180

being deemed worthy to see the ground formerly considered holy by them; but circling it from the outside, they bring confirmation to the Scripture at hand which says: They shall return at evening, and shall hunger like a dog, and go round about the city. And next to these things is stated the reason for which they will suffer these things; For behold, it says, they shall speak out with their mouth, and a sword is in their lips, for who has heard? for they have suffered all these things because of their godless and impious cries, which they uttered against our Savior, shouting before Pilate: Away with him, away with him, crucify him. His blood be on us and on our children; which the passage indeed signifies, saying: Behold, they shall speak out with their mouth and a sword is in their lips. But instead of, For who has heard? Symmachus has interpreted it more clearly, saying: They cried out as if no one were listening. For they barked such things against the Savior, as if no one were watching, and as if God were not hearing their voice. But they indeed cried out as if no one were listening; but you yourself, the overseer and judge of all, not only heard them barking such things, but also made them ridiculous. And how were they not ridiculous, those who thought they could conquer the doer of so many wondrous works with their own wickedness? And in the 2nd psalm it is also said: He who dwells in the heavens will laugh at them, and the Lord will mock them. 23.544 You will bring to nothing all the nations. But instead of, You will bring to nothing all the nations, Symmachus interpreted it, He will rebuke all the nations. And the passage indicates a certain rebuke of God towards all the nations. For since it was said above: Give heed to visit all the nations; it teaches accordingly that God, in visiting, will first rebuke all the nations, then turn them from polytheistic and idolatrous error. It is possible to know the result of this passage by observing how, after the coming of our Savior, the nations that were especially terrified by polytheistic error, having at the beginning of the preaching opposed the reception of the word, were brought to their senses by sieges and certain other converting circumstances, with God in this way speaking out and rebuking them; thus, at least, having been brought to their senses after these things, they were subjected to the word of salvation, Wherefore it is said next from the person of the Savior: I will keep my strength for you, for God is my helper, my God, his mercy will go before me; God will show me among my enemies; or according to Symmachus, He will make me look upon those who wall me in. And in another place it is also said: And my eye has looked upon those who rise up against me doing evil, my ear will hear. But David also saw the fall and the end of Saul, and he looked upon his destruction by death. Do not kill them, lest they forget your people. Again in the plural, Do not kill them, it says, and scatter them, and bring them down; no enemy of David other than Saul alone being shown from the history at the time when these things were said. But indeed the prophetic spirit cries out these things also from the person of the Savior concerning those who rose up against him, about whom it was said: And the peoples have imagined vain things. The kings of the earth stood by, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. Therefore, do not kill those who have studied the prophecies concerning him in vain, nor their rulers and leaders, it says, but scatter and bring them down. And he prays for them to be deposed from their rank; which also has happened. At least there is no longer a king, nor a high priest, nor a prophet, nor even scribes and Pharisees, and Sadducees among them. Yet it does not say that they should be killed. For this reason their race has continued, and the succession of their children increases. For they were not killed, nor were they extinguished from among men; but they exist and they endure; yet in such a way as having been cast down

180

τὸ πάλαι νενομισμένον αὐτοῖς ἱερὸν ἔδαφος θεάσασθαι καταξιούμενοι· ἔξωθεν δὲ κυκλοῦντες, πίστιν ἐπάγουσι τῇ μετὰ χεῖρας λεγούσῃ Γραφῇ· Ἐπιστρέψουσιν εἰς ἑσπέραν, καὶ λιμώξουσιν ὡς κύων, καὶ κυκλώσουσι πόλιν. Καὶ τούτοις ἑξῆς ἐπιλέγεται ἡ αἰτία δι' ἣν ταῦτα πείσονται· Ἰδοὺ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἀποφθέγξονται ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτῶν, καὶ ῥομφαία ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτῶν, ὅτι τίς ἤκουσε; ταῦτα γὰρ ἅπαντα πεπόνθασι διὰ τὰς ἀθέους αὐτῶν καὶ δυσσεβεῖς φωνὰς, ἃς κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν ἠφίεσαν, ἐπὶ τοῦ Πιλάτου βοῶντες· Αἶρε, αἶρε, σταύρωσον αὐτόν. Τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ἐφ' ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα ἡμῶν· ὃ δὴ σημαίνει φάσκων ὁ λόγος· Ἰδοὺ ἀποφθέγξονται ἐν στόματι αὐτῶν καὶ ῥομφαία ἐν τοῖς χείλεσιν αὐτῶν. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Ὅτι τίς ἤκουσε; σαφέστερον ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Σύμμαχος εἰπών· Ὡς οὐδενὸς ἀκούοντος ἐβόων. Τοιαῦτα γὰρ κατὰ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὑλάκτουν, ὡς μηδενὸς ὑφορῶντος, καὶ ὡς μὴ τῆς φωνῆς αὐτῶν ἐπακροωμένου τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ἀλλ' ἐκεῖνοι μὲν ὡς μηδενὸς ἀκούοντος ἐβόων· σὺ δὲ αὐτὸς ὁ πάντων ἔφορος κριτὴς οὐ μόνον ἤκουες τὰ τοιαῦτα ὑλακτούντων, ἀλλὰ καὶ καταγελάστους ἐποίεις. Καὶ πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἦσαν, καταγέλαστοι οἱ νομίζοντες δύνασθαι τὸν τῶν τοσούτων παραδόξων ἔργων ποιητὴν τῇ ἑαυτῶν νικήσειν κακίᾳ; Καὶ ἐν τῷ βʹ δὲ εἴρηται ψαλμῷ· Ὁ κατοικῶν ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἐκγελάσεται αὐτοὺς, καὶ Κύριος ἐκμυκτηριεῖ αὐτούς. 23.544 Ἐξουδενώσεις πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. Ἀντὶ δὲ τοῦ, Ἐξουδενώσεις πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, ὁ Σύμμαχος, Ἐπιφράξει πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, ἡρμήνευσε. ∆ηλοῖ δὲ ὁ λόγος ἐπιτίμησίν τινα τοῦ Θεοῦ πρὸς πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ ἀνωτέρω ἐλέγετο· Πρόσχες τοῦ ἐπισκέψασθαι πάντα τὰ ἔθνη· ἀκολούθως διδάσκει, ὡς ἐπισκοπῶν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπιτιμήσει πρότερον πᾶσι τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εἶτ' ἐπιστρέψει αὐτὰ τῆς πολυθέου καὶ εἰδωλολάτρου πλάνης. Γνῶναι δέ ἐστι τοῦ λόγου τὸ ἀποτέλεσμα ἐπιστήσαντα, ὡς μετὰ τὴν παρουσίαν τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν, τὰ μάλιστα περὶ τὴν πολύθεον πλάνην ἐπτοημένα ἔθνη, κατ' ἀρχὰς τοῦ κηρύγματος ἐναντιωθέντα τῇ τοῦ λόγου παραδοχῇ, πολιορκίαις καί τισιν ἄλλαις ἐπιστρεπτικαῖς περιστάσεσιν ἐσωφρονίσθη, τοῦ Θεοῦ τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον ἐπιφθεγγομένου καὶ ἐπιτιμῶντος αὐτοῖς· οὕτω γοῦν, μετὰ ταῦτα σωφρονισθέντες, καθυπετάγησαν τῷ σωτηρίῳ λόγῳ, ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγεται ἑξῆς ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Σωτῆρος· Τὸ κράτος μου πρὸς σὲ φυλάξω, ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἀντιλήπτωρ μου, ὁ Θεός μου, τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ προφθάσει με· ὁ Θεὸς δείξει μοι ἐν τοῖς ἐχθροῖς μου· ἢ κατὰ τὸν Σύμμαχον, Ἐπιδεῖν ποιήσει με τοῖς ἀποτειχίζουσί με. Καὶ ἐν ἑτέρῳ δὲ εἴρηται· Καὶ ἐπεῖδεν ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου ἐν τοῖς ἐπανισταμένοις ἐπ' ἐμὲ πονηρευομένοις, εἰσακούσεται τὸ οὖς μου. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ ∆αυῒδ τοῦ Σαοὺλ τὴν πτῶσιν καὶ τὴν τελευτὴν εἶδεν, ἐπεῖδέ τε αὐτοῦ τῇ καταστροφῇ τοῦ θανάτου. Μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς αὐτοὺς, μήποτε ἐπιλάθωνται τοῦ λαοῦ σου. Πάλιν πληθυντικῶς, Μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς αὐτοὺς, φησὶ, καὶ διασκόρπισον αὐτοὺς, καὶ κατάγαγε αὐτούς· οὐδενὸς ἐχθροῦ τῷ ∆αυῒδ καθ' ὃν καιρὸν ταῦτα ἐλέγετο δεικνυμένου ἐκ τῆς ἱστορίας ἢ μόνου τοῦ Σαούλ. Ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἀναφωνεῖ περὶ τῶν ἐπαναστάντων αὐτῷ, περὶ ὧν ἐλέγετο· Καὶ λαοὶ ἐμελέτησαν κενά. Παρέστησαν οἱ βασιλεῖς τῆς γῆς, καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες συνέστησαν ἐπὶ τὸ αὐτὸ κατὰ τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ κατὰ τοῦ Χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ. Τούτους οὖν τοὺς εἰς κενὸν τὰς περὶ αὐτοῦ προφητείας μελετήσαντας, τούς τε ἄρχοντας αὐτῶν καὶ καθηγουμένους μὴ ἀποκτείνῃς, φησὶν, ἀλλὰ διασκόρπισον καὶ κατάγαγε. Εὔχεται δὲ αὐτοὺς καθαιρεθῆναι τοῦ ἀξιώματος· ὃ δὲ καὶ γέγονεν. Οὐκέτι γοῦν βασιλεὺς, οὐδὲ ἀρχιερεὺς, οὐδὲ προφήτης, ἀλλ' οὐδὲ γραμματεῖς καὶ Φαρισαῖοι, καὶ Σαδδουκαῖοι παρ' αὐτοῖς εἰσιν. Οὐ μὴν καὶ ἀποκτανθῆναι αὐτούς φησι. ∆ιὸ συνέστηκεν αὐτῶν τὸ γένος, καὶ τῶν παίδων ἡ διαδοχὴ πληθύνει. Οὐ γὰρ ἀπεκτάνθησαν, οὐδὲ ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἀπεσβέσθησαν· ἀλλ' εἰσὶ μὲν καὶ ὑφεστήκασιν· οὕτω δὲ ὡς καταβεβλημένοι