Micah 5

So he says that Samaria will be surrounded and encompassed by the hostile peoples. Not only will they strike her cheek with their hand, which is more bearable, but they will crush her with rods, which is especially cruel. This signifies the shameful and miserable distress of captivity, for it is unquestionable that to strike the cheek is a special dishonor. Considering that they also struck her with rods, they have caused extreme hardship and debasement. Governed by the tribe of Ephrem, Samaria is dishonored. She is in shame and suffering. However, the striking hand will stop, and we will not taste misery if only we do our best to refrain from provoking the wrath of the Lord of all by trespassing or eagerly committing sins, which are hateful to him. If we honor him with virtuousness instead, then we will enjoy prosperity and will live a joyous and commendable life.

Now you shall be laid waste, daughter of the robber; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel. LXX: Now the daughter shall be blocked with a blockade; he has laid distress upon us; with a rod they will strike upon the cheek of the tribes of Israel. Not that one tribe strikes the cheek of another, but that others strike the tribes of Israel on the cheek. I did indeed promise you, O daughter of Zion, that a time would come when I would make your horn iron and your hoofs bronze, and when, the multitude of demons having been crushed, you would offer to the Lord of the whole earth whatever they had possessed before. But since this will come to pass then, when the fullness of the nations has come in and all Israel has been saved, now in the meantime be laid waste as your deserts require, or, as it stands in the Hebrew, be cut to pieces. For according to the Apostle you are by no means called the circumcision, but the concision; nor do I call you my daughter, but the robber's daughter, which in Hebrew is said bath gedud, that is, the daughter of the devil, who is ever girded for plunder. For you have made my house a den of robbers, you have fought against me, and your sons have laid siege against me, and against the Son, and against my Spirit. Or is it not an insult to the Trinity when, with rod and reed, at your doing, the Romans struck the head of the judge of Israel, saying: Prophesy to us, Christ, who is it that struck you? Or when one of your attendants struck him on the cheek, saying: Do you answer the high priest so? This is according to the Hebrew, and Aquila and Symmachus, and Theodotion, and the Fifth Edition agree with this interpretation. But according to the LXX the sense is much loftier, and it is understood as though from a beginning of its own. Now the synagogue is blocked with a blockade, and those who have been shut up in it will say: He has laid distress upon us; and, subject to the Roman powers, the tribes of Israel will be struck on the cheek. For the Lord has taken away from Judea and from Jerusalem the strong and the mighty, and the wise master builder, and the understanding hearer; and her ways are shut and hedged up to this day, and she cannot go out of captivity, but is pressed down by a most harsh rule. But if, following the sense above, we wish to take Now the daughter shall be blocked with a blockade as said of the Church, let us bring forward that example from Hosea, in which the adulteress speaks: I will go after my lovers, who gave me my bread, and my water, and my garments, and my linens, my oil, and all things that profit me. And afterwards God, wishing to hinder her most wicked thought, does not let her fulfill what she desires, but blocks her ways, so that she may not overtake her lovers and commit fornication further. For he says: Therefore, behold, I will block her ways with stakes, and I will hedge up her ways, and she will not find her path; and she will pursue her lovers, and will not lay hold of them, and she will seek them, and will not find them, and she will say: I will go and return to my former husband, because it was well with me. Notice that the Lord's work has succeeded: for the adulteress, not finding her way and not able to go where she wished, returns, bound by necessity, to her former husband, and confesses that it is better for her in her former husband's house than it once had been with her lovers; and Israel is schooled by tribulations and blows. Hence it is also said mystically to David, under the type of Christ: If his sons forsake my law, and do not walk in my judgments, if they profane my justices, and do not keep my commandments, I will visit their iniquities with the rod, and their sins with scourges; but my mercy I will not scatter from him. Therefore God has laid tribulation upon the daughter of Israel, and the angels who are set over the blows will strike her on the cheek. And lest perhaps you should not know who the daughter is that is blocked with a blockade and placed in distress, it is at once added and said: the tribes of Israel. But we are Israel, who discern God with the mind; to distinguish us from them the Apostle says: Behold Israel according to the flesh. For he would never call Israel fleshly unless he knew that there is also a spiritual one.

Further, the same prophet foretold even the place in which Christ was to be born: "But you, O Bethlehem Eph'rathah, who are little among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from old, from ancient days."

By designating Bethlehem, they [the Jews] were like the builders of Noah's ark, providing others the means of escape, yet themselves perishing in the flood. Like milestones, they showed the way but were incapable of walking along it. They were asked where the Christ was to be born. They answered, "In Bethlehem of Judah. For thus it was written by the prophet"—they were repeating from memory, you see, what had been written about this by Micah: "And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are not the least among the leaders of Judah; for from you shall come forth the king who is going to be the shepherd of my people Israel."

According to prophecy, Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judah, at the time, as I said, when Herod was king in Judea. At Rome, the republic had given way to the entire empire, and the emperor Caesar Augustus had established a worldwide peace. Christ was born a visible man of a virgin mother, but he was a hidden God because God was his Father. So the prophet had foretold: "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son; and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which is interpreted, God with us." To prove that he was God, Christ worked many miracles, some of which—as many as seemed necessary to establish his claim—are recorded in the Gospels. Of these miracles the very first was the marvelous manner of his birth.

This is Micah the seventh in order, who also was privileged to prophesy concerning the coming of the Lord Christ, and he says: And thou Bethlehem, the house of Ephratha, art the least to be among the thousands of Judah. From thee, there shall come forth to me one who shall be for a ruler over Israel, whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting. The chief priests and scribes of the Jews, taking this passage, when Herod asked them where the Christ should be born, replied, In Bethlehem of Judaea, upon which he sent the Wise Men away to Bethlehem.

It is enough for piety for you to know, as we have said, that God has one only Son, one naturally begotten, who did not begin to be when he was born in Bethlehem but is before all ages. For listen to the prophet Micah: "And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, are little to be among the thousands of Judah. From you shall come forth for me a leader who shall feed my people Israel; and his goings forth are from the beginning, from the days of eternity." Therefore do not fix your attention on him as coming from Bethlehem simply but worship him as begotten eternally of the Father. Admit no one who speaks of a beginning of the Son in time, but acknowledge his timeless beginning, the Father.

"But you, O Bethlehem, you are too little for what you are." That is, even though in comparison with your enemies you are little in force and number and incapable to lead "the thousand of Judah," yet, thanks to the help that I give you, the powerful ruler will be able to make war against them. For I have destined him to that from the beginning, through the promises already made to David. This is said with the usual reference to Zerubbabel, but its true meaning has been revealed in Christ, because when he appeared, all the promises made to Abraham and David were fulfilled.

The text says, "His origin is from the beginning," the beginning, that is, according to the promises made to Abraham and David.

And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, are little among the thousands of Judah; out of you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. LXX: And you, Bethlehem, house of Ephrathah, are least, that you should be among the thousands of Judah; out of you shall come forth for me one who is to be prince of Israel, and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of the age. In the Gospel according to Matthew, when the Magi had come from the east and Herod asked the scribes where Christ the Lord was to be born, they are related to have answered: In Bethlehem in the land of Judah, and, adding the prophet's testimony, they said: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the princes of Judah; for out of you shall come forth a leader who will rule my people Israel. That this testimony agrees neither with the Hebrew nor with the Seventy translators is plain even if I say nothing; and I think that Matthew, wishing to reprove the negligence of the scribes and priests in the reading of divine Scripture, set it down in this way too, just as it had been said by them. But there are some who assert that in almost all the testimonies taken from the Old Testament there is an error of this kind, that either the order is changed or the words, and sometimes even the sense itself is different, since the apostles or the evangelists did not pick the testimonies out of a book but trusted to memory, which is sometimes deceived. Let us therefore expound the Hebrew: And you, Bethlehem, that is, house of bread, who are called Ephrathah, are indeed least among the cities of Judah; and, compared with so many thousands, you are scarcely a little hamlet; but out of this little hamlet Christ will come forth, who is ruler in Israel. And lest you think that he is only of the race of David, to whom I promised, saying: Of the fruit of your womb I will set upon my throne, the assumption of flesh does not hinder the divine majesty; for he was born of me before all ages, and the founder of times is not held within time. He it is to whom I also said in another psalm: Before the morning star I begot you. For in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. And therefore his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. That Bethlehem itself is Ephrathah, the book of Genesis shows, in which Scripture records: Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrathah, that is Bethlehem. And in each of the two names it signifies a mystery: for it is called house of bread because of the living bread which came down from heaven; and Ephrathah, which means he sees fury, because of the madness of Herod, who, mocked by the Magi, was exceedingly angry, and sent and killed all the infants in Bethlehem and in all its borders from two years old and under, according to the time he had inquired of the Magi; and because of the great bloodshed a voice was heard on high, the lamentation and wailing of Rachel weeping for her children. We read, according to the Seventy translators only, in Joshua son of Nun, where the cities and towns of the tribe of Judah are described, this too written among the rest: Thaeco, and Ephrathah, that is Bethlehem, and Phagor, and Aetham, and Culon, and Tami, and Soris, and Caraem, and Gallim, and Baether, and Manocho, eleven cities and their villages, which is found neither in the Hebrew nor in any other translator; and whether it was erased from the old books by the malice of the Jews, lest Christ should be seen to have sprung from the tribe of Judah, or added by the Seventy, since we by no means know it clearly, what do we know for certain? Nonetheless we can also prove this very point from the book of Judges, that Bethlehem is in the tribe of Judah; for it is written: And there was a Levite man dwelling on the sides of the house of Ephraim, and he took for himself a concubine from Bethlehem of Judah, and his concubine was angry with him, and went away to her father's house in Bethlehem of Judah. And it is fittingly said, in Bethlehem of Judah, to distinguish it from that Bethlehem which is situated in Galilee, as I have found in the same book of Joshua. Ephrathah can sound in our language καρποφόρον, rich and fruitful, and show in a mystery the very same thing as house of bread.

It was another prophet, again, who pointed out the place where he would be born. For Micah said, "And you, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, are by no means the least among the princes of Judah. For out of you will come the leader who will shepherd my people, Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity." He revealed his existence before all ages. When he said "there will come the leader who will shepherd my people, Israel," he revealed Christ's birth in the flesh.

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. [Micah 5:2] Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.

Now this patently resembles the prologue to the Gospel, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God; he was in the beginning with God." It also resembles what was said by God through blessed David, "From the womb before the daystar I begot you." This person, then, who was before time, who was in the beginning with God, who is God the Word, with his origins from that source from the beginning, receives his birth according to the flesh (the text says) in you [Bethlehem], making you famous and illustrious, even though unimportant among Judah's thousands.

But now, the same star which led the magi to the place where the infant God was to be found with his virgin mother could of course have led them right to the very city. But it withdrew, and didn't appear at all to them again, until the Jews themselves had been questioned about the city where Christ was to be born. This was to oblige them to name it themselves, on the evidence of divine Scriptures, and to say themselves, "In Bethlehem of Judah. For so it is written, 'And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are not the least among the princes of Judah; for from you shall come forth the leader who will rule my people Israel.' " What else can divine Providence have meant by this, but that among the Jews would remain only the divine Scriptures by which the nations would be instructed, they themselves being blind? This evidence they would carry about with them not as an assistance to their own salvation but as evidence of ours. Because today it may happen that when we bring forward prophecies about Christ, uttered long before and now made clear by the events that have fulfilled them, the pagans whom we wish to gain will say that they weren't foretold so long ago but have been composed by us after the event, so that what has later occurred may be thought to have been previously prophesied. Then we can cite the volumes owned by the Jews, to clear the doubts of the pagans, who were already prefigured in those magi, whom the Jews instructed from the divine books about the city in which Christ was born, without themselves either seeking or acknowledging him.

"He shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth." This is what the prophet calls Jerusalem. This means he will abandon them to the afflictions of captivity until the time of the return. This means that these predictions will not come true before they are back from their captivity. Henana of Adiabene says "she who is in labor" means Jerusalem because she is in the pains of labor, which are her afflictions, and waits the birth of her salvation, until according to her expectations it sets to her return and her pains' end. But in the same manner they will endure different difficulties until the Virgin gives birth to Christ.

Because of this he will give them up until the time in which she who is in labor shall bring forth, and the remnant of his brothers shall be converted to the sons of Israel. LXX: Therefore he will give them up until the time of her who brings forth: she shall bring forth, and the remnant of the brothers shall return to the sons of Israel. Because Christ, the ruler in Israel, came forth from Bethlehem which is Ephrathah, and his going forth had not been only at the time when he was seen in the flesh, but from the beginning of eternity, or from the beginning of the age. Because he himself always spoke through the prophets, and the word of God came to be in their hand, therefore he will give up the Jews and allow them to reign until the time of her who brings forth, when that saying is fulfilled: Rejoice, barren one who do not bear; break forth and cry out, you who are not in labor, for many more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband. For when the barren woman has borne seven, and she who had had many sons has been weakened, and through the trespass of the Jewish people the fullness of the nations has come in, then all Israel will be saved, and the remnant of his brothers will be converted to the sons of Israel; and Elijah the prophet, whose name means God the Lord, coming, will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, and the last people will be joined to the ancient one, so that they may truly be called sons of Abraham, when they have believed in him whom Abraham saw and rejoiced. But what is the time in which the barren woman shall bring forth? As I suppose, that of which Isaiah speaks: In an acceptable time I have heard you, and in the day of salvation I have helped you. Paul too, understanding this as foretold of the time of Christ, says: Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. I think that this very thing is also shown mystically by what is written in Ecclesiastes: A time to bring forth, and a time to die; because at the time when the people of the Gentiles was born of the barren woman, the synagogue lost her children. It can, however, be understood otherwise: the Lord will give up the temple and Jerusalem and the Jews until that time when the virgin shall bring forth; and after she has brought forth, and the child that was born has taken the spoils of Samaria and the strength of Damascus, when the people of the Jews has been slain, the remnant of Israel will be saved. And the brothers of Christ, that is, the apostles, will be converted to the faith of the prophets and patriarchs, who announced that Christ would come, and the prophecy of the psalm will be fulfilled: In place of your fathers sons have been born to you, and the rest that follows.

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the loftiness of the name of the Lord his God, and they shall be converted, for now he shall be magnified to the ends of the earth. LXX: And he shall stand and see, and the Lord shall feed his flock in strength, and they shall be in the glory of the name of the Lord their God, for now they shall be magnified to the ends of the earth. After the sun of justice has gone forth from the height of the heavens and has come to their ends, and she who brings forth has brought forth, and the remnant of his brothers has been converted to the sons of Israel, then the Lord himself, who before was walking, and, together with those who were set on the road, did not yet have a fixed step, will stand and feed them in the strength of the Lord, so that they can say: The Lord feeds me, and I shall lack nothing; in a place of pasture, there he has set me; by the waters of refreshment he has nourished me; he has converted my soul. And he feeds them not only in the strength of the Lord, but also in the loftiness of the name of the Lord his God, when he says to the Father: Holy Father, keep in your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. When I was with them, I kept them in your name; those whom you have given me I have guarded, and none of them has perished. And they shall be converted, or, as Symmachus has better rendered it, they shall dwell; for the Hebrew word iasubu signifies both. And they shall dwell in the Church of the Lord, because Christ has been magnified to the end of the earth. Or, according to the LXX, because they themselves shall be magnified with their shepherd to the uttermost part of the earth, so that into all the earth there may go out their sound, and their words to the ends of the world.

Evidently [the Hebrew leaders] understood [the prophecy] in a carnal manner, just as Herod did, and reckoned that Christ's kingdom would be like the powers in this world. They hoped for a temporal leader, while Herod feared an earthly rival. "Herod, you are trapped in a useless fear. In vain do you attempt to rage against the child you suspect. Your realm does not encompass Christ, nor does the Lord of the world care about the meager limits within which you wield the rod of your power. He whom you do not wish to see reign in Judea reigns everywhere. You yourself would reign more happily if you would submit to his rule. Why not turn into honest service that which you resolve to do in falsehood and guile? Go with the wise men and worship the true king in humble adoration. But more inclined as you are toward the Jewish blindness, you do not imitate the faith of these Gentiles. You turn your perverse heart to cruel wiles. Yet you are not going to kill the one you fear, nor will you harm those whom you eliminate."

"We will raise against them seven shepherds and eight princes." By means of the events that happened in the days of Hezekiah, at the time of the ruin of the Assyrians, Micah provides information about those things that will happen through the agency of Zerubbabel toward the people of the house of Gog. By the numbers seven and eight he has indicated the complete and total destruction that befell the Assyrians through the intervention of the angel. The allusion is to the words of Ecclesiastes: "Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Give a portion to seven, or even to eight, for you know not what evil may happen on earth."However, others suppose that he means by "seven shepherds" the prophets who lived before the invasion of the Assyrians, who prophesied their ruin, and that he means by the "eight princes of men" Hezekiah and the princes who assisted him.… The phrase "seven shepherds" may indicate the fullness of the punishment that the Assyrians will undergo through the agency of the angel, while "eight bites of men" indicates what was in store for the survivors after their flight. What happened was that the Assyrian king was murdered by his sons and the others were exterminated by their fellow citizens.… From the spiritual point of view the verse applies to Satan, the abolisher of the law and the gospel, who was defeated by the prophets, the apostles and the angels.

And this one shall be peace: when the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads in our houses. LXX: And this shall be peace: when the Assyrian comes upon your land, and when he goes up upon your country. When the devil, who is interpreted εὐθύνων, that is, reproving and rebuking, comes upon the land and country of believers, and of those whom the Lord will feed in strength and in the loftiness of the name of the Lord his God, and treads them down with various tribulations, and like a proud man goes up upon the houses of our souls, that is, our bodies, and presses them down, and yet nothing separates us from the love of Christ; then the peace of Christ, or Christ himself, will be in us, and it will be said of the saint: The enemy shall gain nothing over him. Let us set out an example, so that what we are saying may become plainer. The Assyrian once came upon the land of Paul and went up upon his country, when he was in labors beyond measure, in blows more abundantly, in prisons exceedingly, in deaths often, when he received from the Jews five times forty lashes less one, was beaten with rods three times, was stoned once, suffered shipwreck three times, was a night and a day in the depth of the sea, in perils from robbers, in perils among false brothers, in perils from my own race, in perils from the Gentiles; but in all these he conquered because of him who had loved him. And therefore he was filled with peace, because he had been filled with insults. The Jews contend that all these things will come to pass according to the letter at the coming of the Christ whom they feign for themselves.

Then, therefore, there will be peace, when the remnant of Christ's brothers has been converted to the sons of Israel, and the Assyrian has come into our land, and, helped by the Lord, we have swiftly crushed under our feet him who desired to tread our houses. For the Lord himself says: We shall raise up against him seven shepherds, and eight principal ones of men, or bites of men. And we shall raise up, I and my Son and the Holy Spirit, according to what is written in Genesis: Let us make man after our image and likeness. And at the beginning of Obadiah: Arise, and let us go up against her to battle. The seven shepherds I take to be all the patriarchs and prophets and holy men who served the hebdomad, that is, the old instrument. But the eight bites of men, or eight principal men, and, as Symmachus rendered it, christs, are all those of the New Testament who, from the apostles down to this age, have bitten the Assyrian and torn him with their teeth. Hence also in Ecclesiastes the command is given: That we should give portions to seven, let us give also to eight. And in the temple of Ezekiel, which is interpreted as the Church and the heavenly Jerusalem, one goes up by seven and by eight steps. And in the psalter there are fifteen steps, by which, through the hebdomad and the ogdoad, we climb to sing praises to God. On the eighth day the spiritual circumcision is celebrated, and in the temple of the Jews the sabbath is destroyed, and some psalms are inscribed for the eighth.

And we shall raise up against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall feed the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with its lances; and he shall deliver from Asshur when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders. LXX: And seven shepherds shall rise up against him, and eight bites of men; and they shall feed Asshur with the sword, into the land of Nimrod in its pit; and he shall deliver from Asshur, when he comes upon your land, and when he goes up upon your borders. Where we have put principal men, and in the Hebrew is written nesiche adam, Symmachus rendered christs (anointed ones) of men; Theodotion and the Fifth Edition, princes of men; Aquila, weighty, or established men, that is, καθεσταμένους. Again, where Aquila and I translated with its lances, so that of the land of Nimrod is understood, Symmachus turned it ἐντὸς πυλῶν αὐτῆς, that is, within its gates; Theodotion, in their gates; the Fifth Edition, ἐν παραξίφεσιν αὐτῶν, which we can render, with their daggers; but in the Hebrew is set baphethee.

These seven shepherds, then, and eight bites of men, shall feed Asshur with the sword. For the word of God, living and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, was sent by him who came to send a sword upon the earth, so that two might be divided against three. And the land of Nimrod, which means temptation descending, they shall feed in its pit; for the land of the giant and hunter, and of him who is proud against the Lord, is not on the mountains but in pits. He fell like lightning from heaven, and is always busy among the beasts; and because he is a hunter, he roams the fruitless trees and the forests. So far, then, as I can recall in my memory, I have never read of a hunter in a good sense. Ishmael and Esau were hunters, and they went before as a type of the Jewish people: one of them is the son of the Egyptian woman, walking according to the flesh and living according to the flesh; the other lost his birthright for a dish of lentils, and, envying his brother's blessings, drives him off into Mesopotamia. The land of Nimrod, then, is reduced into its own pits: He who indeed digs a pit shall fall into it, and he who opened a cistern and dug it out shall fall into the pit which he made, and his pain shall return upon his head, and his iniquity shall come down upon his crown. And when the Assyrian had been pierced through by the seven shepherds and the eight bites, Christ delivered us from the hand of Asshur, who had come upon our land and desired to tread the borders of Israel. But as for what Symmachus says, And they shall feed the land of Asshur with the sword, and the country of Nimrod within its gates, this is to be understood: that the strong man is bound in his own house and the adversary is wounded. And according to Aquila and the Fifth Edition, that he is pierced through by the daggers and lances of the seven shepherds and of the eight christs of men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, and like drops upon the grass, which does not wait for man, and does not tarry for the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forests, and like a lion's whelp among the flocks of cattle, which, when it has passed through and trampled and seized, there is none to rescue. Your hand shall be exalted over your foes, and all your enemies shall perish. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will take away your horses from your midst, and I will destroy your four-horse chariots, and I will ruin the cities of your land, and I will pull down all your strongholds, and I will take away sorceries from your hand, and there shall be no divinations in you. And I will make your carved images perish, and your statues from your midst, and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands. And I will pluck up your groves from your midst, and I will crush your cities, and I will execute vengeance in fury and in indignation on all the nations which have not heard. LXX: And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like dew falling from the Lord, and like lambs upon the grass, so that no one may be gathered nor be among the sons of men. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts, in the forest, and like a lion's whelp among the flocks of cattle; as if it should pass through and, dividing, seize, and there be none to rescue. Your hand shall be lifted up over those who afflict you, and all your enemies shall perish. And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord, I will kill your horses from your midst, and I will destroy your chariots, and I will overturn the cities of your land, and I will take away all your strongholds. And I will take away your sorceries from your hands, and those who speak shall not be in you; and I will destroy your carved images, and your statues from your midst, and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands; and I will cut down the groves from your midst, and I will demolish your cities, and I will execute vengeance in anger and in fury on the nations, because they have not heard. When we have been delivered from Asshur, when he comes upon our land and goes up upon our borders, and delivered by the Lord, who raised up against him seven shepherds and eight bites of men, the remnant of Jacob, by which we understand the apostles and the first Church, the one from the Jews, shall be in the midst of many peoples like dew falling from the Lord. For the hearts of the peoples were burning with the fiery darts of the devil, and all the nations, committing adultery away from God, had hearts like an oven kindled with fire. Hence the dew falling from the Lord became the healing of the sick. And what we read concerning Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael, that the spirit of a whistling dew extinguished the furnace of fire, let us understand of all generally: that in the midst of all the nations the teaching of the apostles was like dew from the Lord. But what follows: And like lambs upon the grass, so that no one may be gathered nor be among the sons of men, let us take of those of the nations who were unwilling to believe, that the apostles and the remnant of Jacob are over them, like lambs cropping the grass and mowing down the herbage with their teeth. And they will do this so that those who were unwilling to be angels by receiving the spiritual dew may by no means be gathered among men, nor be reckoned in the rational part, but that it may be said of them: They are not in the labor of men, and they will not be scourged with men.

But the Hebrews dream ravings of this kind: after the seven shepherds, whom they invent and choose at will, and eight princely men have conquered the Assyrians and have fed upon the land of Nimrod with their swords, so that this shall have happened when the Assyrian has first come into the land of Judah, then, they say, when Christ comes, all the remnant of Jacob that has been able to survive among the nations will be in blessing, like dew coming from the Lord and like rain upon the grass, and they will by no means hope in men and in the sons of men, but in God. And they will be in the midst of the nations and peoples bloodthirsty and cruel, avenging themselves on their former masters, like a lion among the beasts of the forests and like a lion's whelp among the flocks of cattle, and there will be no one who can resist their strength. Then your hand, O God, or O Israel, will be exalted over the Assyrians, and all your foes and enemies who now possess you will perish. In that day, namely, when you have been freed from the nations, I will take away your horses and four-horse chariots which are in the midst of your cities. Not that Israel had horses and four-horse chariots then, but the horses and four-horse chariots of the Assyrians which move about in the midst of your cities; and I will destroy all your cities, and the strongholds which you dedicated to idols; and I will take away the magicians and soothsayers from your land, and I will make all your carved images and statues perish, and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands. I will also pluck up and overturn all your groves, and your cities which you had dedicated to idols. And when I have done this to you, and have been so appeased that whatever evil is in you is taken away, then also in my fury and indignation I will avenge you on all the nations which were unwilling to hear my word. Let carnal Israel answer at this place: does it say that these things have happened, or that they are to come? If it recalls them as done, let it produce the history, let it give the authority of the ancient books; let it show that all the nations and the Assyrian were once subject to Israel. But if, mocking itself with vain hope, it thinks that what is said is to come, when Christ comes, what idols will then be taken away from Israel which it does not now worship? What groves will be cut down which it does not have? What cities will be overthrown which were overthrown long ago? What soothsayers will be removed? Though it does not have them, nor boasts of having them, yet for so long a time the daughter of Zion has been abandoned, and sits without an altar and without priests, and while others eat their produce, they themselves, with dry throats, promise themselves a future which they do not know.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of the nations like a lion among the beasts in the forest, and like a lion's whelp among the flocks of sheep. For it is the Lord Jesus of whom it is prophesied in Genesis: A lion's whelp is Judah; from the shoot, my son, you have gone up; lying down you slept like a lion and like a lion's whelp. And in another place: Lying down he rested like a lion, and like a lion's whelp; who shall rouse him? He gave this also to his apostles, to whom he had said: Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, so that, just as no one can resist a lion among the beasts, or a lion's whelp among the sheep, so they, delivered from the hand of the Assyrian and from the hand of the devil, might seize beasts and cattle; for the Lord will save men and beasts. And they would seize, not to kill, but to divide, that is, to separate them from the unbelievers, and there would be none to resist them.

And as the lion and the lion's whelp thus range among the beasts and among the sheep, the hand of God is exalted over those who before afflicted either God or the remnant of Israel. And all his enemies will be destroyed, not that the enemies perish and cease to exist, but that they perish in that they are enemies. As it is written to the Thessalonians: Whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the spirit of his mouth. This killing signifies not abolition but the cessation of the most wicked life by which they had lived badly before. In short, he adds: And he will destroy him by the brightness of his coming. But he would never destroy him if killing meant abolition, since he would already have ceased to exist; so here too the consuming of the enemies is to be understood according to the Proverbs of Solomon, in which it is written: Destruction will lodge with the ungodly: it will not be perpetual, it will not reduce them to nothing, but it will lodge with them as long as it takes for the ungodliness that is in them to be consumed. For God created man that he should not perish, and he did not make death.

After this there follows: And it shall come to pass in that day, when your hand has been lifted up over your foes, O Israel, and all your enemies have perished, I will kill your horses from your midst, that is, from the ruling part of your heart, the wanton impulses that rush forth like horses when their bonds are broken, and your chariots, in which you pleased yourself in your vices, and, joining sins to sins, were carried along as if triumphing in four-horse chariots.

And I will destroy the cities of your land: for you did not build the city which the rush of the river of God makes glad, and which is set on the mountains, and the heavenly Jerusalem, but the one which Cain had built. Hence they are called cities of the land, built with earthly works. And I will take away, he says, all your strongholds, namely riches and the pomp of the world, and the eloquence of rhetoricians and the little snares of dialecticians, in which you trusted as in strongholds.

And I will take away sorceries from your hands, by which either you yourself were deceived by others, or, being deceived, you deceived others; and those who speak, or pronounce, shall not be yours. Now the world is full of speakers and pronouncers; they speak what they do not know, they teach what they have not learned; they are teachers, though they were not pupils before. When, therefore, God teaches man knowledge, false presumptions will cease, and perverse doctrine will be removed.

And I will destroy your carved images and your pillars from your midst. Our carved images are those which were made by the speakers, or which we fashion for ourselves. Hence it is commanded in the law that we should not make a carved image for ourselves, and that we should not set up pillars in our land; and you shall no longer worship the works of your hands. Unhappy human condition, full of folly and error! It knows from what sense its doctrines were composed, it is not ignorant that the idol was feigned by itself, and yet in place of God it worships the works of its own hands, and man bows down, so that, deceived, he may deceive.

There is added, in the promise which is directed to the remnant, that is, the ὑπόλειμμα of Jacob: And I will cut down the groves from your midst, and I will destroy your cities, so that he may pull down and consume all the trees of the forests, and the groves which it was forbidden to plant in the temple of God, and the badly built cities which he had earlier called the cities of the land.