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teaching through the things brought forth in succession, that when the Assyrian came upon the city and “before the aqueduct of the upper pool of the way of the fuller’s field, there went out to him Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, the steward, and Somnas the scribe,” it is consistent to apply the preceding things to the history. The Hebrew said, therefore, that Somnas had become high priest, a certain luxurious man and unseemly in his life; so as even to betray the people and desert to Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians, to whom the prophet is commanded to go to the chamber, or according to Symmachus: to the one making a tent, or according to Aquila: to the one dwelling in a tent; for thus have they interpreted “chamber,” and to say to him: In vain, you there, and superfluously have you hewn for yourself a monument here by the high rock, carving in it with letters the symbols of your own memory, not knowing that a decree has been brought forth against you from the Lord Sabaoth, commanding that you, having been deposed from the honor which you presently share, and stripped of the robe that is around you, of the crown and of the other glory, are to die very far from this land, in some foreign and far-removed country. Superfluously, then, you were fond of beauty, gathering that great wealth and the chariots and the remaining pomp, with which even now you are still clothed. For all these things will be for trampling, when you are deposed and become cast out from the high priesthood, of which you have been shown to be unworthy, for God is a just judge and assigns to each what is fitting according to worth. To you, indeed, he will bring these things, but your other one, Eliakim, having approved him to be his child and good servant, he will clothe him with your robe and will honor him with the crown of the high priesthood, entrusting to him the stewardship which you for the time being are presently entrusted with; for the man is worthy of these things. Since, having been promoted by God, he will not be like you, some proud and arrogant man. But he will hold the place of a father to all who are to be administered by him; wherefore, as to a gentle and meek one, he will give the glory of David, the most meek and most just king, so that he will rule the people with much authority, with no one speaking against the things done by him. And he will be rooted and established and firmly founded in his ministry, so that every glorious one among the people will not be anxious nor suspect that envy or malice will ever come from him, but will trust in him as in a father. Therefore, all together, from the small to the great, will be attached to him, trusting in his care for all. And these things will be concerning this man, but the things foretold will happen to Somnas; for he himself will be moved and displaced, he who is now fixed in a faithful place, since he did not rightly nor faithfully manage the stewardship with which he was entrusted, wherefore he will be removed and deprived of the honor, and his glory will fall from him; and these things will happen to him, God having judged that he should suffer these things. But the word also disciplines us through these things, teaching us not to be puffed up in good fortune nor exalted in offices, so as to be unmindful of the judgment of God. Then, in accordance with the prophecy before this one concerning “the valley of Zion,” one might connect the preceding things and refer them also to the time of the passion of our Savior; saying that Somnas, who fell from the priesthood, is an image of those among the Jews who were consecrated priests physically according to the law of Moses, who, he decrees, after the saving passion will suffer the things prophesied, being stopped from the priesthood, and that Eliakim, interpreted as “resurrection of God,” is a symbol of the new and recent priesthood, which the resurrection of our Savior established in his church throughout the whole world. 1.83 If the prophecies concerning the foreigners dealt only with matters long past and long since accomplished in deeds, it would be superfluous to investigate them as containing nothing for us, but now in addition to

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διδάσκων διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς ἐπιφερομένων ὡς ἐπιστάντος τοῦ Ἀσσυρίου τῇ πόλει καὶ «πρὸ τοῦ ὑδραγωγοῦ τῆς κολυμβήθρας τῆς ἄνω ὁδοῦ τοῦ ἀγροῦ τοῦ γναφέως ἑστῶτος ἐξῆλθον πρὸς αὐτὸν Ἐλιακεὶμ ὁ τοῦ Χελκίου ὁ οἰκονόμος καὶ Σομνᾶς ὁ γραμματεύς», ἀκόλουθόν ἐστι τὰ προκείμενα ἐφαρμόσαι τῇ ἱστορίᾳ. ἔλεγε τοίνυν ὁ Ἑβραῖος ἀρχιερέα γεγονέναι τὸν Σομνᾶν τρυφητήν τινα καὶ τὸν βίον ἄσεμνον ἄνδρα· ὡς καὶ προδοῦναι τὸν λαὸν καὶ αὐτομολῆσαι πρὸς Σεναχηρεὶμ τὸν τῶν Ἀσσυρίων βασιλέα, πρὸς ὃν κελεύεται βαδίζειν ὁ προφήτης εἰς τὸ παστοφόριον, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον· πρὸς τὸν σκηνοποιοῦντα, ἢ κατὰ τὸν Ἀκύλαν· πρὸς τὸν σκηνοῦντα· οὕτως γὰρ ἡρμήνευσαν οὗτοι τὸ παστοφόριον, εἰπεῖν τε αὐτῷ· Μάτην, ὦ οὗτος, καὶ περιττῶς ἐνθάδε σαυτῷ πρὸς τῇ πέτρᾳ τῇ ὑψηλῇ ἐλατόμησας μνημεῖον, κολάψας ἐν αὐτῷ γράμμασι τὰ τῆς σαυτοῦ μνήμης σύμβολα οὐκ εἰδώς, ὅτι ὅρος ἐξενήνεκται κατὰ σοῦ παρὰ κυρίου σαβαώθ, κελεύων καθαιρεθέντα σε τῆς τιμῆς, ἧς ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος μετέχεις, καὶ γυμνωθέντα τῆς περικειμένης σοι στολῆς, τοῦ στεφάνου καὶ τῆς ἄλλης δόξης, πορρωτάτω τῆς ἐνταυθοῖ γῆς, ἐπὶ ξένης τινὸς καὶ μακρὰν ἀπῳκισμένης χώρας ἀποθανεῖν. περιττῶς ἄρα ἐφιλοκάλεις τὸν πολὺν ἐκεῖνον συνάγων πλοῦτον καὶ τὰ ἅρματα καὶ τὸν λοιπὸν τῦφον, ὃν εἰσέτι καὶ νῦν περιβέβλησαι. πάντα γὰρ ταῦτα ἔσται εἰς καταπάτημα, ἐπειδὰν καθαιρεθείης καὶ ἀπόβλητος γένοιο τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης, ἧς ἀνάξιος ἀπεφάνθης, κριτὴς δὲ ὢν δίκαιος ὁ θεὸς καὶ κατ' ἀξίαν ἑκάστῳ νέμων τὸ πρέπον. σοὶ μὲν ταῦτα ἐποίσει, τὸν δὲ ἕτερόν σου τὸν Ἐλιακεὶμ παῖδα καὶ δοῦλον ἀγαθὸν ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι δοκιμάσας, τὴν σὴν ἐνδύσει στολὴν καὶ τῷ στεφάνῳ τῆς ἀρχιερωσύνης τιμήσει ἐγχειρίσας αὐτῷ, ἣν τέως ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος σὺ πεπίστευσαι οἰκονομίαν· ἄξιος γὰρ ὁ ἀνὴρ τούτων. ἐπειδὴ καὶ προαχθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, οὐκ ἔσται σοι ὅμοιος ὑπερήφανός τις καὶ ἀλαζών. χώραν δὲ πατρὸς ἐφέξει πρὸς πάντας τοὺς μέλλοντας ὑπ' αὐτοῦ διοικεῖσθαι· διόπερ ὡς ἠπίῳ καὶ πράῳ τὴν δόξαν ∆αυὶδ τοῦ βασιλέως τοῦ πραοτάτου καὶ δικαιοτάτου δώσει, ὥστε ἄρχειν τοῦ λαοῦ μετὰ πολλῆς ἐξουσίας, ὡς μηδένα ἀντιλέξειν τοῖς ὑπ' αὐτοῦ πραττομένοις. ἔσται δὲ ἐρριζωμένος καὶ ἐστηλωμένος καὶ βεβαίως ἱδρυμένος ἐπὶ τὴν αὐτοῦ λειτουργίαν, ὡς πάντα τὸν ἐν τῷ λαῷ ἔνδοξον μὴ ἀγωνιᾶν μηδ' ὑφορᾶσθαι φθόνον ἢ βασκανίαν ἐξ αὐτοῦ γενησομένην ποτέ, πεποιθέναι δὲ ἐπ' αὐτῷ ὡς ἐπὶ πατρί. πάντες γοῦν ἀθρόως ἀπὸ μικροῦ ἕως μεγάλου ἔσονται ἀνηρτημένοι αὐτῷ, θαρροῦντες αὐτοῦ τῇ περὶ πάντας κηδεμονίᾳ. καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἔσται περὶ τοῦτον, τὰ δὲ προλεχθέντα γενήσεται τῷ Σομνᾷ· κινηθήσεται γὰρ καὶ μετασταθήσεται αὐτὸς οὗτος ὁ νῦν ἐστηριγμένος ἐν τόπῳ πιστῷ, ἐπεὶ μὴ ὀρθῶς μηδὲ πιστῶς διῴκησεν ἣν ἐπιστεύθη οἰκονομίαν, διὸ μεταχθήσεται καὶ ἀφαιρεθήσεται τῆς τιμῆς, καὶ πεσεῖται ἡ δόξα ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· καὶ ταῦτα περὶ αὐτὸν ἔσται, κρίναντος αὐτὸν ταῦτα παθεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ. σωφρονίζει δὲ διὰ τούτων καὶ ἡμᾶς ὁ λόγος παιδεύων, μὴ χαυνοῦσθαι ἐν ταῖς εὐπραγίαις μηδ' ἐπαίρεσθαι ἐν ταῖς ἀρχαῖς, ὡς καὶ τῆς κρίσεως ἀμνημονεῖν τοῦ θεοῦ. εἶτ' ἀκολούθως τῇ πρὸ ταύτης προφητείᾳ τῇ περὶ «τῆς φάραγγος Σιὼν» συνάψειέ τις τὰ προκείμενα καὶ τὸν καιρὸν τοῦ πάθους τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀνοίσει καὶ αὐτά· τὸν μὲν ἐκπίπτοντα τῆς ἱερωσύνης Σομνᾶν εἰκόνα λέγων εἶναι τῶν κατὰ τὸν Μωσέως νόμον σωματικῶς ἱερωμένων παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις, οὓς μετὰ τὸ πάθος τὸ σωτήριον πείσεσθαι τὰ προφητευόμενα παυομένους τῆς ἱερωσύνης θεσπίζει, τὸν δὲ Ἐλιακεὶμ θεοῦ ἀνάστασιν ἑρμηνευόμενον σύμβολον εἶναι τῆς νέας καὶ καινῆς ἱερωσύνης, ἣν ἡ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἀνάστασις ἐν τῇ αὐτοῦ ἐκκλησίᾳ καθ' ὅλης τῆς οἰκουμένης συνεστήσατο. 1.83 Εἰ μὲν περὶ πραγμάτων πάλαι παρεληλυθότων καὶ τοῖς ἔργοις ἐκ μακροῦ τετελεσμένων μόνων διελάμβανον αἱ περὶ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων προφητεῖαι, περιττὸν ἦν αὐτὰς πολυπραγμονεῖν μηδὲν πρὸς ἡμᾶς περιεχούσας, νῦν δὲ πρὸς τῷ