Interpretation of the prophet Hosea

Between 412 and 418 St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote a series of interpretations on the minor prophets - a total of 12 parts, according to the number of prophetic books. The preface to each book describes the historical setting and purpose of the prophecies. The beginning of the preface to the interpretation of the Book of the Prophet Hosea is an introduction to the entire corpus of interpretations. Interpretations of St. Kirill are reduced to the unity of typological (proto-educational), spiritual (anagogical) and literal (historical) methods. In his opinion, the books of the prophets do not need allegorical interpretation to clarify their Christological meaning, since by their nature they prophesy about Christ. For St. Cyril of Alexandria, there are only two meanings of Holy Scripture: literal and spiritual, which seem to penetrate each other. The area of ​​spiritual interpretation certainly includes the disclosure of moral meaning, examples of which are contained in these comments. Perhaps someone will consider it unnecessary, unreasonable and completely useless to engage in a new and detailed study of what many have already written about before, and to add others to the works of predecessors, when those already available are already completely sufficient to explain the writings of the holy prophets. But I will say that I look at this matter differently. Let me remind you of the words of Paul to those who were instructed by him in the faith: “Now... writing 1 to you, for I am not lazy, but to you it is firm” (Phil. 3:1). Notice how true this word is. If something necessary for knowledge were proposed and many would talk a lot about it; then there would be no harm from this, on the contrary, it would bring great benefit to those listening. Likewise, those who have the duty to interpret (Scripture), if they express thoughts that agree with each other, then the most solid knowledge is communicated to attentive listeners. But if one of them said something new and, perhaps, not entirely correctly and with impeccable accuracy, then what harm would it do if it was communicated to another? On the contrary, won't this bring about a fuller and clearer opening of thoughts? So, although many before us wrote interpretations of the holy prophets, we will not remain silent for this reason; but let us remove from ourselves the powerless timidity and try to show to others the grace that He who illuminates the deep and hidden has given us, remembering the words of Christ: “Thou shalt eat, thou shalt give” (Matthew 10:8). So, starting the interpretation of the blessed prophet Hosea, I will first tell you something about the books of other prophets. As a rule, all prophets very quickly change their speeches at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit 2 so that from history, or sensory, as if before the eyes of existing and occurring phenomena, they quickly ascend to the inner, spiritual; then, on the contrary, they return again, and, moreover, very secretly, to sensory phenomena. Quite often they introduce persons into their speech, express indignation, make proclamations, recall the past and foretell the future. Therefore, those who wish to have a clear understanding of everything must necessarily pay attention to both the order of thoughts and the difference of persons; for only under such conditions will speech be clear to us, not confused and free from any difficulty in understanding. I also consider it necessary to first talk about some events from the life of the descendants of Israel, so that readers will not be embarrassed when they hear the names of Ephraim, Israel, Samaria, or Judah and Benjamin; for these names are mentioned very often among the holy prophets. So, in order to clearly understand everything, you need to know that Solomon, once ruling the kingdom of his father in Jerusalem, built a church glorious and worthy of wonder to God. But having become very famous for the brilliance of wealth and abundance of money, in his old age, to please his wives, he angered God. And what his crime was, the Holy Scripture will tell us about it. This is what it says: “And the king gave away the strange wives and the daughters of Pharaoh, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrianites, and the Edomites, the Hittites, and the Ammoreites, from the tongue which the Lord hath denied the children of Israel: Ye shall not enter into her, neither shall they enter into you, lest they turn away your souls after their idols: to them is Solomon clinging to love. And he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred wives. And it came to pass during Solomon’s old age that the strange wife seduced his heart into following other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, like the heart of his father David. And Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the abomination of Sidon, and after their king, 3 the idol of the children of Ammon. And Solomon did evil before the Lord: and walked not in the footsteps of the Lord, as David his father did. Then Solomon created on high (church) Chemosh, the idol of Moab, and their king 4, the idol of the sons of Ammon, and Ashtoreth, the abomination of Sidon 5.... And thus he made all his foreign wives, even the kadyah and the priest, his idol. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because he turned away his heart from the Lord God of Israel, who appeared to him twice and commanded him 6... about this saying: it is imperative that he not follow after other gods, but to keep and do as the Lord God has commanded him” (1 Kings 11:1-10). So the crimes Solomon committed in his old age went beyond all wickedness. Indeed, what could be more serious than such extraordinary crimes? And is it not above all words to despise honor and love for the one by nature and truly existing God, and to Him alone to assign the inherent dignity to the crowds of demons, even to attribute to stones and trees? And since in his thoughts and deeds he committed something that should not even be talked about, and turned out to be guilty of such shameful sins; Then the God of all finally said to him: “Before this was with you, and you did not keep my commandments, and my commandments, even my commandments to you, I will tear your kingdom from your hand, and give it to your servant. Yet in your days I will not make this David for the sake of your father: but from the hand of your son I will take... I will not take away the whole kingdom: one scepter I will give to your son David for the sake of my servant, and Jerusalem for the sake of the city which I have chosen” (1 Kings 11:11-18). since Solomon, as I said, although he was the wisest, but, carried away by his passion for women, so to speak, by his very crimes, dissolved the kingdom of God, giving honor and glory to idols, due to God alone; then God threatens, and with all justice, to dissolve his kingdom, imposing on him the appropriate punishment, according to what is written in the prophet Ezekiel: “As you have done, so shall it be done to you: your reward will be repaid on your head” (Abd.1:15; cf. Ezek.12:11). When Solomon died, his son, that is, Rehoboam, was called to the kingdom. It was then that Israel was divided and the ten tribes and half the tribe of Ephraim were separated from Jerusalem - for the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, according to the desire and command of the forefather Jacob, were considered one tribe, as it was said to Joseph: “Now the two sons of yours who were in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they are mine: Ephraim and Manasseh, like Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine” ( Gen.48:5). So ten tribes and half a tribe, that is, Ephraim, went to Samaria and separated from the kingdom of Rehoboam; Jerusalem only had those left that belonged to the tribe of Judah and Benjamin. When those who separated to Samaria, left without a king and leader, began to fear attacks from Rehoboam and expect destruction for themselves along with the people dearest to them; then they send for Jeroboam. And this was Solomon’s servant, who fled to Egypt to the king of Susakim. And as soon as he arrived, they immediately made him leader and honored the criminal with royal power. Jeroboam was from the mountain and the tribe of Ephraim. However, as soon as he was installed as king, he began to figure out how he could establish and strengthen the kingdom, and take care that the mood and intentions of those who installed him as king did not change or take any other direction. Then, fearing that Israel, carried away by the memory of legal service and the holidays celebrated in Jerusalem, would not decide to return to the past and not submit to the rule of Rehoboam, Jeroboam made two golden heifers and, encouraging Israel to honor them, commanded them to worship them and make burnt offerings. “And set, he says, one (youth) in Gilgal, and the other in Dan” (1 Kings 12:29); for these were the most glorious cities in the Samaritan country. So the falling away of the ten tribes and the half-tribe of Ephraim was twofold: they fell away not only from Jerusalem, but also from the very worship of God, worshiping golden heifers, making sacrifices and serving the works of their hands, according to what is written. Those who remained in Jerusalem, Judah, I say, and Benjamin continued to observe with some reverence the decrees of Moses; for they offered sacrifices in the church. However, they were not entirely devoted to God and were themselves partly inclined to retreat, since they offered sacrifices to idols on every high hill and under every shady tree, according to the word of the prophet (Mic. 5:13; cf. 2 Kings 16:3-4). So when you hear that the holy prophets call Israel or Ephraim, then mean those who lived in Samaria; and when they speak of Judah and Benjamin, then understand those who remained in Jerusalem. Their prophets indifferently predicted both about those who lived in Samaria and about those who lived in Jerusalem. Some of them (prophets) lived in Jerusalem, others in the country of the Samaritans, proclaimed the word of God to the listeners. You must also know that after the ten tribes and the half-tribe of Ephraim fell away from Jerusalem, those who lived in Samaria and those who lived in Jerusalem had their own kings. And this continued until the time of the last captivity, from which they returned to Jerusalem, during the reign of Cyrus, who allowed them to return, under the leadership of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, who came from the tribe of Judah during the high priesthood of Jesus the son of Jozedek. Then they built the church again and... Having ceased all differences of opinion, they were under one government and lived in Jerusalem. And what kind of private captivities there were at times of the ten tribes with the half tribe of Ephraim and those living in Jerusalem, Judah, I say, and Benjamin - this will clearly be shown by the subsequent speech. It was also necessary to write down the time at which each of the holy prophets spoke, so that we would know exactly in what state and state of affairs the words of God were addressed to them. Instead of γράφειν, as in all copies and translations, St. Kirill reads λέγειν Wed. on Isa. Migne, t. 70 col. 904. Literally: usually all prophets, no matter what speeches each of them speaks, very quickly change them (μεταπλάττειν εὐκολως), in accordance with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (ἐπὶ τό δοκοῦν τῷ Ἁγιῳ Πνεὺματι). At St. Cyril reads here τοῦ Βάαλ and further in the 7th verse τῷ Βάαλ. In the LXX, in some copies the 5th verse is omitted, in others it is read according to the Slavic: ὀπίσω τοῦ βασιλέως (and τῶν βασιλέων) αὑτῶν. So is the 7th verse according to some, and according to others: τῷ Μέλχ’μ. In Hebrew there are: מַלְכָּם or מִלְכּם and מלֵךְ, which are taken as the proper names of the idol of Ammon and Moab (Moloch) by the Vulgate, Chaldean, Syriac, Arabic, Symmachus, Akilo, Theodotion, LXX translation of Amos 5wd. Acts 7 (in Italian Melchom) and some LXX copies in 1 Kings 11:7. The accepted reading of LXX is explained by the fact that instead of the Hebrew proper name, translators put its common meaning, deriving from מָלַךֵ - to reign, from where מלֵךְ - reigning, prince, king, Greek. βασιλεύς, as Lev.18:21, 20 (princeps Italian). Reading St. Cyril, which is not found in any text or in any list of the LXX, can be explained by the fact that instead of the proper name of the Ammonite idol (Moloch), St. the father put the name of the Phoenician god (Baal), which has the same meaning as the first: ruler, lord, prince (the verb כָּעַל means: to own, dominate). Wed. bliss Theodorit Quaest. in levit. XXV, edit. Sirmondi, t. I. pag. 133. At St. Cyril is omitted: on the mountain before Jerusalem, as in some LXX copies, but in others, as in the Hebrew and in all translations, these words are read. In Slavic there is an extra word: twice, which St. does not have. Cyril, in LXX, in Hebrew and not in any translation. You might be interested in: