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houses because there are no people, and the land will be left desolate. And after these things God will remove the people far away, and those who are left will be multiplied on the earth.” 2.3.82 See then here also in what manner those who are left again on the earth, when all the rest becomes desolate, are said to be the only ones to be multiplied. And these would be the disciples of our Savior, who came forth from the Hebrews to all people, who, having been left like a seed, brought forth abundant fruit, the churches of the nations throughout the whole world. And behold, how he says in the same way, that these alone who were left from the falling away of the Jews would be multiplied, but that those others would be completely desolate. 2.3.83 For “their land,” he says, “will be left desolate.” And this was also said to them above by the same prophet, according to the passage, “Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your country in your presence.” 2.3.84 And when were these things fulfilled, if not from the times of our Savior? For as long as they had not yet dared their impieties against him, their land was not desolate, nor were their cities burned with fire, nor did strangers devour their country; but from that inspired voice, through which our Savior and Lord himself prophesied what was to happen to them, saying, “Your house is left to you desolate,” from that time and not long after the prophecy, they were besieged by the Romans and reduced to desolation. 2.3.85 And the prophetic word proves the cause of their desolation, all but clearly interpreting it, and setting forth the reason for their falling away. For since, when our Savior was teaching among them, hearing with the ears of their mind they did not hear, nor did they understand who he was, and seeing him with the eyes of the flesh, with those of the soul they did not see, and they made their heart fat, and all but closed the eyes of their mind, and made their ears heavy, as the prophecy says, for this reason, he says, their cities would be desolated from not being inhabited, and the land would become desolate, but a few of them would be left, preserved like a fertile and life-giving seed, who, having gone forth to all people, are said to be multiplied upon the earth. 2.3.86 But nevertheless, even after the going forth of these very ones, that is, of the apostles of our Savior, he says that “the tenth part” still remained in the land of Judea, and after these things they would again be “for a spoil, as a terebinth, and as an acorn when it falls from its husk.” And through these things the word shows, as I think, that after the first siege, which they are recorded to have suffered in the times of the apostles and under the Roman emperor Vespasian, having been besieged a second time under Hadrian they were completely barred from the place, so that they were not even permitted to set foot on the soil of Jerusalem. Hinting at this, then, he says: “and again it will be for a spoil, as a terebinth and an acorn when it falls from its husk.” 2.3.87 39. “And it shall be in that day, a man shall nourish a young cow and two sheep; and it shall be from the abundance of milk they give that he shall eat butter, and everyone who is left in the land shall eat honey.” 2.3.88 Here, having sought the day indicated, you would find the time of our Savior's appearance. For after the prophet said, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son,” and many things in between, he prophesies concerning the things that will happen on the same day, that is, around the time of our Savior's appearance. 2.3.89 For he says that certain invisible and spiritual powers, enemies and adversaries, called “flies” and “bees” by the laws of allegory, will come upon the land of the Jews, and that the Lord with the “razor” of the enemies will shave “the head and the hair of the feet and the beard” of the great body, that is, the nation of the Jews, and, to put it all together, their whole adornment. 2.3.90 And these things will happen on the prophesied day of the one from the virgin

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οἶκοι παρὰ τὸ μὴ εἶναι ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ἡ γῆ καταλειφθήσεται ἔρημος. καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα μακρυνεῖ ὁ θεὸς τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ πληθυνθήσονται οἱ καταλειφθέντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς». 2.3.82 Ὅρα δὴ καὶ ἐνταῦθα τίνα τρόπον οἱ καταλειφθέντες πάλιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, τῆς λοιπῆς ἁπάσης ἐρήμου γενησομένης, μόνοι πληθυνθήσεσθαι λέγονται. εἶεν δ' ἂν καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν μαθηταί, ἐξ Ἑβραίων εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους προελθόντες, οἳ καὶ δίκην σπέρματος καταλειφθέντες πολύχουν προσήνεγκαν τὸν καρπόν, τὰς καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐκκλησίας. καὶ θέα γε, ὡς κατὰ τὸ αὐτό φησιν, τούτους μὲν πληθυνθήσεσθαι μόνους καταλειφθέντας ἐκ τῆς τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀποπτώσεως, ἐκείνους γε μὴν πάμπαν ἐρήμους ἔσεσθαι. 2.3.83 «ἡ γῆ» γὰρ αὐτῶν, φησίν, «καταλειφθήσεται ἔρημος». τοῦτο δὲ καὶ ἀνωτέρω αὐτοῖς ἐλέγετο ὑπὸ τοῦ αὐτοῦ προφήτου, κατὰ τὸ «ἡ γῆ ὑμῶν ἔρημος, αἱ πόλεις ὑμῶν πυρίκαυστοι, τὴν χώραν ὑμῶν ἐνώπιον ὑμῶν ἀλλότριοι κατεσθίουσιν αὐτήν». 2.3.84 πότε δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ἐπληροῦτο ἢ ἀπὸ τῶν χρόνων τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν; ἕως μὲν γὰρ οὐδέπω τὰς κατ' αὐτοῦ τετολμήκεσαν δυσσεβείας, οὐκ ἦν ἡ γῆ αὐτῶν ἔρημος, οὐδὲ αἱ πόλεις πυρίκαυστοι, οὐδὲ τὴν χώραν αὐτῶν ἀλλότριοι κατήσθιον· ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς ἐνθέου φωνῆς ἐκείνης, δι' ἧς τὸ μέλλον αὐτοῖς ἔσεσθαι προυθέσπισεν αὐτὸς ὁ σωτὴρ καὶ κύριος ἡμῶν, εἰπών «ἀφίεται ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος», ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ οὐ μετ' οὐ πολὺ τῆς προρρήσεως πολιορκηθέντες ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίων εἰς ἔρημον κατέστησαν. 2.3.85 καὶ τό γε αἴτιον τῆς ἐρημώσεως αὐτῶν ὁ προφητικὸς λόγος ἀπελέγχει, μονονουχὶ σαφῶς διερμηνεύων, καὶ τὴν αἰτίαν τῆς ἀποπτώσεως αὐτῶν παριστάς. ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν διδάσκοντος ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀκούσαντες ὠσὶ διανοίας οὐκ ἤκουσαν, οὐδὲ συνῆκαν ὅστις ἦν, ἰδόντες δὲ αὐτὸν σαρκὸς ὀφθαλμοῖς, τοῖς τῆς ψυχῆς οὐ τεθέανται, ἐπάχυνάν τε ἑαυτῶν τὴν καρδίαν, καὶ μονονουχὶ τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς τῆς διανοίας ἔμυσαν, καὶ τὰ ὦτα ἐβάρυναν, ὥς φησιν ἡ προφητεία, τούτου χάριν ἐρημωθήσεσθαι αὐτῶν, φησί, τὰς πόλεις παρὰ τὸ μὴ κατοικεῖσθαι, καὶ τὴν γῆν γενήσεσθαι ἔρημον, βραχεῖς δέ τινας ἐξ αὐτῶν ὑπολειφθήσεσθαι, δίκην γονίμου καὶ ζωπύρου σπέρματος πεφυλαγμένους, οἳ καὶ εἰς πάντας προελθόντες ἀνθρώπους πληθυνθήσεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς λέγονται. 2.3.86 πλὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ μετὰ τὴν πρόοδον τούτων αὐτῶν, δηλαδὴ τῶν ἀποστόλων τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, ἔτι φησὶν ἐπ' αὐτῆς τῆς Ἰουδαίας χώρας διαμεῖναι «τὸ ἐπιδέκατον», καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα αὖθις ἔσεσθαι αὐτοὺς «εἰς προνομὴν ὡς τερέβινθος καὶ ὡς βάλανος ὅτ' ἂν ἐκπέσῃ τῆς θήκης αὐτῆς». παρίστησι δέ, ὡς οἶμαι, διὰ τούτων ὁ λόγος, ὅτι μετὰ τὴν πρώτην πολιορκίαν, ἣν κατὰ τοὺς τῶν ἀποστόλων χρόνους καὶ κατὰ Ῥωμαίων αὐτοκράτορα Οὐεσπασιανὸν ἱστοροῦνται πεπονθέναι, αὖθις ἐπὶ Ἀδριανοῦ δεύτερον πολιορκηθέντες παντελῶς εἴρχθησαν τοῦ τόπου, ὡς μηδὲ τοῦ ἐδάφους τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἐπιβαίνειν ἐπι τρέπεσθαι. τοῦτο δ' οὖν αἰνιττόμενός φησιν· «καὶ πάλιν ἔσται εἰς προνομὴν ὡς τερέβινθος καὶ βάλανος ὅτ' ἂν ἐκπέσῃ ἐκ τῆς θήκης αὐτῆς». 2.3.87 λθʹ. «Καὶ ἔσται ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ θρέψει ἄνθρωπος δάμαλιν βοῶν καὶ δύο πρόβατα· καὶ ἔσται ἀπὸ τοῦ πλεῖστον ποιεῖν γάλα, φάγεται βούτυρον, καὶ μέλι φάγεται πᾶς ὁ καταλειφθεὶς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς». 2.3.88 Ἐνταῦθα τὴν δηλουμένην ἡμέραν ἐπιζητήσας, εὕροις ἂν τὸν χρόνον τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφανείας. εἰπὼν γὰρ ὁ προφήτης «ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ λήψεται καὶ τέξεται υἱόν», καὶ πλεῖστα διὰ μέσου, θεσπίζει περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν αὐτὴν ἡμέραν, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἀμφὶ τὸν χρόνον τῆς τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἐπιφανείας, γενησομένων. 2.3.89 δυνάμεις γὰρ ἀοράτους καὶ νοητούς τινας ἐχθροὺς καὶ πολεμίους, «μυίας» καὶ «μελίσσας» νόμοις ἀλληγορίας ὀνομαζομένους, ἐπιβήσεσθαι τῇ τῶν Ἰουδαίων χώρᾳ φησίν, καὶ τὸν κύριον «ξυρῷ» τῶν πολεμίων, ὡς ἂν μεγάλου σώματος, τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους «τὴν κεφαλὴν καὶ τὰς τρίχας τῶν ποδῶν καὶ τὸν πώγωνα» καὶ πάντα συλλήβδην εἰπεῖν τὸν κόσμον αὐτῶν ξυρήσειν. 2.3.90 τούτων δ' ἐσομένων ἐν τῇ θεσπιζομένῃ ἡμέρᾳ τοῦ ἐκ τῆς παρθένου