Commentary on Isaiah, Discourses 1–19
Commentary on Isaiah, Discourses 1–19
Cyril of Alexandria
c. AD 376–444
Cyril wrote his Commentary on Isaiah in five books, which the English text divides into thirty discourses. He explains each passage first as history, for what happened to Israel and Judah, and then as prophecy of Christ and of the Church. The commentary is the longest that Cyril wrote on the Old Testament. This volume holds Discourses 1 to 19.
Preface
1 The word of the holy prophets is always obscure, but it is filled with hidden meanings, and travails for us with the foretelling of divine mysteries. For Christ is the end of the law and the prophets, as it is written. But I say that those who wish to make clear such subtle and enigmatic things must hasten to survey the breadth of the contemplations with the eye of the mind, and very prudently, on the one hand, the accuracy of the history, and on the other, the rendering of the spiritual interpretation, so that what is beneficial may come forth from all sides to the readers, and the clarification of the proposed meanings may appear, having nothing lacking. I know, then, that some who came before have written on these things, and have composed long discourses for us about them; and I think this is sufficient, and at least furnishes a not ignoble excuse for others to hesitate, and persuades them to choose silence rather than to add to what others have already said—saying nothing new, but rather repeating the same things and going through the same contemplations.
2 But since, even if this should happen, it would not be distressing at all, and since listeners are confirmed in the truth through the harmony of the majority, I persuade myself even now to be superior to hesitation, convinced that the sweat and labor on good studies is better than the idleness in snoring, and not at all having given up the hope of being able sometimes to find something new and different, as God widens the path in contemplations. For it is written, that "Your commandment is exceedingly broad. Therefore the blessed Isaiah prophesies in the times of the reign of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah. And come, let us recall the times of each, and say cursorily how he lived out his life. For from this we shall know that the word of prophecy is both fitting and most suitable to the things being done at those times. Uzziah, therefore, who is also Ozias, was a pious man, and he advanced in both glory and strength to such a point as to conquer the nations bordering Judea, and indeed to impose tributes on many, and to subject them by necessity to his own scepters, and to build up cities, and to acquire others, and to join them to the borders of the land of the Jews. Then he suffered something human.
3 For from excessive luxury, and being overcome by the pre-eminence of his fame, he grew haughty in a way, and being mastered by the disease of arrogance, he even rose up against the divine law itself. For he thought he ought to crown himself also with the glories of the divine priesthood. For he attempted to enter the divine temple, and by himself to offer incense to God and unlawfully to perform the established rites. For this reason he was immediately struck with leprosy, and was most dishonored; for according to the law, the one overcome by the affliction of leprosy is unclean. Then Jotham, his son, succeeded to the kingdom of Uzziah, a God-loving man, yet he did not, it says, remove the high places, but the men of Israel still sacrificed to the works of their own hands, occupying mountains and hills, under oak, and poplar, and a shading tree, as Hosea says, "because the shade is good. And when Jotham died, Ahaz succeeded to the scepter, a most abominable and God-hated man, and full of the utmost wickedness. This man even shut the divine temple, and did not permit the God of all to be honored with the sacrifices according to the law, and he forbade the customary feasts of the Jews, and in every place of Jerusalem, having set up altars, he commanded them to worship handmade things, and to serve the host of heaven;
4 and indeed he even passed his own children through fire, that is, he burned them as a sacrifice to the unclean demons, and to put it simply, there was no manner of impiety unpracticed by him. Then after him reigned Hezekiah, a pious and God-loving man, and a master of righteousness, and a zealot for every good thing, and a doer of the divine wills. This man commanded everything to be done and to have force against the transgressions of Ahaz; for he opened the doors of the temple, then he decreed that sacrifices and libations be offered to God, and that He be honored with sacred rites according to the law; and indeed, without long delays, he is seen to have renewed the law concerning the Passover. He tore down sacred precincts, and altars, and handmade things, and soothsayers and false prophets, and he commanded the hordes of enchanters to be still, and he was a good man in the eyes of God. Therefore, since in the times of the reign of those just mentioned by us, at one time the God of all was provoked to wrath, when Israel practiced idolatry; and at another time He was softened to gentleness, when it was transformed to piety through the clemency of the ruler; for this reason the discourse of the prophecy is mixed, and at times it makes the greatest threat, as against an impious Israel, but it introduces a word of promise for good things.
5 And it everywhere remembers the redemption through Christ, and says that at times Israel will be sent away from intimacy with God, but the multitude of the nations will be received, being justified through the faith that is in Christ. So that it seems to me to crown the blessed prophet Isaiah very well, not with the grace of prophecy alone, but indeed also with apostolic boasts. For at the same time he is both a prophet and an apostle, and he will make the words of his own writing not devoid of the brightness of the evangelical proclamations.
Discourse 1
1 The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, which he saw against Judea, and against Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah, and Jotham, and Ahaz, and Hezekiah who reigned over Judea. I do not think one would be mistaken in saying this about the holy prophets, that they received not only the knowledge of future things, as the Holy Spirit illuminated the matter for them and resounded in their mind, but indeed that at times they also became spectators of the events themselves. So the blessed prophet Isaiah seems to have seen with the eyes of the mind the sufferings that would come at various times upon Judea, on the one hand, the phalanxes of the enemy ravaging the land, and on the other, the cities laid waste, and houses set on fire, and whatever things are done by enemies according to the laws of war. For this reason it is written at the beginning of the prophecy: "The vision which Isaiah son of Amoz saw, against Judea and against Jerusalem. And he usefully notes the times of the kings, so that God might be seen to be speaking things in the prophet appropriately to the ways of each one. Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken, I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel did not know me, and the people did not understand me.
2 What is the matter, what is the meaning, and what it might wish to signify, it is necessary to examine. For the blessed prophet calls heaven and earth to witness, as it were, and doing this not without God, but says that the words are not his own, but rather God's. Signifying through this that they will in every way and entirely come to pass, and terrifying the hearers with the fears of what they are to suffer. For it is impossible for God to speak falsely; and at the same time establishing that other point, as I think. For since he was about to make the predictions against Judea and Jerusalem, and to announce beforehand sufferings beyond all description, and incurable calamities, he was not ignorant that in every way and by all means those to whom the word was addressed would be whetted to anger. Therefore, he says that the Lord spoke such things to them, most skillfully repelling the rage of the unholy, and as it were, shaming away their unjust anger. For if he was taken as a mediator and minister, and would convey the words from above and from God, how could anyone be justly angry with him? or rather, how would the impious ventures of wrath not be against God who has spoken. Therefore, does he very reasonably call heaven and earth to witness?
3 For since he was about to make complaints against Israel, he wishes the angels in heaven, and also the whole earth itself, to know the ways of his impiety, so that no one might think that he was moved in vain or for trifling and most insignificant stumbles had been ruined, to make an outcast of the beloved, and the people set for him as an inheritance, and who long ago by very great strength had been rescued from the greed of the Egyptians. For he pitied them as being wronged, contrary to what was fitting, and their nobility which was both proper to and inherent in their fathers, being weighed down by unwilling servitude. But since the oppressors resisted, they were punished bitterly, God inflicting every kind of torment upon them. Therefore, just as the acceptance of those from Israel became most notable, so he wishes the manner of their rejection not to be unknown. But if some should wish the very elements to be called by the prophet's voice, the force of their thoughts would not miss the mark of a fitting argument, having considered this. For Israel was being redeemed, as I said, from the unholiness of the Egyptians through Moses. But since Pharaoh, unholily rising up against the commands of God, said, I do not know the Lord, and I will not send Israel away, creation was armed with its own master against the hateful ones.
4 For from above and from heaven there were very many and conspicuous signs, and likewise very many and not unwonderful ones on the earth itself. For the heaven sent down the hail, and the earth cast up frogs, as it is written; and the water was changed into blood, and as furnace soot was scattered and clouded the air, ulcers and boils breaking out happened to the bodies of all. Therefore, as the very elements had toiled almost in vain for those who were redeemed, "Hear, O heaven, he says, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken. But we will also approach the meanings of what is before us in another way. For having dishonored the instruction through the law, those from Israel, and having despised the saving teachings, having abandoned the one and by nature God, they offered their worship to unclean demons on mountains and hills, and in the most well-wooded valleys they have burned incense and worshipped the works of their own hands. And the God of all was indignant at these things, and very reasonably so, and he said to one of the holy prophets; "Arise and plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, O hills, the judgment of the Lord, and you valleys, the foundations of the earth, for the Lord has a case against his people, and he will enter into judgment with Israel.
5 And we do not say that the judgment by the Lord through the prophet's voice was against the mountains and the hills, but rather he was judging the impiety of Israel on the mountains and hills and glens. For he was convicted of having been immeasurably impious, having constructed altars and sacred precincts there for the unclean demons. Therefore, since those from Israel, having disregarded their reverence for God, worshipped the host of heaven, I mean the sun and moon, and also receiving matter from the earth, I mean both wood and stones, made for themselves idols according to what seemed good to each, he very providentially alludes to their impiety in these things, and as it were brings heaven and earth into the midst for refutation and proof, saying, "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken," And in another way, we say that there are many fathers in heaven, the spiritual ones, clearly; and likewise many on earth, some carnal, others spiritual. But to all these fathers, both above and below, honors are brought by the children under their hand. And those who are honored rejoice greatly, and there is none among them who does not in every way and altogether make it unbearable to be treated ungratefully by their children. Having suffered this, the God of all testifies to the fathers both in heaven and on earth, saying: Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken:
6 I have begotten and raised up sons, but they have rejected me. For Israel, having been accepted through grace, and deemed worthy of the forbearance befitting children, is said to have been begotten by God, since the true and spiritual regeneration has been perfected in us. Clearly through faith in Christ; for we have been born of water and the spirit, and to the ancients was given a spirit of bondage, even though he was the firstborn and was called a people. But to us, God has granted both the name and the spirit of adoption. "For because you are," he says, "sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. For I have begotten, he says, sons, and not for this reason only, but I have also exalted them, that is, I have brought them up. For this is what the addition of the other interpreters has. For Israel, having been redeemed, was not after this without help, and destitute of the love from God. For he was nourished like a son by a truly child-loving and most affectionate father. "For the bread of heaven," he says, "he gave them, man ate the bread of angels. And he was nourished in another way for spiritual well-being through lawful wisdom and prophetic teachings, skillfully leading to the knowledge of truth, that is, of Christ. For Paul writes, "So the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ. But he rejected the one who begot him.
7 And what could be the manner of the rejection? For he turned to wanting to worship gods that are not gods by nature, and he has been sick in another way, much that is unruly, and what is beyond these in absurdity, nor has he imitated the very goodwill of irrational animals, which they might have towards their masters. For this reason he says: "The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know me, and my people do not understand. For if a man were to buy an ox, he would certainly have it as most useful for the works of farming, on the one hand to plow, if he chose, the land, on the other hand to thresh on the floor, and to separate the chaff from the wheat. And if one were to buy a donkey, it too is called to obedience by natural impulses, and it makes its submission a kind of repayment for the things lying in its manger. For it willingly carries burdens, and shares the master's labor. But these things are in these. But wise Israel, being taught in the law, to know what is beneficial, who had learned the glory of God through many and wonderful signs, comes behind the donkey and the ox, and being inferior to the reasonableness of irrational animals, has not known the master. And very well indeed it says, he did not know, he did not understand.
8 And yet, having learned, as I said, the glory of God, and because of turning too much to an unbridled digression, he has become equal to one who is ignorant. For if this were not true, he would not have said to the wood, "You are my God; and to the stone, "You begot me. Wherefore "be astonished," he says, "O heaven, at this, and be horribly afraid, says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out for themselves broken cisterns, that can hold no water. And it would be fitting for Christ himself to say about them, But Israel did not know, and my people did not understand me. For the redemption of old also came through him. And the law was established until the time of reformation, as it is written. But since ... it was impossible for the shadow to be able to justify us, the only-begotten Word of God appeared to us in the flesh, that he might justify by faith those who approach him, and might deliver from death and sin. But Israel did not understand him, although he said clearly: "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons; you have forsaken the Lord, and have provoked the Holy One of Israel.
9 Having very well declared the manner of their rejection, and having shown the magnitude of the irrationality in them, he immediately changes his discourse, on the one hand, to a lamentation over them, clearly, and on the other, again to a rebuke. It would be fitting, I think, for the prophetic person especially to almost bewail them, and out of a very great love for God to rise up and say: Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons. It certainly follows for those who wish to reject me, God the giver of all good things to us, to have unwashed sin, and to be burdened with terrible, inescapable accusations. For rejection is always in some way sick with apostasy, of the change from one's place to anything whatsoever. Therefore he immediately added this: you have forsaken the Lord. And he calls them a wicked seed, not as being or having been made such by nature, but because they have become wicked sons of wicked fathers, according to the voice of John; for he said even to the scribes and Pharisees coming to the baptism of repentance, "brood of vipers. For the first fathers from the beginning were admittedly holy, but those after them were exceedingly abominable. Therefore, he rightly called them a wicked seed, being nourished in the customs of their fathers, and emulating ancestral unholiness. For they have forsaken the Lord, and they did not cease from provoking the Holy One of Israel, that is, Christ.
10 For they did not understand the mystery concerning him. Therefore they have also remained in the fullness of their own sins. And Christ said this to them: "Truly, truly, I say to you, if you do not believe that I am he, you will die in your sins. Therefore Israel is full of sins, and has finally arrived at such worthlessness, that it is fitting for it to be punished. For they themselves have also filled up the measure of their own fathers, according to the Savior's voice. For up to a certain time and measure God makes the contempt of the sinners bearable; but when the sin has already reached the fullness known to him, he brings on the punishments, and punishes the disobedient one in proportion to the sins. And so the prophet Zechariah, having seen a measure, asked the blessed angel what this measure that was coming forth was. And he said to him, This is their iniquity in all the earth. Therefore Israel has remained having its unwashed sin, and was unwilling to receive the purification through Christ, but indeed, in addition to this, having forsaken him, by not having offered faith in him, and saying in addition to this, "Away, away, crucify him," and, "We have no king but Caesar. Why will you be struck any more, adding lawlessness? Every head is for pain, and every heart for grief; from the feet to the head, there is no soundness in them, neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore;
11 it is not possible to apply a soothing poultice, nor oil, nor bandages. He makes his statements as if about one body of the Jewish systems, I mean both small and great, and those understood to be in between. And he seems to call the head, the one who is comely with the glories of kingship. And the heart, the holy and chosen tribe, that is the Levitical one, as having been made wise in the law, and having the care of the whole body. "For the lips of a priest," he says, "shall keep judgment, and they will seek the law from his mouth. And he says the feet are those in the last places, and who have obtained, as it were, the lowest rank among the peoples. Therefore, since the land of the Jews has already endured unbearable hardship, being ravaged, sometimes by the Babylonians, sometimes by the neighboring nations, was about to be burned down by the hands of the Romans on account of their impiety toward Christ, and their kingdom would be overthrown, for foreigners have ruled over them, and the works of the priesthood among them would cease, sacrifices having been overturned, the temple having been destroyed, there being no altars, nor priesthood, nor Urim, according to the prophet's voice, so he says, Why will you be struck any more, adding transgression? Every form of wrath, he says, has been brought upon you, and torment from God, you have demanded harsh and successive punishments, but you are no less scornful and companions of lawlessness.
12 Why then will you be struck any more? What measure of torment will be sufficient for your correction? What terror will be brought upon you at all, which has not somehow already happened? Every head is into pain, and every heart into grief from the feet to the head. For those who had received the royal honor have suffered not moderately, being unable to withstand the attacks of the enemy. The priests also are grieved, as I said, since sacrifice is idle. And the feet were struck, that is, the last and the lowest. On the one hand being consumed by the swords of the enemy, and on the other hand being worn out by famines and barrenness, and having been brought to the experience of unmitigated hardship. Therefore he says, There is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages. For when certain moderate wounds happen to the human body, and the injury affects one single limb, then the discoveries of the skill of those who know how to heal are useful, such as a plaster, and bandages, and an anointing with oil that loosens what is strained. But when it is sick throughout the whole body, and is being destroyed in itself, what manner of therapy can help it? For the greatness of the disease completely overcomes the power of remedies from art. Therefore, the multitude of the Jews, having fallen into incurable wounds, and suffering unbearably from the things of wrath, has been utterly destroyed, with no manner of help for them.
13 Therefore the divine prophets also said: "We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed; let us forsake her. For it is compared to the Babylon of the nations, although it was named a holy city, especially on account of the impiety toward Christ, or also because they filled it with man-made things, so as in no way to yield to the Babylonians', which has also been called the land of carved images. Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; strangers devour your land in your presence. And it is desolate, overthrown by foreign peoples. What seemed to be said somewhat more obscurely than it should have been, he makes clear. For what would he mean by "there is no plaster to apply, nor oil, nor bandages"? He interprets it plainly, saying their land has been laid waste, and their cities burned and have become subject to the enemy, and these of foreign peoples, so that almost everything was overturned from its foundations. Often, then, it happened that Judea was captured, by the Assyrians and Egyptians, Syrians and Moabites, Idumeans and those called Philistines, that is, Palestinians. But having suffered a little, and having fallen at times into moderate calamities, it recovered again with God defending it, and He who struck it Himself healing it. But it was utterly destroyed after the cross of the Savior, with Vespasian and Titus ravaging it.
14 For then indeed it happened that cities were burned down, and the whole country became empty of its inhabitants, and fell into the hands of the conquerors, and it was a most wretched thing for them to see with their own eyes and to be pained, that the land was in a manner devoured and consumed by others. For to only hear of it while absent would perhaps have made the grief bearable for them. But to be present and see it, and then to be unable to do anything to help, but to be weighed down as it were by unavoidable misfortunes, has an unbearable and very great grief. Therefore, we must not provoke the Holy One of Israel, so that we may not fall among visible and invisible enemies into the things of passions bring down to dishonor, and they destroy every fortress of the mind that is in us, so that the wretched soul is, in a way, consumed, and all its fruits are spent, so that it becomes dry and dishonored, and is found to be a land that brings forth thorns, whose end is to be burned, according to the voice of the blessed Paul. The daughter of Zion will be left like a tent in a vineyard, and a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city. A pitiful thing; for how is it not worthy of lamentation and wailing?
15 For she who was formerly a daughter, and honored with such a title, and acting as if under a most loving father, God, she who was intoxicated with His forbearance and love, and crowned by Him with glories to the end, and prevailing over those who opposed her, and encompassed by an innumerable multitude of her inhabitants, the all-blessed and renowned Zion, that is, Jerusalem, will be forsaken, it says. That is, she will be desolate. And she will remain stripped both of the strength of the one who saves and of her inhabitants. And she will be forsaken thus, like a tent in a vineyard, and like a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, and like a besieged city. For the appointed guards of the vineyards, while the clusters of grapes are still blooming for them, provide the greatest possible security, and they terrify the robbers who want to cut them off. And they drive away the kinds of wild beasts. It is the custom for the overseers or masters of the cucumber gardens to do this as well. But when the grapes have been gathered and trodden, and those in the cucumber gardens have been taken out, the mildness of the guards is then relaxed; who, leaving their own tents, make entry free for those who wish to meddle with what is left. The prophetic word teaches us that something of this kind has also been done to the wretched Zion.
16 For while she still had the fruits of righteousness, God deemed her worthy of all security and protection and forbearance. For He said that, "I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in the midst of her. For the blessed David also sings: "Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. But since Israel, although he had become the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth, was indeed fenced and deemed worthy of a hedge. He produced thorns, and was given by God to those accustomed to do wrong, "For I will take away, he says, its hedge, and it shall be for plunder; and I will break down its wall, and it shall be for trampling. And I will let my vineyard go, and it shall not be pruned, nor dug. Therefore a boar from the wood has ravaged it, and a wild ass has fed upon it, and that God let the vineyard go, and it has been forsaken by him, the Savior teaches, saying: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. And he had cried this out beforehand also through the voice of a prophet, saying: "I have forsaken my house, I have left my inheritance;
17 I have given the beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest; she has given her voice against me, therefore I have hated her. And Josephus somewhere remembers, he who recounted the sufferings of the land of the Jews, that when Jerusalem was about to be captured, the priests in the temple heard a voice, as of the angels within it crying out, "Let us depart from here. But that when a city is besieged, a way of escape is sought by all those in it, how can one doubt? From this it is possible to infer the sufferings of the land of the Jews. For to the besieged it seemed most desirable even to be able to save only one's life. And they had no regard at all for home or property or even for the city itself. But it must be known that it often happens that the soul of man is also forsaken by God, if it should not choose to correct the things ordained, and submitting its neck to the master's ordinances, it brings forth the fruits of piety towards him. Even if he has been called a son or daughter of God, even if he has become Zion, which is a watchtower, that is, in a lofty mind and a most pure intellect and knowing how to see mysteries;
18 then doing what is not lawful, he should be seen provoking the Holy One of Israel, he will be forsaken by him, and like an unguarded vineyard will be given over to Satan, and to the passions of the flesh, and will be shown to be destitute of all virtue, and stripped of the boasts of a good life, and filled with all evil. And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. The land having been burned up on account of the impiety towards Christ, even so the remnant of Israel has been saved, God taking pity, and bestowing this also, along with the others, as a special gift in memory of the fathers. For it has not utterly perished, nor indeed has it been shaken from its foundations, but it has remained in its remnants. For from them were also the divine disciples, and indeed all who have believed in our Lord Jesus Christ. And they will be called in the last times of the age, even those who have not yet believed. And a prophetic word will confirm this for us. For it says thus: "For many days the children of Israel shall sit without a king and without a ruler, without a sacrifice and without an altar, neither a priesthood nor manifest signs. And after these things the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God and David their king.
19 And they shall be amazed at the Lord, and at his good things in the last of the days. And indeed elsewhere the God of all: "How shall I deal with you, Ephraim? Shall I protect you, Israel? How shall I deal with you? I will make you as Admah, and as Zeboim. My heart is turned within me. My repentance is stirred up. I will not act according to the anger of my wrath. I will not abandon Ephraim to be blotted out, because I am God, and not man; the Holy One in you. Do you hear how he promised not to act against them according to the greatness of his anger, but rather promised before transgre............ ......... for those from Israel were disobedient even in the wilderness, when they were at the very streams of the Jordan, and about to inherit the land of promise. Wherefore God said: "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter into my rest.'" For their carcasses fell in the wilderness, and they were all consumed, except Caleb son of Jephunneh, and Joshua son of Nun. They entered in with the new people, and crossed the Jordan, and have received their inheritance from God. These would be a type of the remnant of Israel, saved through the obedience of faith in Christ, having crossed with us the holy Jordan, and being about to inherit the kingdom of heaven. Therefore the prophet gives thanks, saying:
20 "Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become as Sodom, and we would have been made like Gomorrah. For since Israel had worshipped idols, and had killed prophets, and had denied Christ, and rather had even killed the author of life, the God of all ought to have condemned the entire race to utter destruction. But since he is good beyond measure, he has kept the remnant, and they have not become equal to the people of Sodom, who with their whole race and household and with their very ............ and to have a sin difficult to wash away. And very rightly it will be said by us: Or do you despise the riches of His goodness and forbearance and longsuffering? not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. But according to your hardness and impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation and of the righteous judgment of God. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and I do not desire the blood of bulls and goats.
21 Neither should you come to appear before me. For who has required these things at your hands? You shall no longer tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is a vain offering; incense is an abomination to me. Your new moons, and the sabbaths, and the great day I cannot endure; fast and idleness, and your feasts my soul hates. Having sufficiently terrified them with the threats of what is to come, and having proclaimed to them the things that will in every way and entirely come to pass in due time if they should not choose to think and do better things together, and according to the divine laws, he shifts the discourse for a time, and introduces what is useful, so that, having chosen to think better things, they might be delivered from the punishment hanging over them. For having acted insolently against Christ, those of Israel have perished, and we say that they fell to this on account of the impiety of those who were appointed to lead. For although they had recognized that he is the heir, they killed him. For they wished to make his vineyard their own inheritance. But that the senseless Israel, by following the perversities of its leaders, has missed the hope in Christ, the God of all will confirm by speaking through the voice of the prophets. "Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my inheritance, they have given my desirable portion to an impassable wilderness. It has become a desolation of destruction. And again:
22 "Because the shepherds have become foolish and have not sought the Lord, therefore the whole pasture did not understand, and they were scattered. For the shepherds truly acted foolishly, and became a cause of destruction for the people under their hand. And yet, how was it not necessary for them, as men well-instructed through the Law and the Prophets in the mystery of Christ, to become a way for others to what was necessary, to believe in him? But, as the Savior says, they received glory from man, and did not seek the glory that is from the only God. For if they had believed Moses, they would have believed him, for he wrote about him. Therefore, they have become blind guides of the blind. For this reason they have also slipped, and fallen into the pits of destruction. What then? The prophet tries to transform them with good admonitions, toward the necessity of choosing to think better things, and to be tried by the words of the Savior. And he usefully mingles rebuke with these admonitions, as if with a variously prepared medicine, healing the wounds of their ill counsel. For this reason, he says, "Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. Do you hear how he brings the rod of love and of a God-loving mind upon the peoples and rulers, and strikes those who are very sick with disobedience?
23 And he compares Jerusalem to the most impious cities, as being full of the greatest sin, and as having absolutely no one in itself ............. ............ For the God of all was planning to burn the cities of the Sodomites, and did he not communicate the matter to Abraham? But he said to him: "Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? And will the righteous be as the wicked? And God promised that if ten righteous men were found in Sodom, he would quell his anger against them. But they were not found. Therefore they have also paid the penalties commensurate with their impieties. Such a one was Jerusalem, the killer of the Lord, having a great scarcity of the righteous. And indeed the prophet Jeremiah was pleading for her. And God said: "Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in her broad places, if you can find a man, if there is one who executes judgment, who seeks the truth, and I will be merciful to her, says the Lord. Therefore, because she is filthy, and in many ways stained with the pollutions of wickedness, and having a great scarcity of holy men, he calls her both Sodom and Gomorrah, and brings the reproach of the Sodomites' impurity upon both the peoples and the leaders. And what indeed he says; hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, give ear to the law of God, you people of Gomorrah. Become sober, he says, for a little while.
24 And by the words of the all-wise Moses, having fixed the eye of your own mind, understand the mystery of Christ. For Moses said: "For the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers; you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. Hear, therefore, the word of the Lord, give ear to the law of God; that is, understand for yourselves the power of the evangelical ordinances. This is what Moses commanded; for he guides us to Christ, and the end of the legal ordinances looks to the mystery concerning him. But you think, he says, to please God by wishing to fulfill the things in types and shadows. Hear him who also of old spoke the law to you. What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices, says the Lord. I am full. For if you offer them as to one in need, you have strayed from what is fitting, you have missed wise and true reasoning. For the nature that fills all things is in need of nothing at all, because all things are its, and from it they are given to others. "For what do you have that you did not receive. It would be fitting for this to be said by nature to creation. For I have had enough now, he says, and I am full, and I would no longer choose the sacrifices from them. For how, tell me, will a ram offered as a whole burnt offering benefit the God of all things?
25 what pleasure will the fat of lambs bring? and if the blood of goats and bulls were offered, how would God be pleased by this? For who has required these things from your hands? For even if Moses spoke of whole burnt offerings and sacrifices, yet from of old this manner of worship was not God's will. But since it was necessary to guide to the truth through type and shadow, the things in the law were established until the time of reformation, therefore, in so far as it concerned truly pleasing God; he would not have spoken at all about the sacrifices according to the law. But since the mind of those being instructed at that time was weak, they were led by the hand to the truth through type and the shadow of the letter. But when the time was at hand, in which for the future the beauty of the truth had to be revealed, the type is superfluous, the shadow useless. For this reason he says, You shall no longer tread my court. If you bring fine flour, it is a vain offering; incense is an abomination to me. For we, who have been made radiant by faith in Christ, offering spiritual sacrifices to God, fill his holy courts, that is, the churches. But the manner of Jewish worship is completely unacceptable to Christ in the churches. For those wishing to bring fine flour mixed with oil and perceptible incense would be least of all admitted. For we remember God saying of it:
26 It is an abomination to me. And we indeed celebrate the holy feasts in Christ. The Jews, however, not departing from the things in types, sound the trumpet on the day of the New Moon, they keep the Sabbath as a day of rest, and they honor the so-called great day. This is the last day of the feast called Tabernacles, and even if they fast to God, they strike the humble with their fists. Therefore let them hear him saying: Your feasts my soul hates. He says these things, transferring them from types to the truth, and persuading them to submit the neck of their mind to the ordinances through Christ, so that they may live evangelically with us. Delighting God with intelligible sweet fragrances. And as some spiritual incense offering up to him gentleness in character, love, love of one another, patience, self-control, and before all else, faith. With such sacrifices God is well pleased, and the power of the evangelical ordinances crowns those who believe with such glories. You have become for me a surfeit, I will no longer remit your sins. When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you. And if you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. For your hands are full of blood. Things that have come to surfeit or satiety are wont to be despised, and of little account whatsoever is considered worthy of mention, but rather now it even comes to be hated.
27 And so the most wise Solomon says, "Slowly bring your foot to your friend, lest being filled with you he hate you. Therefore the God of all said to the Jews, I have had my fill of the stale shadow, and I now consider you burdensome, even when you enter to be seen by me. And I refuse- even the mere sight of you; I will no longer remit your sins. For of old the men of Israel, having impiously turned aside from choosing to provoke the God of all against themselves, by worshiping creation and adoring the very works of their own hands, were given over to the Babylonians and were carried away as captives from Judea, and dwelt in the mountains of the Persians and Medes, enduring a bitter and unbearable slavery. But when the seventieth year was completed for them, the compassionate God had mercy again. And so, as it is written in Zechariah, the blessed angel made supplications for them, saying: "O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, which you have overlooked? This is the seventieth year. And to these things God [said], "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am angry with great wrath against the nations that joined in the attack, because while I was but a little angry, they contributed to the evil. Therefore he then took away their sins, for they were redeemed, and were brought back again to their own land.
28 But after the cross of the Savior, he no longer promises to remit their sins, because long periods have passed over them, during which they have remained subject to the stirrings of wrath. For that they will be shown mercy in the last times, being justified with us by the grace in Christ, the holy scripture proclaimed; but, as I said, the times of wrath upon them have become much longer than those of old. For this reason, he says: I will no longer remit your sins; and if you wish, you may approach the meaning of what is proposed in another way. The men of Israel used to offer sacrifices according to the old law, for their own transgressions. And a goat and a lamb were slain, and God permitted it. Not that the law of old was incapable of helping the ancients, for in it the mystery of Christ was prefigured. But when Christ appeared, the purification in type had to cease, as the truth was now present. Therefore, he teaches that the shadow of the law will not suffice for their forgiveness, since they do not accept the redemption through Christ, saying: I will no longer remit your sins. For before the truth was present, he says, I allowed the types to be able to help those guilty of sins, doing this also out of respect for the truth; but now that it is present and has been revealed, the type is inert, the shadow is useless.
29 And I will no longer remit your sins, and when you lift up your hands, I will turn away my eyes, and even if you choose to make very many supplications, I will not receive them. Has the creator of all, then, ceased to be good? Or has God forgotten to be merciful? Not at all, he says, for I am, I am good and kind and compassionate, but I only unwillingly turn away my eyes. For your hands are full of blood. Do you hear how he brought against them the charge of blood-guilt, while being silent about their other offenses? and yet we shall find them to be guilty of many accusations. For they heard, Woe, sinful nation, a people full of sins, a wicked seed, lawless sons. But since they have killed the prophets, and laid their unholy hands upon the very Savior of us all, Christ, for this reason and very fittingly he brings against them the most grievous charge, and that which is sufficient for every condemnation, saying: Your hands are full of blood. And God the Father turns away his face, as not enduring to see the hands of the murderers still stained red with the blood of the Son. Wash yourselves, become clean. Again, having brought them to a remembrance of the impieties they had committed, he does not permit them to despair. And he usefully adds the grace that comes from gentleness. And He does not exclude from the gift that has been set forth through Christ those under all of heaven.
30 "For all have turned aside, together they have become worthless. And the world has become answerable to God, the nations having served creation, and those of Israel having transgressed the law given to them through Moses. But Christ shone upon the nations, and they have been called to His marvelous light; and those who were once not a people, have become a people. But the wretched Jews have acted insolently toward Christ, and have wickedly killed the author of life, although He rose again as God. But since He is good, and wants all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth, He Himself also widens the way of salvation and commands that the accusations be set aside, one being justified freely and not by the works of the law. Rather through faith, and holy baptism, for this reason He says: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. This the old law also prefigured for them as in shadows, and proclaimed beforehand the grace through holy baptism. For somewhere God said to the hierophant Moses: "Take the Levites from among the sons of Israel, and you shall purify them, and thus you shall perform their purification. You shall sprinkle them with the water of purification, and a razor shall pass over their whole body. And they shall wash their garments, and they will be clean. Then what the water of purification is, the most wise Paul will teach, saying:
31 "For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes sanctifies the defiled for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ? Therefore, the law effected a fleshly cleansing through the water of purification. But Christ washes away every spiritual stain of ours through holy baptism. For we have been baptized in the Holy Spirit and fire, which practically melts every kind of worthlessness in us, and consumes some refuse material as useless; for this is the work of fire. This the blessed Paul also clarifies, saying: "By faith Noah, being divinely warned, prepared an ark for the salvation of his household," in which a few, that is, eight souls were saved through water. "Which also saves us now as an antitype, baptism, not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the appeal to God for a good conscience. Which indeed he also advises the peoples of the Jews to choose to do, saying: "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; that is, wash away the stain, since He who was insulted by you justifies us out of gentleness and love for mankind. And we find the divine Peter rebuking them for having killed the author of life, and for having asked that a murderer be granted to them, that is, Barabbas. Nevertheless, they are roused to repentance; for he said: "And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
32 Repent therefore, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promises are for you and for your children. Remove the evils from your souls from before my eyes; cease from your evils. The saving and holy baptism is sufficient for the washing away of sin, and it cleanses the stain of those who have already transgressed. But I say that those who have been once sanctified ought to keep their own souls pure and blameless, as far as they are able, and to remember the one who says: "With all vigilance guard your heart. And again: "If the spirit of the ruler rises against you, do not leave your place, for healing will pacify great sins. Very many are the pleasures that look to baser things and shake the soul of man, and before all others, the law that is innate and runs wild in the members of the flesh; then in addition to these, evil reasonings, which ignobly devour the mind that is in us toward every kind of worthlessness. Therefore, the baptized must abstain from all such evils, and remove the evils from their own of the soul; and not only in the eyes of men, but especially in the eyes of the God who knows and oversees all things. For sometimes they pretend to be good, and steal the reputation of gentleness, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves, according to what is written.
33 And concerning everyone of this sort, I think, the God of all things speaks through the voice of Jeremiah the prophet: "With his mouth he speaks peace, but in himself he holds enmity. And indeed also from the voice of David: "Their words were smoother than oil, yet they are darts. But even if they make every effort to be able to escape notice, He who dwells in heaven will laugh at them, and the Lord will hold them in derision. For He knows, He knows the heart and the reins. But the one who is truly good will be such with God and men, for as Paul says: "Providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of men. It is a great thing, therefore, to remove wickednesses from before the eyes of God. And perhaps Nathanael was such a one, of whom Christ says: "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Cease, he says, from your wickednesses, that is, abandon the perversity that is both ingrained in you and with which you are familiar, turn your own perversity toward better things. But if Christ should say these things, and accuse the Jews, you will understand how many things they have done, insolently treating him, and setting a snare, and digging pits. And what has come upon them, and with the power of arguments, seasoning every kind of malice against him.
34 For at one time they sent some of their own disciples, with those called Herodians, to ask and say: "Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? At another time again they came saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? so that they might accuse him. Let them hear him saying, therefore, "Take away the wickednesses from your souls from before my eyes. Cease from your wickednesses. Learn to do good, seek judgment, rescue the wronged, judge for the orphan, and justify the widow, and come, and let us reason together, says the Lord. And if your sins are as scarlet, I will make them white as snow. And if they are as crimson, I will make them white as wool. Having defined the ineffectiveness of the worship in the law, both by saying, "What is the multitude of your sacrifices to me, says the Lord? I am full. And adding to these, "For who has required these things from your hands? In due time, again, he explains the elegance of the evangelical life, and points out the way of a truly holy life, no longer in types and shadows, but in the things themselves, and in those boasts conceived according to virtue which have approval. For what does he say, "Learn to do good? Does he then, tell me, as one might say, completely remove from the command of the law? does he not allow one to gaze at all upon what was ordained through Moses? Then how did Christ say:
35 "Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets; I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill. And how did Paul also say: "So the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good? To such things we will say again, that the law is good, if it is understood spiritually, that Christ does not remove us completely from the law? but rather he leads up to what is excellent and better, having laid down beforehand in us, as it were, a foundation of instruction through the law, and having shown in advance to the ancients a sort of preliminary exercise of true worship in shadows and types. And besides, it is necessary to say this to them: The law through Moses teaches to abstain from wickedness and sin, and is indicative of the more shameful things. And so Paul says: "But I did not know sin except through the law. But the evangelical proclamation shows us to be caretakers of all virtue. For this reason it would be fittingly called, in the proper and true sense, the good thing itself. For "You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery," was to remove from sin those being disciplined, but not yet completely revealing what the beautiful is. But the need neither to be angry with one's brother at all, nor to have desire, is what introduces one to the boasts of virtue.
36 For it is exceptional to subdue anger, and admirable in addition to this to be able to rein in evil desires, and not to permit the mind, to go even to the beginnings of the wicked and most abominable desire. Therefore, the truly beautiful would be the evangelical teaching, and the power of the life in Christ. Therefore one must exclaim to the friends of the letter, "Learn to do good, seek judgment," that is, to judge rightly. For in addition to all their other absurdities, those who were allotted to lead the synagogue of the Jews have also been sick with this: namely, I say, not making right judgments in each matter; but rather casting their vote unjustly, and being overcome by gifts and the pleasure of money, and selling the understanding of their own unholy counsel to those who wish to do wrong. For as the prophet says, "Her leaders judged for a bribe. Therefore, the commandment is necessary, and for those who wish to live according to the Gospel, judging rightly is not unhelpful for righteousness, not only in external matters, but also in those of the mind and heart. For example, what I mean is: while God condemns wickedness, Satan praises it. And the law of the Savior persuades us to consider the good as worthy of love; that one pulls us toward the opposite. Then indeed, the mind is like a critic and judge within us; and having praised the good, and having assigned it the need to prevail, it has sought judgment.
37 But having granted victory to wickedness, it has departed from judging rightly, and will justly hear: "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; woe to those who call bitter sweet, and sweet bitter; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness. Therefore, an evangelical boast is to judge rightly, and to defend the wronged. For this, I think, is, "Rescue the wronged. And one must practice in addition to this compassion, and impartiality. "Judge for the orphan," he says, "and justify the widow; and come, and let us reason together, says the Lord; not as being judged by the Master? "For he will surely be justified," he says, "in his words, and will prevail when he is judged. For no one will be clean from filth, nor will anyone boast that he has a pure heart, but rather being tested, and as it were examining ourselves, whether the greatness of the divine generosity is not both great and worthy of acceptance. As indeed the wise Paul writes to us; "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed in us. " He promises therefore to those who are in a way moving from the legal way of life through faith into the refinement of the life according to Christ, the forgiveness of their previous stumblings. For this is our entrance into hope, and the first-fruit of the divine gentleness towards us, and like a door and a way.
38 And that the grace through faith will suffice for the cleansing even of those who are exceedingly defiled, although they have suffered this sickness to a lesser degree, he persuades them by saying: "Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them white as snow; though they be as crimson, I will make them white as wool. For nothing is hard to wash out when God cleanses. For as Paul says, "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. And again; "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies, who is he who condemns? And if you are willing, and obey me, you shall eat the good of the land. But if you are not willing, nor obey me, a sword shall devour you. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. He has somewhere addressed those of Israel, the God of all through the all-wise Moses: "Behold, I have set before your face the way of life, and the way of death. For the path to both is set within us, and the fruit of each one's inclinations, that is, their wills, would be to live brilliantly and lawfully, or otherwise, reprehensibly. But no one would doubt, that those indeed who the good and living a select and most beloved by God life, in every way and altogether they arrive at life. But those who are conquered by pleasures leading to evil, have their end in ruin and destruction.
39 The fruit of obedience, therefore, will be to eat the good things of the land which has been prepared for the saints, of which our Lord Jesus Christ himself also makes mention, saying: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. But of perversity and a sin-loving life the fruit is unprofitable afterthought, and the things from divine wrath, both sword and ruin, as I said, and indeed, what of such evils is not? But the prophet shows his own word to be trustworthy, by immediately adding that, "The mouth of the Lord has spoken these things. Since it is impossible for God to lie (for he always remains that which he is, that is, truth), how is it not necessary to understand that in every way and altogether the things foretold will come to pass? But it is necessary to consider this, how the prophetic word richly profits both the souls of the still more simple, and indeed also those of the already genuine and established in faith. For since the God of all has placed in the inclinations of those being instructed to choose the good and to turn away from evil, he has fully assured that he has given to each one on earth the reins of what is to be done or not, and to whatever one might choose, he will drive with authority. And since this is true, it is now vain and frigid, and a rhapsody to insist and to say, that evil is natural in man;
40 that is, that chance and fate, and nativity steer human affairs, and according to what seems good to each, binding whomever they might choose, they make them workers of both vice and virtue, not going into this by voluntary inclinations, but yoked as it were by inescapable commands, and bearing with difficulty the necessity of those in power. For if evil is by nature, and has substance, as at least those men foolishly say; how by the wills of each person is it both strengthened and weakened? for if I should choose to be good, nothing of the sort is seen to be preventing it. But if indeed also wicked, nothing would prevent slipping into this as well. Where then is the power of chance and fate? Or what sort of nativity brings to some the yoke of necessity, if the outcome follows the wills of each person, both for those choosing to fulfill obedience to eat the good things of the land, and indeed also to become the work of the sword, if they should set up their disobedience and refusal to hear against the divine laws? How has the faithful city Zion, full of judgment, become a harlot? Formerly, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. He marvels, in a way, at the synagogue of the Jews' so rotten and inopportune change, to what is worse, I mean, and the removal from better things to baser ones.
41 For by the law through Moses she was instructed in the knowledge of what is profitable, and having the word of God as a conveyor for each of the things to be done, she was glorious and most renowned and admirable, distinguished by very many men, for whom the fruit of righteousness blossomed richly, and she was acceptable to God. For there were in her both prophets and priests, and guardians of the works of righteousness, and leaders of the peoples keeping judgment, and having the law on their tongue, and adorned in every kind and good manner. Then, being deprived of all such things, or rather, having chosen to disregard that ancient gentleness, and having set at nought reverence and love toward God, before the coming of our Savior she has worshipped those who are not by nature gods, outrageously insulting the one and true Master by these fornications. And like some common and wanton woman she acted impiously in many ways. At one time cleaving to one set of teachers, at another to another, who knew how to convey to anything whatever of the things hated by God. At least the God of all accuses her through the voice of Jeremiah, saying: "See what the house of Israel has done to me, she has gone upon every high mountain, and under every leafy tree, and has committed fornication there. And again, as to her:
42 "If a man sends away his his wife, and going away from him she becomes another man's, shall she not openly return to him again? will not that woman be defiled by madness? and you have committed fornication with many shepherds, and you have returned to me, says the Lord. Lift up your eyes to a straight path, and see, where have you not been defiled, you sat for them on the ways, like a crow alone in the desert. And you have defiled the land with your fornications, and with your evils, and you have had many shepherds as a stumbling block to yourself. The face of a harlot has become yours, you have been shameless towards all. For having despised, as I said, the service under God, she turned to apostasy and to unclean spirits, and to the worshipers of idols, she used them as shepherds and teachers. And these things, as I said, before the coming of our Savior, were the accusations of the Synagogue of the Jews. But when Christ shone upon those on the earth (for God the Lord has appeared to us, according to what is written), she did not use him more as an instructor; she honored teachings, commandments of men; and having left the good shepherd, the one who knows how to lead to everything that is best, she clung to the high priests and Scribes, and indeed also to the Pharisees. And she has committed fornication in this way.
43 And yet both the law and the prophets had cried out to her beforehand the mystery of Christ, and had proclaimed that he would be present in due time. "How then, he says, has the faithful city of Zion, full of judgment, become a harlot? It is as if he were saying: Having received what opportunities for being sick, or rather how, being full of spiritual helps, did she who was once faithful and a worker of righteousness slide into apostasy, in whom righteousness lodged, that is, the law rested? for the multitude of those being instructed has become like a house of his, but now murderers have lodged in it. Do you hear that, having passed over all other things, he accuses them of murder? For they have poured down upon their own heads the precious blood of Christ, saying to Pilate: "His blood be on us and on our children. And they have killed also the holy prophets; and this the blessed Stephen reproached them for, saying: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart, you always resist the Holy Spirit. Which of the prophets did your fathers not kill? As your fathers did, so do you. Your silver is counterfeit. Your merchants mix wine with water, your rulers are disobedient, companions of thieves, loving gifts, pursuing reward, not judging orphans, and not attending to the judgment of a widow. He clearly enumerates the causes of the change for the worse.
44 And just as one of the most skillful physicians tells the sick the causes of their illness, so also he who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth, makes clear to those who are sick from ignorance of what is proper the causes of the passions and offenses in them. "For your silver is counterfeit," he says. And he calls the word of their teachers, which is not well-disposed, but rather full of all abomination, counterfeit silver; and able to harm rather than to benefit those who listen. For the divinely-inspired Scripture is somehow accustomed to call the words of catechesis, which some might make to the people under their hand, silver. And so our Lord Jesus Christ says that the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who, being about to go on a journey, called his own servants; and to one he gave five talents, and to another one, and went on his journey; and to those who had labored about .... giving them praise, he says, "Well done, good and faithful servant,". But to the one who hid the talent, having accomplished absolutely nothing, he says, "You wicked and lazy servant, you ought to have put my silver with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received what was my own with interest. And somewhere the divine David also sings: "The words of the Lord are pure words, silver tried in the fire, proven for the earth.
45 Therefore, the silver among them is indeed counterfeit and completely unapproved. to the Jews, that is, the word from the Scribes and Pharisees, who, like vintners, were willing to mix wine with water; that is, they made their exegesis of the law adulterated and not unadulterated; weaving in something of their own wills, and introducing cold and watery concepts not unmixed with what is worse, nor, as one might say, did they render the Legislator's will unmixed. And so the Scribes and Pharisees once came to the Savior, saying: "Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread. But he said to them: Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? For God said, Honor your father and mother, and, he who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die; but you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, It is a gift, by which you might be profited by me, shall not honor his father or his mother. And you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your transgression. Do you see in these things the clear crimes of the Jewish adulteration? For wishing to follow their own traditions, they declared the laws of God invalid. Pretending to interpret them, but contributing stale and cold traditions. He accuses the rulers, as being very sick with insolence, and stretching out their necks proudly, as it were, and choosing to disobey.
46 For they did not want to accept faith in Christ, evidently, although the law cried out to them up and down the mystery concerning him, and showed it in ten thousand ways. And so our Lord Jesus Christ said to them: "Do you think that I will accuse you to the Father? There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. Therefore, they were disobedient, neither willing to interpret the will of the law unmixed and unadulterated to others, nor honoring the faith proclaimed through Moses and the prophets and saints. For they did not want to obey Christ when he said: "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. And in addition to being hard and disobedient, they have become companions of thieves; on the one hand conspiring with those who take bribes (sic), and on the other hand having run together with the unholy counsels of the one who betrayed to them our Lord Jesus Christ, who was at once a wicked and most thievish disciple. The teachers of the Jews were also lovers of money in another way, tithing mint and dill and every herb, and neglecting the weightier matters of the law, judgment and mercy and faith. For they did not judge for orphans and widows.
47 But seeking rather a return from those who brought cases to them, they would sometimes unholily condemn the wronged, passing a most lawless sentence upon them. And from judging unjustly and being shamefully overcome by bribes, they have also acted outrageously against Christ himself. For in order to have the gifts from the peoples, they did not receive the master of the vineyard, making their own the inheritance that was fitting for and owed to him alone. For they killed one who was innocent and righteous, although the law says: "You shall not kill the innocent and righteous. Therefore thus says the Lord, the Lord of Sabaoth: Woe to the mighty ones of Israel; for my anger will not cease against the adversaries, and I will execute judgment on my enemies. He assigns the reasons for Jerusalem's destruction to those who were appointed to lead, and very reasonably so. For the subjects follow them in everything; just as the flocks under their hand follow the shepherds. For if they should lead them to a rich and abundant pasture, they would be both robust and very well-fed; but if to a salty land and a mother of thorns, they will surely destroy them by poor feeding. Something of this sort upon ourselves we will find it to be true. For by introductions to righteousness and virtue and irreproachable knowledge of God, the mind of those being instructed is enriched. But by counsels to impiety, it most readily sinks toward the desire and eagerness for baser things.
48 Having suffered something of this sort, those of Israel, the wretched ones, were destroyed by the traditions and teachings of the Scribes and Pharisees. For they did not allow them to go on the true and saving path, I mean that through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And so He healed the man blind from birth, and those throughout Jerusalem marveled at the greatness of the divine sign, but to the one freed from his suffering who proclaimed the physician, those who were obliged to instruct in truth said plainly, "Give glory to God; we know that this man is a sinner. And one of the holy evangelists testifies that the Scribes and Pharisees had already agreed that if anyone confessed Him to be Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue. And so, having most unwisely preferred respect for one another to their own salvation, they have remained completely without a share in the glory from God. And the Savior said this to them: "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? And indeed elsewhere: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven. They have therefore become a stumbling block to the peoples, and they do not cease from fighting against the glory of Christ. For this reason He says concerning them: "Woe to the mighty ones. For my anger against my adversaries will not cease, and I will execute judgment on my enemies.
49 Do you see how He calls them adversaries and indeed also enemies? And He says that the things from the divine wrath will run most of all against them. For it was necessary, it was necessary for them to be punished more greatly, and to give an account to the judge for the destruction of others. Whom it was likely they could have also saved, if they themselves had been willing to think rightly, and to show to all others the path leading to this. The divine John also cried out to them as they were coming to the baptism of repentance: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore vengeance came from God upon the mighty ones; especially, that is, upon the powerful among them, that is, the leaders, their country having been ravaged and handed over to the most noble armies of the Romans. And the Savior had foretold this to them: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will say to the mountains, 'Cover us,' and to the hills, 'Fall on us.'" It is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God; not because He is harsh and relentless; for He is rather kind and good; but because He is grieved when He is despised, when we especially deprive ourselves of the gifts from Him, although it is possible to take them richly; and to delight in them by choosing to yield to His laws.
50 And by shaking off the evil and unholy teachers of this life; who also hasten to subvert the orthodoxy of the faith with their own words, and pouring the poison of their own perversity into the souls of the more simple, they turn them aside to having to choose evil things. And I will bring my hand upon you, and I will purge you to purity, but the disobedient I will destroy, and all the proud I will humble; and I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. And after this you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful metropolis, Zion. For her captivity will be saved with judgment, and with mercy. And the lawless and the sinners will be crushed together, and those who forsake the Lord will be consumed. God brings His hand, as striking; for such is somehow always the posture of those who smite. That the bringing on of the hand will not be entirely unprofitable for them, that is, the assault and trial of terrible things, nor indeed indiscriminately for all the things from wrath will happen, but He will deem the believers worthy of care and sparing, and clearly teaches to bestow on the genuine the grace of being saved at least. For of old, Jerusalem, which fights against God, has committed fornication in many ways by worshiping other gods, and God brought His hand against her, and delivered her as if to some fire, to the calamities of war.
51 But since the Father sent the Son from heaven as Savior and Redeemer, then she has acted insolently toward Him, and has done things out of utter madness. And she has not ceased from savagely insulting Him with disobedience, although He justifies the impious and frees them from ancient transgressions through faith. So He brought His hand against her again, and like some craftsman, He separated in fire, and all that was most approved and chosen kind of believers in her, this He has kept for Himself, but the counterfeit and unapproved He has delivered to destruction and annihilation. Therefore, just as those who melt either bronze or silver by fire purify the materials; so I, He says, will purify by fire. And it is written that, "The Lord will wash away the filth of the sons and daughters of Zion, and will cleanse the blood from their midst, in a spirit of judgment and in a spirit of burning. And it has also been said through the voice of one of the holy prophets, that "Suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to His temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you desire. Behold, He is coming, says the Lord, and who will endure the day of His coming? Or who will stand in His sight, for He comes as a refiner's fire, and as the fuller's herb, and He will sit refining, like silver and gold. And in another way, the wise Matthew clarifies this for us, saying about Christ:
52 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Therefore, the wheat is gathered into the barn, but all that is useless, that is, the chaff, He said would be food for fire. And how, if one should choose to learn, the force of what is set forth will make clear. For He said immediately: "But the disobedient I will destroy, and I will take away all lawless ones from you, and I will humble all the proud. For indeed the multitude of Israel of old has perished, having acted impiously toward Christ and denied the Redeemer; and all the proud and those living lawlessly have been taken away, that is, those who were allotted to lead the Synagogue of the Jews, the chief priests and Pharisees. For how would they not be lawless and arrogant, who have cared little for reverence toward the law, but lift up their horn on high and speak injustice against God? For they have said, "Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him.
53 But they have been removed from leading the peoples, the holy apostles having been appointed, concerning whom he says, "I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. And the divine disciples have become in no way inferior to the ancient saints, whom He calls judges, and names counselors. For they have done both, rebuking sinners as judges, and counseling the weak in those things useful for their spiritual well-being. And indeed, the most wise Paul delivered the one who had committed fornication in Corinth to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit might be saved; and he gives good counsels, and says: "But if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one do not even eat. Concerning the judges or counselors spoken of here, the blessed David also, in the Holy Spirit, said to Jerusalem herself, "Instead of your fathers, your sons have been born," that is, Your children have become to you in the rank of fathers; for they were Jews, and the divine disciples were sons of the then-Synagogue. That they have become fathers of those who have believed, hear Paul saying, "For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel. And again; "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
54 And another of His holy prophets also makes mention to us concerning Christ, the Savior of us all, and of the manifestation of His holy disciples, and says: "Behold, a righteous king shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment. For the leaders of the synagogue of the Jews both held to a most lawless life and did not know how to rule with judgment, that is, righteousness. But when Christ reigned over the world under heaven, the divine disciples became righteous and good, and rulers with judgment; and when they were manifested, Zion was again called a city of righteousness, and a faithful metropolis, that is, the Church. And that the burning, or testing, from God did not happen indiscriminately, as I said, but with care and reason accompanied by righteousness, the race that was approved through faith makes clear; he adds, saying, "For her captivity shall be saved with judgment and with mercy, and the lawless and the sinners shall be crushed together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed. For the races having already been distinguished, and the one that believed being approved, as I said, while the other certainly had stumbled not a little, the chosen part was saved, but everything among them that was abominable and hateful, and a companion of folly, and had lived unholily, and had not cared for Christ who knows how to save, and forgives sins and justifies by grace, was destroyed.
55 Therefore they shall be ashamed of their idols, which they themselves wanted, and they were put to shame for their gardens, which they desired. For they shall be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water. I said that in these things the word of the prophet makes a twofold pretext for the rejection of the Jews. For their crimes are twofold. For long ago, having abandoned God, the one and by nature, and the redeemer, they worshipped idols, and offered sacrifices to the host of heaven, and assigning reverence to the works of their own hands, they have been impious in no small measure. But when God the Lord appeared to us, according to the Scriptures, they denied Him also, and have provoked the author of life in no small measure. Therefore the crimes are kindred, and the manner of folly is not unlike the first, but rather is also a cause of greater folly. And they were punished, at least in the times before the advent, by the raids of enemies, the burning of cities, the overthrow of houses ....... For these things were done with God's permission by Persians and Medes, Moabites, and Idumeans, and the neighboring nations. But when, as I said, they were also impious toward Christ himself, they have not come into fewer evils than the more ancient ones.
56 For they fell into the hands of the Roman armies, who also utterly destroyed all of Judea, with no one defending, that is, able to rescue, and to deliver them from so bitter a calamity. For this reason he says, that "They shall be ashamed of their idols, which they themselves wanted, and they were put to shame for their gardens, which they desired. For occupying groves and thickets, then setting up idols around the tallest of the plants, and erecting altars, they would call upon the falsely named gods as saviors, and on the very works of their own hands they placed all their hope, that of being able to overcome enemies and easily conquer their opponents. But when the enemies arrived, and had done the deeds of enemies, and Israel remained unaided by their own gods, they were ashamed of their idols. For they saw them, even before the others, being burned along with the gardens, that is, the groves, and the very precincts and altars. Therefore they failed of their hope, when they saw those who suffered their own gods, then scarcely understanding what was said by God through the voice of the prophet: "And where are your gods, which you made for yourself? Will they rise up and save you in the time of your affliction? Therefore having suffered the shame over their own gods, which they themselves desired, and indeed over the gardens, they will be as a terebinth that has cast off its leaves, and as a garden that has no water;
57 that is, both naked and most dishonored, and greatly suffering barrenness, clearly, that is, the spiritual barrenness in good deeds. For the terebinth, or any other of the plants, as long as it is seen with its own lush foliage, it preserves the glory befitting it; but having cast off its leaves, it will be dry and uncomely, and as if dishonored. And a garden again, if it has springs, will be very full of trees, and in the abundance of its fruits it displays its varied charm. But being dry and waterless, it will be in every way barren, but rather it will also suffer from desolation itself. Dishonored therefore and fruitless has Israel remained. For what fruit of virtue is there in the worshipers of idols? Or how is he not full of all dishonor, who has left the one God by nature, "and says to the wood, 'You are my father'; and to the stone, 'You gave me birth'? And in another way also Israel will be as a terebinth, that has cast off its leaves. For before the coming of our Savior, observing the shadow of the law, they resembled plants, having no fruit indeed, but very beautifully adorned with the sprouting of leaves. But since they have stumbled against Christ, they have also cast off the observance of the shadow itself. For they no longer observe the sacrifices according to the law, nor indeed do they take pride anywhere in their legal boasts;
58 but observing very few of the ancient customs in their cities, they are fruitless and dishonored; and very rightly so. For they killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. And their strength shall be as a stalk of tow, and their work as sparks of fire, and the lawless and the sinners shall be burned together, and there will be no one to quench it. The wise Solomon has said, that "Each is bound by the cords of his own sins"; and the saying is true. For to each of us our own transgressions bring about destruction, and inflict the punishments from divine wrath. Such a thing have those of Israel suffered. For they made for themselves the falsely-named gods, and in them they had the hope, of being able to prevail over their enemies. But this very thing became for them practically fire and wood. For on account of this transgression they have been given over to fire, and that an unquenchable one, that is, to terrible and unending calamities, with no one to help them. And this he makes clear to us, saying: And their strength shall be as a stalk of tow, and their work as sparks of fire. The power they expected to have, he says, will be as a stalk of tow, that is, food for the fire and kindling, and the works of their hands, as sparks of fire hurled against them.
59 Therefore the lawless and the sinners shall be burned together. Therefore one must avoid offending God, and doing those things ............... ........ for our works themselves, will be for us both fire and food for fire, just as, of course, the boasts from good deeds also are found to be producers of life and glory for those who succeed.