Commentary on Obadiah

(Verse 1.) The vision of Abdias. The Hebrews say that this is he who, under Achab king of Samaria, and the most impious Jezabel, fed a hundred prophets in caves, who did not bend the knee to Baal, and were of the seven thousand whom Elijah is charged with not knowing about, and his tomb, even to this day, together with the mausoleum of the prophet Elisha and of John the Baptist, is held in veneration in Sebaste, which was formerly called Samaria. This city Herod, king of Judaea, son of Antipater, in honor of Augustus Caesar, called in Greek speech Augusta. This man, therefore, because he had nourished a hundred prophets, received the grace of prophecy, and from a leader of an army became a leader of the Church. Then in Samaria he had fed a little flock: now throughout the whole world he feeds the churches of Christ, and, true to his name (φερωνύμως), just as Stephen in the Acts of the Apostles was crowned with martyrdom, so too this man was called a servant of the Lord.

Further, as to the fact that he looks against Idumaea, it is not "burden," that is, λῆμμα, and "weight" of Idumaea that he sees, according to the rule and distinction which we wrote in Nahum; the reason for this is that either Edom, that is, Esau, is not reckoned among the foreign nations, being the son of Isaac and brother of Jacob—whence also his land is not given into the possession of Israel, nor is it permitted to wage war against it, and it is forbidden to arm against a brother—or else it is certain that the vision is not of Idumaea, which could, if it were so written, raise a question; but of Abdias, that is, of the servant of the Lord, which he sees concerning the nations, to whom the Lord sent a message. And to whom it is said: Rise, and let us rise up against her in battle. For the destruction of Idumaea is the vision of Nahum.

But if it be asked why it is placed in the title, "The Vision of Abdias," and nothing afterward that was seen is shown, according to that saying of Isaiah: I saw the Lord of hosts sitting upon a throne high and lifted up. And Ezechiel: The heavens were opened, and I saw the visions of God: and immediately it is added: And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north, and a great cloud, and brightness was about it; but after the vision of Abdias it is immediately added: Thus says the Lord to Edom. And again: Behold, I have made you small among the nations—we shall take an example from Deuteronomy, in which not things, but words are seen: Take heed, he says, to yourself, and keep your soul diligently, lest perhaps you forget the words which your eyes have seen. And John in his Epistle: What we have seen, he says, with our eyes, what we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life.

And Moses says that he saw the voice of the Lord which spoke to him. If then, after the "vision," the things that were said are introduced, and things that are usually perceived by the ears are seen with the eyes of the mind, rightly, since prophets were formerly called "seers," does he entitle it beforehand as a "vision."

Thus says the Lord God to Edom: A small prophet, by the reckoning of verses, not of meanings. Otherwise, as in the three books of Solomon, the Song of Songs, the shorter it is, the more difficult. And we have shown what meaning the Epistle to Philemon has. The Gospel speech too, though shortened, is narrower than the elaborate works of the Law. So also here the prophet, as a servant of the Lord, alongside Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses the servant of God, and the apostle, the word of Christ, sees those things, hears those things, which are worthy of prophetic servitude. Many think, according to the interpretation of the name, that this is the servant of the Lord to whom it is said in Isaiah: It is a great thing for you to be called my boy, who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant. But if we understand it thus, we shall have to seek another messenger, who was sent to the nations. And while we pursue the tropology, we lose the most manifest prophecy.

We ask, therefore, who is this Edom, or Idumaea, to whom the Lord now speaks through Abdias. In the book of Genesis we read most plainly that Esau, the son of Isaac, was called Edom, because he sold his birthright for the red lentil dish; for Edom is interpreted πυῤῥὸς, that is, red. In the same volume it is written that this same man was called Seir, that is, hairy, because he was shaggy, and did not have the smoothness of Jacob. One and the same man, therefore, is called by three names, Esau, Edom, and Seir.

Edom, Seir, and possessed that region which is now called Gebalena, and it is within the borders of Eleutheropolis, where formerly the Horites had dwelt, who are interpreted "free men": whence that city afterward received its name. Therefore what in Hebrew is EDOM (אדום), and in Greek is called Idumæa, is now a small town of Palestine: named thus from its founder, whose name Latin and Greek history also records. This is he of whom it is said through Amos: For three crimes of Edom, and for four, I will not turn back him: because he pursued his brother with the sword, and violated his mercy, and kept his fury beyond measure, and preserved his indignation to the end. In Isaiah too, according to the Hebrew, we read: The burden of Duma cries to me out of Seir: Watchman, what of the night, watchman, what of the night? And Jeremiah agrees with the same prophecy in equal voice, saying: Is there no longer wisdom in Theman?

And the rest to the end of that prophecy, where it is said: And the heart of the mighty men of Idumæa in that day shall be like the heart of a woman in travail. Except for the order, which is changed, and other things which seem to differ, a great part of Abdias is contained in the volume of Jeremiah. These are the mountains of Seir against which Ezekiel's face is set firm, and it is said: I will make Mount Seir desolate and waste. And a little after: Thou shalt be laid waste, Mount Seir, and all Idumæa. It would be long if I wished to winnow through all the Scriptures, and bring forward into the midst all that concerns Mount Seir, especially of Malachi, where at once in the beginning it is written: Was not Esau Jacob's brother, says the Lord? Yet I loved Jacob, but Esau I hated. And I have made his mountains a wilderness, and his heritage into dragons of the desert.

But if Idumæa shall say: we are destroyed, but returning we will build up what has been laid waste. Thus says the Lord of hosts: They shall build, and I will destroy, and they shall be called the borders of wickedness, and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever. Since therefore we have learned that the land of the Idumæans is an adversary of the land of promise, and we read that Esau is the enemy of Jacob, and the people with whom the Lord is angry forever, we ought to know, according to the laws of tropology, that the discourse is directed either against the Jews (who are rivals of the Christians, and persecute their brother Jacob, the supplanting people, who snatched away the birthright from them), or certainly against all heresies and doctrines contrary to the truth, which indeed seem to us to be near, but are rather adversaries, and strive to expel the simple man and the dweller of the house of Jacob from his paternal inheritance.

Furthermore, because Idumæa is interpreted "earthly," and on account of its red color can also be understood as "bloody": therefore the Savior, bringing back to the Father victory over the world, when the angels cried out: Open your gates, O princes, and the King of glory shall enter in. And in Isaiah those astonished ask: Who is this that comes up from Edom, in dyed garments from Bosor, so beautiful in a white robe? And they speak to him directly: Why is your garment red, and your clothes like those who tread in the winepress? He himself speaks in triumph, unfolding the palms of his cross: I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the peoples there was no man with me. There are those who refer Idumæa to the flesh, and reckon that the soul is provoked to war against it, so that, mortifying our members upon earth—fornication, uncleanness, passion—we may obtain eternal victory in Christ.

The Jews vainly dream that this prophecy concerns the city of Rome and the Roman kingdom; and that which is written in Isaiah, "The burden of Duma" (דומה), with a small change of the shape of the letter, so that instead of DELETH one might read RES, and it would sound as Roma (רומה): for the letter VAU in their language is taken both for u and for o. We have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent an envoy to the nations: Rise up, and let us rise together against him in battle. LXX: I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent a fortification among the nations: Rise up, and let us rise together against him in battle. Now as we have said above, Edom is the same as Idumæa, since in Hebrew it is named from him who founded it: in Greek, the city which was founded by him is named.

Therefore Abdias heard, or all the prophets equally heard (for all write against Edom) that an envoy was sent to the nations, the mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus, of whom also the Father speaks through Haggai: I will move all nations, and the one desired by all nations shall come. This one in Isaiah is called the Angel of great counsel, and the Father of the age to come. But as for what the Seventy interpreted for legatus (that is, SIR (ציר)) as περιοχήν, that is, "fortification," we may say that he himself is our envoy, and he himself is the fortification: saying those things which the prophetic word has woven together: Rise up, and let us rise together against him, or against her, in battle. The envoy who was sent to the nations speaks thus: Arise, you who sleep, and rise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you. And lest perhaps the battle should seem grievous and unfamiliar to us, he says, "You have me first in the battle line.

I will be the commander-in-chief of the battles, who also appeared to Joshua the son of Nun holding a sword, and overcame Amalek under the standard of my cross, while Moses fought". Jeremiah in his vision against Idumæa does not differ much from these words: A report, he says, I have heard from the Lord, and an envoy has been sent to the nations: gather together, and come against her, and let us rise together in battle. There follows: (Verse 2 following) Behold, I have made you small among the nations: you are exceedingly despised. The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, exalting your throne, who say in your heart: Who shall bring me down to the ground? Though you be exalted as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars: from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. LXX: Behold, I have made you the least among the nations: you are exceedingly dishonored.

The pride of your heart has lifted you up, you who dwell in the holes of the rocks, exalting your dwelling and saying in your heart: Who will lead me down to the ground? Though you be exalted as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the middle stars: from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. Jeremiah, whom we mentioned above, agrees almost in the same words, saying: Behold, I have made you small among the nations, despised among men: your arrogance has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who dwell in the caverns of the rock, and strive to seize the height of the hill; though you exalt your nest like the eagle: from there I will bring you down, says the Lord. In prophetic interpretation we ought to follow our own custom, that first we lay the foundations of history, then, if we can, raise up lofty towers and the peaks of roofs.

O Edom, he says, though you are the smallest among all the nations round about, and small in number compared with the other peoples, you raise yourself up beyond your strength in pride. And though you dwell in caves, or rather in the caverns of the rocks, humble and poor, and possessing no lofty roofs of buildings, you lift yourself up as an eagle into the heights, and swell so much in thought that you believe you dwell among the stars: even if you could pierce beyond nature to the heights of heaven, from there I would bring you down, and lead you to the earth, says the Lord God. But that which is added in Jeremiah, "and strive to seize the height of the hill," has unveiled the riddle, signifying by "hill" Mount Sion, and through this meaning either the city of Jerusalem itself, or the temple built in it.

Now that the eagle flies higher than all other birds, even those who discourse on the nature of birds have recorded; and it is said to have such keenness of sight that, while it is borne on motionless wing over the seas, unseen by human eyes, from such a height it sees little fish swimming, and when they come near the shore, it descends like a dart, and drags the seized prey with its wings to the shore. If we have learned the history, let us follow the spiritual understanding. Though it may seem to you, O heretic, that you are great, and you despise the fewness of the Church: yet you are small among the nations, and despised, and not only despised, but with intensification, exceedingly despised. The pride of your heart has lifted you up. For which of the heretics is not lifted up in pride, despising the simplicity of the Church, and reckoning faith as ignorance? Dwelling in the clefts of the rock, and exalting his throne.

Although "rock" is frequently placed either in the person of the Lord, or in reference to solidity (whence also the prophet says, He has set my feet upon a rock: and to Peter it is said, You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church; yet it is also frequently taken in the contrary sense: I will take away, he says, the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh. And: God is able from these stones to raise up children of Abraham: and especially here, where he did not say, "dwelling upon the rock," on which a prudent builder erects his house; but "in the clefts of the rock," that he might signify the splittings of heresies from the rock Christ and from the Church.

Furthermore, what follows: "exalting your throne": and, "who says in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the earth?" shows the swelling of the heretical mind, of those trusting in themselves regarding their mysteries and their secrets, and, as far as in them lies (we should take this hyperbolically), promising themselves the kingdoms of heaven. Whence the Apostle writes to such men: You have already reigned without us, and would that you did reign, that we also might reign with you. David says something similar: They have set their mouth against heaven, and their tongue has passed through the earth. If then they are exalted like the eagle (for they too promise themselves a likeness to eagles, who are wont to gather at the Lord's corpse), and if they set their nest among the middle stars, from there I will bring them down, says the Lord.

For just as, while the father of the household sleeps, the enemy sows tares among the good seed: so that great eagle, of great wings, long-limbed, full of feathers and variety, which has the way of entering Lebanon, and takes from the top of the cedar, and plants it beside many waters, so that plantations may sprout in the vineyard—so is it wont to set its nest among the stars of the Church, of whom it is also said elsewhere: But the righteous shall shine like the stars. I said above that this same thing can also be understood against the flesh, that its powers are diminished at the coming of Christ, and it is despised, subjected to the rule of the soul, and vainly lifts itself up, while it dwells in the caverns of the rock, whether senses or thoughts, and wishes to rule over the soul, exalting its throne, believing that its works cannot be overcome.

To it is said, that although it lifts itself up, and imitates the heights of the eagle, and has deceived many of the saints: yet it has been overcome and cast down by the Lord. What we have understood of heretics and of the flesh can also be understood against the Jews. (Verse 4. Seq.) If thieves had entered into thee, if robbers by night, how wouldst thou have kept silence? Would they not have stolen enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers had entered into thee, would they not at least have left a cluster for thee? How have they searched out Esau, sought out his hidden things? LXX: If thieves had entered into thee, or robbers by night, where wouldst thou have been cast forth? And if grape-gatherers had entered into thee, would they not have left a cluster? How has Esau been searched out, and his hidden things discovered? Jeremias likewise, though with the order changed: If grape-gatherers had come upon thee, would they not have left a cluster?

If thieves by night, they would surely have snatched what would suffice for themselves. But I have uncovered Esau, I have revealed his hidden things, and they cannot be hidden. What he says is this: If thieves and robbers, who are accustomed by night to dig into houses and to seize what is in the houses, had entered into thee—that is, κρυβῆναι οὐ μὴ δύνανται (they cannot be hidden)—hidden by darkness, had gone about the corners of thy houses, they would surely have carried off what they thought would suffice for themselves, and would have left something in thy house, either from satiety or from ignorance. If grape-gatherers had entered thy vineyard, and had wished either to lay it waste as enemies, or, hired by thee, to gather it, however diligent their vintage might have been, still they would have left clusters hidden by the vines and leaves among the branches.

But all these enemies who have come against thee at the Lord's command (he means, however, the Babylonians and the army of Nabuchodonosor) have searched out all thy secrets, and have explored the caves and holes of the caverns in which thou dwellest. And indeed, to say something also of the nature of the place, the whole southern region of the Idumæans, from Eleutheropolis as far as Petra and Aila (for this is the possession of Esau), has small dwellings in caves. And because of the excessive heat of the sun, since it is a southern province, it makes use of underground huts. "I have uncovered," he says, "Esau"—that is, I have brought into the open what was hidden under the earth, and all that thou wast concealing has been laid bare, and while I searched out thy substance together with thy enemies, no secrets could remain hidden.

Otherwise: The thieves and robbers who enter by night, since they are children of night and darkness, I take to be heretics preaching doctrines contrary to the truth, who steal what suffices for themselves, and daily hasten to snatch from the flocks of the Church. These, entering the vineyard of our Lord, which he transferred from the Egypt of this age, and of whose fruit he promises that he will drink wine in the kingdom of the Father, so desire to plunder everything that they scarcely leave a cluster in it. But the Lord acts to the contrary: for all their secrets, and hidden mysteries, and those of the patriarchs of Esau (by these I understand those who first devised heresies) he brings into the open through his saints and churchmen and teachers, and his first victory is that what was hidden lies open.

Whence also it is said with wonder, "How has Esau been searched out, his hidden things discovered?" See Marcion and Valentinus, and all the heretics, how in the doctrines of demons, having a conscience seared with a hot iron, they applaud themselves, and, initiating simple souls as though into certain divine mysteries, deceive them with elaborate speech. But when the discourse brings into the open the thirty aeons, and the tetrads and ogdoads and duodecads, and the twofold god, and the monstrous Abraxas: then the wisdom of Esau will be shown to be foolishness, and his secrets will be searched out.

Verse 7. All the men of thy confederacy have sent thee even to the border, the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee; they that eat with thee shall lay a wound under thee: there is no understanding in him. LXX: They have sent thee forth even to the borders; all the men of thy covenant have withstood thee; thy peaceable men have prevailed against thee; they have laid a snare under thee; there is no wisdom in him. Some divide what we expounded above, "How has Esau been searched out, and his hidden things discovered," down to "unto the borders," so that the sense is: thy hidden and secret things have been revealed even unto the borders. But it seems better to us that it be joined with what follows.

When, therefore, Nabuchodonosor comes (of whom it is said in Jeremias against Idumæa: Behold, he shall come up like a lion from the pride of Jordan against the strong beauty, for I will make him run suddenly upon her; and again: Behold, he shall come up like an eagle, and shall fly, and shall spread his wings over Bosra, and the heart of the mighty men of Idumæa in that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs), all who before were confederates of Edom, and had been in the garrison of that most proud city, will abandon him, and joined to his enemies, will lay snares against him; and they will prevail against him, and then it will be shown that there was no wisdom in Edom, since he hoped in those who were shown to be adversaries.

Otherwise: When the hidden things of Esau, and, as it were, his magnificent mysteries, by which peoples had formerly been ensnared, shall have been brought into the open, so that a churchman may be able to say, "For we are not ignorant of his devices", they will abandon the borders of Edom, and let him go, and, migrating even to the borders of the Church, will put forth the worst doctrines. Then they will mock and resist their former teacher, saying that what they had learned was false; they will prevail against him, and, instructed by the faith of the Church, will convict the false doctrine.

Those who once ate among the heretics, not the bread of the Eucharist, but the bread of mourning, and the bread baked upon the coals which is not turned over, will propose questions from the Scriptures, will lay snares for the Idumæan, the earthly, and in all things the carnal teacher (for we read that heresies are numbered among the works of the flesh in the Epistle to the Galatians), and then it will be shown that there is no wisdom in Edom.

Verse 8. Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, destroy the wise men out of Idumæa, and understanding out of the mount of Esau? And thy valiant men of the south shall be afraid, that man may be cut off from the mount of Esau. LXX: In that day, saith the Lord, I will destroy the wise men out of Idumæa, and understanding out of the mount of Esau. And thy warriors of Theman shall be afraid, that man may be taken away from the mount of Esau. When the enemy shall have taken possession of thy borders, and all the men of thy covenant shall have mocked thee, and shall have prevailed against thee: then shall wisdom perish out of Idumæa, and her cunning shall be shown to be foolishness.

Understanding also the Lord himself will take away from the mount of Esau, that is, from the mountains of Seir, either because the city of Idumæa is situated on a mountain, or because that whole region, which turns toward the South and borders on the desert, is set high among steep mountains. Whence also it is said: "Thy warriors of Theman shall be afraid," which we have translated as "the south." But just as I had said above that Esau is called by three names, so also the region of his kingdom, which turns toward the South, is called by three names, Darom, Theman, Nageb (דרום תימן נגב), all of which, according to Ezechiel, signify the South, the South-west, and the Meridian. But after the mighty men of his kingdom who dwelt in the South shall have feared, then shall the man perish out of the mount of Esau who was wont both to fight for the city and to give counsel wisely.

Otherwise: When those who had formerly been deceived shall have been converted to the Church: then, the Lord himself fighting, the wise men of Idumæa, who savored of carnal and earthly things, will perish, and understanding will be taken away from the mount of Esau, which lifted itself up against the knowledge of God. And those who formerly fought for Esau and Idumæa with the art of dialectic, and were in the garrisons of Theman, which is interpreted "consummation," will cease to fight for their former masters. Or those who before promised themselves the light of knowledge, and thought themselves to be in the south, will fear and be afraid, the churchman overcoming their sophistries, to such a degree that no one will remain who can fight, either by the counsel of a king or by warrior men, for the pride of the heretics and their false doctrine.

Verse 10. For the slaughter, and for the iniquity against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt perish for ever. In the day when thou stoodest against him, when strangers carried away his army captive, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem: thou also wast as one of them. LXX: For the slaughter and impiety against thy brother Jacob, confusion shall cover thee, and thou shalt be taken away for ever. From the day that thou didst stand against him, in the day that strangers took his strength, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem: you also were as one of them.

Therefore shall the man perish from the mount of Esau, and wisdom shall perish out of Idumæa, and understanding out of the mount of Esau, because thou didst slay thy own brother, and didst act unjustly against thy brother Jacob: when the Chaldeans and the Babylonians were laying waste Jerusalem, and besieging the city, and entering into its gates, and casting lots in the division of the spoils, thou wast their ally, and wast counted among the number of the enemies. Otherwise: Thou shalt suffer all the things that are written above, O bloody, earthly, cruel Edom: because by a false and death-bringing doctrine, and speaking impiety against the Lord, thou didst slay thy brother Jacob. We read in Solomon: "There are that speak and kill with a sword". And in another place: "The venom of asps is under their lips". And, "Their tongue is a sharp sword". Confusion, therefore, shall cover thee, and thou shalt say: "The confusion of my face hath covered me"; and thou shalt perish, not for a short time, but for ever.

For with an eternal wound, so far as it lay in thee, thou didst strike thy brother. But this also will be the cause of thy torment: for when strangers were laying waste the army of Jacob and entering through his gates into Jerusalem, once peaceful, and casting lots that they might divide her spoils among themselves, thou wast one of the enemies. We read, we have seen, and we prove daily, that when persecution arises against the Church, Jews and heretics become far worse persecutors of Christians than the heathen. We can call the strangers entering the gates of Jerusalem λογισμούς, that is, evil thoughts, and interpret the gates of Jerusalem, that is, of the soul at rest and beholding God, as the five senses, through which enemies enter and divide the spoils of Jerusalem. If we have seen a woman to lust after her, death has entered through our windows; if we have received through the ears a lie and a judgment of blood, through another gate the enemy has entered.

Smell also, taste, and touch, if they have been captured either by various scents, or by sweet foods, or by delicate embraces, through other gates the adversaries have entered, and divide the spoils of wretched Jerusalem. At that time, therefore, when by the assault of persecution and by death-bringing pleasures someone has fallen from the Church, we see the heretics exult, the Jew rejoice, and be one of the persecutors, and be counted in the number of the heathen.

Verse 12. But thou shalt not look on in the day of thy brother, in the day of his exile: and thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Juda in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not magnify thy mouth in the day of distress: neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin. LXX: And thou shalt not look upon the day of thy brother, in the day of strangers. And thou shalt not rejoice over the children of Juda in the day of their destruction: and thou shalt not speak great things in the day of distress: neither shalt thou enter into the gates of the peoples in the day of their labors.

The sense is the same as above: When the man shall have perished from the mount of Esau, on account of the slaughter and impiety against his brother Jacob, and eternal confusion shall have covered him, he will by no means do again what he formerly did against his brother; for he will not look down upon and hold in contempt his brother, seeing him go into captivity: nor will he rejoice over the children of Juda. For the two tribes, excepting the Levitical, which reigned in Jerusalem and were called Juda, were taken captive by the Chaldeans. And thou shalt by no means speak great things, and, believing thyself as it were one of the victors, thou shalt not laugh at the distress of thy brother. Neither in the day of the desolation and ruin of my people shalt thou march boastfully through the gate of Jerusalem. And thou shalt not do these things for this reason, that thou also shalt suffer the like.

Otherwise: When thou shalt see thy brother captive through various persecutions, and led away bound from the faith of the Church, and pursuing not his own city but foreign things, thou shalt by no means rejoice, because thou also shalt suffer the like. For thou didst rejoice when Jacob was taken captive, and thou didst exult over the children of Juda, whom we understand to be the disciples of Christ, in the day of their destruction. But it is signified that the soul is placed in the midst between vices and virtues, and can be turned to either side in the space of a moment. "Thou shalt by no means," he says, "magnify thy mouth in the day of distress." Which we ought to understand in a twofold sense: bodily distress, in persecutions and in sins; spiritual distress, when the soul, taken captive by enemies and vices, shall have been led into Babylon.

"Neither shalt thou enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin": for when either denial has oppressed us, or pleasure, and an unhappy conscience has not preserved its former strictness, then we easily slip into contrary doctrines, which flatter our error and do not tend the wound, but merely stroke it. It is a solace of misery, though a ruinous one, to have something to hope for.

(Verses 13–14.) Neither shalt thou look down, even thou, upon his evils in the day of his ruin, and thou shalt not be sent forth against his army in the day of his ruin. Neither shalt thou stand at the outlets to kill them that shall have fled: and thou shalt not shut up his remnant in the day of tribulation. The Septuagint: And neither shalt thou, even thou, look down upon their assembly in the day of their perdition: neither shalt thou be added to their strength in the day of their perdition: neither shalt thou stand at their outlets, to kill those of them who shall have escaped: neither shalt thou shut up their fugitives in the day of tribulation.

When thou thyself shalt have been taken captive, and destroyed by the Babylonian devastator, among the other things which thou didst, do not do these things which follow: Thou shalt not look down, nor despise thy brother Jacob in the day of his ruin: neither shalt thou be added to the army of the Babylonians, or, thou shalt not be sent forth against the army of Judah, when, overcome by his adversaries, he shall have turned his back. And when they shall have begun to flee by ways known to themselves, and by byways, and paths leading to the wilderness, thou shalt not stand at the crossroads, nor wait for those coming at the junctions, to kill those who shall have been set free, and to shut up others who have been seized: and either to take them thyself, or keep them for the captivity of the enemies. These things we have said according to the history: for we ought briefly to touch upon the plainer things, and then proceed to those that are obscure.

Which of the heretics does not look down upon the men of the Church? Who does not exult in their evils, if ever, on account of the sins of the people, they be delivered up to persecution, and many, whether of weak faith, or sown upon rocky ground, fall away into denial: you may see them exult, rejoice, reckon our ruin as their own victory: to such a degree that they join themselves with the Gentiles, and a fiercer persecution arises either from the Jews, or from those who pretend to be our brothers, and are reckoned under the same name. And when someone, either by flight or by penitence, shall have escaped, they stand at the byways, and put forth sophisms, and bring forward testimonies as though from the Scriptures: that to the weary and worn out they may offer sewn cushions, and put them under every elbow of the hand.

And so it happens that those who perhaps have overcome persecution by virtue, or have fled it by fear, being deceived by evil doctrines, are again held in the prison of errors, and this tribulation becomes far worse than that which came from the Gentiles; for one may more easily free a man taken captive by the heathen, than one entangled in the snares of heretics. (Verses 15–16.) For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done to thee. Thy reward shall be turned upon thine own head. For as thou hast drunk upon my holy mountain, all nations shall drink continually: and they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. The Septuagint: For the day of the Lord is near upon all nations: as thou hast done, it shall be done to thee. Thy retribution shall be repaid upon thine own head.

For as thou hast drunk upon my holy mountain, all nations shall drink wine: they shall drink and swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been. But thou, O Idumea, shalt cease to do these things, because the vengeance of the Lord shall come upon thee. For if, according to Jeremiah, they to whom it was not the judgment that they should drink the cup, yet drank it drinking: thou, as though innocent, shalt not remain so: thou shalt not be innocent, but drinking, thou shalt drink. Moreover, as to what is said: The day of the Lord is near upon all nations, let us read the same Jeremiah, and we shall see the cup of the Lord given to drink to all nations. Whence it is said in the same: Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of the Lord, making all nations drunk. For indeed the Assyrians and Babylonians held all nations even unto the Propontis, and the Scythian sea, and the Ionian or Aegean.

Let us read Herodotus, and the Greek and barbarian histories, and we shall see how, under the Babylonians and Assyrians, this saying was fulfilled: The day of the Lord is near upon all nations. But as to what follows: As thou hast done, it shall be done to thee: thy retribution shall be turned upon thine own head—this is the sense which we read in the Psalm: Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said: Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof. Whence also the prophet imprecates against Babylon: O daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed is he who shall repay thee thy reward which thou hast repaid to us. Blessed is he who shall take and dash thy little ones against the rock. For as thou didst drink upon my holy mountain, Sion, together with the Babylonians, and didst rejoice: so all the nations whom the Babylonian had with him as a garrison, turned against thee, shall drink: and they shall rejoice.

And not only shall they drink: but they shall so swallow thee down, that the Idumeans shall be as though they had not been: or certainly those very nations, when they shall have swallowed thee down, shall themselves be swallowed down by the Medes, and by this circle vengeance shall proceed, so that thou consumest Israel, the Babylonian thee, the Mede and the Persian the Babylonian. Let us follow the order of interpretation. The day of the Lord, O heretic, is near upon all nations: the time of judgment is near, in which all the nations are to be judged. As thou hast done against the men of the Church, thy pain shall be turned upon thine own head, and thy iniquity shall come down upon thy crown.

For as thou didst rejoice in their death, and didst celebrate a banquet, and upon my holy mountain, that is, the Church, didst drink not my cup, but the devil's: of which it is also said in Habakkuk: Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring out his fury: so all the nations, or the hostile powers assigned to punishments, or whatever adverse powers there be, shall drink and swallow down thy blood, and at last, torment coming upon all, they themselves also shall be as though they had not been. For he who perishes belongs to him who is, and who said to Moses: He who is hath sent me to you, according to the rule of the Scriptures, is said not to be. Whence also in Esther we read: Do not deliver, O Lord, thy kingdom to those who are not. We can also interpret this passage otherwise: Because you have rejoiced in the ruin of my servants, the same persecution shall come also against you, and you shall suffer whatever you have done.

And as you rejoiced against my people together with the rest of the nations: so all the nations shall rejoice against you, and shall devour and drink, and shall crush you with a like persecution. (Verses 17, 18.) But in mount Sion shall be salvation, and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess those who possessed them. And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble: and they shall be kindled in them, and shall devour them, and there shall be no remnant of the house of Esau: for the Lord hath spoken. The Septuagint: Upon mount Sion shall be salvation; and it shall be holy, and the house of Jacob shall possess those who had possessed them.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, but the house of Esau stubble, and they shall be kindled against them, and shall devour them, and there shall be no grain-bearer to the house of Esau, for the Lord hath spoken. Idumea overturned, and devoured by the enemy nations with whom she had before entered into a league against Jacob, there shall be remnants in mount Sion, and there shall be salvation, and it shall be holy; that is, either the Lord himself shall return to the temple, which he had abandoned on account of sins, or it shall be absolutely holy, that is, the Holy of Holies. And the house of Jacob, under Zorobabel, and Esdras, and Nehemiah, shall possess those who had possessed them by inheritance. And the house of Jacob, that is, Judah, shall be fire, and the house of Joseph, that is, of the ten tribes, flame.

For from Joseph indeed was born Ephraim, from which tribe was the kingdom of Samaria; but the house of Esau, that is, of the Idumeans, who had shown themselves so fierce and cruel against their brother, shall be turned into stubble. And as fire and flame quickly devour stubble: so the two kingdoms, joined together as one rod according to Ezekiel, shall lay waste Idumea and devour her, and there shall be none left of the people who could report the overthrow of the adversaries to the neighboring nations. For this is what the Septuagint translated as πυροφόρον, which we have rendered "grain-bearer," according to the usage of ancient speech; for those whom they now call Agents in affairs, or Couriers, the ancients called grain-bearers.

But it is better that we follow the Hebrew itself, that is, SARID (שריד), which is interpreted either "remnant," according to Aquila, or "one who escapes," according to Symmachus, or, according to Theodotion and the fifth edition, "residue." But all these things shall come to pass because the Lord hath spoken, and for him to have commanded is to have done. Otherwise: When the works of the flesh have been destroyed, and the earthly empire laid waste, there shall be in the Church the salvation of those who have not gone forth from their mother. And in her shall dwell the Holy One, of whom it is said in Isaiah: Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God of hosts, because both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all of one. And the house of the supplanter, Jacob, shall possess those who had possessed them by inheritance, making Christians out of persecutors, and receiving even the Idumeans themselves into the faith of the Church: but the house of Esau shall be turned into stubble.

And as fire cannot endure neighboring straw: so the disputation of Jacob, which is set on fire by the word of the Lord—for the words of the Lord are tried by fire—and the flame of Joseph, who is interpreted "increase," and who, sold by his brothers, fed the people in Egypt, the house of Esau shall not be able to withstand: but at the first encounter their sophisms shall be turned into nothing. And they shall be devoured unto their salvation, according to that which is said in the blessing of Isaac to Esau: But I have made him thy lord: and all thy brothers I have subjected to him as servants: and thou shalt serve thy brother. And there shall be no remnant of the house of Esau, when all things, of heaven and earth and the nether regions, shall bow the knee to Christ, and all things shall be subjected to him, that God may be all in all.

But because Esau, by his own fault, had built upon the foundation of Christ hay, wood, and stubble: therefore the house both of Jacob and of Joseph shall be turned into fire and flame, imitating their Lord, who says: I am a God, a consuming fire, so that, the chaff of sins being devoured, the pure grain may be gathered into the barns. All the things which we have said, and which we are about to say, the Jews promise themselves for a future time, when, instead of Christ, they shall receive Antichrist, the prophecy of the Lord the Saviour being fulfilled: I am come in my Father's name, and you received me not: if another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.

And whatever we have interpreted against Idumea, they dream against the Roman kingdom: which we say either has already been fulfilled, according to the history, under Zorobabel, or certainly, according to prophecy and mystical understanding, is being fulfilled daily in the Church, and in the kingdom of the soul against the flesh, is accomplished in each individual. But we say that the grain-bearer, according to the tropological sense, ceases to exist among heretics, when there is no one among them who can boast of possessing the grain of wheat that has died in the earth, and the bread from heaven. There are some who think that the Septuagint translated not πυροφόρον, that is "grain-bearer," but πυρφόρον, that is, one who can carry a little fire. Acquiescing therefore in the various interpretations, we shall say, according to the tropological sense, that not only shall the grain-bearer cease among heretics, but also he who pretends to have the light of Christ. For Satan himself is transfigured into an angel of light.

Verse 19. And they that are toward the South shall inherit the mount of Esau, and they that are in the plains, the Philistines: and they shall possess the country of Ephraim, and the country of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead. The Septuagint: And they that are in Nageb shall possess the mount of Esau, and they that are in Sephela, the strangers, and they shall possess the mount of Ephraim, and the plain of Samaria, and Benjamin, and Gilead. When Judah had returned to his own kingdom, and dwelt in the South, and possessed the whole region according to the division of Joshua the son of Nun, which reaches toward the Scorpion, that is, to all Acrabittena, those who before were confined within narrow bounds will possess the mount of Esau, that is, the mountains of Seir, and the mountainous regions which Edom had formerly possessed.

But those who dwelt in Sephela, that is, in the plains, meaning Lydda and Emmaus, that is, Diospolis and Nicopolis, will possess the Philistines, the five cities of the Philistines, Gaza, Ascalon, Azotus, Accaron, Gath, or that whole tract which according to the Acts of the Apostles is called Saron. But others think that this Sephela, that is, the plain country which is around Eleutheropolis, is promised: that it shall extend as far as Rhinocorura and to the sea, that is, that they of the tribe of Judah shall not only hold Eleutheropolis, but shall reach even to the coastlands, and shall subject the Philistines to their rule, whom they had not before subdued. The border of the sons of Judah shall also be enlarged as far as Ephraim, where Neapolis now is, and as far as the region of Samaria, where Sebaste was founded. But Benjamin, whose borders extend immediately from Jerusalem toward the north, shall possess all Arabia, which formerly was called Gilead, and is now called Gerasa.

But according to the Septuagint, both the mount of Ephraim, and the plains of Samaria, and Benjamin, and Gilead, those who shall be in the South shall possess: whether this has been fulfilled, let God see; for it can in part have been completed within the five hundred years up to the coming of Christ: and what I know most certainly, is fulfilled daily, and is confirmed in the kingdom of the Church. For those who dwell in the South, that is, in Nageb, and are in the true light, and who hold the plains and low places, that is, His disciples, to whom He says: Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, shall possess the mount of Esau and the Philistines: whom we may take, on account of the pride of their teachings and their worldly eloquence, as figures of the Gentiles. So that on the mountain are the teachers, and in the Philistines and strangers the disciples, who are led by the authority of the teachers.

And not only the mount of Esau and the strangers, but they shall also possess the country of Ephraim and Samaria. We often read of Ephraim and Samaria in Hosea, and we have interpreted them as the heresies which divide the Church under the Christian name. For there too fruitfulness is hoped for, and there too they promise the keeping of the faith. Further, Benjamin, the son of the right hand, and of strength, where the Temple of God is, shall possess Gilead, which is interpreted "the migration of testimony," signifying the carnal Israel: for from them the testimony of the Lord has migrated to us. But according to the Septuagint, Benjamin himself, and Gilead, those who shall be in the South, shall possess.

(Verses 20–21.) And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel, all the Canaanites, even unto Sarepta. And the captivity of Jerusalem, that is in Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the South. And saviours shall come up into mount Sion to judge the mount of Esau: and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. The Septuagint: And this shall be the beginning of the captivity to the children of Israel: the land of the Canaanites even unto Sarepta, and the captivity of Jerusalem even unto Ephratha, they shall possess the cities of Nageb. And they that had been saved shall go up from mount Sion to punish the mount of Esau, and the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Our translation greatly differs in this place from the Vulgate Edition: whence we ought in the exposition of the history to follow the Hebrew truth. Those who returned from Babylon into Judea, according to the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, will rightly be called the captivity.

That whole host of the children of Israel shall possess toward the South indeed, and toward the West, and toward the North, the Idumeans, and the Philistines, and the mount of Ephraim, and Samaria. Benjamin too, because he borders on the wilderness, shall specially obtain Gilead. But toward the East, they shall rule over all that is in the land of the Canaanites, even unto Sarepta of the Sidonians, where once a widow fed Elijah. Further, those who had been transferred from Jerusalem itself, the metropolis city, into Sapharad, which we translate as Bosphorus, shall possess the cities of the South, which are in the tribe of Judah: for having returned to their own city, they will obtain those things which are near to the city.

And when these things shall have been accomplished, just as in the book of Judges, the Lord used to send saviours who would save the people from captivity: so shall they go up, and come into mount Sion, to judge and to discern, as it were, subjected and serving them, the mount of Esau, that is, the Idumeans: and all being subdued, the kingdom shall be the Lord's. Where we have put Bosphorus, the Hebrew has SAPHARAD (ספרד): why the Septuagint chose to translate it Ephratha I do not know, since both Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion agree with the Hebrew truth. But we have learned from the Hebrew who instructed us in the Holy Scriptures, that the Bosphorus is so called: and, as a Jew, he said, "This is the region to which Hadrian transported the captives. When therefore our Christ shall come, then that captivity too shall return into Judea." But we may understand any place of the kingdom of Babylon, although I think otherwise too.

For it is the custom of the prophets, when they speak against Babylon, the Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, and other nations, to make much use of the phrases of their language, and to preserve the idioms of the provinces. Since therefore in the language of the Assyrians the term which in Hebrew is called GEBUL (גבול) is called SAPHARAD (ספרד), I conjecture the sense to be this: The captivity of Jerusalem, which is divided in all its borders and regions, shall receive the cities of the South, that is, of its own tribe. But for what we have translated "and saviours shall come up," and the Septuagint rendered "they that shall be saved," in the Hebrew it is written MOSIM (מושעים): which must be understood not passively, as Aquila, and the Septuagint, and Theodotion have it, σεσωσμένοι, or ἀνασωζόμενοι, but according to Symmachus, σώζοντες, that is, actively, as "saviours." For indeed σεσωσμένοι, that is, "saved," are called in Hebrew speech PHELETIM (פלטים).

Since we have interpreted according to the history, as best we could, and have steered our little boat among the rugged rocks: let us now spread the sails of spiritual understanding, that, the Lord blowing and unveiling His own mysteries, we may joyfully arrive at the harbor. At the time when Benjamin had possessed Gilead, the captivity of the host of the children of Israel, or certainly the beginning of the captivity of the once carnal Israel, shall be this, that it come to the land of the Canaanites, and the prophetic word, which was in peril of famine in Judea, the fleece of Israel being dried up, shall pass over to the dew of the Gentiles; and there be fed, and feed, while it is received by believers, and itself feeds the believers.

Sarepta is either a compound of two words, and is interpreted "the scarcity of bread"; or it is one word, and is translated "burning." But Chanaan is translated into σάλον, that is, "commotion"; or else is called "trader" and "humble." Therefore the captivity of the children of Israel, when they shall have left behind the western letter and come to the quickening spirit, shall move all things that belong to the Law. It shall trade many pearls for the one most precious pearl, and, having laid aside the pride of the Jews, shall pursue Christian humility, and shall come even to that place where formerly was the tribulation of bread, and where a widow woman, deserted by her Maker, scarcely nourished her orphan son, and where all their sins and vices shall be burnt up.

But the captivity or transmigration of Jerusalem, where once was the vision of peace, and which is now scattered throughout the whole world, shall possess the cities of the South, that is, the Churches of the true and perfect light, and shall say with the shining bride: Where dost thou feed, where dost thou lie down at noon? And when, together with Joseph, she is received back into the ancient brotherhood, she shall be made drunk with the blood of the shepherd and the prince. But if, according to the Septuagint, we read Ephratha, no one doubts that the faith of Christ is meant. For Ephratha is interpreted καρποφορία, that is, "fruitfulness," and is ἐνώνυμος, being also called Bethlehem, in which the heavenly bread arose. But these things being thus accomplished, saviours, or those that shall have been saved of the remnants of the Jewish people, shall go up into mount Sion, to judge and take vengeance on the mount of Esau.

Just as the Lord calls light His Apostles, and says: You are the light of the world: and He Himself, the Rock, granted to Peter that he should be a rock; and He, the good Shepherd, bestowed upon them the name of shepherds; and whatever is said of Him, He grants to His servants that it be said of them: so the Saviour Himself willed His Apostles to be the saviours of the world, who, ascending the watchtower of the mountain of the Church, and laying aside Jewish pride and that of all the mountains which were raised up against the knowledge of God, prepared the kingdom for the Lord. These things, following the authority of the ancients for two little lamplit labors, and especially the Hebrew exposition, I have dictated in hasty speech, and have opened my mouth: but I know not whether Christ has fulfilled it. Wherefore the wise reader ought rather to seek the coherence of the meanings than the elegance of the diction.

For we do not dictate with that smoothness and arrangement of words with which we write. It is one thing, my Pammachius, often to turn the pen, and to write things worthy of remembrance; another, with the fingers of the notaries made ready, out of shame of keeping silence, to dictate whatever comes into the mouth. In this Prophet, both as a youth I have played, and now as an old man I have ventured. Whoever shall have said truer and better things, let him pass over into his opinion.