Thursday of the Sixth Week of Lent

It is appropriate, for that person rises up who is hastening to Christ. Faith precedes devotion. First Jacob rose up; later he sacrificed. The man who has searched out the knowledge of God offers a good sacrifice. Now "at night in a vision God spoke to Israel, saying, 'Jacob, Jacob.' He said, 'What is it?' God said, 'I am the God of your fathers, do not fear, go down into Egypt; for there I will make you into a great people, and I will lead you forever.' "

On hearing this, let us learn in whatever we do, whether embarking on some project or beginning a journey, first of all to offer a sacrifice to the Lord in prayer and, by calling on his help to address the matter in hand, thus also imitate these good people's godliness. "He offered a sacrifice to the God of his father, Isaac," the text says, for you to learn that Jacob followed in his father's footsteps and thus demonstrated the reverence for divine things that Isaac had. Because he took the initiative in showing his own right attitude in thanksgiving, at once he felt the influence of grace from on high. I mean, because he had in view the length of the journey and kept in mind his advanced age, Jacob was afraid that death might come upon him before the meeting and rob him of the sight of his son; so he offered prayers to God to grant him life enough to enable him to enjoy this final satisfaction.

It appears fitting indeed after these things, to contemplate and look into what God says to Israel himself through the vision and how he sends him to Egypt strengthening and encouraging him as if he were setting out to some struggles. For he says, "Fear not to descend into Egypt." This is to say, you shall contend "against principalities and powers and against the rulers of this world of this darkness"—which is figuratively called Egypt—fear not, be not afraid. But if also you wish to know the reason that you ought not fear, hear my promise: "For I will make a great nation of you there, and I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will recall you from there in the end." He therefore with whom God shall go down into the struggles is not afraid "to go down into Egypt." He is not afraid to approach the struggles of this world and the battles with resisting demons. For hear the apostle Paul saying, "I have labored more," he says, "than all those, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." But also when dissension had been stirred up against him in Jerusalem, and he performed a most brilliant struggle for the word and preaching of the Lord, the Lord stood by him and said the same things that now are said to Israel. "Fear not, Paul," Scripture says, "for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must you bear witness also at Rome."

Our God himself also exhorts that people with his own prophecy and promises them advancement in the faith, the fruit of his gift, for he says to them, "Joseph shall put his hand on your eyes." It was not that the holy patriarch was troubled as to who should close his eyes, although in the clear understanding of it a natural love is also being expressed. For we often desire to embrace those whom we love. How much more, when we are about to depart from this body, do we take delight in the last touch of our beloved children and find consolation in such a provision for our journey. Yet in a mystical sense we may take it to mean that afterward the Jewish people are going to know their God. For this is a mystery, that the true Joseph places his hands over the eyes of another, so that he who before did not see may now see. Come to the Gospel, read how the blind man was healed, when Jesus put his hand on him and took away his blindness. Indeed, Christ does not put his hand on those who are going to die but on those who are going to live or, if on those who are going to die, rightly so, because we first die in order that we may live again. For we cannot see God unless we die to sin previously.

See how whatever the good man longed for the Lord promises him, and in fact much more. That is to say, in his generosity he exceeds our requests out of fidelity to his characteristic love. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt," he says. Because Jacob dreaded the length of the journey, accordingly he says, "Have no regard for the weakness of your old age—I will make you into a great nation there. I will accompany you and make everything easy for you." Notice the considerateness of the expression: "I will go down with you to Egypt." What could be more blessed than to have God as traveling companion? Then he spoke the consoling thought that the old man had particular need of: "Joseph's hands will close your eyes in death." That dearly beloved son of yours will personally prepare your body for burial, and his hands will close your eyes in death.So, quite happy and free from all concern, Jacob took to the road. Consider at this point, I ask you, with what cheerfulness the good man makes the journey, being so reassured by God's promise.

But I think a still greater mystery lies hidden in this passage. For this statement disturbs me: "I will make a great nation of you, and I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will recall you from there in the end." Who is it who is made "into a great nation" in Egypt and is recalled "in the end"? To the extent that it pertains to that Jacob of whom one supposes it to be said, it will not appear true. For he was not recalled from Egypt "in the end," since he died in Egypt. But it will be absurd if someone says Jacob was recalled by God in that his body was carried back. But if it is accepted, it will not be true that "God is not the God of the dead but of the living." It is not proper, therefore, that these words be understood of a dead body but that they apply to the living and vigorous.Let us consider therefore whether there may be depicted in this statement a figure of the Lord who descends into this world and is made "into a great nation," that is, the church of the Gentiles, and after all things were completed, returned to the Father. Or, whether it is a figure of "the first-formed man" who descends to the struggles of this world after he was cast out of the delights of paradise. The struggle with the serpent was set before him when it is said, "You shall watch for his head, and he shall watch for your heel," and again, when it is said to the woman, "I will put enmity between you and him, and between your seed and his seed." Nevertheless God does not desert those placed in this struggle but is always with them. He is pleased with Abel; he reproaches Cain; he is present with Enoch, when he is invoked. He commands Noah to construct an ark of salvation in the flood; he leads Abraham "from the house of his father" and "from his kinsmen"; he blesses Isaac and Jacob; he leads the sons of Israel out of Egypt. He writes the law of the letter through Moses. He completes what was lacking through the prophets. This is what it means to be with them in Egypt. But regarding the statement "I will recall you from there in the end," I think this means, as we said above, that at the end of the ages his only-begotten Son descended even into the nether regions for the salvation of the world and recalled "the first-formed man" from there. For what he said to the thief, "This day you shall be with me in paradise," understand not to have been said to him alone but also to all the saints for whom he had descended into the nether regions. In this man, therefore, more truly than in Jacob the words "I will recall you from there in the end" will be fulfilled.

But each of us also, in the same manner and in the same way, enters Egypt and struggles and, if he is worthy that God should always remain with him, he will make him "into a great nation." For the number of virtues and the multitude of righteousness in which all the saints are said to be multiplied and to increase is a great nation.That which is said is also fulfilled in the saint: "I will recall you from there in the end." For the end is considered to be the perfection of things and the consummation of virtues. Indeed, for this reason also another saint said, "Recall me not in the midst of my days." And again the Scripture bestows testimony on the great patriarch Abraham since "Abraham died full of days." This statement, therefore, "I will recall you from there in the end," is as if he had said, Since "you have fought a good fight, you have kept the faith, you have finished the course," I will now recall you from this world to the future blessing, to the perfection of eternal life, to "the crown of justice which the Lord will give in the end of the ages to all who love him."

But let us see how also the statement after that should be understood: "And Joseph shall put his hands upon your eyes." I think many mysteries indeed of secret understanding are hidden within the veil of this statement. It belongs to another time to approach and touch upon these mysteries. Now, meanwhile, it will not appear to be said without reason, since it has appeared also to some of our predecessors that a certain prophecy seemed to be designated in this statement. Since indeed that Jeroboam who made two golden calves that he might seduce the people to worship them was from the tribe of Joseph, by this he blinded and closed the eyes of Israel, as if his hands were placed on them, lest they see their impiety, of which it is said, "Because of the impiety of Jacob are all these things, and because of the sin of the house of Israel. But what is the impiety of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?"32But if someone perhaps asserts that those things that are said by God about a future form of piety ought not be turned to a censurable function, we will say that just as the true Joseph, our Lord and Savior, put his physical hand on the eyes of the blind man and restored his sight that he had lost, so also he put his spiritual hands on the eyes of the law, which had been blinded by the corporeal understanding of the scribes and Pharisees. He restored sight to them, that to these to whom the Lord has opened the Scriptures spiritual vision and understanding might appear in the law. And would that the Lord Jesus might put "his hands on" our "eyes" too, that we too might begin to look not at those things "which are seen but at the things which are not seen." And would that he might open for us those eyes which contemplate not present things but future, and might reveal to us the aspect of the heart by which God is seen in spirit, through the Lord Jesus Christ himself, to whom belongs "glory and power forever and ever. Amen."

Do not let your heart envy sinners, etc. If throughout the whole day, that is, the whole time you dwell in the light of this world, you strive both to avoid the examples of sinners and to fear the Lord, you will have the hope of blessed reward at the last, that is, when you reach the end of this life, with him also attesting, who said: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2).

Do not be among winebibbers, etc. For to bring meats to be eaten, is in conversation of derogation, to repeatedly mention the vices of neighbors, about whose punishment it is immediately added:

And dressed in rags will be the sluggard. For his death will find him despicable and devoid of all good works, as his languor occupied him here in seeking the crimes of another's life through slander.

As the ancient saying goes, soul is the mother of the mind, because it is the soul which leads the mind to enlightenment by means of practical virtues.

Let your father and mother rejoice, etc. Let God the Father rejoice over your righteousness; let the Church, your mother, also rejoice; and let the priest who regenerated you through the grace of baptism, and who educated you from childhood, rejoice in your good works.

If you don't give yourself, you will lose yourself. Charity herself speaks through wisdom and tells you something to save you from panicking at being told, "Give yourself." If anyone wanted to sell you a farm he would say to you, "Give me your gold," and if it was something else, "Give me your coppers," "Give me your silver." Now listen to what charity says to you, speaking through the mouth of wisdom: "Give me your heart, son. Give me," she says. Give her what? "Your heart, son." It was ill when it was with you, when you kept it to yourself. You were being pulled this way and that by toys and trifles and wanton, destructive loves. Take your heart away from all that. Where are you to drag it to, where are you to put it? "Give me your heart," she says. "Let it be mine, and it won't be lost to you."

Before any cosmic act of reform we must have a cosmic oath of allegiance. A man must be interested in life, then he could be disinterested in his views of it. "My son give me thy heart"; the heart must be fixed on the right thing: the moment we have a fixed heart we have a free hand.

Solomon compared the love of [such a] woman with the deep pit. She calls a halt only when she sees that her lover has been stripped of all his possessions. Even more so, she does not stop then but decks herself out more elaborately and insults him in his humiliation, and draws ridicule upon him, and causes him so much misfortune that words are inadequate to describe it.

Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom and are not able to judge aright." Wherefore, [the bishops] and the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the church next to God Almighty and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We say this, not that they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they not be disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, "Do not drink wine"; but what says it? "Drink not wine to drunkenness." .

"Who has woe? Who has sorrow?" For whom is there distress and darkness? For whom eternal doom? Is it not for the transgressors? For those who deny the faith? And what is the proof of their denial? Is it not that they have denied their own confession? And when and what did they confess? Belief in the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, when they renounced the devil and his angels and uttered those saving words. What fit title, then, has been discovered for them, for [these former] children of light to use? Are they not addressed as transgressors, as having violated the covenant of their salvation?

Woe to whom? Woe to whose father? He asks, while disputing, for what crimes of men the greatest punishment from the Lord is reserved. And he himself responds through reasoning, that without any doubt, it is to those who, through drunkenness, fall into excess. To whom, he says, is woe? To whose father is woe? Woe is named as eternal destruction. About which the Lord says: Woe to the one through whom scandal comes (Matt. XVIII). And this father of whom is woe imminent, he either names the man from whom someone receives the example of wicked deeds to sin externally, or certainly the devil, who pours the poison of pestilent suggestion into the heart internally. About whom it was said to the Jews: You are of your father the devil, and you wish to do your father's desires (John VIII).

To whom quarreling? To whom a pitfall? Quarreling, because he who is rendered impotent of senses by drunkenness cannot maintain the harmony of peace; a pitfall, because he who cannot distinguish between good and bad, as if captivated in mind, does not tremble in falling into the mire of vices everywhere. And the drunkard often falls into that pitfall; about which it was premised: For a deep pit is the harlot; and a narrow well, the alien.

To whom wounds without cause? etc. Wounds without cause, because many, filled beyond measure with wine, have received wounds in their limbs out of fear, which they have endured for no cause; weakening of the eyes, because the immoderate drink of wine produces darkness to many physical sights and blindness of inner senses.

Understand this, brethren, that every drunkard who has made drinking a habit will have leprosy within, in his soul, because the soul of the drunkard is known to be such as the flesh of the leper is seen to be. Therefore one who wishes to free himself of the sin of drunkenness, where not only his soul is killed but even his body is weakened, should drink merely as much as suffices. If he is unwilling to observe this rule, he will be hateful to God and an object of reproach to people.

People who want to be like this try miserably to excuse themselves. They say, My friend will be unpleasant if I do not give him as much as he wants to drink when I invite him to a banquet. [But I say to you,] Do not have a friend who is willing to make you displeasing to God, for he is both his own enemy and yours. If you make yourself and someone else intoxicated, you will have a man as your friend but God as an enemy.

By the mention of redness of eyes—a sign of death—it is made clear that the wine-bibber is already dead to the Word and to reason. It declares his death to the Lord. If one forgets the motives that prompt him to seek the true life, he is dragged down to corruption. With good reason, then, the Educator, in his concern for our salvation, sternly forbids us, "Do not drink wine to drunkenness."

Since you are the presbyters and deacons of Christ, you ought always to be sober, both among yourselves and among others, so that you may be able to warn the unruly. Now the Scripture says, "The men in power are passionate. But let them not drink wine, lest by drinking they forget wisdom and are not able to judge aright." Wherefore, [the bishops]27 and the presbyters and the deacons are those of authority in the church next to God Almighty and his beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We say this, not that they are not to drink at all, otherwise it would be to the reproach of what God has made for cheerfulness, but that they not be disordered with wine. For the Scripture does not say, "Do not drink wine"; but what says it? "Drink not wine to drunkenness."

For those who tarry long over wine and go to seek mixed wine, etc. Symbol is a Greek name, and it means conference. There is a conference of words, as is usual in councils; there is also one of money or other things, as the present place teaches. Therefore, those who tarry long over wine indulge in speaking about the disgrace of another's life. But to offer a potluck is like contributing words in a conversation of slander, just as everyone usually provides food for a meal. But those who indulge in drinks and give potlucks will be consumed, because, as it is written: Every slanderer will be uprooted.

Is it not to those who linger over wine? etc. He does not forbid drinking wine for need, but lingering in wine beyond time and usefulness, and competing to empty each other's chalices; according to Isaiah: Woe to you who are mighty to drink wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink (Isaiah V).

The devil draws man to the concupiscence of the flesh, to the concupiscence of the eyes, and to the pride of life. The concupiscence of the eyes, which is the fuel of concupiscence and pride, makes men strong, because men endure many things in order to acquire temporal goods. In wine, which makes a man drunk and renders him bold, is signified the concupiscence of the eyes. It is written: "Do not gaze upon wine when it grows golden" in the cup. What is the means of resisting these? Through truth, namely through faith dwelling within.

Your eyes will see strange women, etc. It is a customary and almost natural vice to follow feminine lust after the poison of drunkenness spreads in the heart, accompanied by wickedness and foulness of words.

And you will be like one sleeping in the midst of the sea, etc. He sleeps in the midst of the sea, who, placed in the temptations of this world, neglects to foresee the movements of impending vices, as if neglecting the impending heaps of waves, and like a sleeping helmsman loses the rudder, when the mind, to govern the ship of the body, loses its diligence.

For he sleeps in the midst of the sea who, placed among the temptations of this world, neglects to look out for the motions of vices that rush in upon him like impending heaps of waves. And the steersman, as it were, lets go the rudder when the mind loses the earnestness of solicitude for guiding the ship of the body. For, indeed, to let go the rudder in the sea is to leave off intentness of forethought among the storms of this life. For, if the steersman holds fast the rudder with anxious care, he now directs the ship among the billows right against them, now cleaves the assaults of the winds aslant. So, when the mind vigilantly guides the soul, it now surmounts some things and treads them down, now warily turns aside from others, so that it may both by hard exertion overcome present dangers, and by foresight gather strength against future struggle.

And you will say, They struck me, but I was not hurt, etc. The voice of one beaten and sleeping is expressed. The mind, indeed, sleeping from the care of diligence, is struck and does not hurt, because just as it does not foresee impending evils, so it also does not recognize what it has committed. It is dragged and does not feel, because it is led by the allurements of vices, and yet does not awaken to its own guard. It indeed wishes to wake up, to find wines again, because although it is pressed from its own guard by the sleep of stupefaction, it nevertheless strives to wake up to the cares of the world, so that it is always intoxicated with pleasures. And while it sleeps for that in which it should have vigilantly watched, it seeks to watch for that for which it could have laudably slept.

Whence, also, the utterance of one that is stricken and yet sleeps is expressed by Solomon, who says, "They have beaten thee, and I was not pained; they have dragged me, and I felt it not. When shall I awake and again find wine?" For the soul that sleeps from the care of its solicitude is beaten and feels not pain, because, as it foresees not impending evils, so neither is it aware of those which it has perpetrated. It is dragged, and in no wise feels it, because it is led by the allurements of vices, and yet is not roused to keep guard over itself. But again it wishes to awake, that it may again find wine, because, although weighed down by the sleep of its torpor from keeping guard over itself, it still strives to be awake to the cares of the world, that it may be ever drunk with pleasures; and, while sleeping to that wherein it ought to have been wisely awake, it desires to be awake to something else, to which it might have laudably slept.

Do not emulate evil men, etc. Do not desire to imitate those whom you see entangled in the vices I have mentioned, but rather strive to devote yourself to wisdom.

Do not emulate evil men, etc. Do not desire to imitate those whom you see entangled in the vices I have mentioned, but rather strive to devote yourself to wisdom.

[Solomon] calls Christ wisdom, intelligence and reason. The house is [Christ's] church which he built and whose storerooms he filled with every kind of precious and splendid riches. The storerooms are the hearts of those who believe in Christ and live in imitation of him—those hearts, I mean, which abound in goodness in thoughts, words and deeds. For this reason, they are made worthy of eternal blessedness.

[Solomon] calls Christ wisdom, intelligence and reason. The house is [Christ's] church which he built and whose storerooms he filled with every kind of precious and splendid riches. The storerooms are the hearts of those who believe in Christ and live in imitation of him—those hearts, I mean, which abound in goodness in thoughts, words and deeds. For this reason, they are made worthy of eternal blessedness.

[Solomon] calls Christ wisdom, intelligence and reason. The house is [Christ's] church which he built and whose storerooms he filled with every kind of precious and splendid riches. The storerooms are the hearts of those who believe in Christ and live in imitation of him—those hearts, I mean, which abound in goodness in thoughts, words and deeds. For this reason, they are made worthy of eternal blessedness.

In doctrine, the storehouses will be filled, etc. The storehouses are the hearts of the righteous, which will be filled with the gifts of virtues only by the doctrine of wisdom.

In doctrine, the storehouses will be filled, etc. The storehouses are the hearts of the righteous, which will be filled with the gifts of virtues only by the doctrine of wisdom.

In doctrine, the storehouses will be filled, etc. The storehouses are the hearts of the righteous, which will be filled with the gifts of virtues only by the doctrine of wisdom.

A wise man is strong, etc. Not everyone who is strong and wise, but everyone who is wise is to be called strong, because even if he is weak in body, if wisdom is present, he conquers all struggles of his adversary, that is, of the devil.

A wise man is strong, etc. Not everyone who is strong and wise, but everyone who is wise is to be called strong, because even if he is weak in body, if wisdom is present, he conquers all struggles of his adversary, that is, of the devil.

A wise man is strong, etc. Not everyone who is strong and wise, but everyone who is wise is to be called strong, because even if he is weak in body, if wisdom is present, he conquers all struggles of his adversary, that is, of the devil.

(V. 8) Thus says the Lord: Just as when a grain is found in the cluster, and it is said: do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it; so I will do for the sake of my servants, that I will not destroy them all. LXX: Thus says the Lord: Just as when a grape is found in the cluster, and it is said: do not touch it, for there is a blessing in it; so I will do for the sake of my servant, that I will not destroy them all. The Lord declared that Israel would perish and all their sins would be revealed before their eyes, and He would repay them according to the works of each individual in their bosom. After this, he presents a similitude and example of comparison, in order to teach that everyone perishes in their own sin, and even if there is a great multitude of sinners, one righteous person does not perish due to the fault of all. If someone, he says, takes a cluster of grapes that could not ripen, and brings fruits that have turned sour, or is corrupted by some fault of the air or earth, they find one intact seed which has the hope of becoming even greater and reaching its usual ripeness. Let them say to another person, do not touch it, but let it grow, because it is the blessing of the Lord that in such a multitude of grapes, only one would escape dryness. Likewise, he says, with the countless multitude of Jews who have offended God, if I find a few righteous ones, I will deliver them from the destruction of the many. And I will do this for the sake of my servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom the promise was made, or for the sake of those who serve me among many sinners. We read something similar in Genesis, when from fifty down to ten the righteous are gradually sought after, who could free the city from sin (Gen. XVIII), and only the righteous Lot is saved from Sodom with his daughters (Gen. XIX). This is written about in the Catholic Epistle (II Pet. II), that his soul was tormented by witnessing abominable acts, and that the judgment of his soul demonstrated the character of his body. Enoch also, among the very numerous multitude of sinners, was alone taken up to God (Genesis 5). And Noah, with his children, because he turned away from the servitude of the Lord, could not destroy the Flood (Genesis 7). But Abraham, preserved from the fire of the Chaldeans by the integrity of his faith (Genesis 11). In this sense, the words of Jeremiah, spoken from the perspective of the Lord, agree: 'I have found Israel like a warm desert, with those slain by the sword' (Jeremiah 38:2 in the Septuagint; in the Vulgate, Jeremiah 31:2). For when, he says, the whole world lay wounded by idolatry as if slain by the sword, Israel was found to have the warmth of faith in Abraham, like a physician who, after a battle among the dead bodies, where he perceives some vital signs in the pulsing veins, applies care to the wounds in order to restore health. For it is written, ὡς θερμὸν, that is, like something warm, deceived by the ambiguity of the word, the Latin interpreter translated it as "lupinum," in which even many of the Greeks err. And yet it should be known that in Hebrew it is written as 'Thoda' (), which means grace; namely, that Israel is saved by the grace of God and not by the merit of their own works.

Once again the richness of the loving nature of God is shown clearly in this simile. For just as mature wine is found on the vine for whose sake the whole is saved, spared and is not cut off by anyone, so too [God says], "If I find anyone serving me, I will spare them all, just as I swore to Abraham. When I was threatening judgment of Sodom, I showed my compassion even to five people." He says this to establish his goodness.

If anyone finds one ripe grape in a bunch, he spares the whole bunch on its account, in order to present to God the firstfruits. In the same way, since I promised to Abraham to bless all the nations in his seed, I maintained the seed of all Israel when they sinned, and I did not overlook their slavery in Egypt. For this reason, I freed them from their Babylonian captivity.… The "valley of Achor" is an allusion to the contrition that is among the churches. For Achar or Achor, having stolen and broken the law of the ban, was thrown into a ravine, and through this tragic example they were filled with much contrition.

Thus says the Lord. Here he promises rewards to the good. And first, as to their preservation from evils: as if a grain, of a grape; it is a blessing, that is, it pleases God for it to be reserved for a blessing; for the sake of my servants, your fathers; that I may not destroy the whole, people of the Jews, above: it shall be as when one gathers (Isa 17:5) clusters in the vintage.

The holy Scripture often calls the church "the holy mountain" whose lesser part came from Israel. For if Israel had received the faith that is in our Lord Jesus Christ, they would have formed the greater part of the church's composition, and the multitude of the nations would have been added to them. But because they did not believe, they became the lesser of the two. The nations became greater, while Israel became quite small. For the remnant will be saved. Therefore they inherit a small portion in the holy mountain, that is, the church.

(Verse 9) And I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah those who possess my mountains; my chosen ones will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there. They will pasture their flocks in the open fields and find rest in the valley of Achor, for my people who have sought me. He who above called the grape of the goblet, or the berry, or (as many wills) the cluster, now calls it the seed of Jacob and Judah, who possess the mountains or its mountain. Many understand the seed of Jacob and Judah to mean Christ, of whom it is said in Genesis: Judah, your brothers shall praise you (Gen. XLIX, 8), and so on. For no one doubts that the Savior was born from the lineage of Judah. Others, however, understand it to mean the Apostles, of whom we have often said: A remnant will be saved (Isai. I, 9). And: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah (Rom. IX, 29). They have possessed the mountain of the Lord conscious of dwelling in Christ, saying: We have come to Mount Zion and the heavenly city of the living God, Jerusalem (Heb. XII, 22). Or its mountains, of which it is sung in the Psalms: Mountains surround it, and the Lord surrounds his people (Psalm CXXIV, 2). And: His foundations are in the holy mountains (Psalm 86:1). But the elect of the Lord shall possess Zion, and they shall dwell in it, his servants. Of whom it is written in the same volume: The seed of Abraham, his servants, the sons of Jacob, his elect (Psalm 105:6). Therefore, whoever is still seed, not yet formed into a son, is a servant of the Lord, to whom he says in the Gospel: I know that you are the seed of Abraham, but you are not yet sons (John 8). For if they were Abraham's seed, they would do the works of Abraham. But the one who is a son, he is also chosen by the Lord. Therefore the chosen one possesses Jerusalem, and the servants dwell in it, and it is said that there is a distinction between the sons and servants: You have not received again the spirit of bondage in fear, but the spirit of adoption (Rom. VIII, 15). And it shall be, he says, fields or forests for sheepfolds. In Hebrew, it is called Sharon for fields. Every region around Lydda, Joppa, and Jamnia is suitable for grazing flocks. Concerning this, it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: 'The wilderness will turn into pastures' (Acts 9), as it is also sung in the psalm: 'The voice of the Lord perfects the stags, and it reveals the pastures' (Psalm 28:9), or the dense forests, so that thieves may cease to lurk there, and venomous beasts and poisonous animals, and the once places of ambush and bloodshed, may be transformed into churches of the Lord, and the flocks may be grazed there by Him who laid down His life for His sheep. Concerning which it is written: He himself shall feed us forever (Psalm 45:15). This voice, fulfilling the deer, and revealing the depths of the forest, cries out through John in the wilderness: Now the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit shall be cut down, and cast into the fire (Matthew 3:10). And again: Every valley shall be filled (Luke 3:5); concerning which it is also said now: and the valley of Achor for a fold of cattle, and for a resting place for my people who sought me. From which, in the book of Joshua son of Nun, we read that Acham, who stole from the ban and the spoils of Jericho, was killed there, along with all his household, because he had troubled the people. The place itself, where it happened, was called Achor, which means the name of trouble and tumult (Jos. VII). Therefore, the Valley of Achor, where there was once a curse and punishment, will be a resting place for cattle. Paul, explaining this, says: Is God concerned about oxen (I Cor. IX, 9)? That truly he speaks concerning us, for it is necessary that he who plows, plow in hope, and he who threshes the threshing floor, thresh in hope, so that he may partake. Concerning this valley, it is mystically written in Hosea: 'I will speak to her heart, undoubtedly Jerusalem; and I will give her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor, so that her understanding may be opened.' (Hosea 2:14) For this reason, the Valley of Achor is given as a possession of the cattle of the people of God, and the pastures are turned into sheepfolds, so that understanding may be opened, and the truth of the Lord may be known.

Those who have attained the summit of perfection have as their harbor not life, or the resurrection or any of these admirable things but the desired One himself, for whose sake they counted misfortune a delight, and weary toil the sweetest repose, and time spent in the desert more desirable than city life, and poverty fairer than wealth and irksome slavery sweeter than any position of authority. This is the reward awaited by the doers of virtue. "It is an inheritance for those who serve God," as the prophet Isaiah exclaims.

Second, as to their advancement in good things. And first, as to the multiplication of their seed: and I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, above: except the Lord of hosts had left us seed, we had been as Sodom (Isa 1:9). Second, as to the restoration of the inheritance of their fathers: and my elect shall inherit it: they shall possess you for their inheritance: and you shall be their inheritance (Ezek 36:12).

Third, as to the fertility of their pastures: and the plains, and the valley of Achor, so called, because they stoned Achan there (Josh 7:24–26); I will give them the valley of Achor for an opening of hope (Hos 2:15).

We have frequently spoken of the Lord's "holy mountain," which the people of Israel are here said to forget, as either the Lord and Savior, who is the mountain of mountains and the saint of all saints, or as Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem, city of the living God. … According to the tropological sense, it must be said that all who desert the church and forget the holy mountain of God and deliver themselves to the spirits of error and to the teachings of demons thereby "prepare a table for Fortune," believing that everything is governed either by the vagaries of fortune or by the course of the stars but nothing by God. Paul rebukes these people, saying, "You cannot share in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons."

(Verse 11, 12.) And you who have forsaken the Lord, and have forgotten my holy mountain. You who set a table for fortune, and pour out libations upon it. I will number you for the sword, and you shall all fall in the slaughter. LXX: But you who have forsaken me, and have forgotten my holy mountain, and prepare a table for fortune, and fill a cup for the demon: I will deliver you to the sword; you shall all be killed. In the former wilderness and chaos. In the lands of the Gentiles there will be sheepfolds, that is, the Churches of all believers from the whole world. But you, O people of Israel, who have forsaken the Lord and have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, who have forgotten His holy mountain, of which we have frequently spoken, or the Lord Savior, who is the mountain of mountains, and all holy ones, or Mount Zion, and the heavenly city of the living God, Jerusalem, who do these things and these things, I will deliver you to the sword, so that you all may be killed together. If you ask what the sword is, we shall say later: You set out a table for Fortune, he says, and pour libations on it; or, according to the Seventy: You prepare a table for Fortune, and fill a cup for a demon, or κέρασμα, as all the translators similarly rendered it, that is, a mixed potion. Now, in all cities, especially in Egypt and Alexandria, there is an ancient custom of idolatry, that on the last day of the year and month, which is the last, they set out a table filled with various kinds of food, and a cup mixed with honeyed wine, either wishing for the fertility of the past year or that of the coming year. But the Israelites were doing this, venerating the monstrous images of all the idols at once, and not offering sacrifices on the altar, but pouring out this kind of offering on the table. And what the Seventy translated as 'Menni', in Hebrew it has 'absque me', which Symmachus interpreted to mean 'without me', so the sense is: 'The one who prepares a table for fortune, and fills the cup without me'; to teach that it is not done for oneself, but for the demon. And the sword with which they are killed is taken as a punishment. For not all the people of Israel were handed over by the sword, as we see how many thousands are scattered throughout the whole world; but by punishments and tortures, captivity and ultimate servitude, according to what is said elsewhere: 'All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,' and in the Song of Deuteronomy: 'I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh— the flesh of the slain.' (Deut. XXXII, 42). It is not credible that the arrows of the Lord could be drunk with blood, and that his sword could be satiated with the flesh of the wounded. About these arrows that Job speaks of, which pierce him every moment of the hour. The arrows of the Lord are in my body: their fury drinks up my spirit; for when I begin to speak, they prick me. (Job 6:4). According to the allegory, it must be said that all those who abandon the Church and forget the holy mountain of God, and give themselves over to the spirits of error and the teachings of demons, prepare a table for their fortune, believing that nothing pertains to God but that everything is governed by the course of the stars or the variety of fortune: these are the ones whom Paul reproaches, saying: You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. You cannot drink from the cup of the Lord and from the cup of demons (1 Corinthians 10:20-21): because they will be handed over to eternal punishments, so that none of them can escape death and destruction.

If a person, because he is too tenacious of life or too weak in the face of suffering, or because of the apparently convincing arguments of such as seek to induce us to accept the evil choice, has denied the one and only God and his Christ and borne testimony to demons or goddesses of fortune, then this person must realize that in doing this he is "setting," as it were, "a table for the demon and offering libations" to Fortune, "forsaking the Lord" and "forgetting his holy mount." He will incur the reproaches written in Isaiah.

And you, that have forsaken. Here he separates the wicked from the consolation of the good, because of their sins of omission. And first, he threatens punishment for the wicked; second, he promises rewards for the good: because the former distresses are forgotten (Isa 65:16). Concerning the first, he does two things. First, he threatens them because they have abandoned God, and he sets out their fault: and you, Jews; that set for fortune, a god of the Egyptians, a table: he touches upon a ritual in which this god was worshipped, for, at the end of the year, a table was prepared for him, crammed with every food: they forsook God who made them, and departed from God their savior (Deut 32:15).

(Verse 12.) Because I called and you did not answer, I spoke and you did not hear. But you did evil in my sight and chose what I did not want. LXX: I called you and you did not hear, I spoke and you despised, and you did evil in my presence and chose what I did not want. You have been handed over to the sword, for not only have you forsaken me and forgotten me, but you have also mixed the cup of fortune. But when I was Emmanuel, that is, God with us, about whom John also writes: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14), I called you in the present: Return to me, O returning children (Jeremiah 3:14). And: Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened (Matth. XI, 28), and you did not want to respond. I have spoken in parables, and I have done everything that I should do, and you did not hear me, rather you despised me. For I am the one who said before: I came and there was no man: I called, and there was no one who obeyed (Isai. L, 2). And it was not enough for you to show impiety by despising me while I am present, and to send the heir, sent to you, to be killed; but you did evil in my sight, and you chose what I did not want, and you blasphemed the Son of God, so that you would choose Barabbas the thief, the author of murder and sedition; and yet you dare to say: Why did you make us stray from your way (Isai. LXIII, 17)? If those who did not know me found me, and those who did not call upon me received me, to whom you are worthy of tortures, who rejected me when I was sent to you and saying: I have come only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24), but instead you crucified me? Let us consider what it means when he says: And you chose what I did not want; or what is the will of the Son of God, who speaks in the Gospel: Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven (Matthew 7:21). About which God Himself says: 'I wanted to do Your will' (Ps. 39:9). This is the will about which the Lord Himself spoke: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will' (Acts 13:22). Therefore the saint prays and says: 'Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God' (Ps. 143:10). For all things are lawful, but not all things are expedient. And the Apostle says about virgins that he does not have a command from the Lord, but he still wishes them to be as he is himself (1 Cor. 7). From this he shows that the indulgence of the master should by no means be followed, but rather his will (I Cor. VII); and that we should choose what is profitable, not what is permissible, as is the case with second marriage. I want young women to marry, to bear children, to be mothers of families (I Tim. V, 14). And he sets forth the reasons why he grants these things: For certain things have gone astray in the past after Satan. Therefore, the pure will of the second marriage is not to be belittled by a comparison to fornication.

And he sets out the punishment: I will number you in the sword, as if to say: so that none remain who will not be crushed: they shall fall by the sword, and by the famine (Jer 44:12). Second, because they did not obey when they were called back, and he sets out the fault: because I called and you did not answer: I called, and you refused (Prov 1:24).

In all these things, whatever has been predicted only, not promised, pertains to the persons of the wicked. Nor should that which because of the merit of wickedness, severity threatens to be inflicted, be said to have been promised by the generosity of goodness. If there are things that pertain to the persons of those who serve God, these have been both predicted and promised.This is also the point of the words of our Savior where he says, "And these will go off to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." He predicted and promised the reward that the just would enjoy, but he did not promise but predicted the torments with which the unjust would be punished. Not so he predestined the saints to receive justice, because the "merciful and just Lord" could freely deliver from depravity whomever he wished. But he was never the doer of the depravity, because no one was ever depraved except insofar as he went away from God. Nor did God predestine anyone to go away, even though by divine knowledge he foreknew that he would go away.

I am not ignorant of how great a diversity of opinions exists among humans. I am not speaking of the mystery of the Trinity, the correct confession of which is ignorance of knowledge, but of other ecclesiastical doctrines, namely, the Resurrection and the state of souls and human flesh, the promises of the future, how they should be understood, and how the Revelation of John should be understood, which, if taken literally, requires us to be Judaizers; if interpreted spiritually, as it is written, we will appear to be opposing the opinions of many ancient authorities: of the Latins, Tertullian, Victorinus, Lactantius; of the Greeks, to pass over the others, I will mention only Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon, against whom the most eloquent man, Dionysius, the bishop of the Church of Alexandria, wrote an elegant book, mocking the fables of a thousand years, the golden and gem-studded Jerusalem on earth, the restoration of the Temple, the blood of sacrifices, the Sabbath rest, the injury of circumcision, marriages, childbirth, the education of children, the delights of banquets, and the slavery of all nations; and again, wars, armies, triumphs, and the deaths of conquerors and the hundred-year-old sinner. To whom did Apollinarius respond with two volumes, whom not only the people of his own sect, but also a very large number of our own followers in this matter, follow eagerly, so that I can already foresee with a prescient mind how great the rage against me will be incited by them. I do not envy them, if they love the earth so much that they desire earthly things in the kingdom of Christ; and after an abundance of food and the gluttony of the throat, they seek those things that are under the belly. Concerning these, the apostle Paul says: 'Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food' (I Cor. VI, 13). And 'The kingdom of God does not consist in food and drink' (Rom. XIV, 17). And the Lord and Savior said, 'You are wrong, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven (Matthew 22:29-30).' And in saying this, I do not take away the truth of the body, which will rise again incorruptible and immortal: it will change in glory, not in substance. And so we must walk the straight path, neither leaning to the left nor to the right, that is, we must not follow Jewish or heretical error. Some of those who are of the flesh, love only the things of the flesh: others, ungrateful for God's blessings, refuse to have what Christ had both in his birth and in his resurrection. For when the apostles thought he was a spirit, or according to the Gospel which the Nazaraeans, who are Hebrews, read, a disembodied demon, he said to them: Why are you troubled, and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, for I myself am he: touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet (Luke 24:38, 39). And again he spoke to Thomas, who was doubting: Put your finger here and see my hands; and put out your hand and place it in my side; do not be unbelieving, but believing (John 20:27). Finally, to prove the reality of his body, it is written that he ate food, which is also ordered to be given to the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, whom he raised from the dead. And Lazarus, so that his resurrection would not be considered a phantom, is reported to have had a meal with the Savior (Mark 5; Luke 13; John 12). Not that after the resurrection we eat and drink, as our adversaries the Millenarians would have it, and that immortal and incorruptible bodies need earthly nourishment to sustain them; otherwise, where there is food, diseases follow; where there are diseases, doctors are necessary; where there are doctors, there is often death; and then, there is resurrection again, and a new way of life; but rather, the consumption of food proves the faith in the resurrection.

(Verse 13, 14.) Therefore, thus says the Lord God: Behold, my servants will eat, and you will be hungry. Behold, my servants will drink, and you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, and you will be put to shame. Behold, my servants will praise with the exultation of the heart, and you will cry out because of the pain of the heart, and because of the brokenness of the spirit you will howl. LXX: Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry. Behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be confounded. Behold, my servants will exult in joy, but you will cry out because of the pain in your hearts, and because of the brokenness of your spirits you will wail. Not only will you fall by the sword, you who have forsaken the Lord and done evil in his sight, and refused to listen to his words, but you will also see a great difference between yourselves and the multitude of the nations. For those who serve me will eat and drink, rejoice and praise with exultation of the heart. But on the contrary, you will hunger and thirst, you will be confused and cry out in pain of heart and contrition of spirit. They think that all these things will be accomplished in a thousand years, believing that food and drink are the kingdom of God, without understanding that which is written: Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the bread of life and truth (John VI, 27), desiring to eat the flesh of Christ and the fruit of the tree of life. About which the Savior speaks: I am the bread that came down from heaven (John 6:33). And the Ecclesiastes says: Open your eyes and be satisfied with bread (Proverbs 20:13). And the Psalmist says: I was young, and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be a blessing (Psalm 37:25). He was instructing his disciples about this bread and spiritual banquet: But you are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom (Luke 22:28). But if we consider simple bread, how can we explain it: The Lord will not let the soul of the just perish by famine (Prov. 10:3). And again: The Lord knows the ways of the blameless, and their inheritance will be forever. They will not be put to shame in the time of distress, and in the days of famine they will be satisfied (Psalm 37:18, 19). For how many holy ones die in persecution, consumed by hunger and poverty; how many righteous ones go hungry, while the wicked are filled with their excesses! But that drink is to be received, which is drawn from the fountains of Israel; whoever drinks it, will have within themselves a fountain of water springing up to eternal life (John 4; Luke 22). This is the same drink that the Savior promises to drink with the Apostles in the kingdom of the Father: who gives joy to the heart of man (Psalm 103:14), so that those who drink it may say: You have given joy in my heart (Psalm 4:7). Of this food and drink, among the eight beatitudes it is said: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). And the mother of the Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit, prophesied: He has filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53), those who previously did not have the food of the Lord; and he has sent the rich away empty, who were given for his burial; and they rejected the one whom the Prophets had promised. Of whom the Psalmist also sings in another place: The rich have become poor and hungry (Psalm 34:11), that is, the people of the Jews. But those who seek the Lord, that is, the crowd of Gentiles, will not lack any good thing. And when the servants of Christ, believing in Him, will have been joyful and praised God with exultation of heart and joy, then they will be confounded, seeing that others have taken their place; and they will cry out in sorrow of heart, fulfilling that which is written: There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:50): when the lambs of the gentiles and the righteous stand on the right, and the goats of the Jews and the wicked on the left; some receiving eternal rewards, others eternal punishments. The contrition of the spirit, on account of the pain of the heart, is to be understood in the conscience of sins, according to what is written: 'They will know those who go astray in spirit, and there will be understanding' (Isaiah 29:24). And: 'A contrite and humbled heart, O God, you will not despise' (Psalm 50:19). The spirit is crushed when it is raised up; this is written about the enemy king of Israel: 'The Lord hardened his spirit' (2 Kings 17:14). And about the prince of Babylon, when his heart was lifted up and his spirit was hardened, so that he would proudly say: 'This is Babylon, and I made it' (Daniel 4:27).

And he threatens the punishment of separation. First, in satisfaction of the body: therefore thus says the Lord God: behold my servants shall eat, and you shall be hungry: the rich have wanted, and have suffered hunger: but they that seek the Lord shall not be deprived of any good (Ps 33:11[34:10]).

Second, in joy of heart: behold my servants shall rejoice, and you shall be confounded: repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit (Wis 5:3).

All things have been made new in Christ—worship and life and the making of laws. For we no longer adhere to shadows and ineffective types, but rather we offer adoration and worship, in spirit and truth, to the God who is above all. We do not take our name like the physical descendants of Israel from one of the first ancestors or fathers, such as Ephraim, or Manasseh, or some other tribe; nor do we follow the path of the scribes and the Pharisees, who value the antiquity of the letter above all else; but we submit to Christ in the newness of the life of the gospel, and having been given his name, like a crown, we are called Christians. This celebrated and blessed name has spread throughout the world. And because we have been blessed by Christ, we, in turn, try to make him rejoice with blessings and ceaseless praises.

With the ungrudging generosity of his godhead, Christ has granted to all of us to bear his name. For whereas as human sovereigns have some special title of sovereignty that they keep exclusively from use by other people, Jesus Christ, being Son of God, has deigned to bestow on us the title of Christians.… But some will say, "The name of 'Christians' is new and was not previously in use": and new-fashioned phrases are often objected to on the score of strangeness. The prophet made this point safe beforehand, saying, "But on my servants shall a new name be called, which shall be blessed upon the earth."

But even if we are clearly something new, and this truly recent name of Christians has only recently been known among all the nations, our life and manner of conduct in accordance with the very teachings of our religion have not been recently fashioned by us, but, as it were, from the first creation of humanity have been established by the natural concepts of the God-favored people of old.… And by deeds more manifest than words is Abraham's manner of religion shown to be practiced at present among Christians alone.

(Vers. 15, 16.) And you shall dismiss your name in the oath to my chosen ones, and the Lord God will kill you, and He will call His servants by another name, in which whoever is blessed on earth will be blessed in God, amen: and whoever swears on earth will swear in God, amen. LXX: For you shall abandon your name to my chosen ones. But the Lord will kill you, and to those who serve me, a new name will be called, to whom blessings will be given on earth: for they bless the true God, and those who swear on earth will swear by the true God. In reference to satiety, which is called Sabaa in Hebrew, others have interpreted it as an oath; a word that has many meanings and is varied according to the different accents. It is understood as both an oath and satiety, and fullness, and many, and seven. We have spoken about it in the book of Genesis, and in this volume (Chapter IV), where seven women took hold of one man. Again, because it is translated by the Septuagint, it is true, and in Hebrew it is called Amen; Aquila translates it as πεπιστωμένως, that is, faithfully. But what he says is this: as others succeed you, your name will be the oath of my chosen ones, so that they may have you as an example of evils and detest such endurance, and they may swear thus: I will not suffer what the people of the Jews have suffered. Whether your name will be in satiety, which is usually said of those whose remembrance and memory is odious, and who have come to the point of satiety and disgust. Or certainly this should be said, that they should abandon their own name for the chosen ones of the Lord, so that a crowd of nations may succeed them; and they themselves may be called sons of Abraham and Israel. About whom Paul speaks: Peace be upon them, and upon the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16). For neither are those who are of Israel, Israel; nor are those who are the descendants of Abraham all his children (Romans 9:7), to whom it is said: If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham (John 8:39). And because they are the descendants of Abraham, and not his children, as we explained above, John the Baptist reproaches them, saying: And do not presume to say, 'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham (Matthew 3:9). For how can they be his children, who said to wood and stone, you have begotten me: when, on the contrary, those who are from faith, are called the children of Abraham? But you, he says, will be killed by the Lord, so that you will not be called circumcision, but incision (Galatians III): so that you may lack eternal life, so that you may not have the one who says: I am the life (John XIV, 6). But he says that he will call his servants by another name, or a new one, which will be celebrated throughout the whole world. And it shall be blessed: to such an extent that whoever is called by that name shall be blessed in the Lord, and shall receive the sign of true Circumcision, amen: which the Lord often uses in the Gospel to affirm what has been said: Amen, amen I say to you (John 5:19). However, there is no new or different name, except one that is derived from the name of Christ, so that the people of God should no longer be called Jacob, and Judah, and Israel, and Ephraim, and Joseph, but Christian. For whoever swears on the earth, does not swear in idols and false gods, but in God; this statement is confirmed again by the seal of Amen. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, those who translated the true God as Amen, so that the true God may be blessed, and those who swear on the earth, may swear by the true God, we refer not only to the person of God the Father, about whom it is written: That they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (John 17:3), but also to the Son, who is himself the true God, as the evangelist John says: The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know the true one, and we are in his true Son, Jesus Christ (John 5:20). This is the true God and eternal life. For if the Savior speaks of himself: I am the truth (John XIV, 6), consequently he received the name true God from the truth, so that he would not be called God according to false gods, but according to the true God the Father, and he himself is the true God. Otherwise, if he is not true, he will be similar to an idol, which leads to the damnation of those who deny Christ as the true God. This is, however, a new name, which is written for him in the Apocalypse upon a stone (Chapter II), to which blessing is given in the whole world.

These things are predicted to warn those not fearing the Lord and who do not turn to him, whereas those who serve me will not only weave another kind of outcome, but just as with the patriarchs, they will receive a name and on account of their deeds new names. When the Jews were unrepentant, this name was given to the Gentiles, a name that will stand forever, that is, the name of Christians. They no longer glorify idols, singing hymns to them as if to gods. Now they sing to God, their creator. They worship him and enjoy his blessings.

He has already mentioned this name. It is new and not old. For after the appearance of Christ the master, those who believed were called Christians. They bore this in place of all approving words. When one wished to praise, they were accustomed to add after many kind words, "He is a true Christian." And when on another occasion exhorting someone, they were accustomed to say, "Act as a Christian, do what befits a Christian." So this name is full of eulogy and blessing.

Third, in difference of name, and first, he sets out the sort of name the impious shall have: and you shall leave your name for an oath to my elect, that they might confirm their words thus: if it is not so, so shall it happen to me as happened to them: by the sword, and by the famine shall they die: and they shall be for an oath, and for a wonder, and for a curse, and for a reproach (Jer 44:12). And next he sets out the sort of name the good shall have: and call his servants; in which, namely, in which name, the name is Jesus; amen, faithfully, above: you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name (Isa 62:2).

For "abundance," which is sabaa in Hebrew, others translate "oath." But the word has many meanings, which vary in accordance with where the accent is placed, for it can be understood as "oath" or "abundance" or "sufficiency" or "plurality" or "seven," concerning which we already indicated that in the book of Genesis, as well as in the current book, seven women take one man. Again, for that which the Septuagint translates as "true" and the Hebrew as "amen," Aquila renders pepistōmenōs, that is, "faithfully." But this is what it says: "Your name will be a curse for the benefit of my chosen who will follow in your place, that they may have you as an example of evil consequences and may detest enduring such things, and, therefore, swear this oath: 'I will not suffer what the Jewish people suffered.' " Or, perhaps your name will be "abundant," in as much as it will be spoken so frequently that the memory or mention of it will become odious to them and engorge them on it, such that they will grow nauseated.…And there will be blessing, insofar as whoever is called by that name will be blessed by the Lord and will receive a sign of true circumcision: "amen," which the Lord often uses to indicate approval in the Gospel: "Amen, amen, I say to you." But neither this new name nor another name is anything unless derived from the name of Christ, so that the people of God would never be called Jacob, Judas, Israel, Ephraim or Joseph, but "Christian." For "whoever swears in the land" does so not by idols or by false gods but by God, as is confirmed by the "amen" at the end of the sentence. Furthermore, the Septuagint translates "true God" in place of "amen," so that the true God may be blessed and that those "who swear in the land" would swear by the true God. But we do not follow the error of the Arians in referring this "true God" to the person of God the Father alone, of whom it is written, "that they may know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." But we refer also to the Son, who is himself the true God, as John the Evangelist testifies: "The Son of God came to give us understanding, that we would know the true one and exist in his true Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

Because the former distresses are forgotten. Here he promises rewards seen. And first, in general, as to the removal of evils: because the former distresses are forgotten, not because of lack of knowledge, but because they have been succeeded by good things, above: you shall forget the shame of your youth (Isa 54:4).