiable desire for savagery?" But God also repaid Decius in kind, and brought it about that
defeated by the Goths in battle and fleeing, he fell with his horse into a swamp, from which, once swallowed, he never afterward appeared. As for Valerian, God delivered him captive to Sapor, king of the Persians, who used him as a footstool when mounting his horse. Finally, those seven Maccabee brothers, cruelly tortured and fried by Antiochus, taunted him like lions and threatened him with an equally cruel death like prophets, 2 Maccabees 7. Among them the youngest, verse 31, said: "You indeed, who have been the inventor of all evil against the Hebrews, will not escape the hand of God." And then: "But you, O accursed wretch, most wicked of all men, do not vainly exalt yourself with empty hopes, being inflamed against His servants. For you have not yet escaped the judgment of the almighty and all-seeing God. For my brothers, having now endured a brief pain, have entered upon the covenant of eternal life; but you, by the judgment of God, shall pay the just penalties of your pride." He was a true prophet: for Antiochus shortly afterward, tormented by the sharpest pain in his bowels and an intolerable stench, eaten by worms, breathed out his blasphemous soul to the demon, 2 Maccabees 9. 4. AND I WILL SEND FIRE UPON THE HOUSE OF HAZAEL -- that is, upon the family and posterity of Hazael. For Hazael was already dead, and his son Ben-hadad was reigning, about whom the next verse speaks, as is clear from 2 Kings 13:22 ff. By fire understand both fire literally so called -- for conquerors, when they capture and destroy rebellious cities, are accustomed to assault them with sword and flame -- and also sharp punishments and effective slaughter, and the destruction of the nation and kingdom. For in Scripture, by catachresis, fire signifies that which devours everything and reduces it to ashes. Now, this destruction of Damascus was carried out by Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, who, called by Ahaz king of Judah -- hard pressed and nearly overwhelmed by Rezin king of Syria and Pekah king of Israel -- to his aid, besieged Damascus, captured it, destroyed it, killed Rezin, and transferred the citizens of Damascus to Cyrene, as is clear from 2 Kings 16:5. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Lyra, Arias, and others. He names Hazael because he lived and afflicted Israel shortly before the time of Amos, namely under Jehoahaz, the grandfather of Jeroboam, under whom Amos prophesied. Moreover, God did not punish Damascus and Hazael immediately, but according to His custom waited for the posterity to fill up the measure of sins designated by Him for vengeance, which happened in the time of Rezin: whence He then punished and overthrew both the sons and the fathers in the sons. AND IT SHALL DEVOUR THE PALACES OF BEN-HADAD. -- This Ben-hadad was the son of Hazael, 2 Kings 13:24, and therefore different from the Ben-hadad who fought against Samaria in the time of Ahab, 1 Kings 20:1; for Hazael killed that one and seized his kingdom, 2 Kings 8:7 ff. Moreover, at that time many kings of Syria were called Ben-hadad. For Hadad, or Hadadezer, was the first king of Syria, whom David defeated, 2 Samuel 8. From him, his successors were called Ben-hadad, that is, son, or heir and successor of Hadad. Now, this destruction was carried out not under Ben-hadad the son of Hazael, but under his grandson Rezin, as
I already said. 5. AND I WILL BREAK THE BAR OF DAMASCUS. -- "The bar," that is, the gates; for these are customarily secured with bars. Again, "the bar," that is, the strength, as the Chaldean translates (for the strength of gates lies in their bars; hence the bar is a symbol of strength), namely the leaders, soldiers, arms, courage, fortifications, and provisions with which, as with bars, the Damascenes had fortified themselves and thought themselves invincible. But none of these could resist God, attacking them through the Assyrians; indeed, everything was crushed by Him and immediately collapsed. AND I WILL CUT OFF THE INHABITANT FROM THE PLAIN OF THE IDOL. -- Damascus and the plain adjacent to it is called here a "plain," and it is the plain "of the idol," because it was abundant in idols and most devoted to them, say St. Jerome and Theodoret. The Zurich Bible and Arias translate: "From the valley of vanity." Such also was Damascus: devoted to vanity and therefore, when God punished it, cut down and fading, it gave the whole world a mirror of vanity. The Septuagint and Theodotion retain the Hebrew word and translate "from the house of On"; Symmachus and the Old Edition: "from the house of iniquity"; Aquila: "from the house of the useless." The same Damascus is next called the "house of pleasure," that is, overflowing with delights, in which King Rezin held the scepter when, after he was killed, it was overthrown by the Assyrians. For "pleasure" the Hebrew is עדן eden, whence the Greek hedone, that is, pleasure. Hence for eden the Septuagint usually translate hedone, but in this place they translate Haran, because the region of Eden, in which the earthly paradise was located, was in Mesopotamia and nearby places, in which are Harran, a city of the Parthians where the Roman Crassus was killed, as I showed in Genesis chapter 2:8. Moreover, Theodoret explains the same thus: Not only Damascus, but all the inhabitants, and those who had migrated from Haran to dwell there, I will make captives. The Complutensian edition retains Eden but corruptly reads Adam; or, as Villalpando reads on Ezekiel 27:23, Adam, because Eden was the place of Adam; for he was placed by God in Eden. Hence the Syriac also translates "in the house of Adon." Moreover, the region and domain of Damascus is not far from Mesopotamia, in which was Eden and the earthly paradise. Furthermore, the city and region of Damascus itself is pleasant and fertile; and therefore it too had its own city or region of Eden, to which Amos alludes here. Whence Marinus in his Lexicon and some others hold that Ezekiel 27:23 and Isaiah 37:11 speak of this Damascene Eden. Therefore Amos alludes to the Eden of paradise and to Adam, whom some hold was created by God in the Damascene field from red earth, and hence was called Adam. For Adam, or Edom, in Hebrew means "red" or "ruddy," about which I spoke on Genesis 2:7, as if to say: Just as I expelled Adam from the Eden of paradise for his sins, so I will expel the Damascenes from their Eden, that is, their place of pleasure, for their crimes. Others add that in Damascus Abel was killed by
Cain, and from this it received its name: for Damascus in Hebrew means "one who drinks blood" (says St. Jerome on Ezekiel 27), namely the blood of Abel. So Sanchez. Thus even today God expels nations from their regions, and individuals from their wealthy domains, gardens, and delightful paradises on account of their crimes, especially those committed in those very places, as we have seen in Belgium. Finally, the Arabic version translates: "And I will cut down the pride from its strength." AND THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA SHALL BE CARRIED AWAY TO CYRENE. -- Two cities were called in Hebrew קיר kir, and in Latin Cyrene. The first was in Libya, from which the Cyrenaica region was named, say St. Jerome and Strabo, book 17. Of this Luke says, Acts 2:10: "And the parts of Libya which are around Cyrene." The second was in Media. Here it is not the first that is meant, as St. Jerome, Remigius, and Hugh supposed, but the second; for this was subject and neighboring to the Assyrians, and therefore the Assyrians transferred the Syrians there after capturing Damascus, 2 Kings 16:9; and Josephus expressly states this, saying in book 9, chapter 13: "Tiglath-pileser destined the Damascenes (whom he had conquered and captured) for upper Media." Cyrene was named from the Hebrew and Chaldean (for the Assyrian and Chaldean languages are related, being merely dialects of the Hebrew tongue) kir, meaning "wall" or "rampart," because it was excellently walled and fortified as a citadel and stronghold of the region. That this is so is clear from Isaiah 16:7, where a third kir, or Cyrene in Moab, is called in Hebrew קיר חרשת kir chareshet, meaning "having brick walls." Whence our Vulgate translates: "Walls of baked brick." See what is said there. The Septuagint, instead of Cyrene, translate "Inixanto," meaning "renowned": "The renowned people of Syria shall be transferred," because they took the Hebrew קיר kir, meaning Cyrene, not as a proper noun of the city but as a common noun; moreover, they considered kir to be the same as קירא kira with aleph, meaning "calling" or "naming." So St. Jerome. But kira is feminine, not masculine. Better, therefore, our Vulgate and others translate it as a proper noun, Cyrene. 6. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF GAZA. -- From the threats and burden of Damascus, he passes to the threats and burden of Gaza and the Philistines, for their three, that is, very many, crimes, and four, that is, the fourth, namely that "they carried away the whole captivity," about which shortly. I have already explained this phrase in the burden of Damascus, verse 3. Now, Philistia had five cities and satrapies, subject to as many satraps or princes. The names of the cities are Gath, from which Goliath was born, whom David killed; Ekron, Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza, which were most hostile to the Jews and waged perpetual war against them.
Gaza is called in Hebrew עזה hazza, or Gaza (for the Hebrew letter ain, being guttural, indeed pectoral, is often rendered as 'g,' as is evident in Gomorrah, Pegor, in which for 'g' the Hebrew has ain), meaning "strong" from its fortification. So St. Jerome and others. Therefore Pomponius Mela errs, book 1 of On the Situation of the World, chapter 11, when he says this city was given a Persian name and is called Gaza, meaning "treasury"; for gaza in Persian means money and wealth, because Cambyses, he says, when invading and plundering Egypt, deposited the resources of war in Gaza. But in the time of Amos, and even of Moses and Abraham, who long preceded Cambyses, this city was already called Gaza, as is clear from Genesis 10:19 and Deuteronomy 2:23. Therefore that etymology of Gaza which Mela offers may be true of Gaza in Media (for this was near Persia), of which Ptolemy speaks in book 6, chapter 2, or of Gaza in Ethiopia, of which Ptolemy speaks in book 4, chapter 7, but not of Gaza in Palestine, as he has it. Gaza was later called Gazara. Against Gaza and the Philistines, Jeremiah also prophesies in chapter 47, threatening them with destruction by the Chaldeans. See what is said there. Tropologically, St. Jerome says: Gaza in Hebrew means "strength" or "dominion." Edom means "red, bloodthirsty, and earthly." Ashdod, or in Hebrew ashdod, means "fire of the breast" or "open." Ashkelon means "homicidal fire" or "weighed and measured." Ekron means sterilitas, that is, barrenness, and exilioseis, that is, uprooting. By all these are signified the Jews (as well as heretics) who have persecuted the faithful. For they are called Gazaeans because they promise themselves the strength of their knowledge and dominion. They are called Ashdod because the breasts of the Synagogue are now full not of milk but of fire; and she who falsely claims to have the fire of her uncle -- her entire generation is destined for the flames. They are called Ashkelon: for just as the fire of the Lord will save those whose hearts it has penetrated, so this fire that falls from heaven like lightning, which ignites the arrows of the devil, will kill whomever it touches. They are called Ekron because they are barren and uprooted, according to Hosea 9: "What will you give them? Give them a barren womb and dry breasts." They are called Gath, meaning "winepress" -- namely, of the devil. They are called Philistim, meaning "falling by the cup": for when they are intoxicated they will fall and wallow in their own vomit. So far St. Jerome. More precisely Rupert says: "Gaza means strength and signifies the Jews' rebellion against truth. Ashdod is interpreted as 'fire of the uncle' and signifies in them the burning envy of their father the devil, which overflows in them. Ashkelon is interpreted as 'homicidal fire' and signifies their murderous fury. Ekron signifies their barrenness and poverty, because they flee the fruit of the spirit and pursue the chaff of the letter. Philistim means 'falling by the cup,' and by this name we understand their truly drunken scandal, according to Psalm 69: 'Let their table become a snare before them, and a recompense, and a stumbling block; let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,' etc." BECAUSE THEY CARRIED AWAY (the Gazaeans and Philistines) THE WHOLE CAPTIVITY (that is, a full and complete one, so that they left scarcely a single Jew whom they had not led away captive), TO SHUT THEM UP IN EDOM. -- Vatablus: and delivered them to Edom itself, as if to say: The Philistines carried away nearly all the Jews and sold them to the Edomites, the most hostile enemies of the Jews, so that they might be shut up there as in an eternal prison, without any hope of liberation or freedom, and there lead a servile and harsh life in sordid, hard, and unceasing labors -- half-naked, famished, afflicted, and oppressed. For this is a "perfect captivity." So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugh, Lyra, Arias, Ribera, Sanchez, and others. When the Philistines carried away this captivity from Judea is not clear from either Scripture or Josephus. For what Remigius and Hugh suppose -- that it occurred at the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes; others, at the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea by the Chaldeans; others, in the time of Ahaz, 2 Chronicles 28:17-18 -- they are mistaken. For all these events occurred after the time of Amos; for he prophesied under Uzziah, who was the grandfather of Ahaz. But this captivity preceded his prophecy and was already past, as he himself says here. For "perfect" the Hebrew is שלמה shelema, meaning "complete," as our Vulgate, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate. But the Septuagint, reading with different vowel points שלמה shelomo, translate "of Solomon." Now the captivity of Solomon is the captivity of the Jews, who were the people and posterity of Solomon; for from so illustrious and renowned a king, the splendor and fame of the people is demonstrated, says Theodoret.
Verse 7: 7. AND I WILL SEND FIRE UPON THE WALL OF GAZA. -- "Fire," that is, destruction and slaughter, or even fire literally so...
7. AND I WILL SEND FIRE UPON THE WALL OF GAZA. -- "Fire," that is, destruction and slaughter, or even fire literally so called. He threatens Gaza and the Philistines with destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. For Nebuchadnezzar devastated the Philistines, as is clear from Jeremiah 25:20 and 27:4. See what is said in those passages. 9. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF TYRE (From the Philistines he passes to the Tyrians, and besides their three, that is, very many, crimes, he charges them with the same fourth crime of carrying Jews into captivity, and threatens the same punishment): I WILL NOT TURN HIM AWAY -- namely, to grace and pardon, as if to say: I will not spare Tyre, but will "send fire" upon it. The same crimes and the same destruction by the Chaldeans are threatened against Tyre by Isaiah chapter 23, Ezekiel chapter 27, and Jeremiah 47:4. See what is said in those passages. BECAUSE THEY DELIVERED UP THE WHOLE CAPTIVITY TO EDOM. -- In Hebrew לאדום leedom, that is, to Edom itself, as if to say: Because they took captive all the Jews and sold them to the Edomites, who are born enemies of the Jews, just as the Philistines were; and together with them and other neighboring nations they conspired for the destruction of the Israelites, according to Psalm 83:6: "Against You they have made a covenant -- the tents of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, the foreigners (Philistines) with the inhabitants of Tyre." So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Lyra, Hugh, and others. When the Tyrians inflicted this captivity on the Jews is unknown, as I said about the Philistines at verse 6. Albert and Vatablus think they inflicted it when the Jews, fleeing from Judea because of the invasion of the Assyrians and Chaldeans, came to Tyre as to a place of refuge but were seized by the Tyrians and sold to the Edomites. Remigius and Arias, however, hold that Jews who came to Tyre for trade purposes were seized and sold by the Tyrians. And Theodoret says: "The foreigners, neighbors of the tribe of Judah, continually waging war with it, sold those they captured to none other than the Edomites, who were their enemies and greatest foes." AND DID NOT REMEMBER THE COVENANT OF BROTHERS -- namely, which Hiram king of Tyre made with Solomon king of the Jews; for that covenant was so great and close that they called each other brothers, as is clear from 1 Kings chapters 5 and 9. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Hugh, and Lyra. Alternatively, Vatablus explains "covenant of brothers" as the covenant that should have existed between brothers, namely between Jacob and Esau and their posterity, the Israelites and Edomites, as if to say: The Tyrians stirred up hatred between brothers, namely they incited the Edomites against the Jews by selling Jews to them as slaves. This is a great crime, displeasing to Me, and therefore I will punish and avenge it by the destruction of Tyre. 10. I WILL SEND FIRE UPON THE WALL OF TYRE. -- Fire, by synecdoche or catachresis, signifies any punishment, slaughter, and calamity, as I said on verse 4. This devastation of Tyre was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar, who after a thirteen-year siege captured and devastated it, as Ezekiel teaches in chapter 29:18, and Jeremiah 27:3 and 47:4. See what is said there. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugh, Lyra, and others generally.
Verse 11: 11. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF EDOM. -- From the Tyrians he passes to the Edomites, and blames and punishes the same...
11. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF EDOM. -- From the Tyrians he passes to the Edomites, and blames and punishes the same crime of persecution of the Jews in them. For this enmity began with Esau himself, who, because his birthright was taken from him by Jacob, pursued him with deadly hatred; whence it came about that the hatred of brothers was preserved in their descendants, says St. Jerome. For they propagated it with their seed -- not so much Esau himself as his grandchildren and their descendants: it was so fierce and continuous that in Psalm 137:7, Numbers 20:18, and elsewhere, the Prophets bitterly complain about it. Moreover, how displeasing this crime was to God, He Himself declares here, saying: "Because he pursued his brother with the sword (alluding to Genesis 27:41, and more to Numbers 20:18, where the Edomites, armed, refused the Israelites traveling from Egypt to Canaan passage through their land), and violated his compassion." The Zurich Bible: "He corrupted the bowels of his compassion," with which he ought to have attended his brother and pitied his affliction. The Septuagint: "Because he violated the womb" (metra), that is, the womb or matrix of the mother (for the Hebrew רחם rechem signifies both "womb" and "compassion," says St. Jerome) on the earth. For Jacob and Esau were twins and came forth from the same womb of Rebecca at the same time: whence, by being at odds with each other, they seem to have violated the womb of the mother and the mother herself, and to have torn her apart. Wherefore the Roman edition of the Septuagint has: "because he violated the mother" (metera); and Symmachus: "Because he violated his own bowels, so as to forget kinship and harden the bowels of compassion, and not know himself to be a brother, and despise the womb of Rebecca, which had brought forth twin infants in a single birth," says St. Jerome. And then tropologically he says the Edomites, that is, the earthly and bloodthirsty, are the Jews, who persecuted their brothers, that is, Christ, the Apostles, and Christians. "For these violated mercy and the rights of nature, and forgot their mother Rebecca, who is interpreted as 'patience,' and who generated them together in Christ; and provided they may kill us, they are willing to be burned with fire." Finally, the Arabic version translates: "And they made the anxious to hunger in their land, and furtively stole the testimony owed to their souls." Morally, note here how displeasing to God is the discord, strife, and warfare of brothers, and how severely He punishes and avenges it. For the closest bond of blood in brothers, by the law of nature, divine and human, demands the highest concord and love. For "brother" (frater) is said as if "almost another" (fere alter), says Gellius, book 13. And Cicero, book 3, epistle 7: "The duty of a brother is to feel toward a brother as toward almost another self." Hence Sallust in Jugurtha: "Who is more friendly than a brother to a brother? Or where will you find a faithful stranger, if you are an enemy to your own?" Wherefore Antisthenes used to say that "brothers in concord are stronger than any wall." So Laertius, book 6, chapter 1. And the Wise Man, Proverbs 18:19: "A brother helped by a brother is like a fortified city." Cain, killing his brother Abel, was cursed by God, trembling, a wanderer and fugitive, Genesis 4:14. And Ishmael,
because he persecuted his brother Isaac, by God's command was driven from Abraham's house and disinherited: "Ishmael," says St. Augustine in book 1 of On the Unity of Baptism, and it is found in Distinction 56, Canon Ishmael, "was separated from the people of God not because his mother was the handmaid Hagar, but because of fraternal discord." Pygmalion king of Tyre, because he killed his kinsman Sychaeus in order to seize his wealth, was the disgrace of the world, about whom Virgil says in Aeneid, book 1: Pygmalion, in crime more monstrous than all others, Between whom fury came. He, impious, Before the altars, and blind with love of gold, Secretly overcame the unsuspecting Sychaeus with the sword. Romulus killed his brother Remus, and so, as Lucan says in Pharsalia 1: The walls were first moistened with a brother's blood. Wherefore Horace, Epode 7: Bitter fates, he says, drive the Romans, And the crime of a brother's murder, Since the blood of innocent Remus Flowed upon the earth, accursed for his descendants. Antiochus Epiphanes excluded Demetrius, son of his brother Seleucus, from the paternal kingdom; hence between the posterity of both there were continual wars for two hundred years, each in turn slaying the other and reigning in his place. Hear Plutarch, treatise On Brotherly Love: "The Antiochi, Seleuci, Gryphi, and Cyziceni, since they had not learned to be second to their brothers but coveted the purple and diadems, filled themselves, each other, and indeed Greece itself with many calamities." Jugurtha, king of Numidia, treacherously stripped his brothers of the kingdom, and therefore was defeated by the consul Marius, captured, and killed in prison at Rome, as is clear from Sallust in the Jugurthine War. Truly also Petrarch, Dialogue 83: "Just as scarcely any love is more equitable than brotherly love, so no hatred, once begun, is more iniquitous, no envy more bitter. Thus equality stirs up spirits and inflames them, when the shame of yielding and the more ardent love of preeminence make it so that the memory of the cradle, and everything that would seem to produce goodwill, once one has deviated from the right path, breed hatred and contempt." And Aristotle, Politics book 7, chapter 7: "The quarrels and angers of brothers are the most bitter; and those who love themselves too much, hate themselves too much." The Emperor Caracalla killed his brother Geta. To mitigate the scandal of his fratricide, Bassianus the prefect advised him to call his brother Geta divine: "Let him be divine," he said, "as long as he is not alive," and so he enrolled his brother among the gods. "Thus the desire for rule knows not the rights of piety," says Spartianus. Wherefore, God avenging, Caracalla was in like manner cut down by the tribune Martialis, when shortly before, his father had appeared to him in a dream with a sword, saying: "As you killed your brother, so I will kill you." Conversely, brotherly love wins the favor of God and men. Cyrus, in Xenophon, book 8: "Those who have sprung from the same seed, and have been nourished by the same mother, and have grown up in the same house, loved by the same parents, and who call the same woman mother and the same man father -- how can these not be the most closely united of all to one another?" Such among the pagans were Agamemnon and Menelaus, Eumenes and Attalus, Ariamenes and Xerxes, Craterus and Antigonus, Cassander and Pirillaus, Castor and Pollux, says Plutarch in the passage cited. "Sweeter before God," says St. Chrysostom, "is the prayer that is not transmitted by necessity, but commended by the charity of brotherhood." Hierocles, in his book On Brotherly Love: "Just as the eyes and hands," he says, "if they had a mind and will of their own, would care for the other parts with all zeal, because of the community that exists among them; since they themselves cannot properly perform their function without the presence of the other parts; so we too who are human beings and acknowledge that we have a soul, must strive with all our strength to treat our brothers properly. For brothers seem to be composed for mutual aid even more than the parts of the body" -- as if to say: Brothers are in a way parts of your body, just as your eyes, feet, hands, etc.; therefore love and help them, as the foot helps the hand and the hand the foot. The wife of Intaphernes, when Darius permitted her to choose one of her family whose life she might claim for herself, chose her brother. The king was amazed, and when he asked the reason, she said: "Another husband, other children, if God wills, may come to me; but another brother, now that my parents are dead, there is no hope of." So Plutarch in the cited passage, who also adds: "Just as smaller numbers added to larger ones multiply them, and are in turn multiplied themselves; so a brother who is obedient to a brother raised to honors increases his dignity, and is in turn adorned by his splendor." Moreover, Abbot Joseph in Cassian, Conference 16, chapter 6, says: The first foundation of brotherly love is to hold the pride of the world in contempt; for it is unjust that the most worthless goods should be preferred to the most precious thing, namely the love of a brother. The second is that each one should cut away his own will, lest, judging himself wise and prudent, he prefer to obey his own decisions rather than his brother's. The third is to know that everything, even what one considers useful and necessary, must be set aside for the good of charity and peace. The fourth is to believe that one should by no means become angry, whether for just or unjust reasons. The fifth is to desire to cure the anger of one's brother directed against oneself, even if conceived without reason, in the same way as one's own anger, knowing that the sadness of another is equally harmful to oneself as if one were moved against another, unless one has, as far as is in one's power, dispelled it even from the brother's mind. So Abbot Pimenius in the Lives of the Fathers, book 7, chapter 42, commanded the brothers that
they should assail an idol with insults; and when the idol was not moved by any insult, he said: "Brothers, behold, we are seven. If you wish to remain together so that we may gain profit for our souls, let that idol be an example to us -- that when someone insults us, we do not become angry; that when forgiveness is asked of us, we do not boast or exalt ourselves. But if you do not wish this, let each one go where he will." Excellently St. Jerome says in book 1 on Lamentations, chapter 3: "He is truly and not partially perfect who sustains both the harshness of solitude in the desert and the weaknesses of brothers in the monastery with equal magnanimity." The concord of brothers and sisters, therefore, produces the sweetest harmony in the ears of God and men, so that concordant sisters are like the Muses. For on account of the goodwill and love of sisters, the Muses are called, as it were, ὁμοῦ οὖσαι, that is, "those who always dwell together," says Plutarch in the cited passage. Such Muses of divine harmony and concord were Saints Faith, Hope, and Charity, the three daughters of St. Sophia, who, sisters in blood as well as in holiness and martyrdom, just as they loved each other in life, so also in death they were not separated, which they gloriously underwent for Christ on the first day of August. Such were Saints Rufina and Secunda on July 10; such were Saints Nymphodora, Menodora, and Metrodora, sisters, virgins, and martyrs under Maximian, September 10; such were St. Tarsilla and Emiliana, maternal aunts of St. Gregory, about whom he himself speaks in Homily 28 on the Gospels. Such were St. Pulcheria, Placilla, Arcadia, and Marina, sisters of the Emperor Theodosius, whom St. Pulcheria raised in the court as in a convent and taught to consecrate their virginity to God along with herself. So Cedrenus, Zonaras, and others, and from these our Raderus in The Court of Theodosius; so that deservedly all the Fathers at the Council of Chalcedon acclaimed Pulcheria, now Augusta, with one voice: "A new Helena, bulwark of the orthodox, and glory of the Churches." Such heavenly Muses and musicians were Saints John and Paul under Julian the Apostate, whom the same faith and passion truly made brothers. Such were St. Basil and St. Gregory of Nyssa; such were St. Gregory Thaumaturgus and Athenagoras; such were Saints Gregory of Nazianzus and Caesarius with St. Gorgonia. Such were the seven Maccabee brothers, 2 Maccabees 7; such were the seven sons of St. Felicity, and as many of St. Symphorosa, whom ardent charity joined both in life and in death, and adorned all together with the same laurel of martyrdom. Such were Godfrey of Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, who with united hearts and arms recovered the Holy Land and were the first to be crowned kings of Jerusalem. Such were Judas, Jonathan, and Simon Maccabee, who, conspiring together with few forces but united, routed the numerous armies of Antiochus. A threefold cord is not easily broken. The story of Scilurus is well known. AND HE KEPT HIS FURY BEYOND MEASURE. -- In Hebrew ועד עברתו attroph, that is, "and he seized," meaning he raged like a rapacious animal, says Vatablus. The Septuagint translate: "And he seized as a testimony his horror,"
and he kept his fury for victory, that is, as St. Jerome reads, forever; for in Hebrew לנצח lanetsach, meaning "for victory," is the same as "to the end," as is clear from the superscriptions of Psalms 4, 5, 6, and 8. The Complutensian reads eis machos, that is, "for contention," instead of eis nikan, that is, "for victory." Again, instead of לעד laad, meaning "beyond" or "for ages," as the Syriac translates, or "forever," the Septuagint and Arabic read לעד laed, meaning "for a testimony." Our Vulgate most aptly translates עברתו as "he kept"; because to seize one's fury beyond means, in Hebrew, to preserve and retain it, namely to seize from fury, to rage and tear the prey or enemy; or to seize fury beyond the bounds of humanity and to rage inhumanly. Whence Marinus in his Lexicon translates: "Because he tore in fury forever." Finally, the Hebrew אפו appo signifies both "fury," as our Vulgate translates, and "horror," as the Septuagint translates; and עברתו ebra denotes both "indignation," as our Vulgate translates, and "onset," as the Septuagint translates. So St. Jerome. 12. I WILL SEND FIRE -- through the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar, as is clear from Jeremiah 25:27 and Ezekiel 27. UPON TEMAN. -- It is a city and region of Edom, whose king was Eliphaz, the friend of Job, who was therefore called the Temanite. It is five miles from Petra, a city of Arabia. In this city the study of wisdom flourished, as is clear from Baruch 3:22. In the time of St. Jerome it was a village. So he himself says in his work on Hebrew Places, and Borchardus, Bredembachius, and others in their Description of the Holy Land. BOZRAH. -- It is a city in Edom, not far from Teman, so called from its very strong fortification or citadel. For Bozrah in Hebrew means "fortified." There is another Bozrah in Arabia, and a third in Moab. It is a synecdoche: from the principal part he means all of Edom. 13. FOR THREE TRANSGRESSIONS OF THE CHILDREN OF AMMON. -- From the Edomites he passes to the Ammonites, with the same style and censure. Ammon was the son of Lot, born illegitimately from his incest with his daughter. From him, his descendants were called children of Ammon, or Ammonites. They lived in Arabia; their capital was Rabbah, which was later called Philadelphia. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. BECAUSE THEY RIPPED OPEN THE PREGNANT WOMEN (the Syriac and Arabic say: the bellies of pregnant women; and the Arabic Antiochene: Because they sawed pregnant women with iron saws) OF GILEAD. -- Namely, so that from the pregnant mothers no sons
would be born who might occupy the land; but rather, as heirs and inhabitants failed, they themselves might invade and occupy their land. Whence follows: "In order to enlarge their borders." Jeremiah charges the Ammonites with the same crime of avarice and the desire to enlarge their borders in chapter 49:1: "Are there no sons in Israel?" he says, "or has he no heir? Why then has Milcom taken possession of Gad, and his people dwelt in its cities?" So Theodoret, Remigius, Hugh, and Lyra, and St. Jerome, who holds that the Ammonites ripped open the pregnant women of Israel at the time when Saul was reigning, namely when Nahash king of Ammon devastated Jabesh-gilead, 1 Samuel 11; although the ripping open of pregnant women is not mentioned there. Note: For "pregnant women" the Hebrew is הרות harot; if derived from הרה hara, meaning "she conceived," it means pregnant women; if from הר har, meaning "mountain," it means mountains. Hence Arias, Vatablus, and Pagninus translate: "Because they cut through the mountains of Gilead," namely to join the territory beyond the mountains of the Gileadites to their own. But the Septuagint, Chaldean, our Vulgate, the Zurich Bible, and others already cited translate "pregnant women." For this is the fourth enormous crime for which the Ammonites are destined by God for destruction. To divide mountains is not an enormous crime; but to divide, that is, to cut open, pregnant women, as Hazael king of Syria did to pregnant Israelite women, 2 Kings 15:16. Symbolically, Villalpando on Ezekiel 24:14 says: Pregnant women are what fortified and populous cities are called; for you may rightly compare these to pregnant women, as they are full of people. Tropologically, St. Gregory, Pastoral Rule, part 3, chapter 25: "Gilead," he says, "meaning 'heap of testimony,' is the Church, which by the mouths of all the faithful testifies what is true about God. The pregnant women of Gilead are souls that conceive an understanding of the word from divine love, and if they come to full term, will bring forth the conceived understanding of the soul by the manifestation of good works. To enlarge one's borders is to extend the fame of one's own opinion. They therefore ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead to enlarge their borders: because heretics, by perverse preaching, destroy the minds of the faithful who had already conceived something of the understanding of truth, and extend for themselves the name of knowledge; for they cut with the sword of error the hearts of little ones already pregnant with the conception of the word, and make for themselves a name as if for learning." And so St. Jerome: "The pregnant women," he says, "are the souls of believers, who at the beginning of faith can say: 'From Your fear, O Lord, we have conceived and brought forth,'" etc. Let those who scandalize the little ones note this, and those who seduce those who are laboring to bring forth a better life and impede their spiritual birth. For these are murderers, not of bodies but of souls; and as such they will be terribly punished by God, who feels the ruin of the souls created and redeemed by Him just as a mother feels pain when her bowels are torn apart so that the child may be thrown to dogs. For He says of His own: "You who are carried from My womb, who are borne from My belly," Isaiah 46:3. 14. WITH SHOUTING IN THE DAY OF BATTLE (Understand the shouting of both trumpets and of soldiers clashing, and of victors and the slain, as well as of the conquerors. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: "With the war trumpet in the day of battle"; Vatablus: "with clamoring," namely that which occurs during the clash), AND WITH A TEMPEST. -- The Zurich Bible: "in a storm," that is, with a powerful assault, in a horrible onslaught of enemies. For he compares the attack to a whirlwind, which seizes and winnows chaff, just as these enemies would winnow the Ammonites. These enemies were the Chaldeans, as is clear from Ezekiel 21:20 and Jeremiah 27:6. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Hugh, and others. Afterward the Ammonites were again devastated under Antiochus by Judas Maccabeus, 1 Maccabees 5:6. Note here from Josephus: Nebuchadnezzar, in the 28th year of his reign, which was the 11th of Zedekiah king of Judah, captured and devastated Jerusalem; then five years later, namely in the 23rd year of his reign, he devastated the Ammonites, Moabites, and Edomites, and began to besiege Tyre, which he captured after 13 years, in the 33rd year of his reign, as I showed in Daniel chapter 2, at the beginning. 15. AND MILCOM SHALL GO INTO CAPTIVITY. -- Milcom, or Melech, or Moloch, was the idol of the Ammonites, having the form of a king, namely Jupiter. Whence Milcom in Hebrew means "their king," as the Chaldean and Vatablus translate. Who Milcom was -- whether Jupiter or Saturn -- I discussed in Leviticus 18:21. The Septuagint in the Vatican, and in St. Jerome, have: "And their kings shall go into captivity, their princes and their priests together." So much for the literal sense; now receive the tropological meaning of the whole chapter. By these seven nations that persecuted Judah, that is, the faithful soul and people, are signified the seven capital vices: first, by Damascus (which in Hebrew means "sack of blood" or "drinker of blood"), gluttony and gluttons, who wallow entirely in flesh and blood; second, by Gaza, avarice and the avaricious, whose whole strength is in gaza, that is, in gold and silver. The same is signified by Ashkelon, that is, as St. Jerome translates in Hebrew Names in Acts, "fire of infamy" -- where correct to "fire of infamy"; for אש is fire, קלון calon is infamy. The same is signified by Ekron, that is, barrenness; and exiliosis, that is, uprooting. Israel represents sloth and the slothful, who, reduced to poverty by laziness, sell the just for silver and the poor for a pair of sandals, as will be discussed in chapter 2:6. The four crimes of each of these are the four stages of each vice: namely, the first is the sin of the will; the second, of action; the third, of habit; the fourth, of glorying, as I said on verse 3, from St. Jerome and Rupert. All of these God will destroy on the day of judgment and send into the fire of Gehenna, because they persecuted the pious and broke the covenant of brothers, by stirring up war between the flesh and the spirit -- indeed by causing the flesh to imprison and oppress the spirit, to which, as a brother, indeed as a servant, it ought to have been subject and obedient.