Глава II

Mal.1:14, 2:1–2: Cursed is the lying man, who has a male animal in his herd, and sacrifices to the Lord according to his vow an animal with a defect, for I am [Vulg. omits: I am] a great King, and My name is terrible among the nations. And now it is thus commanded unto you, O priests: If ye would not hear, and would not heed with your heart, that ye may glorify My name, saith the Lord of hosts, I will send poverty upon you, and I will curse your blessings, I will curse them, because ye have not heeded with your heart. LXX: “And the mighty man is cursed: he had a male animal in his herd and his vow was upon him, and he sacrifices a weak animal to the Lord; For I am a great King, says the Lord Almighty, and My name is famous among the nations. And now it is commanded unto you, O priests, if you have not heard and heeded with your heart, to give glory to My name, says the Lord Almighty, I will send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessing, I will curse it, and I will scatter your blessing** and it will not be upon you, for you have not heeded with your heart.” The words: and I will scatter your blessing are added in the LXX, but they are not in the Hebrew. The divine word in this passage prophetically corrects and condemns all that the human spirit can find to justify its sin and to defend itself by false apologies. The meaning of this passage is this: since you sacrifice a lame, blind and sickly [animal], and that is not from your property, but from plunder, and from booty, watered with the tears of the unfortunate, and moreover, you also say: From the fruit of our labors and poverty we offer what we have, therefore I generally say: Your own conscience exposes you. Of course, you endure poverty, [experienced] the disasters of captivity, and an extreme lack of property; but listen to what I say: Cursed is the cunning man who has a male animal in his herd, but who, having made a vow, sacrifices a weak animal to the Lord. If you do not have a male animal, then the curse does not affect you at all. By saying this, He shows that they have the best, and they sacrifice the worst. So, O priests, this is commanded to you, because, despising Me, you do unclean deeds. But since I want the sinner’s repentance more than his death, I say now: If you did not want to listen to Me or understand Me, in order to give glory to My name, which is terrible among the nations, then I will send real poverty upon you, so that you will no longer falsely, but due to a complete lack of everything, say that you do not have those best things that you could sacrifice. And I will curse, he says, your blessings, i.e. those which you now possess by My good pleasure; or: whatever is blessed by you [or: blessed] will be cursed by Me. And I will curse them, which means: blessings are yours, because you did not want to understand what was said to you, for this is expressed in the words: you did not heed with your heart. By the cursed and cunning we can understand the Jewish people, who, although they had a Husband (masculum) in their flock, i.e. The Lord Savior, and the blameless Lamb, Who took upon himself the sins of the world (John 1:29), although he was persuaded by the words of all the prophets to take and sacrifice the ram that had become entangled in the bushes of Savek with its horns (Gen. 22:13), but did not want to do this, but sacrificed to the Lord an unworthy [deed], when he crucified the Lord the Savior and chose to free Barabbas, the culprit of robberies and riots ( John 18:40), by which in a mysterious sense one must understand the devil. But while they despise the Lord and prefer the devil to the Savior, the name of Christ is terrible among the peoples who believed in the sufferings of the Lord and honor him with reverent awe. The same can be said about us in the event that we, created wise by God, and having a nature capable of assimilating sacred instructions, do not care about our natural gifts, indulge in vices and luxury and, having the proper sacrifice (masculum), we offer to the Lord what is unworthy of Him (debile). Our prayer word appears weak and vicious before God when it is interrupted by anger, envy, enmity and other disturbances of the spirit; if we, bringing a gift to the altar and remembering that our brother has something against us, do not take care to give him satisfaction in advance (Matthew 5:23). Therefore, the Apostle commands: “I want you men to pray in every place, lifting up your holy hands, without anger or contention” (1 Tim. 2:8). And the ruler of our thoughts and virtues is reason, about which it is said: “My soul, bless the Lord and everything within me, His holy name” (Ps. 102:1). If he shepherds his flock well, then the well-known blessing is fulfilled on it: “Blessed are your herds of bulls and your flocks of sheep” (Deut. 28:4). If, on the contrary, he actually has a male animal, i.e. strong, heavy and strong, sacrifices what is lightweight, or feminine due to excessive delicacy, or sensual, or weak and corrupted by various disturbances of the soul, then he will feel the fulfillment of the following words of Scripture: “The mighty will suffer great torment” (Wis. 6:8) and: “To whom they give more, from him they will demand more” (Luke 12:48). Therefore, the priests are told in special words that if they do not want to listen and heed with their hearts in order to give glory to the name of the Lord God with good behavior and even, on the contrary, if His name is slandered among the pagan nations because of them (Rom. 2:12), then God will send upon them poverty in everything (omnium bonorum) and turn their blessing into a curse. Those who turn health to satisfy lust, and wealth for a luxurious life, and dishonor their good reputation with dirty behavior, turn God's blessing into a curse. And it could also be like this: Since the priests are given a special command, they change their blessing into a curse when they do not bless with all their hearts, as Isaac blessed Jacob, Jacob blessed the patriarchs and Moses blessed the twelve tribes (Gen. 27:28, 49:1-27 and Deut. 33), but with sweet speech and kind words they deceive the hearts of the innocent (Rom. 16:18 ); when they speak pleasant words to those who do injustice, flatter sinners while they are rich, and praise their vices, about which it is said: “My people! Those who call you blessed flatter you and block the way for your feet” (Is. 3:12). Mal.2:3-4: Behold, I will take away your shoulder and scatter on your faces the dung of your solemn sacrifices, and it will cover you with it. And you will know that I have sent you this commandment, that My covenant with Levi may be [kept], says the Lord of hosts. LXX: “Behold, I will separate your shoulder and rend the intestines above your faces, the innards of your solemn sacrifices, and I will gather you together, and you will know that I have sent you this commandment. that my covenant may be [kept] with the Levites, says the Lord Almighty.” Since He speaks to the Levites, He says: I will take from you that which, in your opinion, is more sacred according to the law and which of the sacrificial animals was given to you by God as a reward for your virtues. Brachium (shoulder blade) instead of which LXX translated humerum (shoulder part), this is the right front part of the side (armum) of the animal. And I will tear it apart, he says over your faces ἒ νυστρον, i.e. stomach, or according to the Hebrew text - [I will scatter] uncleanness (פרש), i.e. calls in a figurative sense (μετωνυμικῶς) the contained instead of the containing, for the priests received from the victims the right shoulder, breast, tongue and entrails, and in general what is described in the book of Leviticus (chapters VII and IX). He says that He will reject all this for their sins and throw it in the face of the priests, so that those who offer it will be the same as what is offered (Num. 18; Deut. 18). And he will stick to you, or cover you, so that your repulsive faces will be disgraced by this putrid uncleanness, and from the fact that I reject you, you will understand that I am the One who once chose your father Levi, and through Levi chose Aaron and gave you the glory of the priesthood, so that My covenant or covenant with Levi might be [kept] and that he would serve in the eternal priesthood. It should be noted that Aquila translated the Hebrew word brith (בריתח) as συνθήκη, i.e. agreement, and the Seventy always [translate it] as διαθήκη, i.e. covenant, and indeed in very many places in the Scriptures the word covenant [testament] does not mean the expression of the will of the dead, but an agreement between the living. But God wants all people, and especially priests, to be free from filth and to adorn their shoulder or hand with good deeds. And the breast expresses a good conscience, and the tongue signifies a good confession, so that “with our hearts we believe the truth, and with our lips we confess for salvation” (Rom. 10:10). Likewise, in the entrails [of an animal] there is no need to see anything deadly, but rather a part of the body that supports and nourishes our life. In fact, if food were not digested in the stomach and if its moisture did not irrigate the body, then, as it grew thin, it would lose strength and would quickly approach death. But we do everything the other way around, so God will take away our hand, or shoulder, i.e. He will separate our deeds from the deeds of holy people and those who are commanded to anoint their heads and, during fasting, to wash their faces from sinful defilements and to contemplate the glory of the Lord with an uncovered face (Matt. 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:18). Now we say: “The shame of my face has covered me” (Ps. 43:16), and like Cain our face is covered with a sign (Gen. 4:15), and we cannot fulfill what is commanded: “Lift up your eyes and see” (Jer. 13:20), but our faces are covered and polluted with the uncleanness of vices, and we say: “My wounds are rotten and stinking from the face. my madness" (Ps. 37:6). Therefore, all this turned into uncleanness, as the Scripture says: Impurity will cover you with itself [or: embrace you], precisely with what our faces are covered, while we must appear completely clean during the feasts of the Lord, or having put on shoes to eat the flesh of the lamb (Ex. 12:11), or after the completion of seven weeks, sacrifice to God the fruits of our deeds (Lev. 13), or move to live in tabernacles of this age and say: “I am a stranger and a stranger, like all my fathers” (Ps. 39:13). And since instead of what we translated: Uncleanness will cover us, Seventy translated: And I will gather you together, this suggests the idea that after the priests are covered with dishonor and shame, and then understand their sin and bring repentance, they will be accepted by God. The following also agrees with this kind of meaning: And you will know that it was I who sent this command. But it seems to me that the interpretation stated above is true, in which there is no need to combine words of threat with words of mercy, especially since the further words of the prophet sound indignation on behalf of God. Mal.2:5-7: My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave him fear, and he feared Me, and trembled at My name. The law of truth was on his lips, and unrighteousness was not on his tongue; he walked with Me in peace and righteousness, and he turned many away from unrighteousness. For the mouth of the priest shall keep knowledge, and the law shall be sought out of his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. LXX: “My covenant with him was a covenant of life and peace, and I gave him fear, that he might fear Me and tremble at My name. The law of truth [or: truth] was on his lips, and unrighteousness was not on his tongue. He walked with Me in the world, and turned many away from unrighteousness. For the mouth of the priest shall keep knowledge, and the law shall be required from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.” On behalf of God, the ministry of a perfect priest is described here, what he should be and what He who appointed him wanted him to be. Indeed, above He said: So that My covenant with Levi may be [kept], says the Lord of hosts. And through the patriarch Levi he passed on to his descendants, Aaron, Eleazar, Phinehas and others who came from this tribe; now at the end he says: You have made the covenant with Levi invalid, says the Lord of hosts. From this it is clearly seen that what is addressed to Levi refers to the priests and especially to the high priests. In the book of Numbers we read about Phinehas, who struck with a spear Zamri [the leader of the tribe of Simeon] with the harlot Midian: “Phinhas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the high priest turned away my wrath from the children of Israel, for he was jealous with zeal for me instead of them (contra eos); Therefore, I did not lose the children of Israel in My zeal, saying this: Behold, I will give [Vulg: I give] him a covenant of peace, and it will be for him and his seed after him for a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, because he showed zeal for his God and was an intercessor for the children of Israel” (Num. 25:8-13). And by a covenant or contract of life we ​​must understand a covenant not about that life, which we have the same with animals and all cattle, but a promise about that Life that says: “I am life” (John 14:6). For our life with Christ is hidden in God (Col. 3:3), about whom we can say that He is also our peace, as is confirmed by the words of the Apostle: “For He is our peace” (Eph. 2:14). So, the Lord gave to Levi, and through him to his descendants, so that they would fear God, “for the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord” (Ps. 110:10); they will tremble before His face, or retreat in humility, showing spiritual fear by physical trembling, according to what is written: “On whom will I rest, only the meek and lowly and trembling at My words” (Is. 66:2). The law of truth will be on his lips, i.e. the teaching of the people, which should not be outraged by anything false in the priest, but should flow entirely from a true source. And unrighteousness is not found on his tongue, so that he imitates his Lord, of whom it is said: “Who committed no sin, neither was flattery found on His lips” (1 Peter 2:22). He walked with me in truth and peace, so that he has peace within himself and reconciles others, but at the trial he does not take into account any person; he walks with God just as Enoch walked, who was taken up to the Lord and then was not found (Gen. 5:24). And he turned many away from untruth. A priest who does not correct those who fall destroys the work of the priesthood. The lips of the priest will keep knowledge, he did not say: they will give, but: they will keep, i.e. they will speak in due time and give food to those entrusted to their care. And they will seek the law at his mouth. The same is written by the prophet Haggai: “Ask the priests about the law of the Lord” (Hag.2:11). It is the duty of the priest to give an answer to questions about the law. He who will cover the one who loves ignorance in the rest and is negligent [of knowledge] in the Holy Scriptures, in vain boasts of a high service, the duties of which he does not fulfill. This is precisely what is envisaged in the words of the Apostle to Titus: “May he be able to convincingly instruct in sound doctrine and convict those who resist” (Titus 1:9), and to Timothy: “For from childhood you knew the Holy Scriptures, able to guide you to salvation” in order to convict sinners before everyone (2 Tim. 3:15). It follows: For he is the angel of the Lord of hosts. Ezra, the priest of God, shows the meaning of his name, i.e. Malachi, which means Angel of the Lord. And an angel, i.e. a messenger, the priest of God is called in the truest meaning of the word, for he is a mediator between God and people, and proclaims His will to the people of God. This is why the word judgment is placed on the priest’s chest. (Ex. 29), and in it there is teaching and truth, namely, so that we know that the priest must be a scientist and a proclaimer of Divine truth. - Some incorrectly believe that everything said to Levi and through Levi to the priests should be understood in relation to Christ: they do not pay attention to the fact that what follows in the prophecy does not correspond (contraria) to the person of Christ. Mal.2:8-9: But you have strayed from the way and are causing very many to stumble regarding the law. You have made void [My] covenant with Levi, says the Lord of hosts. Therefore I made you despicable and pitiful to all nations, since you did not keep My ways and showed partiality in the fulfillment of the law. LXX: “But you have turned away from My way and made many unsteady in the law, you have perverted [My] covenant with Levi, says the Lord Almighty. And I made you despised and rejected of all nations, because you did not keep My ways, but showed partiality in the fulfillment of the law.” This does not apply to the person of Christ, but to those who are placed in His service, as is clear to the prudent reader, even without my remark. The meaning of this passage is this: I wanted to make you what is shown in the above passage, and what I spoke about through Moses in Deuteronomy: “Give to Levi his teaching and the truth to a righteous man” (Deut. 33:8, - according to text LXX) and so on. But you have retreated or deviated from the right path, although I said: “Do not turn aside to the right hand or to the left” (Deut. 5:32), and you have made many unsteady in the law, or have led them astray regarding the law, as Aquila and Symmachus translated. To turn to the right means to abstain from the food that God created for consumption, to condemn marriage and to accept what is prohibited elsewhere: “Do not be too righteous” (Eccl. 7:16, - according to the text of LXX). To turn to the left means if someone indulges in luxury and lust and offends many in the law: it would be better for such a person if a millstone (asinarius) were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than to offend one of the least (Matthew 18:6). But those who, although they received the power of faith through faith in Christ, have made many unsteady in the law, make them unsteady due to their careless behavior; Regarding them, it is very rightly said: You invalidated My agreement with Levi, the agreement of life or peace, and other things related, as we said, to the ministry of the priest. Therefore, He says, I made you despised and rejected among all nations, so that they would humiliate you and, instead of glory and honor, trample on you as outcasts and despised, because you did not keep My ways and showed partiality in the fulfillment of the law. Among the many sins of Levi and those priests of God who descended from Levi, the extreme and most important sin is that they showed partiality in the execution of the law, so that they did not consider the matter, but looked at the faces, despising the poor righteous and willingly accepting and honoring the rich, but unjust. The speech is addressed to them in the eighty-first Psalm: “How long will you judge unrighteously and accept the face of sinners” (Ps. 82:2), and the Apostle Paul says to the Galatians: “God does not accept the face of man” (Gal. 2:6). The Apostle James more fully exposes and condemns this sin (James 2:1–10). Let us think that what is said to the Hebrew people is also said to us, so that we protect ourselves from vices and do not show partiality in the execution of the law and, being admirers of the law of God, do not prefer lies to the truth. Mal.2:10–12: Is He not one Father of us all? Didn't one God create us? So, why does each of us despise his brother, violating the agreement of our fathers? Judas transgressed him, and a vile deed was committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judas despised the holy thing of the Lord, which he [before] loved, and took for himself the daughter of a foreign God. The Lord will destroy [or: let him destroy] the man who did this work, the mentor and disciple from the tents of Jacob, and the one who sacrifices the gift to the Lord of hosts. LXX: “Have you not all one Father? Didn't God alone create you? Why has every one abandoned his brother, so that you have profaned the covenant of your fathers. Judas was abandoned, and an abominable deed was done in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judas despised the holy thing of the Lord, which he loved, and joined strange gods. May the Lord destroy the man who does this, until he is driven out of Jacob’s tents and from among those who sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.” Before we begin to discuss the present passage, we must set forth the tradition of the Hebrews, and then explain the truth of Scripture. In the scroll bearing the inscription of Ezra, we read on behalf of the speaker Ezra: “The leaders came to me saying: The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites were not separated from the foreign nations and from their abominable deeds, namely, from the Canaanite, and the Hethite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Egyptians, and the Amorites. Because they took in marriage their daughters and their sons, and mixed the holy seed with foreign nations. Even the hand of rulers and commanders was in the first place in this crime. And when I heard these words, I tore my outer and lower garments, and pulled out the hair of my head and my beard, and sat in great tribulation” (1 Ezra 9:1-3). And then in the next place: “And some of the sons of the priests were found who had taken foreign wives in marriage—[namely] of the sons of Joshua the son of Jozadek, and his brothers: Maaziah, and Eleazar, and Jareb, and Gedaliah. And they made sure that they would let their wives go, and for their transgression they would sacrifice a ram from the sheep” (1 Ezra 10:18-19). Also at the end of the chapter, after listing all those who took foreign women in marriage, Scripture says: “All these took in marriage women of a foreign tribe, and there were some from among them who bore children” (1 Ezra 10:44). So, those who returned from the captivity of Babylon, both princes and priests, and Levites, and the rest of the people, rejected their wives from the family of Israel, who, due to poverty, the difficulties of the long journey and the weakness of their sex, could not bear suffering, were exhausted, weakened and turned ugly; they entered into marriage alliances with foreign women of flourishing age, beauties or those distinguished by their nobility and wealth of the family. Thus Ezra had to correct such people, and he called on them to dissolve new marriages so that they would again bring back those wives they had rejected. The Prophet says: Do we not all have one father, Abraham? What Isaiah also writes about: “Look at your father Abraham and at Sarah who gave birth to you, for he was alone, and I called him” (Is. 51:2). Didn’t God alone create us, who chose our race from Abraham? So, why do we despise our former wives and reject the daughters of our brothers, so that we reject the agreement [covenant] of our fathers and take wives not according to the law? Judah transgressed [the treaty] - for it was this tribe that returned from Babylon with the priests and Levites - and an abominable deed was committed in Israel and Jerusalem, and not among the ten tribes that were captive to the Assyrians, but among those who returned from Babylon during the reign of Cyrus under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah. For Judah despised the holy thing of the Lord, which he had first loved, and took the daughter of a foreign God, mixing the seed of Israel with foreign women and taking pagan wives in marriage, i.e. born among those tribes that worship idols. And that is why the prophet’s speech is directed against them and they are distracted from sin by threats. The Lord will destroy the man who does this. With what amazing mercy (quam pulchre) He did not reject the possibility of forgiveness of sin, and did not say: “The Lord curses the one who did this,” postponing the possibility of damnation until the future, in order to call sinners to repentance; the teacher, he says, and the student [will be destroyed] from the tents of Judah, i.e. whether it be a priest or a layman, they will be subject to the same curse: there will be no difference in punishment for those who are the same in their sins. And the one who brings a gift - meaning: “from man” - to the Lord of hosts, i.e. The Lord will also destroy the one who would like to offer a gift for a person of this kind at the altar: the only way for such people is not to do what they did. Some, not understanding this passage and not knowing exactly the past events, understand the words: “Isn’t it one father among us all” in relation to Abraham in the sense that Abraham is the father of even the Gentiles, according to what is written: “The Lord is able even from these stones to raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:9). Or at least they assert that the one Father is God, according to what we read in Deuteronomy: “Isn’t this the Father who purchased you, created you and created you” (Deut. 32:6) And again: “God who created you, you have forsaken” [ibid., v. 18]. And in another place: “I have begotten sons and raised them up, but they have forsaken Me” (Is. 1:2). And in the scroll of Psalms: “The strange sons have lied before Me; the sons of strangers became worn out and began to limp [straying] from their ways” (Ps. 17:45-46). And those who sinned, departing from this one Father, made many the fathers of their vices, for everyone who commits sin is born of the devil (1 John 3:8). The following words: Why does each of us despise his brother, violating the agreement of our fathers? They interpreted it in the sense that we, born of one father, should, according to them, be one and have one mouth to confess the faith, but then, as a result of pride and the creation of a tower [in Babylon] against God, we were divided into many nations (Gen. 11:8) both in language and in mind. This passage is also referred to almsgiving when they say that we despise our brothers when we do not give them what we have received from God to support life. They even go so far as to say that, according to the word of Scripture, they call the Lord our brother, Who commanded Mary Magdalene to tell His brethren that the Lord has risen from the dead (John 20:17) and says in the Psalm: “I will proclaim Your name to Your brothers, and in the midst of the Church I will sing to You” (Ps. 21:23). So, the Jews abandoned their brothers and despised the agreement of their fathers, concluded by God with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that through their seed, which is understood as Christ, all nations would be blessed. Regarding this they make various guesses because they do not find the proper way [to understand]. Then further words according to the text of LXX: Judah was abandoned, and an abominable deed was done in Israel and in Jerusalem, they explain this way: The Jews were abandoned because they slandered the Lord Savior and were subjected to what is written: “Because of the multitude of their wickedness, drive them out, for they have angered You, O Lord!” (Ps. 5:11) so that they, scattered throughout all regions, wander like fugitives. Indeed, they desecrated the shrine of the Lord, loving instead of the Son of God and inventing foreign gods for themselves, “for whoever does not receive the Son does not receive the Father who sent Him” (John 5:23). And now, since they have done this, pursue them until they are pacified either by the disasters of captivity, or by the consciousness of their sins, and let them be thrown out of the tents of Judah, so that after the destruction of the church and the altar, sacrifices [or: animals] will no longer be offered to them. And those who are dissatisfied with this kind of interpretation, for Jude (יהודה) means confession of the Lord, instead of repentance translate: the mind of one who, having sinned - after confessing the Lord, commits abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem, [i.e.] in the feeling contemplating God and in the vision of the world. In fact, he desecrated the sacrament of Christ by unworthily eating His body and blood (1 Cor. 11:27); for he loved vices and invented alien gods for himself, i.e. has gods according to the number of his sins, as the Apostle Paul also says, that for the gluttonous the belly is god (Phil. 3:19), and according to the word of [Apostle] Peter [or: James]: “Whoever is overcome by someone is subject to him” (2 Pet. 2:19). And whoever does this will be expelled [or: excluded] from the Church and from the tents of Jacob, as one who instills vices and sins, until he humbles himself for his own good, and until a sacrifice is made for him to the Almighty Lord. Mal.2:13-16: And besides this, this is what you have done: you have covered the altar of the Lord with tears, weeping and mourning [Vulg: with a loud cry], so that I will no longer look upon the sacrifice and will not accept any propitiatory offering from your hand. And you said: For what reason? Because the Lord was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, whom you treated with disdain; and she is your partner, and your wife by agreement. But didn’t He alone create [you], and doesn’t His spirit remain? And what is [This] one looking for, if not the seed of God? And so preserve your spirit, and do not despise the wife of your youth. When you hate her, let her go, says the Lord God of Israel; and injustice shall cover his garment, says the Lord of hosts. Guard your spirit and do not be disdainful. LXX: “But you did what I hate, you covered the altar of the Lord with tears - weeping and crying out of care. Is it worthy to look upon the sacrifice and accept, as pleasing [to Me], the offering from your hands? And you said: For what reason? Because the Lord testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you left, and she is your partner, and a wife by agreement with you, and it was not another who created [her], and [she] is the remnant of your spirit. And you said: What is God looking for besides the seed? Therefore guard in your spirit, and do not forsake the wife of your youth: but if you hate her, let her go, says the Lord God of Israel. Wickedness will cover your thoughts, says the Lord Almighty. Therefore guard in your spirit, and do not forsake [them].” Let us explain past events and, adapting brief arguments to each individual expression (singulis versiculis), we will find out what was transmitted to us from the Jews. The abandoned women of Israel, seeing women of foreign nations on the beds of their husbands, resorted to the help of God alone, day and night prostrating themselves with tearful weeping before the altar of the Lord, and with sobs and cries, complaining about His providence, as if not looking at the affairs of men and not providing help in misfortunes [or: the unfortunate]. Therefore God says that He cannot accept offerings and sacrifices from the hands of the priests who allowed this; since such acceptance is hindered by the bitter crying of women; in addition, to their question: “Why will He not accept the sacrifice at their hands,” He immediately then answers: Because the Lord testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you neglected; He says: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh” (Gen. 2:24); Therefore, she is called a partner and a wife by agreement and by unity, created by God from the side of her husband, and his spirit remains, i.e. God, as some believe, or a husband, as others think, because due to a strong feeling they both seem to have in some way one soul, as united in spirit and inseparable in thought. Therefore, since One and the Same created both, i.e. husband and wife, then the union of both of them was created by God so that children could be born. For what does God want if not the seed of God, i.e. sons born from the Israelite family. So, when you have fertile spouses and enjoy offspring, why do you seek female beauty, which is suitable [more] for mistresses than for wives. Therefore, God commands through the prophet and says: Guard your spirit so as not to be carried away by lust and not to succumb to the love of foreign women. And do not treat the wife of your youth with contempt, so that she who was originally united to you in virgin marriage will continually be with you until old age. But it could also be that the leaders and the priests and the Levites and the people would answer: God commanded through Moses that when we hate our wives greatly, we should let them go. Thus [this passage] should read like this: You say to me, [here] it is written: “When you hate your wife greatly, let her go, says the Lord God of Israel” (Deut. 24:1ff). To this objection He directly answers: True, this is written in the law, but because of your hardness of heart. This is set out more fully in the Gospel: “Whoever, except in the case of adultery, unjustly lets his wife go” (Matthew 5:32), unrighteousness will cover his clothing, i.e. the body that covers the soul, says the Lord of hosts, so that whatever he sins, he will be punished. Therefore, having resolved this question, He again inspires through repetition of the same thing: Keep your spirit and do not be disdainful [meaning] either to care for your spirit, or, perhaps, to your wife, even if she were poor and ugly. What we have interpreted in strict accordance with the book of Ezra regarding abandoned wives, others recognize as being said in general about those who steal the property of others and, collecting unrighteous things, dare to sacrifice to God such gifts as He cannot accept in any way, for the obstacle to this is the tears, sobs and cries of those who have been robbed; these interpreters connect this place with the well-known saying of Scripture: “Honor God with your righteous labors” (Proverbs 3:9). In addition, they also see here the meaning that some people, due to the loss of their property, or due to the death of children, or due to shipwreck and other disasters that led a person to the loss of temporary goods (rerum saecularium), turn to tears and completely indulge in sobs and cries, and do not despise all this with firmness of spirit, encouraged by hope in God and promises of rewards in the future; Such people, even if they turned their prayers to God, will not be heard from Him, because they have dishonored themselves with indecent sobs, uncharacteristic of men. And the following words: For the Lord has testified between you and the wife of your youth, whom you have despised; and she is your partner [or: your part] and a wife by agreement [or: covenant]; and it was not another who created [her], and [she is] the remnant of your spirit, they explain in such a way that by the wife of youth they mean natural reason, and the law written in the heart, implanted in all people, according to which people, even those who do not have the law, by nature do what is lawful: about this wife it is supposedly proclaimed in parables: “A woman is given from God for marriage to her husband” (Prov. 19:14), and we are commanded to drink water only from our vessels and sources, and no one should be a partner in our drinking, and we should rejoice with the wife of our youth. This spouse encourages even unbelievers to say: “Let God judge, let God see” (Judges 11:27), and I allow Him to judge everything between me and you; Ecclesiastes also speaks about this wife: “Spend your life with the wife whom you have loved all the days of your vanity that are given to you under the sun” (Eccl. 9:9). This wife is constantly with our spirit, because she is always connected with our feeling; if she retreats from us, then we immediately offend God, and our misfortune covers us. Why is it repeated again: Guard your spirit, not the flesh, for those who live in it cannot be pleasing to God (Rom. 8:8), not the [lower] soul, for “the natural man does not receive the things of the spirit” (1 Cor. 2:14), but the spirit, for “the spirit cries out for us with groanings that cannot be expressed” (Rom. 8:26). Mal.2:17: You troubled the Lord with your speeches, and said, How have we troubled Him? Because you say: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and such are pleasing to Him? Or like this: Where is the just God? LXX: “You boldly called on the Lord in your speeches and said: For what do we boldly call on You? In what you say: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and in such He finds what is pleasing to Himself, and [in what you say]: Where is the God of righteousness? This passage sets forth more fully the seventy-second Psalm, which begins: “How good is the God of Israel to them that are upright in heart; my legs can hardly move, and my feet almost slipped; for I became jealous for the unrighteous, seeing the peaceful life of sinners, for their death is not taken into account, and the blows from them are strong. They do not participate in human labors, and are not scourged along with people” (Ps. 73: 1-5) and then: “And I said: So, have I justified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence” (ibid., v. 13). Thus, the people, returning from Babylon and seeing that all the surrounding nations, even serving the idols of Babylon, abound in wealth, have flourishing bodily health and possess everything that is considered good in real life, and, on the contrary, having divine knowledge, seeing themselves in extreme untidiness, poverty and slavery, they are seduced by this and say: In human affairs there is no providence of God: everything is fickle. by chance; and how is it governed by Divine justice? Why does He prefer evil [or: the evil are pleasing], and not good [or: the good are not pleasing]? or: if God undoubtedly reasons about everything, then where is His righteous and impartial judgment? The mind that does not believe in the future daily turns to God questions of this kind: and when it sees that the unjust are in power, and the saints are in humiliation, and when it sees that the former have an extreme abundance of everything (omnibus rebus affluere), while the latter lack even what is necessary for life, and that sometimes they suffer from deafness of the ears, from blindness of the eyes and from wounds on all parts of the body and diseases, like Lazarus, about whom we read in the Gospel (Luke 16), and who, in front of the gates of a rich man dressed in purple, wanted to support his miserable life with the crumbs falling from what was left on the tables. And the rich man was so brutally cruel that, being a man, he had no compassion for man, for whom even the tongue of dogs showed pity; people who do not know about the time of judgment and that true good is that which endures forever, say: The wicked are pleasing to Him and: Where is the God of justice?