John Chrysostom, On Matthew

and to mention Zerah again. For what reason, then, was he mentioned? When Tamar was about to give birth to them, when the labor pains came, Zerah first brought forth his hand; then the midwife, seeing this, so that the first might be known, tied his hand with a scarlet thread; but when it was tied, the child drew back his hand, and when 57.35 he drew it back, Perez came forth, and then Zerah. Seeing these things, the midwife says, ‘Why was a fence broken through for you?’ Have you seen the enigmas of mysteries? For these things have not been written for us without purpose; for it was not worthy of history to learn what the midwife uttered, nor of narrative to know that the one who came out second first put forth his hand. What then is the enigma? First, from the name of the child we learn what is sought; for Perez is a division and a breach. Then from the event itself; for it was not of the natural sequence for one who put out his hand to draw it back again after it was tied; for these things were not of a rational motion, nor did they happen from natural sequence. For with the hand having come out first, for the other to come forth might perhaps be natural; but to draw it back and give passage to the other was no longer according to the law of those being born; but the grace of God was present with the children, arranging these things, and through them sketching for us a certain image of things to come. What then? Some of those who have examined these things accurately say that these children are a type of the two peoples. Then, so that you may learn that the polity of the second people shone forth before the birth of the first, the child, having his hand extended, does not show himself entirely, but also draws it back again; and after his brother has come out completely, then he too appears whole; which also happened in the case of both peoples. For when the ecclesiastical polity appeared in the times of Abraham, and then was withdrawn in the midst, the Jewish people and the legal polity came, and then the new people appeared whole with its own laws. Wherefore the midwife also says, ‘Why was a fence broken through for you?’ Because the law, coming in, interrupted the freedom of the polity. For Scripture is accustomed to always call the law a fence; just as the prophet also says, ‘You have broken down her fence, and all who pass by the way pluck her;’ and, ‘I have placed a fence around her;’ and Paul, ‘having broken down the middle wall of the fence.’ 4. But others say that, ‘Why has a fence been broken through for you?’ was said regarding the new people; for he, having come, abolished the law. Do you see that it was not for few or small reasons that he recalled the whole history concerning Judah? For this reason he also mentions Ruth and Rahab, the one a foreigner, the other a harlot, so that you may learn that He came to undo all our evils. For He has come as a physician, not as a judge. Therefore, just as these men took harlots as wives, so also did God betroth to Himself the nature that had prostituted itself; which also prophets from of old foretold had happened in the case of the synagogue. But she has become ungrateful toward the one who dwelt with her; but the Church, once delivered from its ancestral evils, remained embracing the bridegroom. See, then, how the things that happened in the case of Ruth are also like our own. For she was both a foreigner and had been reduced to extreme poverty; but nevertheless, when Boaz saw her, he neither despised her poverty 57.36 nor detested her ignoble birth; just as Christ also, having received the Church, both a foreigner and in great poverty, made her a partaker of great blessings. But just as she, if she had not first left her father and disregarded her house and race and fatherland and kinsmen, would not have attained this kinship; so also the Church, having abandoned its ancestral customs, then became lovely to the Bridegroom. Which also the prophet, speaking to her, says: ‘Forget your people and your father’s house, and the king will desire your beauty.’ This Ruth also did. For this reason she also became the mother of kings, just as the Church did; for from her is David. Through all these things, then, reproving them and persuading them not to be proud, he both composed the genealogy, and

καὶ τοῦ Ζαρὰ μνησθῆναι πάλιν. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν ἐμνήσθη; Ἡνίκα ἔμελλεν αὐτοὺς τίκτειν ἡ Θάμαρ, τῶν ὠδίνων παραγενομένων, ἐξήνεγκε πρῶτος ὁ Ζαρὰ τὴν χεῖρα· εἶτα ἡ μαῖα θεασαμένη τοῦτο, ὥστε γνώριμον εἶναι τὸν πρῶτον, κοκκίνῳ τὴν χεῖρα ἔδησεν· ὡς δὲ ἐδέθη, συνέστειλε τὸ παιδίον τὴν χεῖρα, καὶ συστείλαντος 57.35 ἐκείνου προῆλθεν ὁ Φαρὲς, καὶ τότε ὁ Ζαρά. Ταῦτα ἰδοῦσα ἡ μαῖά φησι· Τί διεκόπη διὰ σὲ φραγμός; Εἶδες μυστηρίων αἰνίγματα; Οὐ γὰρ ἁπλῶς ταῦτα ἡμῖν ἀναγέγραπται· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἱστορίας ἄξιον ἦν τὸ μαθεῖν, τί ποτε ἐφθέγξατο ἡ μαῖα· οὐδὲ διηγήσεως τὸ γνῶναι, ὅτι τὴν χεῖρα προήκατο πρῶτος ὁ δεύτερος ἐξελθών. Τί οὖν ἐστι τὸ αἴνιγμα; Πρῶτον ἀπὸ τῆς προσηγορίας τοῦ παιδίου μανθάνομεν τὸ ζητούμενον· τὸ γὰρ Φαρὲς διαίρεσίς ἐστι καὶ διακοπή. Ἔπειτα ἀπ' αὐτοῦ τοῦ συμβάντος· οὐδὲ γὰρ φυσικῆς ἀκολουθίας ἦν, τὴν χεῖρα ἐκβαλόντα συστεῖλαι πάλιν δεθέντα· οὐδὲ γὰρ κινήσεως ἦν λογικῆς ταῦτα, οὐδὲ ἀπὸ φυσικῆς γέγονεν ἀκολουθίας. Προεκπεσούσης μὲν γὰρ τῆς χειρὸς, ἕτερον προεξελθεῖν, ἴσως φυσικόν· τὸ δὲ συστεῖλαι ταύτην, καὶ ἑτέρῳ δοῦναι πάροδον, οὐκέτι κατὰ τὸν τῶν τικτομένων νόμον ἦν· ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάρις παρῆν τοῖς παιδίοις ταῦτα οἰκονομοῦσα, καὶ εἰκόνα ἡμῖν τινα τῶν μελλόντων ὑπογράφουσα δι' αὐτῶν. Τί οὖν; Φασί τινες τῶν ταῦτα ἀκριβῶς ἐξητακότων, ὅτι τῶν δύο λαῶν τύπος ἐστὶ ταῦτα τὰ παιδία. Εἶτα ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι τοῦ δευτέρου λαοῦ ἡ πολιτεία προεξέλαμψε τῆς τοῦ προτέρου γεννήσεως, τὴν χεῖρα ἐκτεινομένην ἔχον τὸ παιδίον οὐχ ὁλόκληρον ἑαυτὸ δείκνυσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὴν συστέλλει πάλιν· καὶ μετὰ τὸ ὁλόκληρον ἐξολισθῆσαι τὸν ἀδελφὸν, τότε καὶ αὐτὸς ὅλος φαίνεται· ὃ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λαῶν ἀμφοτέρων γέγονε. Τῆς γὰρ πολιτείας τῆς ἐκκλησιαστικῆς ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὸν Ἀβραὰμ χρόνοις φανείσης, εἶτα ἐν τῷ μέσῳ συσταλείσης, ἦλθεν ὁ Ἰουδαϊκὸς λαὸς καὶ ἡ νομικὴ πολιτεία, καὶ τότε ὁλόκληρος ὁ νέος ἐφάνη λαὸς μετὰ τῶν αὑτοῦ νόμων. ∆ιὸ καὶ ἡ μαῖά φησιν· Τί διεκόπη διὰ σὲ φραγμός; Ὅτι τῆς πολιτείας τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἐπεισελθὼν ὁ νόμος διέκοψε. Καὶ γὰρ φραγμὸν ἀεὶ τὸν νόμον ἡ Γραφὴ καλεῖν εἴωθεν· ὥσπερ καὶ ὁ προφήτης φησί· Καθεῖλες τὸν φραγμὸν αὐτῆς, καὶ τρυγῶσιν αὐτὴν πάντες οἱ παραπορευόμενοι τὴν ὁδόν· καὶ, Φραγμὸν αὐτῇ περιέθηκα· καὶ ὁ Παῦλος, Καὶ τὸ μεσότοιχον τοῦ φραγμοῦ λύσας. δʹ. Ἄλλοι δὲ τὸ, Τί διεκόπη διὰ σὲ φραγμός; ἐπὶ τοῦ νέου φασὶν εἰρῆσθαι λαοῦ· οὗτος γὰρ παραγενόμενος τὸν νόμον κατέλυσεν. Ὁρᾷς ὡς οὐκ ὀλίγων οὐδὲ μικρῶν ἕνεκεν ἐμνημόνευσε τῆς κατὰ τὸν Ἰούδαν ἱστορίας ἁπάσης; ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ τῆς Ῥοὺθ καὶ τῆς Ῥαὰβ μέμνηται, τῆς μὲν ἀλλοφύλου, τῆς δὲ πόρνης, ἵνα μάθῃς ὅτι πάντα ἦλθε τὰ κακὰ λύσων τὰ ἡμέτερα. Ὡς γὰρ ἰατρὸς, οὐχ ὡς δικαστὴς παραγέγονεν. Ὥσπερ οὖν πόρνας ἔλαβον γυναῖκας οὗτοι, οὕτω καὶ ὁ Θεὸς τὴν φύσιν τὴν ἐκπορνεύσασαν ἡρμόσατο ἑαυτῷ· ὃ καὶ προφῆται ἄνωθεν προλέγουσιν ἐπὶ τῆς συναγωγῆς γεγονέναι. Ἀλλ' ἐκείνη μὲν ἀγνώμων γεγένηται περὶ τὸν συνοικήσαντα· ἡ δὲ Ἐκκλησία ἅπαξ ἀπαλλαγεῖσα τῶν πατρῴων κακῶν, ἔμεινεν ἀσπαζομένη τὸν νυμφίον. Ὅρα γοῦν καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς Ῥοὺθ γενόμενα ἐοικότα τοῖς ἡμετέροις. Αὕτη γὰρ ἀλλόφυλός τε ἦν, καὶ εἰς ἐσχάτην κατηνέχθη πενίαν· ἀλλ' ὅμως ἰδὼν αὐτὴν ὁ Βοὸζ, οὔτε τῆς πενίας κατ 57.36 εφρόνησεν, οὔτε τὴν δυσγένειαν ἐβδελύξατο· ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν δεξάμενος, καὶ ἀλλόφυλον καὶ ἐν πενίᾳ πολλῇ, τῶν μεγάλων ἀγαθῶν ἔλαβεν αὐτὴν κοινωνόν. Ἀλλ' ὥσπερ αὕτη, εἰ μὴ πρότερον ἀφῆκε πατέρα, καὶ ἠτίμασεν οἰκίαν καὶ γένος καὶ πατρίδα καὶ συγγενεῖς, οὐκ ἂν ἐπέτυχε τῆς ἀγχιστείας ταύτης· οὕτω καὶ ἡ Ἐκκλησία τὰ πατρῷα ἔθη καταλιποῦσα, τότε ἐπέραστος ἐγένετο τῷ νυμφίῳ. Ὅπερ οὖν καὶ ὁ προφήτης αὐτῇ διαλεγόμενός φησιν· Ἐπιλάθου τοῦ λαοῦ σου καὶ τοῦ οἴκου τοῦ πατρός σου, καὶ ἐπιθυμήσει ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῦ κάλλους σου. Τοῦτο καὶ ἡ Ῥοὺθ ἐποίησε. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο καὶ μήτηρ ἐγένετο βασιλέων, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ Ἐκκλησία· καὶ γὰρ ἐκ ταύτης ἐστὶν ὁ ∆αυΐδ. ∆ιὰ δὴ τούτων πάντων ἐντρέπων αὐτοὺς, καὶ πείθων μὴ μέγα φρονεῖν, τήν τε γενεαλογίαν συνέθηκε, καὶ