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that is, the whole inhabited world of men, I will measure out into tents, as if surveying and registering them; I will measure out into tents according to every city, and country and village; and again, measuring and surveying tents for myself, that is, the Churches everywhere. Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine; and Ephraim is the support of my head. Judah is my king, Moab is the cauldron of my hope. Since Ephraim and Manasseh were sons of Joseph, and their descendants possessed the land called Gilead, and Shechem and Samaria, where the kingdom of Israel was established; for this reason he says that these also are his, and he calls Ephraim, in particular, on account of the kingdom that arose from him, the strengthening of his head. Judah is my king, Moab is the cauldron of my hope. He says that Judah is his king. And it is clear that according to the Apostle our Savior 23.1332 and Lord Jesus Christ has sprung out of Judah, from whom the royal race was established. The word brings together in these Ephraim and Judah, since in ancient times the whole nation of the Jews was divided into two kingdoms, prophesying that this division would no longer exist, but a union of the whole nation. And these things were fulfilled at the manifestation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. At any rate, in those times the whole nation of the Jews was united, no longer divided into two kingdoms. Therefore the Savior likewise preached the Gospel of the kingdom, and sent out his disciples to all their tribes. Judah is my king, Moab is the cauldron of my hope. But while these, he says, are being received first and at the beginning of the calling, not even the lesser of the foreigners will be rendered strangers to me, but I will receive and welcome that very Moab, who was forbidden to enter the Church of the Lord. For this I hope. Moab is the cauldron of my hope. But Aquila and the fifth edition interpreted the meaning more clearly and plainly; in whose versions it is said, Moab is the cauldron of my washing, that is, a vessel of my washing; but Symmachus says, Moab will be a cauldron of my security. But I know, having heard a word delivered in secret by a certain Hebrew regarding these passages; for he said that the birth of Christ according to the flesh was mystically signified through the preceding words, taken from the race of Moab through Ruth the Moabitess, from whom also King David is born, from whose seed Christ, of God, was born according to the flesh, who also at the time of John came to the baptism and the washing in the Jordan. Moab is the cauldron of my hope. It seems to me that God through these things also promises to Moab the grace of the calling, in no other way than through the regeneration of the washing. But when he promises such things to Moab, he leaves it for us to understand similar things concerning the rest of the nations. For when the prophecy receives the Moabites, who were long ago forbidden, it is clear that through them it also outlines good hopes for the other nations. Upon Idumea I will cast my sandal, to me the foreigners have been subjected. Who will bring me into a fortified city, or who will lead me to Idumea? Is it not you, God, who has rejected us, and will you not go out with our forces? Give us help from affliction, and the salvation of man is vain. In God we will do mightily, and he will bring to nothing those who afflict us. That is, I will mount upon and walk among the nations. For the Idumeans were from the hated Esau, about whom it has been said: Was not Esau Jacob's brother? says the Lord; and, Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated. I will cast, he says, my sandal, no longer upon Israel, nor upon the land of Judea, nor upon Jerusalem alone, but upon that very country of the hated one. I will therefore mount upon
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τουτέστι πᾶσαν τὴν τῶν ἀνθρώπων οἰκουμένην, εἰς σκηνὰς διαμετρήσω, ὥσπερ χωρομετρῶν καὶ καταγράφων αὐτούς· διαμετρήσω εἰς σκηνὰς κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν, καὶ χώραν καὶ κώμην· καὶ πάλιν, σκηνὰς ἐμαυτῷ διαμετρῶν καὶ χωρομετρῶν, τουτέστι τὰς ἁπανταχοῦ Ἐκκλησίας. Ἐμός ἐστι Γαλαὰδ, καὶ ἐμός ἐστι Μανασσῆς· καὶ Ἐφραὶμ ἀντίληψις τῆς κεφαλῆς μου. Ἰούδας βασιλεύς μου, Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. Ἐπειδὴ Ἐφραῒμ καὶ Μανασσῆς υἱοὶ γεγόνασιν Ἰωσὴφ, κατέσχον δὲ οἱ ἐκ τούτων τὴν καλουμένην χώραν Γαλαὰδ, καὶ τὴν Συχὲμ καὶ τὴν Σαμάρειαν, ἔνθα τὸ βασίλειον συνειστήκει τοῦ Ἰσραήλ· διὰ τοῦτο ἑαυτοῦ φησιν εἶναι καὶ τούτους, τὸν δὲ Ἐφραῒμ κατ' ἐξαίρετον διὰ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ συστᾶσαν βασιλείαν, κραταίωσιν ὀνομάζει τῆς κεφαλῆς ἑαυτοῦ. Ἰούδας βασιλεύς μου, Μοὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. Τὸν Ἰούδαν βασιλέα ἑαυτοῦ εἶναι, λέγει. Πρόδηλον δὲ ὅτι κατὰ τὸν Ἀπόστολον ἐξ Ἰούδα ἀνατέταλκεν ὁ Σωτὴρ 23.1332 καὶ Κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς Χριστὸς, ἐξ οὗ συνέστη τὸ βασίλειον γένος. Συνάγει δὲ ἐν τούτοις ὁ λόγος τὸν Ἐφραῒμ καὶ τὸν Ἰούδαν, ἐπειδὴ τὸ παλαιὸν διῃρεῖτο τὸ πᾶν Ἰουδαίων ἔθνος εἰς δύο βασιλείας, προφητεύων μηκέτι ἔσεσθαι τὴν διάστασιν ταύτην, ἀλλ' ἕνωσιν τοῦ παντὸς ἔθνους. Ἐπληροῦτο δὲ καὶ ταῦτα κατὰ τὴν ἐπιφάνειαν τοῦ Κυρίου καὶ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ἥνωτο γοῦν κατ' ἐκείνους τοὺς χρόνους τὸ πᾶν ἔθνος τῶν Ἰουδαίων, οὐκέτι ἐκ δύο βασιλειῶν διῃρημένων. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὁμοίως ἐκήρυττεν ὁ Σωτὴρ τὸ Εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας, καὶ εἰς πάσας τὰς φυλὰς αὐτῶν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ μαθητὰς ἐξαπέστειλεν. Ἰούδας βασιλεύς μου, Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. Τούτων δὲ, φησὶν, ἐν πρώτοις καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ τῆς κλήσεως παραλαμβανομένων, οὐδὲ οἱ τῶν ἀλλοφύλων χείρους ἀλλότριοί μου καταστήσονται, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον τὸν Μωὰβ, τὸν ἀπηγορευμένον παραβάλλειν εἰς Ἐκκλησίαν Κυρίου προσλήψομαι καὶ ὑποδέξομαι. Τοῦτο γὰρ ἐλπίζω. Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. Λευκότερον δὲ καὶ σαφέστερον τὴν διάνοιαν ἡρμήνευσεν ὁ Ἀκύλας καὶ ἡ πέμπτη ἔκδοσις· παρ' οἷς εἴρηται, Μωὰβ λέβης τοῦ λουτροῦ μου, τουτέστι, δοχεῖον τοῦ λουτροῦ μου· ὁ δὲ Σύμμαχος, Ἔσται, φησὶν, ὁ Μωὰβ λέβης ἀμεριμνίας μου. Οἶδα δὲ ἐγὼ ἀκούσας λόγον ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ παραδεδομένον ὑπό τινος Ἑβραίου εἰς τοὺς τόπους· μυστικῶς γὰρ ἔφασκε δηλοῦσθαι διὰ τῶν προκειμένων τὴν κατὰ σάρκα τοῦ Χριστοῦ γέννησιν ἀπὸ τοῦ γένους τοῦ Μωὰβ παραληφθεῖσαν διὰ τὴν Μωαβῖτιν Ῥοὺθ, ἀφ' ἧς γίνεται καὶ ∆αυῒδ ὁ βασιλεὺς, οὗ ἐκ σπέρματος τὸ κατὰ σάρκα ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ γεγέννηται, ὁ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Ἰωάννου βάπτισμα καὶ τὸ λουτρὸν τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἰορδάνῃ παρεληλυθώς. Μωὰβ λέβης τῆς ἐλπίδος μου. ∆οκεῖ μοι ὁ Θεὸς διὰ τούτων καὶ τῷ Μωὰβ ἐπαγγέλλεσθαι τὴν χάριν τῆς κλήσεως, οὐκ ἄλλως ἢ διὰ τῆς τοῦ λουτροῦ παλιγγενεσίας. Ἐπειδὰν δὲ τῷ Μωὰβ τοιαῦτα ἐπαγγέλληται, ἡμῖν καταλιμπάνει νοεῖν καὶ περὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἐθνῶν τὰ ὅμοια. Ὅτε γὰρ ἡ προφητεία τοὺς Μωαβίτας προσίεται, τοὺς πάλαι ἀπηγορευμένους, δῆλον, ὅτι δι' ἐκείνων καὶ τοῖς λοιποῖς ἔθνεσιν ἀγαθὰς ἐλπίδας ὑπογράφει. Ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰδουμαίαν ἐπιβαλῶ τὸ ὑπόδημά μου, ἐμοὶ ἀλλόφυλοι ὑπετάγησαν. Τίς ἀπάξει με εἰς πόλιν περιοχῆς, ἢ τίς ὁδηγήσει με ἕως τῆς Ἰδουμαίας; Οὐχὶ ὁ ἀπωσάμενος ἡμᾶς, καὶ οὐκ ἐξελεύσῃ, ὁ Θεὸς, ἐν ταῖς δυνάμεσιν ἡμῶν; ∆ὸς ἡμῖν βοήθειαν ἐκ θλίψεως, καὶ ματαία σωτηρία ἀνθρώπου. Ἐν τῷ Θεῷ ποιήσομεν δύναμιν, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐξουδενώσει τοὺς θλίβοντας ἡμᾶς. Τουτέστιν, Ἐπιβήσομαι καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσω τοῖς ἔθνεσιν. Ἰδουμαῖοι γὰρ ἦσαν οἱ ἀπὸ τοῦ μεμισημένου Ἠσαῦ, περὶ οὗ λέλεκται· Οὐκ ἀδελφὸς ἦν Ἠσαῦ τοῦ Ἰακώβ; λέγει Κύριος· καὶ, Τὸν Ἰακὼβ ἠγάπησα, τὸν δὲ Ἠσαῦ ἐμίσησα. Ἐπιβαλῶ οὖν, φησὶ, τὸ ὑπόδημά μου, οὐκέτι ἐπὶ τὸν Ἰσραὴλ, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰουδαίας γῆν, οὐδὲ ἐπὶ μόνα τὰ Ἱεροσόλυμα, ἀλλ' ἐπ' αὐτὴν ἐκείνην τὴν τοῦ μεμισημένου χώραν. Ἐπιβήσομαι οὖν