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in the counsel of the just." But since the inhabitants of Tyre at that time were also impious, they will not rise to a land of life; and this the blessed David calls the land of the living. "For he says, 'You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling, that I may be well-pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living.'" And the Lord in the holy Gospels makes this division. "For these, he says, will rise to eternal life, and these to eternal punishment and shame." Therefore, he threatens those then inhabiting Tyre, living in impiety, not only with the attack of the Babylonian, and the destruction caused by him, but also with painful and grievous things in the life to come. For what is more painful than not to rise to a land of life? To these things he adds: 21. I will give you to destruction, and you shall be no more, and you shall be sought, and you shall not be found for ever, says Adonai the Lord. All the divine prophets and the holy apostles were deemed worthy of the same Spirit; therefore, they do not speak things contrary to one another; for the Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth. And if the divine prophets were deemed worthy of the same Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth, the decrees of the blessed prophets are in harmony. And though we may find the desolation of Tyre limited by the prophet Isaiah, and we hear the prophet Ezekiel saying to Tyre: "You shall be sought, and you shall not be found for ever, says Adonai the Lord;" we will not say that the prophets disagree, but we will solve what is sought from the idioms of Scripture. For Holy Scripture often knows to call even a short time an "age." Such is what was said by the blessed David: "Our age is in the light of your face." And indeed he himself says: "The days of our years are seventy years in them, and if in strength, eighty years, and the greater part of them is toil and trouble." And so, knowing human life to be so long, he called it an age. Therefore, "You shall not be found for ever," that is, for the age of desolation appointed for you; and a seventy-year period was appointed for it through Isaiah the prophet. But if someone should wish to understand the passage more spiritually, he will find the prophecy true in this way also. For if anyone seeks Tyre, he will not find that former one; for that one was impious; but the one that flourished and grew up again after that one was desolated is seen to be pious, illuminated by the light of the knowledge of God. Therefore, whether someone wants to understand the prophecy according to the letter, he will find the time appointed for it called an age; or if someone wants to descend into the 81.1076 depth, he will find again that Tyre is not that Tyre, but completely opposite to it.

CHAPTER 27. 1-3. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, take up

a lamentation over Tyre. And you shall say to Tyre, that dwells at the entrance of the sea, the marketplace of the peoples from many islands. The things said signify the excess of God's philanthropy and goodness. And the word also teaches us that, when inflicting some chastisement on sinners, we should not do this with any hostility and enmity, but with compassion and being greatly pained. For he himself, judging justly and very rightly, commands the prophet to lament the city that is being punished; showing the disposition with which he punished. Thus says Adonai the Lord to Tyre: You said: I have put my beauty upon myself. (4.) In the heart of the sea with Beelim. Through these things he convicts its ungrateful and arrogant mind; for having received from God the resources for its comeliness, it became ungrateful toward the giver of good things; and to its own wisdom and power it ascribed the abundance of good things that came to it; and it also dedicated this to Beelim; for thus the idols the divine

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βουλῇ δικαίων." Ἀσεβεῖς δὲ ὄντες καὶ οἱ τηνικάδε Τύρον οἰκήσαντες, εἰς γῆν ζωῆς οὐκ ἀναστήσονται· ταύτην δὲ ὁ μακά ριος ∆αβὶδ χώραν ζώντων ὀνομάζει. "Ὅτι ἐῤῥύσα το γὰρ, φησὶ, τὴν ψυχήν μου ἐκ θανάτου, τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς μου ἐκ τῶν δακρύων, καὶ τοὺς πόδας μου ἀπὸ ὀλισθήματος, τοῦ εὐαρεστῆσαι ἐνώπιον Κυρίου ἐν χώρᾳ ζώντων." Καὶ ὁ Κύριος ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς Εὐαγγελίοις ταύτην ποιεῖται τὴν διαίρεσιν. "Οὗτοι γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀναστήσονται εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον, καὶ οὗτοι εἰς κόλασιν καὶ αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον." Ἀπει λεῖ τοίνυν καὶ τοῖς τηνικαῦτα τὴν Τύρον οἰκοῦσι, μετὰ τῆς ἀσεβείας ζῶσιν, οὐ μόνον τοῦ Βαβυλω νίου τὴν ἔφοδον, καὶ τὸν δι' ἐκείνου γενόμενον ὄλε θρον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τῷ μέλλοντι βίῳ ἀλγεινά τε καὶ ἀνιαρά. Τί γὰρ ἀλγεινότερον τοῦ μὴ ἀναστῆναι ἐπὶ γῆν ζωῆς; Τούτοις ἐπάγει· καʹ. Ἀπωλείᾳ σε δώσω, καὶ οὐχ ὑπάρξεις ἔτι, καὶ ζητηθήσῃ, καὶ οὐχ εὑρεθήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος. Ἅπαντες οἱ θεῖοι προφῆται καὶ οἱ ἱεροὶ ἀπόστολοι τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύμα τος ἠξιώθησαν· οὐ τοίνυν ἀλλήλοις ἐναντία φθέγγον ται· πνεῦμα γὰρ ἀληθείας τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον. Εἰ δὲ τοῦ αὐτοῦ Πνεύματος οἱ θεῖοι ἠξιώθησαν προφῆται, καὶ ἀληθείας πνεῦμα τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, σύμφωνα τῶν μακαρίων προφητῶν τὰ θεσπίσματα. Κἂν εὕρω μεν περιωρισμένην τῆς Τύρου τὴν ἐρημίαν παρὰ τῷ προφήτῃ Ἡσαΐᾳ, καὶ ἀκούσωμεν τοῦ προφήτου Ἰεζεκιὴλ λέγοντος τῇ Τύρῳ· "Ζητηθήσῃ, καὶ οὐχ εὑρε θήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος·" οὐ δια φωνεῖν φήσομεν τοὺς προφήτας, ἀλλ' ἐκ τῶν τῆς Γραφῆς ἰδιωμάτων τὸ ζητούμενον λύσομεν. Οἶδε γὰρ πολλάκις καὶ τὸν ὀλίγον χρόνον αἰῶνα καλεῖν ἡ θεία Γραφή. Τοιοῦτόν ἐστι τὸ ὑπὸ τοῦ μακαρίου ∆αβὶδ εἰρημένον· "Ὁ αἰὼν ἡμῶν εἰς φωτισμὸν τοῦ προσ ώπου σου." Καὶ μὴν ὁ αὐτός φησιν· "Αἱ ἡμέραι τῶν ἐτῶν ἡμῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη, ἐὰν δὲ ἐν δυναστείαις, ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη, καὶ τὸ πλεῖον αὐτῶν κόπος καὶ πόνος." Καὶ τοσοῦτον τοίνυν εἰδὼς τὸν ἀνθρώπινον βίον, αἰῶνα τοῦτον ὠνόμασε. Τὸ οὖν, "Οὐχ εὑρεθήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα," τουτέστιν, εἰς τὸν ὁρισθέντα σοι τῆς ἐρημίας αἰῶνα· ὡρίσθη δὲ αὐτῇ ἑβδομηκονταέτης χρόνος διὰ Ἡσαΐου τοῦ προφήτου. Εἰ δὲ καὶ πνευματικώτερόν τις βουληθείη νοῆσαι τὸ χωρίον, εὑρήσει καὶ οὕτως ἀληθῆ τὴν προφητείαν. Ἐὰν γάρ τις ἐπιζητήσῃ τὴν Τύρον, οὐχ εὑρήσει ἐκείνην τὴν προτέραν· ἐκείνη μὲν γὰρ ἦν δυσσε βής· ἡ δὲ μετ' ἐκείνην τὴν ἐρημωθεῖσαν ἀνθήσασα καὶ ἀναθηλήσασα, εὐσεβὴς ὁρᾶται, τῷ τῆς θεογνωσίας καταυγαζομένη φωτί. Εἴτε οὖν κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν βού λεταί τις νοῆσαι τὴν προφητείαν, εὑρήσει αἰῶνα ὀνομαζόμενον τὸν ὁρισθέντα αὐτῇ χρόνον· εἴτε εἰς τὸ 81.1076 βάθος τις βούλεται καταδῦναι, εὑρήσει πάλιν τὴν Τύρον οὐκ ἐκείνην οὖσαν τὴν Τύρον, ἀλλ' ἄντικρυς ἐναντίαν ἐκείνῃ.

ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΚΖʹ. αʹ-γʹ. Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς μὲ, λέ γων· Καὶ σὺ, υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, λάβε

ἐπὶ Σὸρ θρῆνον. Καὶ ἐρεῖς τῇ Σὸρ, τῇ κατοικούσῃ ἐπὶ τῆς εἰσόδου τῆς θαλάσσης, τῷ ἐμπορίῳ τῶν λαῶν ἀπὸ νήσων πολλῶν. Φιλανθρωπίας Θεοῦ καὶ ἀγαθότητος ὑπερ βολὴν σημαίνει τὰ εἰρημένα. ∆ιδάσκει δὲ καὶ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος, παιδείαν τινὰ τοῖς ἁμαρτάνουσιν ἐπιφέρον τας, μὴ δυσμενείᾳ τινὶ καὶ ἀπεχθείᾳ κεχρημένους τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἀλλὰ συμπάσχοντας καὶ λίαν ὀδυνωμέ νους. Καὶ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἐνδίκως καὶ μάλα δικαίως δικάζων, θρηνεῖν τῷ προφήτῃ τὴν κολαζομένην παρα κελεύεται πόλιν· παραδηλῶν τὴν διάθεσιν, ᾗ κεχρη μένος ἐκόλαζε. Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος τῇ Σόρ· Σὺ εἶπας· Ἐγὼ περιέθηκα ἐμαυτῇ κάλλος μου. (δʹ.) Ἐν καρδίᾳ θαλάσσης τῷ Βεελείμ. Τὸ ἀγνῶμον αὐ τῆς διὰ τούτων ἐλέγχει καὶ ὑπερήφανον· παρὰ γὰρ τοῦ Θεοῦ δεξαμένη τῆς εὐπρεπείας τὰς ἀφορμὰς, ἀχάριστος μὲν περὶ τὸν χορηγὸν τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἐγένετο· τῇ οἰκείᾳ δὲ σοφίᾳ καὶ δυνάμει ἐπέγραψε τὴν προσ γενομένην αὐτῇ τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἀφθονίαν· ἀνετίθει δὲ ταύτην καὶ τῷ Βεελείμ· οὕτω δὲ τὰ εἴδωλα ἡ θεία