Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:1

When I wanted to heal Israel, the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed, and the malice of Samaria: for they have wrought falsehood, and a thief is come in to spoil, a robber without. The Septuagint likewise. Often has Israel received wounds of idolatry, and especially that one, when in the desert they fashioned a calf's head, and said: 'These are thy gods, O Israel, that have brought thee out of the land of Egypt' (Exod. XXXII, 4). Therefore I, who desire the sinner's repentance rather than his death (Ezech. XVIII, XXXIII), afterwards say in the Gospel: 'They that are in health need not a physician, but they that are ill' (Luke V, 31), and have attempted to heal the wounds of my people. And when I treated all these things with every art, that the miserable people might be cured, suddenly Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim appeared, who made golden calves, and the wickedness of Samaria was revealed, following the impious king: for both the king and the people operated in falsehood, that is, idolatry. For just as an image is contrary to God, so is falsehood to truth. But the king himself, like a thief, entered among the people of Israel, and like a robber despoiled the unhappy people of God with the help of his people. And the sense is this: When I wished to wipe away the sins of my people, because of their ancient idolatry, Ephraim and Samaria found new idols. But it can also be said that after the shedding of his own blood, the Lord and Savior sought to heal the sins of the people and lead them to repentance, both Jews and Gentiles gathered in his Church. Suddenly Ephraim, who promised the fertility of false dogmas, and the people of Samaria who proclaimed they followed God's commands, arose and performed the idolatry of false dogmas, and through them, the thief and robber, the devil, entered the Church, or the doctrine of heretics entered like a thief and robber, of whom the Savior said in the Gospel, "All who came before me were thieves and robbers" (John 10: 8). Thieves lie in wait, and deceive with hidden fraud: robbers boldly plunder the possessions of others. For those who steal, steal at night and in darkness. Hence, it is significantly said, that the thief enters secretly, and the robber plunders outside. For they cannot strip those of Christ's clothes whom they have taught, unless they have led them out of the Church, and made them walk in the perverse way of their doctrines. We must consider thieves and robbers who came before the Lord, not Moses, and the prophets who are always praised by the Savior's mouth, but false prophets, and afterwards heretics who were not sent by the Lord, but came of their own will.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:1

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Hosea 7:2

Therefore each one must keep his heart with all watchfulness, for when the Lord comes in the day of judgment, “He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts,” “all the thoughts of men meanwhile accusing or else excusing them,” “when their own devices have beset them about.” But of such a nature are the evil thoughts that sometimes they make worthy of censure even those things which seem good and which, so far as the popular judgment is concerned, are indeed worthy of praise.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 11:15

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:2

"And lest perhaps they should say in their hearts: all their wickedness (all wickedness Vulg.) I have remembered, they have encompassed me in the inventions of their own thoughts, before my face they are made." LXX: "That they may sing as it were a new song in their hearts, all their wickedness I have remembered." "Now their own devices have encompassed them about, they have been executed in my sight." Lest perhaps, they say in their hearts: God hath restored to us, our ancient sins, we have repaid the iniquities of our fathers: they have eaten a sour grape, and their teeth are set on edge. (Jeremiah 31); therefore, I will recount to them, what they have done both now and in the present, in my sight, and daily, and I will show them their own inventions, and the thoughts by which they have most studiously pursued mischief, and what they have done in my presence, not fearing my face. But what we read in the Septuagint, 'that they sing together as if singing in their hearts,' refers to the fact that if a thief has entered, or a robber stripped them of their possessions outside, they would not repel the thief's and robber's agreement by staying in their former riches and clothing; but when they have been stripped, they sing together with them, and become of one heart (Dist. 4, de Poenit., cap. Cum ita): therefore they will receive what they have done, and all their thoughts and deeds will not deserve my sight. Heretics also cannot be accused of old sins against God, since every day they add new impiety to their old deeds, and when they perish in destruction, they are abandoned by their own errors, and when they think they can hide from God, they cannot avoid his eyes.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:2

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:3

"In their malice, they made the king rejoice, and in their lies, the princes." LXX: "In their wickedness, the kings rejoiced, and in their lies, the princes." It explains what they did before Him: In their wickedness, they made King Jeroboam rejoice, and in their lies, the princes who led the people under Jeroboam. Heretics also rejoiced the devil as their king in the wickedness of their deeds, and the princes of perverse doctrines in their lies, without a doubt, of this world, whose false wisdom God destroys. We can call a king among the heretics, who first discovered the heresy, and those princes who, claiming a false priesthood for themselves, are placed over the people of the heretics. And at the same time, it should be noted that in our sins, the opposite strengths rejoice, and the leaders and princes of these darknesses.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:3

[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on Hosea 7:3

Made the king glad: To please Jeroboam, and their other kings they have given themselves up to the wicked worship of idols, which are mere falsehood and lies.

[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Hosea 7:4-7

But where shall I find an approach to the divine Scripture that teaches me what “an oven” is? I must call upon Jesus my Lord, that he may make me the seeker find and may open to the one knocking, that I may find in Scriptures “the oven” where I can rightly bake my sacrifice that God may accept it. Indeed, I think I have found it in Hosea the prophet, where he says, “All adulterers are as an oven ignited for burning.” And again he says, “Their hearts glowed as an oven.” The human heart therefore is “an oven.” But this heart, if vices ignite it or the devil inflames it, will not bake, but it will burn up. But if that one who said, “I came to send fire into the earth” should ignite it, the loaves of the divine Scriptures and of the words of God which I receive in my heart, I do not burn up for destruction, but I bake for sacrifice.

Source: HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 5:2

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:4

"All adulterers are like an oven heated by the baker: the city rested for a little while from the mixture of the ferment, until it had fermented all. " LXX: "All adulterers are like a burning oven for baking bread, heated by the fire of mixed bread, until it has fermented all." Those who rejoice in their wickedness, kings in their lies, are all adulterers, and like a burning oven, consumed by the fire of Jeroboam's idolatry, to bake bread of impiety which, when it sent an error into their souls, like an oven and kiln first set on fire, rested for a little while, so as not to overpower the people, but to let them follow their own will until all lies had fermented: for whatever is done out of necessity, is quickly dissolved: what is willingly taken up, endures. Therefore even here, because he had taken the translation from the shovel, which is used to bake bread, he preserves in the rest, so that in the mixing of the whole people, he shows their consent: namely, that both king and people are consumed by equal ardor in idolatry. No one doubts that the hearts of the heretics are set ablaze by the fire of the devil, so that the loaves of Antichrist can be baked in them: who therefore first remain silent in the Church, and speak secretly, and promise all peace, so that cancer gradually creeps into peoples, and their teaching leaven (which the Lord also understands when he says: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees" (Matth. XVI, 6) when it swells in the hearts of the deceived, then they break out into open madness, and what is said by John the Apostle is fulfilled in them: "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us" (I John I, 19).

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:4

[AD 542] Caesarius of Arles on Hosea 7:4-7

Although you might marry and in the face of the authority of all the Scriptures never commit adultery, why do you not with God’s grace accept what is lawful? Instead you dare to offend God and commit what is unlawful. I would like to know whether those who have no wives, and neither fear nor blush to commit adultery before they are joined in wedlock, would want their spouses to be violated by adulterers before they come to marriage. Since there is no one who would patiently accept this, why does not each one observe toward his spouse the fidelity he wants observed by her? Why does one desire to take a virgin as his wife, when he himself is corrupted? Why does he wish to be united to a wife who is alive, when he is dead in soul because of adultery, according to what is written: “The soul that sins shall die”? Moreover, the apostle exclaims in terrible words, “God will judge the immoral and adulterers,” and “Adulterers will not possess the kingdom of God.” Furthermore, “They are all adulterers, their hearts like an oven.”

Source: SERMON 43

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:5-7

"The day of our king: the princes began to rage from wine: he stretched out his hand with the mockers: who placed his heart in the oven as he dined with them. He slept throughout the entire night cooking them, and in the morning he burned like a flame of fire: all of them were heated like a hot oven, and they devoured their judges: all their kings fell, there is none who cries out to me from them." LXX: "The days of your kings. The princes began to rave from wine: he stretched out his hand with pestilences, because their hearts were burning like an oven, when they were rushing down all night. Ephraim is filled with sleep: in the morning it happened: he is inflamed like the flame of fire. All are heated like an oven of burning fire, and fire devoured their judges. All their kings fell: there is none among them who calls upon me." A dark place and in need of the attentive reader's sense, so that we may first understand the history. Israel and the city of Samaria rested for a little while, with the passion of error received into itself, until the whole mass became like leaven, and grew and burst forth, and the swelling people cried out at the gates of King Jeroboam, and said: This is the day of our king Jeroboam, this is the festive day that our emperor has appointed for us; this we celebrate, this we sing, in this we exult and play, in this we worship the golden calves. The people are shouting, the leaders are not angry, as some may think; but they themselves began to rage from the wine, and lose the understanding of their minds, forget God, and push into the idols' woods. When the king saw this, he cried out to the people and said, "This day belongs to our king," and the leaders, like drunk and fanatical people, not knowing what they were saying, extended their hands to the jesters, deceiving those who flattered him with empty praises. Those deceivers, when their king was plotting against them, and was trying to draw them away from their God, gave their heart as a furnace to him, so that he might kindle them and cause them to burn with the flames of idolatry. Therefore, because all of them were turned in mind to error, the people agreed. And what follows: "He slept all night, baking them; in the morning he himself was kindled as a flame of fire," means this: after he had sent fire into their heart as a furnace and had seen them go mad and there being no one to resist his will, he slept all night, that is, he was secure; walking in darkness while they were being cooked and made into the bread of impiety. Therefore, in the morning he rose up, and showed openly the flame of his wickedness, so that they might not pass over into the ceremonies of idols by treachery, but shamelessly. What more? All were heated as if in a furnace, with the fire of idolatry, and devoured their judges, so that he who could have been good by nature and could have remembered the religion of the Lord, seeing both rulers and people subject to calves, and thinking that they were gods, also was devoured by wickedness. Finally, all the kings of Israel fell, and they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nabath, who caused Israel to sin, and no one was found who, having abandoned idols, returned to God. We have spoken boldly rather than knowingly according to the Hebrew tradition, leaving the authors of our words to faith. Now let us move on to spiritual understanding: unhappy peoples, who are seduced by the devil king and his princes, or who have taken other solemnities from the prince of heresy and his leaders, leaving the Church and trampling on the truth of faith, are wont to cry out and say: This is the day of our king: for example, Valentinius, Marcion, Arius, and Eunomius. Those who are put in charge of them, upon hearing this (advice) must not be glad with wine (lest) it be thought as a minor sin; but they act like mad men because of wine, of which Moses wrote in the Song of Deuteronomy: "The wine of their " "dragons, and the fury of the " "unhealable asps" (Deut. 32:33): for they eat the food of wickedness and are intoxicated with the wine of evil. Concerning this, the Apostle says: "Be not drunk with wine, wherein is luxury" (Ephesians 5:18). And in Proverbs, we read: "Princes should not drink wine: lest they forget wisdom, and not be able to judge what is right" (Prov. XXXI, 5). Hence, with deceived peoples and leaders, a prince stretches out his hand, be they deceivers or pests, such as the sons of Eli, about whom we read in the first Psalm: "He did not sit in the seat of pestilence" (Ps. I, 1); of whom it is said: "Cast out the pestilent one from your council, and contention will go out with him" (Prov. XXII, 10): with their hearts inflamed, so that they may collide with whom they have deceived. For according to the seventy this points to "cataracts," which do not lift upwards, but drag downwards. And when he says: "Ephraim is filled in sleep throughout the entire night," he shows that heretics who are sleeping cannot see the light of the sun of righteousness. For those who sleep, sleep at night: because their senses are oppressed. And of them we read in the Psalms: "They slept their sleep, and found nothing" (Ps. LXXV, 6). Their hearts are heated by various disturbances: anger, love, avarice; and they devour their judges, or if they can have anything in mind with virtues, or senses by which they can discern evils from goods. Whether this is to be said, that the leaders of the heretics are devoured by their own people, as they devour their homes for the sake of shameful gain, they themselves are devoured by their consent. All the leaders of the heretics have fallen: although he cries out to the Lord, there is no one who calls upon his name: "For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Romans X). "Moses and Aaron were among his priests, and Samuel among those who called upon his name; they called upon the Lord, and he answered them" (Psalm XCVIII), he does not hear them who are kings and princes of the heretics, because there is none among them who calls upon the Lord.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:5-7

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:8

The kingdom of the ten tribes has become like any other nation because they went away from the Lord. And he [Ephraim] is like a bread beneath the ashes that is not turned, that is, he does not repent.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 2:7

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:8-10

"Ephraim mingled himself with the people. Ephraim is become as bread baked under the ashes, that is not turned. Foreigners have devoured his strength, and he knew it not. Yea, gray hairs also are spread upon him, and he is not aware of it. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these." LXX: "Ephraim was mingled with his own people: Ephraim is become as ashes, which is not returned: strangers have devoured his strength, and he knew it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth not. And the pride of Israel shall be humbled before his face: and they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these." The kingdom of ten tribes has been made, like all nations, because they have departed from the Lord: and like ashes of bread, which does not return, that is, does not do penance, the Assyrians and the Chaldeans have eaten up its strength, and whatever it could have in terms of power, they have devoured. And the madness was such that he did not know that he had been devoured, or indeed did not know the reason for which he had been handed over to the devourers: in short, he remained in the mistaken belief until old age, that is, until the ultimate captivity. Therefore, the pride of Israel will be humbled not long after, but now and in the present, for this is what he says: "in his presence:" he will be humbled, because he had exalted himself and trusted in the multitude of armies, not in God. And because God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James IV); for pride, that is, Gaon, according to their custom, translated ὕβριν, that is, "insult." And because he had said before: "Ephraim has become like a cake unturned," and it seemed ambiguous, or did not sound enough what he was saying, now he explains it more clearly: "They have not returned to their Lord their God, nor have they sought him in all these things." If they had returned to their Lord their God, they would surely have heard through Jeremiah, speaking from God, "Return to me, and I will return to you." And although they have done so much, they have not sought him, whom they have lost by their own fault. But when Ephraim ought to teach the people so as to lead them to another way of thinking and draw them to himself as an example, he mixes with the people and becomes like them, according to what was said above: 'He will be like the people, so will the priest.' Whether Ephraim mixes with the people and nations, so that all heretics differ in nothing from the error of the Gentiles. And he who was once a leader in the Church becomes a worthless heap of ashes, completely filthy with ashes on every side and surrounded by the fire of sins, so that he does not return to the Lord, but remains in the beginning of error. The demons have eaten his strength: for they are indeed strangers and enemies of all Christians, and he did not know, thinking adversaries were friends, and considering his devourers as guests; but they also poured out like dogs upon him, indeed they flourished, that is, he erred for a long time; and nevertheless he ignored his old age and antiquity, about which it is written, "What grows old and aged, " "is near extinction" (Heb. VIII, 13). And if it is said of the just man and the ecclesiastic: 'The wisdom of his intellect is the dog of a man." (Wisdom 4:8): Why should it not be said of the wicked and the heretic: 'The stupidity of his intellect is the dog of a man?' Concerning this old age Daniel spoke to the elder: 'Thou hast grown old in days of wickedness' (Dan. III, 52). Wherefore also in the book of the Pastor (if, however, one is pleased to receive it), the Church seems to be first seen as an old man, then as a youth, and finally as a maiden adorned with hair. And when the pride of the heretics is humbled, or the insult they daily offer to ecclesiastical men, they do not turn to the Lord. But in all these things, they never seek him; for they are heated like an oven and have not sought him: their judges have been devoured, and their kings have fallen together, and there is none among them who calls upon the Lord. All these things they have suffered so that they might seek the Lord, whom they refused to seek.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:8-10

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Hosea 7:8

Ephraim is a cake under the ashes not turned. For a cake under the ashes, which has ashes on it, has its cleaner side flat to the ground and its upper side the fouler, in proportion as it carries the ashes on it. And so with the mind that harbors earthly thoughts: what else does it carry on itself but a load of ashes? But if it will be “turned,” the clean surface (which it had kept downward) it brings back to the top and shakes off the ashes that it had on it. If therefore we shake off from the mind the ashes of earthly thoughts, as it were, we “turn the cake under the ashes,” that this bent of our mind may henceforth go to the rear, which the ashes of groveling thought before overlaid. And the clean face may come to the top, that our right bent of mind may not henceforth be surcharged with the weight of earthly desire.

Source: MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 11:10.16

[AD 435] John Cassian on Hosea 7:9

Not content with these words, the blessed Anthony entered upon a wider field of discussion, and he said, “This way of life and this most lukewarm condition not only causes you the loss that I have spoken of, even though you yourself may not feel it now. You may even somehow say in keeping with a sentence from Proverbs: ‘They strike me, but I did not grieve, and they mocked me, but I was unaware.’ And remember what is said by the prophet Hosea: ‘Aliens devoured his strength, and he himself did not even recognize it.’ ”

Source: CONFERENCE 24:11.3

[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on Hosea 7:9

“Strangers have devoured his strength, and he has known it not.” “Strangers” is usually understood to be apostate angels, who devour our strength when they consume the virtue of the mind by perverting it. Ephraim endured both and did not know it, because through the temptation of malignant spirits he both lost the strength of his mind and did not understand that he had lost it.

Source: MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 6:34.6

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:11-12

"And Ephraim became like a bird deceived, not having a heart. They called upon Egypt, they went to the Assyrians. But when they shall go, I will spread my net upon them: I will bring them down as the fowls of the air; I will strike them as their congregation hath heard." LXX: "And Ephraim was like a foolish dove, without understanding; they called to Egypt, they went to Assyria. I will spread my net over them; I will bring them down like birds of the heavens; I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation." The Lord commanded in the Gospel (Matthew 10) that we should be simple like doves, and shrewd like serpents, so that imitating the simplicity of doves and the shrewdness of the serpent, we may neither harm others nor suffer from their snares; but let us exhibit a tempered humanity with simplicity and prudence, for prudence without goodness is malice, and simplicity without reason is called foolishness. Therefore Ephraim became like a deceived dove, which in Hebrew is called Photha, deceived by the eagle and Symmachus, or seduced, as it is said, or 'nursed', or 'deceived': and by the Septuagint 'foolish' or 'senseless': for both express the foolish. And she is rightly called a deceived dove, or foolish, because she is a dove and wise, which says in the Psalms: "Who will give me wings like doves, and I will fly and rest" (Ps. 54:7)? Whose feathers are silvered, and the rear of its back in a greenish gold. But Ephraim like an insipid dove, and not having a heart, is shown to be of such a brutish mind, that invoking Egypt, he has gone to the Assyrians. For he who has solicited the aid of the Egyptians is led away captive by the Assyrians. The Egyptian reed staff, on which he has relied, immediately crushes him, and his hand is broken, transformed into one of those who lie on it. And to show that God rules everywhere, and that we cannot escape his watchful eye by changing our place, and that we are always subject to the power of God: 'When they have set out for the Assyrians,' he said, 'I will stretch out my net there too, and if they are exalted like birds, thence I will bring them down.' But I will not bring them down to destruction but rather that I may slay them as sons; and I will slay them not with great pains but in fear, so that hearing of the punishments to come, they may be corrected by the terrors alone. It is asked why Ephraim is compared not to other birds but to a dove. Other birds hasten to protect their chicks even at the risk of their own lives, and when they see a hawk, serpent, crow, or raven approach their nest, they fly here and there and throw themselves upon them with bites and claws, and with plaintive voice they testify [to their chicks] concerning their parent's teaching; alone, the dove does not grieve over her lost chicks, nor does she seek them out: and thus Ephraim is rightly compared to her, because though the people are laid waste in parts he does not feel it, but is careless [of his] safety. And what he says, "I will cut them down according to the hearing of their heavens," can signify this: just as by a joint council all the idols were made, in the same way, in my anger, all will be destroyed together. We can rightly call the teachers of opposing doctrines, who have abandoned Christ's wisdom and left the Church, foolish and insane doves, who, desiring earthly things, have been delivered to the Assyrians. And when they have departed from the Church, the Lord spreads his net over them, woven with the wisdom of Scripture and skillful words, so that, raising themselves up against the wisdom of God, and flying like birds to the heights, he brings them down to the depths and corrects them with threats and punishments, so that they may not perish forever.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:11-12

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:11

One may ask: Why was Ephraim compared with a dove and not with other birds? The other birds hurry to protect their offspring even at the risk of life, and when they see a bird of prey, snake, raven or crow approaching their nest, they fly to and fro, and attack with their beak, and wound with their claws, and with a crying voice show the parent’s suffering. Only the dove does not grieve for or miss [its] robbed offspring. Ephraim is rightly compared with this bird because he does not suffer for his devastated people but is indifferent to its salvation.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 2:7

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:13

"Woe to them, for they have departed from me; they will be destroyed because they have transgressed against me. I redeemed them, yet they spoke lies against me and did not cry out to me in their hearts, but instead howled in their beds." LXX: "Woe to them, for they have departed from me: they have acted wickedly against me: but I have redeemed them: but they spoke falsehood against me, and did not cry out to me with their hearts, but they howled in their beds." They got away from me who was spreading out my net to catch them as a bird of the sky, to get rid of pride, and I was falling in difficulty when they withdrew and jumped away from me, for ἀπεπήδησαν means this, which the Septuagint translated: "And for this reason they will be laid waste, because they have transgressed against me." For that which we have said, 'they shall be laid waste,' is written also in Hebrew, Sod Laem, that is, 'a desolation to them:' Symmachus translates it 'destruction:' Theodotion, 'misery.' Moreover, in the Vulgate edition we read in two ways; for some codices have δῆλοί εἰσιν, that is, "they are manifest:" others δειλαῖοί εἰσιν, that is, "they are timid," or "miserable." Therefore they will be devastated and will be miserable forever, always fearing and trembling, because they have transgressed against God, worshipping golden calves, and leaving Him who redeemed them from Egyptian slavery, and led them with a high arm. They spoke lies against the Lord, saying of idols: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt" (Exodus XXXII), and did not cry out to the Lord in their hearts, but wallowed in idolatrous fornication. Either because lust and luxury follow the worship of demons, those who worshiped demons were consequently being turned around in the mire of lust in the manner of swine. And beautifully sounding songs of idolaters, not hymns to God, but a cry of wolves, they were barking. It is easy to interpret about heretics that they have woe forever, because they have departed from God, and they are miserable because they have left their Creator who redeemed them with his blood: and they speak lies against him themselves, composing wicked dogmas of falsehood, and they do not shout in their hearts, but they always howl in the meetings, which are beautifully called bedrooms and beasts’ lairs. They cannot say this kind of thing: "I will wash my bed every night, and with my tears I will water my couch" (Psalm 6:7); but they roll in the filth of lust, they are filled with indecency, and whatever they say and think they are praising God, is like the howling of wolves and the sound of mad revelers. Rarely does a heretic love chastity, and those who pretend to love purity, like Manichaeus, Marcion, Arius, Tatianus, and the restorers of the old heresy, promise honey with a poisoned mouth. Moreover, it is shameful to speak of things done in secret, according to the Apostle (Ephesians 5).

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:13

[AD 435] John Cassian on Hosea 7:13

If [birds] do not hold to the narrow path with cautious and careful restraint as they go their way, making their airy progress through the void, thanks to their marvelous skill, the earth, which is as it were the natural mooring for everyone and the most solid and safe foundation for all, becomes for them a present and manifest danger—not because its nature is changed but because they fall precipitously upon it by the weight of their body. Similarly, the unwearying goodness of God and his unchangeable substance itself certainly hurt no one, but we ourselves bring death upon ourselves by falling from the heights to the depths. For this very fall means death for the one who falls. For it is said: “Woe to them, for they have departed from me. They shall be destroyed, for they have transgressed against me.”

Source: CONFERENCE 23:9.2–3

[AD 458] Theodoret of Cyrus on Hosea 7:13

“First I will educate them through the threat of sufferings. Then I will catch all of them like birds, placing around them a cloud of enemies like a net.” And having said that, he does not forget his love for mankind but offers a dirge from fatherly love for them.

Source: COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 7

[AD 420] Jerome on Hosea 7:14-16

They muttered about wheat and wine: they separated themselves from me, and I taught them a lesson. I strengthened their arms, and they thought evil against me. They turned back, so as to be without a yoke: they became as a deceitful bow: their princes shall fall by the sword, by the rage of their tongue: this their derision in the land of Egypt." "Over wheat and wine they were being cut to pieces; they were instructed in me, and I strengthened their arms, and they thought evil against me: they were turned into nothing, they became like a tense bow, their rulers shall fall by the sword because of their lack of understanding; this is their derision in the land of Egypt." "On account of the abundance, they said, they have fallen because of their own foolishness. Which Ezekiel also mentions was done in Sodom and Gomorrah (Ezek. XIX), that they chewed on nothing other than food and lust: for which reason the Seventy translated, "they were sliced over grain and wine," as an example of the prophets of Baal, who, with Elijah present, prayed for rain by cutting off the members (III Kings. XVIII). And at the same time, to show that they were like animals, he did not say they ate, but ruminated: and therefore they wandered from the Lord who says, "I have taught them, I have provided strength, and they have raised their necks against me; not that they can do anything and harm their Creator, but what they could do, they thought evil against me." And as they were in the beginning, before I called them by Abraham, and afterwards by Moses and Aaron, and they were without the yoke of the law and without knowledge, and mingled with all nations: so now they have returned to their former state, so as to be carried down headlong without a yoke and reins, and changed into a deceitful bow, so that having aimed at whom God had directed them, they turned their weapons against their own Lord, and sent forth arrows of blasphemy against Him. Therefore, their princes shall fall by the sword because of the rage of their tongue: this is their derision in the land of promise. They have said: "Where is he that he may reign over us?" In undisciplined pride they have pushed you away from your people, saying: "Be gone from us, for we do not desire to know your ways." And: "Would that we had died in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots" (Exodus 32:4), and the rest. Concerning wheat and wine, and false mysteries of the body and blood of Christ, who says in the Gospel: "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone" (John 12:24): And in another place: "I am the true vine" (John 15:1): And: "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you" (John 6:54). Therefore, heretics fall over this with wheat and wine and construct different tabernacles for themselves: whether they are prevented by the body of the Church, and simulate meditating and reflecting on the law of God. But those who do this depart from the Lord who taught them in the Church, and gave them the strength to fight their enemies. They, on the other hand, considered evil against the Lord, building the most impious heresies, and returning to the state of the Gentiles so that they were without the knowledge and yoke of God: or they returned to nothingness, not that they ceased to be, but that in comparison to Him who speaks to Moses, "Go, tell the people of Israel: He who sent me" (Exodus 3:14), all who are against the Lord should not be said to be (they are called). According to what we read in Esther, specifically in the Septuagint: "Do not give your scepter to those who are not worthy" (Esther XIV, 11, sec. LXX), it is undoubtedly referring to idols. For if God is truth, whatever is contrary to truth is falsehood and cannot be named. This is what heretics agree on, who, having learned from the Holy Scriptures, translate the words of the Lord of the Law, Prophets, and Gospel against Him, and they are like a deceitful and perverse bow. A deceitful and wicked is the bow that strikes its director and wounds its master. Whether they have been made like a bow drawn taut, always ready for battle and disputes, for the overthrow of those who hear them. Therefore their leaders, that is, the heresiarchs, are struck with the sword of the Lord, because of the insanity of their tongue, with which they blasphemed the Lord: doing the same thing in the false name of the Church, which they did at the time when they lived in the ages of Egypt, that is, when they were gentiles. For all the questions of heretics and Gentiles are the same, because they follow not the authority of Scripture, but the sense of human reason.

Source: Commentary on Hosea 7:14-16