Hosea 8

We acknowledge, therefore, and know that he is God, the Creator of all things. He is our Lord, because of his power; our author, because of his creation. "He spoke, and all things were made. He commanded, and all things came forth." Of him it is written, "You have made all things in wisdom." Moses says of him, "God is in heaven above and on earth below," and according to Isaiah, "He has measured the heavens with a span, the earth with the width of the fist"; he "looks upon the earth and makes it tremble." He "holds the orb of the earth and those who live on it as if they were locusts"; he "weighed the mountains on scales and the groves on a balance," by the exact precision of the divine plan. He laid out this weight of the earth's mass with precise equipoise, lest the huge ill-balanced mass should easily fall into ruin, if they were not balanced by providential weights. It is he who says through the prophet, "I am God, and there is none beside me." He says by means of the same prophet, "I will not give my majesty to another," so that he might exclude all heathens and heretics with their images, proving that he is God who is not made by the hand of an artificer. Nor is he some God whom heretical ingenuity has devised.

When Peter is speaking to the people concerning the bishop to be ordained in the place of Judas, it says, "Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, for the multitude was together." But we notice that the apostles observed this, not only in the ordination of bishops and of priests but also in the ordinations of deacons. Concerning this very thing, in their Acts, it is also written, "The Twelve called together the multitude of the disciples," it says, "and spoke to them."6This matter was carried on diligently and cautiously, with the whole people assembled so that no unworthy man should attain to the ministry of the altar or to the priestly rank. For the fact is that sometimes unworthy men are ordained, not according to the will of God but according to human presumption. These things that do not come from a legitimate and just ordination are displeasing to God. God himself makes this known through the prophet Hosea, saying, "They made themselves a king, but not by me."

O appalling hardness! O strange cruelty! You did not fear God, nor did you reverence others or feel shame before your friends. So you have suffered shipwreck of all things at once. You have stripped yourselves of every good thing at the same time. Therefore again I grieve for you, wretched man! You who were announcing your ardor for the kingdom have fallen from the kingdom. You who were inspiring all with a reverence for the doctrine did not have the fear of God before your eyes. You who were preaching holiness are now found to be polluted. You who glory in poverty are caught stealing money. You who through your guidance point out the punishment of God have drawn down chastisement upon yourselves. How shall I bewail you? How shall I grieve for you? The morning star, which rose early, has fallen and shattered upon the earth. The two ears of everyone who hears it will ring. How did the Nazirite who shone brighter than gold become darker than soot? And how did the worthy son of Zion instantly become like a polluted vessel?

Because He is exceedingly desirous, that we should always take refuge in Him, and in everything make our requests unto Him; and do nothing and speak nothing without Him. For men, when we trouble them repeatedly concerning our affairs, become slothful and evasive, and conduct themselves unpleasantly towards us; but with God it is quite the reverse. Not when we apply to him continually respecting our affairs, but when we fail to do so, then is he especially displeased. Hear at least what He reproves the Jews for, when He says, "Ye have taken counsel, but not of Me, and made treaties, but not by My Spirit." For this is the custom of those who love; they desire that all the concerns of their beloved should be accomplished by means of themselves; and that they should neither do anything, nor say anything, without them. On this account did God not only on that occasion, but again elsewhere, uttering a reproof, speak the same language. "They have reigned, but not by Me; they have ruled, and they made it not known to Me."

Your calf has been cast away, Samaria. My fury is against them: how long will they be incapable of purity? Because he is also from Israel: the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: for the calf of Samaria shall become spider's webs." LXX: "Cast away your calf, Samaria: my wrath is kindled against them: how long will they be incapable of purity in Israel? And the craftsman made it, and it is not a god: because your calf, Samaria, was deceiving." In the place where we have put "spider's webs," in Hebrew script it is written Sababim, with the Iod letter as penultimate: not as some wrongly think, Sababum, that is, with the Vau, which the Seventy and Theodotion have interpreted as "deceiving," and "fooled:" Aquila, "erring," or "converted:" Symmachus, "unstable," or "unstable," that is, ἀκαταστατῶν: Fifth edition, ῥεμβεύων, "vagrant" and "fluctuating." We learned from the Hebrew that Sababim are properly called "cobwebs" flying in the air, which when they appear disappear and dissolve into atoms and nothingness. And rightly your Samaria is compared to these golden calves, which at that time, because of their great value, the people worshipped. This is explained more clearly by what he said above: 'They have made for themselves idols of silver and gold, that they may perish'; 'Your calf has been thrown down, Samaria; my fury is kindled against them': either against the calves, because two were made; or against the inhabitants of Samaria, who worshipped them. Moreover, what we read in the Septuagint: 'Cast away your calf, Samaria,' exhorts the inhabitants thereof, not of one city, but of all ten tribes which are called Samaria (for the calves were not named in the city of Samaria, but in Dan and Bethel), to cast away the calves over which God is angry: or he will cast away, that is, 'brush away': so that he who had worshipped them for a long time would gradually brush them away from himself and purify himself. And with them not listening, he turns to others, and speaks as if in the third person: "How long will they not be cleansed?" What madness is this, he says, with me providing an opportunity for repentance, that they do not desire to turn to health? And because he had said, "Cast away your calf, Samaria," he explains what that calf is: Because he is from Israel himself, not acquired from others; you yourselves and your king Jeroboam did this in Israel, because of what you had learned in Egypt. (2 Kings 23) Or what kind of God is formed by the hand of an artisan? Finally, just as spider webs are dissolved into the wind, so the calf of Samaria will be reduced to nothing. The Lord rejects the calves of the heretics and Samaria, who say they keep the precepts of the law: calves that cling to the ground and work in the earth, not in spirit, nor do they lift their eyes to heaven; and therefore the fury of the Lord is upon them, and he wonders what such perversity is, that they are not willing to abandon the idols they have fabricated for themselves and love the heretical filth in place of the cleanliness of the Church. Israel did not receive these calves, who pretends to see the Lord among other nations: but from the Holy Scriptures he has created for himself a wicked intelligence, and he is the craftsman of his own God, who will quickly perish and imitate the webs of spiders which are easily broken by touch.

"Israel has been devoured, now he has become like an unclean vessel among the nations." The Septuagint translated "unclean" as "useless," the rest likewise. The Hebrews call the unclean vessel, or useless, a chamber pot, which we usually use to receive and discard feces. This uncleanness is compared to idolaters and heretics who mix with the Gentiles, while not guarding the truth of God, and have become vessels of honor, turned into vessels of (( "Al." vas)) insult. For what is more unclean than a demonic spirit and the teachings of the heretics who have mixed them with those of the pagans? Such was Jechonias, enslaved to idols, of whom God speaks through Jeremiah: "Jechonias was dishonoured like a vessel of no use" (Jer. XXII, 18) . Conversely, Paul, who could say: "Do you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?" (II Cor. XIII)? is called a vessel of election, made of gold and silver, because he had the wisdom and the eloquence to preach the Gospel of Christ. But when he says, "devoured," or "absorbed," this means that he lost his own name of Israelite and Christian, being mixed with idols and nations.

I will write to him many of my laws, which are regarded as alien: they will offer sacrifices, they will slaughter meats and eat, and the Lord will not receive them." LXX: "I will write to them a multitude: their rightful altars have been regarded as foreign. Because if they sacrifice and eat meat, the Lord will not accept them:" which I had previously given through Moses. But what profit is there in writing further, since he has despised those which he previously received? Is it not contempt of God when, at my command that there be one altar in Jerusalem, idols were made on all the mountains and hills to provoke the Lord? They also made altars for the same reason, not to please me, but so they could eat the meat of the many sacrifices offered, according to what the Lord says in the gospel, "Amen, amen I say unto you, you seek me, not because you saw miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled." (John VI, 26). For every pursuit of sacrifices, they have it, to devour the offerings, not to please God through them; and the Lord will not receive those which they have immolated not to Him, but to their own stomachs and throats. But the apostle teaches that there is one altar in the Church, and one faith, and one baptism (Ephesians 4), which heretics, deserting them, have fabricated many altars for themselves, not to placate God, but to multiply transgressions. Therefore they do not deserve to receive God's laws, since they have previously despised the ones they received. And if they say anything about the Scriptures, it must be understood, not as divine words, but as expressing the ideas of the heathen. These men offer many sacrifices and eat the meat of these animals, abandoning the one sacrifice of Christ; and they do not partake of his flesh, the flesh which is the food of believers. Whatever they do, pretending to follow the order and rites of sacrifices, whether they give alms, make promises of chastity, or feign humility, and deceive the simple with false flattery, God will accept nothing of such sacrifices.

"Let the trumpet be in your throat, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and violated my law." LXX: "In their bosom they are like the earth, like an eagle over the house of the Lord: because they have transgressed my covenant, and acted wickedly against my law." This which we have interpreted as "let the trumpet be in your throat," is what is written in Hebrew. Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion have similarly translated it as Alechchac Sophar. Only the seventy said, "Like the earth in their bosom", and what this means is uncertain. For some people, bosom is understood in two ways: the lower part of the clothing from the genitals to the feet, or the gulf of the sea, that is, the bosom, for example, of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas and the Propontis, as well as the false teachers who followed the blasphemy of Egypt, keeping all things serving their lusts and earthly desires in their bosom; or indeed in the port and refuge of their navigation, nothing of precious merchandise, but acquiring earthly things. But we, following the Hebrew truth, weave the order of the begun explanation together. It is commanded to the prophet, and it is said to him: "Let the trumpet be in your throat," that is, so elevate your voice, as if it were like a trumpet: so that most may hear, because most have sinned. And when you have lifted up your voice, say this with a shout, like an eagle over the house of the Lord, and the meaning is: Nebuchadnezzar will come with his entire army so swiftly, so quickly, that it imitates the flight of an eagle, hastening to prey; and he will come not to another place, but to Jerusalem, where the temple of God is located, so that he may destroy and subvert it. Of this, the eagle and Ezekiel speaks more fully (Ezek. 17): the great wings, feathers, and talons, which have the direction of entering into Lebanon, that is, into the temple of God. According to the prophet Zachariah, in which it is written: "Open, Lebanon, thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars" (Zach. 11: 1). But this, O prophet, what I tell you and command: "Let there be a trumpet in your throat," so that you may shout and say, like an eagle upon the house of the Lord, the king is coming of the Chaldeans, I order for no other reason, except that they have violated my covenant, and have left my ceremonies. We frequently read that the devil, who desires to place his nest above the stars of heaven, is like an eagle: "If you are exalted as an eagle, thence I will draw you down," saith the Lord (Obadiah 1:4). Also, the eye which mocks father and despises the old age of the mother, shall be rooted out by the ravens of the valley, and shall be eaten by the younglings of eagles (Proverbs 30): through the devil and demons, losing the clear light of his vision. Therefore, it is commanded in the Law, that we do not eat the eagle (Leviticus 11). Therefore, this eagle comes upon the councils of heretics which formerly were the homes of the Lord. And thus, she comes because they have violated His covenant and abandoned the law of God.

"Israel has rejected the good, the enemy will pursue him." LXX: "because Israel has rejected the good; they persecuted the enemy." To which the Lord responds: "How can you be called Israel, when Israel has rejected the good, that is, the Lord God, whom Israel was named after? Therefore, because Israel has rejected the good, the enemy, that is, the Assyrian, will pursue him and capture him."

"For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath given gifts to his lovers, yea, though they have hired among the nations, now will I gather them together, and they shall rest a little from the burden of the king and the princes." LXX: "Because they went up to the Assyrians, Ephraim has flourished within himself: they have loved gifts, therefore they shall be given to the Gentiles: now will I gather them together, and they shall rest a little from the labour of the king and the princes." Israel is devoured," he says, "and has become like a useless vessel, or unclean, from which no shard remains, in which water can be drawn, or a little bit of fire. And because he became an unclean vessel, therefore they went up to the Assyrians, imitating a wild ass alone: they were not fed like lambs by the Lord, but rather abusing their freedom and being led into captivity, of whom the prophet mourns and says, 'Ephraim gave gifts to the Assyrians, and hired lovers with a reward,' of which Ezekiel writes: 'All harlots receive rewards; but thou hast given rewards to thy lovers' (Ezek. 16: 33), and it has become the opposite in you. And when he has given gifts to peoples and nations have been hired to help him, they will gather for battle and will be taken captive together. And because they love to offer gifts to their adversaries, for a short time they will receive benefit, so that they will not pay tribute to the king and princes until they reach the Assyrians, where they will not give either tribute or stipend as free men; but they will be brought into the ultimate bondage. We do not doubt concerning the heretics, that they, according to the error of their minds, going to the Assyrians, will think that they are ascending and not descending. Therefore it is said to them through Isaiah: "What is happening to you now, that you have all gone up on vain roofs?" (Isa. XXII, 1), whose Assyrian prince is a great sense. Therefore, Ephraim grew up in presumption within himself. Whether he became a solitary wild ass, as he penetrated not sown by the Church but by the devil's deserted places. He loved gifts for his own error, promising rewards to himself, or doing all things out of the motive of shameful profit. Or certainly he gave gifts and rewards to his lover demons, and when he did this, he will be handed over to the nations. For just as nations venerate physical images: so do they think that they are idols of gods, which they have invented from their own hearts, and therefore they will be considered among the number of nations. But if, he says, now, and in the present age they have repented, and I have accepted them, they will cease to establish a little king and his princes over themselves. So that we understand the small king as the devil, as distinguished from the great king who cannot have fellowship with Belial; but as soon as he is received, he drives out the small king and his princes from the hearts of believers. But according to the Hebrew, those who were previously dispersed will gather in the Church of God and will have hired nations for themselves, and they will rest from the burden of the king, whom the Apostle reproaches for being torn apart from the Church, saying: "You reign without us, and would that you did reign" (I Cor. IV, 8), and from the princes whom they have established in the synagogues of the devil.

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: standing stalk, there is no grain in it, it shall not make flour: and if it should make any, strangers would devour it. " LXX: "Because they have sown corruption, they shall reap a fall: a handful of corn hath not the beauty of ear; they shall yield no flour; and if it should yield, strangers shall devour it. " She compares the calf of Samaria with a spider's web: therefore she keeps the metaphor in the remaining parts, that what she called spider's webs, she compares with the wind, and the whirlwind, and standing stalks: and if they stand, having no grain; and if they make any flour, she says, it shall be devoured by others. And because the common sense is the same, both in regard to heretics and to those who have made idols in Samaria, it must be jointly discussed. They sow the wind, or seeds corrupted by the wind, which have no kernel, which the Greeks call "enterion," and so they, sowing in emptiness, receive emptiness and vanity. Rather, sowing in the flesh, they reap corruption from the flesh, and are carried away by every wind of doctrine. And when they sow the wind, they will reap hurricanes and storms, and first of all, the stalk, that is, the straw, will not be from these seeds, nor will they be able to have any appearance of a fruitful harvest. But if it happens rarely that the Ecclesiastics seem to have something similar to dogma: the seed itself and the ear of corn do not make flour. In the flour of which, the Gospel woman puts enough yeast (Matthew XIII): so that both the spirit by which we feel, and the soul by which we live, and the body by which we move are reduced to one holy Spirit, according to the Apostle: "In him we live, move, and have our being" (Acts XVII, 18). But if it happens rarely to heretics that they also make flour from their seed, the flour will make a sub-ashen bread, which will not come back, and which aliens will eat. And now he says: "Even if he makes flour, others will eat it." But we must accept those strangers of whom it is written: "Foreign sons have lied to me" (Ps. XVII, 46). And in the eighteenth psalm: "Cleanse me from my hidden sins, O Lord, and spare your servant from strangers." If they have not ruled over a just man, then he will be blameless and shall be cleansed from the greatest sin.

"They will call upon me, (or 'They called upon me') my God, we have known you, Israel." LXX: "They called upon me (or 'They will call upon me'), God, we have known you." At the time of necessity and distress, when captivity will come, they will call upon me and say: "My God, we know you, Israel;" we who are called Israel, we know and recognize you, and we keep the ancient name of Jacob, which pleased you, so that we may be called Israel. And [heretics] call upon him without cause and say: You are my God, and we have known you, we who are called Israel, seeing God and we are called by the name Christian.

"They themselves have reigned, and not by me; principalities have arisen, and I have not known them. They made for themselves idols of their silver and gold, so that they should be destroyed." LXX: "they themselves have reigned, and not by me; principalities have arisen, and have not declared it to me: they have made idols for themselves with their silver and gold, so that they may perish." They who, with me as their deserted ruler, have sought a king for themselves, as have the other nations, and they have acted against my (or "his") will. Finally, Samuel therefore exposes to them the harsh commands of the king, and says that their sons and daughters will serve the kings, so that they may be converted to the Lord, the most merciful king (1 Kings 18). But they became rulers without God's will. And this crime did not satisfy them, they doubled the sin with greater impiety, converting the silver and gold which they had received into idols for wealth and decoration. Therefore, Saul was made king not by God's will, but by the error of the people. And because he had no root of piety, as soon as he began to reign, he was filled with impiety. It may be that what he says, "They reigned, and not by me; the princes existed, and I did not know them," may also be accepted of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and of the other princes who succeeded him in the empire. And not immediately, because God was angry with Solomon, did Israel receive him as king. For according to the precepts of the law he ought to have asked the Lord whether he wished this to be done. For it is said of the Savior: Indeed, woe to him by whom the Son of Man is betrayed (Matt. XXVI). They do these things in vain, he says, since they themselves have appointed their own kings and have acted against my will; they have princes who are my adversaries, whom I do not know, for they do not deserve my knowledge. They also turned their silver, and gold, and whatever they were able to have naturally, into idols of speech and thought, which they fashioned out of their own hearts; And they turned, not that they might perish, but because they turned, therefore they perished. For they did not do this in order to perish, but because they did this, therefore they perished.

"Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their sins will be punished: they themselves will be turned into Egypt, and Israel, their maker, has forgotten them, and has built shrines, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, and I will send a fire into its cities, and it will devour their houses." LXX: "Now their iniquities will be remembered, and their injustices will be avenged. They themselves turned into Egypt, and forgot him who made them, and they built shrines, and Judah multiplied fortified cities, and I will send fire into their cities, and it will devour their foundations." Between lawlessness, which means "iniquity and sin," this is the difference: iniquity is before the law, sin is after the law, and those who persist in their sins will be remembered for their iniquities committed before the law by the Lord. However, their sins will not be remembered, but vengeance will be taken. Therefore, he will remember the iniquity of the ancients, and will visit the former sins: because they returned to Egypt, either asking for help, or worshipping the same gods in which they had previously erred, ἄπιν and μνεῦιν. For Israel has forgotten his Maker, and built shrines on high hills, and under shady trees, consecrating to Baal and Astarte, and to other idols as well. Judah also, understanding that Israel had turned away from the love of God, and that their sins had been visited upon them, did not turn back to the Lord, but instead relied on fortified cities, which the Lord said He would destroy, devouring them down to their foundations. "His," no doubt, means Judah ("Al." Judah): though some read the foundations of "those," that is, cities, instead of "his." According to the spiritual sense, however, iniquities, that is, ἀνομίαι and ἀδικίαι, are called those which we committed before baptism, and which were forgiven us in baptism; but sins that we committed after baptism, concerning which it is written in the psalm, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered" (Ps. XXXI). All of which shall be imputed to the heretics, so that both their ancient iniquities and their new sins may be accounted for. For those who had left Egypt by confessing Christ, they returned to perfidy in Egypt. Israel has forgotten its maker, and rejecting its Creator, has devised another master for itself. Judas also, that is, the Ecclesiastical man, in evil deeds, or in perverse interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, built fortified cities for himself, not by the help of God, but by an artisan's lie: which the Lord says he will enflame with the fire of his spirit, and devour their burdens, that is, the great houses built up like towers, and he will upset the ill-laid foundations, so that they may not be able to build sacrilegious shrines against God. Certain cities fortified by the Jews are received in good faith, and they try to temper that which seemed contrary to this view: "I will send fire upon its cities, and it shall devour the houses thereof," so that when what is perfect has come, that which is partly destroyed. What we read according to the LXX interpretation, "they have eaten unclean things among the Assyrians," is not found in the Hebrew, and therefore must be marked with an obelus. We may say, however, that the Israelites, desiring Egypt, were captured by the Assyrians and ate unclean food there, according to Ezekiel, who describes them as eating food sacrificed to idols in Chaldea (Ezek. IV): and polluted to such an extent with the filth of idols, that they are compared to human excrement. The heretics also, whose leaders are Assyrians (of whom we have spoken frequently), eat unclean things among them, while they themselves are polluted by their filth.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars to sin, altars have been made for him to sin on. He said, led into captivity, they'll cease for a short while from the burden of the king and prince. And this they suffer, because Ephraim their prince has multiplied altars, not in which to sacrifice to the Lord, but in which to join sins and sins: these altars, that is, will turn into a sin for them, so that the more there are, the more their crimes will multiply. Then as he had said before: "What shall I do to you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah?" as if doubting and seeking, with what remedy he might heal the sick, and with what counsels he might draw the sinner back to salvation.

For you pluck no fruit from the idol's service, but their bundles are like ears of wheat destroyed by the wind, which show full stalks from the outside but which internally have no grain. Such is the nature of idolatry, for on the one hand it can take the image of a man or a woman, or a lion or a different animal from art, but on the other hand it is deprived of any strength or energy.

For it is infinite folly to labour painfully, and pant after the breath of applause, to apply one's self to the heavenly precepts with hard toil, but to aim at the reward of an earthly kind of recompense. For that I may so express myself, he that in return for the good that he practises looks for the applause of his fellowcreatures, is carrying an article of great worth to be sold at a mean price. From that whereby he might have earned the kingdom of heaven, he seeks the coin of passing talk. His practice goes for little, in that he spends a great deal, and gets back but very little. Whereunto then are hypocrites like but to luxuriant and untended vines, which put forth fruit from their fertility, but are never lifted from the earth by tending? All that the rich branches bud forth, stray beasts tread under foot, and the more fruitful they see it is, the more greedily they devour it, thus cast away and laid low, in that the works of hypocrites while they shew fair, come forth as if rich, but whilst they aim at human praises, it is as if they were left forsaken upon the ground. And the beasts of this world, i.e. the evil spirits, devour them, because they turn them to account to the end of perdition, and they seize upon them with greater avidity, in proportion as great things are more clearly known. Hence it is well said by the Prophet, The standing stalk, there is no bud in them, and they shall yield no meal; if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up. For the stalk is without a bud, when the life lacks the merit of virtuous habits. The stalk yieldeth no meal, when he that thrives in this world understands nothing refined, and yields no fruit of good practice.

But it can be reasonably asked, How it is said in this place that the Lord makes the hypocrite to reign, when by the Prophet He complains especially of this thing, saying, They have reigned, but not of Me: they have become princes, and I know them not? For, who that thinks rightly, can say that the Lord does that of which He knows nothing? But, because God's knowledge is approval, His ignorance is disapproval. Whence He says to some whom He rejects, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity. And sometimes God's doing a thing, is His allowing in His anger that which He forbids to be done. Hence He asserted that He hardened the heart of the king of Egypt, because He, in truth, allowed it to be hardened. In a marvellous manner then does God make hypocrites to reign, and knows them not. He makes them, by suffering; He knows them not, by rejecting them. Whence it is necessary, with reference to every thing, which is desired in this life, that the Inner Will should be first enquired into. And when the ear of the heart is anxious to catch Its sound, let it know that It speaks, not in words, but in deeds. When then a post of authority is offered, it is necessary for a man first to question with himself, whether his conduct is suited to the place, whether his doings are at variance with the distinction it confers; lest, perchance, the just Ruler of all should, afterwards, not regard his prayers in tribulation, because He knows not his very entering on that high office, which is the source of all his tribulation.