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is, that she did not take hold of her own sins, nor did she sin with forbearance. Did you not call me as a house and a father, and a guide? From your own things, from your own disposition toward me, I say these things, which are names of disposition, father, husband, house, guide of virginity. *That is, you did not pay attention to how I made you my own, becoming to you in the order of a father, and of a husband leading a virgin; you did not apply these titles of intimacy to me. Will he remain forever, etc. That is, your fornication, and the doing of these things with impunity. That is, not persisting in evils, you will be unpunished, and you will overcome your enemies, being in a state of piety. Behold, you have spoken. You see her acting from practice, and from thought. And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king. So esteemed was he, so pious; The time is not simply added, but as a greater accusation for the Jews; because not even having a ruler who cared for them did they become better, God addresses the prophet, since we also address servants when we are despised by our beloved. Have you seen what the house of Israel has done to me? And yet the Divine is impassible, but nevertheless he speaks as one who has been insulted and wronged. The house of Israel is not one, not two, but the whole multitude, and yet he did not see, for those things were before him, but this is instead of, You have learned. *Josiah became righteous, and showed great diligence concerning the worship of God, so that the people also served him; but since there were some who did not genuinely pursue piety, the prophet convicts them through these words, and by the comparison with the ten tribes he shows these to be lawless, since those were absent; for they were serving in Babylon. And I said, after she had committed all these fornications, Return to me. And she did not return. He teaches the prophet the justice of the punishment, 64.784 She went upon every high mountain. Then he shows his own goodness, and love for mankind, And I said after she had committed fornication. Willingly, therefore, she brought destruction upon herself, neither embracing from the beginning the life according to the law, and not wishing to return after the impiety, from this he increases the accusation of the tribe of Judah. And she saw the faithlessness. Having seen, he says, both the wickedness of her sister, and the punishment brought upon her on account of it, she did not flee from the imitation of wickedness, but followed in her footsteps. And her fornication became as nothing. She supposed she was doing nothing, he says, unlawful, and he calls idolatry fornication; for having abandoned God, who was named their bridegroom, they served idols, and committed murder in the land, sacrificing their children to demons. And she committed adultery with wood and stone. He has made the accusation of fornication clear. And in all these things she did not turn away, but in falsehood. For since at that time they seemed to be better, for this reason he says that they returned in falsehood; for this was a lie. And the Lord said to me: Israel has justified his soul more than faithless Judah. He does not praise the sons of Israel as having been justified, but as sinning less, and first; but these he reproaches because they did not become better from this chastening. Then through many things he teaches that she was not disgusted by her sister's impiety, having seen the utter destruction, and that the ten tribes have rather some excuse, more than the tribe of Judah, since having seen their misfortunes, she continued to do the other things that were the causes of the misfortunes. For which reason the prophet is exhorted to prophesy to them. Go, and read these words toward the north. What ever is this? Is it toward the northern parts of the city? and what does this mean? and why does he speak to the Israelites who are not present? Or does he do this toward the northern parts of the city, as if provoking and irritating them; for the whole through
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ἐστιν, ὅτι οὐδὲ ἐπελάβετο τῶν οἰκείων ἁμαρτημάτων, οὔτε μετὰ ἐπιεικείας ἡμάρτανεν. Οὐχ ὡς οἶκόν με ἐκάλεσας καὶ πατέρα, καὶ ἀρχηγόν; Ἀπὸ τῶν σῶν, ἀπὸ τῆς σῆς περὶ ἐμὲ διαθέσεως, ταῦτα λέγω, ἅπερ ἐστὶ διαθέσεως ὀνόματα, πατὴρ, ἀνὴρ, οἶκος, ἀρχηγὸς παρθενίας. *Τουτέστιν, οὐ προσέσχες, ὅπως σε ᾠκειωσάμην ἐν τάξει σοι πατρὸς γενόμενος, καὶ ἀνδρὸς παρθένον ἀγομένου· οὐ ταύτας μοι τὰς τῆς οἰκειώσεως προσηγορίας ἐτίθεις. Μὴ διαμενεῖ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, κ. τ. λ. Τουτέστιν, ἡ πορνεία σου, καὶ τὸ ἀτιμωρητὶ ταῦτα ποιεῖν. Τουτέστι μὴ ἐπιμένουσα τοῖς κακοῖς, ἀτιμώρητος ἔσῃ, καὶ περιγενήσῃ τῶν πολεμίων ἐν εὐσεβείᾳ τυγχάνουσα. Ἰδοὺ ἐλάλησας. Ὁρᾷς αὐτὴν ἀπὸ μελέτης ποιοῦσαν, καὶ ἀπὸ σκέψεως. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἰωσίου τοῦ βασιλέως. Οὕτως εὐδόκιμος ἦν, οὕτως εὐσεβής· Οὐχ ἁπλῶς ὁ χρόνος προστίθεται, ἀλλὰ μεῖζον ἔγκλημα τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις· ὅτι οὐδὲ ἄρχοντα ἔχοντες ἐπιμελούμενον αὐτῶν βελτίους ἐγένοντο, ἐντυγχάνει τῷ προφήτῃ ὁ Θεὸς, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἡμεῖς δούλοις ἐντυγχάνομεν, ὅταν παρὰ τῶν ἐρωμένων καταφρονώμεθα. Ἴδες ἃ ἐποίησέ μοι ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ μὴν ἀπαθὲς τὸ Θεῖον ἀλλ' ὅμως ὡς ὑβρισμένος καὶ ἠδικημένος διαλέγεται. Ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ οὐχ εἷς, οὐ δεύτερος, ἀλλὰ πᾶν τὸ πλῆθος, καὶ μὴν οὗτος οὐκ εἶδεν, ἐκεῖνα γὰρ πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἦσαν, ἀλλὰ τοῦτό ἐστιν ἀντὶ τοῦ, Ἔμαθες. *∆ίκαιος γέγονεν ὁ Ἰωσίας, καὶ πολλὴν σπουδὴν περὶ τὴν θεραπείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐποιήσατο, ὥστε καὶ τὸν λαὸν αὐτῷ ὑπηρετεῖσθαι· ἀλλ' ἐπειδή τινες ἦσαν, οὐ γνησίως μετιόντες τὴν εὐσέβειαν, ἐλέγχει αὐτοὺς ὁ προφήτης διὰ τούτων τῶν ῥημάτων, καὶ τῇ παραθέσει τῶν δέκα φυλῶν παρανόμους τούτους δείκνυσιν, ἐπειδὴ ἀπῆσαν ἐκεῖνοι· ἐδούλευον γὰρ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι. Καὶ εἶπα, μετὰ τὸ πορνεῦσαι αὐτὴν ταῦτα πάντα· Πρός με ἀνάστρεψον. Καὶ οὐκ ἀνέστρεψε. Τὸν προφήτην διδάσκει τῆς τιμωρίας τὸ δίκαιον, 64.784 Ἐπορεύθη ἐπὶ πᾶν ὄρος ὑψηλόν. Εἶτα τὴν οἰκείαν ἀγαθότητα, καὶ φιλανθρωπίαν δείκνυσιν, Καὶ εἶπα μετὰ τὸ πορνεῦσαι. Ἑκοῦσα τοίνυν τὸν ὄλεθρον ἐπεσπάσατο, μήτε ἀρχῆθεν τὴν κατὰ νόμον πολιτείαν ἀσπασαμένη, καὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἐπιστρέψαι μὴ βουληθεῖσα, ἐντεῦθεν αὔξει τῆς Ἰούδα φυλῆς τὴν κατηγορίαν. Καὶ εἶδε τὴν ἀσυνθεσίαν. Θεασαμένη, φησὶ, καὶ τὴν πονηρίαν τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς, καὶ τὴν διὰ ταύτην ἐπενεχθεῖσαν αὐτῇ τιμωρίαν, οὐκ ἔφυγε τῆς πονηρίας τὴν μίμησιν, ἀλλὰ τοῖς ἐκείνης ἠκολούθησεν ἴχνεσιν. Καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς οὐθὲν ἡ πορνεία αὐτῆς. Οὐδὲν, φησὶ, παράνομον ποιεῖν ὑπελάμβανε, πορνείαν δὲ τὴν εἰδωλολατρείαν καλεῖ· καταλιπόντες γὰρ τὸν Θεὸν, ὃς νυμφίος αὐτῶν ὠνομάζετο, τοῖς εἰδώλοις ἐλάτρευον, καὶ ἐφονοκτόνουν τὴν γῆν θύοντες τὰ τέκνα αὐτῶν τοῖς δαίμοσι. Καὶ ἐμοίχευσε τὸ ξύλον καὶ τὸν λίθον. Σαφῆ τὴν τῆς πορνείας κατηγορίαν εἰργάσατο. Καὶ ἐν πᾶσι τούτοις οὐκ ἀπεστράφη, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ψεύδει. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τότε ἔδοξαν εἶναι βελτίους, διὰ τοῦτο φησὶν, ὅτι ἐπεστράφησαν μὲν ἐπὶ ψεύδει· ψεῦδος γὰρ ἦν τοῦτο. Καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρός με· Ἐδικαίωσε τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀσυνθέτου Ἰούδα. Οὐχ ὡς δικαιωθέντας τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰσραὴλ ἐπαινεῖ, ἀλλ' ὡς ἔλαττον ἁμαρτάνοντας, καὶ πρώτους· τούτους δὲ κακίζει ὅτι οὐ βελτίους ἐγένοντο ἐκ τούτου τοῦ σωφρονισμοῦ. Εἶτα διὰ πλειόνων διδάσκει, ὅτι οὐκ ἐβδελύξατο τῆς ἀδελφῆς τὴν ἀσέβειαν, τὴν πανωλεθρίαν θεασαμένη, καὶ ὅτι μᾶλλον ἔχουσί τινα συγγνώμην αἱ δέκα φυλαὶ, ἤπερ ἡ τοῦ Ἰούδα φυλὴ, ἐπειδὴ τὰς συμφορὰς ἐκείνων ἑωρακυῖα, τὰ ἕτερα αἴτια τῶν συμφορῶν διετέλεσε δρῶσα. Οὗ δὴ χάριν ἐκείνοις προθεσπίσαι ὁ προφήτης παρακελεύεται. Πορεύου, καὶ ἀνάγνωθι τοὺς λόγους τούτους πρὸς βοῤῥᾶν. Τί ποτε τοῦτό ἐστιν; Ἆρα πρὸς τὰ βόρεια μέρη τῆς πόλεως; καὶ τί τοῦτο βούλεται; τί δὲ τοῖς μὴ παροῦσι διαλέγεται Ἰσραηλίταις; ἢ τοῦτο ποιεῖ πρὸς τὰ βόρεια μέρη τῆς πόλεως, ὥσπερ τούτους παροξύνων, καὶ κνίζων· τὸ γὰρ πᾶν διὰ