5

a part of the vessels of the house of God." And this also shows his spiritual grace. For it is not for all to know the divine economies; but this one, having been deemed worthy of the divine Spirit, both knew clearly and teaches others, that because the God of all permitted it, on account of both the lawlessness of the people and the king, and their great impiety, both the city was captured, and some of the sacred vessels came under the power of the enemies. And he has very necessarily added this: "The Lord gave into his hand Jehoiakim, king of Judah," lest anyone should suppose that Nebuchadnezzar, using his own power, overcame the city dedicated to God; that all might learn accurately that, because God had betrayed it and had removed the grace that had long guarded the city, it came under the enemy. Making this clear also through Isaiah the prophet, the God of all himself says thus: "Shall the ax boast itself without the one who hews with it? Or shall the saw magnify itself without the one who draws it?" He teaches through these things that he himself brings punishments upon men, and uses as instruments those who are suitable for this. "And he brought them," it says, "into the land of Shinar, into the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god." And perhaps someone might say: Why, when men had sinned, were the holy vessels, dedicated to God, handed over to impious men? But those who are ignorant of the purpose of the divine economies say these things. "For the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; but the spiritual man judges all things," according to the divine Apostle; and is convinced that nothing is administered in vain by divine providence, and being enlightened by the divine Spirit, he also learns the causes; just as indeed the one who chooses to understand spiritually can also comprehend the matter now under investigation. For from this, great benefit has come not only to the Jews, but also to the barbarians themselves. For first, the Jews were taught the self-sufficiency of the divine nature; for the God of all does not receive the things offered by men as if he were in need, but teaching them gratitude, and giving them a means of worship and an occasion for giving back. For how else could we have been able, for the benefits we have received, to repay as possible the benefactor God, if He did not receive these 81.1272 few and humble things from those who offer them? Wishing, therefore, to persuade the Jews that he did not receive the sacrifices offered by them to fulfill his own need, but condescending to their weakness, he fittingly turned away from them and delivered them to captivity, and gave the vessels offered by them, through which they thought to worship him, into captivity with them. For he who delivered the rational beings to punishment, why should he spare the inanimate things? And he teaches them through the events themselves that they differ in no way from the Babylonians, the barbarians, the impious; for they are as impious as they are, or rather, more so than they. For the latter, having neither received a law, nor enjoyed the guidance of prophets, were held by ignorance; but the former, enlightened by countless prophets both old and new, and having become eyewitnesses of countless wonders, despised the God of all, and continued to worship lifeless idols. Therefore, he handed over the vessels to the barbarians, all but saying through the events themselves that, 'You differ in no way from the barbarians; for you likewise defile them with your transgressions, and it is the same for you to have these as for the Babylonians; for impiety prevails over both you and them.' This, then, was sufficient both to convict and to discipline the Jews, and to procure for them no small benefit; but the Babylonians, when they honored the vessels, as they thought, having kept them from human use and dedicated them to the gods worshipped by them, did not experience any afflictions at all. But when Belshazzar the king dared to use them while feasting, he was punished immediately and

5

ἀπὸ μέρους τῶν σκευῶν οἴκου τοῦ Θεοῦ." Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ τὴν πνευματικὴν αὐτοῦ δείκνυσι χάριν. Οὔτε γὰρ πάντων ἐστὶ τὰς θείας οἰκονομίας εἰδέναι· οὗτος δὲ τοῦ θείου Πνεύ ματος ἠξιωμένος, καὶ ἔγνω σαφῶς, καὶ τοὺς ἄλλους διδάσκει, ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ τῶν ὅλων συγχωρήσαντος, διά τε τὴν τοῦ λαοῦ καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως παρανομίαν, καὶ τὴν πολλὴν ἀσέβειαν, καὶ ἡ πόλις ἑάλω, καὶ τῶν ἱερῶν σκευῶν ἔνια ὑπὸ τὴν τῶν πολεμίων ἐξουσίαν ἐγένετο. Καὶ λίαν δὲ ἀναγκαίως τέθεικε τό· "Ἔδωκε Κύριος ἐν χειρὶ αὐτοῦ τὸν Ἰωακεὶμ, βασιλέα Ἰούδα,"ἵνα μή τις ὑπολάβῃ οἰκείᾳ δυνάμει τὸν Ναβουχο δονόσορ χρησάμενον τῆς τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακειμένης περι γενέσθαι πόλεως· μάθωσιν ἅπαντες καὶ ἀκριβῶς, ὅτι τοῦ Θεοῦ προδεδωκότος, καὶ τὴν πάλαι φρουροῦ σαν τὴν πόλιν ἀποστήσαντος χάριν, ὑπὸ τοὺς πολε μίους ἐγένετο. Τοῦτο καὶ διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφή του σαφὲς ποιῶν αὐτὸς ὁ τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς οὕτω φησί· "Μὴ δοξασθήσεται ἀξίνη ἄνευ τοῦ κόπτοντος ἐν αὐτῇ; ἢ ὑψωθήσεται πρίων ἄνευ τοῦ ἕλκοντος αὐ τόν;" ∆ιδάσκει δὲ διὰ τούτων, ὡς αὐτὸς τοῖς ἀνθρώ ποις ἐπιφέρει τὰς τιμωρίας, κέχρηται δὲ ὀργάνοις τοῖς εἰς τοῦτο ἐπιτηδείοις. "Καὶ ἤνεγκεν αὐτὰ, φησὶν, εἰς γῆν Σενναὰρ, εἰς οἶκον θεοῦ αὑτοῦ, καὶ τὰ σκεύη εἰσήνεγκεν εἰς οἶκον τοῦ θησαυροῦ τοῦ θεοῦ αὑτοῦ." Καὶ ἴσως ἄν τις εἴποι· Τί δήποτε τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἡμαρτηκότων, τὰ ἅγια σκεύη, τὰ τῷ Θεῷ ἀνακεί μενα, παρεδόθη δυσσεβέσιν ἀνθρώποις; Φασὶ δὲ ταῦτα οἱ τῶν θείων οἰκονομιῶν τὸν σκοπὸν ἀγνοοῦν τες. "Ψυχικὸς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος οὐ δέχεται τὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος τοῦ Θεοῦ· μωρία γὰρ αὐτῷ ἐστιν· ὁ δὲ πνευματικὸς ἀνακρίνει πάντα," κατὰ τὸν θεῖον Ἀπόστολον· καὶ πέπεισται μὲν ὅτι μάτην οὐδὲν ὑπὸ τῆς θείας προμηθείας οἰκονομεῖται, φωτιζόμενος δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου Πνεύματος, καὶ τὰς αἰτίας μανθάνει· ὥσπερ ἀμέλει καὶ τὸ νῦν ζητούμενον ἔστι καταμα θεῖν τὸν πνευματικῶς νοεῖν προαιρούμενον. Πολλὴ γὰρ ἐντεῦθεν οὐχὶ Ἰουδαίοις μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτοῖς τοῖς βαρβάροις ὠφέλεια γεγένηται. Πρῶτον μὲν γὰρ ἐδιδάχθησαν Ἰουδαῖοι τὸ τῆς θείας φύσεως ἀνενδεές· οὐ γὰρ ὡς δεόμενος τῶν ὅλων Θεὸς τὰ παρὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσφερόμενα δέχεται, ἀλλ' ἐκείνους εὐγνωμοσύνην διδάσκων, καὶ διδοὺς θερα πείαν τε καὶ ἀντιδόσεως ἀφορμήν. Πῶς γὰρ ἂν ἑτέρως ἠδυνήθημεν, ὑπὲρ ὧν εὐεργετήθημεν, ὡς δυνατὸν ἀμείψασθαι τὸν εὐεργέτην Θεὸν, εἰ μὴ τὰ 81.1272 βραχέα ταῦτα καὶ εὐτελῆ παρὰ τῶν προσφερόντων ἐδέχετο; Πεῖσαι τοίνυν βουλόμενος Ἰουδαίους, ὡς οὐ τὴν οἰκείαν χρείαν ἀναπληρῶν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὴν ἐκεί νων ἀσθένειαν συγκατιὼν, τὰς παρ' αὐτῶν προσ φερομένας θυσίας ἐδέχετο, εἰκότως ἀποστραφεὶς αὐ τοὺς καὶ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ παραδοὺς, καὶ τὰ ὑπ' αὐτῶν προσενεχθέντα σκεύη, δι' ὧν αὐτὸν θεραπεύειν ἐνό μιζον, σὺν αὐτοῖς αἰχμάλωτα δέδωκεν. Ὁ γὰρ τοὺς λογικοὺς παραδοὺς τιμωρίᾳ, τί δήποτε τῶν ἀψύχων ἐφείδετο; ∆ιδάσκει δὲ αὐτοὺς καὶ δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι Βαβυλωνίων, τῶν βαρβάρων, τῶν δυσσεβῶν, κατ' οὐδὲν διαφέρουσιν· ἀσεβοῦσι γὰρ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι, μᾶλλον δὲ πλέον ἤπερ ἐκεῖνοι. Οἱ μὲν γὰρ οὔτε νόμον δεξάμενοι, οὔτε προφητῶν ποδ ηγῶν ἀπολαύσαντες, ἀγνοίᾳ κατείχοντο· οἱ δὲ ὑπὸ μυρίων παλαιῶν τε καὶ νέων φωτιζόμενοι προφητῶν, καὶ μυρίων ὅσων θαυμάτων αὐτόπται γενόμενοι, κατεφρόνουν μὲν τοῦ τῶν ὅλων Θεοῦ, τὰ δὲ ἄψυχα εἴδωλα θεραπεύοντες διετέλουν. Παρέδωκε τοίνυν τοῖς βαρβάροις τὰ σκεύη, μονονουχὶ λέγων δι' αὐτῶν τῶν πραγμάτων, ὅτι Κατ' οὐδὲν τῶν βαρβάρων διαφέρετε· ὁμοίως γὰρ αὐτὰ καὶ ὑμεῖς ταῖς παρανομίαις μο λύνετε, καὶ ἴσον ἐστὶν ὑμᾶς τε ταῦτα ἔχειν, καὶ Βα βυλωνίους· ἀσέβεια γὰρ καὶ ὑμῶν κἀκείνων κρατεῖ. Τοὺς μὲν οὖν Ἰουδαίους ἱκανὸν ἦν τοῦτο καὶ ἐλέγξαι, καὶ παιδεῦσαι, καὶ ὠφέλειαν αὐτοῖς οὐ μικρὰν πραγματεύσασθαι· οἱ δὲ Βαβυλώνιοι, ἡνίκα μὲν ἐτί μησαν, ὡς ἐνόμισαν, τὰ σκεύη, ἀνθρωπείας μὲν αὐτὰ χρήσεως ἔξω πεποιηκότες, τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτῶν δὲ προσκυνουμένοις ἀνατεθεικότες θεοῖς, τῶν λυπηρῶν οὐδαμῶς ἐπειράσθησαν. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ Βαλτάζαρ ὁ βασιλεὺς χρήσασθαι τούτοις ἐτόλμησεν ἑστιώμενος, ἐκολάσθη μὲν παραυτίκα καὶ