Commentary on the Twelve Prophets 1 part 19/19

Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.

In what shall we return? Will a man cheat God, that you cheat me? And you said:

In what have we cheated you? Aquila and Symmachus and their school rendered 'we have cheated you' thus:

Will a man defraud God, that you defraud me? And you said:

In what have we defrauded you? In that the tithes and the firstfruits are with you.

(9) And while you keep looking to them, you also cheat me;

the poor man's portion is in your houses. For while the Law lays down that the firstfruits and the tithes are to be offered first to God, and only then the remainder is to be taken, you have brought everything altogether into your own storehouses, not reckoning that the withholding of the firstfruits and the tithes is a robbery of the poor.

For to the priests, for this reason, I gave no allotment of land, that being devoted to the divine ministry and offering the sacrifices on your behalf, they might be sustained from the firstfruits and tithes offered to me, and from these might also supply the poor who attend at the divine temple.

Therefore, ceasing from this covetousness, render to the priests what is appointed by law, and test whether a greater share of good things will not come to be yours. For the phrase 'Return in this' Aquila and his school rendered 'Test'.

Again he heals another malady that troubled them, and says:

'You have wearied me with your words, says the Lord Almighty. Yet you say:'

'Wherein have we spoken against you? And you said:'

'He who serves God labors in vain; and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinances, and that we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty? And now we call strangers blessed, and all who work iniquity are being built up;'

they have resisted God, and yet they were saved.' He means: Using a wicked judgment, you have called my lordship unprofitable and yielding no gain, and you say that those who live in lawlessness pass their lives in prosperity and good cheer;

whereas you who are under my care have been left destitute of all well-being, and you call blessed the good fortune of others.

These things spoke those who feared the Lord, each one to his neighbor;

'and the Lord took heed, and gave ear, and wrote a book of remembrance before him for those who fear the Lord and reverence his name.' He says: When I heard these things—those consecrated to me murmuring to one another—I give a written promise of good things to those who fear me.

'And he wrote a book of remembrance before him for those who fear the Lord and reverence his name.' These, then, he says—those who greatly esteem my worship and dread to do anything displeasing to me—

'they shall be mine, says the Lord Almighty, in the day which I make, for a special possession.' I will make them my own, he says, in the day of judgment. 'And I will choose them, as a man chooses his own son who serves him well.' For after the manner of a father who is well-disposed toward a grateful son and prefers him to the ungrateful, so will I prefer these to those who have devised the contrary.

As for the word 'I will choose,' the school of Aquila rendered it 'I will spare,' as a man spares his own son. (18)

'And you shall turn, and discern between the righteous and the unrighteous, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.'

'For behold, a day is coming, burning like an oven, and it shall consume them.' Then, he says, you shall learn how great is the interval between the unrighteous and the righteous, and how great is the difference between him who serves God and him who does not serve him.

For do not suppose that the present life possesses permanence;

for this shall be dissolved. 'And there shall come a day burning like an oven, and it shall consume them.'

'And all the aliens, and all who work lawless deeds, shall be stubble, and the day that comes shall set them ablaze, says the Lord Almighty, and there shall not be left of them root nor branch.' The word 'aliens' the school of Aquila rendered 'the proud.'

So too the divine Apostle said:

'grass, stubble—each man's work shall be made manifest;'

'for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire, and the fire itself shall test each man's work, of what sort it is.'

'If any man's work abides which he has built upon it, he shall receive a reward;'

'if any man's work is burned up, he shall suffer loss.' Having thus foretold destruction to those who live in impiety, he shows what manner of prizes belong to the godly:

'And unto you who fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, with healing in his wings.' These words befit both the first coming of our Savior and the second.

For in the first he arose upon us like a sun, upon us who sat in darkness and the shadow of death;

and having set us free from sin, he imparted righteousness, and covering us with spiritual gifts as with wings, he granted healing to our souls.

And in the second coming, appearing to those who in the present life are worn down—whether against their will or according to their will—he will, being righteous, judge righteously, and will bestow the good things that have been promised.

And just as the sensible sun, rising, wakes to work those who are held fast in sleep,

so this Sun, appearing, raises up those who are held fast in the long sleep of death.

Then indeed, then, he says: 'And you shall go forth, and leap like calves loosed from their bonds.' For you have been delivered from the bonds of sin.

'And you shall trample the lawless, and they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day which I make, says the Lord Almighty.' So it was with the rich man toward Lazarus;

so shall the unjust be to those they wronged, and the tyrants and persecutors to the holy martyrs.

And he commands those who read the law with exactness to obey it, and in no way to gainsay it.

'Remember the law of Moses my servant, according as I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, the statutes and ordinances.' Then, clearly knowing that they would neither obey the law, nor receive him when he came, but would deliver him to the cross, he—using unspeakable loving-kindness—promises them that he will again send Elijah as a herald of salvation, and says:

'Behold, I send unto you Elijah the Tishbite.' And, signifying the time, he added:

'Before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.' He named the day of the second appearing;

and he teaches what things the great Elijah will do when he comes.

'Who shall restore the heart of a father to a son, and the heart of a man to his neighbor.' And, showing the purpose for which Elijah comes first, he added:

'Lest I come and utterly smite the earth.' For, that I may not find you all in unbelief and consign you all to unending punishment, Elijah shall come first, and shall teach you concerning my coming, and shall persuade you, O Jews, to be joined without hesitation to those from the nations who have believed in me, and to make my Church one.

He calls the Jews 'fathers,' as those first called;

and the nations 'sons,' as those saved after them.

Since, then, we even now urge the Jews toward godliness, while they persist in disobedience, envying our salvation, he fittingly said that Elijah would restore the heart of a father to a son;

for he will persuade them to accept fellowship with us.

And these words suffice to instill fear not only in the Jews, but are also enough to make us afraid.

For by how much the greater the good things we have enjoyed, by so much the greater the reckoning we owe to the Judge.

Wherefore it behooves us to make ourselves ready for that day;

that, standing with boldness before that most awesome tribunal, we may enjoy the good things that have been promised.

And I exhort those who shall read our labors, on behalf of whatever has been well and rightly said, to hymn the uncreated Trinity;

for knowledge is her gift;

and to render prayers in return for our labors.

And may the Giver of good things, the fountain of wisdom, grant both to the writer and to the readers understanding in all things, that serving him without distraction, we may glorify him in our body and in our spirit; for to him belongs glory unto the ages of ages.