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the decision of the servant. For He wished that the disaster of the drought be ended more quickly by him who had bound the clouds with the sterility of enriching rains. But Elijah did not agree to the reconciliation. For God shows compassion in one way, and man hardens his heart in another. The Lord, therefore, on account of the servant's hardness, wanted to exhort the servant, that he might lend rain to the earth through his word. For it was unseemly for God to exhort a man; therefore, as God, He pursued another course of action. What was this? Listen with understanding; as the drought intensified, for three years and six months no cloud swelled to give birth to showers. Therefore Elijah began to be faint with thirst, but nevertheless he persevered, bearing the want, doing this out of contentiousness; for he wished to be destroyed himself, rather than be reconciled to the house of Ahab. What then did the Lord do? He deals wisely 61.704 with his own servant, not exhorting, but saying: Arise from here, and go to the brook Cherith, which is before the Jordan, and you shall drink water from the brook, and I will command the ravens to feed you there. The Lord said these things, not to nourish Elijah, but to humble him; not to honor him, but that through the humbling food He might draw him to compassion.

For it was unseemly for the prophet to be fed by ravens, and for a meat-bearing table to be set before him who from the beginning had undertaken ascetic labors. For the Lord was able either to feed the righteous one by doves, or by the giving of manna, in the same way as the sons of Israel, or similarly to Daniel to have presented Habakkuk, the man bearing lentils; the Lord was able to feed Elijah in a dignified manner, since also on another journey He fed him in a dignified manner. For when at another time Elijah, fleeing Jezebel, reached the desert, and in the desert he was sleeping with great hunger and thirst, because the journey of his flight was long, the Lord therefore places at his head bread and water, and again He touches his side, and no other part. Why? Listen with understanding; He touches his side, because he fled a threat to his side. And the Lord said to him: Elijah, arise, and eat and drink, because the journey is great for you. And Elijah, having arisen and eaten and drunk, went in the strength of that food for forty days and forty nights, not as one hungry, but as one who was filled. For such is God-given food. He therefore who fed him genuinely there, was able also in the present circumstance to feed him from heaven; but He sets before him an unseemly table, so that through the humbling food he might be bent toward compassion and pity. But he remained unbending. For it was necessary for Elijah, having heard the Lord saying, "You shall drink from the brook, and I will command the ravens to feed you there," to fall down, to beseech, and to say, "By no means, Lord; never has anything common or unclean entered my mouth; do you present to me ravens, the plotters against Noah? do you prepare a meat-bearing table as for a Gentile and a foreigner, for one who from the beginning has been brought up in ascetic customs? Elijah should have offered these words in supplication. But Elijah did none of these things; for he knew that if he should find fault with the unseemly table, the Lord would say to him: What are you saying, O Elijah? Do you not deign to drink foul water, you who have not allowed rain to come down? For you have scorched the land of Israel; it is not possible to find a drop of water in a well, nor moisture in a spring. Therefore, what you have done, accept. Do you not accept the meat-bearing food of ravens? It is not possible to find bread, nor an ear of corn, nor a green herb, since neither shower nor dew has fallen upon the earth by the locking of your mouth; there is nothing to be found, except meat alone, and that from carcasses, of the animals that have died from the lack of food. Why then do you not accept the table of your own labors? Therefore, so that Elijah might not hear any of these things, he accepted the unseemly table.

For he chose rather to bear a long-lasting drought, than to lend his rain-bringing word. What then did the all-wise Lord do? When He saw him persisting in his hardness,

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τὴν τοῦ δούλου ἀπόφασιν. Ἤθελε γὰρ αὐτὸν τὸν δήσαντα τὰς νεφέλας τῇ στειρώσει τῶν πλουτιαίων ὑετῶν, θᾶττον λυθῆναι τὴν συμφορὰν τῆς ἀνυδρίας. Ὁ δὲ Ἠλίας οὐ προσέθετο τῇ διαλλαγῇ. Ἄλλως γὰρ ὁ Θεὸς σπλαγχνίζεται, καὶ ἄλλως ἄνθρωπος σκληρύνεται. Ὁ Κύριος οὖν ἐπὶ τῇ σκληρίᾳ τοῦ δούλου ἤθελε παρακαλέσαι τὸν δοῦλον, ἵνα δανείσῃ τῇ γῇ ὑετὸν διὰ τοῦ λόγου. Ἀνοίκειον γὰρ τῷ Θεῷ ἦν ἄνθρωπον παρακαλέσαι· διὸ καὶ ὡς Θεὸς ἄλλην μετῆλθε πραγματείαν. Ποίαν ταύτην; Ἄκουε συνετῶς· τῆς ἀβροχίας τοίνυν ἐπιτεινομένης, ἐπὶ ἔτη τρία καὶ μῆνας ἓξ οὐκ ὠγκώθη πρὸς ὄμβρων τόκον νεφέλη. Ἤρξατο οὖν ὁ Ἠλίας ὀλιγωρεῖν τῇ δίψῃ, ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐκαρτέρει βαστάζων τὴν ἔνδειαν, ἐκ φιλονεικίας τοῦτο ποιῶν· ἤθελε γὰρ καὶ αὐτὸς ἐκτριβῆναι, ἢ διαλλαγῆναι τῷ οἴκῳ Ἀχαάβ. Τί οὖν ὁ Κύριος; Σοφί 61.704 ζεται τὸν ἴδιον δοῦλον, οὐ παρακαλῶν, ἀλλὰ λέγων· Ἀνάστηθι ἐντεῦθεν, καὶ πορεύθητι εἰς τὸν χειμάῤῥουν Χοῤῥὰθ τοῦ ἐπὶ προσώπου τοῦ Ἰορδάνου, καὶ πίεσαι ὕδωρ ἐκ τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, καὶ τοῖς κόραξιν ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ διατρέφειν σε ἐκεῖ. Ταῦτα δὲ ἔφη ὁ Κύριος, οὐχ ἵνα θρέψῃ τὸν Ἠλίαν, ἀλλ' ἵνα ὑβρίσῃ· οὐχ ἵνα τιμήσῃ, ἀλλ' ἵνα διὰ τῆς ἐφυβρίστου τροφῆς εἰς συμπάθειαν αὐτὸν ἑλκύσῃ.

Ἀνοίκειον γὰρ ἦν τὸν προφήτην διὰ κοράκων τραφῆναι, καὶ κρεοφόρον αὐτῷ τράπεζαν παρατεθῆναι τῷ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἀσκητικοὺς πόνους διατεμόντι. Ἴσχυε γὰρ ὁ Κύριος ἢ διὰ περιστερῶν θρέψαι τὸν δίκαιον, ἢ διὰ τῆς τοῦ μάννα δόσεως, καθ' ὁμοιότητα τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ἢ παραπλησίως τῷ ∆ανιὴλ φακοφόρον ἄνδρα τὸν Ἀμβακοὺμ παραστῆσαι· ἴσχυεν ὁ Κύριος τὸν Ἠλίαν σεμνῶς διαθρέψαι, ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐν ἄλλῃ καθόδῳ σεμνῶς αὐτὸν διέθρεψεν. Ἡνίκα γὰρ ἄλλοτε Ἠλίας φεύγων τὴν Ἰεζάβελ ἔρημον κατέλαβε, καὶ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ ἐκάθευδε σὺν πολλῷ τῷ λιμῷ καὶ τῇ δίψῃ, ὅτι πολλὴ ἡ τῆς φυγῆς ὁδὸς, τίθησιν οὖν ὁ Κύριος πρὸς κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ ἄρτον καὶ ὕδωρ, καὶ αὖθις νύττει τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἄλλο μέρος. ∆ιὰ τί; Ἄκουε συνετῶς· τὴν πλευρὰν αὐτοῦ νύττει, ἐπειδὴ ἀπειλὴν πλευρᾶς ἔφυγε. Καὶ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος· Ἠλία, ἀνάστηθι, καὶ φάγε καὶ πίε, ὅτι πολλὴ ἀπὸ σοῦ ἡ ὁδός. Ἀναστὰς δὲ ὁ Ἠλίας καὶ φαγὼν καὶ πιὼν, ἐπορεύθη ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ τῆς βρώσεως ἐκείνης τεσσαράκοντα ἡμέρας καὶ τεσσαράκοντα νύκτας, οὐχ ὡς πεινῶν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἐμπεπλησμένος. Τοιαύτη γὰρ ἡ θεοδώρητος βρῶσις. Ὁ ἐκεῖσε τοίνυν γνησίως διαθρέψας, ἴσχυσε καὶ ἐν τῷ παρόντι οὐρανόθεν αὐτὸν διαθρέψαι· ἀλλὰ παρίστησιν αὐτῷ ἀνοίκειον τράπεζαν, ὅπως διὰ τῆς ἐφυβρίστου τροφῆς καμφθῇ πρὸς συμπάθειαν καὶ οἶκτον. Ὁ δὲ ἔμενεν ἀκαμπής. ∆έον γὰρ τὸν Ἠλίαν ἀκούσαντα τοῦ Κυρίου λέγοντος· Πίεσαι ἐκ τοῦ χειμάῤῥου, καὶ τοῖς κόραξιν ἐντελοῦμαι τοῦ διατρέφειν σε ἐκεῖ, προσπεσεῖν, ἱκετεῦσαι, καὶ εἰπεῖν, Μηδαμῶς, Κύριε· οὐδέποτε εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸ στόμα μου πᾶν κοινὸν καὶ ἀκάθαρτον· κόρακάς μοι παριστᾷς τοὺς ἐπιβούλους τοῦ Νῶε; κρεοφόρον τράπεζαν εὐτρεπίζεις ὡς ἐθνικῷ καὶ ἀλλοφύλῳ, ἀσκητικοῖς ἔθεσιν ἐξ ἀρχῆς προσεντραφέντι; ἔδει ταῦτα παρακλητικῶς τὸν Ἠλίαν προσενέγκαι τὰ ῥήματα. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲν τούτων ὁ Ἠλίας· ᾔδει γὰρ, ὅτι ἐὰν αἰτιάσηται τὴν ἀνοίκειον τράπεζαν, ἐρεῖ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Κύριος· Τί λέγεις, ὦ Ἠλία; οὐ καταδέχῃ πιεῖν ῥυπαρὸν ὕδωρ, ὑετὸν μὴ ἐάσας κατελθεῖν; ἐπυράκτωσας γὰρ τὴν γῆν τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν σταγόνα ὕδατος ἐν φρέατι, οὔτε ἐν πηγῇ νοτίδα. Ὃ οὖν ἐποίησας, κατάδεξαι. Οὐ προσδέχῃ κρεοφόρον κοράκων τροφήν; Οὐκ ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἄρτον, οὐδὲ στάχυν, οὐδὲ χλοηφόρον λάχανον, μήποτε ὄμβρου μήτε δρόσου πεσούσης ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς τῇ σῇ τοῦ στόματος κλειθρώσει· οὐδὲν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν, εἰ μὴ κρέα μόνα, καὶ ταῦτα νεκριμαῖα, τῶν ζώων τελευτησάντων τῇ ἐκλείψει τῶν τροφῶν. Τί οὖν οὐ προσδέχῃ τὴν τράπεζαν τῶν σῶν καμάτων; Ὅπως οὖν μηδὲν τούτων ἀκούσῃ ὁ Ἠλίας, κατεδέξατο τὴν ἀνοίκειον τράπεζαν.

Εἵλατο γὰρ μᾶλλον ἀνομβρίαν βαστάσαι πολυχρόνιον, ἢ τὸν ὀμβροφόρον δανεῖσαι λόγον. Τί οὖν ὁ πάνσοφος Κύριος; Ὡς εἶδεν αὐτὸν προσμένοντα τῇ σκληρίᾳ,