Joel 2

The terror then of the Strict Inquest, which Zephaniah calls 'the Trumpet,' blessed Job designates 'thundering.' Which Joel also viewing saith, "Let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled; for the Day of the Lord cometh; for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of cloud and whirlwind. For the Day of the Lord is great, and very terrible, and who shall sustain it?" But how incomprehensible and unimaginable that Greatness wherewith He shall come in His Second Manifesting, in some degree we estimate aright, if we consider with heedful reflection the weighty particulars of His first Advent. Surely that He might redeem us from death, the Lord came to die, and the impoverishment and punishments of our flesh He underwent in His own Body; Who before He came to the stock of the Cross, suffered Himself to be bound, to be spit on, to be mocked and to be beaten with blows on His cheek. Observe to what disgraceful treatment He for our sakes consented to come, and yet, before He permitted Himself to be laid hold of, He questioned His persecutors, saying, "Whom seek ye?" To Whom they thereupon gave answer, "Jesus of Nazareth." And when He said to them directly, "I am He," He only uttered a voice of the mildest answer, and at once prostrated His armed persecutors to the earth. What then shall He do when He cometh to judge the world, who by one utterance of His voice smote His enemies, even when He came to be judged? What is that Judgment which He exercises as immortal, Who in a single utterance could not be endured when He was about to die? Who may sustain His wrath, Whose very mildness even could not be sustained? So then let the holy man consider it and say, "And whilst we scarcely hear a little drop of His words, who shall be able to look on the thundering of His Majesty?"

I did not wish to divide a pericope joined and coherent in itself, lest what was one in sense should be plucked apart into different sections. Let us pass to the spiritual understanding, taking up each point again. The blast of trumpets and horns we read of not only in Leviticus and in the book of Numbers, in which it is commanded that Moses make two silver trumpets, with which, on the kalends, and in the seventh month on the first day of the month, and at the jubilee, and at the other festivals, and when they go forth to war, those who are bound to this office should sound; but it is also written that the walls of Jericho fell at the blast of the trumpets. And the Lord says that he will send his angel with the blast of a trumpet, and the Apostle proclaims that the resurrection of the dead takes place at the sound of the trumpet. And in the Apocalypse of John too we read that seven angels received a trumpet each, and as they sounded in order, the things came to pass which the Scripture describes. Therefore the priests and teachers are now commanded to lift up their voice like a trumpet, and to fulfill what is written: Go up on a high mountain, you who bring good tidings to Zion; lift up your voice, you who announce to Jerusalem, that they may blow the trumpet in Zion, that is, in the Church, which is interpreted watchtower and height. And on the holy mountain of God, which is Christ, so that all the inhabitants of the land may be troubled, or confounded, and confusion may draw them to salvation. But by the day of the Lord understand the day of judgment, or the day of each one's departure from the body. For what will come to pass for all on the day of judgment is fulfilled in each one on the day of death.

Blow the trumpet in Zion; wail on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled, for the day of the Lord comes, for the day of darkness and gloom is near, a day of cloud and whirlwind; like the morning spread out over the mountains, a people many and strong; there has not been its like from the beginning, and after it there will not be, even to the years of generation and generation. Before its face a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame; the land before it is like a garden of delight, and behind it the solitude of the desert, and there is none who escapes it; like the appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen so shall they run; like the sound of four-horse chariots they shall leap upon the tops of the mountains; like the sound of a flame of fire devouring stubble, like a strong people prepared for battle; before its face the peoples shall be tormented; all faces shall be brought to a pot; like mighty men they shall run, like men of war they shall climb the wall; men shall walk in their ways, and shall not turn aside from their paths; none shall press upon his brother, each shall walk in his own track. Moreover they shall fall through the windows and shall not be destroyed; they shall enter the city, they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up the houses, they shall enter through the windows like a thief; before its face the earth trembled, the heavens were moved, the sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their splendor; and the Lord gave his voice before the face of his army, for his camps are exceedingly many, for they are strong and doing his word. For great is the day of the Lord and very terrible, and who shall endure it? LXX: Blow the trumpet in Zion, proclaim on my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled, because the day of the Lord is at hand, because the day of darkness and gloom is near, a day of cloud and frost; like the morning a people many and strong shall be poured out over the mountains; there has not been its like from the beginning, and after it there will not be, even to the years of generation of generations. Before it a consuming fire, and behind it a kindled flame. Like a paradise of delight is the land before its face; and its hinder parts like a plain of solitude, and there shall be none who is saved from it; like the appearance of horses is their appearance, and like horsemen so shall they pursue. Like the voice of four-horse chariots they shall leap upon the summits of the mountains, and like the voice of a flame of fire devouring stubble; and like a people many and strong prepared for battle; before its face the peoples shall be crushed, every face like the scorching of a pot; like fighters they shall run, and like men of war they shall climb upon the walls, and each shall walk in his own way, and they shall not turn aside from their paths; none shall withdraw from his neighbor; weighed down with their arms they shall go, and they shall fall upon their javelins, and shall not be consumed; they shall seize the city, and run about upon the walls; they shall climb upon the houses and enter through the windows like thieves; before its face the earth shall be confounded, and the heaven shall be moved; the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their light; and the Lord shall give his voice before the face of his strength, because his camps are exceedingly many, because strong are the works of his words, for great is the day of the Lord, great and exceedingly illustrious, and who shall be sufficient for it? Again, by a metaphor of locusts, the onset of the Chaldeans is described, and the prophet is commanded, or rather through the prophet all who can hear the word of God, to lift up their voice like a trumpet, and to proclaim in Zion, and to sound on his holy mountain, so that at the noise of the cry and of the trumpet all the people of Jerusalem may tremble. And when, he says, you have sounded, say this: The day of the Lord will by no means be put off any longer, that is, the day of retribution and vengeance; captivity is close at hand, already the army of the Babylonians has gone out from its place, near is the day of darkness and of distress, the day of gloom and cloud and whirlwind, in which every light of gladness will be taken away, and all things will be overwhelmed by darkness. As, he says, the morning and the dawn suddenly put the darkness to flight, and the daybreak lights up all the mountains, so the army of the Babylonians will be poured out over all your land.

It is a day of darkness and of distress, a day of cloud and whirlwind; for all things are full of punishments and torments. A people of angels, many and strong, will come, to render to each according to his works; and as the morning and the rising dawn first takes hold of the mountains, so judgment will begin from the lofty and the powerful, that the mighty may suffer torments mightily. There has not been its like from the beginning, and after it there will not be, even to the years of generation and generation. For all the evils which are contained in the ancient histories, and which befell men either by the flooding of the sea, or by the overflowing of rivers, or by pestilence, diseases, famine, beasts, the devastation of enemies, cannot be compared with these punishments which are to be rendered on the day of judgment.

Nor should you think it a feeble crowd: it is a people many and strong, and no other nation like it can be found, either in the past or in the future; whatever it touches it will consume like a ravenous flame, and will leave nothing whole behind it; like a garden and paradise of delight is all the land which it has not touched; like a solitude and a desert is whatever it has plundered, nor can anyone be found who escapes its hands.

Terrible is an unfruitful season, and the loss of the crops. It could not be otherwise, when people are already rejoicing in their hopes and counting on their all but harvested stores. Terrible again is an unseasonable harvest, when the farmers labor with heavy hearts, sitting as it were beside the grave of their crops, which the gentle rain nourished but the wild storm has rooted up, "with which the reaper does not fill his hand or the binder of sheaves his bosom." Nor have they obtained the blessing which passers-by bestow upon the farmers. Wretched indeed is the sight of the ground devastated, cleared and shorn of its ornaments, over which the blessed Joel wails in his most tragic picture of the desolation of the land and the scourge of the famine. Another prophet wails as he contrasts with its former beauty its final disorder and thus discourses on the anger of the Lord when he smites the land: before him is the Garden of Eden, behind him a desolate wilderness.

Before the face of this people, which is strong and many, there will be a devouring, or consuming, fire, to consume all the hay, wood and stubble in us. Whence it is also said of God: God is a consuming fire, and behind him a burning flame; so that he leaves nothing without punishment. Whomever this people has not touched, and in whom it has not found material for burning, will be likened to the garden of God and to the paradise of delight, which in Hebrew is called Eden. But if it burns anyone, it will reduce him like a solitude to ashes and embers, nor is there anyone who can escape its fury; its cruel appearance will have the likeness of snorting horses; and so they will run about to torment those whom they have received into their power, like horsemen flying hither and thither; terrible will be their sound, like that of four-horse chariots running down a slope; and they will leap upon the tops of the mountains, desiring to torment all the lofty and those set on the summit of the Church. And because before their face is a devouring and consuming fire, they will lay waste all things as a flame consumes stubble; so will they come to punish, so ready and prepared will they be, like a strong people for battle.

Their appearance is like that of fierce horses, and like horsemen they will run about hither and thither. Not that the Babylonians are compared to horsemen, but that the locusts, by a figure for the enemies, are said to run about hither and thither like horsemen: As the sound, he says, of four-horse chariots and of carts, so will be the sound of the locusts. They will leap upon the tops of the mountains, so as to climb all the lofty places; and as a flame quickly consumes stubble, so the sound and the terror of their voice will lay waste all things. And what he adds: Like a strong people prepared for battle, he refers again to the locusts, so that he seems to speak not as of enemies but as of locusts; and yet while we read of locusts, let us think of the Babylonians.

And so he will deserve to fulfill, likewise, those other words that have a bearing in this connection: "buried together with him by baptism unto death." For what purpose? "That as Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also may walk in newness of life." He who is dead must be buried, and he who is buried in the likeness of death must rise again by the grace of God in Christ. No longer, because of sin, should he bear about in the inner man a countenance like a blackened kettle, but, after his sins have been made manifest by fire and pardon has been granted through the blood of Christ, he should shine forth in newness of life, by the justifications of Christ, more precious than any jewel.

So great will the terror be that all the nations round about will shudder both in mind and in body, or rather will be tormented; and from the greatness of their dread the faces of all will be turned into the likeness of a pot, which, burned by the fire, shows the blackness and soot of a foul appearance.

So great will be the fear of all, so great the consciousness of sins, that no one will shine or have the splendor of joy, but like a scorched pot his face will be turned into darkness.

They will run about, he says, like mighty men, no doubt the locusts: and like men of war they shall climb the wall, so that the height of the walls cannot check the onset of the strong, and they enter by no means through the gates, but over the walls: Each one shall walk in his own ways, and they shall not turn aside from their paths. This we saw lately in this province. For when the hosts of locusts came and filled the air which is between heaven and earth, they flew in such order, by the disposition of God who commanded them, that, like the little tesserae which are fixed in pavements by the hand of the craftsman, they kept their place, and did not swerve even by a point and, so to speak, by a nail's breadth, to another. And to make the metaphor plain, and through the windows, he says, they shall fall, and shall not be destroyed. For nothing is impassable to locusts, since they penetrate fields, and crops, and trees, and cities, and houses, and the secret places of bedchambers. But this is said of locusts so that it may be understood of enemies. And where we have translated they shall fall through the windows, and shall not be destroyed, the LXX rendered weighed down in their arms they shall go, and they shall fall upon their javelins and shall not be consumed, which seems to me by no means to fit the order of the exposition; rather the error arose from this, that the Hebrew word sala they understood as javelins, we as windows.

They will climb the wall and every fortification; and fulfilling the work enjoined on them, they will not turn aside to another part, but will cling to the punishments of the wretched, nor will they be sated with their torments, but each will carry out the punishments entrusted to him against sinners.

Moreover they will enter through the windows, or will fall, or, weighed down with their arms, will walk, and upon their javelins will fall those whom they have received to be consumed. These are the windows of which Jeremiah also says: Death has entered through our windows; for the enemies desire to enter through all our senses, and to take the city of a good conscience, and to run about through our fortifications, and to destroy the houses which we have built for ourselves by good works. And they do all things entering through the windows like a thief, for they do not enter openly, that they may shoot in the dark at the upright of heart.

And he keeps up the narration he has begun, so as to say that they enter the city, run about on the walls, climb up the houses, and enter through the windows like thieves; not that those who are victors have the fear of thieves, but as thieves are wont to enter through windows and to steal in secret, so they, the doors being shut, lest there be any delay, will burst in through the windows with complete boldness.

What, then, is the vanity, and what the lie? The holy apostle of the Lord, reprehending the Greeks, will show thee: "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and changed the glory of God into the likeness of corruptible man, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator." And verily this is the God who "in the beginning made the heaven and the earth." But you do not know God, and worship the heaven, and how shall you escape the guilt of impiety? Hear again the prophet speaking: "The sun, shall suffer eclipse, and the heaven be darkened; but the Almighty shall shine for ever: while the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and the heavens stretched out and drawn together shall be rolled as a parchment-skin (for these are the prophetic expressions), and the earth shall flee away from before the face of the Lord."

Before the face of locusts of this kind the earth trembled, and the heavens were moved, which we should take as said hyperbolically: not that the force of locusts or of enemies is so great that it could move the heavens and shake the earth, but that to those who suffer adversity, from the greatness of their terror, the heaven seems to fall and the earth to heave. Finally, because of the multitude of locusts covering the sky, the sun and the moon will be turned into darkness, and the stars will withdraw their splendor, while the cloud of locusts placed in between does not let the light reach the earth.

Before the face of this people, which is many and strong, the earth trembled, and the heavens were moved. For heaven and earth shall pass away, but the word of the Lord abides forever. Moreover the sun and the moon will not be able to look upon such great punishments of the wretched, and they will mourn, not having the righteousness of their office, and instead of clear light they will be covered with dreadful darkness; the stars too will withdraw their brightness, while even those who are holy will not see the presence of the Lord without dread.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn (24, 29—30ᵃ). Since we consider that greater themes here come under discussion than lie within the grasp of human understanding — even of those who have advanced in wisdom far beyond others — let us come and examine the passage: first inquiring into those things which can readily be admitted for an exposition of the Gospel text, as though the Lord Himself were prophesying in it; and afterward we shall look for what the truth of these words may be according to those who judge that there is something deeper and more subtle in the words, keeping to the sequence of the moral traditions in these matters as well, in the same manner as above.

Someone, then, will say: just as when great fires begin to be kindled a darkness seems to be raised up out of the abundant smoke, so at the consummation of the world, by the fire which is to be set alight, even the "great lights" shall be darkened, so that, the sun being darkened, and in consequence of the darkening of the sun, the moon too, hindered by the sun from receiving light, is not permitted even to give its own light. And thus of necessity a great darkness must first take hold of the nature of the world. And so, when the light of the stars has thus withered away, the remaining body of them, having become grosser, since it cannot be borne aloft as at first when it was lifted up carried by the light itself, will fall from heaven. And when these things happen, it follows that the rational powers of the heavens, suffering amazement, undergo a certain commotion and are troubled, being, that is, removed from their former functions. So he who understands these things to be thus will add that the sign of the Son of man, in whom "the things that were in the heavens and the things that were on earth" were made heavenly, shall then appear: namely, the power which the Son of man wrought when He was hung upon the tree; and in heaven above all shall His sign shine forth. And men out of all the tribes, who formerly did not believe in the Christianity that was proclaimed but even spoke evil of it, then, recognizing it through that sign made manifest, shall mourn and lament because of their ignorance and their sins, in that they did not receive the word of the Lord.

But another will judge otherwise concerning these words, holding that (as these words themselves show) the destruction of the world will not come about by fire, but by its own failing. And he will make use of such an illustration: that just as, when the light of a lamp fails, the light is little by little diminished, so, when the nourishment of the heavenly lights fails, the sun shall be darkened, no longer having the breaths that come to it from them coming upon it. And when the greater light suffers this, all the more will the moon too be unable to display that fiery splendor which appears according to its own phases. When, therefore, these things befall the sun, the light of the stars too will fail, so that what has remained in them, being as it were earthy, falls from heaven, and, these things happening, all the powers of the heavens shall be moved. For just as, in the dispensation of the cross, "when the sun failed, darkness came over all the earth", so also, when the sign of the Son of man appears in heaven, the light of the sun and of the moon shall fail, and yet more that of the stars, as though consumed by the great power of that sign; and when it appears, the tribes that shall then have remained on the earth shall mourn.

For these things he will use the illustration of the prophet Isaiah, who speaks in this manner: "For behold, the incurable day of the Lord comes, of wrath and fury, to make the circle of the earth a desert and to destroy sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and Orion and all the ornaments of heaven shall not give their light, and the sun shall be darkened in the east, and the moon shall not give her brightness. And I will command evils upon the circle of the earth, and their sins upon the ungodly." Likewise also such things from Joel: "Before His face the earth shall be confounded and the heaven shall be moved, the sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall not give their light. And the Lord shall utter His voice before the face of His power, for exceeding strong is His camp, since mighty are the works of His words." Likewise: "And I will give portents in the heaven above, and on the earth blood and fire and vapor; the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great and illustrious day of the Lord comes."

And many things like these you will find in the Scriptures, if you are willing to look at nothing else in the Gospel passages beyond the plain words. For according to this too, that it says, then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, as though needing no interpretation, you will receive from the prophet Zechariah such words as these: "And it shall be in that day that I will seek to take away all the nations that shall come against Jerusalem, and I will pour out upon the house of David and upon all the inhabitants in Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of compassion; and they shall look upon me because they danced, and they shall mourn over themselves with a mourning as over a beloved one, and they shall grieve with grief as over a firstborn. In that day the mourning shall be magnified over Jerusalem like the mourning of a pomegranate cut down in the plain, and the land shall mourn by tribes: the tribe of the house of David apart and their women apart, the tribe of the house of Nathan apart and their women apart, the tribe of the house of Levi apart and their women apart, the tribe of the house of Shimei apart and their women apart, all the tribes that are left remaining apart and their women apart." It will seem, then, to some that one ought to carry the interpretation this far and to examine nothing beyond the text.

He also very cleverly called one day not the first; for the following second, and third day, and thereafter the rest, he could have called the first: and this seemed to be an order, but he established a law, that only twenty-four hours of daylight and darkness should be defined by name for one day, so that if he were to say: "The measure of twenty-four hours is the time of one day." Just as the generation of men is computed, and the generation of women is also understood, because they are connected with the second and superior; so also the days are counted, and the nights are assessed as attached. Just as there is one circle, so there is one day. For many also call one week one day; because it returns to itself as if it were one day, and as if it were recurring seven times within itself. And this circle begins from itself and returns to itself. Therefore, at times, the Scriptures call it one age. For although it uses the term age in other places, it seems to signify more the diversities of public states or affairs rather than define any successions of ages: "Because the day of the Lord is great and very glorious." And elsewhere, "Why are you seeking the day of the Lord?" And here there is darkness and not light. For it is clear that for those with a guilty conscience and unworthy, that day will be dark, in which innocence will shine, and the guilty mind will be tormented. Moreover, without the interruption of nights and the succession of darkness, Scripture teaches us that that perpetual day will be the future of eternal retribution.

If then the beginning of time is called "one day" rather than "the first day," it is because Scripture wishes to establish its relationship with eternity. It was, in reality, fit and natural to call "one" the day whose character is to be one wholly separated and isolated from all the others. If Scripture speaks to us of many ages, saying everywhere, "age of age, and ages of ages," we do not see it enumerate them as first, second, and third. It follows that we are hereby shown not so much limits, ends and succession of ages, as distinctions between various states and modes of action. "The day of the Lord," Scripture says, "is great and very terrible," and elsewhere "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord: to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light." A day of darkness for those who are worthy of darkness.

The Lord also will give his voice before the face of so powerful an army, for his camps are many, and the greatness of his power is shown even in small creatures. And these many and innumerable camps are exceedingly strong, and doing his word. By this saying it is shown that the Babylonians will come by the will of God, and will obey his command. Great is, he says, the day of the Lord, in which Jerusalem is to be taken, and very terrible; and no one will be able to endure it, and to escape the necessity of captivity or of death.

In all these things the Lord will give his voice before the face of his army. For as the Babylonians, punishing Jerusalem, are called the army of God, so the most wicked angels, of whom it is written: Fury and wrath and distress, a sending by most wicked angels, are called the army of God and are named his camps, while they do the will of the Lord. Great is the day of the Lord and terrible, of which it is written elsewhere: Why do you desire the day of the Lord? And this is darkness, and not light; and very terrible; and hardly anyone, or no one, will be able to endure it without offering in himself material for its raging.

When a maidservant is rebelling but then sees her master coming, she grows humble and returns to her good behavior. So too the paralytic's body had revolted like the maidservant, and this caused the paralysis. But when the body saw its master coming near, it returned to its good behavior and resumed its proper discipline. And the word of Christ accomplished all this. Yet the words were not mere words but the words of God, of which the prophet said, "The works of his words are mighty." For if God's words made humankind when they did not exist, much more will they make humanity whole again and restore it to health even though it has grown feeble and weak with disease?

But since these are light perceived by the senses, which are said in Moses to have come into existence on the fourth day, they are not the true light because they enlighten the things on the earth. The Savior, on the other hand, is the light of the spiritual world because he shines on those who are rational and intellectual, that their mind may see its proper visions. Now I mean he is the light of those rational souls which are in the sensible world, of which the Savior teaches us that he is the Maker, being, perhaps, its directing and principal artificer, and, so to speak, the sun of the great Day of the Lord.

Our Lord and Savior exhorts us through the prophet and advises us how we ought to come to him after much negligence, saying, "Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord who made us"; and again, "Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." If we notice carefully, dearest brethren, the holy days of Lent signify the life of the present world, just as Easter prefigures eternal bliss. Now just as we have a kind of sadness in Lent in order that we may rightly rejoice at Easter, so as long as we live in this world we ought to do penance in order that we may be able to receive pardon for our sins in the future and arrive at eternal joy. Each one ought to sigh over his or her own sins, shed tears and give alms in such a way that with God's help he may always try to avoid the same faults as long as he lives. Just as there never has been, is not now and never will be a soul without slight sins, so with the help and assistance of God we ought to be altogether without serious sins.

Now therefore says the Lord: Turn to me with your whole heart, in fasting, and in weeping and in mourning; and rend your hearts, and not your garments, and turn to the Lord your God, for he is kind and merciful, patient and of much mercy, and placable over evil; who knows if he will turn and pardon, and leave behind him a blessing, sacrifice and libation to the Lord our God? LXX: And now says the Lord our God: Turn to me from your whole heart, in fasting, and in weeping and in mourning; and rend your hearts, and not your garments; and turn to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, patient and of much mercy, and repenting over evils; who knows if he will return and repent, and leave behind him a blessing, sacrifice and libation to the Lord our God? The preceding section, from the place where it is written: Blow the trumpet in Zion, wail on my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land be troubled, up to the place where we read: Great is the day of the Lord and very terrible, who shall endure it? announces, by the figure of locusts, the coming of the Chaldeans, and what evils are to come upon the people. Now he calls them to repentance, and exhorts them to turn to the Lord, so that, corrected with their whole mind, they may not suffer what the Lord threatens; and the sense is: All that is contained in the preceding discourse I spoke for this reason, to terrify you with my threat. Therefore turn to me with your whole heart, and show the repentance of your mind by fasting and weeping and mourning; so that, fasting now, you may afterwards be filled, weeping now, you may afterwards laugh, mourning now, you may afterwards be comforted.

I, the messenger of repentance, say unto you, Fear not the devil; for I was sent to be with you who repent with all your heart, and to make you strong in faith. Trust God, then, ye who on account of your sins have despaired of life, and who add to your sins and weigh down your life; for if ye return to the Lord with all your heart, and practise righteousness the rest of your days, and serve Him according to His will, He will heal your former sins, and you will have power to hold sway over the works of the devil.

Let each one confess his sin, I beseech you, brethren, while he who has sinned is still in this world, while his confession can be admitted, while the satisfaction and remission effected through the priest is pleasing with the Lord. Let us turn to the Lord with our whole mind, and, expressing repentance for our sin with true grief, let us implore God's mercy. Let the soul prostrate itself before him; let sorrow give satisfaction to him; let our every hope rest upon him. He himself tells how we ought to ask. He says, "Return to me with all your hearts, in fasting and in weeping, and in mourning, and rend your hearts, not your garments." Let us return to the Lord with a whole heart; let us placate his wrath and displeasure by fastings, weepings and mournings, as he himself admonishes.

How well does the holy prophet teach that the seeds of good works must be watered by a river of tears! No seeds germinate unless they are watered; nor does fruit come forth from the seed if deprived of the aid of water. Accordingly, we too, if we wish to keep the fruits of our seeds, let us not stop watering our seeds with tears that must be poured out more from the heart than from the body. Therefore it is said to us through the prophet that we rend "our hearts and not our garments," something we can do when we recall that we ourselves, even if not in deed, frequently sin at least in thought. Because the "earthly tent burdens the thoughtful mind" and our land does not cease to produce thorns and thistles for us. We are unable to get to eating our bread, unless we will have been worn out by weariness and the sweat of our brow.

And since it is the custom that in sad and adverse things you rend your clothes, which the high priest too is recorded in the Gospel to have done, to aggravate the charge against the Lord the Savior; and which we read that Paul and Barnabas did on hearing words of blasphemy. Therefore I command you by no means to rend your garments, but your hearts, which are full of sins, and which, like wineskins, unless they have been rent, will burst of themselves. And when you have done this, return to the Lord your God, whom your former sins had made a stranger to you; and do not despair of pardon because of the greatness of your crimes, for great mercy will blot out great sins. For he is kind and merciful, preferring the repentance of sinners to their death, patient and great in mercy, one who does not imitate human impatience, but waits a long time for our repentance; and placable, or repenting over evils, so that if we do penance for our sins, he too may repent of his threat, and not bring upon us the evils which he has threatened, and with the change of our resolve he too may be changed. But here we ought to take evil not as the contrary of virtue, but as affliction, according to what we read elsewhere: Sufficient for the day is its own evil. And: If there is evil in a city which the Lord has not done.

Another disease is added to the original cause and a new wound inflicted, and all that is contrary is applied, all that is dangerous is drunk. Under this evil especially does this brotherhood toil, adding new sins on top of old faults. Therefore it has burst forth into vice, and more grievously still, is now racked by a most destructive wasting disease. What then shall I now do, I who as priest am compelled to cure? It is very late in such cases. But even so, if there is any one of you who can bear to be cut and cauterized, I can still do it. Behold the scalpel of the prophet: "Return," he says, "to the Lord your God and together with fasting and weeping and mourning rend your hearts." Do not fear this incision, dearly beloved. David bore it. He lay in filthy ashes and had his appearance disfigured by a covering of rough sackcloth. He who had once been accustomed to precious stones and to the purple clothed his soul in fasting. He whom the seas, the forests, the rivers used to serve, and to whom the bountiful land promised wealth, now consumed in floods of tears those eyes with which he had beheld the glory of God. This ancestor of Mary, the ruler of the Jewish kingdom, confessed that he was unhappy and wretched.

"Rend your hearts, not your garments," that is, have recourse to thoughts of compunction, soften the obduracy of your thinking, accept beneficial advice, abandon the way of vice and travel by that way which leads directly to God. After all, many are the founts of compassion and mercy that flow from him, and in his exercise of longsuffering he is not in the custom of putting his threats into effect. In fact, he indicated as much by saying "repenting of the troubles," that is, by instilling dread by the threats of punishment, and by the changes in human beings for the better transforming the threats into something pleasant. The God of all, you see, does not intend one thing at one time and another thing at another, or like us repent of what he does. Rather, while making threats he has mercy within himself, and he offers it to those who are sorry for their sins, and while making promises of good things he knows those who are good and those who are unworthy of his gifts, extending them to the former and giving to the latter the opposite of what he promises.

We should enter his house in sackcloth and lament night and day between the porch and the altar, in piteous array, and with more piteous voices. [We should] cry aloud without ceasing on behalf of ourselves and the people, sparing nothing, either toil or word, which may propitiate God. [We should] say, "Spare, O Lord, your people, and give not your heritage to reproach," and the rest of our prayer; surpassing the people in our sense of the affliction as much as in our rank, instructing them in our own persons in compunction and correction of wickedness, and in the consequent longsuffering of God, and cessation of the scourge. Come then, all of you, my brethren, "let us worship and fall down, and weep before the Lord our maker"; let us appoint a public mourning in our various ages and families; let us raise the voice of supplication. Let this, instead of the cry which he hates, enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth. Let us anticipate his anger by confession;13 let us desire to see him appeased, after [his wrath]. Who knows, he says, if he will turn and choose again, and leave a blessing behind him?

The prophet in effect says what you need to do. I know, however, that you will not really repent before you are deported. But, when you would have done penance for your sins after being punished by captivity, then God will take care of you and will bring you back to your land.

And likewise, because he had said above, kind and merciful, patient and great in mercy, and placable, or repenting over evils, lest perhaps the greatness of his clemency should make us careless, he adds in the person of the prophet and says: Who knows if he will turn and pardon, and leave behind him a blessing? I, he says, exhort to repentance, which is my part, and I know that God is ineffably merciful, as David says: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your great mercy, and according to the multitude of your compassions blot out my iniquity. But because we cannot know the depth of the riches and of the wisdom and knowledge of God, I temper my statement, and I wish rather than presume, saying: Who knows if he will turn and pardon? When he says who, it is to be understood as either impossible or difficult: Sacrifice and libation to the Lord our God; so that after he has given the blessing and has forgiven us our sins, we may be able to offer victims to God.

Since, as I said, there are many kinds of proclamations, let us listen to the trumpet blast of the prophet: "Blow a trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast." This is a warning trumpet, and it earnestly commands us that when we fast, we should do it in a holy manner, for God is holy and has pleasure in his holy people. Not everyone, however, who calls upon God honors him. Some defile him—although they don't actually defile him: that's impossible. But they do defile their own consciences concerning him. The apostle Paul tells us how it is that some people dishonor God: those who break the law dishonor God. So the prophet said, in order to point out those who pollute the fast, "Sanctify a fast." Many people, though they go through the motions of a fast, are still polluted in their hearts because they do evil against their brothers and sisters or because they dare to cheat. And many, if nothing else, think more highly of themselves than of their neighbors, thereby committing a great offense.

If these [vessels] were approved by the Lord it was at a time when the priests had to offer victims and when the blood of sheep was the redemption of sins. They were figures typifying things still future and were "written for our admonitions upon whom the ends of the world are come." But now our Lord by his poverty has consecrated the poverty of his house. Let us, therefore, think of his cross and count riches to be but dirt. Why do we admire what Christ calls "the mammon of unrighteousness"? Why do we cherish and love what it is Peter's boast not to possess? Or if we insist on keeping to the letter and find the mention of gold and wealth so pleasing, let us keep to everything else as well as the gold. Let the bishops of Christ be bound to marry wives, who must be virgins. Let the best-intentioned priest be deprived of his office if he bears a scar and is disfigured. Let bodily leprosy be counted worse than spots on the soul. Let us be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, but let us slay no lamb and celebrate no mystic Passover, for where there is no temple, the law forbids these acts. Let us pitch tents in the seventh month and noise abroad a solemn fast with the sound of a horn.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call an assembly, gather the people, sanctify the Church, assemble the old men, gather the little ones and those that suck the breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his bed and the bride from her bridal chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar the priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why do they say among the peoples: Where is their God? LXX: Sound the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing, gather the people, sanctify the Church, choose the old men; gather the little ones and those that suck the breasts, let the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber. Between the base and the altar the priests, the ministers of the Lord, shall weep, and shall say: Spare, O Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, that the Gentiles should rule over them, lest they say among the nations: Where is their God? He still exhorts them to repentance, before the hostile army comes. Above, he says, I had said: Blow the trumpet in Zion, wail on my holy mountain, and the rest, for the day of the Lord comes, for the day of darkness and gloom is near, a day of cloud and whirlwind, announcing to you that a people many and strong would come, to overturn your possessions and cities. Now, because I am kind and merciful, patient and great in mercy, again I command and say: Sound the trumpet in Zion, and proclaim repentance among the peoples; sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing, or an assembly, of which we have already spoken before: gather the people, so that the people that sinned when scattered may cease to sin when gathered. Sanctify the Church, so that there may be no one in the Church who is not holy, lest perhaps your prayers be hindered, and a little leaven corrupt the whole lump. Assemble, or choose the old men, so that not age but holiness may be chosen in them. Gather also the little ones and those that suck the breasts, so that there may be no age which does not turn to the Lord. Little ones and sucklings, of whom we read in the psalms and in the Gospel: Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise. Whom Peter says are nourished with rational milk, without guile; to whom Paul speaks: I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; and whom the Savior too remembers: Do not despise one of these least ones. Let also the bridegroom go forth from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber, so that in the time of fasting, of calling and assembly, of the sanctification of the Church, of the choosing of the old men, of the gathering of the little ones and those that suck the breasts, bridegroom and bride may not serve the work of marriage; to whom it is also permitted by the law not to go forth to war. Hence the Apostle too commands withdrawing for a little while from intercourse, so that we may be free for prayer. Therefore he who says that he does penance by chastening his diet, and by fasting and almsgiving, promises this in vain with his words, unless he goes forth from his bed and fulfills a holy and pure fast with a chaste repentance.

He addressed them piously. "Have you not read," he said, "what divine authority has prescribed to a sinful people through the prophet: 'Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping,' and a little later: 'Sanctify a fast,' he says, 'call an assembly, gather the congregation,' and all that follows? Therefore, fulfill with worthy actions what you teach, that you may perhaps escape the evil of the present time. And let nobody, on any account, go out on his field as if he could ward off the locusts by human effort, lest God's wrath be provoked even more." Without delay everybody gathered in the church, and they all, each in his place, recited the psalms, as was the custom. Every age and sex, even those who could not yet speak, offered a prayer to God with tears, alms were given unceasingly, and every good work that the present emergency demanded was carried out as had been prescribed by the servant of God.

Devout fasting has a very great value for gaining the mercy of God and for strengthening human frailty. We know this from the teaching of holy prophets, dearly beloved. They insist that the arousal of divine justice—which the people of Israel frequently brought upon themselves in punishment for their wickedness—could not be placated except by fasting. Joel the prophet warns us in saying, "The Lord God says these things: 'Turn to me with all your heart, in fasting, in weeping and in mourning. Rend your hearts, and not your garments. Be converted to the Lord your God, because he is merciful and patient and magnanimous and rich in mercy.' " At another point, the same prophet says, "Make a holy fast, preach healing, call together the people, make holy the assembly." This exhortation, dearly beloved, is what we must embrace in our times also. We must of necessity preach the remedy of this healing, so that Christian devotion in the observance of that ancient means for sanctification might acquire what the Jewish transgression lost.

Who will cry aloud, "Spare your people, O Lord, and do not give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them"? Noah, Job and Daniel stood together as men of prayer. Who will pray for us, that we might have a slight respite from warfare and recover ourselves?

And as to what follows: Between the vestibule and the altar the priests shall weep, for vestibule the LXX translated base; Symmachus προπύλον (gateway); Aquila πρόδομον (front hall); Theodotion put the Hebrew word itself, ulam, which we can call the space before the doors of the temple, and the portico. And note what he commands the priests who are ministers of the Lord: that they weep between the temple and the altar, and say with the Apostle: Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn? and: To weep with those who weep. And the place fit for repentance and confession is the temple and the altar; and he teaches what the priests ought to say, or rather how they ought to entreat the Lord: Spare, O Lord, your people, which, when it sinned, was called not your people; now, after it has withdrawn from its vices, is called your people. And do not give your inheritance to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. The riddle that lay hidden is laid open. For that people many and strong, which above was described under the name of the caterpillar, and the locust, and the cankerworm, and the blight, is now shown more plainly who it is: That the nations, he says, should rule over them. And the inheritance of the Lord is given to reproach when they have served enemies, and the nations have said: Where is their God, whom they boasted to be their protector, their defender? We can also interpret the nations as the adverse powers, which, so long as we do not do penance, rule over us, and taunt us and say: Where is their God? The Jews refer this passage to Gog and Magog, most savage nations which they say will come against Israel in the last time, of which it is written more fully in Ezekiel.

The Lord was jealous for his land, and spared his people; and the Lord answered and said to his people: Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil, and you shall be filled with it, and I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations; and him who is from the north I will put far from you, and I will drive him into a land pathless and desert; his face toward the eastern sea, and his hinder part toward the last sea, and his stench shall go up, and his rottenness shall go up, because he has acted proudly. LXX: And the Lord was jealous for his land, and spared his people, and the Lord answered, and said to his people: Behold, I will send you grain and wine and oil, and you shall be filled with them, and I will no longer make you a reproach among the nations, and him who is from the north I will drive back from you, and I will lead him out into a land which is without water, and I will destroy his face into the first sea, and his hinder parts into the last sea; and his stench shall go up, and his rottenness shall go up, because his works have been magnified. The priests prayed for the people and said: Spare, O Lord, your people, and do not give your inheritance to reproach, and the people did what was commanded, sanctifying a fast, proclaiming a healing, gathering the multitude, sanctifying the Church, choosing the old men, gathering the little ones and those that suck the breasts, and the bridegroom went forth from his bed, and the bride from her bridal chamber, and they served by no means the flesh and pleasure, but the soul and weeping. After this, the Lord was jealous for his land, which he had before despised as if it were another's, and had allowed to be ravaged by the devastating locust; and he spared the penitent to such a degree as to make them worthy of his answer, and to say: Since the locust, the cankerworm and the blight have laid waste all your crops, therefore I will give you grain, and the rest which the prophet describes, and I will no longer hand you over to captivity.

But according to tropology, every soul is the land of the Lord, in which the householder sows his seed; and when it has produced tares instead of wheat, that is, wild oats and darnel, and has offended its Lord, and afterwards has done penance, and has said in mourning: Spare, O Lord, your people, the Lord is jealous for his land, and will spare it, which he had long despised, and deigns to address it and says: I will send you grain, of which it is written: Amen, amen, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat, falling into the earth, dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears many fruits and wine which gladdens the heart of man, and oil which makes the face cheerful, so that the old sadness of sins may be tempered by the gladness of grain and wine and oil, that is, of the virtues; and they will have such an abundance of all good things that they will be filled and sated with them. And when they have obtained this, they will by no means be given over to reproach among the nations, of which the Apostle speaks: We have no wrestling against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the world of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Joel, the prophet, offers evidence about [the devil] with these words: "And I will remove far off from you the northern one, and I will drive him into the land thirsty and desert, and I shall expel his face into the nearest sea and his hinder parts into the utmost sea." We thank you, Lord, for this arrangement. What would the devil do if free, when he afflicts the world when bound?

"I will remove the northerner," both the Assyrian and Babylonian. Someone may ask, "Since for its position Babylon is not situated north of Jerusalem, why does God say through the prophet, 'I will remove the northerner far from you' and 'Out of the north evil shall break forth upon' these people"? And we answer that first of all, these words are not said in consideration of the geographical position of Babylon and Jerusalem but of those northern nations subject to the Babylonians—the Arzanites, the Araratites2—who will come down to Jerusalem with the Babylonians. Second, it is because those who want to reach Jerusalem from the regions of Babylon, Persia and the east go up toward the region of the north and then come down toward Jerusalem in the south.

And the Assyrian and Chaldean, who is from the north, I will put far from you, of whom it is written above: A people many and strong, before its face a devouring fire, and behind it a burning flame; like the appearance of horses is their appearance. And I will drive him, he says, into a land of solitude; and his front parts will fall into the eastern sea, and his hinder parts into the last sea, and his stench will go up, that is, the stench of him who is from the north, and his rottenness, because he acted proudly. I have often pointed out that under the figure of locusts is described the onset of the Chaldeans, by which Judea was laid waste. Accordingly he keeps the metaphor in what remains, and speaks according to the situation of the province, so that he seems to speak not of enemies but of locusts. Even in our own times we have seen hosts of locusts cover the land of Judea, which afterwards, by the mercy of the Lord, while the priests and peoples were entreating the Lord between the vestibule and the altar, that is, between the place of the cross and of the resurrection, and were saying: Spare your people, were hurled, as a wind arose, into the first and the last sea. By the first sea, which is near the desert and faces the east, understand that in which Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim once stood, which is now called the Dead Sea, because no living creatures live there. And the last sea is this one which is toward the west, and which leads to Egypt, on whose shore Gaza, and Ashkelon, Azotus and Joppa, and Caesarea, and the other maritime cities are situated. And when the shores of both seas were filled with heaps of dead locusts, which the waters had vomited up, their rottenness and stench were so noxious that they corrupted even the air, and a pestilence arose among beasts and men alike. Does the learned reader ask where this happened according to the letter in the case of the Chaldeans? Not long after the time when these things were prophesied: for in Isaiah we read that one hundred and eighty-five thousand of the Chaldeans were struck down in one night under King Hezekiah, the angel raging against them. This we have said according to the history.

Him also who is from the north — of whom Jeremiah speaks: From the north evils shall blaze up upon all the inhabitants of the land; of whom Solomon also writes: The north wind is a most harsh wind —; I will put him far from you, he says, and I will drive him into a land pathless and desert, which has no knowledge of God, in which the Holy Spirit does not dwell. And his face will be in the first sea and in the last sea, in those who have opened to him the door of sins, and with whom they have remained to the last moment of life; and his stench and rottenness goes up even upon those who promise great things to themselves, and fall through pride, because human frailty is never safe, and the more we grow in virtues, the more we ought to fear lest we fall from the heights. According to the letter, it is the south wind rather than the north wind that usually brings swarms of locusts, that is, they come not from the cold but from the heat. But since he was speaking of the Assyrians, setting forth the likeness of locusts, he therefore put in the north wind, so that we should understand not a real locust, which usually comes from the south, but under the locust the Assyrians and Chaldeans.

Let us pass to the order of the spiritual understanding: Do not fear, O land, nay rather take courage and be glad, you who before had lost the Lord's seed by your dryness, because the Lord has magnified himself so as to show mercy to you, to such a degree that even the cattle of the region and of the desert solitude were filled with glad fallow lands, and the tree of the cross bore its fruit, and the most sweet gifts of the Holy Spirit bestowed their bounty on all.

Do not fear, O land: exult and be glad, for the Lord has magnified himself in acting; do not fear, animals of the region, for the beautiful places of the desert have sprouted, for the tree has borne its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have given their power; and sons of Zion: exult and be glad in the Lord your God, for he has given you a teacher of righteousness, and he will make the morning rain come down to you, and the late rain in the beginning; and the threshing floors shall be filled with grain, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil, and I will restore to you the years which the locust, the cankerworm, and the blight, and the caterpillar have eaten. My great strength which I sent among you; and you shall eat, feeding, and be filled, and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded for evermore; and you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides, and my people shall not be confounded forever. LXX: Take courage, O land, rejoice and be glad, for the Lord has magnified himself in acting; take courage, cattle of the field, for the plains of the solitude have sprouted, for the tree has borne its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have given their strength; and sons of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the Lord your God, for he has given you foods of righteousness, and has rained on you the early and the late rain, as from the beginning, and the threshing floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will repay you for the years in which the locust, and the cankerworm and the blight, and the caterpillar have eaten. My great strength which I sent among you, and you shall feed, eating, and be filled; and you shall praise the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders with you, and my people shall not be confounded forever, and you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and I am the Lord your God, and there is none besides me, and my people shall not be confounded forever. For all that he had threatened above, he now promises the contrary. Above he had said: Fire has eaten the beautiful places of the desert, and flame has kindled all the trees of the region, and the beasts of the field, like a threshing floor thirsting for rain, have looked up to you, because the springs of waters are dried up, and fire has devoured the beautiful places of the desert. Now he softens sadness with glad things, and turns tears into laughter. Do not, he says, fear, animals of the region, for the beautiful places of the desert have sprouted, for the tree has borne its fruit, the fig tree and the vine have given their power; and so great will be the abundance of all things that I will not merely give you grain, wine and oil with which to be filled, but the threshing floors will be filled with grain, and the presses will overflow with wine and oil, so that you may be able not only to eat yourselves, but also to supply others.

For the fig tree, on account of its sweetness and richness, represents the delights of humankind, which they had in paradise before the Fall. Indeed, not rarely, as we shall afterwards show, the Holy Spirit takes the fruit of the fig tree as an emblem of goodness. But the vine, on account of the gladness produced by wine and the joy of those who were saved from wrath and from deluge, signifies the change produced from fear and anxiety into joy. Moreover, the olive, on account of the oil which it produces, indicates the compassion of God, who again, after the deluge, bore patiently when people turned aside to ungodliness, so that he gave them the law and manifested himself to some, and nourished by oil the light of virtue, now almost extinguished.

David said that "the Lord would reign from the tree." Elsewhere too the prophet predicts the fruit of this tree, saying, "The earth has given its blessings"—of course that virgin earth, not yet irrigated with rains or fertilized by showers, out of which humanity was of old first formed, out of which now Christ through the flesh has been born of a virgin. "And the tree bears its fruit"—not that tree in paradise, which yielded death to the first humans, but the tree of the passion of Christ, whence life, hanging, you did not believe!

You too, whom after repentance I rightly call sons of Zion and of the Church, be glad and rejoice, because God the Father has given you a teacher of righteousness, or has granted you nourishment of righteousness, and has made the early and late rains come down to you. The seasonable rain is when we first receive doctrine, the late rain when we receive the fruits of our labor, and come to the perfect knowledge of the holy Scriptures. The early and the late rain can also be taken as the Old and the New Testament.

He speaks also especially to the sons of Zion, that they should exult and rejoice, not in any trifling thing, but in the Lord their God, who has given them the nourishment of righteousness, and, as the Seventy translated, and the early and the late rain, so that they may eat and be glad, and praise the name of the Lord their God, who has done wonders with them, and may by no means be confounded; and may know that the Lord God of Israel dwells in their midst, and besides him there is no other, because the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and his people will not be confounded forever. These things, according to the letter, since they were promised by the Lord, we believe to have come to pass, and the past barrenness to have been made up by new crops, so that whatever the locust, the cankerworm, and the blight, and the caterpillar had consumed, τροπικῶς (figuratively), was replenished in the following years.

And not only, he says, has he given this, but he has made you abound in new crops of virtues, and be filled and inebriated with grain, wine and oil of which we have often spoken.

We ask why the caterpillar was called the strength, or the power, of the Lord, and not only power, but great power? As the might of God was shown in the plagues of Egypt through small creatures, and especially the gnats, which are midges so small that they can scarcely be seen by the eyes, so now too in a small and slow little worm, which can scarcely move, and is crushed by a light touch, the might of God and human frailty are shown. Not that God cannot, at his nod and by the majesty of his might, overturn the earth, and cover all things with a flood, or burn them up with lightning, but through small things and, so to speak, mere points of bodies, he shows human frailty. Hence we are also accustomed to answer Marcion and the other heretics who tear the Old Testament to pieces, that God made fleas and midges and bugs, and creatures of this kind, for this reason, to show the frailty and weakness of our flesh, which is so much nothing that it is wounded by these things that are small. But if the caterpillar, a slow and small little worm, is stronger than man, why does earth and ashes glory; and, lifted up by pride — though it is from the humus, from which the human being is named —, despise human things? A certain one interprets this passage thus: On the right and on the left we read of powers and strengths of God, which the Greeks call δυνάμεις. On the right the Seraphim and Cherubim, and all the angelic powers; on the left the contrary strengths, of which it is written: He sent upon them the wrath of his indignation, fury and wrath, and tribulation, a sending by evil angels; of which Micaiah too speaks in the book of Kings: I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven stood beside him on his right and on his left. I think that it was a left-hand spirit which went forth, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will deceive Ahab, and I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. To this left-hand and contrary power, which was apt for deceiving, and practiced in ruin, and had deceived many before, God says: You shall deceive and prevail; go forth and do so. That spirit also which choked Saul, of which his servants said to him: Behold, an evil spirit of God has stupefied you, was from the left-hand parts, which minister to the Lord for punishing those who have deserved to be tormented for their sins. For not only are men ministers and avengers of his wrath upon those who do evil, and not without cause do they bear the sword, but also the contrary strengths, which are called the fury and the wrath of God, which the prophet, deprecating them, says: O Lord, do not rebuke me in your fury, nor chasten me in your wrath. To such, so to speak, inquisitors and torturers the Apostle handed over sinners for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit might be saved; among whom is Satan too, to whom he handed over others that they might learn not to blaspheme. So much on why the caterpillar was called the power of God.

And as for the years which you had lost through the perturbations that formerly reigned in you, when the locust, the cankerworm, the blight and the caterpillar had consumed your works. God did not suffer them to perish for you.

Then you will eat the fruits of righteousness, and be filled, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has done wonders with you. But if after repentance God promises such plenty of all things, what will Novatus answer, who denies repentance, and that sinners can be restored to their former state, if they do works worthy of repentance? For God receives the penitent to such a degree that he calls them his people, and declares that they are by no means to be confounded, and promises that he will dwell in their midst, and that they will no longer have another God, but will trust with their whole mind in him who abides in them forever.