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I have given their heads, says the Lord Adonai. For having walked wickedly and unlawfully, he says, they found an end consistent with their own way; from this it is possible to learn not only the excess of divine goodness, but also the impiety of the Jews; for in the case of Sodom He promised, if He should find five righteous men, to keep the whole city untouched by punishment; but here, having sought one, He did not find one. Therefore, having handed it over to its enemies, He has made it to be overthrown; it is fitting for us, therefore, knowing that divine mercy is joined with judgment—“For of mercy,” it says, “and judgment will I sing to you, O Lord”—not to persist in the practices of sin, nor to despise the long-suffering of God, nor to store up for ourselves wrath on the day of wrath, and revelation, and the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his works; to Him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen. 81.1033

VOLUME 9. CHAPTER 23. 1-3. And the word of the Lord came to me, say-ing: Son of man, two

women there were, daugh-ters of one mother. And they committed fornication in E-gypt. In what has been interpreted, He called the entire people one harlot; for they were named one people in the beginning; but since the division occurred in the time of Rehoboam, and some were named Ephraim and Israel, and others Judah, He fittingly uses the para-bolic and tropical form according to the division; and He calls them after their metropolises, the ten tribes after Samaria, and Judah and Benja-min after Jerusalem; and He says they are of one mother, not only because of the one root of the race, but also because in impiety, they had one mother, E-gypt; for above He also tropically called their mother a Hittite, and their father an Amorite. These therefore, He says, committed fornication in Egypt; then He also indicates the time. “In their youth they committed fornication; there their breasts fell, and there they were deflowered.” For their fa-thers, Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, shone in piety, and the children of Jacob also remained uninitiated in idolatry; but those born from them learned impiety from their sojourn in Egypt; and He calls their youth the beginning of their increase into a multitude; and the corruption and falling of breasts, the learning of impious doctrines. For just as the sagging of the breasts follows the loss of virginity; so the fall of our ruling faculty follows apostasy from God; for the breasts are, as it were, its coverings and veils. Then, since He parabolically called them women, He also gives them the names of certain Egyptian women, who had become notorious in licentiousness, and says: 4. And their names are Oholah the el-der, and Oholibah the younger, her sister. Having spoken the previous things enigmatically, He led the discourse to what is clearer, and mentioned those courtesan wo-men, increasing the accusation, wishing to instill in them a sense of their impiety through the example. Then He recounts the benefaction done by Him 81.1036 to them. “And they became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And their names are Samaria, which is Oholah, and Jerusalem, which is Oholibah.” He calls the agreement made with them through the law a ‘union’ and ‘fellowship’; for He gave the law, and they confessed that they would keep the legislation; and the phrase, “they bore me sons and daughters,” indicates that, being under the law, they for a time raised their children with piety. Up to this point, therefore, He made a common accusation of both; but from this point on-ward, the division of the tribes having occurred, He makes the first accusation against Samaria, which He named Oholah; for it was first

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κεφαλὰς αὐτῶν δέδωκα, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. Κακῶς γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ παρανόμως ὁδεύσαν τες, ἀκόλουθον εὗρον τῆς οἰκείας ὁδοῦ τὸ τέλος· ἐν τεῦθεν ἔστι μαθεῖν οὐ μόνον τῆς θείας ἀγαθότητος τὴν ὑπερβολὴν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίων ἀσέβειαν· ἐπὶ μὲν γὰρ Σοδόμων ὑπέσχετο, εἰ πέντε εὕροι δι καίους, πᾶσαν τὴν πόλιν ἀνέπαφον τῆς τιμωρίας φυλάξειν· ἐνταῦθα δὲ ἕνα ζητήσας οὐχ εὗρε. ∆ιὸ καὶ τοῖς δυσμενέσι παραδοὺς αὐτὴν ἀνάστατον γενέσθαι πεποίηκε· προσήκει τοίνυν ἡμᾶς, εἰδότας ὡς ὁ θεῖος ἔλεος τῇ κρίσει συνέζευκται "Ἔλεον γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ κρίσιν ᾄσομαί σοι Κύριε", μὴ ἐπιμένειν τοῖς τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐπιτηδεύμασιν, μηδὲ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μακρο θυμίας καταφρονεῖν, μηδὲ θησαυρίζειν ἑαυτοῖς ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς, καὶ ἀποκαλύψεως, καὶ δικαιοκρι σίας τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ· αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. Ἀμήν. 81.1033

ΤΟΜΟΣ Θʹ. ΚΕΦΑΛΑΙΟΝ ΚΓʹ. αʹ-γʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς μὲ, λέ γων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, δύο

γυναῖκες ἦσαν, θυ γατέρες μητρὸς μιᾶς. Καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰ γύπτῳ. Ἐν μὲν τοῖς ἡρμηνευμένοις ἅπαντα τὸν λαὸν μίαν ὠνόμασε πόρνην· εἷς γὰρ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν λαὸς ἐχρημάτισεν· ἐπειδὴ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ῥοβοὰμ ἡ διαίρεσις ἐγένετο, καὶ οἱ μὲν Ἐφραῒμ καὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὠνομάζοντο, οἱ δὲ Ἰούδας, εἰκότως καὶ τῷ παρα βολικῷ καὶ τροπικῷ εἴδει κατὰ διαίρεσιν κέχρηται· καλεῖ δὲ αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν μητροπόλεων, τὰς μὲν δέκα φυλὰς ἀπὸ Σαμαρείας, τὸν δὲ Ἰούδαν καὶ τὸν Βενια μὶν ἀπὸ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ· λέγει δὲ αὐτὰς μητρὸς μιᾶς, οὐ μόνον διὰ τὴν μίαν ῥίζαν τοῦ γένους, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀσέβειαν, μίαν ἔσχον μητέρα τὴν Αἴ γυπτον· καὶ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω τροπικῶς τὴν μὲν μητέρα αὐτῶν Χετταίαν, Ἀμοῤῥαῖον δὲ τὸν πατέρα προσ ηγόρευσεν. Αὗται τοίνυν, φησὶν, ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ· εἶτα καὶ τὸν χρόνον δηλοῖ. "Ἐν τῇ νεότητι αὐτῶν ἐπόρνευσαν· ἐκεῖ ἔπεσον οἱ μαστοὶ αὐ τῶν, καὶ ἐκεῖ διεπαρθενεύθησαν." Οἱ μὲν γὰρ πα τέρες αὐτῶν, Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ Ἰσαὰκ, καὶ Ἰακὼβ, ἐνεὐσεβείᾳ διέλαμψαν, καὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ δὲ οἱ παῖδες διέμειναν εἰδωλολατρείας ἀμύητοι· οἱ δὲ ἐξ ἐκείνων φύντες ἐκ τῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ διαγωγῆς μετέμαθον τὴν ἀσέβειαν· νεότητα δὲ αὐτῶν καλεῖ τῆς εἰς πλῆθος ἐπιδόσεως τὴν ἀρχήν· διαφθορὰν δὲ καὶ μαστῶν πτῶσιν, τῶν δυσσεβῶν δογμάτων τὴν μάθησιν. Καθά περ γὰρ ἀκολουθεῖ τῇ τῆς παρθενίας ἀφαιρέσει τῶν μαστῶν ἡ χαυνότης· οὕτω τῇ ἐκ Θεοῦ ἀποστάσει ἕπεται τοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν ἡγεμονικοῦ ἡ κατάπτωσις· τού του γὰρ οἱονεὶ καλύμματα καὶ προβλήματά εἰσιν οἱ μαστοί. Εἶτα ἐπειδὴ παραβολικῶς γυναῖκας αὐτὰς ὠνόμασε, καὶ ὀνόματα αὐταῖς ἐπιτίθησι γυναικῶν τινων Αἰγυπτίων, ἐπισήμων ἐν ἀκολασίᾳ γεγενημέ νων, φησὶ δέ· δʹ. Καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν Ὀολλὰ ἡ πρεσβυ τέρα, καὶ Ὀολιβὰ νεωτέρα ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς. Αἰνιγματωδῶς τὰ πρότερα εἰπὼν, ἐπὶ τὸ σαφέστερον ἤγαγε τὸν λόγον, καὶ τῶν ἑταιρῶν ἐκείνων γυναι κῶν ἐμνημόνευσε, τὴν κατηγορίαν αὔξων, αἴσθησιν αὐτοῖς τῆς ἀσεβείας διὰ τοῦ παραδείγματος ἐνθεῖναι βουλόμενος. Εἶτα τὴν εἰς αὐτοὺς παρ' αὐτοῦ γενο 81.1036 μένην εὐεργεσίαν διέξεισι. "Καὶ ἐγενοντό μοι, καὶ ἔτεκον υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν Σαμάρεια ἡ Ὀολλὰ, καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἡ Ὀολιβά." Συνάφειαν δὲ καὶ κοινωνίαν καλεῖ τὴν διὰ τοῦ νόμου γεγενημένην αὐτοῖς συμφωνίαν· ὁ μὲν γὰρ ἐνομο θέτει, οἱ δὲ ὡμολόγουν τὴν νομοθεσίαν φυλάττειν· τὸ δὲ, "ἔτεκόν μοι υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας," δηλοῖ, ὅτι ὑπὸ τῷ νόμῳ τελοῦντες μετ' εὐσεβείας τέως τοὺς παῖδας ἀνέτρεφον. Μέχρι μὲν οὖν τούτων κοινὴν ἀμφοτέρων ἐποιεῖτο κατηγορίαν· ἐντεῦθεν δὲ λοι πὸν, τῆς τῶν φυλῶν διαιρέσεως γενομένης, πρώτην ποιεῖται τῆς Σαμαρείας κατηγορίαν, ἣν Ὀολλὰν ὠνόμασε· καὶ γὰρ προτέρα