Hosea 6

The Holy Spirit set this forth of old, when he said in the Psalms, "O my king and my God. For to you will I pray; O Lord, in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will stand before you, and will see you." And again through the prophet the Lord says, "At dawn they will be on watch for me, saying, 'Let us go and return to the Lord our God.' " Likewise at the setting of the sun and at the end of the day necessarily there must again be prayer. For since Christ is the true sun and the true day, as the sun and the day of the world recede, when we pray and petition that the light come upon us again, we pray for the coming of Christ to provide us with the grace of eternal light.

In the beginning he seized Adam's human nature; for he at once declared it accursed, ascribing it to death and corruption. Thus the wrath has struck, but grace plugged the wound with lint. For Christ has brought the healing. He invited [us] to know the true divine revelation; he confirmed [us] through the Spirit to observe the commandments. He showed us again to be zealous followers by placing us beyond corruption and freeing us from the previous infirmities, namely, sin and passions.

And when they have risen early to the Lord, what will they say? Come, and let us return to the Lord. They are not content with their own salvation, but urge one another on to return to the Lord whom they had left, whom they had deserted because of their sins, by whom they had been abandoned. For he has seized and he will heal us; he who had said above: I, I will seize and go, will strike and heal us. For what we have said, "he will cure", all alike translated μοτώσει (will dress with lint); now properly μότα is the name for the little linen pads that are inserted into wounds, to eat away the putrid flesh and draw out the pus; and it belongs to the art of physicians to heal great wounds over a long time and to restore health through pain.

Further on, 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 again." This is the idea underlying the words of Paul [when he says], "Therefore if you have risen in Christ, seek the things that are above."

The prince of this world did not want the Lord's army to recognize the engagement of those three days, as that engagement of which the prophet said, "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up." The first day for us is the passion of the Savior; the second day on which he descended into hell; but the third day is the day of the resurrection. So then on the third day God went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and by night in a pillar of fire, and the people were led through the Red Sea. The three days we can fittingly call the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for the Father is a day, the Son is one, and the Holy Spirit is one, and these three are one.

This is Hosea, the first of the twelve prophets who was privileged to speak concerning the Lord Christ in these terms: When they are afflicted, let them rise early to seek me saying, Come and let us return unto the Lord our God, for he hath smitten us and he will heal us; he that hath struck us will bind us up. After two days will he heal us. On the third day we shall be raised up again and we shall live! With reference to this passage the Apostle Paul says to the Corinthians: For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. For that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the scriptures, is not to be found anywhere else.

A few of the Jews of that time were persuaded, but the world hearkened to the truth. Those who concealed the truth were buried in oblivion, but those who received it were made manifest by the power of the Savior, who rose from the dead and raised the dead himself. In the person of the risen dead the prophet Hosea says plainly, "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence."

The Lord therefore strikes and cures us; for whom the Lord loves he rebukes, and he chastises every son whom he receives; not only does he cure, but he makes alive after two days, and on the third day, rising again from hell, he raises up with himself the whole race of men. And when he has cured those who were struck, and made alive those who were cured, and raised up those who were made alive, then we shall live in his sight, we who, while he was absent, lay dead. And we shall live in his sight; we shall know him and follow him with all zeal, that we may know the Lord, by whose rising on the third day we have risen. By these words is explained what we have often already pointed out, that both Israel and Judah, that is, the ten and the two tribes, will then have one shepherd, and David as king, when they have believed in the Lord who rises again; and that the Jews vainly promise themselves dreams of a thousand years, since the salvation of all has been promised on the third day, on which the Lord rose again from hell. The Hebrews interpret the second day as the coming of their Christ, and the third day as the judgment, when they are to be saved. Granting this, let them answer us what the first day is, that is, the first coming of the Savior. And when they cannot answer, let us conclude that the first day is, according to what they themselves would have, the coming of the Savior in humility, the second in glory, the third in the guise of one who judges. But those who accept the second and the third testify that they have lost the first, because a second and a third cannot be so called without a first.

For hear what the prophet says: "God will raise us up after two days, and on the third day we shall rise again and shall live in his sight." The first day for us is the passion of the Savior, and the second, on which he descended into hell, but the third is the day of the resurrection. And therefore on the third day "God went before them, by day in a pillar of cloud, by night in a pillar of fire." But if, according to those things which we said above, the Apostle rightly teaches us that the mysteries of baptism are contained in these words, it is necessary that "those who are baptized in Christ should be baptized in his death, and be buried together with him," and rise again with him on the third day from the dead, whom also, according to that which the Apostle says: "he raised up together with himself, and made to sit together in the heavenly places." When, therefore, the mystery of the third day has been received by you, God will begin to lead you forth and Himself to show you the way of salvation.

For I suppose that he waters in two ways upon us who received faith and have known rightly his manifestation. On the one hand, he reveals knowledge in the spirit of the old and legal, and in addition to these, prophetic teachings. In my view, this is the early rain. On the other hand, he adds to this the late [rain], the interpretation of the gospel's teachings and the most desirable grace of the apostolic preachings.

Nor is this the only thing that proves the dignity of the water. But there is also that which is more honorable than all—the fact that Christ, the maker of all, came down as the rain, and was known as a spring, and diffused himself as a river, and was baptized in the Jordan. For you have just heard how Jesus came to John and was baptized by him in the Jordan. Oh, things strange beyond compare! How should the boundless river that makes glad the city of God have been dipped in a little water!

His going forth is prepared like the dawn, and he will come to us like the early rain, and the late rain to the earth. LXX: We shall find him prepared like the morning, and he will come to us like the early and the late rain to the earth. Come, he says, and let us return to the Lord, for he who has seized also will heal us, will strike and cure us, and will make us live after two days, and on the third day will raise us up; he himself and no other is prepared for us like the morning and the dawn. Of whom too is the title of the twenty-first (22nd) psalm: For the morning taking up; although in the Hebrew it is written: For the morning hart, because, having slain death and the twisting and ancient serpent, he longs to climb to the mountains; and he himself, the darkness scattered, rises for us as the sun of justice, to illuminate our blindness. And beautifully he says: his going forth is prepared. Of which, according to tropology, we read in the eighteenth (19th) psalm: And he, like a bridegroom, goes forth from his chamber. He is not only called morning, and dawn, and daybreak; but he will come to us like the early rain, and the late rain to the earth. We receive Christ as the early rain when the foundations of faith have been laid in us, and we shall receive him as the late rain when, the crops being ripe, we shall gather eternal fruits and be stored away in the Lord's granaries. Therefore the Jews, who did not receive the early rains and cast their seed without rains, will not receive the fruit of the crops in the last time. This is the rain of which the Lord makes a promise, saying: I will give you the early and the late rain. According to allegory, the early rain is given when we know in part; the late rain is given when that which is perfect comes. And the Lord is always prepared for those who rise early, who can say: I will rise at daybreak. And: O God, my God, to you I watch from the light. My soul has thirsted for you.

What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy is like a morning cloud, and like the dew passing away in the morning; for this reason I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and your judgments will go forth like the light. LXX: What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? But your mercy is like a morning cloud, and like the dew passing away in the morning; therefore I have cut down your prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, and your judgment will go forth like the light. When he says: What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? he shows the affection of a parent toward lost sons. According to what we read in Isaiah: What is there that I ought to have done further for my vineyard, and have not done for it? And in Micah: My people, what have I done to you, and in what have I been troublesome to you? Answer me, for I brought you out of the land of Egypt, I freed you from the house of servants, and I sent before your face Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam. What then shall I do to you, Ephraim, what shall I do to you, Judah? Your mercy, with which I have always had mercy on you, has passed away like a morning cloud, and like the dew rising in the morning, which is dried up when the sun has risen.

We perceive these same things to have been said also to the heretics, and to the true Judah, who is to suffer the like: that the Lord calls them to mercy and desires that they return to salvation. But they pursue the delights and refreshments of this age, like a cloud and dew that quickly passes away; to whom it is said in the Gospel: Fool, this night they require your soul of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be? And that rich man clothed in purple, who despised Lazarus lying before his gates, learned that all he had enjoyed had passed away like a cloud and dew. But God always slays the prophets of the heretics, when he threatens them with eternal punishments, and takes them away from the true life, and leaves them to the death of their crimes. But let us love that cloud which is everlasting, and which protects us from the heat of this world, sitting upon which the Lord came into Egypt and broke all the images of the Egyptians. Let us love that dew of which Moses speaks: Let my words come down like the dew. And of which Isaiah says: The dead will rise again, and those who are in the tombs will be raised up; for the dew that is from you is their health. There are some who think that the prophets who were slain are holy men, because on account of a sinful people even prophets were slain and handed over to their enemies.

For already captivity is near, already I see you led in chains to the Assyrians and the Babylonians; I have hewn you by the prophets and threatened you with terrible words, I have brought out the scalpel, fire and cautery; so that you who despised me when I was merciful might fear me when offended; and I have slain the negligent by the words of my mouth, so that I might punish sinners by the terror of words before captivity was at hand. And all these things I have done so that the truth of the judgment with which I am about to judge you might appear, and no one might doubt that you have justly suffered what you suffer. For what is I have hewn them by the prophets, the Seventy translated: I have cut down your prophets, understanding the false prophets themselves to have been slain by the Lord; so that those who had been the cause of error, by promising prosperity, might, when slain, be turned into an occasion of salvation. And the sense is: Lest you should say: We believed the prophets; I have slain even them, so that every occasion of sinning might be taken away from you. We read in the book of Kings that three hundred prophets of the Baalim were slain under Elijah, and another countless multitude under Jehu, who overthrew the house of Ahab.

For the Word of God Himself tells us that He prefers the performance of His commandments to the offering of sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to the people, Paul preaches it to the Gentiles. Do that which you understand is most profitable for the time. "I prefer mercy," it is said, "rather than sacrifice." Are they not, then, rather Christians in truth who condemn their own sin, than they who think to defend it? "The just is an accuser of himself in the beginning of his words." He who accuses himself when he has sinned is just, not he who praises himself.

Counsel disposes to mercy: for there is nothing God counsels more in Scripture than to show mercy, which he esteems above all holocausts.

A man sees the slaughter of bodies, he grieves greatly. He therefore who sees the slaughter of souls, how can he restrain himself from tears? This grief is greatly pleasing to God. The Lord says concerning this knowledge: "I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than holocausts." I know the infirmities of others: I ought to suffer with them.

For to every one who has turned to God in truth and with a whole heart, the doors are open, and the thrice-glad Father receives his truly repentant child. And true repentance is to be no longer bound in the same sins for which he denounced death against himself, but to eradicate them completely from the soul. For on their uprooting God takes up his abode again in you. For it is said there is great and exceeding joy and festivity in the heavens with the Father and the angels when one sinner turns and repents. This is why he cries, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice."

Most of all, worship of God displays love.… For truly the compassion from beside the Father is Christ, as he takes away the sins, dismisses the charges and justifies by faith, and recovers the lost and makes [them] stronger than death. For what is good and he does not give? Therefore the knowledge of God is better than sacrifice and holocausts, as it is brought to perfection in Christ. For by him and in him we have known the Father, and we have become rich in the justification by faith.

For I desired mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings; but they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they have dealt treacherously against me. LXX: For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings; but they are like a man passing over the covenant. What follows in the Seventy: There Gilead despised me, a city that works vain things, and the rest, must be fitted to the following section; let us discuss what we have set down: I have hewn them by the prophets, I have slain them by the words of my mouth, I have threatened grievous things, so that I might have mercy on the penitent, so that I might stretch out my hand to those who have fallen and are rising. For I do not delight in sacrifices and victims, and in a multitude of burnt offerings. My victims and burnt offerings are the salvation of those who believe, the conversion of sinners.

Daily God calls to repentance both those who are outside the Church and those who sin while dwelling in the Church, and says to them: I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But they offer sacrilegious bread, and give alms, and appear to pursue humility; these, then, if they are truly done, I interpret as burnt offerings. But since they have abandoned the knowledge of God, in vain, with the head of faith cut off, do they boast that they have the other members; for they have transgressed the covenant of God in the Church, just as Adam transgressed in paradise; and they show themselves imitators of their ancient parent, so that, as he was cast out of paradise, so these too may be cast out of the Church.

Great is the principle of mercy to God. Not only his to us, but also that issuing from us to our fellow servants. In the Old Testament and the New, God lays down innumerable laws pertaining to this matter. He orders us to be benevolent continually in all quarters, through words, money and deeds. And Moses throughout—up and down, here and there—scatters words about these matters in all his legislations. And in the person of God the prophets shout, "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice." And all the apostles act and speak in harmony with these prophetic words. Therefore let us not neglect the matter. By mercy we greatly benefit ourselves, not the poor only. We receive much more than we provide.

And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: [Hosea 6:6] for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

But he would not threaten the impenitent if he failed to pardon the penitent. This would be doubtful only if he had not revealed elsewhere the profusion of his mercy. Has he not said, "He who is fallen shall rise, and he who was turned away shall return"? He it is, most assuredly, who "will have mercy rather than sacrifice." The heavens and the angels who are there rejoice at human repentance. Look at you now, sinner, be of good heart! You see where it is that you are a cause of joy.

Whereas I [the Lord] have no need of sacrifices, I accept them out of considerateness for the limitations of your way of thinking. These two things, on the contrary, I do require: the right disposition toward me and lovingkindness toward the neighbor, these also being the first obligations I imposed, "You will love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole mind and your whole strength; and you will love your neighbor as yourself." But whereas I imposed these obligations, they resembled someone breaking agreements made by him with somebody else. In similar fashion, in fact, they despised my longsuffering and trampled on the laws given them.

But they have imitated Adam, so that what he had done in paradise, passing over my covenant and law, these did on earth. And there, that is, in paradise, all have dealt treacherously against me, in the likeness of the transgression of Adam. For it is no wonder if what went before in the parent is condemned in the children also.

Gilead, a city of those who work an idol, supplanted by blood, and like the jaws of robber men (or: of a robber; for it can be read either way). LXX: There Gilead despised me, a city that works vain things, and troubles the water, and your strength is that of a pirate man. We read that in Ramoth-gilead Jehu was anointed king, he who mingled blood with blood, and overthrew the house of Ahab, and before sunrise ordered heaps of the heads of his sons to be set up; in this city across the Jordan, in the possession of the tribe of Gad, an idol was consecrated; it was inhabited by priests, for it too was a city of fugitives. Therefore, the more celebrated it was and the greater its authority, because it had been assigned as the portion of the priests, so much the more was it, for Israel dwelling across the Jordan, the beginning of idolatry and of all evils, so that those who had sinned first were the first to be taken captive by the Assyrians. And since that province itself is full of robberies, he compares them to robbers: as those lie in wait for travelers, so the priests lay in wait for the simplicity of the people. Moreover, according to tropology, Gilead is interpreted 'migration of testimony'; and it despises God when it twists the testimonies of the Scriptures into perverse dogmas, and all its works are vain, and it troubles the waters of the Church, and out of the purest springs makes muddy and filthy streams, which stain rather than cleanse the baptized. And all the strength of this city is like that of a pirate man, while it imitates the devil, who in the sea of this world, through which ships pass, lies in wait for those who strive to reach the harbor. Finally, Symmachus translated more plainly, saying: And your jaws like those of a man lying in ambush. Of pirates of this kind we read in Job: There is no delay for pirates. For although in the present world they seem to vaunt themselves, and to trouble the waters, and to work vain things, and to practice piracy, yet there is no delay of the punishments, which will swiftly overtake them.

A partner of the priests who kill on the way those going from Shechem, because they have wrought wickedness. LXX: The priests hid the way of the Lord, they killed Shechem, because they wrought iniquity. Symmachus translated this passage thus: The fellowship of the priests on the way were killing Shechem. Theodotion in this way: The priests hid the way, they were killing on the back. Aquila: The partnership of the priests on the way were slaying shoulders; and when we sought their meaning according to the history from a Hebrew, it was explained to us thus: The priests of Bethel, or rather the fanatics of Beth-aven, at the times of Passover and Pentecost and Tabernacles, when one had to go through Shechem, which today is called Neapolis, to Jerusalem, where alone it was lawful to sacrifice victims, used to post robbers along the road to lie in wait for those going, so that they might worship the golden calves in Dan and in Beth-aven rather than God in Jerusalem and in the temple. But when he says: The partnership and fellowship of the priests, it signifies their conspiracy and their agreement in the bad sense. But if we read, as we have translated: partners of the priests, it must be referred, he says, to Gilead, which works an idol; and it is supplanted by blood, because it followed the impiety of the priests and is given over to robberies and blood. This is what they may say; let us say that the heretics shut off the way, so that we may not go from Shechem, that is, from good works, to Jerusalem, that is, into the Church. These are like the jaws of robber men, and they kill those who desire to go along the way of this world to the truth. Shechem is interpreted ὦμοι, that is, shoulders; in shoulders we understand work, and all the false priests hide the way, and kill men with evil works, so that they may not reach Jerusalem. And that the shoulder signifies work, this shows: Put your heart on your shoulder, that is, turn what you understand into works. And of Issachar we read that he put his shoulder under to labor, and is a farmer.

In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing; there Israel has been defiled by the fornication of Ephraim; but you also, Judah, set a harvest for yourself, when I shall turn back the captivity of my people. LXX: In the house of Israel I have seen horrible things, there the fornication of Ephraim; Israel and Judah have been defiled; begin your vintage when I shall turn back the captivity of my people. Of this crime and terrible horror Jeremiah too speaks: The heaven was astounded at this, and the earth shuddered exceedingly. For what is more horrible than that the ten tribes suddenly went over to the worship of idols? Hence it is said to their metropolis: Take away your calf, Samaria, in which Ephraim first played the harlot, that is, Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim; and while he played the harlot, Israel was defiled, namely the people of Samaria, which for the most part held the common name of Israel.

But in the house of the heretics we see a horrible thing daily, the teachers first playing the harlot, and the people who are led on by them being defiled. Judah too, that is, the Church, is commanded that it too should prepare for itself, because of its sins, a harvest, or a vintage, when the time of judgment comes. But it is pardoned, and the Lord promises it forgiveness, because whom he loves he rebukes, and he chastises every son whom he receives, so that, tested and purged, he may store him in his treasuries. Some refer what is said: Judah, begin your vintage, or, set a harvest for yourself, to the good sense, so that, Israel having been punished, this one receives the fruits of its works, according to what is written: Those who sow in tears will reap in joy. To us the former sense is more pleasing.

Hence the word is turned to Judah also: You too, Judah, set a harvest for yourself; and the sense is: Do not think yourself secure because Israel is led away captive; you too, prepare your crops to be reaped; for not much later you will be led captive to Babylon, and the time of your reaping will come. And when the Chaldeans have reaped you, I will turn back again the captivity of my people, and under Cyrus king of the Persians and Artaxerxes I will bring my people back. And note how pointedly the captivity of Judah and its return are prophesied together; but of Israel, that is, of the ten tribes, there is silence even now, and if ever something favorable is said, it is put off to the coming of Christ.