14

he says this is accomplished by burning, because, just as gold melted in fire is shown to be genuine, so those who are baptized cast off the poison of their sins. And the blessed John the Baptist also said this: "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." 5And the Lord will come, and every place of Mount Zion and all that is around it will be shadowed by a cloud by day and as smoke and as a light of a burning fire by night; and with all the glory it will be covered, 6and it will be for a shade by day from the heat and for a shelter and for a hiding place from harshness and from rain. When God freed Israel from the slavery of the Egyptians, he led him with an overhanging cloud, which by night acted as a torch and supplied the need for light, but by day imitated a tent and a roof, and kept away the painfulness of the sun's ray. The prophecy foretells that those who have believed in him will enjoy these things spiritually after the appearance of our Savior, and that through this cloud they will be delivered from both the harshness of rain and from burning heat, and will be covered in a secret place, that is, an invisible one. For those who enjoy spiritual grace both honor the order in peace and ward off the attacks of the impious according to the Lord's exhortation which says: "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul," and: "Do not worry about how or what you will say; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you," and: "On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." Having thus foretold these things to those who believe in him, he again laments the fruitlessness of the vineyard: 51Let me sing now for my beloved a song of my dear one for my vineyard. There is a festive and wedding song, and there is a lamenting and mournful one; for people sing not only wedding songs but also laments. So also the blessed Moses, having foretold those terrible things to the Jews, called the testimony a song. Symmachus, however, interpreted this as follows: "Let me sing now for my beloved a song of my dear one for his vineyard." And the only-begotten Word of God is called beloved; "For thus," he says, "God loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life." And the Father himself also testified from heaven, saying: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." He from the beginning planted the vineyard of Israel. For he says a vineyard came to be for the beloved on a horn, in a fertile place. 2And I put a fence around it and trenched it and I planted a choice vine, sorek, and I built a tower in its midst and I dug a wine trough in it and I waited for it to produce grapes, |103 b| but it produced thorns. He calls the people a vineyard—for thus also the blessed David said: "You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out nations and planted it," and through Jeremiah God himself: "And I planted you a fruitful vine, all true," and the Lord in the Gospels: "A certain man planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants and went away"—, and a tower resembling a watchtower—for so he named it above—, and the wine trough, the altar. For that was not a winepress but a wine trough; for in it the truth prefigured itself; for now we have the divine altars as winepresses, in which we press out the mystical wine of the true vine and we say the songs of the winepress. But Symmachus interpreted *sorek* as "choice." And the interpretation holds the truth; for having chosen Abraham the patriarch, the God of all planted the vineyard from his branches. And "horn" he tropically names the kingdom; for just as horned animals have their horns as a weapon, so the king fights for his subjects. And a fertile place he calls Palestine; for this also in the Law he named "a land flowing

14

καύσεως ἐπιτελεῖσθαι τοῦτό φησιν, ἐπειδή, ὥσπερ ἐν πυρὶ χρυσὸς χωνευόμενος ἀποφαίνεται δόκιμος, οὕτως οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι τὸν τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων ἰὸν ἀποτίθενται. Τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ὁ μακάριος Ἰωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς εἴρηκεν· «Αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν πνεύματι ἁγίῳ καὶ πυρί.» 5Καὶ ἥξει κύριος, καὶ ἔσται πᾶς τόπος ὄρους Σιὼν καὶ πάντα τὰ περικύκλῳ αὐτῆς σκιάσει νεφέλη ἡμέρας καὶ ὡς καπνοῦ καὶ ὡς φωτὸς πυρὸς καιομένου νυκτός· καὶ πάσῃ τῇ δόξῃ σκεπασθήσεται, 6καὶ ἔσται εἰς σκιὰν ἡμέρας ἀπὸ καύ ματος καὶ ἐν σκέπῃ καὶ ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ ἀπὸ σκληρότητος καὶ ὑετοῦ. Ἡνίκα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὁ θεὸς ἠλευθέρωσε τῆς Αἰγυπτίων δουλείας, ἦγεν αὐτὸν νεφέλης ἐπικειμένης καὶ νύκτωρ μὲν δᾳδουχούσης καὶ τοῦ φωτὸς χορηγούσης τὴν χρείαν, μεθ' ἡμέραν δὲ σκηνὴν καὶ ὄροφον μιμουμένης καὶ τῆς ἡλιακῆς ἀκτῖνος τὸ λυποῦν ἀπειργούσης. Τούτων ἀπολαύσειν νοητῶς μετὰ τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφάνειαν τοὺς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκότας ἡ προφητεία προλέγει καὶ διὰ τῆς νεφέλης ταύτης ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι καὶ ὑετοῦ σκληρότητος καὶ καύματος καταφλέγοντος, σκεπασθήσεσθαι δὲ ἐν ἀποκρύφῳ, τουτέστιν ἀοράτῳ. Οἱ γὰρ τῆς πνευματικῆς ἀπολαύοντες χάριτος καὶ ἐν εἰρήνῃ τιμῶσι τὴν τάξιν καὶ τὰς τῶν δυσσεβῶν ἀποκρούονται προσβολὰς κατὰ τὴν δεσποτικὴν παραίνεσιν τὴν φάσκουσαν· «Μὴ φοβεῖσθε ἀπὸ τῶν ἀποκτενόντων τὸ σῶμα, τὴν δὲ ψυχὴν μὴ δυναμένων ἀποκτεῖναι», καί· «Μὴ μεριμνήσητε πῶς ἢ τί λαλήσητε· οὐ γὰρ ὑμεῖς ἐστε οἱ λαλοῦντες ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν τὸ λαλοῦν ἐν ὑμῖν», καί· «Ἐπὶ ταύτῃ τῇ πέτρᾳ οἰκοδομήσω μου τὴν ἐκκλησίαν, καὶ πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αὐτῆς.» Οὕτω ταῦτα τοῖς εἰς αὐτὸν πεπιστευκόσι προαγορεύσας πάλιν τοῦ ἀμπελῶνος τὴν ἀκαρπίαν θρηνεῖ· 51Ἄσω δὴ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ᾆσμα τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ μου τῷ ἀμπελῶνί μου. Ἔστιν ᾆσμα πανηγυρικὸν καὶ γαμήλιον καὶ ἔστι θρηνητικόν τε καὶ πενθικόν· ᾄδουσι γὰρ οὐ μόνον ὑμεναίους ἀλλὰ καὶ θρήνους οἱ ἄνθρωποι. Οὕτω καὶ ὁ μακάριος Μωυσῆς τὰ δεινὰ ἐκεῖνα προειπὼν Ἰουδαίοις ᾠδὴν τὴν διαμαρτυρίαν ἐκάλεσεν. Ὁ μέντοι Σύμμαχος οὕτω ταῦτα ἡρμήνευσεν· «Ἄσω δὴ τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ μου ᾆσμα τοῦ ἀγαπητοῦ μου εἰς τὸν ἀμπελῶνα αὐτοῦ.» Ἀγαπητὸς δὲ ὁ μονογενὴς τοῦ θεοῦ προσαγορεύεται λόγος· «Οὕτω γάρ» φησιν «ἠγά πησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ὅτι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ τὸν μονογενῆ ἔδωκεν, ἵνα πᾶς ὁ πιστεύων εἰς αὐτὸν μὴ ἀπόληται ἀλλ' ἔχῃ ζωὴν αἰώνιον.» Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ πατὴρ οὐρανόθεν ἐμαρ τύρησε λέγων· «Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ἀγαπητός, ἐν ᾧ ηὐδόκησα.» Οὗτος ἐξ ἀρχῆς τὸν τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀμπελῶνα ἐφύτευσεν. Ἀμπελὼν γάρ φησιν ἐγενήθη τῷ ἠγαπημένῳ ἐν κέρατι ἐν τόπῳ πίονι. 2Καὶ φραγμὸν περιέθηκα καὶ ἐχαράκωσα καὶ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον ἐκλεκτὴν σωρὴχ καὶ ᾠκοδόμησα πύργον ἐν μέσῳ αὐτοῦ καὶ προλήνιον ὤρυξα ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ ἔμεινα τοῦ ποιῆσαι σταφυλήν, |103 b| ἐποίησε δὲ ἀκάνθας. Ἀμπελῶνα τὸν λαὸν ὀνομάζει-οὕτω γὰρ καὶ ὁ μακάριος ἔφη ∆α υίδ· «Ἄμπελον ἐξ Αἰγύπτου μετῆρας, ἐξέβαλες ἔθνη καὶ κατεφύτευσας αὐτήν», καὶ διὰ τοῦ Ἱερεμίου αὐτὸς ὁ θεός· «Ἐγὼ δὲ ἐφύτευσα ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν», καὶ ὁ κύριος ἐν τοῖς εὐαγγελίοις· «Ἀνθρωπός τις ἐφύτευσεν ἀμπελώνα καὶ ἐξέδοτο αὐτὸν γεωργοῖς καὶ ἀπεδήμησεν»-, πύργον δὲ τὸν ὀπωροφυ λακίῳ προσεοικότα-οὕτω γὰρ αὐτὸν ὠνόμασεν ἄνω-, προλήνιον δὲ τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Οὐδὲ γὰρ ἦν ἐκεῖνο ληνὸς ἀλλὰ προλήνιον· ἐν αὐτῷ γὰρ ἑαυτὴν ἡ ἀλήθεια προδιέ γραφεν· ληνοὺς γὰρ νῦν ἔχομεν τὰ θεῖα θυσιαστήρια, ἐν αἷς τῆς ἀληθινῆς ἀμπέλου τὸν μυστικὸν ἀποθλίβομεν οἶνον καὶ τὰ ἐπιλήνια λέγομεν ᾄσματα. Τὸ δὲ σωρὴκ ὁ Σύμμαχος «ἐκλεκτὴν» ἡρμήνευσεν. Ἔχει δὲ ἡ ἑρμηνεία τὸ ἀληθές· ἐκλεξάμενος γὰρ Ἀβραὰμ τὸν πατριάρχην ὁ τῶν ὅλων θεὸς ἐκ τῶν τούτου κλημάτων τὸν ἀμπελῶνα ἐφύτευσεν. Κέρας δὲ τὴν βασιλείαν τροπικῶς ὀνομάζει· ὥσπερ γὰρ τὰ κερασφόρα ζῷα ὅπλον ἔχει τὰ κέρατα, οὕτως ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν ὑπηκόων ὑπερμαχεῖ. Τόπον δὲ πίονα τὴν Παλαιστίνην καλεῖ· ταύτην γὰρ καὶ ἐν τῷ Νόμῳ ὠνόμασε «γῆν ῥέουσαν