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in him the nations will hope, the Hebrew, and in his law, contains, as all the other interpreters have unanimously published, having said, and in his law. Christ therefore exhorts his own people from the nations through the preceding words to pay attention to his law. For he wishes them to pay attention, and not to hear casually; but to contemplate with understanding and to comprehend his law; but he also commands them to incline their ear to the words of his mouth, and to pay attention to his law, since he gave his teachings in parables. Therefore he adds: I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter problems from the beginning; which indeed the scripture of the holy Gospels also teaches, through which it is said that, All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable he did not speak to them; so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying: I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation. For instead of, I will utter problems from the beginning, Matthew, being a Hebrew, used his own version, saying, I will utter things hidden from the foun 23.905 dation; instead of which Aquila published, I will pour down riddles from the beginning, and Symmachus, I will cause ancient problems to bubble forth. And the Word of God, being about to make the accusations against the former people, and to set forth the reasons for which they have been rejected, necessarily exhorts his own Church to pay attention to what is being said, and to understand the presentations of the accusation against the ancients, so that it might not fall into the same things, but having learned from the narrative about them what kind of end befell them, it might be sobered by the example. Having said, I will open my mouth in a parable, I will utter problems from the beginning, he brings forth the accusations against the former people. For he uses them as a parable instead of an example for our admonition. And in another sense, the present discourse also enumerates the transgressions of the Jewish nation, since it was said in the preceding parts: Why, O God, have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? and all the other things that were said about the siege that befell them. For he presents the reasons for these things through the preceding words. And since it was said in the preceding psalm: Will the Lord cast off forever, and will he be favorable no more? Has he in anger shut up his tender mercies from generation to generation? Will God forget to be gracious, or will he in his anger shut up his tender mercies? it is fitting, since such questions have been raised, that he here enumerates the causes of the anger that came upon the Jewish nation in the end. And the Savior himself in the Gospels, similarly to the preceding words, addressed them, saying: How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. What we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. The first things were spoken from one person, whose identity has been shown from the same. But he also includes others, descending from his own divinity and speaking in a more human way, as from the person of the man he assumed, who was born from the seed of David according to the flesh; whose birth the Gospel records, saying: The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Therefore, including his kinsmen according to the flesh who became his disciples and apostles, he goes through the following things in the plural, saying: What we have heard and known. For when he was calling his own people, and setting his own law before them, and exhorting them to incline their ear to his words, he delivered the command with royal authority from one person; but now, when he summarizes the narrative of the ancient readings, he makes the discourse common, reminding of the things done long ago, and as if to all

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αὐτοῦ ἔθνη ἐλπιοῦσι, τὸ Ἑβραϊκὸν, καὶ τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ, περιέχει, ὡς συμφώνως καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ πάντες ἑρμηνευταὶ ἐκδεδώκασι, καὶ τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ εἰρηκότες. Παραινεῖ τοίνυν ὁ Χριστὸς τῷ ἑαυτοῦ λαῷ τῷ ἐξ ἐθνῶν διὰ τῶν προκειμένων προσέχειν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ. Προσέχειν γὰρ βούλεται, καὶ οὐχ ὡς ἔτυχεν ἀκούειν· θεωρεῖν δὲ κατανενοημένως καὶ συνιέναι τὸν αὐτοῦ νόμον· ἀλλὰ καὶ κλίνειν τὸ οὖς εἰς τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ, καὶ προσέχειν τῷ νόμῳ αὐτοῦ παρακελεύεται, ἐπειδήπερ τὰς διδασκαλίας ἐν παραβολαῖς ἐποιεῖτο. ∆ιὸ ἐπιλέγει· Ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολῇ τὸ στόμα μου, φθέγξομαι προβλήματα ἀπ' ἀρχῆς· ὃ δὴ διδάσκει καὶ ἡ τῶν ἱερῶν Εὐαγγελίων γραφὴ, δι' ἧς εἴρηται, ὅτι Πάντα ταῦτα ἐλάλησεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἐν παραβολαῖς τοῖς ὄχλοις, καὶ χωρὶς παραβολῆς οὐκ ἐλάλει αὐτοῖς· ὅπως πληρωθῇ τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος· Ἀνοίξω ἐν παραβολαῖς τὸ στόμα μου· ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ καταβολῆς. Ἀντὶ γὰρ τοῦ, Φθέγξομαι προβλήματα ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, Ἑβραῖος ὢν ὁ Ματθαῖος, οἰκείᾳ ἐκδόσει κέχρηται εἰπὼν, Ἐρεύξομαι κεκρυμμένα ἀπὸ κα 23.905 ταβολῆς· ἀνθ' οὗ ὁ μὲν Ἀκύλας, Ὀμβρήσω αἰνίγματα ἐξ ἀρχῆθεν, ἐκδέδωκεν· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, Ἀναβλύσω προβλήματα ἀρχαῖα. Μέλλων δὲ ὁ τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγος τὰς κατηγορίας τοῦ προτέρου ποιεῖσθαι λαοῦ, καὶ τὰς αἰτίας δι' ἃς ἀποβέβληται παρατίθεσθαι, ἀναγκαίως τῇ ἑαυτοῦ Ἐκκλησίᾳ παρακελεύεται προσέχειν τοῖς λεγομένοις, καὶ συνιέναι τὰς παραθέσεις τῆς τῶν παλαιῶν κατηγορίας, ὡς ἂν μὴ τοῖς αὐτοῖς περιπέσοι, μαθοῦσα δὲ ἐκ τῆς περὶ ἐκείνων διηγήσεως ὁποῖον αὐτοὺς διεδέξατο τέλος, σωφρονίζοιτο ἐκ τοῦ παραδείγματος. Εἰπών· ∆ιανοίξω ἐν παραβολῇ τὸ στόμα μου, φθέγξομαι προβλήματα ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, ἐπιφέρει τὰς τοῦ προτέρου λαοῦ κατηγορίας. Παραβολῇ γὰρ ἐκείνοις κέχρηται ἀντὶ ὑποδείγματος εἰς ἡμετέραν νουθεσίαν. Καὶ καθ' ἑτέραν δὲ διάνοιαν ὁ παρὼν λόγος τὰς παρανομίας τοῦ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνους συγκαταριθμεῖται, ἐπειδήπερ ἐν τοῖς ἔμπροσθεν ἐλέγετο· Ἵνα τί, ὁ Θεὸς, ἀπώσω εἰς τέλος, ὠργίσθη ὁ θυμός σου ἐπὶ πρόβατα νομῆς σου; καὶ ὅσα ἄλλα περὶ τῆς καταλαβούσης αὐτοὺς πολιορκίας ἐλέγετο. Τὰς γὰρ τούτων αἰτίας παρίστησι διὰ τῶν προκειμένων. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ πρὸ τούτου ἐλέγετο ψαλμῷ· Μὴ εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας ἀπώσεται Κύριος, καὶ οὐ προσθήσει τοῦ εὐδοκῆσαι ἔτι; ἢ εἰς τέλος τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ ἀποκόψει ἀπὸ γενεᾶς εἰς γενεάν; ἢ ἐπιλήσεται τοῦ οἰκτειρῆσαι ὁ Θεὸς, ἢ συνέξει ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ τοὺς οἰκτιρμοὺς αὐτοῦ; εἰκότως ἐπειδὴ τοιαῦτα ἐπηπόρηται, τὰς αἰτίας ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος καταλέγει τῆς εἰς τὸ τέλος μετελθούσης τὸ Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος ὀργῆς. Καὶ αὐτὸς δὲ ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις ὁ Σωτὴρ παραπλησίως τοῖς προκειμένοις πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἀπετείνετο λέγων· Ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὃν τρόπον ὄρνις ἐπισυνάγει τὰ νοσσία ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἠθελήσατε; Ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἔρημος. Ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν καὶ ἔγνωμεν αὐτὰ, καὶ οἱ πατέρες ἡμῶν διηγήσαντο ἡμῖν. Τὰ μὲν πρῶτα ἐξ ἑνὸς ἐλέγετο προσώπου, ὅπερ τίνος ἦν ἀποδέδεικται μὲν ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ. Συμπαραλαμβάνει δὲ καὶ ἕτερα ὑποκαταβὰς τῆς αὑτοῦ θεότητος, καὶ ἀνθρωπινώτερον φθεγγόμενος, ὡς ἂν ἐκ προσώπου οὗ ἀνείληφεν ἀνθρώπου τοῦ γενομένου ἐκ σπέρματος ∆αυῒδ κατὰ σάρκα· οὗ τὴν γένεσιν ἱστορεῖ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον φάσκον· Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ ∆αυῒδ, υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ. ∆ιόπερ συμπαραλαμβάνων τοὺς κατὰ σάρκα ὁμογενεῖς αὐτοῦ γενομένους μαθητὰς καὶ ἀποστόλους, πληθυντικῶς διεξέρχεται τὰ μετὰ χεῖρας λέγων· Ὅσα ἠκούσαμεν καὶ ἔγνωμεν αὐτά. Ὅτε μὲν γὰρ τὸν λαὸν ἑαυτοῦ ἀνεκαλεῖτο, καὶ οἰκεῖον νόμον αὐτοῖς προὐβάλλετο, παρῄνει τε κλίνειν τὸ οὖς τοῖς αὑτοῦ ῥήμασι, σὺν αὐθεντείᾳ βασιλικῇ ἐξ ἑνὸς προσώπου προεφέρετο τὴν παραγγελίαν· νῦν δὲ, ὅτε τῶν παλαιῶν ἀναγνωσμάτων ἐπιτέμνεται τὴν διήγησιν, κοινοποιεῖ τὸν λόγον ὑπομιμνήσκων τὰ πάλαι πεπραγμένα, καὶ ὡς ἂν τοῖς πᾶσι