Amos 9

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike the hinge, and let the lintels be shaken; for avarice is at the head of them all, and the last of them I will slay with the sword. There shall be no flight for them; whoever of these flees shall flee and shall not be saved. LXX: I saw the Lord standing upon the altar, and he said: Strike upon the mercy seat, and the porches shall be shaken; and dash apart upon the heads of all, and the rest of them I will slay with the sword. Whoever of them flees shall not flee away; and whoever of them has been saved again shall not be saved. Whoever, with Ezekiel and John the Baptist, has seen the heavens opened, and from whose eyes the veil that was laid over the face of Moses has been taken away, so that there may be fulfilled in him what is written: The commandment of the Lord is bright, enlightening the eyes; he will see the Lord standing upon the altar and commanding the prophet, or, as many think, the angel who has been appointed to render the punishments of sins, to strike the hinges of the temple, or the mercy seat, and that its lintels, or porches, be shaken. And when, he says, the temple has been scattered and destroyed because of the wickedness of men, and my wrath has begun from my sanctuary, let each one know that he cannot escape, since avarice possesses all things; and that his last end is death, and that no defences can come to his aid for escaping the sentence of God. And as for what we read according to the LXX: That he should cut into the heads of all, fittingly are their heads divided who of their own accord divided themselves from him who is the head of all, and said: We have no king but Caesar, who cried out with impious voice: Crucify, crucify such a one, and: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. All these things we can also refer to the heretics, whose altar is struck, and all their initiations and sacrilegious mysteries are shaken, who have had avarice at their heads, the partridge crying out through them, and gathering what it did not bring forth, and making riches without judgment. Hence the Lord will also slay its last things, or remnants, so that the section begun may be completed, and its last end will be foolish. But when the Lord has struck the hinges and brought the sword upon them, there will be no one who can escape and avoid the Lord's impending sword. And at the same time this too must be noted: that, with the Lord standing upon the altar, first the mercy seat, or the hinges of the temple, is struck; then the porches are shaken; thirdly the heads of all are divided; fourthly those who are left are slain with the sword. For unless the Lord has trampled the pride of the heretics under his foot, and struck their perverse and wicked teaching with the spiritual blade, and divided among themselves their masters, who are understood by the heads, and slain them in a good sense, the disciples cannot be made alive, according to that which is written: I will kill and I will make alive; I will strike and I will heal. The masters are killed and struck, so that the disciples may be made alive; the heads are divided, so that the other members may be healed.

Tell me, John, what do you mean when you say, "No one has ever seen God"? What shall we think about he prophets who say that they saw God? Isaiah said, "I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne." And, again, Daniel said, "I saw until the thrones were set, and the ancient of days sat." And Micah said, "I saw the God of Israel sitting on his throne." And again, another prophet said, "I saw the Lord standing on the altar, and he said unto me, 'Strike the mercy seat.' " And I can gather many similar passages to show you as witnesses of what I say.How is it, then, that John says, "No one has ever seen God"? He says this so that you may know that he is speaking of a clear knowledge and a perfect comprehension of God. All the cases cited were instances of God's condescension and accommodation. That no one of those prophets saw God's essence in its pure state is clear from the fact that each one saw him in a different way. God is a simple being; he is not composed of parts; he is without form or figure. But all these prophets saw different forms and figures. God proved this very thing through the mouth of another prophet. And he persuaded those other prophets that they did not see his essence in its exact nature when he said, "I have multiplied visions, and by the ministries of the prophets I was presented." What God was saying was, "I did not show my very essence, but I came down in condescension and accommodated myself to the weakness of their eyes."

If they go down even to hell, from there my hand shall bring them out; and if they go up even into heaven, from there I will drag them down; and if they are hidden on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them away; and if they hide themselves from my eyes in the depth of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them; and if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them; and I will set my eyes upon them for evil, and not for good. And the Lord God of hosts, who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell in it shall mourn, and the whole of it shall rise up like a stream, and shall flow down like the river of Egypt. LXX: If they are dug down into hell, from there my hand shall pluck them out; and if they go up into heaven, from there I will drag them down; if they are hidden on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them away; and if they plunge themselves away from my eyes into the depth of the sea, there I will command the dragon, and it shall bite them; and if they go into captivity before the face of their enemies, there I will give orders to the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evils, and not for good things. And the Lord God Almighty, who touches the earth and shakes it, and all its inhabitants shall mourn, and their consummation shall rise up like a river, and shall go down like the flood of Egypt. He who had said above: There shall be no flight for them; he shall flee, and he who flees shall not be saved, now cuts flight itself into its parts, and testifies hyperbolically that even if they do this and that, they cannot escape. If they go down, he says, even to hell, from there my hand shall bring them out: not that anyone is drawn back from the lower world before the day of resurrection, but that even those placed in hell are in his power. We know that this was fulfilled upon Dathan and Abiram, whom the gaping of the earth swallowed alive. And if they go up, he says, even to heaven, from there I will drag them down: because both Enoch and Elijah, caught up with their bodies into heaven, are governed by the will of God. And observe the proper use of the words: one goes down to hell, one climbs up to heaven; we are brought out of hell, we are dragged down from the heavens. In the one there is extreme despair, in the other the greatness of pride.

And these things, following the order of the history, we have interpreted as best we could, if indeed understanding has not failed us in some points. But David sets out the whole περιοχὴν (the whole tenor) of this passage, saying: Lord, you have proved me, and you have known me. And at once he adds: Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your face where shall I flee? If I ascend into heaven, you are there; if I descend into hell, you are there. If I take my wings at dawn, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. In Deuteronomy also we read something similar: This commandment which I command you today is not above you, nor placed far off, nor set in heaven, so that you could say: Which of us is able to climb up to heaven, to bring it down to us, that we may hear it and fulfil it in deed? Nor is it placed beyond the sea, so that you should make excuses and say: Which of us will be able to cross the sea and bring it all the way to us, so that we may be able to hear and do what is commanded? But the word is near you, exceedingly, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. For when the soul, loosed from the bodily chains, has, by reason of the thinness of its substance, the freedom to fly where it will, or where it is compelled to go, it will either be led to the lower regions, of which it is written: Let sinners be turned into hell, all the nations that forget God, and: In hell who will confess to you? And: Your glory has gone down into hell. Or else it will be lifted up to the heavenly places, where are the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places; and if it wishes to claim for itself the knowledge of the true circumcision, for this is what Carmel is interpreted, and, scorning humility, to dwell on the mountains, even there it will not be able to escape the searching hand of God. But if, despairing of salvation, it tries to avoid the eyes of God and to reach the farthest limits of the salt waves, even there the Lord will command the crooked and ancient serpent, who is the enemy and the avenger, and it will bite it. Taken captive also by vices and sins, it will be punished with the sword of the Lord, and he will set his eyes upon it for evil and not for good, so that through tortures and punishments it may return to the Lord. And when Almighty God has touched their land and shaken it, and has made all earthly things melt, they, understanding their crimes, will be turned to mourning, and the Lord himself will ascend and descend in a twofold way. He will ascend upon the saints like the river of its consummation, that is, of the earth, so as to consume their earthly works. He will descend upon sinners like the flood of Egypt, so that by the Lord's onrush they may be thrust down into the bitterness of torments.

While the little one is nourished by the example of the one who from greatness descended to humility, the devil has lost what he held: because the proud held only the proud. When such an example of humility was displayed before them, people learned to condemn their own pride and to imitate the humility of God. Thus also the devil, by losing those whom he had in his power, has even himself been humbled; not chastened, but thrown prostrate. "You have humbled the proud like one that is wounded." You have been humbled and have humbled others. You have been wounded and have wounded others, for your blood as it was shed to blot the handwriting of sins could not but wound him. For what was the ground of his pride, except the bond that he held against us? This bond, this handwriting, you have blotted out with your blood. Him therefore you have wounded, from whom you have rescued so many victims. You must understand the devil wounded, not by the piercing of the flesh, which he has not, but by the bruising of his proud heart. "You have scattered your enemies abroad with your mighty arm."

[Daniel 7:2-3] "And during the night I saw in my vision, and behold, the four winds of heaven strove upon the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up out of the sea, differing from one another." The four winds of heaven I suppose to have been angelic powers to whom the principalities have been committed, in accordance with what we read in Deuteronomy: "When the Most High divided the nations and when He separated the children of Adam, He established the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the angels. For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the line of His inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:8). But the sea signifies this world and the present age, overwhelmed with salty and bitter waves, in accordance with the Lord's own interpretation of the dragnet cast into the sea (Matthew 13:47-50). Hence also the sovereign of all creatures that inhabit the waters is described as a dragon, and his heads, according to David, are smitten in the sea (Psalm 74:13). And in Amos we read: "If he descends to the very depth of the sea, there will I give him over to the dragon and he shall bite him" (Amos 9:3). But as for the four beasts who came up out of the sea and were differentiated from one another, we may identify them from the angel's discourse. "These four great beasts," he says, "are four kingdoms which shall rise up from the earth." And as for the four winds which strove in the great sea, they are called winds of heaven because each one of the angels does for his realm the duty entrusted to him. This too should be noted, that the fierceness and cruelty of the kingdoms concerned are indicated by the term "beasts."

If they are hidden on the top of Carmel, either by the borders of Phoenicia in the northern region, or toward the south on account of the vastness of the desert, where Nabal of Carmel once lived, from there, he says, I will search them out and take them away; and if in the depth of the sea, and, to speak of the prophet, in Tarshish, they try to avoid the eyes of God, there I will command the serpent, by which in this place he signifies Leviathan, or the sea-monster, so as to keep the metaphor, and to come to the enemies by way of the serpent and the sea-monster. And it shall bite them, that is, it shall devour them with its jaws.

And lest perhaps, from what he said above, we should understand anything other than captivity at the hands of the enemy, Scripture, after its custom, has disclosed what it had said before under riddles. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them: so that, namely, they may not think servitude the extremity of their evils, but the enemy's blade may pierce them even as captives; and those who have been able to survive and escape death may not escape the gaze of God, but he will set his eyes upon them for evil and not for good, so that he may always visit them and drive them to repentance through torments.

And Almighty God says that he will do these things, at whose touch and nod the foundations of the earth are shaken, or melt, and every inhabitant of it is taken up with lamentation and mourning. He says these things to show the greatness of the divine power, lest perhaps he should indeed wish to do what he threatens, but his strength should not fulfil his will. But if the earth melts, or is shaken, and even insensible nature feels its Creator, how much more man, a fragile creature, the treasure of whose soul is shut up in earthen and bodily vessels? And as the river of Egypt runs down into the sea and is swallowed up, so also the land of Israel, of which he had said above: Who touches the earth and it melts, will go into captivity and will be devoured by the enemies; μετωνυμικῶς (by metonymy), the divine word signifying by that which holds, that which is held.

He who builds his ascent in heaven, and has founded his bundle upon the earth; who calls the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: the Lord is his name. LXX: He who builds his ascent in heaven, and founds his promise upon the earth; who calls the water of the sea, and pours it out upon the face of the earth: the Lord Almighty is his name. The Lord God Almighty, who looks upon, or touches, the earth and shakes it, is himself the one who daily builds his ascent into heaven, and says in the Gospel: My Father works until now, and I work. And not only did he once build Eve from the rib of Adam as a type of the Church, but daily he builds believers and the members of his body, and lifts them from the earth to heaven, so that in them he himself may climb up. The Lord ascended into heaven with Enoch, he ascended with Elijah, he ascended with Moses, the place of whose burial could not be found on earth, because he had ascended into heaven. He ascended with Paul, who, a vessel of election, was changed from a persecutor into an apostle, and was caught up from lowly things to the heights, so that he ascended into the third heaven, and through the Holy Spirit and the Son came to the Father, and heard the unspeakable words of the mystery of the Trinity, which it is not lawful for men to hear. He, therefore, who daily ascends in the saints, has founded his bundle upon the earth, of which he speaks in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased my Father to dwell in you. This bundle is bound tight by the one religion of the Lord. Hence religion itself has taken its name from binding fast, and from tying into the Lord's bundle. Moreover, according to the Seventy, he founds his promise upon the earth, so that all his promises, which the holy prophets sang with their mouths, may not have an empty sound and the hollow names of tropology alone, but may be founded on the earth. And when they have the foundations of history, then let them receive the summit of spiritual understanding: so that Christ was truly born of a virgin, truly raised the dead Lazarus, at his touch the αἱμοῤῤοῦσα (the woman with the issue of blood) was truly healed, at the coming of the Lord the blind truly saw, the lame ran, withered hands were stretched out, the leprosy was cleansed; although according to tropology the divine word is daily born of a virgin soul; daily those dead in sin and bound with the cords of vices are bidden to come out of the tomb of their crimes; daily the works of blood are stanched; the blind look upon the light in faithfulness to Christ; those who were lame before in faith run in the way of the Lord; and hands withered by avarice are stretched out to almsgiving; and the leprosy of Miriam, which defiles whatever it has touched, recovers its former purity. But this Lord also calls the most bitter waters of the sea, and has poured them out upon those who have turned their face to the Lord. And he calls the bitter waters for this reason: to make them sweet, and to bring forth the winds from his treasuries, and by his command to hang aloft the waters heavy with salt, and, straining them and boiling them with the heat of the upper air, to dispense them in rains and send them out upon the face of the earth, so that all dry places may be watered with showers, and where sin abounded, grace may abound the more.

The heavenly intelligences gazed with admiration on "the Jerusalem that is above," and by the mouth of Isaiah said long ago, "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves with their young ones, unto me?" Now, as Christ has prepared for us this ascension into heaven, he must be the Christ of whom Amos spoke: "It is he who builds his ascent up to the heavens," even for himself and his people.

Are you not like the sons of the Ethiopians to me, sons of Israel, says the Lord? Did I not make Israel go up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from Cyrene? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinning kingdom, and I will crush it from the face of the earth; nevertheless, crushing, I will not crush the house of Jacob, says the Lord. LXX: Are you not like the sons of the Ethiopians to me, sons of Israel, says the Lord? Did I not bring Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the foreigners from Cappadocia, and the Syrians from the pit? Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the kingdom of sinners, and I will take it away from the face of the earth. Nevertheless I will not take away the house of Jacob to the end, says the Lord. For Cyrene, Aquila and the Fifth edition put the Hebrew word itself, cir; the Seventy 'pit', that is, βόθρον; Theodotion 'wall'; Symmachus 'Cyrene', whom we too have followed in this place.

But everyone who is Israel, who once saw God with his mind and was brought out of Egypt, if, desiring the vices of Egypt and the pleasures of the world, he returns not only into Egypt but into Ethiopia, in which whoever is, according to Jeremiah, cannot change his skin, is saved by the coming of Christ, and there is fulfilled in him what is written: Ethiopia shall hasten its hands to God. And when he has worshipped him, it will be said of him: Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down. And when they have fallen down, and have brought victims to the Lord from there, from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, they will be able to say: I am black and beautiful, because the sun has discolored me. For bodies that languish in shade and idleness cannot bear the temptations and the heats of the world; but those which are made ready for wrestling and for contests, dried by the sun, overcome the injuries of the world and obtain the blessing of the Holy Spirit, who says to the righteous man: The sun shall not burn you by day, nor the moon by night. The Ethiopians, therefore, are turned into sons of God if they repent, and the sons of God pass over into Ethiopians if they come into the depth of sins. For God himself, the Creator of all, turns Cappadocians into Philistines, and those who dwelt in the cold of faith and lay exposed to the North, the harshest wind, he made to fall drinking, and, laying aside their pride, to feel the judgment of the Lord. The Syrians also, that is, the lofty and sublime, who are called Aram, he transferred from Cyrene, the weak wall, or the place which overhung the most bitter sea and was near the Syrtes; and what, according to the LXX, was held in the pit, he changed for the good, so as to make them lofty.

The whole understanding of this passage which I have set forth, and of everything contained in this section, I will sum up in a brief discourse, up to the place where it is written: Who say, Evil will not draw near, and will not come upon us, so that we may be able to know what is said: I, the Lord God Almighty, from whom nothing can be hidden, who touch the earth and it shall be moved; who build my ascent in heaven; who call the waters of the sea and pour them out upon the face of the earth; whose name is the Lord; I who am the creator of all, formed all the nations from the same clay and begot them with an equal lot. In short, I have joined together the Ethiopians, the Philistines, the Syrians and the Jews, far apart as they are in places and in bodies, by the law of mortality, and at my will I move my servants hither and thither, and transfer them into all the provinces. Do not be lifted up into pride because I brought you out of Egypt and, as my peculiar people, did not allow you to serve Pharaoh; this same thing I did also for the Philistines, whom the Seventy translated 'foreigners', who in Hebrew are called caphthorim: I transferred them from Cappadocia and settled them in the regions of Palestine; the Syrians also, that is, Aram, I transferred from Cyrene; and so those who were made in an equal condition will be punished by an equal sentence of my judgment, and I will overturn all impious kingdoms, without respect of persons. But you, O sons of Israel, of whom I said: Israel is my firstborn son, and: Out of Egypt I called my son: I will strike you with the rod and will visit your sins; but I will not crush you for ever, and I will not take my mercy away from you; and, as though you were shaken and tossed in a sieve, I will cleanse and choose you, so that whoever is a little stone, and strengthened through repentance, may not fall out of my sieve, but whoever falls to the ground like dust may be struck with the sword; and the sinners of my people shall die, not because they sinned before, but because they persevered in their sins until death.

For the eyes of the Lord are upon all the sinning kingdoms, which the devil showed to the Lord, and of which the Apostle says: Let not sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. Nevertheless, although he visits sinners with the rod, and crushes and strikes those who have remained in sin, he does not allow to perish for ever those souls which are called the house of Jacob, and supplant sin, and overcome in the contest, and seize the heel of the bloodstained brother.

For behold, I will command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations, as it is shaken in a sieve, and not a pebble shall fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say: It will not draw near, and evil will not come upon us. LXX: For behold, I give command, and I will winnow the house of Israel among all the nations, as it is winnowed with a winnowing fan, and no crushing shall fall upon the earth. All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say: It will not draw near, nor will evils come upon us. God, who has measured the waters with his hand, and the heaven with his palm, and encloses the whole earth in his fist, he himself, as befits his greatness, holding the edges of the earth with both hands, will shake it hither and thither like a sieve; so that, while the chaff and the filth of sinners fall to the earth, the pure grain may remain, to be stored in the granaries; or, as the LXX translated, he will hold the winnowing fan in his hand, and will cleanse his threshing floor, and will store the wheat in the granaries, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire; of which he speaks through Jeremiah: What has the chaff to do with the grain, says the Lord? The same thing, under the figure of another parable, is shown by that net which is cast into the sea of this world and draws out fish of every kind, and, when the bad fish have been thrown away, only the good are kept.

So too the Lord has scattered the wretched house of Israel through the whole world, and shaken it in a sieve, and winnowed it with a shovel; and while the pebbles and little stones do not fall upon the earth, those will die by the sword who, on account of their filth and dust, are called the sinners of the people. And they will suffer this because they do not believe the prophecies of the prophets, nor think that the things which the Lord threatens through them will come. And though they promise themselves prosperity, they will afterwards endure evils; while, on the other side, the saints fear and do not sin, and therefore by no means die by the sword, because they said: Evils will draw near to us, and the punishments which our sins have deserved will come upon us; of which God speaks more fully in Jeremiah: I will take it up and speak against a nation and a kingdom, to take it away and destroy it; if that nation turns from its evils, I too will repent of the things that I had thought to do to it. God, therefore, is not changed, who is always immutable; but we change him by our conversion. He rages, he is angry, he threatens, and says that he will inflict punishments: If we repent, he too will repent of his sentence. Again, according to the same Jeremiah, he promises prosperity: If we grow slack through negligence, he too will repent of his pledge, and will change what he promised. Of this we can have an example in the Ninevites and in Jerusalem, of whom the one were set free from the punishments that hung over them, the other lost what had been promised to their fathers.

This is the sword, and this is the broadsword and the sword (framea), of which the Lord also speaks to the Father in Psalm 21 (22): Deliver my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog. Of this broadsword it is also written in Amos the prophet: All the sinners of the earth shall die by the sword. This cannot stand at all according to the letter, for many sinners perish by shipwreck, others by poison; these are choked by water, those a fire consumes. But by this sword and this broadsword all sinners perish, and the Ethiopians of black color too, of whom Zephaniah testifies with his sacred mouth, saying: But you also, Ethiopians, shall be slain by my sword.

And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. [Amos 9:11-12] Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

But let us hear what Hosea goes on to say: "And after this the children of Israel shall return, and shall seek the Lord their God, and David their king. And they shall fear the Lord and his goodness in the last days." You will never find a prophecy plainer than this, for the name king David means Christ who, as St. Paul says, "was born according to the flesh of the offspring of David." Further on still, Hosea foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third day, but in the mysterious way that is proper to prophecy. He says, "He shall heal us after two days, and on the third day we shall rise up again." This is the idea underlying the words of St. Paul: "Therefore if you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above." The prophet Amos too has predictions not unlike those of Hosea. He says, "Be prepared to meet your God, O Israel, for behold, I am the one who forms the thunder, and creates the wind, and declares to men their Christ." And, in another place: " 'In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen. And I will close up the breaches of the walls thereof and repair what is fallen. And I will rebuild it as in the days of old, so that the remnant of men may seek me out, and all nations, because my name is invoked upon them,' says the Lord that does these things."

In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old, that the rest of men and all the nations may enquire who have been called by my name, saith the Lord who doeth these things. A passage of which James the Apostle makes mention in the Acts of the Apostles.

The tent of David means the race of the Jews. It must be known that after Cyrus had freed Israel from captivity, they returned to Judea and built the temple of God. Then, after they had again fortified the cities that had been destroyed before, they lived in security day by day for a long time. While such is the factual reference in the passage, the deeper meaning closer to reality would be in Christ. For since, as I said, Christ came back to life; for the Father raised the tent of David, and rebuilt its ruins, a great and abundant participation in spiritual goods has come upon all people, both Greeks and Jews; "For God is one, who has justified the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith." Therefore, a very great supply of spiritual fruits is given to those who have believed, which is very well signified through earthly fruits.

After him James spoke as follows: "Men, brethren, Simon hath declared how God did purpose to take from among the Gentiles a people for His name. And thus do the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: that the residue of men may seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, among whom my name has been invoked, saith the Lord, doing these things. Known from eternity is His work to God. Wherefore I for my part give judgment, that we trouble not them who from among the Gentiles are turned to God: but that it be enjoined them, that they do abstain from the vanities of idols, and from fornication, and from blood; and whatsoever they wish not to be done to themselves, let them not do to others."

And, not to put off with a long discourse the rule for these promises: both in this prophet and in the others, whatever is proclaimed about the building of Jerusalem and of the temple, and about the blessedness of all things, the Jews promise themselves with a vain expectation for the end of time, and they speak of it as to be fulfilled carnally. But we, who follow not the letter that kills but the spirit that gives life, prove that these things are already accomplished in the Church, and are fulfilled daily in individuals, who, falling through sin, are rebuilt through repentance.

In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and I will rebuild the openings of its walls, and what had collapsed I will restore, and I will rebuild it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Idumea, and all the nations, because my name has been invoked upon them, says the Lord who does these things. LXX: In that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David that had fallen, and I will rebuild what had collapsed, and what has been undermined I will raise up, and I will restore them as the days of old, that the rest of men may seek me, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name has been invoked, says the Lord who does all these things. Where the authority of the apostles goes before, above all of Peter and James, whom the vessel of election calls pillars of the Church, there every suspicion of a differing explanation must be removed, and what is expounded by such great men, that must be followed. In the Acts of the Apostles, when a question had been raised among the apostles as to why Paul and Barnabas had received men from the Gentiles without circumcision and the observance of the sabbath, Peter answered as he ought; and James, approving his judgment, spoke thus: Men, brothers, hear me: Simon has related how God first visited to take from the Gentiles a people, for his name, and with this the words of the prophets agree; as it is written: After these things I will return, and I will build the tabernacle of David that has fallen, and its ruins I will rebuild, and I will set it up; that the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name has been invoked, says the Lord who does these things; known to the Lord from eternity is his work. This tabernacle of David, then, which had fallen — and it had fallen in those who say: It will not draw near, and evil will not come upon us, whom the Lord had shaken in his sieve and tested, and whose threshing floor he had cleansed with the winnowing fan of his majesty, and whoever had been sinners he killed with the sword —, he now says, according to the custom of the Scriptures, promising prosperous and joyful things after torments, after punishments, that he will raise up, and that in the resurrection of the Lord he will restore all things, so that what had fallen in the synagogues may rise in the churches, and believers may possess the remnant of Idumea, and all the nations; so that whatever is left of the bloodthirsty and earthly kingdom may be changed into heavenly kingdoms, and all the Gentiles who have forgotten the Lord may be converted and return to him.

What then was the tabernacle in which He dwelt? Hear the Prophet say; "I will raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen." It was fallen indeed, our nature had fallen an incurable fall, and needed only that mighty Hand. There was no possibility of raising it again, had not He who fashioned it at first stretched forth to it His Hand, and stamped it new with His Image, by the regeneration of water and the Spirit. And observe I pray you, the awful and ineffable nature of the mystery. He inhabits this tabernacle for ever, for He clothed Himself with our flesh, not as again to leave it, but always to have it with Him. Had not this been the case, He would not have deemed it worthy of the royal throne, nor would He while wearing it have been worshiped by all the host of heaven, angels, archangels, thrones, principalities, dominions, powers.

But if we choose to read according to the LXX: That the rest of men may seek me, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name has been invoked, we ought to take as the rest of men those who believed from the Jewish people, and who, like little stones, did not fall through the sieve, nor were cast out with the dust and the chaff and the filth. For a remnant will be saved at the beginning of the faith, and at the end of the world, so that when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, then all Israel may be saved. And the name of the Lord which is invoked upon the remnant and upon all the Gentiles is that of which the Savior says: Father, I have revealed your name to men.

"After this I will return, and rebuild the tabernacle of David which is fallen down." But if one would look into the matter closely, the kingdom of David does in fact now stand, his Offspring reigning everywhere. For what is the good of the buildings and the city, with none obeying there? And what is the harm arising from the destruction of the city, when all are willing to give their very souls? There is that come which is more illustrious than David: in all parts of the world is he now sung. This has come to pass: if so, then must this also come to pass, "And I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:" to what end? "that the residue of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom My Name is called." If then it was to this end that the city rose again (namely) because of Him (that was to come) of them, it shows that of the building of the city the cause is, the calling of the Gentiles. Who are "the residue?" those who are then left. "And all the Gentiles, upon whom My Name is called:" but observe, how he keeps the due order, and brings them in second. "Saith the Lord, which doeth these things." Not "saith" (only), but "doeth." Why then, it was God's work.

And the mountains drip sweetness. Therefore, the mountains, as it seems, here he calls the churches of Christ, on account of the loftiness of the doctrines in them, and the excellence of their piety towards God, and because the mountains appear to be covered with various plants, while the churches of Christ have countless heads of saints, like cedars and the tallest trees, which are established by the outlets of spiritual waters. But just as in the most wooded of mountains, swarms of bees flying about produce the sweet and precious honey; so again also in the churches, those who are more distinguished than others and more mature in virtue and understanding, collecting the sweet honey of the teaching about Christ, practically make it drip even into the hearts of others. Therefore, the mountains will drip sweetness in this way, I think. And he said the hills will be planted together. But hills are like those who are second and have less in virtue than those who are exceedingly distinguished in it. For there are measures of holiness and righteousness in the churches, and as Paul says, "According to the grace given to each" by God who distributes such things. Therefore, these also will be planted together, he says, that is, flourishing and fruitful, and bearing a mind richly covered with the orthodoxy of divine doctrines.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and the ploughman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of the grape him who sows the seed. And the mountains shall drip sweetness and all the hills shall be tilled. And I will turn back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the deserted cities, and they shall dwell in them, and they shall plant vineyards, and they shall drink their wine, and they shall make gardens, and they shall eat their fruits. And I will plant them upon their own soil, and I will not uproot them any more from their land which I have given them, says the Lord your God. LXX: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and the threshing shall overtake the vintage, and the grape shall change its colour at the sowing. And the mountains shall drip sweetness, and all the hills shall be planted. And I will turn back the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the ruined cities, and they shall dwell in them, and they shall plant vineyards, and they shall drink their wine, and they shall make gardens, and they shall eat their fruit. And they shall be planted upon their own land, and they shall not be torn away any more from their land which I have given them, says the Lord God Almighty. When the tabernacle of David that had fallen has been raised up, and what had slipped and been overturned has been rebuilt, the abundance of all things is described: how those who before going went and wept, carrying their seeds, coming shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves, so that the threshing of the sheaves overtakes the vintage, or the ploughman the reaper, and the grape changes its colour and takes on its hue at the time of sowing. Or, as is truer, the treader of the grape overtakes the sowing, and so all things follow one upon another, so that no day is without grain, wine and joy. In that time the grape will be trodden in full winepresses, and new wine reddened with the blood of Christ and of the martyrs will be poured out, and a treader of the grape of this kind will be the seedbed of the word of God, so that their blood cries out in the world more than the blood of righteous Abel cried out. And whoever by the merit of his virtues has climbed up to the mountain heights will sweat honey, or rather will drip the sweetness of the word of God, of which it is written: Taste and see how sweet the Lord is, and: How sweet are your words to my throat, above honey and the honeycomb to my mouth. And those who are below the mountains, or rather second to the mountains, whom the bridegroom leaps over in the Song of Songs and calls hills, will be planted and will imitate the paradise of God, so that every fruit of teachings hangs in them.

Then, if anyone is a captive through unbelief, and has not yet believed in the name of the Lord, and is of the remnant of Israel, once his people, he will return to the faith of Christ, so that what he had heard in the prophets he may hold in the Gospel. And these mountains which will drip sweetness, and the hills which have been planted, after the Lord has turned back the captivity of his people Israel, will build cities that were before deserted, and will dwell in them, so that each city that has been built may say: I am a strong city, a city that is besieged, and the one of which the Lord speaks in the Gospel: A city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden. And in the psalms it is said: The rush of the river makes glad the city of God. They will also plant vineyards with Noah, and drink their wine, and be drunk, and they will hear from the Lord Savior: Drink, my friends, and be drunk. And they will drink the wine which he promised he would drink new with his apostles in the kingdom of the Father. This is the vineyard of Sorek, whose wine we drink daily in the mysteries: Not content with the happiness of these things, they will make gardens for their delight, and will water them, so that no kind of virtue may be lacking in them, they will eat their fruits; for he who has planted and watered will himself also eat.

And that the God of all has restored our captivity, no one would doubt. For Christ proclaimed "release to the captives," and He rescued from the greed of the devil the whole world under heaven. Then indeed, then, like farmers, we became caretakers of all the spiritual fruitfulness, we planted gardens and vineyards, and we shall eat their fruit. For we shall receive the rewards for our labors, and we shall also gather the fruits of equity. And that we shall have an unshakable dwelling with God, and that no one could cast out those who are in the lots once given by him, he will make clear by saying, "I will plant them upon their land which I have given them, says the Lord God." "For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable," and we will be established in every good thing, having Christ himself as our leader and festival-president; through whom and with whom to God the Father be the glory and the power with the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.

And when the mountains and hills have done all these things, dripping sweetness, and building cities, and dwelling in them, planting vineyards, and drinking their wine, making gardens, and eating their fruits, then the Lord will plant the planters themselves upon their own land, of which it is said: I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living, and in the Gospel: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land. And after he has planted them, and made them firm with a root driven deep, he will not uproot them any more from the land which he had given them. From this we understand that the Church, until the end of the world, is indeed shaken by persecutions, but can by no means be overthrown; tempted, not overcome. And this will come about because the Lord God Almighty, or the Lord her God, that is, the Church's, has promised that he will do it, he whose promise is a law of nature.