Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He announces destruction first of Samaria, because she was the first and chief in idolatry, whose wealth, as the wages of a harlot, that is of idolatry, he predicts will return to harlots, that is to the Assyrians, who were equally idolaters. He names several of her cities, namely Aphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, to be laid waste along with her, on whose etymology he elegantly plays, as I shall show at verse 10 and following. Then, at verse 12, he predicts the same destruction for Judah, which imitated Samaria in idolatry; and specifically Lachish, which was the first of the cities of Judah to receive the idols of Israel, and Beth-ezel, Maroth, Mareshah, and Adullam.
Vulgate Text: Micheas 1:1-16
1. The word of the Lord, which came to Micah the Moreshethite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 2. Hear, all you peoples, and let the earth attend, and its fullness, and let the Lord God be a witness to you, the Lord from His holy temple. 3. For behold the Lord will go forth from His place: and He will descend, and will tread upon the high places of the earth. 4. And the mountains shall be consumed beneath Him: and the valleys shall be split like wax before fire, and like waters that rush down a steep place. 5. For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6. And I will make Samaria like a heap of stones in the field, when a vineyard is planted: and I will drag her stones down into the valley, and I will lay bare her foundations. 7. And all her carved images shall be cut to pieces, and all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste: because they were gathered from the wages of a harlot, and to the wages of a harlot they shall return. 8. For this I will lament and wail: I will go stripped and naked: I will make lamentation like dragons, and mourning like ostriches. 9. Because her wound is desperate, because it has come even to Judah, it has touched the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 10. In Gath, tell it not; weep not with tears; in the house of Dust, sprinkle yourselves with dust. 11. And pass away, you fair habitation, covered with shame: she who dwells in Departure has not gone forth: the neighboring house shall take up lamentation from you, she who stood by herself. 12. Because she who dwells in bitterness has been weakened for good: because evil has descended from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. 13. The tumult of the chariot of astonishment to the inhabitant of Lachish: it is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, because in you were found the transgressions of Israel. 14. Therefore he shall send envoys to the heritage of Gath: the houses of falsehood to deceive the kings of Israel. 15. Yet I will bring an heir to you, who dwell in Mareshah: the glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam. 16. Make yourself bald and cut off your hair for the children of your delight: enlarge your baldness like the eagle: for they have gone into captivity from you.
Verse 1
1. TO MICAH. -- Micah in Hebrew is called Micha, that is "poor," because he predicted and foreshadowed the poor Christ about to be born in the countryside in Bethlehem. But since Micha by contraction can be the same as Michiahu (as is clear from 2 Chronicles 18:8), that is "who is like Him?" and the same as Michaiah, and Michiahu (as is clear from 2 Kings 22:12, Judges 17:1, and 2 Chronicles 13:2 in the Hebrew), so as to signify the same as Michael, that is "who is like God?" Moresheth means "my inheritance." Hence our Vulgate, the Septuagint, and others call him not Micha, but Micah.
Wherefore St. Ambrose, in his exposition 1 on Micah, which is found at the end of volume 2 of his works, says: "Micah signifies 'who is from God'; or, as we find elsewhere, 'who is this?' Moresheth means 'son' or 'heir.' But who is the heir, if not the Son of God, who says: 'All things have been given to Me by the Father.' And since He Himself was the heir, He willed us to be co-heirs. Rightly, 'who is this?' Not one of the people, but one chosen for the grace of God, in whom the Holy Spirit speaks."
IN THE DAYS OF JOTHAM, AHAZ, AND HEZEKIAH. -- From this it is clear that Micah began to prophesy a little after Hosea, Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah; but continued to exercise the same office alongside them. For they began under Uzziah, who was the father of Jotham. Jotham was a pious king, as was Hezekiah; but Ahaz was impious and an idolater. Therefore Hezekiah revered Micah and was pricked by his oracles, however bold and threatening, as Jeremiah narrates in chapter 26:17 and following. Jotham reigned 16 years, Ahaz the same; Hezekiah 29 years. Therefore if Micah prophesied during all these years, it follows that he prophesied for 61 years. But it is unknown whether he began in the first year of Jotham and whether he finished in the last year of Hezekiah. Hence, subtracting some years on each side, Arias conjectures that he prophesied for approximately fifty years.
WHICH HE SAW. -- That is, the word. For prophecy is now called a vision, now a word: because the Prophets saw it with the eyes of the mind, and heard the same from God speaking with the ears of the mind. For the mind has its own ears and eyes, but mental, not bodily ones. Wherefore in the mind, to hear is the same as to see, namely to know and understand: hence mental prophecy is now called a word, now a vision, now is said to be heard, now to be seen. On this I said more in Isaiah 1:1.
Verse 2
2. HEAR, ALL YOU PEOPLES, AND LET THE EARTH ATTEND -- namely of the Hebrews; for he speaks to them alone. He imitates Isaiah, who begins in a similar manner and pathos: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken." In like manner, the style of Micah is similar to that of Isaiah; for both are elegant, sharp, concise, and moving. "Earth" means the inhabitants of this land. Whence, explaining, he adds: AND ITS FULLNESS -- "And" signifies "that is": the "fullness" are the citizens and natives; for these fill the cities and villages of the land; whence the Septuagint translates: "And all who are in it."
AND LET THE LORD GOD BE A WITNESS TO YOU -- that is, let the Lord be witness that I, according to the office and duty of prophecy and preaching committed to me by God, admonish and correct you concerning your idols and crimes, and preach and threaten destruction and ruin in the name of God, that is: If, proud, rebellious, and obstinate, you do not obey these my warnings and threats, and therefore perish, I call God to witness that I forewarned you of this matter, and therefore you perish inexcusably not through my fault, but through your own guilt and obstinacy; so that you must ascribe your destruction not to me, but to yourselves. Hence the Chaldean translates: "Let the word of the Lord God be against you as a witness."
Otherwise St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, and Lyranus say: I call God to witness that this prophecy of mine is not mine, but God's; namely that I do not fabricate these things, but have heard them from God. Differently also Rupert says: Let God be witness that He Himself kept His covenants made with you, but you have violated them; and so the guilt of your destruction is to be ascribed not to God, but to you. But the first explanation is the genuine one, as is clear to anyone who considers what comes before and after. For before, he summoned the people to hear God's sentence concerning their crimes: here therefore he calls God as witness that he declared and foretold that sentence to them, lest they claim they were not forewarned. He adds God's sentence saying: "For behold the Lord will go forth, etc., and He will tread upon the high places of the earth, etc."
THE LORD FROM HIS HOLY TEMPLE -- that is, the Lord who resides in heaven as in His august temple, to be worshipped with every form of worship, and from there contemplates the earth and all the works of men; let Him be witness to you and to me that I have proclaimed to you these His oracles and decrees.
Verse 3
3. FOR BEHOLD THE LORD WILL GO FORTH FROM HIS PLACE. -- Here begins the sentence and oracle of God, delivered through Micah. God is said anthropopathically to go forth and descend from heaven when He shows His arm and power in the air or on earth, and works wonderful and new things: for God as to His substance is invisible, and is only seen through His operation. Just as therefore an angel is said to go forth somewhere when he operates there (indeed St. Thomas holds that angels are not in a place except through their operation; which, however, others rightly and with reason deny: for an angel, even if he does nothing, is in a certain and definite place through his substance), so also God. Especially, however, He is said to go forth as a judge and avenger to investigate, judge, and punish the crimes of nations and men: and as the leader and standard-bearer of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and similar nations, whom He sends against the Jews and other peoples to carry out His sentence and vengeance. The Psalmist graphically depicts this going forth of God, as if a warrior into battle against enemies, in a poetic description, Psalm 17:10: "He bowed the heavens," he says, "and came down: and darkness was under His feet. And He mounted upon the Cherubim, and flew: He flew upon the wings of the winds. And the Lord thundered from heaven, etc. And He sent His arrows, and scattered them: He multiplied lightnings, and disturbed them." Hence Ezekiel, chapter 1, saw God borne on a chariot and attended by Cherubim, proceeding to war, namely to the destruction of Jerusalem.
Otherwise Rupert says: "The Lord goes forth from His place," because He will abandon the temple and Judea, and yield it to the Chaldeans. So Ezekiel saw Him go forth from the temple, chapter 3:12; and in the temple shortly before the coming of Titus a voice was heard: "Let us depart from here," according to Josephus, book 7 of the War, chapter 12. So the Gentiles, when besieging a city, would summon its tutelary gods from it by a fixed incantation, that they might cross over to them, believing otherwise the city could not be taken, according to Macrobius, book 3, chapter 9. Hence Virgil: "They all departed from the shrines, and leaving the altars, the gods on whom this empire had stood" -- signifying that it was now all over for Troy, Aeneid 2. But this is a mystical interpretation, not the literal and genuine one.
Symbolically, St. Jerome, Hugh, and Lyranus say: God goes forth from His place when He punishes and chastises; for God's proper nature is to have mercy and spare. Therefore the place and throne of God is clemency. When therefore, provoked by sins, He grows angry and scourges, He seems to go forth from His place and to put off the character of clemency; indeed to put off His benign nature and to put on a foreign one, namely a rigid and severe one. This is what Isaiah says of God in chapter 28:21: "As in the valley of Gibeon, He will be angry; that He may do His work, His strange work: that He may perform His act, His act is foreign to Him," that is: The work of vengeance is foreign and alien to the nature of God, which is itself goodness and clemency, but to this work the impious virtually compel God by their crimes.
AND HE WILL TREAD UPON THE HIGH PLACES OF THE EARTH -- that is, He will trample the exalted and powerful, namely the nobles of Israel: for these are metaphorically called "the high places of the earth" and "mountains"; just as on the other hand he calls the common people "valleys," saying:
Verse 4
4. AND THE MOUNTAINS SHALL BE CONSUMED (in Hebrew namassu, that is, they shall melt and dissolve. So the Zurich Bible and Pagninus) BENEATH HIM (that is, beneath God, meaning: As God treads upon the mountains, that is the powerful, they beneath Him, like mountains struck by lightning, shall melt, dissolve, and be consumed). AND THE VALLEYS (that is, the common people) SHALL BE SPLIT (Pagninus: shall split themselves; the Septuagint: shall waste away, that is, melt and be consumed) LIKE WAX (is split and cleft, wastes and melts) BEFORE (from the heat of) FIRE, AND LIKE WATERS THAT RUSH DOWN A STEEP PLACE. -- Thus both the rich and powerful and the poor and common in Israel shall flow away, pass on, and go to ruin, according to 2 Kings 14:14: "We all die, and like waters we slip away into the earth, which do not return." This is the reasoning of the woman of Tekoa, by which she persuades David to pardon Absalom for the murder of his slain brother Amnon, meaning: The life of men is fleeting: even if Amnon had not been killed but lived, he would still have had to die shortly, and Absalom will shortly die; do not therefore, O David, seek a vengeance which nature itself will shortly inflict upon him. For what retribution, O king, do you seek against your son? Death? But he is already dying: for all of us who are human, like rivers with a rushing course, are swept into the sea of death, which is for us the house of eternity. Or rather, like rain we slip away into the earth and are absorbed by it, so that nothing remains from it that could return or be gathered -- naturally speaking. For he compares our life to water, not of a river passing by, but of rain slipping away and vanishing into the earth.
Tropologically, when God descends into the soul by the infusion of His grace, illumination, and love, the soul immediately, like melted wax, is dissolved, weeps, burns with ardor, becomes gentle, and entirely surrenders itself to God. Then the mountains of pride, ambition, and all vanity are consumed; as are the valleys of pusillanimity, fear, torpor, and sloth. So David, Psalm 21: "My heart," he says, "has become like melting wax." And Isaiah, chapter 64:1: "Oh that You would rend the heavens and descend: before Your face the mountains would flow away. As fire consumes, so they would waste away." Beautifully St. Gregory, on that passage of the Song of Songs 1, "Let Him kiss me with a kiss," says: "When I feel his (the Bridegroom's) kiss, with a sudden change He leaves me, and immediately, melted, I am transformed into His likeness."
Verse 5
5. FOR THE TRANSGRESSION (on account of the transgression) OF JACOB (that is, of the Jacobites, namely the Jews) IS ALL THIS (the destruction which I have just described will be inflicted on them), AND FOR THE SINS (that is, on account of the sins) OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL. -- Some think that "Jacob" here is the same as "Israel"; for Jacob the patriarch, wrestling with the angel and prevailing over him, was called Israel, that is, "prevailing with God," namely the angel, God's vicar. For the sake of rhythm, therefore, and the elegance of the poem, as well as for amplification, Micah, they say, repeats and presses the same thing in other words in the name of God, meaning: These crimes of the Jews embitter Me and provoke Me to vengeance, because they are the crimes of Jacob, that is, of the descendants of Jacob, whom I so exalted that, though he was the younger, while Esau his brother was the elder, I nevertheless preferred him to the elder and chose him, and adopted his family as My people and Church. Nor are they merely the crimes of Jacob, but also of Israel, that is, of the descendants of Israel, whom I deemed worthy of this grace, that in the wrestling with the angel I made him mightier than the angel; and therefore called him Israel, that is, "dominating God." For these benefits, bestowed on the patriarch Jacob, greatly aggravate the apostasy and ingratitude of his descendants toward God. "Jacob" and "Israel" therefore here signify, as usual, the ten tribes descended and sprung from Jacob, who were the leaders in idolatry. So Remigius, Lyranus, and Vatablus; or certainly, as Albertus and Arias say: "Jacob" means the twelve tribes, "Israel" the ten, meaning: All twelve tribes sinned in idolatry, but especially the ten, who infected the remaining two, led by their kings and princes apostasizing from the faith; these therefore I will punish first, then the two.
Second and more aptly, "Jacob" here signifies the ten tribes, "Israel" the two: for Jacob was the earlier and common name of the first patriarch of the ten tribes; Israel, however, was the later and more excellent name of the same, which he obtained from the angel when he conquered him. For "Israel" means the same as "dominating God": hence it signifies the two tribes, which had the holy city, the temple and worship of God, and God Himself within them; whence they seemed, as it were, to dominate Him. The meaning therefore is: Not only Jacob, that is, the ten tribes, but also Israel, that is, the two, namely Judah and Benjamin, to whom I gave Myself and My possessions as their special property and, as it were, domain, have revolted from Me: therefore I will punish both the former and the latter. That this is so is clear from the explanation which the Prophet adds, saying: "What is the transgression of Jacob," that is, of the ten tribes? "Is it not Samaria?" meaning: Samaria, which is the metropolis of the ten tribes, was the origin and cause of the sin, that is, the idolatry, for the other cities of the ten tribes; "and what are the high places of Judah," that is, of the two tribes? "Is it not Jerusalem?" See: those whom he just called "Israel," here he calls "Judah": but Judah signifies the two tribes: therefore these are here called "Israel," and are opposed to "Jacob," that is, Samaria and the ten tribes, meaning: Jerusalem, which was the seat of the king, the temple, and God, abandoning Him, built altars and shrines of idols on the high mountains (which are therefore likewise called "high places"), and thereby invited all their Jewish countrymen to the sacrifices and worship of idols -- which is most unworthy, and supremely injurious to Me, and far worse than the idolatry of Samaria, since Samaria lacked the temple and God. So Theodoret, Rupert, Ribera, a Castro, and others.
WHAT IS THE TRANSGRESSION OF JACOB, ETC.? -- In Hebrew, instead of "what" (quod), it is mi, that is, "who." Hence Vatablus, Arias, Clarius, and Pagninus translate: "Who was the cause of the transgression of Jacob? Was it not Samaria?" And: "Who was the cause of the high places of Judah? Was it not Jerusalem?" The word "who" indicates that the kings and princes of both the ten and the two tribes were the cause of idolatry for the entire people. For thus Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, compelled them to worship the same idols, namely the golden calves. Likewise Ahaz, Manasseh, and before them Solomon, led the two tribes to worship the same, meaning: The kings and princes, who ought to have been the leaders of the people in religion and holiness, instead made themselves leaders in idolatry and impiety; when in the royal city, where the whole people assembled, they erected idols and publicly worshipped them, and enticed the people to worship the same by word and example. Hence the Chaldean translates: "Where did the house of Jacob commit their crime? Was it not in Samaria? And where did the house of Judah sin? Was it not in Jerusalem?"
So in this century in England, Transylvania, Denmark, Sweden, and other kingdoms and republics, we have seen that the cause of schism and heresy throughout the entire kingdom was the kings and princes themselves, apostatizing from the faith and professing heresy. On the other hand, Italy, Spain, France, etc. persist in the true faith because they have always had Catholic and orthodox princes. On the king, therefore, depends the faith or infidelity, the piety or impiety, the salvation or damnation of the kingdom. Let princes take note of this, and let the pious know that they will obtain great glory and a crown in heaven because they were the cause of salvation for their subjects; but the impious will in hell pay for not only their own crimes, but also all the crimes of their subjects of which they were the cause. This is what the Wise Man gravely impresses on them in chapter 6:6: "Horribly and swiftly He (God the judge and avenger) will appear to you: because a most severe judgment shall be for those who govern. For to the lowly, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall suffer mighty torments, etc. For the stronger, a stronger torment awaits."
Verse 6
6. AND I WILL MAKE SAMARIA LIKE A HEAP OF STONES, ETC. -- First He threatens punishment to Samaria, as the chief in idolatry; then to Jerusalem, which followed Samaria in wickedness. He says therefore that He will reduce Samaria, a city magnificent with walls, houses, and palaces -- burning and throwing them down -- as regards its houses and palaces into a heap of stones, and the city itself into a field or open ground, from which stones are gathered into a heap so that a vineyard may be planted there. For when a vineyard is planted in any place, the stones are first cleared out, that is, removed and collected outside it into a pile, lest they impede the vines and the sprouting of the grape plants. He aptly says Samaria will be turned into a vineyard, because it was situated on a vine-bearing mountain, and before it was built into a city, it had been a vineyard: for on mountains, because of the reflection of the sun's rays, vineyards are usually planted, according to the saying: "Bacchus loves the hills." The meaning therefore is: I will overthrow Samaria so completely that the very site or mountain will be planted with vines and become a vineyard; and the proud buildings and walls of Samaria I will pull down through the Chaldeans and overturn to the foundations, so that their stones will be thrown down and rolled into the valley below, and there heaped up in a pile. So Theodoret, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Arias, and others.
Note: For "a heap of stones" the Septuagint translates oporophylakion, that is, "a watch-hut for fruit": "I will make," they say, "Samaria into a watch-hut for fruit," that is, I will reduce it to a shed, which is usually erected in orchards from reeds, straw, or vine-shoots, so that a watchman may keep vigil and guard there, lest thieves steal the fruits and produce; which shed, once the fruits have been gathered, is overturned or burned. Meaning: In like manner, through the Assyrians I will reduce magnificent and splendid Samaria as it were into a watchman's hovel, so that from a most spacious city scarcely a small hut will remain, says St. Jerome to Sunias and Fretella in his Correction of the Psalms; and then, when all the citizens and spoils have been gathered and led out, I will overturn and burn it through those same Assyrians.
In like manner, concerning Jerusalem, which was to be destroyed on its flat, open ground by the Chaldeans, Micah says in chapter 3:12: "Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple shall become like the high places of a forest."
The Prophet therefore signifies two things here: first, that Samaria is to be destroyed all the way down to a heap of stones; then second, that these stones are to be cast down into the valley beneath the city, so that vineyards may be planted on the city's site and mountain, once cleared of stones. That this is so is clear from the Hebrew text, which reads: "And I will make Samaria into a heap of the field, into a planting of a vineyard, and I will roll her stones down into the valley," meaning: I will cause the buildings of Samaria to collapse and become a heap of stones, which shall be cast into the valley, in order that vineyards may be planted on the place and mountain where Samaria now stands. So Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias, and others; and also the Septuagint: "I will make," they say, "Samaria into a watch-hut for fruit, into a field and planting of a vineyard"; and the Chaldean: "I will make Samaria into heaps of the fields, a desolate house, into plantings of a vineyard." That this actually happened is clear from this passage, although it is not narrated in the books of Kings; it is nevertheless implied. For in 4 Kings 17:24, it is said that the king of Assyria brought over Cutheans from Babylon: "And he placed them," it says, "in the cities of Samaria in place of the children of Israel, and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in its cities." Note here, it does not say: "They dwelt in the city," but "in the cities of Samaria, and they possessed Samaria," meaning: The Cutheans did not so much dwell in the city of Samaria itself, since it was already destroyed and reduced to farmland, as in the cities formerly subject to it. I admit, however, that some dwelt in the place of the city, either as citizens or colonists: for afterwards the city itself was rebuilt, since Hyrcanus later besieged it for a long time and finally captured and razed it to the ground, as Josephus testifies, Antiquities book 13, chapter 17.
Second, others, taking precisely the words of our Latin version, think that the Prophet by these words signifies not the two things already mentioned, but only one; namely the first, that Samaria is to be reduced to a heap of stones, so that the sense would be: I will bring it about that from so great a city nothing remains but a heap of stones, similar to the one that results from clearing a vineyard of stones: for when a vineyard is planted, we clear the place of stones and cast the stones out of it into some place, and pile them up in a random heap: which structure (as Rupert says), lacking cement and lime, is weak; and stone does not adhere to stone: therefore it fits Samaria perfectly, which always disagreed with Zion, and was itself also seething with internal dissensions, and took pleasure in the change and killing of its kings, says Delrio, Adage 986. So also roughly St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugh, Lyranus, Ribera. This interpretation is true, but only partial: the former, therefore, is full and complete, and the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the Septuagint require it, to which it is easy to adapt the Latin version by explaining it in the manner I reviewed a little before.
I WILL LAY BARE HER FOUNDATIONS -- by destroying, that is, the walls and buildings of Samaria down to the foundations: for then the foundations must necessarily be uncovered and laid bare. This is a metalepsis.
Verse 7
7. AND ALL HER CARVED IMAGES (idols which were customarily now fashioned, now hewn, now hammered and shaped with a hammer, now cast, now painted, now sculpted, and this very frequently: whence they are called "carved images") SHALL BE CUT TO PIECES -- by the Assyrians, both to seize the gold, silver, bronze, etc. from which the idols were cast or sculpted; and because the Gentiles regarded the gods of their enemies as likewise their enemies, and cut them down as enemies.
AND ALL HER WAGES SHALL BE BURNED WITH FIRE. -- Note: He calls idolatry "fornication"; idolaters, "harlots" and "lovers"; the idols themselves, "lovers"; the wages or earnings from harlotry are the crops, wealth, and goods -- namely an abundance of grain, wine, milk, honey, etc. -- which the Samaritans and other idolaters boasted they received from their idols, or which they received from commerce and friendship with the Chaldeans and other idolatrous nations, according to Hosea 2:5: "I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my waters, my wool," etc. And verse 12: "I will destroy her vine and her fig tree, of which she said: These are my wages, which my lovers have given me." The meaning therefore is: "All," that is, nearly all (for some survived the fire) the wages, that is, the crops and wealth which the harlot, that is, the worshipper of idols, Samaria, received either from the idols or from idolaters, shall be burned by her enemies the Assyrians. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Hugh, and Lyranus. Again, "they shall be burned with fire," partly literally, partly metaphorically, that is, they shall be plundered, carried off, destroyed. For by fire in Scripture is signified all devastation and the severity of punishment. Whence it follows: "To the wages of a harlot they shall return." So Sanchez.
Less fittingly, Theodoret, Vatablus, Arias, and Clarius understand by "wages" the offerings and gifts offered to idols by idolaters, either to fashion them or to clothe and adorn them. For wages are usually given to harlots by their lovers, not conversely by harlots to their lovers. But here the harlots are the idolaters, and the lovers are the idols themselves; unless one should say that the shamelessness of these harlots was so great that they gave the price of their sin to their lovers, rather than receiving it. For this is what Ezekiel reproaches Jerusalem with in chapter 16:33: "To all harlots wages are given: but you gave wages to all your lovers, and gave them gifts, that they might come in to you from every side to commit fornication (that is, idolatry) with you." But this was unusual and uncommon, and therefore Ezekiel expressly states it; but here, since Micah does not express this, it does not seem to apply: therefore he understands the usual wages, which harlots receive from their lovers, that is, which idolaters receive from their idols; not those which they give to them.
BECAUSE THEY WERE GATHERED FROM THE WAGES OF A HARLOT (not the idols, but the goods and wealth of Samaria. Hence the Hebrew, the Septuagint, Pagninus, and Vatablus read: "Because from the wages of a harlot she gathered what she has," namely her wealth) AND (that is, therefore) TO THE WAGES OF A HARLOT THEY SHALL RETURN -- meaning: Because Samaria the harlot, that is, the worshipper of idols, thinks she received her crops and wealth from them in return for her worship, therefore I will bring it about that those things shall likewise be transferred and returned to harlots, that is, to the Assyrians, worshippers of idols, as the Chaldean translates, who will devastate Samaria, and who will attribute and consecrate those things to their own idols as the wages of idolatry.
He alludes, first, to the ancient harlots who consecrated the first-fruits of their shameful gain to Venus, the goddess and patroness of harlots, as Herodotus teaches concerning the Babylonians in book 1, and Clement of Alexandria in the Exhortation to the Nations; Arnobius concerning the Cypriots, book 5 Against the Nations; St. Augustine concerning the Phoenicians in book 3 of The City of God, chapter 10: "There are three Venuses," he says, "one of virgins, who is also Vesta; another of married women; a third of harlots, to whom the Phoenicians also gave a gift from the prostitution of their daughters before they gave them in marriage to men." The same is taught by Baruch, chapter 6:42-43. Moreover, that the gifts of the gods and temples were formerly given to harlots is taught by Baruch in the same place, verse 10: "They give," he says, "from it (the gold of the gods) to prostitutes, and they adorn harlots: and again, when they have received it back from harlots, they adorn their gods." The same is taught by Ezekiel, chapter 23:42: "They put bracelets on their hands and beautiful crowns on their heads." Athenaeus testifies to the same, book 13, chapter 28. Moreover, that not only were the wages of harlots formerly offered to the gods, but also that from them idols and gods were fabricated, is attested by Arnobius, book 6 Against the Nations. See here the obscenity and baseness of idolaters and demons. For rightly says Tertullian in his book On the Apparel of Women: "The wages of no shameful thing are becoming."
He alludes, second, to the wealth of harlots gathered from harlotry, from which they never grow rich but always remain wretched and poor; either because they are extravagant in feasting and clothing and consume their shamefully gotten goods in luxury; or because their lovers or other harlots rob them of the same: for all seek their own gain, and that sometimes by right and wrong; especially the lustful, who have already squandered justice and conscience; or because when dying, they leave their shamefully gotten goods to their daughters or relatives as heirs, who are likewise harlots. He says therefore: just as the goods of harlots go to harlots, so the goods of Samaria the harlot, that is, the idolater, will go to the harlot Nineveh, because the Assyrian idolaters will strip the Samaritans, who are likewise idolaters, of their goods.
Here the proverb is true: "Ill gotten, ill lost." And that saying: "The cargo of salt went back whence it came" -- a proverb born from an actual event. For a certain merchant was carrying a ship loaded with salt: while the sailors slept, the bilge, greatly swollen by the influx of seawater, dissolved and ruined all the salt and sank the ship itself; and so the salt, which had been born from seawater, returned again, dissolved, into the same. Truly Hesiod warns: "Do not profit wickedly; evil profits are equal to losses." Let Christians learn from this pagan that what is gained at the cost of a good conscience is no profit; and that nothing is useful that is not honorable: for gain acquired by fraud comes at a loss. And shameful gain brings misfortune. And, as Pindar says in the Isthmians: "What is sweet beyond justice has a most bitter end."
Wherefore God rejected these gains from His temple and its offerings as unworthy of it, Deuteronomy 23:18: "You shall not offer," He says, "the wages of a prostitute, nor the price of a dog in the house of the Lord your God: because both are an abomination before the Lord your God." The same was the sentiment of the pagan Romans. For when Flora (from whose name even now in Rome the Campus Florae is named), a famous harlot, had accumulated great wealth from the practice of harlotry and had appointed the Roman people as her heir on the condition that her birthday be celebrated annually with the staging of games which they call the Floralia, the senate considered this shameful and disgraceful. Therefore, so that some dignity might be given, as it were a veil, to a shameful thing, they pretended that Flora was a goddess who presided over flowers, and that she needed to be appeased so that trees, vines, and crops might bloom well and prosperously. So Varro, book 1 of On Farming, chapter 23, and Pliny, book 18, chapter 29.
Verse 8
8. FOR THIS I WILL LAMENT AND WAIL: I WILL GO STRIPPED AND NAKED -- so that by this lamentable and desperate attire, I may both attest the intimate grief of soul which I conceive from the devastation of Samaria; and may actually signify and represent that the Samaritans in like manner are to be stripped by their Assyrian enemies, and led naked or half-naked into captivity: for the same reason Isaiah walked naked and unshod through Jerusalem, as I said at Isaiah chapter 20; and finally, so that I may indicate that the plague of Samaria will be most severe, reaching even to the gates of Jerusalem, as I shall say shortly. Wherefore the Septuagint and the Chaldean, translating these words in the third person, attribute them to Samaria itself, because the Prophet here assumes her role. For so the Septuagint has: "For this she (Samaria) shall lament and wail, she shall go unshod and naked: she shall make lamentation like dragons, and mourning like the daughters of Sirens." So St. Jerome, Remigius, Albertus, Lyranus, Arias, Vatablus, and others.
Some add: "stripped," namely both in mind and clothing, meaning: So great will be the disaster of Samaria, and so much do I grasp and weigh it, that I seem to be out of my mind and mentally deranged; and therefore I strip off my garments, and like a madman run here and there, weeping and wailing. Finally, St. Jerome thinks these words are spoken in the person of God, as if the Prophet here takes His place and shows how God grieves over the disaster of His people, and how unwillingly He sends or permits it: which indeed anthropopathically signifies and commends the wonderful clemency and love of God. But it is more truly and genuinely said in the person of Micah himself, as I explained a little before.
NAKED -- that is, with garments torn, as was done in mourning, ragged, having put off the outer and distinguished garment. So we call the tattered and ragged person "naked" by hyperbole, because he is half-naked.
I WILL MAKE LAMENTATION LIKE DRAGONS. -- The naturalists report, says St. Jerome, that dragons fight and duel with elephants, and if they are conquered by them, they resound with a terrible sound. For the dragon, being exceedingly hot, thirsts for the blood of the elephant, which is very cold, and in the scorching heat, being of such great size, it is accustomed to drink all its blood if it overcomes it: whence it happens that the elephants are drained by them and, dried out, collapse, and in falling they crush the dragons, now drunk and swollen with blood, by their weight, and force their enemies to die with them; and then the dragons emit great and lamentable cries. So Solinus, chapter 38 of the Polyhistor, and Pliny, book 8, chapter 41. And this is what the Prophet says here: "I will make lamentation like dragons."
So St. Jerome, Remigius, and Rupert. Rupert adds that by this phrase is signified a useless lamentation, which even though the Samaritans hear, no one nevertheless is moved to mercy; just as no one feels sorry for a lamenting dragon. On the contrary, Palacius, citing Albertus, Solinus, and Pliny, writes that these cries of dragons are so great and so terrify those nearby that those who hear them die. But this seems fabulous.
AND MOURNING LIKE OSTRICHES. -- In Hebrew, "like daughters of the ostrich"; for female ostriches are noisier than the males, and also produce a more mournful cry, especially when they are rearing their young and lose them. The Zurich Bible: "like young ostriches." For the chicks of ostriches, as if abandoned by their parent, indeed despised, as Job says in chapter 39:14 and Jeremiah in Lamentations 4:3, wail miserably, just as do the chicks of ravens cast out of the nest by their parents, of whom Psalm 147:9 says: "Who gives the beasts their food, and the young ravens that call upon Him."
Moreover, Aelian writes in book 24, chapters 7, 19, and 20, that the female ostrich is very loving toward her young, and has flesh sweeter to the taste than the male; therefore hunters, to capture her, are accustomed to fix iron spears around the nest, on which the mother, wishing to leap into the nest, impales herself, is killed and captured; and then she mournfully shrieks and laments: whence the ostrich in Hebrew is called iaana, from mourning, from the root ana, that is, "was afflicted, was oppressed, grieved, groaned."
You may ask: If the ostrich is so loving toward its young, how then is it called cruel toward them here and in Lamentations 4:3? Some answer that the father is cruel, but the mother is kind to her young. Others better answer that the mother is called cruel: first, because she does not warm the eggs she has laid by sitting on them, both because, as Pliny says in book 10, chapter 54, she is bare and featherless on her breast and belly -- and without feathers she cannot warm, heat, and bring to life the eggs; therefore she leaves them to be warmed by the sun and sand -- whence by God's providence ostriches are found only in the hottest regions, namely Syria and Arabia; and also lest she break the eggs by the weight of her body: for she is the size of a camel and in height, neck, and legs she resembles a camel; whence she is called the camel-bird, says Diodorus Siculus, book 3. Second, because she does not feed her young, since nature has provided otherwise: for Job expressly says this in chapter 39:14, and Lamentations chapter 4:3; yet she shows other signs of maternal love to her chicks. So from Aelian, Pliny, Oppian, Olympiodorus, and others, Pineda in Job chapter 39. Finally, Francisco Valles in his Sacred Philosophy, chapter 55, asserts that what Aelian and other pagan writers say about the ostrich's love for its young is fabulous and false, because it contradicts the passages of Sacred Scripture already cited, in which they are said to be cruel to them.
Incorrectly Rabbi David translates: "I will make mourning like the daughters of owls." For the Hebrew iaana never means owls, but ostriches. The Septuagint translates: "I will make mourning like the daughters of Sirens." They allude to the myth of the Sirens, says Theodoret. For the poets feigned that the Sirens were partly virgins, partly birds, daughters of the river Achelous and the Muse Calliope. One of them sang with her voice, another with flutes, another with the lyre; and they first lived near Pelorus, later on the Capharean islands, and lured those attracted by their song to shipwreck. In truth they were harlots who enticed passersby to love them, and stripped those captured by love: whence they were imagined to cause shipwreck, because they brought men to destitution, causing shipwreck of their goods, health, and often even their lives. Ulysses, by despising them and stopping his ears lest he be enticed by their song, brought them to death. So Servius on Aeneid 5: "And now indeed, borne along, she was approaching the rocks of the Sirens, once perilous and white with the bones of many."
Whence Siren or Sirena is derived from eleuv, which means to eat and retain; or from sora, that is, a chain, because the Sirens were the bond and chain of lust. Wherefore St. Jerome mystically understands by the Sirens and their song the heretics and their eloquence: "For sweet," he says, "are the songs of heretics, deceiving the people with sweet voice; nor can anyone pass by their songs unless he has stopped his ear and become, as it were, deaf," as the wise Ulysses did.
You may say: Here it was the singing of Sirens, not mourning. I answer: Sirens, like professional mourners, as they knew how to sing, so they also knew how to mourn and lament: just as even now harlots know both arts, and sometimes detain their lovers more by lamenting than by singing, lest they abandon them and break off the loves they have begun. The Prophet therefore, out of affection for his fellow citizens, transforms himself, as it were, into a Siren; so that now by cajoling and singing most sweetly, now by miserably mourning and lamenting, he may flow into their hearts and move them to repentance. For whoever wishes to convert souls must be a Siren, after the example of St. Paul who says: "My little children, whom I bring forth again, until Christ be formed in you; but I wish to be with you now and to change my voice, because I am perplexed about you," Galatians 4:19. Otherwise St. Cyril: for he understands by Sirens sea sparrows, or nightingales, which, when their eggs or chicks are taken, pour forth a mournful melody, whereas otherwise they sing most sweetly like Sirens.
Verse 9
9. BECAUSE HER WOUND IS DESPERATE (he calls the plague of Samaria the slaughter inflicted by the Assyrians, and the famine and pestilence arising from it), BECAUSE IT HAS COME EVEN TO JUDAH, IT HAS TOUCHED THE GATE OF MY PEOPLE, EVEN TO JERUSALEM. -- For when Samaria was destroyed in the sixth year of Hezekiah by Shalmaneser, king of the Assyrians, soon in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, who succeeded Shalmaneser, creeping forward and advancing further, came into Judea, captured many cities, and besieged Jerusalem itself, but there he was struck down by an angel, 4 Kings 18 and 19. So St. Jerome and Theodoret.
Verse 10
10. IN GATH, TELL IT NOT, WEEP NOT WITH TEARS -- lest the Gathites and other Philistine enemies see your disaster and grief, and thereby rejoice and exult. So David, when Saul was slain, said: "Tell it not in Gath, nor announce it in the streets of Ashkelon: lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult," 2 Kings 1:20. The Septuagint translates: "You who are in Gath, do not boast: you who are in Bachim, do not rebuild out of the house of derision." For they retain the Hebrew Bachim, as if it were a proper name, which all other interpreters translate as "weeping," says St. Jerome. For Bachim, incorrectly as it seems, Theodoret and others read Enakim, as if the Gathites were descended from Anak the giant: whence Goliath, whom David killed, was a giant and a Gathite.
IN THE HOUSE OF DUST, SPRINKLE YOURSELVES WITH DUST. -- For "dust" in Hebrew it is aphra, which can be taken in two ways: first, as a common noun meaning dust; second, as the proper name of a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:23, or of another in the tribe of Manasseh, which is called Ephrah in Latin (for the Hebrew Ephrah is the same as Aphrah), and was the city of Gideon, in which he lived and was buried, where he also received the sign of victory against Midian in the fleece, Judges 6:11. It can be taken in either way here.
First, taken as a common noun, meaning: O Samaria, with the cities subject to you, you are now to be called not so much Samaria, that is, "watch-tower," as Aphrah, that is, "dust"; because shortly you will be reduced to ashes and dust by the Assyrians: mourn therefore, and sprinkle yourself with dust. Behold, in spirit I see you reduced to dust; among the ruins of dust, therefore, wrap yourself in dust: you therefore, O Samaritans, do not lament your disaster among the Gathites and other Philistines, who will mock you, but at home privately sprinkle yourselves with the dust of your houses reduced to dust; because in reality, even against your will, you will soon be sprinkled with their dust when they are demolished. So from the Septuagint and the Chaldean, St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Albertus, Lyranus, Emmanuel, and others; whence the Septuagint translates: "O land, sprinkle your derision," although others read "in derision"; the Syriac translates: "In the houses of the collection of residue" (that is, in the threshing floors, where the residue of grain is mixed with chaff and the dust of the earth), "sprinkle yourselves with dust," meaning: In the threshing floors, sprinkle yourselves with sand.
Second, Aphrah, that is "dust," is here taken by the Hebrews as the proper name of a city subject to Samaria; so also St. Jerome in the text of his Commentary, Arias, Clarius, Vatablus, Mariana, and Pagninus, who translate: "For the houses of Aphrah, roll in dust," or "wrap yourself." For the Hebrew palas means to roll, to wrap. Hence also the Latin Roman Bible writes Pulveris ("of Dust"), as well as the following Pulchra ("Fair"), with a capital letter, as if a proper name; so that the meaning is: It is not for you, O Samaritans, to go to Gath to lament; go rather to your own city of Aphrah: it, according to its name, will remind you of mourning and dust, and will suggest it to you, that you may sprinkle yourselves with it. In Aphrah therefore, sprinkle aphra, that is dust, upon yourselves; indeed overwhelm yourselves with dust, because Aphrah as well as Samaria is to be overwhelmed with dust by the enemy, indeed to be converted into dust.
By a similar paronomasia one might aptly say: O Lutetia (Paris), for your sins and the disasters hanging over you, besmear yourself with mud (lutum). O Lima in America, defile yourself with slime (limus). O China (Sinae), fill yourselves with ashes (cinis). O Africa, in a chest rub your sand upon yourself.
Note: for "sprinkle," in Hebrew there is a double reading. Some read hitpallasi, that is, to sprinkle, or "sprinkle yourself." Others read hitpallasti, that is, "I sprinkled myself, I wrapped myself in dust," so that the Prophet here sustains the type of Christ, who in the house of dust, that is, in the womb of the Virgin, wrapped Himself in our dust, says Mariana. Whence allegorically, Christ in the house of dust, namely on earth, in the womb of the Virgin, sprinkled Himself with the dust of our mortality; indeed He put on this dust, as if about to do penance for our sins. For the house of dust is the earth, in which, on account of Adam's sin, we condemned to death dwell: likewise this mortal body, for the same reason soon to be reduced to dust. Furthermore, the Church, which as a house of penance on Ash Wednesday sprinkles us with dust, to make us mindful of our lot and death, and to call us away from carnal delights and transfer us to heavenly things. Then therefore let the preacher rightly say to the faithful: On the day and in the house of ashes and dust, sprinkle yourselves with ashes and dust.
Hence tropologically: O Adam, adamah, that is, O man from humus (earth), in aphrah, that is in dust, sprinkle yourself for your sins; for earth and soil you are, and to earth you shall return. We are dust and shadow. Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return. Since therefore you dwell in earth and dust, where, as St. Leo says in Sermon 4 on Lent, "it is necessary that even devout hearts become soiled by worldly dust." Hence in Lent, indeed every week, indeed every evening when you go to bed in uncertainty, not knowing whether you will see the following morning, but might be suffocated and die that very night, as has happened to many and still happens, examining your conscience as if about to appear before the judge that night, sprinkle yourself with dust. Imitate David saying: "Every night I will wash my bed: I will water my couch with my tears," Psalm 6:7. And: "For I ate ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping, because of Your anger and indignation, for You have lifted me up and cast me down," Psalm 101:10. Imitate the friends of Job, who, seeing his affliction, "cried out and wept, and they tore their garments and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights," Job 2:12. Imitate Jeremiah saying, Lamentations 3:16: "He broke my teeth one by one, He fed me with ashes"; and verse 29: "Let him put his mouth in the dust, if perhaps there may be hope"; and chapter 2:10: "They sat on the ground, the elders of the daughter of Zion fell silent: they sprinkled ashes on their heads, they girded themselves with sackcloth, the virgins of Jerusalem cast their heads to the ground."
Verse 11
11. AND PASS AWAY, YOU (in Hebrew, "pass away for yourself," that is, for yourself and your citizens, that is, for you. It is an enallage of number: and the "for you" is added either for elegance or for emphasis to increase the pathos) FAIR HABITATION. -- In Hebrew, "inhabitress of Shaphir." Shaphir, like Aphrah, can be taken in two ways: first, as a common adjective meaning "fair" or "beautiful," as an epithet of Samaria. For Samaria, situated on a pleasant mountain, looked around at its most beautiful gardens and fields outside, and its most beautiful palaces, houses, towers, streets, and walls inside, just as a peacock surveys its plumed tail. Meaning: You, O Samaritans, shall pass away (that is, you will shortly pass away) as captives into the enemy's land; you, I say, O inhabitress of Shaphir, that is, of the fair city; that is, O inhabitants of beautiful and elegant Samaria. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, and others. Hence the Chaldean translates: "Pass away, you who dwell in beauty, with your shame uncovered, naked and disgraced"; the Arabic: "Make yourself a beautiful habitation"; the Syriac: "Do for yourself, O inhabitress, what is beautiful, what may be fair."
Second, Clarius, Pagninus, Mariana, and Vatablus take Shaphir as the proper name of a city; whence they translate: "Pass away," that is, go with your metropolis into captivity, you who dwell in Shaphir, now no longer shaphir, that is "fair," but foul and naked, and therefore "covered with shame." Meaning: You boasted, O city of Shaphir, that you were beautiful and sapphire-like, and behold you are wholly defiled and muddy. So on the other hand Augustus Caesar boasted, as Suetonius attests, that he found Rome made of brick and left it made of marble. So to the chief cities of Italy these individual praises are given: Florence the beautiful, Venice the rich, Naples the noble, Milan the great, Bologna the fat, Ferrara the civil, Genoa the proud, Perugia the bloody, Mantua the glorious, Rimini the good, Lucca the industrious, Rome the holy. Florence therefore is Shaphir, that is, beautiful and fair. So Charles V used to say about the Low Countries that his wealth was in Flanders, his delights in Brabant, his nobility in Hainaut, his strength in Artois. And of the cities of Brabant: Mechelen the beautiful, Antwerp the rich, Leuven the wise, Brussels the noble. Shaphir therefore means the same as Nineveh, that is, splendid and beautiful.
You may ask: what city is Shaphir? For this name is not found elsewhere. I answer: Shaphir (as is clear from the Hebrew root and spelling) is the same as Sepphoris, or Sepphorim, or Sepphoron (for all these are the same), which according to Hegesippus and St. Jerome is Diocaesarea. About which Adrichomius writes in his Description of the Holy Land: "It is a wealthy city and the largest in all of Galilee, situated in the most secure location in the center of the region; fortified with a citadel, gates, ramparts, and the strongest walls, and having many villages around it." (Was this not Shaphir the beautiful?) It is believed to be the birthplace of Blessed Joachim and Anna, parents of the Virgin Mother of God. Gabinius made it one of the Jewish courts: Varus captured it, sold its inhabitants at auction, and destroyed it by fire: but Herod made it the capital and stronghold of the entire nation. It seems to have formerly had a cathedral church. For Tyrius in the Catalogue of the suffragan bishops of the Church of Antioch names Diocaesarea in second place among the bishoprics of Seleucia.
COVERED WITH SHAME: SHE WHO DWELLS IN DEPARTURE HAS NOT GONE FORTH. -- In Hebrew: "she who dwells in Zaanan." Again, Zaanan can be taken either as the proper name of a city, identical with Zanan, which was a city of the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:37; or more likely the same as Zaanannim or Zaanaim, which was a city in the tribe of Naphtali, subject to Samaria, as is clear from Joshua 19:33 and Judges 4:11. So the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus, Emmanuel, Mariana, and Clarius. Hence also the Plantin Bible writes In exitu ("In Departure") with a capital I, as if it were a proper name; or as a common noun. For Zaanan in Hebrew signifies "departure" or "going out," from the root yatsa, that is, "went out"; or from the root tsaan, that is, "was removed": for the letters ayin and aleph, being gutturals, are sometimes interchanged. Symmachus translates it as "abundance"; for his version reads: "She who dwells in abundance has not gone forth (into captivity)," as if tsanan with tsade were the same as saanan with shin. Hence the interpreters translate both as Zaanan; for tsade and shin are interchangeable letters. Hence tsachak is the same as sachak, that is, "laughed." The Septuagint has Shinar for Zaanan, apparently in error; unless you say that Shinar, that is Babylon, was called Zaanan by them because it abounded in wealth, luxury, and pomp.
If you take Zaanan as a common noun, the meaning will be: O Samaria, who dwells in zaanan, that is, in the abundance and plenty of all things, and therefore grows insolent and arrogant. Again, in zaanan, that is, "in departure" or "at the border," meaning: You who are the boundary of Canaan, nearest to the enemies, and the first to meet the advancing Assyrians -- supply the word "pass away" which preceded, or, as it is in Hebrew, "pass away," meaning: Pass away into captivity, both you, O habitation of Shaphir, that is, the fair city, and you, O habitation of Zaanan, that is, of Departure, who until now "has not gone forth" nor passed into captivity: but now she shall go forth and pass over. Or certainly, as St. Jerome says: "She who dwells in Departure or in abundance (namely Samaria) has not gone forth of her own will, but was led by force into Assyria."
The meaning is: Do not think, O Samaria, that having been captured by Tiglath-pileser, who, 4 Kings 15:29, took some from you, you have thereby paid the full penalty owed for your crimes, and nothing more remains for you to suffer. If you think that, you are mistaken: for he merely shaved you on the surface, but did not carry you away: you have therefore not yet gone forth; you must go forth, and you are to be carried away entirely to the Assyrians, so that no one from you, or scarcely anyone, will remain in Samaria. So St. Jerome, Remigius, and Lyranus.
Differently Rupert and Arias: for they understand this of Jerusalem, not Samaria, meaning: O Jerusalem, who dwells in zaanan, that is, in the abundance and luxury of all things, so secure that even when you saw the disaster of neighboring Samaria, you did not go out either to relieve, mourn, or console her, but remained at home indulging in and immersed in pleasures, thinking they would be firm and perpetual for you, and that no one could carry you away and tear you from them: you, I say, O Jerusalem, go forth likewise into Babylon, and learn that your Zaanan was not zaanan, that is, secure and firm, but that you dwelt in zaanan, that is, in departure, that is, on the road by which you would be led away into Babylon, near the enemy, near captivity.
If, second, you take Zaanan as a proper name, the meaning will be similar to what I have already given, namely: O Zaanan, happy city, until now you were zaanan, that is, abounding in wealth and luxury, but you were not zaanan, that is, one who had gone forth; now, as Zaanan, you will go forth with your mother and metropolis Samaria, from your homeland into exile, from freedom into slavery, from abundance to want, from life to death. Hence the Chaldean translates: "The inhabitants of Zaanan did not escape safely." Incorrectly the Syriac reads Taneos for Zaanan; whence it translates: "You were not put to shame, inhabitress of Tanis," that is, of Egypt, whose metropolis was formerly Tanis, Psalm 77:12.
Moreover, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others refer these words to what follows, and translate in this way: "The inhabitress of Zaanan did not go out to the mourning of Beth-ezel, a neighboring city, but now she will go forth to captivity and to mourning not another's but her own." Better, our Vulgate and the Septuagint and the Chaldean divide these words and put a pause at the middle colon. Whence follows: THE NEIGHBORING HOUSE (so the Roman edition: wrongly therefore some read "vicinae" [of the neighboring woman]) SHALL TAKE UP LAMENTATION FROM YOU, SHE WHO (wrongly therefore some read "qui" [who, masculine]) STOOD BY HERSELF.
For Beth-ezel, "the neighboring house" in Hebrew is Beth-ezel, which like the preceding can be taken in two ways: first, as a proper name of a place, which seems to have been near the city of Zaanan just mentioned, as Theodoret, Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias, Mariana, and others think. The meaning is: The city of Beth-ezel, which is near the city of Zaanan, will receive lamentation from its devastation, because soon it too will be devastated; she herself, I say, who "stood by herself," or "in herself," that is, trusting in her fortifications and her own strength, resisted the enemy besieging her for a longer time; whence the enemy, capturing her, will afflict her more severely, to make up for and compensate the losses of so long a siege. It is a synecdoche: from the part he means the whole, namely from the one city of Beth-ezel, the entire province of Judea. Whence:
Second, Beth-ezel can be taken as a common noun, meaning the same as "the neighboring house," and thus Judea, or the two tribes, especially Jerusalem, can be understood by it, meaning: Judea and Jerusalem, which is the neighboring house of Samaria, as from Samaria on account of proximity she received idolatry and guilt, so also from her she will receive punishment and destruction. Jerusalem, I say, which shortly before "stood by herself," in Hebrew emdate, that is, "in her subsistence," meaning: Which in her state and strength, and, as the Chaldean translates, in her elegance stood whole and untouched by the Assyrians, constant and unconquered, while she worshipped the true God and was protected by Him, while you, O Samaria, turning aside to idols, fell from your state and were carried away by the Assyrians. This is what he said in verse 9: "Her wound is desperate" -- Samaria's -- "because it has come even to Judah"; and again he will say in verse 12: "Evil has descended from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem." So St. Jerome with his followers, Ribera, and others. For the Prophet passes from the disaster of Samaria to the disaster of Jerusalem, which was near and related to Samaria, as it were a sister. The more recent interpreters, who forge a new translation, do otherwise; and various ones variously; as happens when they depart from the Vulgate, so that the reader finds nothing certain and solid in them, but the mind always wanders and fluctuates.
Moreover, the Chaldean assigns the cause of this lamentation and slaughter when he paraphrases thus: "Raise a lamentation for yourselves with bitterness, on account of the slain of your mighty men in the deep house, because of your desirable houses which you violently seized, joining this one to that; therefore the elegance of your land shall be taken from you." See Isaiah 5:8.
Verse 12
12. BECAUSE SHE HAS BEEN WEAKENED FOR GOOD -- that is, in regard to good, namely both of piety and virtue, and of the consequent prosperity and reward, meaning: She has been deprived of the goods both of grace and of nature and possessions.
SHE WHO DWELLS IN BITTERNESS -- Septuagint: "She who dwells in pains"; Hebrew: "She who dwells in Maroth." Maroth is the name of a city in Judea, according to St. Jerome. Perhaps the one listed in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:58, and called Mareth. There was also another city Marah in the tribe of Manasseh, near which the Damascenes once encamped; about which Tyrius writes in book 15 of the Holy War, chapter 8, and Adrichomius in his section on Manasseh. Furthermore, Maroth in Hebrew means "bitternesses." Hence our Vulgate translates: "In Bitternesses," with a capital I, to indicate it is a proper name; but in such a way that its force and energy consists in the common noun, which means bitternesses. Just as in Liege there is a famous bridge called Amaricour, that is, "of bitter heart," so called because citizens were slain there by Charles the Bold, when he, bursting into the city through it, devastated it with sword and flame. This therefore is the Maroth of the Eburones.
The meaning therefore is: You, O city of Maroth, and you, O Judah, possessor and lord of the city of Maroth, who under the pious king Hezekiah, in the good of piety as well as prosperity, that is, in peace and the abundance of all things, lived happily and joyfully, having gradually slipped from there into vices and idols, you have lost along with the good of piety the good of prosperity; and you have acquired the evil of bitterness and adversity (hence Theodoret reads: "Who can bring grief to her who was accustomed to dwell in good things?"). Therefore you may rightly be called one dwelling in Maroth, that is, in bitternesses, that is, in sins by which you embittered God and your conscience (whence Symmachus translates: "A habitation provoking to bitterness"), and in pains and punishments which afflict and embitter your body and soul.
From what has been said it is clear, first, that the Prophet through elegant wordplay alludes to the cities of Judea called Maroth and Beth-ezel, just as a little before he alluded to Aphrah, Shaphir, and Zaanan, cities of Samaria; for these suffered and were devastated along with their metropolis, but through them he means the whole province, by synecdoche. For in a similar manner Isaiah, chapter 15:2ff., describing the devastation of the province of Moab, says that Medeba, Luit, Elealeh, Zoar, Nimrim, Gallim, Dibon, etc. were devastated, which are cities of Moab. So Jeremiah, chapter 46:14, predicting the devastation of Egypt, says that Memphis, Tahpanhes, Migdol, and other cities of Egypt are to be devastated.
It is clear, second, that these names Aphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, Beth-ezel, Maroth are proper names of cities, but the Prophet presses the meanings of these names for elegance and force; and furthermore these proper names of cities are applied to the entire province in which they are, namely Samaria, or Judea and Jerusalem. The full meaning therefore of this entire passage from verse 10 to verse 12 is this: You, O city called Aphrah, that is "dust," according to your name sprinkle yourself with dust; you, O city called Shaphir, that is "beautiful," pass on to the squalor of captivity; you, O city called Zaanan, that is "abundant" or "going forth," go forth into captivity. In like manner, you, O region of Samaria, who embrace these and more cities, you, I say, are Aphrah, that is dust; because you are soon to be reduced to dust by the Assyrians, therefore roll in dust: you likewise, O Samaria, are Shaphir, that is beautiful, but about to be disfigured and taken captive by the enemy; you finally are Zaanan, that is abundant and about to go forth to the enemy.
So much for Samaria; what follows concerns Judea and Jerusalem. You therefore, O city called Beth-ezel, that is, "the neighboring house" of the city of Zaanan, will receive lamentation from its devastation; for your interests are at stake, your wall is in danger when the neighbor's wall is ablaze. You also, O city called Maroth, that is, "bitternesses," will suffer dire and bitter things from the enemy; because he will weaken and enfeeble you and all your possessions. In like manner, O Judea and Jerusalem, who embrace these cities Beth-ezel and Maroth under your dominion, you are Beth-ezel, that is, the neighboring house of Samaria; whence from her devastation you will receive devastation and lamentation. Moreover, you are Maroth, because you will experience bitter weaknesses and slaughter. The summary of all is: You, O Samaria, with your cities, and then you, Judea, with yours, will be devastated by the enemy; for the disaster of Samaria will spread to neighboring Judea. This is clear from what follows.
Tropologically, Aphrah is death, which dissolves us into dust; Zaanan, that is "departure," is judgment, which makes us go forth either to Maroth, that is, bitter hell, or to Shaphir, that is, beautiful heaven, or to Beth-ezel, that is, purgatory. For purgatory is a house neighboring hell in location, but heaven in state and merits. These are the five last things to be constantly meditated upon by everyone, which accordingly the Prophet here places before everyone's eyes, and whose words are easy to apply to each.
BECAUSE EVIL HAS DESCENDED FROM THE LORD TO THE GATE OF JERUSALEM. -- For, as St. Jerome says, Sennacherib the Assyrian, having devastated Samaria, came also to Jerusalem and sent Rabshakeh to insult the Jerusalemites, 4 Kings chapter 18, verse 17; Isaiah chapter 36, verse 2.
Verse 13
13. TUMULT OF THE CHARIOT OF ASTONISHMENT TO THE INHABITANT OF LACHISH. -- Differently the Chaldean, Pagninus, Vatablus, and Arias translate, namely: "Harness the chariot to the swiftest horses (or to dromedaries, which are the swiftest camels, and hence are called in Greek dromades, that is, runners), O inhabitress of Lachish," meaning: Take counsel for yourselves by flight, flee as fast as possible with your swiftest chariots, O inhabitants of Lachish; because the enemy Sennacherib is upon you. For Lachish was a most flourishing city, famous for its abundance of horses and chariots and their exercise, into which, because of its proximity and commerce and the practice of horsemanship, the worship of idolatry was first brought from the Israelites, and thence corrupted all of Judea. It is irony and a tacit mockery, meaning: Your great and most famous multitude of horses and chariots, O Lachish, your admirable and astonishing training, and your skill in the art of driving horses and chariots, will profit you nothing for resisting the Assyrian; therefore I advise you to use them for flight, but even this will not avail you: for you will not escape; because the Assyrian will overtake you even as you flee at top speed. Hence the Chaldean translates: "Harness the chariots, throw yourselves upon the post-horses, you who dwell in Lachish."
In the Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia between recheb, that is "chariot," and reches, that is "dromedary," which our Vulgate translates as "astonishment"; and Lachish, that is "walking to Ethiopia." Meaning: You, O Lachish, according to your name walk to the Ethiopians, that is, to sooty and black idols and the dark demons you worship; you walk, I say, with a calm and slow pace: therefore now you will no longer be Lachish, but rachish or reches, that is, a wonderfully swift dromedary; and recheb, that is a chariot: because like a chariot and dromedary you will try to flee the Assyrian at top speed: but you will be forced, a captive, to run at full speed into Assyria.
So tropologically, those who slowly persist in sins will be forced to rush headlong into punishment and hell, says a Castro.
Verse 14
14. THEREFORE HE SHALL SEND ENVOYS (the Chaldean and Vatablus translate: "gifts") TO THE HERITAGE OF GATH. -- It seems to be signified in this passage (although we do not read it elsewhere) that the citizens of Lachish, when Sennacherib was approaching, fearing his siege and destruction, were compelled to send envoys, that is, ambassadors, with a military escort and gifts, to Gath, a powerful Philistine city, otherwise hostile, to seek help from it, but in vain. For, as follows, Mareshah and Gath are "houses of Achzib," that is, of falsehood, and "a deception to the kings of Israel," because each, falsely promising help and not providing what was promised but deceiving, deceived, as it had often done before to the kings of Israel, so now the Jews and citizens of Lachish.
Note: For "to the heritage of Gath," in Hebrew it reads "to" or "upon Mareshah of Gath." Hence it appears that Mareshah was the proper name of a city attached to Gath and the Gathites. So Rabbi David, Pagninus, and Vatablus; for concerning it he adds: "Yet I will bring an heir to you, who dwell in Mareshah"; and because Mareshah in Hebrew means "inheritance": hence our Vulgate translates it as "heritage," on account of the allusion which I shall shortly explain. For the city of Mareshah belonged to Gath and was, as it were, its heritage. The meaning therefore is: Lachish will send envoys to neighboring Mareshah, which is the heritage and city of Gath, to seek help from it against Sennacherib.
Second and better, St. Jerome and Ribera say: Sennacherib from Lachish will send forth envoys, that is, volunteer soldiers and light-armed troops, into Mareshah, that is into the inheritances, fields, and towns of Gath, to ravage them: because they now, as often before, instigated the Israelites and the citizens of Lachish to resist the Assyrians, promising them help which they did not provide: and therefore they were and are houses of falsehood. Whence follows:
THE HOUSES (in Hebrew batte, that is, "houses" in the plural: whence the Plantin edition reads domos in the accusative, as an apposition, meaning: "Against Mareshah and Gath, against the houses, I say, of falsehood: for such are Mareshah and Gath") OF FALSEHOOD, TO DECEIVE THE KINGS OF ISRAEL -- namely, the cities of Mareshah and Gath were such, as I have already explained. In Hebrew it reads: "the houses of Achzib to achzab," that is, "the house of falsehood unto falsehood," that is, deception to the kings of Israel.
Note: Achzib was the proper name of a city in the tribe of Judah, Joshua 15:44. Hence the Chaldean, Vatablus, and Pagninus think this passage speaks of it. For so the Chaldean translates: "The houses of Achzib shall be delivered to the peoples on account of the sins by which the kings of Israel worshipped idols"; Pagninus: "The houses of Achzib shall become a lie to the kings of Israel." Which Vatablus explains thus: The buildings of the most fortified city in the tribe of Judah, named Achzib, which were like fortresses, will deceive the kings of Israel and they will be disappointed in their hope, meaning: The kings of Israel, that is, the kings of Judah, will be frustrated in their hope when they go down to Achzib to be safe there from the enemy: because that city will not be able to resist the enemy; but Achzib will truly be achzib, that is, falsehood, and a deceptive stronghold. There was also another city named Achshaph or Achzibah, later called Ecdippa, a maritime and powerful city not far from Tyre, which the sons of Asher could not initially conquer, as is clear from Judges 1:31. But better, St. Jerome and others judge that Mareshah and Gath are here called "houses of Achzib," that is, of falsehood, because they betrayed the trust given to the Israelites; yet with an allusion to the city of Achzib, which truly existed by this name in Judah, meaning: The house of Achzib, that is, of falsehood -- that is, the lying and deceitful place -- will no longer be the city of Judah called Achzib, but will be Mareshah and Gath. So Isaiah calls Jerusalem Sodom on account of its Sodomite morals, chapter 1:10: "Hear," he says, "the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom," etc. So often Ezekiel and the Prophets call the Jews Hittites, Canaanites, Amorites, etc. That Mareshah is discussed here is clear from what immediately follows. Hence the Syriac translates: "Houses of vanity have become a vanity to the kings of Israel"; the Arabic: "Houses of deception (error) have become a deception to the kings of Israel."
Verse 15
15. YET I WILL BRING AN HEIR TO YOU, WHO DWELL IN MARESHAH. -- Micah in this chapter is full of allusions: for in the proper names of cities he elegantly, wittily, and sharply alludes to their meanings: for which reason our Vulgate puts not the Hebrew proper names themselves, but their meanings. The meaning therefore is: You, O city of Mareshah, according to your name you were a rich inheritance for yourself and for your Gathite lords. But now I will bring another heir to you, who will seize and inherit your possessions, namely the Assyrian enemy; so that now you will be Mareshah, that is, an inheritance, not your own, nor of the Gathites, but of the Assyrians; because you incited the Israelites and fed them vain hope to resist the Assyrians.
In Hebrew there is a beautiful paronomasia: "I will bring" iores le Maresca, that is, "I will bring an heir to his inheritance." Moreover, this Mareshah was not the homeland of Micah, as some think; for this Mareshah was in the territory of Gath of the Philistines, while Micah was a Judahite: unless you say that this Mareshah is the one that was assigned to the tribe of Judah by Joshua, chapter 15:44, but which the Gathites seized by force and took from Judah. But St. Jerome and others say that Micah's homeland was Moresheth, distinct from Mareshah, as I said in the Introduction.
Micah plays on the word, as well as on the reality of Mareshah, that is, "inheritance"; just as Horace plays on the same word, book 2, Satire 2: "That one drove us out: him either worthlessness or ignorance of crafty law will drive out; the last will certainly be expelled by a more vigorous heir."
Whence tropologically, the house of Achzib, that is, of falsehood, is the world, and every worldly inheritance, especially one unjustly or by force or fraud acquired: for this is the Mareshah of Gath, that is, the inheritance of the winepress, by which the powerful press and oppress the common people and the poor; but afterwards they will find it to be Achzib, that is, a house of falsehood. To whom the Psalmist rightly thunders: "Sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? Why do you love vanity and seek after falsehood?" So heretics, pressed by Catholics, implore the help of the Turks, but afterwards find it to be Achzib, that is, falsehood; because after the victory the Turk subjugates them and imposes the Turkish yoke upon them; as we know happened at Buda and in Hungary in our grandfathers' memory. So witches, magicians, and others of desperate fortune invoke the demon, but they invoke Achzib, that is, falsehood. For the demon extorts from them soul and body, and wholly enslaves them. So many pursue the court to obtain honors and wealth, but after many labors, frustrated in their hope, they lament that they have served so many years in vain in the house of Achzib. Sons of men, why, having experienced this falsehood so often, are you not wise? Why do you still love vanity and seek after falsehood? You place all your hopes in a prince, in a prelate, in a friend; he dies, or takes offense at you over a trivial matter -- behold your hope is poured out upon the ground: behold your hope is Achzib, that is, falsehood. You trust in your children, that they will be the bases and columns of your family; but soon war snatches this one, plague that one, the gallows a third, the hospital a fourth, the fifth is degenerate and rebellious: behold you have trusted in the house of Achzib. You are young, in the flower of age, you are proud, you think your strength is perennial, you promise yourself the years of Nestor; but unexpectedly a fever invades, weakens, discolors you, so that you become an image of death: behold your youth, your strength is Achzib, is falsehood. You abound in wealth and say with that rich man of the Gospel: "Soul, you have many good things laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry." But hear the voice of the Almighty: "Fool, this night they require your soul of you; and what you have prepared, whose shall it be?" Luke 12:19. Are not these riches, these houses of Achzib? Is not this the inheritance of falsehood? Truly the Wise Man says, Sirach 34:1: "Vain hope and falsehood to a senseless man: and dreams extol the imprudent." For what are all the things and hopes of mortals but the dreams of those awake? As Philo says after Plato: "As one who grasps a shadow and chases the wind; so is he who attends to lying visions." And the Psalmist, Psalm 61:10: "But vain are the sons of men, the sons of men are liars in the scales: that they deceive themselves with vanity all together" -- as if to say: They themselves are as it were sons of vanity, and consequently are vanity all together. Hence the Hebrew and Chaldean read: "If the sons of men ascend in the scale, they are lighter than the scale itself." St. Jerome translates: "But vanity are the sons of Adam, falsehood the sons of men; in deceitful scales they deal fraudulently together." Theodotion: "Vapor are the sons of men, falsehood the sons of men, like the swinging of a scale, which now inclines upward, now downward and is carried along," says Theodoret, meaning: Thus nothing is stable in human affairs, but all things are unstable and pendulous, balanced in perpetual agitation and motion: they promise stability and constancy, but they lie: "For every man is a liar," and likewise every human thing and hope is a lie.
Truly says St. Augustine, in the book On the Knowledge of True Life, chapter 25, volume 9: "This whole world," he says, "is placed within God like a very brief point; but the most serene light of His majesty spreads outside in every direction into immensity." The same, on Psalm 36, sermon 1: "A mill," he says, "I think this world has been called, because it is turned by a certain wheel of the ages, and grinds its lovers."
Wisely and movingly the author of the Sermon to the Brethren in the Desert, sermon 31, says: "O world, betrayer, you promise all good things, but bring forth all evil: you promise life, but give death; you promise joy, but bestow sorrow; you promise peace, but behold turmoil; you promise bloom, but quickly vanish; you promise to stand, but quickly recede." And a little before: "Woe to him who trusts you; blessed is he who resists you; but more blessed is he who withdraws from you unharmed." And further: "Let all speak, let all declare, let the venerable father Adam rise with all his sons, and with one mouth let them say whether in this life they had joy without pain, peace without discord, rest without fear, health without illness, light without darkness, bread without suffering, laughter without weeping." And soon after: "O filthy world, to dwell in you and not grieve is impossible. To hope in you and not fear is vain. To love your things and not be endangered is vain. O my brothers, therefore do not love it, for it passes away, and its desire. But behold the world passes, and disturbs us, and is loved; it deceives, and is considered faithful: it kills, and is desired as if it were life. O filthy world, your honeys and your sweetness have harshness, false pleasantness, certain pain, uncertain joy, hard labor, fearful rest, a thing full of misery, and an empty hope of happiness." Is not the world therefore the house of Achzib, the seat of falsehood? Does it not in reality cry achzib, that is, "I lie and will lie, I deceive and will deceive"? Why then do you believe and trust one who is a liar and professes himself to be one?
THE GLORY OF ISRAEL SHALL COME EVEN TO ADULLAM. -- Adullam, also called Adulla and Adolla, was an ancient, great, and royal city, whose king Joshua killed, chapter 12:45. Jonathan later fortified it with buildings, and Judas Maccabeus kept the Sabbath there, 2 Maccabees 12. St. Jerome says in his Hebrew Places that it is to this day a small village to the east of Eleutheropolis. Near the city is the cave of Adullam, in which David hid when fleeing from Saul, and there he gathered four hundred men, of whom he became the leader, 1 Kings 22:1 and 2 Kings 23:13. So Adrichomius in the Description of the Holy Land.
Now the meaning is variously given by various interpreters. First: The Assyrian will devastate and capture everything, even to Adullam, which is a magnificent city and, as it were, the glory of Israel. So to Judith the victress, on account of Holofernes slain by her, the high priest and the people acclaimed: "You are the glory of Jerusalem, you the joy of Israel, you the honor of our people," Judith 15:10. Second, others understand by "the glory of Israel" the Assyrian, who seized and inherited the wealth and glory of Israel: for just as he ironically called him the heir of Mareshah a little before, so he now calls him the glory of Israel. Hence Pagninus and Vatablus translate thus: "The heir of the glory of Israel (namely the Assyrian) shall come even to Adullam." Third, St. Jerome and his followers take "glory" by antiphrasis and sarcasm as meaning "disgrace," namely: The disgrace of Israel, which the Assyrian devastator will inflict upon it, shall reach even to Adullam.
Fourth, the Hebrew Cabed signifies not only glory but also heaviness. Hence it can be translated: The heaviness, that is, the heavy affliction, of Israel shall reach even to Adullam. So Lyranus and Arias. Fifth, more plainly "the glory of Israel" can be taken literally, meaning: The Assyrian, gradually advancing, will capture nearly all the cities of Israel and Judah, so that he reaches Adullam, which was on the borders of Judah; and consequently the kingdom, dominion, and glory of Israel, as if driven and chased by the Assyrian, will arrive and halt at Adullam, a city once glorious: therefore when it is captured by the same Assyrian, the glory of Israel will be, as it were, extinguished and fall, according to the words of the Poet: "We were Trojans, Ilium existed, and the great glory of the Teucrians."
Hence when Israel was struck and the ark captured, the wife of Phinehas the priest, being pregnant, from grief gave birth to a son and called him Ichabod, that is, "Where is the glory?" saying: "The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been captured," 1 Kings 4:20. So the Prophet here, through the devastation of the magnificent city of Adullam, which was almost the last in Judah, signifies the devastation of all the preceding and intervening cities; so that in Adullam the dominion and glory of Israel will stand and fall. He alludes to the etymology of Adullam, or, as it is in Hebrew, Hadulam. For Hadulam in Hebrew means "ornament unto them," that is, it shall reach even to them; or "passage" or "prey," namely of the Assyrians, shall reach even to them. So Pagninus in his Interpretation of Hebrew Names. Finally, some erroneously read olam, that is "forever," instead of Adullam; hence they translate: "The glory of Israel shall be exalted forever"; and the Arabic: "Forever the glory of Israel shall be exalted."
Verse 16
16. MAKE YOURSELF BALD. -- Not you, O Jerusalem, as Theodoret would have it; for Sennacherib, who is being discussed here, was unable to capture it; indeed he himself was struck down there by an angel; but either you, O Adullam, and you, O Mareshah, as Vatablus thinks; or you, O Israel, as Arias thinks; or rather you, O Samaria, who, as you were the leader and director in wickedness, so also in the destruction of Judah, as I have taught in this chapter: for "make yourself bald" in Hebrew is in the feminine gender; therefore it refers to the feminine name of Samaria, not the masculine name of Israel. So St. Jerome and Rupert. Hence the Septuagint, punctuating these words differently, clearly translate: "O glory of the daughter of Israel, make yourself bald and cut off your hair for your delicate children." This is what he said at the beginning of the chapter: "What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?" Just as therefore he began this chapter with Samaria, so also he concludes it with the same. He says therefore: You, O Samaria, and consequently you, O Judea, make yourself bald and cut off your hair as a sign of extreme mourning. For among the Jews, and also among the Gentiles, the sign of this was baldness and depilation. For so Job in his affliction shaved his head, chapter 1:20. The same is clear from Jeremiah chapters 7:29, and 47:5, and Ezekiel chapter 27:31. For, as Ovid says: "Ugly is a mutilated flock, ugly a field without grass, and a bush without leaf, and a head without hair."
Make yourself bald therefore, O Samaria, as a sign of notable grief, desolation, destruction, and, as Theodoret says, rejection, by which God will reject and repudiate the children of your delight, that is, the children who are your delight, and, as the Septuagint translates, your delicate children, and will deliver them to the Assyrian enemy to be killed or taken captive. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupert, Hugh, Lyranus, Clarius, and Palacius. Whence, second, he consequently suggests that the children themselves, namely the Israelites and Jews, are to be shaved and shorn by the Assyrians as slaves. For this is what conquerors and masters are accustomed to do to those captured in war and to slaves. Hence it was said of the Scipios: "Under whose titles Africa lies shorn." Wherefore the Chaldean translates: "Tear out your hair and cast it upon the children of your delight: as an eagle whose wings have fallen off, so enlarge the baldness on your head on account of your children," meaning: Make yourself a great baldness, as the eagle, when it grows old, is completely stripped bare, to show enormous grief and sorrow.
ENLARGE YOUR BALDNESS LIKE THE EAGLE (the Syriac and Arabic: "Multiply your baldness like the eagle," because as the eagle loses its feathers, so you will lose your people and your children; whence follows): FOR THEY HAVE GONE INTO CAPTIVITY FROM YOU. -- Third, Theodoret says: Not only the beauty but also the speed and strength of the eagle consists in its feathers; for when its feathers fall away, it is so weak and timid that it hides itself, and cannot or dares not hunt, but rather is exposed as prey to others. So therefore Samaria too, stripped of arms and soldiers, like a featherless eagle which has neither strength nor escape, will be exposed as prey to the Assyrians. Fourth, Sanchez thinks there is an allusion here to the custom of the Gentiles, which the Israelites followed, who used to cut their hair at the funeral of their dead and place it in the tomb of the deceased, and thus perform funeral rites. So Homer, Iliad 23, says that Achilles threw his hair onto the pyre of Patroclus. And Catullus in the Argonauts: "They will let loose their gray hair from their heads into the ashes."
And Seneca in the Phaedra, Act 5, Scene 1: "Let us appease the shades; take the spoils of the head, receive the shorn locks of a torn brow." The same is expressly taught by Dionysius of Halicarnassus in the Funeral of Virginia. The meaning therefore is: All your citizens and children, O Samaria, will be torn either from their native or their living soil; all will die either civilly or naturally, that is, all will either perish or be captured by the Assyrians. Therefore perform their funeral rites and throw your hair upon their pyre. But since they are innumerable, and your hairs are few, in order to perform this rite for each one, you must pluck out whatever hair there is on your whole body, down to the very roots; just as all the feathers of the eagle, down to the very roots, fall out when the shedding of feathers and baldness comes upon it.
To this others add, who think that here the idolatry of hair is noted and punished, meaning: You, O Mareshah, offered the hair of yourself and of your sons and daughters to idols, therefore you will be made bald, so that in what you sinned, in that you are also punished. For Alexander ab Alexandro teaches, book 5 of the Genial Days, chapter 18, and Tiraquellus there, that idolaters consecrated the cut hair of their head and beard to their gods. And Diodorus Siculus testifies concerning the Egyptians, book 2, chapter 4, that they made vows for children stricken with illness, that if God favored the vow, they would dedicate the fallen hair. And Virgil, Aeneid 4: "This I am ordered to carry, sacred to Pluto, and I release you from this body." So she speaks, and with her right hand cuts a lock of hair. And Euripides in the Bacchae: "This hair is sacred; I nourish it for God." And Statius, book 2: "To offer maidens' locks." The same is attested by Tertullian, in the book On the Soul, and Censorinus, in the book On the Birthday, in the Preface. Plutarch in his Life of Theseus narrates that he, following the received custom, when he had passed out of childhood, went to Delphi to consecrate the first-fruits of his hair to Apollo.
Suetonius in his Life of Nero, chapter 12, says Nero consecrated his beard from a golden box to Jupiter Capitolinus. The Gentiles, like apes, received this practice, as many others, from the Jews, whose Nazirites vowed, consecrated, and burned their hair to God, as I said in Numbers 6.
The first meaning, as it is the simpler, so it is also the more genuine. He compares Israel to the eagle rather than other birds because, while man is made bald on the head alone, the eagle is deplumated over its entire body when it grows old: whence it then grows young again when new feathers grow in place of the old, on which subject I said much at Isaiah 41:31. Hear St. Gregory, Homily 18 on Ezekiel, at the end: "It happened to it (to Rome, besieged by the Lombards in the time of St. Gregory) what we know through the Prophet was predicted of Judea: 'Enlarge your baldness like the eagle.' For baldness in a man usually occurs only on the head, but the baldness of an eagle occurs over the whole body: because when it has grown very old, its plumage and feathers fall from all its members. Therefore it enlarges its baldness like an eagle, because it has lost the feathers -- that is, the people it has lost. The feathers of its wings also fell, with which it was accustomed to fly to prey: because all the powerful have perished, through whom it used to seize what belonged to others. But what we say about the crushing of the city of Rome, we know has happened in all the cities of the world. For some places have been desolated by disaster, others consumed by the sword, others tortured by famine, others swallowed up by gaping of the earth. Let us therefore despise from our whole soul this present age, already extinct: let us end our desires for the world at least with the world's end. Let us imitate the deeds of the good, as far as we can."
A certain interpreter cited by Clarius translates: "Cast your shorn hair on high, as high as the eagle is wont to soar," that is, mourn most greatly and bitterly. But the Hebrew word carach means to make bald, not to cast on high. Others think the eagle, like man, is made bald only on the head: for baldness properly belongs to the head, depilation to the body. For when the eagle grows old, it loses its feathers both on the head and on the body; hence at that time it is made bald on the head, deplumated on the body. But concerning the baldness of the eagle's head, we read nothing particularly distinctive compared to other birds in Pliny, Aelian, Aristotle, Aldrovandus, and others; but all celebrate the depilation of the eagle's entire body. "Make bald" here therefore means the same as "deplumated." Hence he says: "Enlarge your baldness," namely, so that it may extend from the head over the whole body.
Tropologically, the eagle shedding its old feathers and making itself bald and bare, and soon assuming new ones, is a symbol of penance and of penitents, who will assume the baldness of penance, that is, mourning and the signs of mourning, and put off old wicked ways, and begin a new life of virtue. So from St. Jerome, Aldrovandus in his work on the Eagle, page 69; indeed the Psalmist, Psalm 102:5: "Your youth shall be renewed like the eagle's," namely, "putting off the old man, and putting on the new one who is renewed in the knowledge of the Creator," says St. Chrysostom in the same place. For just as the eagle sheds all its old feathers and deplumated its entire body in order to assume new ones everywhere and renew its whole body; so the sinner and the penitent must put off all former habits and assume new ones, in order to become another and new person. This is a true, but rare, pattern of penance.
Symbolically, Samaria and any sinner is made bald through sin, that is, stripped of all the beauty and glory of virtues and graces. So St. Jerome. Whence he loses Adullam, that is, their ornament; and Mareshah, that is, the inheritance of God's grace and the heavenly kingdom; and Samaria, that is, the guardianship of angels; and he who formerly was Israel, that is, dominating God, becomes a slave of the devil.
Anagogically, Rupert says: In this simile of the eagle deplumating itself so as to assume new feathers, there is contained a tacit promise of another, better offspring; of Samaria indeed literally, but of the faithful and the saints mystically, especially through the resurrection and heavenly glory.