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The discourse, having mentioned also those who ruled among them and were proud of their rule, and having declared their overthrow through the preceding words, proceeds to speak about the multiple rule according to each nation; for there were then toparchs and ethnarchs and partial kings, such as of Egypt and Arabia and Tyre and Sidon and of the other nations, who, themselves being idolaters, insulted God, being puffed up and exalted and thinking arrogant thoughts. Accordingly, therefore, after what has been said about the overthrow of the Assyrians, it prophesies also about these very ones, signifying their complete destruction in saying: Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall throw into confusion the glorious ones with might, and the lofty in pride shall be crushed, and the lofty in pride shall be humbled, and what follows this. Then, indicating the time in which these things will be, it very opportunely connects the coming of Christ to humanity; for since it taught beforehand through the preceding passages about his birth from a virgin and the manner of his birth, and the titular names of the powers conceived in him, it accordingly, in the present passage, proclaims beforehand from what kind of family and what tribe he will come, and by what kind of accomplishment his coming to humanity will be achieved. And at the same time it signifies the overthrow of the assigned multiple rule, both of the other rulers who previously held power over every nation in toparchies and polyarchies, and of the leaders among the Jews themselves, and, in a word, of all rulers according to each nation, and of the invisible powers, both wicked spirits and demons, who for a long age had strengthened the polytheistic error among all the nations. The discourse threatens that there will be an overthrow of all these at the theophany of the Savior, saying: Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall throw into confusion the glorious ones with might, and the lofty in pride shall be humbled, and the lofty shall fall by the sword, but Lebanon with the lofty shall fall. You see how many and how often he has named 'lofty ones', whose system he compares to Lebanon and its very lofty cedars. Wherefore it is said elsewhere: "I saw the wicked man exalted like the cedars of Lebanon," and again in another place: "The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon and will make them as fine as the calf of Lebanon." Such a thing, then, the discourse first promises that the Lord of hosts will do, I mean, the shattering of all the ethnarchies and polyarchies among humans. But since in many places of the divine scriptures Jerusalem is called Lebanon, as we have often shown, it fittingly signifies its fall, and that of the rulers of the Jewish nation who formerly were greatly powerful in it, saying: But Lebanon with the lofty shall fall. And how the shattering and fall of all these will happen, it indicates next, prophesying that a rod will come forth from the root of Jesse, which will shatter and humble all the aforementioned lofty ones. Wherefore this is added: And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse. But instead of 'from the root,' the others have harmoniously translated 'from a stump'; for the tribe and the lineage from which the Savior came was like a stump, no longer having branches because the kings in succession from David had ceased after the captivity in Babylon. Therefore it seems to me that the fleshly lineage of David, whose father was Jesse, was called a stump. But lest anyone suppose that the one prophesied would be a king similar to David, it said not 'from the root of David', but 'of Jesse' because of the similarity and modesty of his life; for Jesse was poor and had not obtained any rule according to the world. Fittingly, therefore, from his root, or as from some old stump, a small rod is said to come forth according to Aquila, who rendered it 'a small rod', thus representing the modest and humble fleshly nature of our Savior. And a branch

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μνημονεύσας ὁ λόγος καὶ τῶν ἀρξάντων παρ' αὐτοῖς καὶ μεγαλοφρονησάντων τῆς ἀρχῆς τὴν καθαίρεσιν δηλώσας διὰ τῶν προκειμένων περὶ τῆς κατ' ἔθνος πολυαρχίας διεξέρχεται· ἦσαν γοῦν τότε τοπάρχαι καὶ ἐθνάρχαι καὶ μερικοὶ βασιλεῖς, οἷον Αἰγύπτου καὶ Ἀραβίας καὶ Τύρου καὶ Σιδῶνος καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν, οἳ καὶ αὐτοὶ εἰδωλολατροῦντες ἐνύβριζον τὸν θεὸν ἐπαιρόμενοι καὶ ὑψούμενοι καὶ ὑπέρογκα φρονοῦντες. ἀκολούθως τοιγαροῦν καὶ περὶ τούτων αὐτῶν μετὰ τὰ προλεχθέντα περὶ τῆς καθαιρέσεως τῶν Ἀσσυρίων θεσπίζει σημαίνων τὴν παντελῆ τούτων κατάλυσιν ἐν τῷ λέγειν· ἰδοὺ δὴ ὁ δεσπότης κύριος σαβαὼθ συνταράξει τοὺς ἐνδόξους μετὰ ἰσχύος, καὶ οἱ ὑψηλοὶ τῇ ὕβρει συντριβήσονται, καὶ οἱ ὑψηλοὶ τῇ ὕβρει ταπεινωθήσονται καὶ τὰ τούτοις ἑξῆς. εἶτα τὸν χρόνον, καθ' ὃν ταῦτα ἔσται, παριστὰς συνάπτει τὴν εἰς ἀνθρώπους πάροδον τοῦ Χριστοῦ σφόδρα εὐκαίρως· ἐπειδὴ γὰρ προεδίδαξε διὰ τῶν ἔμπροσθεν τὰ περὶ τῆς γενέσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐκ παρθένου καὶ τὸν τρόπον τῆς γενέσεως, τάς τε ἐπωνύμους προσηγορίας τῶν ἐπινοουμένων ἐν αὐτῷ δυνάμεων, ἀκολούθως ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος, ἐξ ὁποίου γένους καὶ ποίας φυλῆς προελεύσεται, ὁποίᾳ τε καταρθώσει ἡ εἰς ἀνθρώπους αὐτοῦ πάροδος προαναφωνεῖ. κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀποδοθείσης πολυαρχίας σημαίνει τὴν καθαίρεσιν, τῶν τε ἄλλων τῶν κατὰ πᾶν ἔθνος τὸ πρὶν δυναστευόντων ἀρχόντων ἐν τοπαρχίαις καὶ πολυαρχίαις, τῶν τε παρ' αὐτοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἡγουμένων καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς ἁπάντων τῶν κατ' ἔθνος ἀρχόντων, τῶν τε ἀοράτων δυνάμεων πνευμάτων τε πονηρῶν καὶ δαιμόνων, οἳ τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην παρὰ πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἐκ μακροῦ αἰῶνος ἐκράτυνον. τούτων δὴ πάντων ὁ λόγος ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ σωτῆρος θεοφανείᾳ καθαίρεσιν ἔσεσθαι ἀπειλεῖ λέγων· ἰδοὺ δὴ ὁ δεσπότης κύριος σαβαὼθ συνταράσσει τοὺς ἐνδόξους μετὰ ἰσχύος, καὶ οἱ ὑψηλοὶ τῇ ὕβρει ταπεινωθήσονται, καὶ πεσοῦνται οἱ ὑψηλοὶ μαχαίρᾳ, ὁ δὲ Λίβανος σὺν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς πεσεῖται. ὁρᾷς ὁπόσους καὶ ὁσάκις ὑψηλοὺς ὠνόμασεν, ὧν τὸ σύστημα τῷ Λιβάνῳ καὶ ταῖς ἐν αὐτῷ ὑψηλοτάταις κέδροις ἀφομοιοῖ. διὸ εἴρηται ἀλλαχοῦ· «εἶδον τὸν ἀσεβῆ ἐπαιρόμενον ὡς τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου», καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ πάλιν· «φωνὴ κυρίου συντρίβοντος κέδρους, καὶ συντρίψει κύριος τὰς κέδρους τοῦ Λιβάνου καὶ λεπτυνεῖ αὐτὰς ὡς τὸν μόσχον τὸν Λίβανον». τοιοῦτο τοίνυν πρῶτον ὁ λόγος ποιήσειν τὸν κύριον σαβαὼθ ἐπαγγέλλεται, λέγω δὲ τὸ συντρίψειν πάσας τὰς ἐν ἀνθρώποις ἐθναρχίας καὶ πολυαρχίας. ἐπεὶ δὲ πολλαχοῦ τῶν θείων γραφῶν Λίβανος ὠνόμασται ἡ Ἰερουσαλήμ, ὡς πολλάκις ἀπεδείξαμεν, εἰκότως καὶ αὐτῆς τὴν πτῶσιν, τῶν τε ἐν αὐτῇ τὸ παλαιὸν τὰ μεγάλα δεδυνημένων ἀρχόντων τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους σημαίνει φάσκων· ὁ δὲ Λίβανος σὺν τοῖς ὑψηλοῖς πεσεῖται. Πῶς δὲ τούτων ἁπάντων ἔσται συντριβὴ καὶ πτῶσις, παρίστησιν ἑξῆς, ἐκ ῥίζης Ἰεσσαὶ προελεύσεσθαι ῥάβδον θεσπίζων, ἥτις πάντας τοὺς προδηλωθέντας ὑψηλοὺς συντρίψασα ταπεινώσει. διὸ ἐπισυνῆπται τό· Καὶ ἐξελεύσεται ῥάβδος ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης Ἰεσσαί. ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ· ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης, ἀπὸ κορμοῦ συμφώνως ἡρμήνευσαν οἱ λοιποί· καὶ γὰρ ἦν ἡ φυλὴ καὶ ἡ πατριά, ἐξ ἧς προῆλθεν ὁ σωτήρ, ὥσπερ τις κορμός, μηκέτι κλάδους ἔχων διὰ τὸ ἐκλελοιπέναι τοὺς ἐκ διαδοχῆς ∆αυὶδ βασιλέας μετὰ τὴν εἰς Βαβυλῶνα αἰχμαλωσίαν. διό μοι δοκεῖ κορμὸς ὠνομάσθαι τὸ κατὰ σάρκα γένος τοῦ ∆αυίδ, οὗ πατὴρ ἦν ὁ Ἰεσσαί. ἵνα δὲ μή τις ὑπολάβῃ βασιλέα ὅμοιον τῷ ∆αυὶδ ἔσεσθαι τὸν προφητευόμενον, οὐκ ἐκ τῆς ῥίζης εἶπε ∆αυίδ, τοῦ δὲ Ἰεσσαὶ διὰ τὸ τοῦ βίου παραπλήσιον καὶ εὐσταλές· πένης γὰρ ἦν ὁ Ἰεσσαὶ καὶ οὐδεμιᾶς κατὰ κόσμον ἀρχῆς ἐπειλημμένος. εἰκότως οὖν ἐκ ῥίζης αὐτοῦ, ἢ ὥσπερ ἀπό τινος παλαιοῦ κορμοῦ ῥαβδίον λέγεται ἐξελεύσεσθαι κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν, ὃς ῥαβδίον ἐξέδωκεν, οὕτως παραστήσας τὸ κατὰ σάρκα μέτριον καὶ ταπεινὸν τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν. καὶ ἀκρεμὼν δὲ