Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 14:1

"Let Samaria be destroyed, for she has provoked her God to bitterness. Let them perish by the sword. May their infants be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women be ripped open." LXX: "Samaria will be destroyed because she has resisted her God; they will fall by the sword, and their suckling infants will be dashed to the rock, and their women with child will be ripped open." We have often said that the ten tribes are called Samaria, whose capital is now called Augusta, that is, Sebaste, from the name of Augustus. But why Samaria was called a city, we read in the Book of Kings. Therefore the prophet commands, and, to speak more truly, speaks wishfully, that Samaria may perish. And when God had prepared so many good things for her, she is against God, and follows more the idols of demons. But Symmachus did not say "perish," but μεταμελήσει that is "will repent," and she will repent of her mistake, which has turned the sweetest God into bitterness, so that her warriors perish by the sword, little ones and infants are dashed to the ground, and her pregnant and expectant mothers are torn in death. It is to be believed that all of this happened to them during their captivity and distress, when they lost their homeland and were subdued into perpetual slavery. The understanding of heretics is easy, that they are called Samaritans, since they boast of obeying God's commands, not because they are keepers of His law; but that they say they are, in the likeness of the schism of Novatians, who also call themselves καθαροὺς, that is, "pure," although they are the filthiest of all, denying repentance, by which sins are cleansed, according to what is written: "Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow" (Ps. X). And in Isaiah: "Wash yourselves, be clean" (Isaiah 1:16). However, it is not called a baptism, but rather all penance that washes away the filth of sins. Let Samaria therefore perish, because whatever she speaks, opposes her God, and turns his mercy into cruelty, so much so that even the men who have attained the perfect age of malice ("Al." warfare)) are cut down by the spiritual sword. But the little ones and infants are dashed against the rock. About which we also read in the Psalm: "Blessed is he who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock." (Ps. 136:9). Also, its pregnant animals that have conceived from evil seed, will be destroyed so as not to produce worthless offspring. Something similar is mentioned in the Gospel: "Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days" (Luke 21:23): in the days of affliction and distress. The warriors of Samaria are killed by the sword, and nursing infants are thrown down and pregnant women are ripped open, so that when the evil seed has perished and its weeds have been burnt, only the wheat remains, which is stored in the Lord's barns.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 14:1

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Hosea 14:1

Perish, because she hath stirred up her God to bitterness: It is not a curse or imprecation, but a prophecy of what should come to pass.

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 14:2-4

"Turn back, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, 'Take away all iniquity and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, 'Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.'" LXX: "Convert, O Israel, to the Lord your God, because you have been weakened by your iniquities: Take with you words, and return to the Lord, say to him, 'Take away all iniquity, and receive what is good, and we will render the calves of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses, neither will we say any more: you are our gods; for the fatherless finds mercy in you.'" As Samaria was perishing. "And men, women, and children having been killed, slaughtered, and torn apart, Israel as a whole is provoked to repentance so that he who is sick or has fallen in his iniquities may return to the doctor and receive health, or he who has fallen may begin to stand up again; and it is taught how one should do penance. 'Take with you words,' that is to say, prayers and confession of sins, and turn to the Lord both in words and in works; and say to Him: 'Take away all iniquity,' leave nothing of our weakness and former ruin, lest again the evil seed bring forth live plants. And He says, 'Accept the good': For if You do not take away our evils, we cannot have anything good to offer You, according to what is written elsewhere: 'Turn away from evil and do good, and we will offer You the calves of our lips.'" (Psalm 36:27) For the calves which in Hebrew are called Pharim, the Septuagint translated "fruit" as Pheri, by a similarity of false speech. But the calves of our lips are praises to God and thanksgiving: "For a contrite spirit is a sacrifice to God" (Ps. L, 19). Therefore, with carnal victims now rejected, a pure confession is a placable sacrifice to God. Those who say they will offer calves of their lips and sing God's praises with their voice, also promise that they will not have hope in Assyria or trust in Egyptian horses, because the deceitful horse does not bring salvation (Psal. XXXII), and that they will not worship the golden calves that they made in Dan and Bethel with their own hands and, therefore, they say: "We will not say the work of our hands are our gods, for you will have mercy upon him who is your pupil (or people)," that is, the people of Israel, of whom you said: "My firstborn son is Israel" (Exod. IV, 22). "And: "I have brought up and exalted sons, but they despised me". And in another place: "Alien children have lied to me". But he is called an orphan because he has lost his father to God. However, some exposed the orphan who had left the evil father, the devil, and therefore was helped by the mercy of God. Also, the prophet speaks on a daily basis to all perverse dogma and provokes his followers to repentance, saying: Turn to your Lord God, who have fallen, or lost, the health of the Lord. Take with you words and confess the true faith: "For" ((or rather which)) with the heart it is believed unto justice, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. X). Calves and sacrifices, or the fruits of lips, are to believe in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and in the passion and resurrection of the Lord; whoever offers it to Him will by no means hope in the king of Assyria, of whom we have often spoken. Nor will he ascend the horse which the Lord forbids to be multiplied (Deut. XVII), as did Pharaoh who was submerged with his cavalry (Exod. XIV). For every heretic mounts horses in pride, which he himself has generated in his error. And they shall no more say: Our gods, the works of our hands, which beareth the eloquence of the craftsman is our god. The belly is the god of the glutton: and the glory of mammon is the god of the covetous, and the dogma of the heretic, which he hath forged. He that shall forsake all these, namely, Assur and the horse, and shall flee to the Lord, shall be taken care of, and shall have mercy on him.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 14:2-4

[AD 407] John Chrysostom on Hosea 14:3

Do not be surprised that I view the people of the old covenant as pitiable and woeful. When so many blessings from heaven came into their hands, they thrust them aside and were at great pains to reject them. The morning Sun of justice arose for them, but they thrust aside its rays and still sit in darkness. We [the Gentiles], who were nurtured by darkness, drew the light to ourselves and were freed from the gloom of error. They were the branches of that holy root, but those branches were broken. We had no share in the root, but we did reap the fruit of godliness. From their childhood they read the prophets, but they crucified him whom the prophets had foretold. We did not hear the divine prophecies, but we did worship him of whom they prophesied. And so they are pitiful because they rejected the blessings that were sent to them, while others seized hold of these blessings and drew them to themselves. Although they had been called to the adoption of sons, they fell to kinship with dogs; we who were dogs received the strength, through God’s grace, to put aside the irrational nature that was ours and to rise to the honor of sons.

Source: DISCOURSES AGAINST JUDAIZING CHRISTIANS 1:2.1

[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Hosea 14:5

This is our faith. Thus did God will that he should be known by all, thus believed the three children [of the fiery furnace] who did not feel the fire into which they were cast, which destroyed and burned up the unbelievers, while it fell harmless as a dew upon the faithful. The flames kindled by others became cold, seeing that the torment had justly lost its power in conflict with faith. For with them there was one in the form of an angel, comforting them, to the end that in number of the Trinity one supreme power might be praised. God was praised; the Father of God was seen in God’s angel and holy and spiritual grace in the children.

Source: ON THE CHRISTIAN FAITH 1:4.33

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 14:5-9

"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit." LXX: "I will heal their inhabitants; I will love them openly, for my anger has turned away from them. I will be like dew for Israel; he shall blossom like the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return, and sit under his shade; they shall drink and be filled with the grain, and they shall flourish like the vine; the memory of Ephraim shall be as wine. What will he have more to do with idols? I have humbled him, and I will strengthen him; I am as a cypress tree, your fruit has come forth from me." Turning to repentance, and like an orphan recognizing the father whom they had abandoned, God responded: "I will heal their contrition," or "their dwelling places" in which they had been wounded, or broken, or in which they had lived so poorly: "I will love them freely;" which the LXX translated as "confessing" or "clearly" and "openly," or "without any doubt." But the Lord loves those who love him, of whom he also says in another place: "I love those who love me" (Prov. 8:17). For I used to be angry with them because of the sins they had committed, but now I will have mercy on them because of my clemency. And I will be to them as dew, so as to extinguish the Babylonian furnace and the furnace of burning heat with my moisture, which I spoke through the patriarch Isaac to my servant Jacob: 'Your dwelling place will be from the dew of heaven.' For just as the Lord becomes for believers light, way, truth, bread, vine, fire, shepherd, lamb, gate, worm, etc. Thus, to those in need of His mercy, and inflamed with the fever of sin, He is turned to us as dew, whom Isaiah says: "For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness." (Isai. XXVI, 9) And in the Song of Deuteronomy, Moses speaks: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass" (Deut. XXXII, 2). But when the Lord has sprinkled us with His dew, and moistened the dryness of our hearts with His rain, we will flourish, and indeed flower into usefulness, imitating the Lord and Savior, who says in the Song of Songs: "I am the flower of the field and the lily of the valley" (Cant. II, 1), and speaks to His bride, who has no wrinkle or blemish: "As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters." And when we grow in the Lord, we will send down our roots like the trees of Lebanon, which rise as high as the heavens, so sink as low in the earth, that they may not be shaken by any storm, but remain steadfast. The branches of these trees are stretched out here and there, so that the birds of the sky may come and dwell in them. And lest we might think because it was said, his root shall break forth, or his roots shall be like Lebanon, that he speaks of cedar and unfruitful trees, he likens the holy man, converted to the Lord, to fruitful olive trees, who says in another place: "But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God" (Psalm LI, 1). Five wise virgins have prepared their fruit, from which the swelling of wounds is mitigated, the limbs of the languishing rest, light is kindled in the darkness, those who fight in agony are anointed. This olive will have a fragrance like that of Lebanon or frankincense, which is a kind of incense. It is called the same thing among Greeks and Hebrews, both the mountain and the incense, or certainly the mountain of Lebanon. It is very fertile and green, protected by the thickest hair of trees, so that the olive may say: "We are the good odor of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:16). But whoever turns to the Lord will receive the reward of his conversion, to sit in His shadow and say: "I rested and sat down under His shadow, and His fruit is sweet to my mouth" (Song of Solomon 2:3). And when they sit in its shade, they who were once dead will live again, and they will drink and be drunken with wheat, that is, with the abundance of all things. And that this drunkenness here does not mean a disturbance of the mind, but the abundance of all things, that verse declares, saying, 'You have visited the earth and made it drunk' (Ps. 64:10). And Joseph's banquet, in which it is said that he made his brothers drunk (Gen. 43). And the Lord speaking to the apostles: "Eat, my friends, and drink, and be drunk, brethren" (Cant. V,1). Whether because our Lord himself is the grain and vine, whoever believes in him is said to be intoxicated. Finally it follows: "And his memorial shall flourish as the vine, as wine of Libanus." But we can call wine Libanus mixed and seasoned with thyme, so that it has the sweetest smell, or wine Libanus which is offered to the Lord in the temple, about which we read under the name of Libanus in Zacharias: "Open," "your gates, O Libanus" (Zach. XI,1). When the abundance of things is about to come to an end, O Ephraim, you who repent and have begun to be mine, cast away your idols and despise your images; for I am the one who humbled you, and I will exalt you, and whether I hear and direct you, I will make you like a green fir tree, so that it shall be said of you according to the Hebrews in the Psalm: "The fir tree is the house of the Lord." (Psalm 104:18). Or certainly I will be as a fir tree that is dense, so that one may rest in my shade. About the juniper, which is "ἀρκεύθοις" in Greek according to the Septuagint, it is recorded that Solomon made the doors of the temple, because Christ, through whom we approach the Father, has this nature, that it always flourishes, always brings forth new fruit, and never loses its vigor. This juniper, while those resting under its shade may not be struck by the fever of this world and, like those who once hit Jonah (Ch. IV), it provides food and not only rest to those who sleep and sit; but also satiety to those who eat. Whatever we have interpreted according to allegory, in the coming of the Lord and Savior and the conversion of true Israel, can refer to heretics and Jews as well as to misguided nations and all perverse teachings: so that they attain pardon when they repent. If, therefore, the fullness of the promise has been fulfilled in the coming of the Savior and is daily fulfilled in the Church, it is to be believed that it will be more fully completed when perfection arrives, which is now in part, will be destroyed. Note that we have often said, the safety of Israel and the return to the Lord, and the redemption from captivity, is not to be accepted carnally, as the Jews think, but spiritually, as is most truly proved.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 14:5-9

[AD 435] John Cassian on Hosea 14:8

Holy people have never testified that they attained by their effort the right path to travel on as they made their way to the increase and perfection of virtue. Rather they would plead to the Lord and say, “Direct me in your truth,” and, “Direct my way in your sight.” Another one declares that it is not by faith alone but also by experience and, as it were, in the very nature of things that he has seized upon this, [saying], “I have known, O Lord, that a person’s way is not in him, nor is it in a man to walk and to direct his own steps.” And the Lord himself says to Israel, “I will direct him like a green fir tree; from me your fruit has been found.”

Source: CONFERENCE 3:13.1

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Hosea 14:9

If any reader is “a spiritual man who judges all things and he is judged by no one,” not only will he allegorize the major regions as Judea and Egypt and Babylon but also areas of the earth. And just as in Judea is Jerusalem and Bethlehem and other cities, so in Egypt when he reads, “Diospolis, Bubastis, Taphnis, Memphis, Syene,” he will understand the meaning of things figuratively. “Who is wise and understands these things? Or who is understanding and will know them?”

Source: HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 28:5

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Hosea 14:9

And to such a degree does the gospel desire that there should be wise people among believers, that for the sake of exercising the understanding of its hearers, it has spoken certain truths in enigmas, others in what are called “dark” sayings, others in parables, and others in problems. And one of the prophets—Hosea—says at the end of his prophecy, “Who is wise, and he will understand these things? Or prudent, and he shall know them?”

Source: AGAINST CELSUS 3:45

[AD 428] Theodore of Mopsuestia on Hosea 14:9

You could really demonstrate that a wise and understanding person is the one with knowledge of what has been said and with zeal for the things by which it is possible for people who avoid evil and zealously practice good to be established in freedom from lower things and in enjoyment of higher things. This is because everything done by God is marked by great correctness, with which he also applies punishment to the fallen and knows how to achieve their salvation when they repent. You could also demonstrate that the righteous are those of their number who also know how to profit from each category and who develop greater self-control from the punishments, on the one hand, while taking the enjoyment of the good things stemming from repentance as a stimulus to virtue, on the other. You could also demonstrate that the impious are those who deserve troubles in every way and of every kind, gaining nothing from them, stuck fast in a downward direction, and as a result not able to understand anything of their duty.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 14:10

[AD 444] Cyril of Alexandria on Hosea 14:9

It is only by deeply considering the matters in the divinely inspired Scriptures that we shall find the hidden truth. It would be fitting for us when looking into the dark shadows of the law to say what one of the holy prophets rightly said, “Whoever will be wise will understand these things; and whoever will be prudent will know them.” “For the law is but a shadow of the good things to come, and not the exact image of the objects,” as it is written. Yet the shadows bring forth the truth, even if they do not contain the whole truth in themselves. Because of this, the divinely inspired Moses placed a veil upon his face and spoke thus to the children of Israel, all but shouting by this act that a person might behold the beauty of the utterances made through him, not in outwardly appearing figures but in meditations hidden within us.

Source: LETTER 41:7

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 14:10

"Who is wise and will understand these things? Who is prudent and will know them? Because the ways of the Lord are straight, and the just shall walk in them; But the transgressors shall fall therein." LXX: "Who is wise and will understand these things, or prudent and will know them? For the ways of the Lord are straight and the just shall walk in them: but the wicked shall fall therein." When he says, "Who is wise and will understand these things? Who is prudent and will know them?" he indicates the obscurity of the volume and the difficulty of the explanation. But if he who wrote either acknowledges it to be difficult or impossible, what can we do, whose eyes are dimmed with blindness and filth of sins, so that we cannot perceive the brightest rays of the sun, except to say what is written: "O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are His judgments, and how unsearchable are His ways!" (Rom. II, 33)! For who can, without Christ teaching, know what Jezrael means: what its sister, not having obtained mercy means; what the third brother, not being my people means; who the adulteress is, who will sit for a long time without the law of God; what the covenant with the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky means; who David is to whom the people will return, whose third day will be the resurrection, and whose coming forth will be compared to the dawn: what the first and last rain means; who is the one the prophet says will come to show us righteousness, or in whose type Israel was brought up out of Egypt, and was carried in arms, and led by the ropes of love: who it is that will slay Death, and dry up his veins and springs, and will make desolate the vessels that were kept in the treasury, and other things too long to relate? Therefore, whoever is holy and just will know the right ways of the Lord. We recognize the ways of the Lord by reading the Old and New Testaments, understanding the Scriptures. In these ways, whoever walks, unless he is converted to the Lord and the veil, which was before the eyes of Moses, has been taken away from him, he will not be able to find the right path. But if he says with David: "Reveal my eyes, and I will consider the wonders of your law" (Ps. CXVIII, 18), he will walk in them, and he will find Christ: and he will feel offended, weakened, and fallen by the Jews and heretics, whom the Scripture now calls prevaricators or impious, according to what is written: "Behold, this one is placed for the ruin and resurrection of many in Israel" (Luke II, 34).

Source: Commentary on Hosea 14:10