Cornelius a Lapide

Nahum I

Table of Contents

Synopsis of the Chapter

The Prophet prefixes a twofold title to this chapter and to the whole prophecy. The first is, The Burden of Nineveh; because he threatens destruction upon the Ninevites who, after Jonah's preaching and their repentance, have relapsed into their former crimes, from verse 1 to verse 7. The second, The Book of the Vision; because from verse 7 to the end of the chapter he consoles the Israelites with the slaughter and destruction of the Assyrians and of their enemy Sennacherib.

Vulgate Text: Nahum 1:1-15

1. The burden of Nineveh: The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 2. God is jealous, and the Lord is an avenger: the Lord is an avenger and has fury: the Lord takes vengeance on His enemies, and He is wrathful against His adversaries. 3. The Lord is patient and great in strength, and in cleansing He will not make the guilty innocent. The Lord's way is in the tempest and the whirlwind, and clouds are the dust of His feet. 4. He rebukes the sea and dries it up, and reduces all rivers to a desert. Bashan languishes, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. 5. The mountains tremble before Him, and the hills are made desolate; the earth quakes at His presence, and the world, and all who dwell in it. 6. Before the face of His indignation who shall stand? And who shall resist the wrath of His fury? His indignation is poured out like fire, and the rocks are dissolved by Him. 7. The Lord is good, and a stronghold in the day of tribulation, and He knows those who hope in Him. 8. And with a flood passing through He will make an end of its place, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. 9. What do you devise against the Lord? He Himself will make an end; a double tribulation shall not arise. 10. For as thorns embrace one another, so at their banquet while they drink together, they shall be consumed like stubble full of dryness. 11. From you shall go forth one who devises evil against the Lord, one who contemplates transgression in his mind. 12. Thus says the Lord: Though they be complete and likewise many, even so they shall be shorn, and he shall pass away. I have afflicted you, and I shall afflict you no more. 13. And now I will break his rod from your back, and I will burst your bonds. 14. And the Lord will command concerning you: no more shall your name be sown. From the house of your god I will destroy the graven image and the molten image; I will make it your grave, for you are dishonored. 15. Behold upon the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings and announcing peace! Celebrate your feasts, O Judah, and pay your vows, for Belial shall no more pass through you; he has utterly perished.

Verse 1

Verse 1. 1. The burden of Nineveh. -- "Burden," that is, a burdensome and calamitous prophecy, which is laid like a heavy burden and yoke on the neck of Nineveh, as if on a wanton cow, to lead it to the slaughter, that God may sacrifice and slay it. Whence the Chaldean translates it, the burden of the cup of cursing. See what I said about the word 'burden' at Isaiah chapter XIII, 1. For 'burden' the Seventy translate lemma, that is, an assumption, namely a burden that is taken up; which Theophylact explains differently and variously. First, literally, meaning: "My mind, taken up, elevated, and seized by the Spirit, foresaw what was to befall Nineveh." Second, "he seems to call it lemma

a being seized on account of astonishment and amazement. And St. Jerome in his Preface to Isaiah says: "Nor indeed, as Montanus with his mad women (Prisca and Maximilla, his prophetesses) would have it, did the Prophets speak in ecstasy as in dreams, so that they did not know what they were saying; and while they instructed others, they themselves were ignorant of what they said — of whom the Apostle says: Not knowing what they speak about. But according to Solomon (the wise man understands what he brings forth from his mouth, and on his lips he will bear knowledge), they themselves also knew what they said. For if the Prophets were wise, which we cannot deny, how, like brute animals, would they be ignorant of what they were saying?" And St. Chrysostom, Homily 29 on I Corinthians: "This, he says, is proper to a soothsayer — to be mentally agitated, necessarily compelled, and dragged about as though driven by furies. But the Prophet is not of this kind; rather, with a sober, modest, and firm mind, he knows all that he speaks, as is fitting."

The vision of the Prophets was therefore not an ecstatic seizure, but a mental understanding, by which they saw, that is, understood, those things which were shown and revealed to them by God, as I said at Isaiah chapter 1, verse 1.

Moreover, Nahum calls his prophecy both a burden and a vision, because it was burdensome to the Ninevites, and at the same time it was a consoling vision for the Israelites; for it consoles them with the destruction of Nineveh and Sennacherib.

Of the Elkoshite, -- that is, descended from Elkosh, a village of Galilee, concerning which St. Jerome says in his Preface: "Some think that Elkoshite was the father of Nahum, and that according to Hebrew tradition he too was a prophet, since Elkesai is to this day a village in Galilee, small indeed and scarcely showing traces of ancient buildings in its ruins, but nevertheless known to the Jews, and pointed out to me also by my guide." So also Epiphanius in his Life of Nahum, the Chaldean, Theophylact, Remigius, Lyranus, Hugo, Ribera, a Castro, and others generally. Therefore some are less than correct who, with Vatablus, think that Nahum was surnamed Elkoshite from his family.

Moreover, symbolically, Elkoshite in Hebrew means the same as 'late' or 'tardy' (whence from the same root the derived word lekes or malcos signifies the latter rain); therefore it aptly denotes the late and tardy vengeance of God to be carried out against Nineveh, which Nahum, as it were a latecomer after Jonah, announces to it. For God is slow to punish, but He compensates for the delay of punishment with its severity, according to that saying of the ancients: "The gods have feet of wool, but hands of iron." Therefore Arias judges that Jonah's oracle was like the early rain, which causes the crops to sprout; but Nahum's prophecy is like the lat-

ter rain which ripens the harvest; for it announces the impending disaster and reaping of the nation and kingdom to the Ninevites.

Verse 2

2. God is jealous, and the Lord is an avenger. -- In Hebrew: God (or the Strong One, for here the word is El) is jealous, and the Lord Jehovah is an avenger; the Syriac: God is jealous and an avenger. That is, Jehovah is a jealous God, who with great zeal protects His faithful ones, as well as justice and piety; and therefore He sharply punishes and takes vengeance upon the unfaithful and tyrants who harass and oppress the faithful and innocent. For His zeal does not tolerate faith and justice being trampled by the wicked, or their injuries remaining unavenged and unpunished. Therefore He, as a jealous God, will punish you, O Assyrians and Ninevites, with severe vengeance, because you have repeatedly invaded and devastated the people faithful to Him, namely the Israelites. And so His zeal embraces two contrary acts. The first is an immense love and care for protecting the beloved thing, namely His people; the second is an immense wrath and desire to punish those who have dared to injure and afflict the people beloved by Him. Whence for 'God is jealous,' the Zurich version translates, 'God who bears injustice ill'; the Chaldean, 'God the Judge.' For it belongs to a judge to protect the just and justice, and to punish the unjust and their injuries. 'Jealous' therefore means the same as a vehement and ardent lover of His own, and an avenger against His enemies.

Whence the Prophet here repeats 'avenging' three times, to signify that God is a most fierce avenger, and will most fiercely punish the Ninevites, because after Jonah's admonition they relapsed into their former crimes, and a third time, that is, repeatedly, invaded and plundered the people of God. See here and marvel at the zeal and jealousy, if I may say so, of our God for His faithful ones and children, whom when He has chastised, He immediately turns His indignation upon the very instruments of chastisement; and therefore rises up as a fierce avenger against His enemies and is vehemently wrathful against them — just as a father chastising his sinning son feels the pain of the stricken son far more through compassion than the son himself feels from the blows; whence immediately turning his fury upon the rod itself, he breaks it, cuts it to pieces, and throws it away, and then, bathed in tears, falling upon the neck of his weeping son, amid sweet embraces, he heals the sorrow and pain with joyful and most welcome promises. So God does here with Israel; therefore, caressing him in verse 12, He says: "I have afflicted you, and I will afflict you no more." Finally, God is jealous, because He alone desires to be loved by the Church and by the holy soul, and tolerates no rival in love.

Having fury. -- In Hebrew baal chema, that is, 'man of wrath' or 'lord of fury,' that is, 'having fury'; for baal, that is, 'lord' of something, is what one is called who has and possesses it. Thus a husband is called baal, that is, lord of his wife, meaning one who has or possesses a wife. As if to say: Do you think, O Ninevites, that God lacks wrath, because He has for so long overlooked and left unpunished your crimes? You are deceived: for He has within Him and is gathering up immense fury, which He will pour out upon you in its entirety at the appointed time, like a torrent of fire. The bee, while it pours forth honey, draws back and conceals its sting; but if anyone tries to steal this honey, it immediately thrusts its sting at him. So too God pours forth the honey of His gifts upon His own, but reserves the sting of punishments for the wicked. This is evident in the blessed and the damned. For as great as the happiness and glory of the blessed is, so great is the unhappiness and misery of the damned; for these drink the most bitter gall of wrath, just as those drink the sweetest honey of God's grace and love.

Mystically, God is called Lord of wrath and fury because He rules over them; men who are angry and furious, unable to control themselves, are ruled by wrath and fury; but God is not ruled by them, but directs them at His will, sets them in place, exercises, and moderates them, just as a shepherd rules his sheep.

He Himself is wrathful against His enemies. -- In Hebrew noter, that is, 'keeping,' namely keeping the memory of offenses, and vengeance for them, and the desire to avenge. Whence Pagninus translates: Reserving wrath for His enemies; the Zurich version: Mindful of injuries against His enemies; the Seventy: Taking away His enemies Himself, and that in violent wrath, as the Chaldean says. God therefore gathers in His mind, and as it were stores up in a treasury His wrath, in order to pour it all out upon the wicked at the appointed time, says Mariana.

Verse 3

3. The Lord is patient. -- In Hebrew, Jehovah is 'long,' that is, 'wide of nostrils,' that is, slow to anger, as Vatablus translates, and longsuffering, as the Seventy translate. Whence the Chaldean translates: The Lord drives away His wrath far; the Arabic: The Lord prolonging, enduring, patient. For those who have long, that is large and wide nostrils, easily blow out and exhale the fumes of anger and bile, and therefore are longsuffering; but those who have narrow nostrils blow them out with more difficulty, and therefore are choleric, as I said at Exodus chapter XXXII, 28. As if to say: God, although He has anger and fury, nevertheless bears with you and your crimes with longsuffering, O Ninevites, because He waits for you to come to your senses. So the philosopher Athenodorus, bidding farewell to Caesar Augustus, gave him this golden and divine counsel: "When angry, say or do nothing before you have gone through the 24 letters of the Greeks." So Suetonius in his Life of Augustus.

And great in strength. -- Vatablus: powerful in might; the Arabic: His strength is greatest; others: great in virtue or power. As if to say: God is not driven by anger and impotence of mind, but He is able to restrain His an-

ger within Himself as long as He wills; and yet He punishes at His appointed time. "God," says St. Jerome, "by the strength of His magnanimity bore their iniquities (the Ninevites'), calling them to repentance." For God is of such a lofty and strong spirit that He is neither provoked by offenses nor broken by rebuffs; nor is He overcome by however great a multitude or magnitude of crimes to leap furiously to vengeance. Rather, He knows how and is able to sustain His wrath, so that if men come to their senses, He may have mercy and spare them; if they are obstinate, He may wait for the opportune time to punish them, and pour out upon them in one rush all the fury accumulated over so long a time. For as great as God's patience was in waiting, so great will be His power and fury in avenging, according to that word of St. Paul to the Romans 2:4: "Do you despise the riches of His goodness, and patience, and longsuffering? Do you not know that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?" that is, strives to lead: "But according to your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath and of the revelation of the just judgment of God." Explaining these words, St. Augustine in book I, Against the Adversaries of the Law and the Prophets, says: "He increases His longsuffering, and you increase your iniquity. His treasure will be in everlasting mercy, but for those who have not despised mercy; your treasure, however, will be found in wrath, and what you deposit daily in small amounts, you will afterwards find as an immense mass. You put in by small bits, but afterwards you will find a heap. Do not ignore your tiny daily sins; for from the smallest drops rivers are filled." And so Nahum adds:

And in cleansing He will not make the guilty innocent, meaning: In no way will God, by keeping silent, enduring, and overlooking, declare you, O Ninevites, to be clean and innocent; but rather He will show by punishing in due time that you are most guilty. Hence the Chaldean translates: He will pardon the penitent, but the impenitent He will not pardon; the Zurich version: Powerful in strength, but by no means letting crimes go unpunished; Vatablus: In absolving He will not absolve. For to absolve is not to punish, and in fact to declare the accused to be pure and innocent. As if to say: Even though God does not immediately punish the wicked, He does not therefore acquit them; but He will at last exact punishment from them. Whence the Syriac translates: And in justifying He does not justify; the Antiochene Arabic: And in cleansing He does not cleanse; the Alexandrian Arabic: And clean without cleansing. Nahum alludes to Moses, who gives the same epithets to God in Exodus 35:28 and Numbers 14:18. See what was said there. Theophylact offers two other versions of this passage. The first is: Being without fault, He is not without inflicting punishment, meaning: God, although He is without fault and blemish, nevertheless punishes the guilty and inflicts on them the punishment they deserve. The second: He does not let the innocent go without harm, meaning: In the common disaster and the destruction of Nineveh, He will destroy the innocent along with the guilty, because He will bring ruin upon all alike.

Mystically, St. Jerome, taking all these things in a good sense, says: "God is patient, who upholds all who are falling, and raises up the oppressed; who heals the troubled in heart, and binds up their wounds. And great is His power: dissolving enmities in the flesh, and not making the guilty one innocent; since even one who too much applauds himself will be shown that he was saved not by his own merit, but by the mercy of God. For even though he may say: Behold, these many years I serve You, and I have never transgressed Your commandment; yet because the Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all His works, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, he who is justified by Him freely will hear: Is your eye evil because I am good? And

Morally: Note that patience is true power. For God is great in strength precisely because He is patient. Truly the Poet says: Stronger is he who conquers himself than he who conquers the mightiest walls. And another: You would rule more widely by taming the greedy spirit than if you joined Libya to distant Cadiz, and both Carthaginians served one master. Indeed the Wise Man says in Proverbs 16:32: "Better is the patient man than the mighty; and he who rules his spirit than he who captures cities." And the Psalmist in Psalm 7:12: "God is a just judge, strong and patient." And Ecclesiastes 7:9: "Better is the patient man than the arrogant." The Wise Man gives the reason in Proverbs 14:29, saying: "He who is patient is governed by much prudence"; for prudence is the teacher and mother of fortitude. Indeed Cicero too says: "To conquer the spirit, to restrain anger, etc. -- whoever does these things, I do not compare him with the greatest men, but judge him most like God."

The Lord's way is in the tempest and the whirlwind -- meaning: The Lord's ways are in the tempest and the whirlwind. This is a Hebraism: for the Hebrews by pleonasm express the relative with its antecedent, namely 'Lord' and 'His,' whereas the Latins omit one or the other. Whence the Zurich version, Vatablus, and Pagninus translate: The Lord's way is through the whirlwind and the storm. Explaining this, Vatablus says: "When the Lord resolves to afflict someone, He afflicts vehemently and swiftly"; for a tempest has vehemence, and a whirlwind has speed, which in an instant whirls and sweeps everything along with it. Note here the poetic catachresis by which God's strength, battle, and vengeance are graphically described, as though He were coming and rushing upon the Assyrians His enemies with great force and tumult. Similar is Psalm 17:10 and following. Whence the Prophet immediately compares it to a great army which, advancing swiftly, raises dust with its feet and darkens the air with it, according to Virgil, Aeneid IX: Here the Trojans see a sudden cloud gathering from the black dust and darkness rising over the plains; Caicus first shouts from the facing rampart: What mass, O citizens, rolls in dark cloud? The enemy is here.

For He says: "And clouds are the dust of His feet," that is, as Pagninus renders it: And darkness shall be like the dust of His feet. This phrase and parable therefore symbolically signifies: first, the great power, wrath, and fury of God in invading Nineveh and the Assyrians; second, that God not infrequently sends storms, winds, and whirlwinds against His enemies, by which He crushes them, as in the year 1572 [1571], in the naval battle of the Christians against the Turks at Naupactus (Lepanto) -- He turned the adverse wind

suddenly against the Turks into a favorable one for the Christians -- which was the cause of the illustrious victory that the Christians then obtained through the help of the Blessed Virgin. He did the same for the Emperor Theodosius fighting against the tyrant Eugenius. Marveling at this, Claudian exclaims in his Panegyric to Theodosius: O you too greatly beloved of God, for whom Aeolus pours forth armed storms from his caves, etc., and turns the reversed weapons back upon their authors, and repelled their spears with a whirlwind.

He did the same to Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea, as I said at Exodus 14, to which Nahum here alludes. Third, this phrase signifies the innumerable forces of the Medes and Chaldeans, through whom God invaded and devastated Nineveh with great force; for these forces truly raised immense dust with their feet, horses, and chariots. Whence the Chaldean translates: The Lord shows Himself as leader in the whirlwind and the storm, and cast a cloud of darkness before Himself. Hence concerning the cavalry of Nebuchadnezzar, Ezekiel says in chapter 26:10: "The dust of their horses shall cover you by the flood of their horses." Fourth, the word 'clouds,' says Arias, symbolically signifies that God so encircles and confounds His enemies, and blocks off all means of escape, that they, as if overwhelmed by a thick fog of clouds and darkness, are by no means able to protect themselves or seek safety in flight, much less to stand their ground and fight back. For God, as Lord of all things, has at hand mountains, winds, the sea, rivers, hailstones, and very many and most powerful thunderbolts, which, like God's soldiers, stand guard at His command and leap upon His enemies, according to Psalm 148:8: "Fire, hail, snow, ice, stormy winds, which do His word." Hence God is called Sabaoth, that is, of armies -- of angels as well as of all men and creatures.

Allegorically, these things will be even more true on the day of judgment, when, as the Wise Man says in Wisdom 5:18: "He will arm creation for the vengeance of His enemies, etc., and the whole world will fight with Him against the foolish. The shafts of lightning will fly with true aim, and from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow, they will leap to the mark. And from His rock-hurling wrath, full hailstones will be hurled; the water of the sea will rage against them, and the rivers will rush together fiercely. A mighty wind will stand against them, and like a whirlwind will scatter them." How wise are those who, by meditating and foreseeing these things, guard against sin and live holy lives, so that they may be able to flee from the coming wrath of God!

Julian, Archbishop of Toledo, wrote a moral and elegant commentary on Nahum, which is found in volume II of the Library of the Holy Fathers, where he explains this passage tropologically as follows: "There are," he says, "four tempests of the soul, and four whirlwinds of the same. The first is of vices, the second of worldly affairs, the third of temptations, the fourth of beneficial affections. The first therefore is of wrath, the second of misery, the third of justice, the fourth of grace. The first beats down the flower of virtues with hail, the second destroys the honor of conscience, the third drives away the sweetest fragrance of contemplation, the fourth ardently advances one toward the love of heavenly things. The first comes from the devil, the second from the world, the third from the debt of misery, the fourth from God. The first annihilates the sanctity of religion, the second disturbs the serenity of conscience, the third drives away the sweetness of the most divine fragrance, the fourth raises one to angelic purity. The first therefore is of divine indignation, the second of dispensation, the third of probation, the fourth of love." Then he adds remedies or uses for each: "The paths of the first are pure confession and manly repentance; of the second, contempt of the world and the solitary life; of the third, devout compunction and innocence of mind; of the fourth, the silence of a purified soul and the joy of the Bridegroom. But because the Prophet asserts that the Lord's ways are in the tempest, not in tempests, he speaks specially, as is understood, of the fourth, about which see III Kings 19:11. For it says: Elijah stood at the entrance of the cave, and behold the spirit of the Lord passing, overturning mountains and breaking rocks to pieces; not in the spirit was the Lord; and after the spirit, an earthquake; not in the earthquake was the Lord; and after the earthquake, fire; not in the fire was the Lord; and after the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze; there was the Lord. By the passing spirit is designated the tempest of the soul, namely the bitter but useful contrition of sins. By the earthquake, devout compunction of mind. By the fire, fervent and ordered love. By the silence, the most secret infusion of blessed contemplation." In like manner he goes on to list four whirlwinds of the soul: the first is the sudden oppression of the just, which is followed by a tempest, first of vices, second of punishments; the second is the onset of cares and worldly affairs, which is followed by a deluge

of crimes; the third is the invasion of temptations, which is followed by tranquility of conscience and the grace of gifts; the fourth is a sudden and violent agitation of the soul from various causes, which is followed by a tempest of righteous affections, and then the pleasantness of ordered love and the delightful serenity of divine contemplation. Thus far Julian.

And clouds are the dust of His feet -- meaning: By advancing with His troops of soldiers, God raises a cloud of dust, as I have already said.

Tropologically, Julian Archbishop of Toledo in the passage already cited says: "The feet of the Lord (that is, the apostles and holy men) are dust, through the humility of their conscience; clouds, through the obscurity of their eloquence. They are dust, by thinking humbly of themselves; clouds, by covering heavenly secrets with the veil of the letter; humble in life, obscure in doctrine. They are dust, so as to please; clouds, lest they cast pearls before swine. Whence we read in the Psalm: He made darkness His hiding place, because concealed under the veil of the Prophets' letter He lay hidden for a long time. Of these feet Isaiah says: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those who preach peace, who preach good tidings! And elsewhere: Those who draw near to His feet shall receive of His doctrine. These therefore were the feet of the Lord, who by their preaching bore Him through the whole world: Peter to Rome through Italy, Andrew through Achaia, John through Asia, etc., Paul through the whole world. But because the office of preaching can scarcely be exercised long without some blemish, dust is therefore said to be on the feet, because a small leaven of vainglory clings to one's habits. But since it is quickly driven away by the burning light of compunction, the dust vanishes in the manner of a cloud."

Verse 4

4. He rebukes the sea and dries it up. -- From the Hebrew, first, Pagninus translates in the past tense: Who rebuked the sea and dried it up; namely the Red Sea, so that the Hebrews might cross, Exodus 14. Second, the Zurich version translates more fully: Who, as soon as He rebukes the sea, dries it up, and dries up all rivers. For the words 'rebukes' and 'dries up' are in the potential mood and are taken in the potential sense (dynamikos), as futures are often taken among the Hebrews. For they signify the omnipotence of God, by which with a single word He can halt the seas and dry up rivers however vast, as He dried up the Jordan when Joshua and the Hebrews crossed. 'Rebuking' therefore, or as the Seventy say, 'threatening,' is the same as commanding the sea in the manner of one who rebukes and threatens, and dividing or drying it up as He pleases. He alludes to the division of the Red Sea, concerning which Psalm 106:9: "He rebuked the Red Sea, and it was dried up; and He led them (the Hebrews) through the depths as through a desert." So Christ "rising up rebuked the wind, and said to the sea: Be still"; and with that word He calmed the waves and made the sea tranquil, Mark 4:39. So Albert, Hugo, Arias, Ribera, and others. With a similar figure Isaiah 40:12 graphically describes God's power and magnificence: "Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and weighed the heavens with His palm? Who has held up the mass of the earth with three fingers, and weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in a scale, etc.? Behold the nations are as a drop from a bucket, and are counted as a moment of the balance. Behold the islands are as a speck of dust. All nations are as nothing before Him. He sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like locusts."

Tropologically, "The sea," says Theophylact, "is the bitterness of this life, which we, being foolish, pursue like rivers. The Lord has dried this up and obliterated what seemed fit for drinking in it, teaching us that in the world we must bear affliction. For if we bear His yoke, we shall find rest for our souls. Moreover, if anyone is in temptations, he is in the sea and in rivers. Therefore he who is tempted must flee to Him who threatens the sea and dries up the rivers."

Bashan languishes, and Carmel -- meaning: The most fertile mountains and regions, such as Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon, will become barren, will wither and almost die when God wills it; for He is the Creator and Preserver, and supreme Lord of all things. As indeed happened in the time of Elijah, when rain was withheld for three years, and therefore from the lack of water all mountains and plains dried up. Hence it is clear how great a gift of God rain is; farmers experience and feel this very thing.

Symbolically, Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon denote the fertility and riches of Nineveh; the sea and rivers denote the abundance of citizens and inhabitants, all of which God dried up and removed in its destruction. He alludes to the Tigris river, beside which Nineveh lies; for this river could not protect the city from the enemy, but rather was weakened and desolated along with it. Theophylact adds: They say, he says, that the region of Bashan, equally fertile as Carmel, was inhabited by warlike and stubborn nations; yet God overthrew them and brought Israel in; therefore it is not contrary to faith that God will also overthrow Nineveh.

So also Cyril. Again, see here the eminent dominion of God over all things. Truly the Poet says: Of sky, soil, sea, the eternal ruler of all. And Virgil in Aeneid I: O You who rule the affairs of men and gods with eternal authority, and terrify with Your thunderbolt. The same calls God "powerful over heaven and hell," and: powerful alike over rain-clouds and tempests. And in Aeneid IV: ...the Ruler of the gods, he says, who shakes heaven and earth with His divine power.

Allegorically: "Bashan and Carmel were diminished when the Jews, for having crucified the Lord of glory, were handed over to the Romans. Then by Bashan is indicated the commonwealth occupied with manners and works; by Carmel, the height of doctrines; which, though many, were diminished, being gathered summarily into the concise and consummate word of the Gospel. Lebanon also, that is the wisdom of the Greeks, was made foolish. And indeed the mountains were shaken at the Cross, and our nature, which previously was earthly, was lifted up, making its way to heavenly things, and setting out on the journey to heaven. All the earthly thoughts dwelling in it were made divine and heavenly. At the Cross too, the rocks placed before the senses were truly split; likewise the rocks, that is the hard and stony hearts of men, having received the word of the Gospel, were broken. Again, in the flood, that is in the baptism in which Christ was baptized, He overwhelmed His enemies, that is the demons." So far Theophylact.

Verse 5

5. The mountains tremble -- meaning: The mountains will be moved from their place, and the earth will tremble whenever and as often as God wills it; for all these words are in the potential mood and demonstrate the supreme strength and power of God, which therefore the Ninevites and all the wicked ought rightly to fear. Hence the Zurich version translates: The mountains tremble before Him, and the hills dissolve (or melt away. He alludes to the melting of snow which covers the mountains and then melts so that the mountains seem to dissolve and melt away, says Vatablus): the earth starts up from His sight, and the whole world together with those dwelling in it. For 'starts up' Vatablus translates 'burns,' that is, catches fire, is consumed, and he thinks this happened at Sodom. As if to say: God by His word alone is the author of conflagrations that sometimes appear on mountains, e.g. Etna, Vesuvius, Hekla, etc. Or He sends such great heat that hills and earth seem to burn, as happened in the conflagration of Phaethon. Hence the Chaldean translates: The mountains were shaken at His sight, and were broken apart, and the earth was devastated (the Seventy: was contracted; Aquila: shuddered) at His presence, as well as the world and all who dwell in it, when He revealed Himself with mercy to give the law to His people; so the world was shaken at His sight. For he seems to allude to the earthquake of Mount Sinai, when the law was given there to Moses and the Hebrews, Exodus 19:18. From what has been said, Nahum rightly infers:

Verse 6

6. Before the face of His indignation who shall stand? -- meaning: Since such is the power and equally the wrath of God, which of you, O Ninevites, or of the rest of mankind, will be able to stand before Him, let alone resist Him?

His indignation is poured out like fire, and the rocks are dissolved by Him. -- The Seventy: His fury consumes dominions, and the rocks are crushed by Him; Aquila: His fury was melted together; Symmachus and Theodotion: it dripped. As if to say: Just as the most ardent fire dissolves and melts rocks, iron, bronze, and everything however hard; so the wrath and vengeance of God dissolves, breaks, and crushes enemies however powerful, and everything however firm, as you, O Ninevites, will shortly experience. For "it is poured out," that is, it will now most certainly be poured out upon you -- this fire of God's fury and vengeance. He alludes to smelting and metalworking furnaces, in which bronze, iron, lead, etc. are smelted, and which, liquefied by the most intense fire, glow so that when the furnace is pierced and the metal flows into the neighboring trench, it appears to be a torrent and river of fire, which in a moment ignites and consumes any rocks or stones in its path, as I saw with my own eyes in the Ardennes. Indeed I seemed to behold in them a vivid image of the fires of hell. So horrible is this fire; such is the wrath of God. What wise person, then, meditating on it, would not be struck with terror? Who would not guard against sins, lest by them he provoke that wrath against himself, lest he willingly expose his body and soul to these fires? Rightly you cry out and proclaim to all the wicked (but, alas! few listen), O Isaiah, chapter 33:14: "The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling has seized the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? Which of you can dwell with everlasting burnings?"

Second, Sanchez says: "The fire of an indignant God is lightning and thunderbolts; for these are the weapons of God, which He hurls at the head of His enemies. Habakkuk 3:11: 'In the light of Your arrows they shall go, in the splendor of Your flashing spear.' Psalm 17:15: 'He sent forth His arrows and scattered them,' that is, as He explains further: 'He multiplied His lightnings and confounded them.' So with lightning and hail God struck down Sisera, Judges 5:20: 'From heaven they fought against them; the stars remaining in their order and course fought against Sisera.' So also Virgil, Aeneid I: The heavens thundered, and the sky flashes with frequent fires, and all things threaten the men with present death. And Aeneid VIII: For a flash hurled unexpectedly from the sky came with a crash, and all things seemed suddenly to collapse.

Verse 7

7. The Lord is good. -- The Prophets are accustomed, like diligent and outstanding preachers, to console after threats and to add joyful words to sorrowful ones, lest sinners despair, but rather that the penitent may conceive hope of pardon and salvation. So here Nahum, after having graphically depicted the wrath and fury of God against the unfaithful, unjust, and impious Ninevites, here in turn demonstrates God's clemency and goodness toward the faithful and pious Israelites and Jews, and from this he is fittingly called Nahum, that is, 'consoler.' For he here consoles Hezekiah and the Jews besieged by Sennacherib king of the Assyrians, predicting his defeat and the liberation of Jerusalem and the destruction of hostile Nineveh. By which he likewise consoles the Israelites, or the ten tribes, recently devastated by Shalmaneser, whom Sennacherib succeeded, and led away into Assyria. For it is a consolation to the afflicted to see that God avenges their injuries and exacts punishment from their persecutors and devastators, and equally pursues and devastates them by the law of retaliation. For I showed in the Introduction that Nahum prophesied between the sixth year of Hezekiah's reign, when Samaria was devastated, and the fourteenth, when Jerusalem was besieged by Sennacherib -- an interval of eight years. Therefore in this interval and shortly before the siege of Jerusalem, Nahum here predicts its happy outcome, namely its relief and liberation. And so he says: "The Lord is good, and a stronghold in the day of tribulation"; the Seventy: chrestos, that is, useful, pleasant, beneficent, the Lord to those who wait for Him in the day of tribulation; the Chaldean: Good is the Lord to Israel, that it may lean upon Him in the time of distress; Pagninus: Good is the Lord, a fortress in the day of distress. As if to say: God is accustomed to bring strong, powerful, and effective help to His people in tribulation. The Zurich version and Vatablus translate excellently: Kind, gentle, and merciful (for all these the Hebrew tob signifies) is the Lord, a refuge (for His faithful servants) in the most difficult times. For the Hebrew maoz signifies strength, a fortified place, a citadel, a refuge, a fortification. Hence the god of the Antichrist is called Maozim, meaning God of fortifications; or Mars, as Pagninus translates, Daniel chapter 11:38. Our Mars therefore, our citadel, our asylum, and that an unconquerable one, in every tribulation is God.

And He knows those who hope in Him. -- The Seventy: Knowing those who fear Him. This knowledge is practical and effective, not speculative and idle, meaning: God knows, that is, approves, loves, protects, and defends those who place their hope in Him; just as He will soon protect and defend Hezekiah and the Jews against Sennacherib. So God says to Moses: "I know you by name, and you have found grace before Me," Exodus 33:12. So concerning the elect who are to be blessed, the Apostle says: "The Lord knows who are His," II Timothy 2:19. But concerning the reprobate who are to be punished with eternal punishment, Christ says: "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who work iniquity," Matthew 7:23.

Verse 8

8. And with a flood passing through, He will make an end of its place. -- First, Rupert and Lyranus take the flood to mean the numerous armies of Sennacherib, which like a flood inundated and filled Judea, as Isaiah teaches in chapter 8:7. As if to say: The army of the Assyrians will be like a flood overwhelming Judea, but passing through and quickly passing on. For God "will make an end of its place," namely of the tribulation and captivity, says St. Jerome; that is, God will cause it to be quickly ended, finished, and to cease, and no longer will that tribulation and its place be found. But it is somewhat forced to attribute the 'end of the place' to the end of the tribulation; for the place is one thing, and the tribulation of the place another.

Second, St. Jerome, Remigius, and Hugo take 'flood' passively, for the very devastation inflicted upon Samaria and the ten tribes by the Assyrians, which passed away when God made an end of its place, namely by destroying Nineveh.

Third, and genuinely, the 'flood' here refers to the army of the Medes and Babylonians, who like a flood, with immense multitude, speed, and force invaded the Assyrians and devastated their place, namely the royal city of Nineveh. For this was the consummation and destruction of the city and kingdom of the Assyrians. As if to say: God will utterly destroy you, O Assyrians, as though by a kind of flood of enemies, and will overwhelm your Nineveh with the forces and assaults of the Medes and Chaldeans; and will pursue its citizens with darkness, that is, with every calamity and disaster. So Theodoret, Clarius, Arias, Vatablus, and a Castro. That this is the sense is clear to anyone examining the Hebrew; for mekoma signifies 'its place' in the feminine, that is, Nineveh's, inasmuch as this whole oracle is directed against it; for this is the 'burden of Nineveh,' as he said in the Prologue, verse 1.

What Diodorus Siculus relates in book III of his History confirms this: namely, that for the destruction of Nineveh, more than forty thousand men had gathered from the Babylonians, Persians, Medes, Arabs, and Bactrians. For this was a flood not of waters, but of men and soldiers. Arias adds that this flood signifies the flooding of the Tigris, by which Nineveh was overwhelmed; just as, conversely, Babylon was captured by Cyrus by diverting the Euphrates, which flows through Babylon, into other ditches, and sending soldiers into the city through its dry channel, as I showed from Xenophon and others at Daniel 5:30 and Jeremiah 50:38. For this

The Prophet seems to signify by 'the flood' the Tigris overflowing into Nineveh in this passage and in chapter 2:6, saying: "The gates of the rivers are opened, and the temple is destroyed to the ground"; and verse 8: "Nineveh is like a pool of waters, her waters; but they fled." As if to say: God will drive rainclouds into the Tigris so that it swells and overwhelms Nineveh with a cataclysm. A clear witness of the same flooding is Diodorus Siculus in book V of his History: "There was," he says, "an oracle given to the ancestors that Nineveh (which was called Ninus and Nina after its founder) could never be taken unless the river became the city's enemy. Judging that this would never happen, the king (of Nineveh) had taken up hope of enduring the siege and at the same time was expecting future reinforcements. When the siege had continued for two years in perfect leisure of the besieged, in the third year the river, swelling beyond measure from continuous rains, after it had flooded part of the city, threw down the walls for a distance of twenty stadia. Here the king, judging that the time of the oracle had come and despairing of safety, lest he fall into the enemy's power, built a huge pyre in the palace and cast himself along with his household into the fire to be burned. The enemies, having heard of the king's death, entered the city through the part of the wall which had been predicted by the oracle, and clothed Arbaces in the royal robe and proclaimed him king." So says Diodorus, with whom St. Epiphanius and Dorotheus in the Life of Nahum agree, both asserting that Nineveh was destroyed by a flood of waters, as I said in the Introduction. All of which wonderfully agrees with this passage, where God threatens Nineveh with destruction through tempest, whirlwind, rainclouds, and winds, by which the overflowing Tigris threw down the city walls. The only difference is that Diodorus asserts this happened under Sardanapalus and his enemy Arbaces the Mede, who were contemporaries of King Uzziah of Judah and preceded the prophet Nahum by many years; but it is possible that Diodorus erred regarding the person and time. For Justin in book I, Herodotus in book I, Orosius in book I chapter 19, and others mention no flooding in the destruction of Nineveh under Sardanapalus. For so we see that in ancient affairs the facts themselves are often agreed upon among authors, but specific persons and times are not. For the facts themselves can be indicated by the monuments and signs left behind, but persons and times can easily be inverted and confused because of the changing nature of centuries and nations, because of less careful attention, and because of the variation of languages and speech, and the change of dominion; the true reckoning of times must be sought from the divine Scriptures, says Arias.

Finally, this flood could be taken as referring to the disaster and slaughter of the Assyrians, namely the soldiers killed, of whom 185,000 were slain in one night by an angel in the camp of Sennacherib. For then God made an end of its place, that is, of the place of Sennacherib's camp, when He filled that place with the corpses of soldiers who were encamped there. For Nineveh, that is, the Ninevites and Assyrians with their king Sennacherib, had seized and occupied this place near Jerusalem for their camp. For concerning Sennacherib, as he began, so the Prophet continues to treat in what follows; because at that time the disaster of the Ninevites and Assyrians began, which was afterwards fully consummated and completed in the destruction of Nineveh by the Medes and Chaldeans, concerning which see chapter 2:1.

Tropologically, learn here how swift is the flux, passing, and perishing of kingdoms, kings, riches, pleasures, honors, and of the whole world. Behold, the Tigris, which by ships brought all merchandise to Nineveh, swelling up overwhelmed that very city and delivered it to the invading enemy. Behold, that famous Babylon, which the Euphrates enriched, strengthened, and adorned -- by that very river diverted into other channels by Cyrus, it was captured and overthrown. Truly and beautifully St. Augustine mystically explains Psalm 136: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Sion: "The rivers of Babylon," he says, "are all the things that are loved here and pass away. Someone loved, say, agriculture, to practice it, to grow rich from it, indeed to occupy his mind with it and derive pleasure from it. Let him consider the outcome and see that what he loved was not the foundation of Jerusalem, but a river of Babylon," etc. "To be an advocate," he says, "is a great thing, to have clients through most powerful eloquence in all matters, hanging on the tongue of their eloquent patron, and hoping from his mouth for either losses or gains, death or life, ruin or salvation. You do not know where you have cast yourself. This too is a river of Babylon. There we sat and wept when we remembered Sion." Let our mind therefore, in order to be wise, to stand firm and happy, raise itself above these rivers and fix itself in stable eternity, in the heavenly Sion, I say.

Second, St. Bernard, sermon On the Blessed Mary, page 395: "There is," he says, "a threefold flood: one of iniquities; another of the adversities of this life; the third of the calamities of hell. Concerning the first, Nahum says: With a flood passing through He will make an end, as if it were said: If the flood of vices begins to abound over these, do not despair of them; for over those upon whom I allow injustice to flood, I will make grace abound. Hence that passage of Micah 4: You shall come to Babylon, there you shall be delivered. And Isaiah 54: For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great mercies I will gather you. God therefore will make an end with the flood passing before; because from the depth of vices He manfully raises up those whom He places on the summit of virtues," etc.

Verse 9

9. What do you devise against the Lord? -- Some think the speech is addressed to the fearful Jews at the coming and siege of Sennacherib, as if to say: Why do you, O Jews, of little faith, distrust God, as if He could not or would not deliver you from the hand of Sennacherib? And so you think Him either not powerful enough, or not provident and merciful enough, to protect His city, His own--

God appeared to have been punished through the Assyrians by the devastation of Samaria and the ten tribes, so that Jerusalem and the Jews should be spared; for the Jews, that is, the two tribes, in the destruction of the ten tribes -- their own brothers -- had given sufficient penalty to the Assyrian. From the Septuagint version came the theological axiom: "God does not punish the same thing twice," namely when He has so punished that the punishment was adequate to the fault; for if it was not adequate, but was less and lighter, He can justly repeat and increase the punishments until they match the fault.

A double tribulation shall not arise. -- The Chaldean: A double distress shall not rise against the house of Israel; the Arabic: It shall not arise a second time in harm; the Syriac: Tribulation shall not stand (arise) twice. Meaning: Israel suffered one distress in the destruction of Samaria and the ten tribes by Shalmaneser; therefore the most merciful God will not permit a second to be inflicted upon them by Sennacherib, so as to destroy their two remaining tribes and Jerusalem. So says the Hebrew source whom St. Jerome cites. Second, others say: God will so powerfully strike and crush the camp of Sennacherib in one blow through His angel that it will not be necessary to strike a second time and repeat the blow; because He will afflict them with the utmost punishments and destroy and consume them with the first stroke. So Vatablus.

Third, others say: God will overthrow Nineveh with a single assault of the Chaldeans, so that a second will not be needed. For with a similar phrase, Abishai says of Saul: "Now therefore let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear; I will not need to strike twice," I Samuel 26:8. For he explains the consummation that preceded, meaning: I will complete the slaughter and destruction of Nineveh with one blow, so that I need not strike it a second time. So a Castro. Thus Virgil says in Aeneid XI: He fell dying and bit the ground once. And Ovid, Epistle V: Chastity once violated can be restored by no art; it perishes once for all. All these senses are probable; the first, however, which St. Cyril and Theophylact also give, seems more fitting and apt, and better corresponds to the common tropological interpretation which I shall shortly present; and the Hebrew favors it more, which literally has: Tribulation shall not arise twice. For tribulation pertains to the people of God; consummation to the unfaithful and impious Ninevites.

Whence the Seventy translate: He will not take vengeance twice for the same thing in tribulation. 'For the same thing,' that is, the same thing, or on account of the same thing, namely the crime or offense. Theodotion: A second tribulation shall not arise; Symmachus: They shall not withstand the assault of a second distress; Pagninus: Distress shall not arise twice. And Nahum seems to explain himself thus in verse 12, saying: "I have afflicted you, and I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his rod from your back." For Israel seemed to have been sufficiently punished through the Assyrians by the devastation of Samaria and the ten tribes, so that Jerusalem and the Jews should be spared.

Whence tropologically, St. Jerome and Remigius explain it thus, meaning: Those whom God punishes in this life, He will not punish a second time in the next. Hear St. Jerome: "What do you devise against the Lord? He who created the world will also make an end of it. But if He seems cruel, harsh, and bloody to you -- because in the flood He destroyed the human race; upon Sodom and Gomorrah He rained fire and brimstone; He drowned the Egyptians in the waves; He laid low the corpses of the Israelites in the desert -- know that He rendered these present punishments precisely so that He would not punish eternally. The Lord will not take vengeance twice for the same thing in tribulation. Therefore those who have been punished will not be punished afterwards. So those who perished in the flood, and the Sodomites, and the Egyptians, and the Israelites in the wilderness received their punishments in their own lifetime." Here St. Jerome seems to suggest that the Sodomites, Pharaoh, and the Egyptians were punished here so they would not be punished in hell? But the contrary is more true; for they were killed by God in the very act of sin -- the Sodomites in the invasion of Lot's house, to shamefully abuse the angelic guests; Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the tyrannical persecution of Moses and the Hebrews. Having died in sin, they descended into hell, as I said at Genesis 29 and Exodus 14. Then St. Jerome asks: "If a believer caught in adultery is beheaded, what happens to him afterwards? For either he will be punished, and then this saying is false: The Lord will not take vengeance twice for the same thing in tribulation. Or he will not be punished, and it would be desirable for adulterers to be frustrated of eternal torments by a brief and swift present punishment." And he answers: "God, just as of all things, knows the measures of punishments too, and is not anticipated by the judge's sentence; nor is the power to exercise punishment hereafter upon the sinner taken from Him. And a great sin is washed away by great and prolonged torments. But if someone has been punished (sufficiently and adequately to the measure of the fault), like the man in the Law who cursed the Israelites, and the one who gathered wood on the Sabbath, such persons are not punished afterwards, because the light fault was compensated by the present punishment." As if to say: The adulterer is beheaded because by his sin he injured the commonwealth and gave it scandal; by beheading, therefore, he pays for his offense against the commonwealth. Yet the same man offended God; hence it is necessary that he likewise expiate this offense by contrition, confession, and satisfaction, or at least by suffering (e.g. offering his beheading to God as satisfaction for the adultery) adequate to the fault. But if he dies impenitent, or if the satis-

faction is not adequate, God will render it adequate in hell, or in purgatory. Moreover, his adultery is punished by beheading, but not his obstinacy and impenitence: therefore he must expiate those in hell. Wherefore heretics ignorantly abuse this passage against satisfaction, arguing thus: Christ paid for all our sins, and God abundantly punished them in Him; therefore He does not punish them in us, nor demand from us temporal penalties by which we might make satisfaction to divine justice. Ignorantly, I say, both because Christ's satisfaction is of a higher order than ours. For it is general, for the guilt of the entire human race; ours, however, is particular, for our own personal sins. Now just as a universal cause, e.g. the sun, does not abolish the efficacy of particular causes, e.g. of a man to beget a man, but rather cooperates with them and requires their cooperation, so that without them it would not operate -- so likewise Christ's general satisfaction requires our particular satisfaction, and does not operate without it. This axiom, therefore -- "God does not punish the same thing twice" -- understand it within the same order of things; for in a different order He often punishes twice. Hence for the sin of Adam and the guilt of the human race, He demands no other satisfaction than Christ's, because that general satisfaction was adequate to the general guilt; but for particular sins, He requires the particular satisfactions of individuals. Also because Christ's satisfaction profits nothing unless we apply it to ourselves; and we must apply it through our own cooperation and satisfaction. For this is what Christ willed and ordained, as the Scriptures and the Church teach.

Tropologically, let us punish our sins here by voluntary penance; then God will not punish them in the future. "For God does not judge the same thing twice, but He Himself judges and condemns the impenitent; the penitent, however, because He receives them as already judged by themselves, He absolves, and heavenly justice adds nothing to the judgment which the severity of human penance has pronounced," says St. Cyprian in his sermon On the Passion of Christ. For concerning the impenitent, Jeremiah says in chapter 17:18: "Destroy them with a double destruction, and that because their destruction begun here is completed there (in hell), so that for the incorrigible there is one scourge which begins temporally but is consummated in eternal punishments; inasmuch as for those who utterly refuse to be corrected, the blow of present scourges is the beginning of future torments," says St. Gregory, Moralia book XVIII, chapter 13. Thus the Emperor Maurice prayed that his sins be punished in this life, so that he would not be punished in the next; he prayed and obtained his request -- whence he himself along with his sons was killed by the Emperor Phocas. Hence St. Fulgentius prayed: "Lord, give patience here, and pardon there," as his Life records. And St. Augustine: "Burn here, He says, cut here, so that You may spare in the future." Indeed Habakkuk 3:16 says: "Let rottenness enter my bones and swarm beneath me, that I may rest in the day of tribulation, that I may ascend to our girded people." The same was desired and obtained--

by the seven Maccabean brothers tortured by Antiochus, II Maccabees 7. For, as St. Paul says in I Corinthians 11:32: "When we are judged," that is, punished in this world, "we are chastised by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with this world." This was the wisdom of Abbot Olympius, who when asked how, living continuously in a cave, he could endure such great heat and the biting of gnats, replied: "I endure these things so that I may be freed from future torments; I suffer gnats so that I may escape the immortal worm; likewise I endure the heat so that I may escape the eternal fire; for these things are temporal, those have no end," as Sophronius reports in Spiritual Meadow, chapter 141. And in chapter 142 he relates that a certain brother overcome by sloth heard from Abbot Alexander: "If in your cell you were to think carefully about the kingdom of heaven and eternal torment, you would not feel sloth in your cell."

Verse 10

10. Because like thorns. -- Pagninus translates clearly: Because they shall come entangled like thorns, and when the drunkards shall have become intoxicated, they shall be consumed like stubble full of dryness; and the Zurich Bible: For quite plainly in the manner of tangled brambles, when they have been filled with feasting, they shall be consumed like straw thoroughly dried. For, as St. Jerome says, while the Assyrians with Sennacherib are in the land of Judah besieging Jerusalem, and like thorns embrace one another in dense ranks, drinking, rejoicing and making merry, they are struck down and consumed by the angel. So too Nineveh was captured while its citizens, trusting in their walls and fortifications, and despising the besieging enemy, were occupied with banquets and drinking parties, as Diodorus Siculus reports in book III. So also Babylon was captured while King Belshazzar was feasting, Daniel 5:1. He compares the Assyrians to thorns, because they, like thorns, pricked and afflicted the people of God, and therefore by the Medes and Chaldeans, as if by thorns, they were to be pricked and afflicted in like manner. Again, he compares the banquets -- that is, the company of guests, or the banqueters, namely the Assyrians feasting and drinking together -- to thorns; because just as thorn is entangled with thorn, so guest sits beside guest, and they join and interlock hands as they pass cups and dishes back and forth. Again, banquets are entangled with banquets, as thorns with thorns, when those who were invited in turn invite those who invited them; and so banquets go round in a circle and are unceasing.

Morally, banqueters are called thorns because they often prick and wound the absent with their slander, insults, and barbs. For the vice of sharp-tongued wit and detraction is common at banquets; for the tongue, swimming in wine, is loosened, and utters and belches out whatever it has in the heart -- indeed whatever comes to the mouth. Wherefore Marcus Varro judged that the number of dinner guests ought to begin with the number of the Graces and proceed to that of the Muses -- that is, to start from three and stop at nine; so that when the guests are fewest, they should be no fewer than three; when most, no more than nine. For if there are more, they will produce a slanderous-

and tumultuous crowd. Others judged that only seven should be admitted to the table. Whence the proverb: "Seven make a feast, nine make a quarrel." Moreover, Cicero admirably describes the nature of a convivium in his book On Old Age: "Our ancestors," he says, "rightly named the reclining at a meal with friends a convivium (living together), because it involved a sharing of life." But a crowd prone to discord and insults is contrary to this -- drinking companions, I say, or rather drinking partners. Against these, St. Augustine deliberately inscribed these verses on his table, so that they might constantly strike the eyes of the guests and restrain their mouths from detraction: 'Whoever loves to gnaw at the life of the absent with words, Let him know that this table is forbidden to him.' So Possidius in the Life of St. Augustine. Moreover, in the Hebrew there is an elegant play on words between sebubim, that is, those who embrace; sobam, that is, their banquet or drunkenness; and sobeim, that is, drunkards. As if to say: Drunkenness binds and ties drunkards together, just as thorns are bound together by their prickles, so that they embrace one another; hence likewise God will bind and tie them as in a bundle, and set fire to them, so that like the driest stubble they will burst into flames with a sudden crackling and be consumed.

Thus the angel striking the camp of Sennacherib sent a pestilential fire into it, as the Hebrews report, about which I spoke at Isaiah 10:16. Likewise the Medes and Chaldeans devastated Nineveh while it was feasting, with sword and flame. Finally, the Septuagint translates differently, namely: Because they shall be reduced to their foundations upon the pavement, and like the entwined smilax plant they shall be devoured, and like dried stubble they shall wither. So reads the Royal edition; but the Roman reads thus: Because it shall be reduced to brambles down to its foundation, and like bindweed wrapped around it shall be devoured, and like stubble full of dryness. For smilax is called bindweed (volvola) because it winds itself around trees like ivy. Smilax is a thorny plant with densely jointed stems, bushy branches, ivy-shaped leaves, and a white flower smelling of lily. It has two species: the first is rough smilax, or Cilician ivy; the other is smooth smilax. See Dioscorides, book IV, chapters 143 and 144; Theophrastus, History of Plants, book III, last chapter. Smooth smilax is the greater convolvulus; for the lesser is the helxine cissampelos, says Dioscorides. Smilax signifies the clusters and garlands with which luxurious banqueters crowned themselves, as I said at Amos 6:6; for those were made from smilax and similar herbs and flowers. Hear Pliny, book XXIV, chapter 10: "Smilax, also called nicophoros, has a resemblance to ivy but with thinner leaves; they say that a crown made from it with an odd number of leaves cures headaches. Some have spoken of two kinds of smilax: one, nearly immortal in shady valleys, climbing trees with leafy clusters of berries, most efficacious against all poisons -- so much so that when the juice of the berries is frequently instilled into infants, no

poisons will harm them afterwards. The other kind loves cultivated places, and grows in them, but has no efficacy." The Assyrians, therefore, are compared to smilax climbing trees, because always ascending to greater heights they were devoured by the Medes and Chaldeans. Tropologically, smilaxes are those who pretend charity and goodwill while meanwhile plotting destruction, says Theophylact.

Verse 11

11. From you shall go forth, -- meaning: The cause of your disaster and destruction, O Nineveh, will be Sennacherib your king, who will go forth from you into battle against the Lord -- that is, against the Lord's city Jerusalem and His temple -- to destroy them. He will therefore seek to wage war, as it were, with the Lord, like the giants and Titans contending with Jupiter; but this battle of giants will cost him dearly: for struck down and confounded by God, he will flee back to his own land, and there be killed by his own sons. So Theodoret, Theophylact, Clarius, Vatablus, Arias, and the Chaldean, who translates: From Nineveh went forth a king who plotted evil against the people of the Lord. See the blasphemy of the Rabshakeh, whom Sennacherib sent to the Jews, in which he boasts that God cannot deliver them from his hand, Isaiah 36:20. Wherefore:

Verse 12

12. Thus says the Lord (punishing only the pride and blasphemy of the Assyrians): If they are complete, etc. -- meaning: Although you excel in forces, strength, and wealth, and are many in number, indeed very many, yet the angel shall shear you as he passes through and strikes. "They shall be shorn," therefore, that is, they shall be cut (for many verbs of the second conjugation are used and conjugated in the third, as fervo for ferveo, fulgo for fulgeo, sido for sedeo) -- that is, like hair they shall be most easily and completely cut down by the angel and cast to the ground; and "he shall pass through," namely their king Sennacherib, to flee to his Assyria; or "shall pass through," that is, the army and might of Sennacherib shall vanish. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Albertus, Hugo, Lyranus, and others. Differently, Theodoret, Rupert, Arias, and Vatablus take it of Nineveh, meaning: Even if the Ninevites enjoy the utmost peace and abundance, yet their abundance, empire, and glory shall pass to the Medes and Chaldeans. Note here: For 'complete' (perfecti) the Hebrew is schelemim, which can be translated first as 'peaceful' -- so Vatablus -- and hence united and unanimous to resist the enemy. Second, 'whole' -- so the Zurich Bible. Third, 'perfect' -- so our Vulgate. Fourth, 'in peace,' that is, in prosperity and abundance -- so the Chaldean and Pagninus. All these amount to the same thing: they signify that the Assyrians were whole and perfect in forces, wealth, and strength. Hence Pagninus translates: Thus says the Lord: Shall they be in peace? And truly they are many, and truly they shall be cut down and shall pass away. And I have afflicted you through them; I will afflict you no more.

I have afflicted you (O Israel, O Jerusalem, through Sennacherib and the Assyrians), and I will afflict you no more, -- namely through the Assyrians; for through the Chaldeans Jerusalem was afterward destroyed for new offenses. See what was said at Joel 2:38. For the pronoun 'you' refers to Jerusalem,

not Nineveh, as St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Rupert, Lyranus, Arias, Vatablus, Ribera and others teach. For there follows:

Verse 13

13. I will break his rod (namely Sennacherib's; for in the Hebrew it is a masculine suffix or pronoun) from your back. -- He calls 'rod' the force and tyranny with which he afflicted, besieged, and held the Jews as though bound. Hence the Chaldean translates: I will break the yoke of the nations from your neck, and I will cut your bonds; and Pagninus: I will break his yoke from you, and I will burst your bonds (with which he bound you). For the Hebrew word matte, meaning 'rod,' if read with different vowel pointing as mota, signifies 'yoke,' 'chains,' and 'bonds.' Symbolically, Theophylact says that the rod of Sennacherib represents sins and the temptations of the devil, which the grace of Christ crushes. These are the seed of the devil, which Christ suffocates. Whence concerning Him it follows: "There shall no more be sown from your name." These are the tares of which Christ speaks in Matthew 13:27.

Verse 14

14. And the Lord shall command concerning you: ("He shall command," that is, He shall decree and ordain what follows): There shall no more be sown (that is, so that there shall not be sown) from your name, -- that is, so that no one hereafter shall be begotten from you who will propagate your name and lineage, and be called your son, and be king of the Assyrians. For shortly afterward, Sennacherib, fleeing to Assyria, was killed by his own sons in the temple of his god. Whence he could beget no more sons thereafter. His son Esarhaddon, born long before, did succeed him in the kingdom; but he too reigned only a few years and left no offspring in the kingdom. In him, therefore, the royal line of Sennacherib came to an end. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Albertus, Hugo, Lyranus, Clarius, Vatablus, Ribera, and others. Differently, Theodoret and Theophylact say: In the destruction of Nineveh, that august name of Ninus and the Assyrians shall cease; for their monarchy shall be transferred to the Babylonians. Whence hereafter the Assyrians shall be called Babylonians, because they shall be subject to the Babylonians as masters. Just as afterward both peoples were called Greeks and Romans, when they were subdued by Alexander and the Romans. Differently also Sanchez, meaning: In Sennacherib's name fields shall no longer be sown whose fruits shall be gathered into his royal granary, because he shall shortly be stripped of both empire and life. For what is done in a king's name is said to be done by his authority and for his benefit, not another's. Thus Plautus says in the Merchant: For yourself you plow, for yourself you harrow, for yourself you sow, for yourself you reap. For you at last this labor shall bring joy.

Morally, learn here the just judgment of God, by which He repays tyrants with retribution in kind -- for example, the Assyrians -- so that those who invaded what belonged to others lose what is their own, and indeed perish together with their lineage and name. Hence the Chaldean translates: There shall no more be a memorial of your name. This is what Jeremiah 22:30 threatens to Jehoiakim, or rather the tyrant Jeconiah: "Write," he says, "this man childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days; for no man of his seed shall sit upon the throne of David." For in Jeconiah the royal line of David came to an end, and with it the kingdom of Judah. For although Jeconiah begot Shealtiel, yet the latter was never king, but was born and died in the Babylonian captivity, leaving his son Zerubbabel, who led the Jews back from Babylon to Judea; but he never attained the right and title of king. With a similar punishment the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar was punished -- or rather Belshazzar -- of whom Isaiah 14:20 says: "The seed of evildoers shall never be named."

From the house of your God I will destroy the graven image and the molten image. -- These words must be joined together according to the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and the Roman edition, although the Royal Bible, St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Lyranus, and Clarius punctuate differently, namely thus: From (that is, in) the house of your god I will slay, namely you, O Sennacherib; the graven image and molten image I will make your tomb. But the Hebrew, the Septuagint, and the Chaldean remove this punctuation and connect all these words together. I will destroy, therefore -- that is, I will cut off, remove, scatter, exterminate your graven images, that is, your idols, your gods. Hence the Septuagint translates: From the house of the Lord your God I will scatter the graven and molten images; and the Chaldean: From the house of your idols I will blot out the image and molten figure; because, as follows, and as the Chaldean and Pagninus expressly have, there I will place your tomb. Meaning: The temple of your god Nisroch shall be profaned by your murder, especially by one so monstrous and parrricidal, in which you, a king and monarch, shall be killed by your own sons in the very temple, and lie there unburied, IV Kings 19:37. As a result, the idols shall likewise be considered profaned, and as profane things shall either be cast away, or carried out and broken to pieces. As if to say: "You shall be punished from the very source whence you hoped for help. The graven and molten image shall be your tomb, so that among the altars and cushions of one worshipping idols, nefarious blood shall be poured out," says St. Jerome. The temple, therefore, shall no longer be a temple of gods, but a sepul-

chre of yours -- that is, of a king slain by his own sons. Thus Lucan says in book VII: "He is covered by the sky who has no urn." So the sea is the tomb of the shipwrecked. "Because you are dishonored;" because, namely, on account of the heavenly slaughter of your army in Judea and your shameful flight therefrom, you shall be despised by your own citizens and sons and killed in the temple; and there, like an idol broken and cast down, dripping with blood and corruption, you shall be thrown out unburied -- and this as a just punishment and vengeance; because you sacrilegiously dishonored, despised, and blasphemed the God of Israel.

It could secondly be explained thus, meaning: Through the Medes and Chaldeans in the destruction of Nineveh I will cut down, plunder, and scatter your graven images too, your idols, in which you, O Sennacherib, vainly placed your hopes; moreover, there I will place your tomb, because in honoring them, you dishonored Me.

Less correctly, St. Cyril refers this to Josiah, who overthrew the shrines of idols in Judea, IV Kings 23. For the passage here is about the temple of Nineveh, not of Judea. Note: For 'because you are dishonored,' the Septuagint translates 'because you are swift'; the Chaldean, 'because this is very easy before Me.' For the Hebrew word means first, 'light'; second, 'swift'; third, 'easy'; fourth, 'vile' and 'dishonored'; for light men are vile and abject.

Behold upon the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings. (So also the Syriac translates, and both Arabic versions, meaning: Once Sennacherib is slain, immediately couriers and messengers will announce this everywhere. Hence Hezekiah and the leaders of the Jews will proclaim this good news -- that is, this joyful message -- through their couriers and heralds, according to the custom of their nation, on the mountains, so that from the peoples dwelling all around in the valleys they may be heard as far as possible at the sounding of the trumpet. They will cry out and say): Celebrate, O Judah, your festivals (which had been interrupted because of the siege), and pay your vows, -- which you promised to God when you were besieged in Jerusalem by Sennacherib, that He might deliver you from him. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylact, Haymo, and Lyranus. Here note that what St. Jerome, Haymo, and Hugo maintain seems less accurate, namely that by 'festivals' is understood that solemn Passover instituted and restored by Hezekiah, II Chronicles 30:3 and 13. For Hezekiah instituted that long before the coming of Sennacherib, at the beginning of his reign, as is clear from II Chronicles 29:3. The Septuagint, whom St. Cyril, Theophylact, and St. Augustine follow (City of God XVIII.31), punctuate and read thus: Because swift -- behold upon the mountains the feet of one bringing good tidings and announcing peace. And they allegorically refer this to the Apostles proclaiming the peace and grace of Christ; so that Nahum alludes to Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of one bringing good tidings and preaching peace!"

Mystically, St. Augustine says: "These things pertain to the New Testament, whose feast days are so spiritually renewed that they cannot pass into old age. Moreover, we now see the graven and molten images destroyed through the Gospel -- that is, the idols of false gods -- consigned to oblivion as if to burial. And we recognize that this prophecy too has been fulfilled in this matter." And St. Jerome says: "If ever there should be a most grievous persecution, such as under Valerian, Decius, and Maximian (for these are our Assyrians and Sennacheribs), and the Lord's vengeance should appear upon His enemies (as it appeared in the destruction of Valerian, Decius, and Maximian), let us say to the Church: Celebrate, O Judah, your festivals, and pay your vows." So tropologically, the faithful soul, a follower of the Gospel, at peace and holy, celebrates its feasts, exulting and rejoicing in God in praise and thanksgiving, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, as the Apostle urges in Ephesians 5:19.

Verse 15

Whence you may aptly apply these words to the renewal of spirit and vows which religious make, and especially those of our Society twice each year. For this is a great solemnity, and proper to them: and in it vows are paid back -- that is, renewed and restored -- so that if one's own will has diminished anything from the vow of obedience, one's own comfort from the vow of poverty, or incautious curiosity from the vow of chastity, all that may be renounced, so that the vows may be restored to their original integrity and holiness, and indeed become purer, more complete, and more ardent. Whence it shall come to pass as follows: "He shall no more pass through you, that is, Belial" -- so that the vice to which you had been subject may no longer rule over you, but you may perfectly conquer and mortify it. For in these three things perfect renewal consists: first, that Judah -- that is, the religious man confessing and praising God -- should celebrate his feasts, that is, free and released from the earth and worldly affairs, should more closely devote and consecrate himself entirely to God, according to Isaiah 58:13: "If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your own will on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord glorious, etc., then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will lift you up above the heights of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." Second, that we should pay our vows to God -- pay them, I say, as first and whole, and such as they were when we first vowed them to God. Third, that Belial should no longer pass through us: Belial, that is, "without yoke" or "old," is the innate defect and principal vice of each person, from which the others arise; for example, in one the principal vice is ambition, in another gluttony, in a third sloth, in a fourth pusillanimity. Renewal consists in this: that each person so mortifies this vice that it no longer rules, but if it ever assails the mind, it is immediately suppressed and cut away; so that the vice is in his power and control, so that he can restrain and govern it at will. Whoever achieves this becomes a new man, heavenly and divine; and, as Gregory of Nazianzus says, "shines forth in his actions"; because, disdaining earthly things, he dwells in mind in heaven, and lives in continual praise, love, and jubilation of God, and leads a life that is holy, apostolic, angelic, seraphic -- and thus already has a foretaste of the blessed life, and begins and commences it, soon to consummate it in heaven.

Because he shall no more pass through you, that is, Belial. -- Belial is said as though beli ol, that is, 'without a yoke'; hence Belial signifies disobedience, impiety, apostasy; and second, the disobedient, impious, and apostate themselves, who cast off the yoke of the law, or of faith, or of their profession; and because the prince and head of these is the devil, hence third, Belial signifies the devil. Whence for Belial the Zurich Bible translates 'a lion hostile to man.' Hence in Scripture very impious and wicked men are called sons of Belial. See what was said at II Corinthians 6:15. Here, therefore, he calls the impious and God-fighting Sennacherib with his army Belial, meaning: The impious Sennacherib shall no lon-

ger with his forces besiege and afflict you, O Judea and Jerusalem; because his entire army perished, struck down by the angel. So St. Jerome, Hugo, Vatablus. Others take Belial to mean the Assyrian, that is, the Assyrians, where the singular is put for the plural, meaning: Nineveh and the empire of the Assyrians has perished; for it was transferred to the Chaldeans. So Theodoret, Remigius, and Albertus. Moreover, the Septuagint translates: They shall no more pass through into old age. It is consumed, it is completed; He has ascended, breathing into your face, rescuing from tribulation. Or, as St. Chrysostom reads in the book of Ten Homilies printed at Rome: They shall no more come to old age. They are completed, they are taken away. For He has ascended from the earth, breathing into your face and delivering from tribulation. Which he interprets thus, meaning: The old things are completed and taken away; all things are made new. The Seventy seem to derive Belial from the root balah, that is, to grow old, to be consumed; so that belial, or beli ol, would be the same as the old age of a yoke and servitude.

This St. Jerome explains anagogically of the renewal of the Church at the end of the world: "O Judah (O Church, O faithful one, O holy and elect), pay your vows, because never again shall enemies pass through who would lead you into old age -- that is, who wish you to bear the image of the old man. For what is old shall grow aged, and what grows aged is near to destruction. The world is complete, the adversary is consumed: Christ has come to you, who first breathed into your face when He fashioned you from clay, and after the Resurrection also, breathing into the face of the Apostles, said: Receive the Holy Spirit -- it is He who delivers you from tribulation. For when Nineveh is laid waste and the world passes away, tribulation too shall pass away."

Allegorically, this Belial -- namely Sennacherib the enemy of God's people -- is the devil, sin, and death, says St. Cyril and Theophylact, whom Christ overthrew and put to flight, whose wrath and fury against him is vividly described here in verses 2, 3, and 6. Wherefore, once he has been routed and put to flight, the Church acts in tranquility and celebrates its festivals without fear and danger.

yours, because by honoring them, you have dishonored Me. Less correctly, St. Cyril refers these words to Josiah, who overthrew the shrines of idols in Judea, IV Kings 23. For the subject here is the temple of Nineveh, not of Judea. Note: For "because you are dishonored," the Septuagint translates "because you are swift"; the Chaldean, "because this is very easy before Me." For the Hebrew ocal means first, light; second, swift; third, easy; fourth, vile and dishonored: for light men are vile and abject.

Verse 13. Behold upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings. (So also the Syriac translates, and both Arabic versions, meaning: Once Sennacherib is slain, immediately runners and couriers will spread this news everywhere. Whence Hezekiah and the chief men of the Jews will proclaim this gospel, that is, this joyful message, through their runners and heralds, according to the custom of their nation, on the mountains, so that from the peoples dwelling all around in the valleys, they may be heard as far as possible by the signal of the trumpet. They will cry out therefore and say): CELEBRATE, O JUDAH, YOUR FESTIVALS (previously interrupted on account of the siege), and pay your vows — which you promised to God when you were besieged in Jerusalem by Sennacherib, that He might free you from him. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylact, Haymo, and Lyra.

Here observe that what St. Jerome, Haymo, and Hugo think seems less true, namely that by festivals is understood that solemn Passover instituted and restored by Hezekiah, II Paralipomenon 30:3 and 13. For Hezekiah instituted that long before the coming of Sennacherib, at the beginning of his reign, as is clear from II Paralipomenon 29:3. The Septuagint, whom St. Cyril, Theophylact, and St. Augustine follow (Book XVIII, City of God, ch. 31), punctuate and read thus: Because swift are, behold, upon the mountains the feet of him who brings good tidings and announces peace. And they allegorically refer this same passage to the Apostles preaching the peace and grace of Christ; so that Nahum alludes to Isaiah 52:7: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good tidings and preaches peace!"

Mystically, St. Augustine says: "These things pertain to the New Testament, whose feast days are so spiritually renewed that they cannot pass into old age. Moreover, through the Gospel, the carved and molten images, that is, the idols of false gods, have been consigned to oblivion as if to the grave — this we already see. And we recognize that this prophecy too has been fulfilled in this matter." And St. Jerome: "If ever there has been a most grievous persecution, such as under Valerian, Decius, and Maximian (for these are our Assyrians and Sennacheribs), and the Lord's vengeance has appeared against His adversaries (as it appeared in the destruction of Valerian, Decius, and Maximian), let us say to the Church: Celebrate, O Judah, your festivals, and pay your vows." Thus tropologically the faithful soul, a follower of the Gospel, quiet and holy, celebrates her feasts, exulting and rejoicing in God with praise and thanksgiving, in psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, as the Apostle admonishes, Ephesians 5:19.

Whence you may aptly refer these words to the renewal of spirit and vows which Religious make, and especially those of our Society twice each year. For this is a great solemnity, and proper to them: and in it vows are rendered, that is, renewed and restored, so that if anything from the vow of obedience has been eroded by self-will, from the vow of poverty by personal convenience, from the vow of chastity by incautious curiosity, all of that may be renounced, so that vows may be restored to their original integrity and holiness, indeed may become purer, more complete, and more ardent. Whence will come to pass what follows: "He shall no longer pass through you, O Belial," namely that the vice to which you were subject may no longer dominate you, but that you may perfectly conquer and mortify it. For in these three things perfect renewal consists: first, that Judah, that is, the religious man confessing and praising God, may celebrate his festivals — that is, being at leisure and free from earthly and worldly things, may more closely devote and consecrate himself entirely to God, according to that passage of Isaiah 58:13: "If you turn away your foot from the sabbath, from doing your own will on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord glorious, etc.: then you shall delight in the Lord, and I will lift you up above the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father." Second, that we may render our vows to God; render them, I say, as first and whole, and such as they were when we first vowed them to God. Third, that Belial may no longer pass through us: Belial, that is, without yoke, or old, is the innate defect in each person, and the principal vice from which the rest arise; for example, in one person the principal vice is ambition, in another gluttony, in a third sloth, in a fourth pusillanimity. Renewal consists in this, that each person so mortify this vice that it no longer dominates, but if at any time it knocks at the mind, it is immediately suppressed and cut off; so that the vice is in his power and dominion, so that he can bridle and govern it at will. He who does this becomes a new man, heavenly and divine; and, as Gregory of Nazianzus says, "he shines forth in his actions"; because despising earthly things, he dwells in mind in heaven, and lives in continual praise, love, and jubilation of God, and leads a holy, apostolic, angelic, seraphic life, and thus already has a prelude of the blessed life, and begins and commences it, soon to consummate the same in heaven.

BECAUSE HE SHALL NO MORE PASS THROUGH YOU, O BELIAL. — Belial is said as if beli ol, that is, without yoke; hence Belial signifies disobedience, impiety, apostasy; and secondly, the disobedient themselves, the impious, the apostates, who shake off the yoke of law, or faith, or profession; and because their prince and head is the devil, hence thirdly, Belial signifies the devil. Whence for Belial the Tigurina translates, a lion and hostile to men. Hence in Scripture very impious and wicked men are called sons of Belial. See what was said on II Corinthians 6:15. Here therefore he calls the impious and God-fighting Sennacherib with his army Belial, meaning: The impious Sennacherib shall no—

longer besiege and afflict you, O Judea and Jerusalem, with his forces; because he has entirely perished, slain by the angel. So St. Jerome, Hugo, Vatablus. Others by Belial understand the Assyrian, that is, the Assyrians, so that the singular is put for the plural, meaning: Nineveh has perished and the empire of the Assyrians: for it has been transferred to the Chaldeans. So Theodoret, Remigius, and Albert. Moreover, the Septuagint translates: They shall no longer continue to pass through into old age. It is consumed, it is consummated; he ascended breathing into your face, rescuing from tribulation; or, as St. Chrysostom reads in the book of Ten Homilies printed at Rome: They shall no longer come to old age. They are consummated, they are taken away. For he ascended from the earth breathing into your face, and delivering from tribulation.

Which is thus interpreted, meaning: Old things are consummated and taken away; all things are made new. The Septuagint seems to derive Belial from the root balah, that is, to grow old, to be consumed; so that belial, or beli ol, means the same as the old age of yoke and servitude.

This St. Jerome explains anagogically of the renewal of the Church that will come at the end of the world: "O Judah (O Church, O faithful one, O holy and elect one), pay your vows, because enemies shall no longer pass through you who would bring you into old age, that is, who want you to bear the image of the old man. For what is old grows aged, and what grows aged is near to destruction. The world is completed, the adversary is consumed: Christ comes to you, who first breathed into your face when He was forming you from clay, and after the resurrection also, breathing into the face of the Apostles, said: Receive the Holy Spirit — He it is who frees you from tribulation. For when Nineveh is laid waste and the world passes away, tribulation also shall pass away."

Allegorically, this Belial, namely Sennacherib the enemy of God's people, is the devil, sin, and death, says St. Cyril and Theophylact, whom Christ overthrew and put to flight, whose wrath and fury against him is graphically described here in verses 2, 3, and 6. Wherefore, with him routed and put to flight, the Church acts tranquilly, and without fear and danger celebrates her festivals.