151

being solved? What then is this? You heard Paul saying before: What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness; but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. This is what Isaiah also says here; for, "I was found by those who did not seek Me, I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me," is the same as saying, "That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness, have attained righteousness." Then showing that what happened was not of God’s grace alone, but also of the will of those who came to Him, just as indeed their fall was from the contentiousness of those who disobeyed, hear what he added: But to Israel he says: "All day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient and contrary people;" by "day" here meaning all the time before; and to "stretch out the hands," signifies to call and to draw to oneself and to entreat. Then showing that the entire blame was theirs, he says: "To a disobedient and contrary people." c. Do you see how great the accusation is? For these were not persuaded even when He entreated, but even contradicted, and this not once, not twice, not three times, but seeing Him doing these things through all time; while others who had never known Him were able to draw Him to themselves. But he does not say that they were able to draw Him to themselves, but, pulling down the pride of those from the Gentiles too, and showing that His grace accomplished the whole thing, he says that "I was made manifest," and "I was found." "Therefore were they," he says, "void of all things?" By no means; but to receive what was found and to recognize what was made manifest, this they contributed from themselves. Then, lest these should say, "Why then were You not made manifest to us too?" he adds something more than this, that "Not only was I made manifest, but I even remained with My hands spread out and entreating, showing the care of a loving father and a child-loving mother." See how he has brought in the clearest solution to all the difficulties raised before, by showing that their destruction came from their own will, and how they are from every side unworthy of pardon. 60.576 For even having heard and understood the things that were said, not even so did they wish to come to Him. And what is much more, not only did He make them hear these things, nor only understand, but also that which has greater power to stir up, and to draw to Himself the contentious and contrary, this too He added. What is this then? To provoke them and to make them jealous. For you know the tyranny of this passion, and how much power the nature of jealousy has to break all contentiousness, and to raise up those who have fallen away. And why must one say this of men, when indeed even in irrational animals and in the unripe age of children it displays great power? For a child often, when entreated, did not yield to his father, but remained contentious; but when another child was cared for, even without being called he returned to his father's bosom, and what entreaty could not do, jealousy accomplished. This, therefore, God also did. For not only did He entreat, and stretch out His hands, but He also stirred up the passion of jealousy in them, bringing in those who were far inferior to them (which is what especially causes jealousy), not into their goods, but what was much greater and makes the passion more tyrannical, into things much greater than theirs and more necessary, and which they themselves had never even imagined in a dream. But not even so did they yield. Of what pardon, then, would they be worthy, after displaying such an excess of contentiousness? Of none. But this he himself does not say, but from the conclusion of what has been said he leaves it for the conscience of the hearers to deduce, and again he establishes it through the following things with his accustomed wisdom. For what he did before, introducing objections both regarding the law and regarding the people, which contained a greater accusation than the existing one, then in the solution which overthrows this, conceding as much as he wished, and the facts allowed, so as to make his argument inoffensive; this also

151

λυόμενον; Τί δὲ τοῦτό ἐστιν; Ἤκουσας Παύλου ἔμπροσθεν λέγοντος· Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν; Ὅτι ἔθνη τὰ μὴ διώκοντα δικαιοσύνην, κατέλαβε δικαιοσύνην· Ἰσραὴλ δὲ διώκων νόμον δικαιοσύνης, εἰς νόμον δικαιοσύνης οὐκ ἔφθασε. Τοῦτο καὶ ὁ Ἡσαΐας ἐνταῦθά φησι· τὸ γὰρ, Εὑρέθην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ζητοῦσιν, ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην τοῖς ἐμὲ μὴ ἐπερωτῶσι, ταυτόν ἐστι τῷ εἰπεῖν, ὅτι Ἔθνη τὰ μὴ διώκοντα δικαιοσύνην, κατέλαβε δικαιοσύνην. Εἶτα δεικνὺς, ὅτι οὐ τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ μόνον χάριτος ἦν τὸ γινόμενον, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς γνώμης τῶν προσελθόντων, ὥσπερ οὖν καὶ ἡ ἐκείνων ἔκπτωσις τῆς φιλονεικίας τῶν ἀπειθησάντων, ἄκουσον τί ἐπήγαγε· Πρὸς δὲ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ λέγει· Ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἐξεπέτασα τὰς χεῖράς μου πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα· ἡμέραν ἐνταῦθα τὸν πάντα χρόνον λέγων τὸν ἔμπροσθεν· τὸ δὲ ἐκπετάσαι τὰς χεῖρας, τὸ καλέσαι καὶ ἐπισπάσασθαι καὶ παρακαλέσαι δηλοῖ. Εἶτα δεικνὺς τὸ ἔγκλημα ἅπαν ἐκείνων ὂν, φησί· Πρὸς λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα. γʹ. Εἶδες πόση ἡ κατηγορία; Οὗτοι μὲν γὰρ οὐδὲ παρακαλοῦντι ἐπείσθησαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντεῖπον, καὶ ταῦτα οὐχ ἅπαξ, οὐ δὶς, οὐ τρὶς, ἀλλὰ καὶ διὰ παντὸς τοῦ χρόνου ταῦτα ποιοῦντα ὁρῶντες· ἕτεροι δὲ οἱ μηδέποτε αὐτὸν ἐγνωκότες ἴσχυσαν αὐτὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι. Ἀλλ' οὐ λέγει, ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἴσχυσαν αὐτὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι, ἀλλὰ καθαιρῶν καὶ τῶν ἐξ ἐθνῶν τὰ φρονήματα, καὶ δεικνὺς τὴν αὐτοῦ χάριν τὸ πᾶν ἐργασαμένην φησὶν, ὅτι Ἐγὼ ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην, καὶ Ἐγὼ εὑρέθην. Οὐκοῦν κενοὶ πάντων ἐκεῖνοι, φησίν; Οὐδαμῶς· ἀλλὰ τὰ εὑρεθέντα λαβεῖν καὶ τὰ φανέντα ἐπιγνῶναι, τοῦτο παρ' ἑαυτῶν εἰσήνεγκαν. Εἶτα ἵνα μὴ λέγωσιν οὗτοι, ∆ιὰ τί οὖν καὶ ἡμῖν ἐμφανὴς οὐκ ἐγένου; τὸ πλέον τούτου τίθησιν, ὅτι Οὐ μόνον ἐμφανὴς ἐγενόμην, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρέμεινα τὰς χεῖρας ἀναπεταννὺς καὶ παρακαλῶν, πατρὸς φιλοστόργου καὶ μητρὸς φιλόπαιδος κηδεμονίαν ἐπιδεικνύμενος. Ὅρα πῶς σαφεστάτην τῶν ἔμπροσθεν διαπορηθέντων ἁπάντων τὴν λύσιν ἐπήγαγε, δείξας τῆς γνώμης αὐτῶν τὴν ἀπώλειαν γενομένην, καὶ ὡς πάντοθεν ἀνάξιοι συγγνώ 60.576 μης εἰσί. Καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἀκούσαντες καὶ νοήσαντες τὰ λεγόμενα, οὐδὲ οὕτως ἐβουλήθησαν προσελθεῖν. Καὶ τὸ πολὺ πλέον, ὅτι οὐ μόνον ἀκοῦσαι αὐτοὺς ταῦτα ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ μόνον νοῆσαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὃ μείζονα ἰσχὺν ἔχει πρὸς τὸ διεγεῖραι, καὶ φιλονεικοῦντας καὶ ἀντιλέγοντας ἐπισπάσασθαι, καὶ τοῦτο προσέθηκε. Ποῖον δὴ τοῦτο; Τὸ παρακνίσαι αὐτοὺς καὶ παραζηλῶσαι. Ἴστε γὰρ τοῦ πάθους τὴν τυραννίδα, καὶ ὅσην ἔχει τὴν ἰσχὺν τῆς ζηλοτυπίας ἡ φύσις πρὸς τὸ λῦσαι φιλονεικίαν ἅπασαν, καὶ τοὺς ἀναπεπτωκότας διαναστῆσαι. Καὶ τί δεῖ λέγειν ἐπ' ἀνθρώπων τοῦτο, ὅπου γε καὶ ἐπὶ ἀλόγων καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἡλικίας τῆς ἀώρου τῶν παιδίων πολλὴν τὴν δύναμιν ἐπιδείκνυται; Καὶ γὰρ παιδίον πολλάκις παρακαλούμενον μὲν οὐκ εἶξε τῷ πατρὶ, ἀλλ' ἔμεινε φιλονεικοῦν· ἑτέρου δὲ θεραπευθέντος παιδίου, καὶ μὴ καλούμενον ἐπανῆλθε πρὸς τοὺς κόλπους τοὺς πατρικοὺς, καὶ ὅπερ οὐκ ἴσχυσεν ἡ παράκλησις, τοῦτο ἐποίησεν ἡ παραζήλωσις. Τοῦτο τοίνυν καὶ ὁ Θεὸς ἐποίησεν. Οὐ γὰρ παρεκάλεσε μόνον, καὶ τὰς χεῖρας ἐξεπέτασεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ τῆς ζηλοτυπίας ἐν αὐτοῖς διήγειρε πάθος, τοὺς πολλῷ καταδεεστέρους αὐτῶν (ὃ μάλιστα ποιεῖ παραζήλωσιν) εἰσάγων, οὐκ εἰς τὰ ἐκείνων ἀγαθὰ, ἀλλ' ὃ πολλῷ μεῖζον ἦν καὶ τυραννικώτερον ποιεῖ τὸ πάθος, εἰς τὰ πολλῷ μείζονα ἐκείνων καὶ ἀναγκαιότερα, καὶ ἃ μηδὲ ὄναρ αὐτοί ποτε ἐφαντάσθησαν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ οὕτως εἶξαν. Τίνος οὖν ἂν εἶεν συγγνώμης ἄξιοι μετὰ τοσαύτης ὑπερβολῆς τὴν φιλονεικίαν ἐπιδειξάμενοι; Οὐδεμιᾶς. Ἀλλὰ τοῦτο μὲν αὐτὸς οὐ λέγει, καταλιμπάνει δὲ ἐκ τοῦ συμπεράσματος τῶν εἰρημένων τῷ συνειδότι τῶν ἀκουόντων αὐτὸ συλλογίσασθαι, καὶ πάλιν αὐτὸ καὶ διὰ τῶν ἑξῆς κατασκευάζει μετὰ τῆς εἰωθυίας αὐτῷ σοφίας. Ὅπερ γὰρ τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐποίησεν, ἀντιθέσεις εἰσάγων καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ νόμου καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λαοῦ, μείζονα κατηγορίαν ἐχούσας τῆς οὔσης, εἶτα ἐν τῇ λύσει τῇ ἀνατρεπούσῃ ταύτην τοσαῦτα συγχωρῶν, ὅσα ἐβούλετο, καὶ τὰ πράγματα ἐδίδου, ὥστε ἀνεπαχθῆ ποιῆσαι τὸν λόγον· τοῦτο καὶ