John Chrysostom, Expositions on the Psalms

we suffer. Do you now confess, you disobedient ones? and what sins? Tell 55.111 me. For is this the first time you have sinned? Indeed, you have now even become more reasonable. But not yet this; but I would ask you that: For what reason, though always sinning before, did you receive philanthropy from God, but now no longer, and what is more paradoxical, that you now sin less?

For then you were even initiated to Baal-peor, and you worshipped a calf, and you slaughtered your sons, and you killed your daughters, and this while enjoying signs; but now, not seeing the sea parted, nor a rock broken, nor prophets arriving, not enjoying the usual providence, you nevertheless show greater reasonableness; why then, when your sins are fewer, and your discretion greater, is the chastisement and the punishment greater?

Is it not clear even to the very foolish, that it is because the present sin is greater? For as long as you sinned against the servants, you received forgiveness, killing and stoning prophets; but when you stretched out your hands against the Master, your wound has henceforth become incurable. Therefore four hundred years have now passed, since the very ground of the city has vanished, the priesthood has been taken away, the kingdom has been dissolved, the things of the tribes have been confused, all those venerable and splendid things have vanished, and not even a trace is among you; which has never happened.

But in the beginning, even when the temple was destroyed, the prophets remained, and the gifts of the Spirit, and miracles; but now, so that you may learn clearly that God has turned away from you forever, these things too have been taken away; and servitude, and captivity, and the loss of all things has befallen you, and what is most grievous of all, abandonment by God.

4. And God has done the same thing, as if someone were to strip an ungrateful servant, who had been often scourged and not corrected, of his garments, and let him wander naked, desolate, a vagrant, begging and driven away everywhere. But previously your affairs were not such, but there were also prophets among you, both in Egypt, and in Babylon, and in the desert; Moses in Egypt, in Babylon Daniel and Ezekiel, in Egypt again Jeremiah; and miracles upon miracles, and the nation became more glorious, when the kings captive among you became more exalted.

But now all those things are gone, and the punishment is more grievous than the former ones, not only in the length of time, but also in the great abandonment. For what reason then, tell me, when you sinned more greatly, did you enjoy such providence; but when, as you say, you were even zealous for the law, you suffered worse things? For from this you accuse God of injustice, because He honored you when sinning, but dishonored you when doing right.

For if you killed a deceiver, as you say, and did right; or, if God is just, as indeed He is just, He ought to have honored you, not punished you; but if He punishes, it is clear that your present sins are more grievous. But if you are neither impious now, nor sacrifice children, as before, what other sin 55.112 is there for which you have suffered more grievous things? Or is it clear, that the audacity of the cross is the summit of evils?

This destroyed you more than idolatry, and calf-making, and child-slaying. For it is not the same, to slay one's own son, and to crucify one's own Master. For this reason, when you slaughtered your sons, you enjoyed philanthropy; but when you did so to the Son of God and your Master, you are henceforth punished without forgiveness. How many years from the exodus from Egypt until the coming of Christ?

I think it is fifteen hundred years and more. How then did He bear with you sinning in all these, but now has cast you away, when He ought especially to have crowned you, even if you had sinned much? For your good deed was very great, if indeed you slew a deceiver. And besides this you seem to keep the sabbaths now, and idols not

πάσχομεν. Νῦν ἐξομολογεῖσθε οἱ ἀπειθεῖς; καὶ ποίας ἁμαρτίας; εἰ 55.111 πέ μοι. Μὴ γὰρ νῦν πρῶτον ἡμαρτήκατε; Νῦν μὲν οὖν καὶ ἐπιεικέστεροι γεγόνατε. Ἀλλὰ μήπω τοῦτο· ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνο ἂν ὑμᾶς ἐροίμην· Τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀεὶ ἁμαρτάνοντες πρότερον ἐτυγχάνετε φιλανθρωπίας παρὰ Θεοῦ, νῦν δὲ οὐκέτι, καὶ τὸ δὴ παραδοξότερον, ὅτι ἐλάττονα νῦν ἁμαρτάνοντες; Τότε μὲν γὰρ καὶ τῷ Βεελφεγὼρ ἐτελεῖσθε, καὶ μόσχον προσεκυνήσατε, καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς ἐσφάξατε, καὶ τὰς θυγατέρας ὑμῶν ἀνείλετε, καὶ ταῦτα σημείων ἀπολαύοντες· νῦν δὲ οὐ θάλατταν ὁρῶντες σχιζομένην, οὐ πέτραν ῥηγνυμένην, οὐ προφήτας παραγινομένους, οὐ τῆς συνήθους ἀπολαύοντες προνοίας, ὅμως μείζονα ἐπιδείκνυσθε τὴν ἐπιείκειαν· τί δήποτε οὖν, ὅτε καὶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἐλάττονα, καὶ ἡ σωφροσύνη πλείων, μείζων ἡ κόλασις καὶ ἡ τιμωρία; Οὐκ εὔδηλον καὶ τοῖς σφόδρα ἀνοήτοις, ὅτι ἐπειδὴ μεῖζον τὸ νῦν ἁμάρτημα; Ἕως μὲν γὰρ εἰς τοὺς δούλους ἡμαρτάνετε, ἐτυγχάνετε συγγνώμης, προφήτας ἀναιροῦντες καὶ λιθάζοντες· ἐπειδὴ δὲ εἰς τὸν ∆εσπότην τὰς χεῖρας ἐξετείνατε, ἀνίατον γέγονεν ὑμῖν τὸ ἕλκος λοιπόν. ∆ιὸ τετρακόσια λοιπὸν ἔτη παρῆλθον, ἀφ' οὗ καὶ αὐτὸ τῆς πόλεως τὸ ἔδαφος ἠφάνισται, ἡ ἱερωσύνη ἀνῄρηται, ἡ βασιλεία λέλυται, τὰ τῶν φυλῶν συγκέχυται, πάντα τὰ σεμνὰ ἐκεῖνα καὶ λαμπρὰ ἠφάνισται, καὶ οὐδὲ ἴχνος παρ' ὑμῖν· ὅπερ οὐδέποτε γέγονεν. Ἀλλ' ἐν ἀρχῇ μὲν, καὶ τοῦ ναοῦ καθῃρημένου, οἱ προφῆται παρέμενον, καὶ Πνεύματος χορηγίαι, καὶ θαύματα· νυνὶ δὲ, ἵνα σαφῶς μάθητε ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ὑμᾶς ἀπέστραπται διηνεκῶς, καὶ ταῦτα ἀνῄρηται· καὶ δουλεία, καὶ αἰχμαλωσία, καὶ πάντων ἔκπτωσις κατέλαβε, καὶ τὸ πάντων χαλεπώτερον, Θεοῦ ἐγκατάλειψις. δʹ. Καὶ ταὐτὸν πεποίηκεν ὁ Θεὸς, οἷον ἂν εἴ τις δοῦλον ἀγνώμονα πολλάκις μαστιχθέντα καὶ μὴ διορθωθέντα ἀποδύσας τῶν ἱματίων, γυμνὸν, ἔρημον, ἀλήτην ἀφῇ πλανᾶσθαι, προσαιτοῦντα καὶ ἐλαυνόμενον πανταχοῦ. Πρότερον δὲ οὐ τοιαῦτα τὰ ὑμέτερα, ἀλλὰ καὶ προφῆται παρ' ὑμῖν, καὶ ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, καὶ ἐν Βαβυλῶνι, καὶ ἐν ἐρήμῳ· Μωϋσῆς ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ, ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ∆ανιὴλ καὶ Ἰεζεκιὴλ, ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ πάλιν Ἱερεμίας· καὶ θαύματα ἐπὶ θαύμασι, καὶ λαμπρότερον τὸ ἔθνος ἐγίνετο, τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν αἰχμαλώτων βασιλέων ὑψηλοτέρων γενομένων. Ἀλλὰ νῦν πάντα ἐκεῖνα οἴχεται, καὶ ἡ τιμωρία χαλεπωτέρα τῶν προτέρων, οὐ μόνον τῷ μήκει τοῦ χρόνου, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῇ πολλῇ ἐγκαταλείψει. Τίνος οὖν ἕνεκεν, εἰπέ μοι, ὅτε μείζονα ἡμαρτάνετε, τοσαύτης ἀπελαύετε προνοίας· ὅτε δὲ, ὥς φατε, καὶ ἐζηλώσατε ὑπὲρ τοῦ νόμου, χείρονα ἐπάθετε; Ἀπὸ γὰρ τούτου ἀδικίαν καταγινώσκετε τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι ἁμαρτάνοντας μὲν ἐτίμα, κατορθοῦντας δὲ ἠτίμασεν. Εἰ γὰρ πλάνον ἀνείλετε, ὥς φατε, καὶ κατωρθώσατε· ἢ, εἰ δίκαιος ὁ Θεὸς, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ δίκαιος, τιμᾷν ὑμᾶς ἔδει, οὐχὶ κολάζειν· εἰ δὲ κολάζει, εὔδηλον ὅτι τὰ νῦν ἁμαρτήματα ὑμῶν χαλεπώτερα. Εἰ δὲ οὔτε ἀσεβεῖτε νῦν, οὔτε τέκνα θύετε, ὡς πρὸ τούτου, ποῖον ἄλλο ἁμάρ 55.112 τημά ἐστι δι' ὃ χαλεπώτερα ἐπάθετε; Ἢ εὔδηλον, ὅτι τὸ τοῦ σταυροῦ τόλμημα ὁ κολοφὼν τῶν κακῶν; Τοῦτο καὶ εἰδωλολατρείας, καὶ μοσχοποιίας, καὶ παιδοκτονίας μᾶλλον ὑμᾶς ἀπώλεσεν. Οὐ γάρ ἐστιν ἴσον, υἱὸν σφάξαι τὸν ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ∆εσπότην τὸν ἑαυτοῦ σταυρῶσαι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο, ὅτε μὲν τοὺς υἱοὺς ἔσφαττες, φιλανθρωπίας ἀπέλαυες· ὅτε δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὸν Υἱὸν καὶ σὸν ∆εσπότην, ἀσύγγνωστα λοιπὸν κολάζῃ. Πόσα ἔτη ἀπὸ τῆς ἐξόδου τῆς κατ' Αἴγυπτον ἕως τῆς τοῦ Χριστοῦ παρουσίας; Οἶμαι χίλια πεντακόσια εἶναι καὶ πλείονα. Πῶς οὖν ἐν τούτοις ἅπασιν ἁμαρτάνοντας ὑμᾶς ἔφερε, νῦν δὲ ὑμᾶς ἔῤῥιψεν, ὅτε μάλιστα στεφανῶσαι ἔδει, κἂν πολλὰ ἡμαρτηκότες ἦτε; Τὸ γὰρ κατόρθωμα ὑμῶν πολὺ μέγιστον ἦν, εἴγε πλάνον ἐσφάξατε. Μετὰ δὲ τούτου καὶ σάββατα δοκεῖτε φυλάττειν νῦν, καὶ εἴδωλα οὐ