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as he proceeded to write to those beyond the river, the king of the Persians also sent with him guards, men of valor; for Ezra has recorded these things. And he foretells that the Babylonians who took Israel captive would clearly become captives of the spear under Cyrus. Or perhaps, because those who went up with them came under the yoke of the law as captives, having been taken in a good and saving capture. At that time, he says, you will be free from your wrath. CHAPTER 15. THE WORD AGAINST MOAB. 19. 9By night Moab will be destroyed. For by night the wall of Moab will be destroyed. Grieve for yourselves. For Dibon shall also be destroyed, where your altar is; there you will go up to weep over Nebo of Moab9, etc. ....... of him who does not come to the 2096 light. Since these things are in the night, the wall also falls by night, the sophistical fortifications. For in these, as if in safe places, they boasted. When these indeed fall in refutations, they lament; who, having unstable words about God, build a falling altar called Dibon, to which they are exhorted to go up repenting, not to sacrifice, as when they served the creature rather than the Creator, offering the sacrifice of their praise on foreign altars, for which things let them weep, as the godly sorrow produces for them a salvation without regret. Such also are those who have their hopes in fleeting things. Therefore, he commands them to weep, whose good morals evil communications have corrupted. He teaches that they must also be stripped of their teaching, through baldness, no longer wearing the adornment that comes from them. For the teachers are in the place of the head, but according to the saying, it signifies dishonor. For baldness is a symbol of dishonor, just as is the cutting of the arms, for beating oneself and lamenting. Or that it is a custom for idolaters to make cuttings on their cheeks and arms. And he hints that, through a good way of life, one should despise the practical precepts of wicked teachers which are brought to refutation through division; who, often seeming to be upright in their life, draw down to absurd doctrines, and having now been exposed, they work a life of the same kind, leading through the broad way of the soul-leading of those who tend towards pleasure. Where he commands those who have repented of their pleasures to beat themselves, choosing the life of affliction, seeking the narrow and afflicted way, and putting on sackcloth to mourn, for what they sinned through the loins, which is often taken for the generative organs; for Levi was still in the loins of his father Abraham; and, Let your loins be girded, because it is necessary to restrain the appetites which are subservient to generation. And he describes a city seized by war, when some run about wailing in the broad streets and narrow alleys, while the female sex and infants lament, looking upon the phalanxes of the enemy. And the high and empty things of learning he called rooftops. And the as it were divisions of thoughts, the alleys of Moab; whether, then, someone was on the high places raised up against the knowledge of God; or in some dialectical division of words, seeming to treat each of the problems distinctly; let such a one wail aloud through repentance. For the teachings of the Moabites are not divine, but human reasonings. But how, according to the letter, does the loin of Moab cry out, and its soul will know it? Or is it that terrible despondencies always precede incurable evils? 2097 The cry of the loin, therefore, indicates that Moab is in labor pains, having hidden pangs, both being naturally aware, and being shaken by the rumors. For it cries out as far as Zoar, which they say borders Moab, that is, the whole country to its borders, from which Palestine receives Arabia. Otherwise, the impending grief on Moab, having become the cause of a temperate life, cries out at the cry of Heshbon and Elealeh, and Jahaz; the word hinting at progress in repentance. When we lament both ourselves and those who have sinned with us, having become for them through the cry

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χωροῦντος πρὸς τὸ γράψαι τοῖς πέραν τοῦ ποταμοῦ καὶ φύλακας αὐτῷ συναπέστειλεν ἄνδρας δυνάμεως ὁ τῶν Περσῶν βασιλεύς· ταυτὶ γὰρ Ἔσδρας ἱστόρησεν. Προλέγει δὲ καὶ τοὺς τὸν Ἱσραὴλ Βαβυλωνίους αἰχμαλωτίσαντας, δοριαλώτους ὑπὸ Κύρου δηλονότι γενήσεσθαι. Ἢ καὶ τάχα, διὰ τὸ τοὺς συναναβάντας αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ ζυγὸν γενέσθαι τοῦ νόμου καθάπερ αἰχμαλώτους, ἑαλωκότας τὴν καλὴν καὶ σωτήριον ἅλωσιν. Κατ' ἐκεῖνο δὲ τοῦ καιροῦ ἀνεθήσει τοῦ θυμοῦ σου, φησίν. ΚΕΦΑΛ. ΙΕʹ. ΤΟ ΡΗΜΑ ΤΟ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΜΩΑΒΙΤΙ∆ΟΣ. αθʹ. 9Νυκτὸς ἀπολεῖται ἡ Μωαβῖτις. Νυκτὸς γὰρ ἀπολεῖται τὸ τεῖχος τῆς Μωαβίτιδος. Λυπεῖσθε ἐφ' ἑαυτοῖς. Ἀπολεῖται γὰρ καὶ Γεβῶν, οὗ ὁ βωμὸς ὑμῶν, ἐκεῖ ἀναβήσεσθε κλαίειν ἐπὶ Ναβᾶν τῆς Μωαβίτιδοσ9, κ.τ.λ. ....... τοῦ οὐκ ἔρχεται πρὸς τὸ 2096 φῶς. Ὧν ὄντων ἐν νυκτὶ, καὶ τὸ τεῖχος πίπτειν νυκτὸς τὰ ὀχυρώματα τὰ σοφιστικά. Τούτοις γὰρ, ὡς ἀσφαλέσιν, ἠλαζονεύοντο. Ὧν δὴ πιπτόντων ἐν ἐλέγχοις ὀδύρονται· οἳ καὶ τοὺς περὶ Θεοῦ λόγους ἀστάτους ἔχοντες βωμὸν οἰκοδομοῦσι πεσούμενον ∆εηβὼν χρηματίζοντα, εἰς ὃν ἀνιέναι παρακελεύονται μετανοοῦντες, οὐ θύσοντες, ὡς ὅτ' ἂν ἐλάτρευον τῇ κτίσει παρὰ τὸν Κτίσαντα, τὴν θυσίαν τῆς ἑαυτῶν αἰνέσεως ἐπ' ἀλλοτρίων θυσιαστηρίων προσάγοντες, ἀνθ' ὧν κλαιέτωσαν τῆς κατὰ Θεὸν λύπης σωτηρίαν αὐτοῖς ἀμεταμέλητον προξενούσης. Τοιοῦτοι καὶ οἱ τὰς ἐλπίδας ἐπὶ ῥευστοῖς ἔχοντες πράγμασιν. Κλαίειν οὖν κελεύει τοὺς, ὧν τὰ ἤθη τὰ χρηστὰ διέφθειραν ὁμιλίαι κακαί. Ὧν καὶ τῆς διδασκαλίας ἀπογυμνοῦσθαι δεῖν διδάσκει, διὰ τοῦ φαλακρώματος μηκέτι τὸν κόσμον περικειμένους τὸν ἐξ αὐτῶν. Ἀντὶ κεφαλῆς γάρ εἰσιν οἱ καθηγηταὶ, κατὰ δὲ τὸ ῥητὸν, ἀτιμίαν δηλοῖ. Σύμβολον γὰρ ἀτιμίας φαλάκρωμα, ὥσπερ οὖν κατατομὴ βραχιόνων, τοῦ κόπτεσθαι καὶ θρηνεῖν. Ἢ ὅτι τοῖς εἰδωλολάτραις ἔθος ἐντομίδας ποιεῖν ἐν παρειαῖς καὶ βραχίοσιν. Αἰνίττεται δὲ τὸ, δι' ἀγαθῆς πολιτείας ἐξευτελίζειν τῶν πονηρῶν διδασκάλων τὰς ὑποθήκας τὰς πρακτικὰς εἰς ἔλεγχον ἀγομένας διὰ δὲ τῆς διαιρέσεως· οἳ καὶ πολλάκις τὸν βίον εἶναι δοκοῦντες ὀρθοὶ, πρὸς ἄτοπα καθέλκουσι δόγματα, καὶ ἤδη φωραθέντες ἴσους τὸν βίον ἐργάζονται, ἄγοντες διὰ τῆς πλατείας ὁδοῦ τῆς τῶν πρὸς ἡδονὴν φερόντων ψυχαγωγίας. Ἔνθα κελεύει κόπτεσθαι τὸν βεβασανισμένον βίον προαιρουμένους ἐπὶ ταῖς ἡδοναῖς μετεγνωκότας, ὁδὸν ζητοῦντας τὴν στενήν τε καὶ τεθλιμμένην, σάκκον τε περικειμένους πενθεῖν, ἐφ' οἷς διὰ τῆς ὀσφύος ἐξήμαρτον, ἥτις ἀντὶ τῶν γεννητικῶν πολλάκις παραλαμβάνεται· ἔτι γὰρ ἦν ἐν τῇ ὀσφύϊ τοῦ πατρὸς Ἀβραὰμ ὁ Λευΐ· καὶ, Ἔστωσαν αἱ ὀσφύες ὑμῶν περιεζωσμέναι διὰ τὸ δεῖν συστεῖλαι τὰς ὀρέξεις τὰς ὑπουργοὺς τῆς γεννήσεως. ∆ιαγράφει δὲ πόλιν ὑπὸ πολέμου κατειλημμένην, ὅτεπερ οἱ μὲν ἐν πλατείαις καὶ στενωποῖς οἰμώζοντες διαθέουσιν, τὸ δὲ θῆλυ γένος, καὶ νήπια ἐνορῶντα ταῖς φάλαγξι τῶν πολεμίων ὀδύρεται. Τὰ δὲ ὑψηλὰ καὶ διάκενα τῶν μαθημάτων ἐκάλεσε δώματα. Τὰς δὲ οἱονεὶ διαιρέσεις τῶν νοημάτων ῥύμας τῆς Μωαβίτιδος· εἴτ' οὖν τις ἐφ' ὑψωμάτων ἐγένετο ἐπαιρομένων κατὰ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ Θεοῦ· εἴτ' ἐν διαλεκτικῇ τινι λόγων διαιρέσει δοκούντων εὐκρινῶς περὶ ἑκάστου διαλαμβάνειν τῶν προβλημάτων· ὁ τοιοῦτος ὀλολυζέτω διὰ τῆς μετανοίας. Οὐ θεῖοι γὰρ, ἀλλ' ἀνθρώπινοι λογισμοὶ τῶν Μωαβιτῶν τὰ διδάγματα. Πῶς δὲ κατὰ τὴν λέξιν, ἡ ὀσφὺς βοᾷ τῆς Μωαβίτιδος, καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς γνώσεται; ἢ ὅτι προεισβάλλουσιν ἀεὶ τῶν ἀνηκέστων κακῶν ἀθυμίαι δειναί; 2097 ∆ηλοῖ τοίνυν ἡ τῆς ὀσφύος βοὴ, ὡς ἐν ὠδῖσιν ἡ Μωαβῖτίς ἐστι κεκρυμμένους ἔχουσα πόνους, φυσικῶς τε συναισθανομένη, καὶ ταῖς φήμαις σαλεύουσα. Βοᾷ γὰρ μέχρη Σηγὼρ, ἣν ὁρίζειν τὴν Μωαβῖτιν φασὶ, τοῦτ' ἔστιν ἡ πᾶσα χώρα μέχρι περάτων αὐτῆς, ἐξ ὧν ἡ Παλαιστίνη τὴν Ἀραβίαν ἐκδέχεται. Ἄλλως δὲ, τὸ ἐπικείμενον πένθος τῇ Μωαβίτιδι αἴτιον βίου γενόμενον σώφρονος, Βοᾷ ἐπὶ τῇ κραυγῇ τῆς Ἐσεβὼν καὶ Ἐλεάλη, καὶ Ἰασσά· τοῦ λόγουτὴν ἐπὶ μετανοίᾳ προκοπὴν ὑπεμφαίνοντος. Ὅτε θρηνοῦμεν ἑαυτούς τε καὶ τοὺς συνημαρτηκότας ἡμῖν, διὰ τῆς βοῆς κἀκείνοις γεγονότες