Глава 7

Micah 7:1. Oh, dear to me, as if I were to gather sludge at the harvest, and like a parish in the embrace of grapes, I do not exist in the bunch, which is the first fruit. Out of love, the prophet mourns the Israelites as soon going to destruction and then having to reach such a number that very few of them, individual individuals, will remain; they will be like falling ears of corn that slip out of the hands of the reapers; but even the straw gatherers 44 will take very few of these. In the same way, they will be like bunches of grapes hiding between the leaves, which have escaped the hands of the grape gatherers. This, I think, also hints at the rarity of the saints, who will then be, as it were, in small remnants and will turn out to be like a single ear in the harvested fields or in the first-gathered clusters as additions to the second harvest. When the air is warm, then the first grapes emerge from the vines in large numbers; but, as time goes on, they are sometimes followed by a second set of clusters. It can be difficult for collectors to find such clusters, because they are conveniently hidden in dense foliage and consist of a few berries; They are collected not without difficulty by those who follow the grape gatherers and carefully examine the grape branches. So, the prophet here mourns, apparently, a small number of righteous people. And that this, that is, the lack of saints, was harmful to the Israelites - how can one doubt this? Being a philanthropic Lord, God is ready to spare countries and cities and forgive very many crimes, if there were at least five righteous people in them, and there were rivers of Sodomites inside them 45, since God is merciful and, in respect for the saints, even very few, ceases His wrath. Micah 7:2–3. Oh, my soul is angry, for the pious perished from the earth, and there is no one who can correct it among men: everyone hides in rooftops, each one embitters his neighbor with bitterness, he prepares his hands for evil: the prince asks, and the judge speaks peaceful words, the desire of his soul is. These words, it seems to us, are quite true. He complains that there is no pious person in the whole land, obviously Judean, although in ancient times it abounded in many holy and glorious people. God speaks about this through the mouth of Isaiah: “Like the harlot, the faithful city of Zion is full of judgment, in which righteousness rested, but now there are murderers in her” (Is. 1:21). What is especially intolerable is that they are ready to reach the extreme degree of corruption, accuse each other of shedding blood, brutally kill, and reject virtue as something empty, so that they consider their most important occupation to lay hands on the inhabitants. After all, for people accustomed to such a life, there is nothing impermissible, even if it is prosecuted by law, even if it is condemned by noble morals. So, from these words is it clear that the subordinates have become weak, and the rulers enjoy full strength, and the judges are healthy? No, he says: for “the prince asks, and the judge speaks peaceable words.” Often many of those appointed to command turned out to be wicked, very self-interested and easily selling their sentences to those who want to change them. And if they were inclined to commit these deeds, then they would seem in appearance not to be devoted to these crimes, when (so they thought) they would apparently begin to turn away from accepting gifts and would try to decorate their way of life with good fame - and meanwhile, in fact, reach such a level of baseness (oh shame!) as to almost extend their hand and, if the judge did not receive the gift, violate the demands of the truth, and shamelessly threaten this; Wasn’t this already beyond all abomination? So, the word of the prophet is very expressive; it seems to cry out against covetousness: “the prince asks, and the judge speaks peaceable words.” But can one blame someone who invites those divided among themselves to peace to their own destruction? How, then, will the saying be true: “blessed are the peacemakers”? (Matthew 5:9). And what is their reward? But the glory due to the mediators of peace remains inviolable. However, he who judges the law explains the requirements of the divine law, and will expose those who do wrong, and will always protect the oppressed. But when they “speak words of peace” to people who act lawlessly, without exposing their sins; It is then that the will of the Legislator is clearly violated. So the Scripture says that “the mouth of the priest will preserve judgment 46 and require the law from his mouth” (Mal. 2:7). Those who are accustomed to accepting gifts no longer tend to judge righteously, nor with boldness to denounce those who break the law; on the contrary, they incline toward peace, even if through this they force someone to endure a lot from their greed. Explaining the cause of this illness, the prophet says: “the desire of his soul is”; in all likelihood, he says, he likes what was done illegally. Therefore, how can he impose punishment on those who have acted unjustly? How will he condemn what he previously approved? So, covetousness and oppression of others are lawless and truly harmful. And besides this, it is disgusting to have an addiction to shameful gains and to reach such recklessness as to finally despise good morals and incorruptible justice and not attach any importance to this, but, on the contrary, to lean towards those who are accustomed to do lawlessness, to share with them their wickedness and thus participate in the sins of others (1 Tim. 5:22). And that one who indulges in such terrible sins will certainly be subjected to divine wrath and punishment, who among the sane can doubt this? Micah 7:3–4. And I will take away their goodness, as a moth devours, and walk according to the rules 47, as on the day of the watch. He made a threat to bring two kinds of punishment on them, for he said: “And I will begin to strike you and destroy you in your sins. You will eat and not be satisfied. And I will destroy you in you, and you will be anointed, and you will not be saved,” and then he added: “You will sow, but you will not reap; you will destroy the olive oil, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; neither will you drink the wine” (Mic. 6:13–15). And that, as a result of the barrenness of the fields, their abundance will disappear and there will be a shortage of objects necessary for life, and they will be oppressed by a lack of the most necessary things - this is shown by saying that He, like a moth, will destroy all “their good things,” that is, what could be enjoyed a lot and widely used in the days of happiness. And that they were subject to disasters and extermination and exile, just like themselves, that is, they would be killed by each other and pitifully expelled from their own homes and cities, he points to this, saying: “proceed according to the rules on the day of the watch.” This saying is very difficult to understand. I think that it can only be understood by us after a clear presentation of the relevant historical events, which is what I will try to do. There is in Judea one village or town of Gava (slav. Gibeon), located on a hill and by lot went to the tribe of Benjamin; it is called a hill and a place of guarding. Let us remember that, as it is written in the book of Judges (Judges 20:19), one Levite, when his concubine was brazenly dishonored by the Benjamites in the very land of Gab, cut her corpse into twelve parts and sent them to all the tribes, exposing to everyone the crime of the Benjamites. As a result of this, it happened that the remaining tribes went to war against the Benjamites, and a great multitude of people fell, first when the Benjamites defeated the other tribes, and then when the other tribes destroyed the latter completely. The prophet Hosea also remembers this event and says: “he established amazement (madness) in the house of God, and corrupted the Hill throughout the day” (Gabaon) (Hos. 9:8–9). Since, he says, idolatry and false prophecy (for this was precisely their madness) established themselves in the house of the Lord, they were destroyed as in the days of the Hill, that is, Gab. And that the hill or Gabah 48 is also called guards, you will clearly see from what is written in the third book of Kings. Asa reigned in Jerusalem and Baasha reigned in Samaria at the same time. Since they did not agree in their aspirations and, angry with each other, armed themselves with war against each other, “Baasha the king of Israel,” he says, “went up against Judah and created Ramah, as if Asa the king of Judah did not come out and enter” (1 Kings 15:17). When Ader invaded Samaria, Baasha, speaking out against the enemies, left Ramah; Asa At that time, he set out from Jerusalem and, being in Rama, “gave commandments,” he says, “...to Judah in Anakim, and took stone from Rama and its wood, like the foundation of Baasha, and King Asa built in them around (περι) 49 Hill Benjamin and guards” (1 Kings 15:22). This is how the word Gavaa is interpreted, because it is raised high, lies on a hill and in a place convenient for the guard. So, “I will begin to smite you and destroy you in your sins,” and in no other way, but precisely in the same way that was used on the day of the watch. I will act as if according to the rule, I will not deviate either to the right or to the left, following the path of vengeance. It seems that the prophetic word again points us to almost the same thing. Micaiah prophesied in the days of Jotham and Ahaz and Hezekiah; but Jotham was a pious man, but Ahab was detestable and hateful, and one of the most devoted to wickedness. During his reign, Pekah son of Ramelin, then king of Samaria, waged war against Judah, having as an ally Raason, king of Damascus. In one day he killed very many; for in the second book of Chronicles it is thus written about Ahaz: “And the Lord his God delivered him up into the hand of the king of Syria, and smote him, and took many captives from them, and brought him to Damascus, and delivered him into the hand of the king of Israel, and smote him with a great plague. And Pekah, the son of Romeli, king of Israel, from Judah slew in one day one hundred and twenty thousand men of mighty strength, when he had forsaken the Lord” (2 Chronicles 28:5-6). So, you need to know that those who offend God will immediately experience a lack of every good thing, and a terrible hunger for divine and spiritual goods will strike us; and we, as if biting, will destroy each other. Christ does not give His peace to those who do not love Him, which, as it turns out, happens mainly with the enemies of the truth, among whom it is impossible to find spiritual anointing, but, as it were, devouring each other and discord, and quarrels, and dispute, and division. God says about them: “before I have taken away my peace from these people, they will die with a cruel death” (Jer. 16:4–5); because God never gives such strength and unanimity, but only to those who honor Him, who in justice can have the good of the world, who respect the meaning of truth, who do not cease to suppress lawless and vain thoughts in themselves - on the contrary, they try to nourish in themselves a feeling of wonder at the beauty of the truth. Micah 7:4. Your vengeance hastened, fiercely, now there will be their lamentations. You hear how he imitates the cries of those crying, who do not only expect future disasters, but have already, as it were, been subjected to them and are crying like women; for, he says, “your vengeance has come”, that is, the time of punishment has come, war is already in hand, disaster is at the door. Adding that “today there will be their mourning,” he clearly showed that the fulfillment of the prophecy is not delayed for long, but is, as it were, before our eyes. Immediately after Jotham, Ahaz reigned, the wicked and apostate, the murderer of his own children, whom he sacrificed on demonic altars. Under him, one hundred and twenty thousand men from the tribe of Judah and Benjamin were killed in one day. It should be noted that at the same time Israel itself was punished; for during the reign of Pekah, Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, attacked Samaria and destroyed many of its cities. He took Damascus and killed Raason himself, so that at the same time it happened that Judah and Benjamin were destroyed by the ten tribes living in Samaria, and the inhabitants of Samaria themselves suffered the same fate from the Babylonians. You see how He, as if “walking according to the rule” of the wrath of those who lived during the hill or watch, took vengeance on those who sinned. But this happened to the ancients as images, “and the Bible was written for our instruction” (1 Cor. 10:11), so that we would always, avoiding such sins, spend our lives in obedience, and acquire the favor and love and protection of the God of all. But with all justice, this can be attributed to those who pervert the right teaching and destroy the faith of the simple-minded, so that we can say: “Oh, fierce, your vengeance hastened, now will be their laments”; for “those who sin against their brethren and strike their weak consciences, they sin against Christ” (1 Cor. 8:12). And that they will certainly give an answer to the Judge for this and taste the fruits of their wickedness - how can you doubt this? “When you offend babies, there will be murders, and the torment of the wicked will destroy you,” as it is written (Proverbs 1:32). Micah 7:5–6. Do not trust your friend, do not rely on the elders, and be careful not to tell her anything from your partner. Whenever a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, and a bride against her mother-in-law, defeat all the men of his household. Having sinned in various ways and arousing the Lord of all to anger against themselves, then receiving warnings through the holy prophets that they would be subject to inevitable disasters for this if they did not appease the Lord with good behavior, the Israelis, lamenting, should have corrected themselves in their mood and turned to the better to appease God, but they, pathetic ones, never did this, on the contrary, they reached such recklessness that They imagined and believed that they would avoid the wrath of the divine and would very easily be victorious in any war if they relied on the help of neighboring peoples, on the assistance and promises of their leaders. But that they boldly relied on vain and empty ghosts and nurtured completely useless hope, the prophet tries to show them by saying: “If you do not believe in your friends, do not trust in your elders,” for this is completely useless. Thus, when the Babylonian came with the intention of devastating Samaria, then the leaders of the neighboring nations, although they promised them great help, but, having the need to fight for their own existence, were especially concerned about their own salvation, and they did not seem to think at all about helping others. Therefore, “don’t trust your friends, don’t rely on your elders.” Know, he says, that when God raises His wrath against you, then the very law of nature and the power of innate love for our neighbors by blood and our neighbors in the flesh cease to provide His assistance to us; but they themselves will act in relation to each other like enemies. Then the wife will forget her husband, the sons will rebel against their fathers, and the daughters against their mothers; for, he says, He who inscribed the laws of love in nature can easily change and weaken them. But in these words we can see not only one way of weakening, but twofold and different. Some violate the laws of love, lawlessly insulting their parents, while others, by doing this, please God and save their own souls. Therefore, the Savior said: “Do you remember that peace came to earth? nor, I tell you, but division. There will now be five divisions in one house, three into two, and two into three. Father will be divided against son, and son against father, mother against daughter, and daughter against mother, father-in-law against his bride, and bride against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:51-53). Let us crown such glorious love with a just sentence; for it brings us closer to God, although it separates some from carnal kinship, so that through the mouth of David they can quite rightly say: “For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will receive me” (Ps. 26:10). Mic.7:7. But I will look to the Lord, I will endure God my Savior, my God will hear me. These words can very conveniently be attributed to Zion repenting and seeing the end of the misfortunes of captivity, as it would be over time. So Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and released them from captivity, barely in the remains of the former Israel, and, together with the sacred vessels, ordered them to return home and rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. Then, as if escaping darkness and indissoluble bonds, they, by the mercy of God, came into the light, and, released and joyful, they again achieved the freedom that was most characteristic of them from the beginning. So, “I,” he says, “will look to the Lord” very late and after experiencing disasters, the prevention of which should have been begged for. But, he says, I will have hope in God, expect salvation from Him and firmly cleave to Him, because, being a lover of mankind, He will hear cries and accept prayers. And by the beginning of salvation, I think, we must understand the removal of the mind from ancient error and the determination to maintain the right disposition of the soul and the thought that the Lord Himself of all is the leader and author of salvation, and not to attribute such a high good to human powers, and not to expect that it will be the gift of many idols, which is very crazy and ignorant. So they once went to the Egyptians, and went to the Assyrians, trying to buy their alliance and help with very large sums of money. They also turned to soulless idols, making sacrifices and, moreover, offering them prayers for themselves. But now they say that they will look to the Lord and tolerate Him, that is, they will expect salvation and mercy from Him. And indeed, turning to Him, and not to others, with prayers, they will be heard by Him. And this happened when, as I said, Zion sobered up and was imbued with the thought of moving away from that ancient error, about a change for the better and about the determination to do good deeds. Micah 7:8–9. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, for I have fallen and will rise again: even if I sit in darkness, the Lord will illuminate me. I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because those who have sinned against him will vindicate my sins: and he will execute my judgment and bring... 51 to the light, and I will see his righteousness. It seems to me that Zion’s speech to the cruel, insolent and arrogant city, obviously Babylonian, is now presented as very joyful, as mocking the devastated country of Judea. Do not magnify yourself, he says, over the defeated one. You won, but you did not overcome and overthrew me, who was exhausted as a result of insulting God and therefore defeated. But the time will come when I too will rise, even though, he says, I was in darkness, saying to the tree: “Thou art my God,” and to the stone: “Thou hast begotten me” (Jer. 2:27), and addressed the heifers with a word; for she said, out of her madness she said: “These are your gods Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (Ex. 32:4). But I too will be in the light and will know the Master, the Savior and the helper and the giver of strength. I will endure what happened to me and endure suffering, and I will never again cry out against God as if he were acting unjustly; on the contrary, I will think that He pronounced a righteous verdict on me, although He sent me into captivity; for I have sinned and bear the consequences of the divine wrath, “until he vindicates my sins,” that is, until he has measured the punishment accordingly to my sins, he will finally have mercy on me, and will make what was once darkened by the blindness of error bright through the knowledge of the true and real God and will bring about the fact that I will be in some light. Having shown me the purity of His truth, He, He says, will rightly serve as an object of surprise, for He punished the one who sinned not without justice; So in the same way, justice requires that the one who has already been punished and repentant be honored with care and the defeated one be pardoned. So, the Lord of all blessings unexpectedly grants mercy to those who turn to Him, and very generously amuses them with the benefits of His mercy, long-sufferingly forgiving previous sins. Micah 7:10–11. And my enemy shall see, and be clothed with cold, saying unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? My eyes will look upon the nude, now it will be trampled underfoot like stone on the way. The day of ironing the plinth, this is your day of ironing. The country of Judah was taken, taken, and the Israelites were once taken as prisoners of war to Babylon and to the Medes, not because the victor overcame them with his own strength, but because the saving God rejected them for their sins and subjugated them to their enemies because they worshiped soulless idols, rejected the ancient law given through Moses, and in general were given over to everything impermissible, and not a single type of lawlessness was left uncommitted. Then, by taking them and attributing the victory to their own forces, the Babylonians thereby humiliated the very glory of God, and thought that they would rule over Judea, even if the God of all wanted to save them. Having taken the sinners under their power, they subjected them to terrible and unbearable suffering, keeping them in grave slavery. Therefore, God nowhere, through Jeremiah, said to the wicked people of Assyria or Babylon: “Behold, I am in your pride” (Jer. 50:31), and about the Israelites themselves: “I breathed into your hand, but you did not give them mercy; Isa.47:6-7). For they had no mercy, no compassion for youth, no respect for old age, and they had no love for mankind. Therefore, in justice, they themselves were delivered into the hands of the Persians and Medes under the leadership of Cyrus, who took Babylon. It is probably about this that the prophet Jeremiah speaks somewhere: “They will come against you, and Babylon will be captive and you will not know that you have been found and you have angered the Lord. The Lord has opened his treasures and brought forth the vessels of his wrath” (Jer. 50:24-25). He calls those who devastate it vessels of wrath. So, what happened was that the Babylonian country was taken by Cyrus and Israel was freed from captivity. Therefore, those who are freed say: “My enemy will see it and put on the garment.” When she sees her children thrown to the ground, dying in a pitiful and unexpected way, and her once-subjects rejoicing and being set free, and returning to their homeland; then will she not certainly be covered with shame, although she once said: “Where is the Lord your God”? For I will look upon it as dirt on the road, thrown under the feet of the enemies and trampled by them. And then, turning to Babylon itself, he says: “that day is your blotting out,” instead of: the time in which he, he says, will be thrown under the feet of his enemies, obviously, when Cyrus will trample and crush proud and arrogant Babylon like dirt. So, as for the historical explanation of these words, we have said quite enough and satisfactorily for this. Nevertheless, these words can also be applied to the spiritual Zion, that is, to the Church, overcoming enemies and trampling on persecutors, and laughing at the impotence of those accustomed to be at enmity against her, although sometimes it seems that they gain the upper hand and rule over her. After all, there are a lot of people who wickedly gnash their teeth against her, burn with anger and plot against her in every possible way: on the one hand, many children of the Hellenes rebel against her with their unreasonable inventions, and courageously strive for idolatrous delusion; on the other hand, heretics cry out especially loudly against the saints, and even, it seems, they arm themselves more fiercely against those who have the right way of thinking than those who have not accepted the faith. Yes, when Almighty God strengthens the strength of the saints and, subjecting them to temptations, tests them, and, as if in fire, recognizes His true worshipers; then they, miserable ones, raise their arrogant eyebrows against them, and, seeing them suffering, cry out empty words: “Where is the Lord your God”? But the wise and pure and Holy Virgin, without filth and vice (Eph. 5:27), will say with all justice: “I will look to the Lord, I will endure God my Savior, and my God will hear me,” and will trample down her opponents like the dirt of roads. And that those who usually subject her to temptations will never triumph over her at all, even if she were subjected to some kind of humiliation - how can one doubt this? For it is founded on rock (Matt. 7:25; Matt. 16:18), and Christ is its support, its unshakable foundation, its constant defense, its Savior and Redeemer. I think that the words: “Do not rejoice in me, my enemy, for I have fallen” and those that follow can also be said by the soul of a person who has sinned and been condemned for this, but who has come to realize the need for repentance and through Christ receives the grace of salvation. To her enemy, sin, who ruled over her, she will say: “Do not rejoice over me, for I have fallen,” having weakened, obviously, in doing what is pleasing to God and directing her mind to worldly pleasures. But I am not far from hoping that I will rise. Although I was, as it were, in darkness and darkness, I myself would find my light - Christ - and the sun of righteousness, shining in my mind, would show me whitened. “I will endure the wrath of the Lord because I have sinned against him”; for although I was, he says, removed for a short time from His presence and given over to an unskilled mind (Rom. 1:28), I will again be wise, and having justly suffered rejection, I will endure the judgment and affirm that it was just; for I was not punished in vain. And since I have suffered a completely due punishment, I will see His righteousness. Who can be the righteousness of God and the Father except Christ? This is what God and the Father called Him to us, saying: “My righteousness will soon come, and my mercy will be revealed” (Is. 56:1). Then, having reflected on the grace of justification in Christ and the destruction of sin, such a soul, as it should, will wisely and judiciously exclaim: “And my enemy will see, and will be clothed with cold, saying to me: Where is the Lord your God? My eyes will look upon the nude, now it will be trampled underfoot like stone on the way. The day of ironing the plinth, this is your day of ironing." And indeed, when Christ came, justifying by faith those who had sinned, then the mouth of lawless sin was stopped, and its inventor was, as it were, put to shame. He was expelled and deprived of power over us, and finally was trampled underfoot like dirt on the roads, as if thrown under the feet of the saints. And the day of Christ became the erasing of his sin, when He will make each of those who come to Him clean from ancient sins through holy baptism, and will seal them with the Spirit for sanctification, and will inscribe them among the children of God. Micah 7:11–13. And he will cancel the laws... Day 53. And your cities will come to level and divide the Assyrians: and your cities will divide the firmaments from Tire even to the river... 54, and from sea even to sea, and from mountain even to mountain... 55. And the land will be destroyed along with those who live on it, because of the fruits of their undertakings. In the middle of the prophetic speech, the face of Zion or Jerusalem is depicted, as if it had already turned to repentance and placed its trust in God, and was confident that it would be freed and see the trampling of Babylon, arrogantly saying to it: “Where is the Lord your God”? But the idea of ​​the words being explained can be attributed not only to the words inserted in the middle of the speech, expressed on behalf of Zion, but also to those placed a little earlier. Let us briefly recall what these are. God commanded them not to trust friends and not to rely on leaders; also pointed out that even a wife will treat her husband with disdain, a son will not attach importance to his father and daughters will not show respect to their mothers, which was caused by the horrors of war; for where the fear of suffering pervades everyone alike, there will doubtless be the strongest concern for one's own life, and the life of another will be left in utter neglect. So, at that time, he says, or on that day, on which the sons neglect fatherly love, and daughters, for their part, motherly love, the laws will be rejected, that is, the law of duty will finally become weak; for the father, on occasion, will not blame his son for neglecting the laws of nature, and the mother, offended, will not subject her daughter to reproaches for violating the requirements of duty in relation to her, when other concerns, and especially death and extreme disaster, threatened them. The cities will be desolate, and divided, and destroyed; some will fight against this city, others against the neighboring one, others against the border country, and will raid the whole land from mountain to mountain, from east to west, from north to south, and devastate all the land to the borders, “from Tire even to the river, and from sea even to sea, and from mountain even to mountain.” It seems that in these words he again calls the holidays or sacrifices established by custom in idol churches legal; for after the destruction of the cities and houses themselves and the plunder of everything in them, who else will observe what is established by the law and offer prayers in the churches and churches of idols? But if you like, this speech goes, in all fairness, to the most dissenting people, those who consider themselves wise men, and those who pervert the right dogmas of the church. Their city was taken, and they fell into division with the enemies, obviously, the rulers of the world of this age and the “part of the fox” Bysh, according to what is written (Ps. 62:11), having received wickedness and condemnation of the truth as their inheritance. The same thing happened to the Jewish people because, having wickedly abused Emmanuel, they took Him out of the vineyard, according to what is written (Matthew 21:39), and nailed Him to the cross, although they said and acknowledged that He was the heir. Therefore, they were subjected to devastation and ingloriously died not for anything else, but for “the fruits of their undertakings.” After all, they were supposed to glorify the Creator for His love for the world, “for He also gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16); However, they did not do this, but out of their arrogance they killed the Lord, repaying Him with evil rewards,” according to what is written (Ps. 34:12), and godlessly committing every kind of wickedness. Therefore, let them listen to the words: “walk by the light of your fire and the flame that you kindle” (Is. 50:11), and also: “they will eat the fruits of their undertakings” (Is. 3:10). Micah 7:14–15. Feed your people, with the staff of your tribe, the sheep of your inheritance, dwelling one in the oak grove of Carmel, will feed Basanitis and Gileaditis, like the days of the ages. And on the day of your exodus from Egypt, you will see a wonderful thing. The prophetic word again turns to the introductory personification and inclines towards good, with the hope of good things in Christ exhorting for the better and strongly disposing to lead a right life. By predicting disasters, it led to considerable confusion among those prone to carelessness; but now it tries to encourage them, skillfully introducing into speech what can bring joy, so that those to whom the word of admonition was spoken do not fall into despair, and recklessly and uncontrollably rush from the rocks into the abyss, as it is written: “When the wicked comes into the depths of evil, he is careless” (Proverbs 18:3). So, the face of God the Father Himself is introduced, saying to the Son: “Shepherd your people with the rod of your tribe, the sheep of your inheritance,” or again the face of the prophet is before us, as if calling out to Emmanuel himself, that it is necessary to feed the Jewish people or inheritance with the rod. By the people of Christ and the sheep can be understood both those who believed from the circumcision, and those called to sanctification from among the pagans; for He created these two peoples into one new man, creating peace, and through His body reconciled both for spiritual unity (Eph. 2:15-16). So Christ Himself said: “And other sheep I am to bring... (obviously except those from circumcision) and you must be brought,... and there will be one flock and one shepherd” (John 10:16). The people of Christ, the tribe, and the sheep, and the inheritance are those who are justified not by the works of the law, but through faith, for some were under a curse, according to the word of blessed Paul (Gal. 3:10), while others could truly say about themselves: “Blessed are we to the Lord, who made heaven and earth. God is the Lord and appear to us” (Ps. 113:23; Ps. 118:27). Christ shepherds with His rod, not striking with an iron rod and not crushing like a meager vessel, according to the Psalmist (Ps. 2:9), but turning them into meekness and, like a good shepherd, with moderate punishments, stopping the inclination to carelessness in those who believe. So the Lord of all, in the person of David, turning to His Son, says: “If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my destinies: if they defile my justifications and do not keep my commandments, I will visit them with the rod of iniquity, and with the stripes of their iniquity: but I will not destroy my mercy from them” (Ps. 89:31-34). So, he crushes, as if striking with an iron rod, the unbridled, rebellious and arrogant, who has not accepted the faith; He kindly guides those who believe in Him, pastures them among the lilies and leads them out into good pasture and into a fat place, obviously into the pasture of the inspired Scripture, explaining by the Spirit to the most capable of them the hidden things in it (the Scriptures), so that they may reach “a perfect man and the measure of the stature of the fulfillment of Christ” (Eph. 4:13) have a healthy and well-educated mind, and devoted to spiritual pleasures. Chosen and separated, they live alone and removed from others who philosophize only about earthly things and value too much the acquisition of temporary goods - who, being attached to carnal pleasures, are prone to everything that is lawless. So, having peace in our souls and removing it from empty and nasty confusion, we seem to have settled ourselves outside of it and lead an honorable and glorious life, and are alone, just as the prophet Jeremiah lived, for he said: “O Lord God of hosts, I did not sit in the company of them who play, but feared from the presence of your hand: they sat alone, for they were filled with sorrow” ( Jeremiah 15:16–17). We live alone, as if in an oak forest and on a mountain. Under the oak grove, many trees and flowers, understand the growing teaching, I say moral and dogmatic; and by “mountain” we mean, as it were, the height and sublimity of teaching, for in the church among the subjects about which we are curious and which we diligently study, there is not a single low one. And that this pasture is fat and abundantly fed, this is indicated through sensory examples, saying that those led by Christ “will feed Basanitis and Gileaditis”; and these areas abound in very many and extensive pastures for herds and are richly decorated with various vegetation. From the physical and subject to the senses, prudently rising to the spiritual, let us think about the inner and hidden meaning of these words, because enjoying the contemplation of the inspired Scripture, the mind of the saints is enlightened, filled, as it were, with some fatness, practical, as I said, and theoretical virtue, generously communicating it to others, not for some short and limited time, but, as the prophet says, “like the days of the world.” , that is, for a long and infinite period. This is because what gives pleasure to the flesh falls away and dries up, and like a shadow soon passes away, but participation in higher and spiritual goods continues for many centuries, for the possession of such goods is inalienable. He also said that “you will see the wonderful things on the day of your departure” from the land of Egypt. Delivering Israel from slavery, God subjected all kinds of punishments to those who wanted to oppress him and exhausted him by making clay and bricks; so He freed us who believed from the hand of the devil, as He himself says, and cast out the ruler of this age (John 12:31). And how Pharaoh drowned in the sea and died along with his soldiers; so again Satan, along with the unclean spirits, seemed to be drowned and cast out in the dark dungeons of Tartarus (2 Pet. 2:4). And just as the Israelites were baptized into Moses, in the sea and in the cloud, so we are baptized into Christ (1 Cor. 10:1-5). He is a spiritual cloud, irrigating the universe, as if with some rains, with the gospel sermon. And just as He sends down water in the desert, so He also gives Himself to us as food, the living bread that came down from heaven and gives life to the world (John 6:33). Those were brought into the sensual land, but we receive as an inheritance the highest city, the heavenly Jerusalem, the church of the firstborn (Heb. 12:22). The Savior says that this is the land that He promised to the fathers (Matthew 5:5). So, from the similarity of what happened in ancient times to Israel, you will clearly recognize the meaning of what was accomplished in us through Christ. And how necessary it is for us to obtain from everywhere everything that can serve the benefit of the listeners; then, going the other way and taking the explanation of names as the starting point, we will say the following. After all, Carmel in translation means: “knowledge of circumcision” 56, Basanitis means “shame,” and Gileaditis means “change of the covenant.” Therefore, here the prophetic word contains something very worthy of faith. Thus, under the shepherding of Christ, we will be in the knowledge of circumcision, obviously understood spiritually; for we are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands and bear it “in secret” as Jews, while Israel in the flesh has only sensual circumcision and it is in the letter, and not in the heart, done by the spirit (Rom. 2:28-29). This is true circumcision and makes those who receive it close to God. That is why the prophetic word told us: “Turn to your God, and circumcise the hardness of your hearts, men of Judah and those who dwell in Jerusalem” (Jer. 4:4). So, under the shepherd of Christ, we will be in Carmel, that is, in the knowledge of circumcision, but nevertheless we will also be in Basanitis, that is, in confusion and shame, not as a result of our shame for sin, but because we have sinned, and therefore we repent, and finally come to the consciousness of sins committed out of ignorance. This is the way of salvation; for an obvious sign of extreme insensibility is the fact that some have chosen to live as if with a hardened and shameless heart and are not at all ashamed of their falls, but seem to remain even in ignorance of their sins. So, those who have the knowledge of spiritual and divine circumcision will be ashamed of their sins and, having come to the consciousness of what tends to harm them, will certainly turn to what is most suitable for themselves. But there will be such in Gileadit; for, being under the dominion of Christ, we will no longer organize our lives according to the ritual Mosaic Law, but we will live according to the Gospel and, leaving sensuality according to the letter, we will perform spiritual service to God, and, moving on to something incomparably better, we will replace images with truth. Micah 7:16–17. The pagans will see and be ashamed of all their strength, they will lay their hands on their mouths, and their ears will be deaf, they will lick their fingers like a serpent splashing on the earth, they will be confused in their delusion. In these words, nations refers to the vile and unclean hordes of demons, who, when they see those called in Christ to justification, to sanctification, to redemption, to sonhood, to incorruption, to glory, to a pleasant and free life, will certainly be “put to shame,” because they will be deprived of their power and will see their strength falling and exhausted. After all, our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the power to “tread on the serpent and the scorpion and all the power of the enemy” (Luke 10:19). So, the former conquerors will be stretched out under the feet of those who believed, weakened and defeated by Christ. “And they will put their hand on their mouth,” no longer being able to accuse those who have sinned; for “God justifies, who condemns?” , - according to what is written (Rom. 8:33–34). And blessed David said nowhere: “all iniquity will stop its mouth” (Ps. 106:42). So, he says, those who were skilled in accusing will fall silent, and, moreover, involuntarily, and as if struck by thunder, obviously by a miracle performed because of us, they will become deaf. Yes, the extraordinary narrative of what was accomplished for our sake is truly like a great and extraordinary clap of thunder, if it is true that “while we were still sinners, Christ once died for the ungodly” (Rom. 5:8), so that we, once given over to terrible and unbearable sins, would now become sanctified, and “not by the works of righteousness, which we have done” (Titus 3:5), but by mercy and grace - first those who were hated and deprived of all hope have now become beloved and glorious - the once rejected ones have become the viceroys of God and joint heirs of Christ (Rom. 8:17). So, they will become deaf, he says, as if struck by thunder by the mercy of God towards them and the abundance of His extraordinary love, “They will lick the finger like a serpent,” that is, they will not find food for themselves, for when there are snakes; they have a shortage of food, they sometimes have the custom of kneading the earth with their tongues and taking everything they come across as food, and unclean demons, he says, will be in a similar need. Since ancient times, accustomed to luxury and forcefully devouring everyone living on earth, they will no longer find anyone who would allow themselves to endure this, due to the fact that everyone is saved by Christ and has finally achieved such great spiritual strength that they no longer tolerate these ancient remorse; on the contrary, they step “on the asp and the basilisk,” as it is written (Ps. 90 cf. Luke 10:19). And not only will they lick the ground, but “they will be confused in their confusion,” that is, oppressed due to powerlessness and sorrow and besieged by the power of the oppressor, I say, Christ, they will experience considerable fear. It is likely, however, that these words indicate to us some other “deception.” Having become like us, the Only Begotten performed countless miracles and, I am ready to think, the invisible ones were greater than the visible ones. So He commanded the unclean spirits to go to hell and, finally, to be imprisoned in the abyss in order to free the earth from the fiercest beasts (Luke 8:27). We also contemplate the image of this event in the most ancient writings. So, when Jesus, the son of Navi, took the countries of the pagans, he imprisoned five kings in a cave and rolled a stone to its foundation, representing, as I said, the power of the Savior’s economy (Joshua 10:16-18). So the demons asked Him not to order them to go into the abyss. So, “they will be confused,” he says, “in their delusion,” as if they were already imprisoned in hell and thrown into the dark pits of Tartarus, in order, as I said, to finally rid the human race of these terrible and indomitable beasts. Micah 7:17–20. They will be horrified at our Lord God, and they will be afraid of you. Who is God like you, putting away iniquity, and leaving wickedness as the remnant of your inheritance: and not restraining your anger in witness that you are the author of mercy. He will convert and reward us, and will drown our iniquities, and all our sins will be cast 57 into the depths of the sea. Grant truly to Jacob mercy to Abram, as you swore 58 by our father in the first days. The mystery of Christ is a truly amazing thing and its greatness is beyond any word of one who is able to feel surprise at His mercy towards us. Therefore, the divine Habakkuk, amazed at the way of incarnation, clearly proclaimed: “Lord, I heard your hearing and was afraid: Lord, I understood your deeds and was horrified” (Hab. 3:1); For the Only Begotten, being in form and in equality with God the Father (Phil. 2:6), and being rich as God, became poor, that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9) - in order to save the lost, give strength to the weak, strengthen the broken, revive the subject of corruption, cleanse the polluted, and adorn with the honor of adoption what is enslaved by nature. So, let everyone hear: “Who is God, like you”? Obviously kind and unforgiving, forgiving crimes “with the remnant of his inheritance.” By these latter we can understand those among the Israelites who believed, while the rest of their multitude perished because they did not believe. So Christ also said nowhere: “He who believes on the Son is not condemned; but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he does not believe in the name” of God (John 3:18). He passes over sins and has mercy on crimes and “does not withhold his wrath as a witness.” “On date” instead of: “until the end” or “forever.” We are rejected in Adam, but received in Christ; in this He cursed us, and in this He blessed us again; for “just as ...,” he says, “by the sin of one man many died, ... so by one justification” many will live (Rom. 5:15, 18). Therefore, He ceased his anger, “for he is the author of mercy”; and at the time of conversion, that is, becoming man, He will, as it were, plunge the sins of all people into the sea. Since, he says, He promised the holy fathers, that is, to Abraham and Jacob, to multiply their seed as the stars of heaven, then, he says, they will be called fathers of many nations, children, numbered not only among the descendants of Israel, but also among those who are children according to the promise. all... who are of Israel, these are Israel;... but the children of the promise belong to the seed" (Rom. 9:6, 8). Those who are of faith will be blessed with faithful Abraham. And by the image of blessing we must understand grace in Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to God and the Father, with the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. Those. a great multitude. In glory "like" is missing. Russian: “Giva”, slav.: “Gabaon” and “Gavaa”. In glory: “destroy all the household members of his husband.” Omitted: με. Slav. "me". In glory: “My salvation draw near.” Slav.: “and he will erase your laws.” In glory “Sirskia” was added, according to the reading of many lists: Συρία, but this word is not in the Vatican text. In glory further reads: “days of water and rumor”, according to the reading of many lists. Περιτομής ερίγνωσις (Cfr. Origen. Lex. in Migne, Patr. Curs. compl. Ser. lat. t. 23, col. 1232). So does Jerome: cognitio circumcisionis (ibid. col. 804), or: tenellus, aut mollis, sive scientia circumcisionis (De nom. hebr. ib. col. 820). You might be interested in: