OT § 162

(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).