137

he says to the unbelievers: Were you not the one meditating with your harsh spirit to destroy them with a spirit of wrath? but since they bore all things nobly for Christ's sake, he added: The iniquity of Jacob shall be taken away, saying this is the cause of the remission of sins and of the blessing. For if she will be saved through childbearing, if they remain in faith and love and holiness with self-control, according to the Apostle, it follows that Jacob also, having begotten children, should share in their blessing through their virtue. And it shows that many will be saved through the apostolic grace, and of those who are their neighbors according to the flesh. And especially he says these things will happen when idolatry is abolished by the teaching of the aforementioned. But some say, since he said that the world will be filled with the fruit of Israel, as if someone objected: "and yet he became hard, and he killed the saints," he says, that the source of gentleness did not approach them in proportion to what they did, but overcoming with love for humanity, he will not destroy at once the chosen race on account of the fathers. Therefore God says through one of the prophets: "What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Shall I make you as Admah, and as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me. My repentance is stirred up. I will not act according to the anger of my wrath. I will not abandon Ephraim to be blotted out, because I am God in you, and not a man, a holy one in you." For as God, he has unspeakable gentleness. But some say that they did not receive like for like. For they raised up idols to the destruction of his divinity, as far as it was in their power; but he does not completely destroy them, but partly rebuking, partly reminding them of the good things they had received, he made the recall from captivity. But saying, Were you not the one meditating with your harsh spirit to destroy them? he reminds them of the threat, which they 2240 made against the idols, boldly promising to exterminate them, urging them to put the promise into action. For so, he says, you will also be cleansed from your sins. But let us return to the first explanation. For when the apostles had done these things, and had filled the earth with the preaching, the flock that was formerly inhabited will be let go. For it did not receive the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep. Therefore they made their own souls, like certain lands, into a pasture, which a boar from the wood ravaged, and a wild beast devoured, and in them the destroyers rested. Which Symmachus translated thus: For a fortified city, alone, beautiful is abandoned, and is left desolate, as a desert. There a calf will graze, and there it will lie down, and will consume her branches. When her harvest is withered, they will be broken. With which also those of the other interpreters agree. And this is the strong city and the beautiful vineyard mentioned before, which he says will be desolate after the preaching of the apostles is established everywhere, and the destruction of idolatry. Some say. that having said that an equal penalty would not be demanded for the wrongs Israel committed against the saints, he adds what then the measure of the movement against them will be. Fighting and reproaching he will send them away, that is, from intimacy with him. For the Savior sent Israel away, fighting, instead of rebuking. For he said, reproaching them: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets," and what follows. You see how, rebuking, he sent them away. But the remnant has been saved, as Isaiah says: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved." And the prophet also reproaches them with boldness, as having made it a practice to kill the saints. And if you should deny it, he says, there is a witness who says: "For which of the prophets did your fathers not kill?" And again: "For it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem." And having rebuked them in the midst, he again holds to the former sequence, speaking as from God. For this reason the iniquity of Jacob will be taken away. For what reason? because he did not destroy as he himself did,

137

πρὸς τοὺς ἀπίστους φησίν· Οὐ σὺ ἦσθα ὁ μελετῶν τῷ πνεύματι τῷ σκληρῷ ἀνελεῖν αὐτοὺς πνεύματι θυμοῦ; ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ πάντα ἔφερον γενναίως διὰ Χριστὸν, ἐπήνεγκεν· Ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἡ ἀνομία Ἰακὼβ, τοῦτο αἴτιον τῆς τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἀφέσεως, καὶ τῆς εὐλογίας εἰπών. Εἰ γὰρ σωθήσεται διὰ τῆς τεκνογονίας, ἑὰν μείνωσιν ἐν πίστει καὶ ἀγάπῃ καὶ ἁγιασμῷ μετὰ σωφροσύνης, κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον, ἀκόλουθόν ἐστι καὶ τὸν Ἰακὼβ τέκνα βλαστήσαντα, διὰ τῆς τούτων ἀρετῆς κοινωνῆσαι αὐτῶν τῇ εὐλογίᾳ. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ πολλοὺς διὰ τῆς ἀποστολικῆς σωθήσεσθαι χάριτος καὶ τῶν κατὰ σάρκα γειτνιώντων αὐτοῖς. Μάλιστα δὲ ταῦτα γενήσεσθαί φησι τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας καταργουμένης τῇ τῶν εἰρημένων διδασκαλία. Τινὲς δέ φασιν, ἐπειδήπερ εἶπεν, ὡς ἡ οἰκουμένη τοῦ καρποῦ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἐμπλησθήσεται, ὥς τινος ἀνθυποφέροντος· καὶ μὴν γέγονε σκληρὸς, καὶ τοὺς ἁγίους ἀπέκτεινέ φησιν, ὡς οὐ πρὸς ἃ ἔπραξαν αὐτοῖς, ἡ τῆς ἡμερότητος προσῆλθεν πηγὴ, νικῶν δὲ φιλανθρωπίᾳ, οὐκ εἰς ἅπαξ ἀπολεῖ τὸ διὰ τοὺς πατέρας ἀπόλεκτον γένος. Τοιγαροῦν φησὶ διά τινος τῶν προφητῶν ὁ Θεός· "Τί σοι ποιήσω, Ἐφραΐμ; Τί σοι ποιήσω, Ἰούδα; Ὡς Ἀδαμὰ θήσομαί σε, καιὡς Σεβωείμ; Μετεστράφη ἡ καρδία μου ἐν τῷ αὐτῷ. Συνεταράχθη ἡ μεταμέλειά μου. Οὐ μὴ ποιήσω κατὰ τὴν ὀργὴν τοῦ θυμοῦ μου. Οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψω τοῦ ἐξαλειφθῆναι τὸν Ἐφραῒμ, διότι Θεὸς ἐγὼ ἐν σοὶ, καὶ οὐκ ἄνθρωπος ἐν σοὶ ἅγιος." Ὡς γὰρ Θεὸς ἄφατον ἔχει τὴν ἡμερότητα. Τινὲς δέ φασιν ὡς οὐ τῶν ὁμοίων ἔτυχον. Αὐτοὶ μὲν γὰρ ἀνέστησαν εἴδωλα πρὸς ἀναίρεσιν τῆς αὐτοῦ θεότητος ὅσον τὸ ἐπ' αὐτούς· αὐτὸς δὲ οὐ παντελῶς αὐτοὺς ἀναιρεῖ, ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ἐπιπλήττων, τὰ δὲ ὑπομιμνήσκων, ὧν ἔτυχον ἀγαθῶν, τὴν ἀνάκλησιν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας ἐποιήσατο. Λέγων δὲ, Οὐ σὺ ἦσθα ὁ μελετῶν τῷ πνεύματί σου τῷ σκληρῷ ἀνελεῖν αὐτούς; ὑπομιμνήσκει τῆς ἀπειλῆς, ἧς 2240 κατὰ τῶν εἰδώλων ἐποιοῦντο θρασέως ἐπαγγελλόμενοι ἐκτρίψειν αὐτὰ, παρακαλῶν αὐτοὺς εἰς ἔργον ἀγαγεῖν τὴν ὑπόσχεσιν. Οὕτω γὰρ, φησὶ, καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ὑμῶν καθαρισθήσεσθε. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐξήγησιν ἐπανέλθωμεν. Ταῦτα γὰρ τῶν ἀποστόλων πεποιηκότων, καὶ τοῦ κηρύγματος πεπληρωκότων τὴν γῆν, τὸ πάλαι κατοικούμενον ποίμνιον ἀφεθήσεται. Οὐ γὰρ ἐδέξατο τὸν καλὸν ποιμένα τὸν θέντα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ψυχὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν προβάτων. ∆ιὸ τὰς ἑαυτῶν ψυχὰς, οἷα δὴ χώρας τινὰς, ἐποίησαν βόσκημα, ἃς ἐλυμήνατο ὗς ἐκ δρυμοῦ, καὶ μονιὸς ἄγριος κατενεμήσατο, καὶ ἐν αὐταῖς οἱ φθείροντες ἀνεπαύσαντο. Ἅπερ οὕτως ἐξέδωκε Σύμμαχος· Πόλις γὰρ ὠχυρωμένη μόνη, καλὴ ἀφεῖται, καὶ ἐγκαταλέλειπται, ὡς ἔρημος. Ἐκεῖ νεμηθήσεται μόσχος, καὶ ἐκεῖ κοιτασθήσεται, καὶ ἀναλώσει τοὺς κλάδους αὐτῆς. Ἐν τῷ ξηρανθῆναι τὸν θερισμὸν αὐτῆς, συντριβήσονται. Οἷς καὶ τὰ τῶν λοιπῶν ἑρμηνευτῶν συμφωνεῖ. Αὔτη δέ ἐστιν ἡ καὶ πρὶν εἰρημένη πόλις ὀχυρὰ καὶ ἀμπελὼν ἡ καλὸς, ἥν φησιν ἔρημον ἔσεσθαι μετὰ τὸ τῶν ἀποστόλων πανταχοῦ κυρωθῆναι τὸ κήρυγμα, καὶ τὴν τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας καθαίρεσιν. Τινές φασιν. ὡς εἰπὼν μὴ τὴν ἴσην ἀπαιτηθήσεσθαι δίκην ὧν κατὰ τῶν ἁγίων ἐπλημμέλησεν Ἰσραὴλ, ἐπάγει ποῖον ἄρα τὸ μέτρον τῆς ἐπ' αὐτοῖς ἔσται κινήσεως. Μαχόμενος καὶ ὀνειδίζων ἐξαποστελεῖ αὐτοὺς, δηλονότι τῆς πρὸς αὐτὸν οἰκειότητος. Ἀπεπέμψατο γὰρ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ὁ Σωτὴρ μαχόμενος, ἀντὶ τοῦ ἐπιπλήττων. Ἔφασκε γὰρ ὀνειδίζων αὐτοῖς· "Ἱερουσαλὴμ, Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας," καὶ τὰ ἐφεξῆς. Ὁρᾷς ὡς ἐπιπλήττων, αὐτοὺς ἀπεπέμψατο. Ἀλλὰ σέσωσται τὸ κατάλειμμα, καθά φησιν Ἡσαΐας· "Ἐὰν ᾖ ὁ ἀριθμὸς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς ἡ ἄμμος τῆς θαλάσσης, τὸ κατάλειμμα σωθήσεται." Ὀνειδίζει δὲ καὶ ὁ προφήτης μετὰ παῤῥησίας αὐτοῖς, ὡς μελέτην πεποιημένοις ἀναιρεῖν τοὺς ἁγίους. Κἂν ἀρνήσησθε, φησὶν, μάρτυς ὁ λέγων· "Τίνα γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἀπέκτειναν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν;" Καὶ πάλιν· "Ὅτι οὐκ ἐνδέχεται προφήτην ἀπολέσθαι ἔξω Ἰερουσαλήμ." ∆ιὰ μέσου δὲ τούτους ἐλέγξας, πάλιν ἔχεται τῆς πρώην ἀκολουθίας ὡς ἐκ Θεοῦ λέγων. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἀφαιρεθήσεται ἡ ἀνομία Ἰακώβ. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ποῖον; ἐπειδὴ οὐχ ὡς αὐτὸς ἀνεῖλεν,