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Hos.13:1–2 253 . His justification 254 This one was taken into Israel, and I was laid down by Baal, and I died. And now add another sin 255, and create for yourself a merger from... your silver 256 in the image of idols, the work of the artists was accomplished by him 257. Here he accuses not each of the ten tribes specifically, but all of Israel and says that, although they were given excuses through Moses, by which they were instructed in how they should serve God and how they should make sacrifices, they dedicated it to Baal, or to idols (sometimes part means the whole), namely: they made sacrifices no longer to God, but to the works of their own hands; in their honor they celebrated festivities, brought demands, first fruits, worship, propitiatory gifts and, depriving God of the glory inherent in Him, gave it to idols. But, having done this, Israel says, “I will die, and again I will sin” 258 - it’s the same as if he said: he was punished for his deed, he died for his daring. He knew the indignation of the Lord, who sends bloody punishment on those who err; however, he did not at all lag behind his rudeness; on the contrary, he was guilty of other similar offenses. Thus, he read in Numbers, that the children of Israel committed fornication, inflamed with immeasurable lusts, and became attached to the women of Moab, and then for this they suffered a punishment that surpasses all others. It is written about it this way: “And Israel lived in Setim 259, and the people became defiled by fornication with the daughters of Moabli. And I called upon my idol for my demands: and I ate the people’s demands, and bowed down to their idol. And Israel communed with Beelphegor, and the Lord was angry with Israel. And the Lord said to Moses 260: Give drink to all the princes of men, and I will rebuke the Lord directly 261 to the sun, and the wrath of wrath and the Lord will turn away from Israel. And Moses said to the tribe 262 of Israel: Beat every one of your snakes who served 263 Beelphegor” (Num. 25:1-5). When this was carried out, a considerable number of Israelites fell. So, notice that Israel, who rendered the “justifications” of God 264 in the time of Moses, died in a pitiful manner, because everyone who went astray was killed by the sword of his relatives, and not by someone else’s hand. However, “make a mistake: make yourself a fusion” of gold, and the works of the artist, and the gods, worked by the art of artisans. The speech seems to mock their frivolity, because they consider those whom they themselves make to be gods. Therefore, let the psalmist proclaim about them: “Let those who create be like them, I, and all who trust in her” (Ps. 113:16). Hos.13:2–3. These say: devour men, for the calves are scarce. For this reason they will be like the morning cloud, and 265 like the morning dew coming 266, and 267 like dust blown from the current 268, and like 269 smoke from a chimney. Again he reproaches for the fact that they not only wickedly dressed the silver given by God in the form of idols, and attached the name of divine glory to products made of wood and stones, but even fell to such ignorance, it is better to say - rudeness, inhumanity and bestial savagery, or even more than that, that they did not spare their own children, but slaughtered them for demons, although God turns away from this matter and never tolerated anyone even pronounced its very name to others, or heard it from someone, since the Lord does not like blood and does not find pleasure in exterminating people. Far from it, for, but what is written, “creating into being all things 270, and saving the beings of the world” (Wis. 1:14). But since both the inventor and the culprit of death are an apostate dragon, he rejoices in the killing of people. And he explains that the mere reminder of this is hateful to God, saying: “these say: devour men, for the calves have become scarce.” It is not My word, he says, - I have never uttered such a saying, but the worshipers of demons themselves say that people should be sacrificed to them. Then he ridicules the thought and blasphemes the undertaking, adding and saying: they must not have had calves; That's why they chose murder. But even if, he says, you were lost, considering those sculptured and merged to be gods, why did you stain their altars with blood? And in Kings (2 Kings 16) we read that Jotham had a son Ahaz, who reigned over Judah, and he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, burned incense on the high places, brought his own son through the fire and sacrificed to the demons what came and was born from him. But since they did this, he says, “they will be like the cloud of the morning, and like the dew, like dust, like the smoke from a chimney,” that is, having appeared for a short time, they will go into destruction and turn into nothing, because the “cloud of the morning,” that is, fog, dew, dust and smoke from a chimney, are very mobile and dissipate in a very short time, or better yet, in an instant. Indeed: what is the existence of dust, or dew, or evaporation consisting of smoke? Hos.13:4. But the Lord thy God establisheth the heavens, and createth the earth, by whose hand thou shalt create all the host of heaven, and thou shalt not show them, even thou walkest after them. It always seems that the ugliness of false wisdom is exposed by the fact that true knowledge is put on display and, like a light, a word shines during night and darkness, instructing one to right thoughts. Therefore, he denounces the Israelites for the fact that they, filled with extreme senselessness and reaching the highest limit of misfortune, began to honor the “merger” and “works of artists,” bypassing the true and by nature God, and says that He is the one who establishes the sky, strengthens the earth and the creator of the stars, and condemns them for the fact that they, leaving as a dream the possibility of knowing the Creator from creations, made them the reason for their own seduction. But it was not so that the Divine glory would be dishonored that that which was elevated to the level of gods among the earth-born appeared, but so that, as the Holy Scripture says, “from the majesty and beauty of creatures comparatively” (Wis. 13:5), the mind of the prudent would ascend to the comprehension of the corresponding power and wisdom of the Creator. So the Creator did not show us the creation so that we would worship it, and even testified in advance through Moses, saying: “Let not when you look up to heaven, and see the sun and the moon and the stars, and all the beauty of heaven, and be deceived, bow down to them, and serve them, which the Lord your God has divided with all the tongue that is under heaven” (Deut. 4:19). They called the things intended to indicate the times and placed in the form of luminaries (Gen. 1:14-18) gods, dared to worship them and, seeking something even more shameful than this, began - unfortunate ones - to regard fusions and wood as gods, worshiping the art of coppersmiths and woodworkers. Hos.13:4–6. And I brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you don’t know God, and you don’t have one who saves you. I shepherded you in the desert, in uninhabited lands, in their pastures. In these words, a great denunciation of insensitivity and types of help are placed side by side to show the degree of ingratitude of the Israelites. He denounces, as I believe, not for ignorance of what to do, but for the fact that, through the greatest craftiness and cunning, they deviated towards insensibility and, so to speak, were led to oblivion of what should always have been remembered. Namely: the cursed Jeroboam, raising up heifers for them, said: “Behold your gods to Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28). They, although they knew that this was not the work of anyone else, but of God, offered thanksgiving sacrifices to hand-made heifers and, I don’t know how, convinced each other to attribute to them the most excellent deeds of God. Therefore, as if he sobers them up, as if drunk from the wine of Sodom (Deut. 32:32), saying that He, obviously, is the one who brought the work out of the house (Exod. 13:14), and commanded through Moses: “let you not be gods other than me” (Exod. 20:3), and that He alone saves and without effort does everything that He wants, He is the one who fed in the desert ( Deut.1:31), who opened the springs of water (Num.20) “in a land that is empty and impenetrable and without water” (Ps.62:2), who sent down manna (Ex.16, etc.). giving from heaven “the bread of angels” (Ps. 77:25) and, like a good shepherd, feeding until satiety “in their pastures,” or in their camps (Compare Num. 33:2), because the Israelites in the desert did not suffer the need for anything good, although they moved from place to place and were in an impenetrable and barren land. So we must always remember what we have received from God, and try as far as possible from our minds to keep oblivion about it, as a source of destruction and as annoying to the point of indignation the giver of all our prosperity - God, for the ungrateful is also a blasphemer (2 Tim. 3:2), as someone wisely said. Hos.13:6. And their hearts were filled to the point of fulfillment, and their hearts were lifted up, and for this reason they forgot me. Just as the most experienced doctors, very carefully examining the causes of illnesses, try to stop them, using the aids of art, in the same way, I think, God, of everyone, looking inside the mind and heart, tests the causes of our ailments, and then uses the ailing mind with decent medicines. Therefore, he accuses the Israelites of the fact that, as a result of great happiness, they came into oblivion about the One who gave them all the means of life and everything that could serve for enlightenment, although the law clearly proclaimed: “Take heed to yourself, do not forget the Lord your God, lest you keep his commandments, and his destiny, and his justification, as I command you this day: lest you eat food and be satisfied, and build good houses, and dwell in you, and your sheep, and your oxen, 272 which has multiplied for you, the silver and gold that has multiplied for you, and all the trees that have multiplied for you will be exalted in your heart, and you have forgotten the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of work: who led you through the great and terrible desert, in it biting serpents, and scorpions, and thirst, but there is no more water in it” (Deut. 8:11-15). Indeed, luxury and arrogance with unexpected honors almost always has the ability to lead us to the oblivion of God and the power to plunge the human mind into everything that is unreasonable. For proof, I think, it is enough for Israel, which enjoyed all the joys of happiness and in this fullness of happiness found for itself a reason for such a terrible illness. So, contentment is a dangerous and difficult matter and, as it were, some kind of easy path to retreat from God: much better is sorrow in moderation. The sayings of the saints will be our guarantee in this. So, someone said: “Lord, in tribulation you are remembered, in tribulation your punishment is small for us” (Is. 26:16): and the wisest Paul considered tribulation as the root and source of every good for us, saying: “tribulation makes patience, but patience is an art; art is hope; but hope does not put to shame” (Rom. 5:3-5): and the divine David sings in one place: “It is good for me, for you have humbled me, so that I may learn through your justification” (Ps. 119:71). Hos.13:7–8. And I will be to them like panfir, and like a lynx on the way of the Assyrians 273 I will kill them like a bear deprived, and I will destroy the union of their hearts: and there 274 I will devour the skimney oak trees, the beast 275 I will be half dissolved. Since the fullness of happiness has become for them a source of death and a reason for retreat, then sorrows are finally sent to them, and, moreover, in accordance with their ailments. After all, bodies severely affected by disease and already rotten do not respond to weak medicines at all, but require iron and fire. Likewise, when the greatness of divine mercy brought them little benefit (not to say any at all), the severity of beasts was applied to the Israelites. He likens himself to the most terrible, predatory animals and those with the greatest inclination towards ferocity, not because, of course, the divine and ineffable nature is capable of such anger, but because the Assyrians will act with such uncontrollable anger and will turn out to be inhuman and unmerciful (and what else can you expect from such people?) But this action can be appropriated to God, since He Himself allowed it to happen, sending appropriate punishment to those who sinned so gravely. So: I will find them like panfir, like a lynx, because they will be taken to the land of Assyria. I will meet them as “a she-bear is deprived,” that is: hungry or very angry that her cubs were taken away from her (then, he says, the beast in particular reaches the limits of its characteristic rage). “And I will destroy the connection of their hearts.” “Fortitude” here means firmness, and firmness of heart is the courage that is demonstrated against enemies, and when it is crushed, then the torments of timidity appear, so that victory without a fight goes to the enemies - the same as if he said: I will bring them into extreme timidity, while the opponents will look like a hungry and childless animal, I mean a bear. And that those captured by the bonds of captivity and taken to the Assyrian land will not receive any reversal of disasters, and that misfortunes will seem to follow him there too, he shows by saying: “And I will eat the skimni oak forests there, the beasts will destroy me in half,” for the wild tribes of the Assyrians, very prone to cruelty, are likened to the skimni oak forests. Hos.13:9–12. In your dispersion 276 O Israel, who will help you? Where is this king of yours? And 277 may he save you in all your cities:... may 278 judge you, about whom you said: give me a king and a prince. And I gave you a king in my wrath, and in my wrath I restrained the heap of unrighteousness 279. I have already said a little higher that God blamed the Israelites for choosing to submit to the yoke of man and refusing the reign of God himself, despite the fact that he reigned over their ancestors through the holy prophets. Thus, he said that “the Lord brought Israel out of the land of Egypt with a prophet, and provided him with a prophet” (Hos. 12:13). And you, he says, having refused to live under the authority of God, stepped on blessed Samuel, saying: “Behold, you are old, but your sons do not walk in your way: and now set a king over us, like the rest of the tongues” (1 Samuel 8:5). Did you expect salvation from him? Where is he now? Now is the time to show up: let him fight your war, let him arm himself with brilliance, let him save cities, let him protect his subjects, let him repel opponents, let him cheerfully drive away those who want to devastate houses and cities. But perhaps you will say: suppose I appeared as a supplicant, but You gave and anointed Saul? Yes, he says: but in anger I gave a leader “and restrained the heap of unrighteousness in my rage,” as he who was offended, he says, by you, and, so to speak, deposed from the royal throne, became very angry regarding your decision. However, he says, although I knew that the matter was not necessary, I directed it to benefit, however, so that experience would perfectly prove to you that in this you were planning something evil and unkind. Really: where is he now? What benefit does it have to those suffering from war? But if you again resorted to My mercy and power, then, of course, you would be stronger than your enemies. Hos.13:12–13. Ephraim, his sin is hidden: illnesses like those that give birth will come to him: this wise son of yours 280, now 281 will not stand in the contrition of children. This, I think, is what it is: “sickness is conceived and iniquity is born” (Ps. 7:15). At the beginning, Jeroboam, in order not to lose the scepter, when Israel wanted to make legal sacrifices and for this purpose went to Jerusalem, invented golden heifers and, as it were, took on the soul of some embryo of an evil seed, embellished and, as it were, hidden sin. But, he says, the time for childbirth will come. By it again we must understand the time of war and captivity, because if this did not happen to Ephraim himself, then it befell his descendants or successors to power who ever appeared, because they were imitators of his wickedness. So, he turns, as it were, to the congregation of Samaria and says: who will save you? Isn't this your wise son? Saying “this one” either indicates a modern king who enjoyed the honor of being considered reasonable (this is always characteristic of sovereigns), or hints at something else dating back to the time when there was a prophetic word. So in the eleventh year of the reign of Ahaz 282 over Judah in Jerusalem, over Israel in Samaria, Hosea the son of Elah reigned, who did evil in the sight of the Lord. But at this time Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, fought against Samaria, “and Hosea became his servant” (2 Kings 17:3). And the king of Assyria was very angry with him, for this reason: he (Shalmaneser) sent messengers to him, demanding tribute 283 and the usual, and he, not wanting to obey him, sent an embassy to Zoar, king of Egypt, demanding help from him, being angry at this. Shalmaneser besieged Samaria for three whole years: then, having captured Hosea alive, he made him a prisoner and enrolled him as a slave: he also resettled Israel to the mountainous regions of the Persians and Medes. Therefore, it seems that the prophetic word here points us to Hosea, the son of Eli, whom he calls wise, not because he was truly wise, but as if in the form of a mockery of him, namely: in the opinion of the Israelites, he turned out to be reasonable and gave very wise advice, inviting help from Egypt for them, but it turned out that he did and advised empty and useless things. So, he says, who will save you from enduring incurable troubles? “This 284 wise son of yours will not stand in the contrition of your children,” because, he says, when your children are crushed, he will not stand either: he will be taken as a slave and captive, along with the others he will go to the Assyrians. Therefore, he who sings is wise: “The Lord is my strength and my song” (Ps. 118:14), for from Him is all strength and salvation, “and the one who saves is not” Him (Hos. 13:4). Os.13:14. I will deliver you from the hand of hell, and I will redeem you from death: where is your right, O death? where is your osten, hell? Having expressed to those who have sinned the consequences of anger and foreshadowed what kind of offense will be, he again returns to divine mercy and that the earthly race is not forever rejected and does not rush to uncontrollable and endless destruction, but over time there will be some mercy and a return to the primitive state in Christ, this explains, adding that he will save from the hand of hell and redeem from death - obviously those who were guilty of it due to sin against the Creator and the original crime of Adam. And this promise is made not only to Ephraim or the descendants of Israel, but to all the inhabitants of the earth, because, as the God-speaking Paul writes, God is not “only of the Jews, but also of the tongues,” for He justified “the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision by faith” (Rom. 3:29-30). And he redeemed us from the hand of hell, that is, from the dominion of death, and the death of Christ is considered the image of redemption, since he voluntarily suffered death on the tree for us and triumphed over the principalities and powers, nailing to it “the handwriting that is written upon us” (Col. 2:14). It was then that “all iniquity stopped its mouth” (Ps. 107:42), and the power of death was destroyed after the destruction of sin, for it is the victory of death and the sting of hell. This is how the wise Paul interpreted it for us, because he said: “The sting... of death is sin: but the power of sin is the law” (1 Cor. 15:56). Therefore, when the sin of all is destroyed in Christ, it is fair for us to say: “Where is your victory, O death? where is your osten, hell? For – “God justifies, who condemns? Christ Jesus died” (Rom. 8:33–34) for us, or better to say, “who gave himself redemption for all” (1 Tim. 2:6), the one most worthy of all, through whom and in whom we were enriched by returning again to incorruption. Hos.13:14–15. The consolation is hidden from my sight: for this reason will separate the brethren. We will read the first section of the present saying as a question and with a sign (of a question) - and if we understand correctly, then it can indicate to us this: human nature has become exhausted, he says, with the variety of sin and has strayed immeasurably towards the criminal; therefore, she was righteously condemned to death: after that, what means of assistance to the victims is this, or how to eliminate what happened, I will see for myself, or, better yet, I have already determined. Or: is there anyone among you who has reached such a level of damage to the mind as to think and say that there is such a way of consolation and tranquility that the divine and intact mind would not see? For I am an artist and lack strength in nothing, but I know everything well and carry out my plans without delay. However, he says, “this one will separate the brothers.” With this He proclaims to us Our Lord Jesus Christ, because He is the consolation of all, the instrument of healing: the Father predestined Him “before the years of eternity” (Titus 1:2) as the Savior and Tempter of those possessed by death: He said of Him that He “will separate among the brethren.” What does this mean? We hear that the Savior of us all, Christ Himself, says: “Do not remember that He came to bring peace to the earth; He did not come to bring peace, but a sword; for he came to separate a man from his father, and a daughter from his mother, and a bride from his mother-in-law: and defeat a man's household" (Matthew 10:34-36), and in another place, foreshadowing the future of the holy disciples, he says: "brother will betray brother to death" and the father will rise up against his sons (Matthew 10:21). And since He crushed the dominion of the devil and delivered the deceived from the pits of idolatry, He therefore bound them so much with love that believers regard natural affection as nothing, renounce brothers, fathers, houses and clans, and for complete complacency it will be enough for them to be called to Christ. Therefore, blessed David, as if on behalf of those who do this, sings in one place and says: “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will receive me” (Ps. 26:10). Os.13:15. The Lord will bring a hot wind 286 from the Nan desert, and dry up his veins... 287: this will dry up his land and all his beloved vessels. He brings the speech to the very face of death, and likens Christ to the southern and sultry wind, Who, he says, will eventually rush out of the desert. It must first of all be noted that the country of Judea has a vast and vast desert lying in the southern part, and when a strong wind happened to blow from there, they were in no small fear, because the country was perishing, and according to some, even the very water veins located in the earth produced a slower delivery (of water) and stopped from the attack of a strong and fiery blow. Thus, they borrow speech from what they know and have experienced. So the prophetic word told us that Christ will rush against death like a scorching wind that will dry up all its sources 288 and veins. Consequently, he endures figurative speech (and very correctly) and, with the help of an ordinary phenomenon, makes an explanation of the sacrament. The veins and sources of death, we think, indicate the paths of destruction or evil and opposing forces, because with their help it seems to control the crowd of all those who have ever been destroyed. So understand “and her beloved vessels”, because it is fair to call “vessels” (instruments) that destroy earth-born and dear to death, or evil and opposing forces, or some wicked people on earth, servants of her cruelty and destroying others along with them. So, he says, when the hot wind blows, the whole land of death will dry up. Again, figurative (metaphorical) speech is used, just as if someone said: death devoured those living on earth as if there was some abundant food, but it will become dry, and death will not find pasture for itself, because corruption was destroyed after Christ provided everyone with life and made it possible to again gain incorruption. In almost all Greek copies, Chapter XIII begins with the words: κατά τὸν λόγον Ἑφραίμ according to Ephraim. Theodore of Mopsuetsky refers them to the previous chapter. As can be seen from the interpretation of St. Cyril, and he read these words, also referring them to the XIIth chapter. Λικαιώματα αὐτοῦ instead of the usual δικαιώματα. In glory: and now having committed (προςίθεντο) to sin; in interpretation: καὶ πάλιν προςέθετο τοῦ ἀμαριάνειν (Cf. Arm. καὶ νῦν πάλιν..., where both options can be preserved). In glory: from his gold and silver, according to many Greek and some Jewish publications. In glory with a different division: the work of the artists is completed, these things are said to them. Σετίμ: glor.: Sattim (Σαττείμ). Τῷ Μωυςῆ; slav.: to Moses πρὸς Μωυσῆν (Alex.). Απέναντι (Vatic.). In others ἐναντίον, ἔναντι. Ταῖς φυλαῖς (Vatic. etc.). Slav.: to the tribe. Τὸν τετελέσμένον. Wed. Art. 3. Missing here is τοῖς γλυπτοῖς, or τοῖς εἰδώλεις, or τῷ Βαάλ, τῳ Βεελφεγώρ. Meaning: Israel, giving Divine honors, ascribing Divine rights to idols, graven images, Baal, Beelphegor... Πορευομένη: glory. going πορευόμενοι, as it is read in some lists. In glory: like chaff from a current (and dust from a branch) blown by a whirlwind ἀποφυσώμενος λαίλαπι (cf. Holmes’s variants), and variants of various codes are combined. He created everything in being, created everything for being, for being. In glory: those who knew οι αναγαγοντες (Vatican, etc.). The text of St. Cyril agrees with the Alexandrian. In glory: both to your ox and to your sheep. In glory: and like a lynx on the way of the Assyrians: and I will hide. Τῇ διασπορᾷ σου (in a few lists); glory: your destruction. Slav. with a different division: established (εοχον) in my rage. Co-building d. Οὗτος ο υἱός σοι ο φρόνιμος. Slav.: You are the son of the unwise σοι φρόνιμος, according to many Greek copies and the Hebrew text. Usually: εν ἐτει δωδεκᾶτῳ. Μαναά (according to Vatik;. etc.) Heb. מנחָה. Apparently, denial should be implied here. Here δίκη, in the interpretation νικη victory. Slav.: The Lord will bring a hot wind. In the text of St. Cyril, the arrangement of words corresponds to the Hebrew original. Words omitted: καὶ ἐξερημώσει τὰς πηγὰς αὐτοῦ; glory: and he will devastate its springs. From further interpretation (φλέβας δὲ καὶ πηγάς) it is clear that the omission belongs to the publishers, and not to the manuscript of St. Cyril. In the text πληγάς; should read: πηγάς. You might be interested in: