Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets 9.1.4–9.2.15

4–5. "And I will stretch out my hand upon Judah and upon all who dwell in Jerusalem; and I will remove from this place the names of the Baals and the names of the priests with the priests, and those who bow down on the housetops to the host of heaven." The list of the sins … for even the punishment is full of love for humankind: he promises release from error, and forgetfulness not only of the worship of the idols but even of their very name. He called the array of the luminaries in heaven "the host of heaven"; for they offered sacrifices to these on the housetops, wishing to see them more exactly. "And those who swear by the Lord and those who swear by Melchom, (6) and those who turn aside from the Lord, and those who do not seek the Lord, and those who do not hold fast to the Lord." Someone might ask why through another prophet he enjoins removing the Baals from the mouth and bids them swear "As the Lord lives" in truth, while here he threatens punishment on those who swear by the Lord. But the solution is easy to find at once: "Those who swear," he says, "by the Lord, and those who swear by Melchom." This was an idol of the Ammonites, as we find in the other prophets and in the third book of Kingdoms: "For Solomon served Astarte of the Sidonians, and Melchom, the idol of the sons of Ammon." He threatens punishment, then, on those who at the same time [swear] both by the one who is truly God and Lord and by the … the prophecies. For in that passage he says: "If you remove the Baals from your mouth and swear 'As the Lord lives' in truth"; and here likewise he accuses those who pretend to serve God but prefer the worship of the idols. Having thus threatened painful things, he mixes exhortation with the threat, so that they might not despair of salvation and run aground into worse wickedness: (7) "… For the day of the Lord is near, for the Lord has prepared his sacrifice; he has sanctified his invited ones." The prophetic word often calls the slaughter of the lawless a sacrifice; this can be found in other prophets, and also in the inspired Ezekiel. He names the enemies "invited ones"; and he put "sanctified" for "set apart", as he also says through Isaiah: "They are sanctified, and I lead them," that is, set apart for this. For since what is truly holy is set apart and separated from the profane, he calls those set apart for punishment "sanctified", as set apart by the God of all himself. So too he called it a sacrifice by an extension of the word. So too "anathema" has a double sense: for he has called anathema not only what is dedicated to God, but also what is cut off. (8–9) "And it will be on the day of the Lord's sacrifice that I will take vengeance on the rulers and on the house of the king and on all who wear foreign clothing. And I will take vengeance on all openly at the gateways on that day, on those who fill the house of their God with impiety and deceit." Since the sentence of punishment was pronounced in the days of Josiah, the God-fearing king, and the king was not answerable for these things, but his sons and descendants dared them, he rightly did not say "I will take vengeance on the king," but "on the house of the king and on the rulers." Some have said that the foreign clothing is what comes from robbery and greed; others, what is worn out of extreme licentiousness, for men [put on women's clothes, and women] put on men's. To me the word seems to hint at something else as well: the law forbids [garments made] of linen and [wool together]; and [it was likely] that those who prided themselves on wealth and were given over to luxury imitated the dress of the neighboring nations, and wove much elaborate ornament of purple wool into their linen tunics; and this was directly contrary to the divine legislation. He threatens these, then, and those who enter the divine temple with impiety and deceit. By "deceit" he hints that they held up piety as a pretext but secretly embraced the worship of the idols. Because of these transgressions of yours, he says, … (10) "There will be on that day, says the Lord, a sound of the cry of those who pierce, from the gate, and a wailing from the second [city], and a great crushing from the hills." For when the enemies break the wall and open the gates, with shouting and …

7. "Be reverent before the face of the Lord God." … [and with] shouting you will flee for refuge to the wall of the temple; but nonetheless, when that gate too is opened to the enemies, you will be shot down amid wailing; and even if some of you seize the peaks of the mountains or go up to the high houses, they will suffer the same destruction.

11. "Lament, you who dwell in the one cut down, for all the people has become like Canaan; all who were lifted up by silver have been utterly destroyed." He called Jerusalem "cut down" from the calamity that befell it, and [said that it is] lamented, having become bereft of its inhabitants. For since they emulated the impiety of the Canaanites, they suffered the total destruction of the Canaanites, and nothing of the … (12) "And it will be on that day that I will search Jerusalem with a lamp." None of those who owe a penalty, he says, will escape punishment, but I will hand them all over to slaughter. He put this figuratively, by a metaphor from those who use a lamp to search for something lost and do not stop until they find it. "And I will take vengeance on the men who despise their observances." By "observances" he means the ordinances which the law commanded them to keep. "Those who say in their hearts: The Lord will not do good, nor will he do evil." Here he accuses those who banish providence and dare to say that affairs are carried along at random, and claim that the God of all neither does good nor punishes; on them he threatens plunder, the destruction of houses, and fruitless labor: (13) "For they will build houses," he says, "and will not dwell in them; and they will plant vineyards and will not drink their wine." And lest they think the punishment can be postponed, he went on:

14. "For the great day of the Lord is near, near and very swift." He called it great because it brings not a partial chastisement but complete punishment; then, instilling fear more strongly in his hearers, he describes that very day.

15–16. "The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter and harsh; it is set as mighty. That day is a day of wrath, a day of affliction and distress, a day of untimeliness and destruction, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and mist, a day of trumpet and shouting against the fortified cities and against the high corners." He calls the towers "high corners", and the assault of the enemy "trumpets and shouting"; and he named the onset of evils "darkness and gloom, cloud and mist": when they come on, the sun is not bright to those who look, nor the day clear, but everything seems full of gloom. Teaching this, the prophet went on: (17) "And I will afflict human beings, and they will walk like the blind." Then [he gives] the cause: "For they have sinned against the Lord; and I will pour out their blood like dust, and their flesh like dung." That is, they will not even obtain … (18) "And their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, when in the fire of his jealousy all the earth will be consumed; for he will make an end, and with haste, upon all who dwell in the land." Wealth, he says, will be useless even to the rich; for they will not obtain release from the evils by their money, but will be consumed by the divine wrath as by a fire, which will bring swift destruction on those who dwell in this land. Having thus threatened gloomy things, he offers them an exhortation to repentance.

1–2. "Gather together and be bound up, O undisciplined nation, before you become like a flower passing by in a day, before the anger of the Lord's wrath comes upon you." Some, not understanding the passage, have put "pray" for "be bound up"; but most of the copies have "be bound up". The word hints at the cure by medicines and bandages, understood figuratively; for we find this also in the inspired Isaiah, who, showing that the wounds of the Jews were incurable, cries: "There is no poultice to apply, nor oil, nor bandages." Be bound up, then, he says, with the medicines and bandages of repentance, you who are ignorant and undisciplined in good things, and come before his face in confession, so that you may not waste away like spring flowers when the divine wrath comes upon you. (3) "Seek the Lord, all you humble of the earth." Look, he says, at the lowliness of your nature and at the dust, your forefather, and seek out the Fashioner who has flooded you with so many good things. Then he also teaches the way of seeking God: "Do justice and seek righteousness; seek meekness, and answer them." Hold fast, he says, to uprightness and righteousness, and embrace the gentle and moderate life; and agree to pursue these things to the end; for this is what "and answer them" means. Then he shows the fruit of these: "So that you may be sheltered in the day of the Lord's wrath. (4) [For Gaza will be plundered, and Ashkelon will be] for destruction, and [Ashdod will be cast out at noon,] and Ekron will be uprooted." For you will enjoy [protection], while the foreign cities will suffer what was foretold.

5–6. "Woe to you who dwell in the measured portion of the sea, sojourners of the Cretans! The word of the Lord is against you, Canaan, land of the foreigners, and I will destroy you from your dwelling. And Crete will be a pasture of flocks …" [He calls] the coastland [the measured portion of the sea]; for the divine Scripture calls an allotment a "measured portion", from the land being measured with a cord and the proper share assigned to each. Since, then, God left the foreigners, who trace their descent from Canaan, on the coast, assigning them this land as a kind of allotment, he called them "the measured portion of the sea". He put "sojourners of the Cretans" for "colonists"; for it was likely that, as in coastal cities, some came from Crete and settled there. So by Canaan, the measured portion of the sea, Crete, and the sojourners of the Cretans he named the coastal districts of Palestine, which he threatened with desolation.

7. "And the measured portion of the sea will be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they will pasture upon them in the houses of Ashkelon; in the evening they will lodge before the sons of Judah, for the Lord their God has visited them and turned back their captivity." These things received fulfillment after the return. For we find in the books of the Maccabees that Jonathan and Simon prevailed over Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ptolemais and brought them under their own rule. But the exact and indisputable fulfillment of the prophecy can be seen after the ascension of our Savior and the preaching of the holy apostles. For these, setting out from among the Jews, lodged in these cities "in the evening", that is, before the evening of the consummation, when the God of all visited the nations and freed them from bitter slavery and captivity. From here he pronounces the sentence against the Moabites and the Ammonites; for these, being kin of Israel and tracing their descent from Lot, gloated over their calamities and used blasphemies against the God of all, as though no help had been given to the Jews by him. Therefore God says: (8) "I have heard the reproaches of Moab and the insults of the sons of Ammon, with which they reproached my people and magnified themselves against my borders. (9) Therefore, as I live, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Moab will be like Sodom and the sons of Ammon like Gomorrah, and Damascus licked clean like a heap on a threshing floor, and made desolate forever; and the remnant of my people will plunder them, and the remnant of my nation will inherit them. (10) This is theirs in return for their insolence, because they reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the Lord Almighty." The Moabites and the Ammonites had kings, and Damascus reigned over all Syria; but the Babylonians overthrew them all, and to the Jews alone the God of all granted the return through Cyrus the Persian. And they flourished again and recovered their former rule, and inspired fear in all these nations; they themselves possessed what belonged to those nations, while those could not resist them. For this reason the divine word foretells that the Moabites and Ammonites will be handed over to complete desolation, and Damascus … These things they suffered at the invasion of the Chaldeans. He says that Damascus would be made desolate forever because from that time, and in the time after, it lost the power of kingship and no longer ruled subject nations, but became tributary to those who reigned: Babylonians, Persians and Macedonians, and at present the Romans. But here too the prophecy received its exact fulfillment through the holy apostles and the saints who succeeded them; for the divine Apostle called these "the remnant". Having cited the prophecy which cries out plainly, "If the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved," he interprets it, saying: "So too at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace." The Master too says this through the blessed Zephaniah: "And the remnant of my nation will inherit them." Then he interprets more clearly:

11. "The Lord will appear against them, and will utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth, and they will worship him, each from his own place, all the islands of the nations." These words do not admit even the shameless objection of the Jews. For if they should say that after the return from Babylon many of the nations, having believed in the God of all, performed the worship of the law in the temple at Jerusalem, they will be clearly convicted of speaking falsely; for the prophetic word says, "They will worship him, each from his own place." This has come about not according to the law but according to the teaching of the Gospel; for the law gathered all into that one temple, whereas the Lord in the Gospels says to the Samaritan woman: "Amen, amen, I say to you, woman, the hour is coming when neither in Jerusalem nor in this place, but in every place, they will worship the Father." The inspired Zephaniah also cries this: "The Lord will appear against them," that is, against all those named before, the Philistines, the people of Damascus, and all the other nations. "And he will utterly destroy all the gods of the nations of the earth, and they will worship him, each from his own place, all the islands of the nations." Not only the cities on the mainland, nor only those on the coast, but also those lying out in the open sea. To these he adds:

12. "And you, Ethiopians, are slain by my sword." The word signifies also the host of demons destroyed by the onset of the saving cross, and human beings who are black in soul and opposed to God, wounded by the divine blow. Having thus foretold the salvation of the nations, he turns his discourse to the sequence of the history and threatens the Assyrians with destruction; for Nineveh had not yet …

13–14. "And he will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy the Assyrian, and he will make Nineveh a waterless desolation, like a wilderness. And flocks will pasture in its midst, and all the beasts of the earth; and chameleons and hedgehogs [will lodge] in its ceilings, … in its breaches, and ravens in its gateways, for its height is a cedar." All the things mentioned are signs of desolation: pastures for flocks, dwellings of various beasts, and nests of ravens. But it will suffer all these things, he says, because of the arrogance of its soul; for he likened its lofty mind to a cedar. Then, describing this more clearly,

15. "This is the contemptuous city." That is, the one that held every city and kingdom cheap and small. "Which dwells in hope": the one that thought it would never suffer anything gloomy. "Which says in its heart: I am, and there is no one besides me any more." Then, mocking it with irony, he says: "How has it become a desolation, a pasture of beasts?" And [he adds] what usually happens: "Everyone who passes through it will hiss and shake his hands." For most people are accustomed to hiss and shake their hands at grievous things that happen unexpectedly. Having thus foretold about Nineveh, he turns his discourse to Jerusalem.