The Jews suppose that this was fulfilled when under Ezra, after the day of the Passover, they went out from Babylon to return to Jerusalem; but in that there was only a type and not the truth, for they will not be able to prove that all the things we have read and are yet to read were fulfilled at that time. 'In weeping they shall come' — or 'go forth' — 'and in mercy I will bring them back and lead them through torrents of waters in a straight way, and they shall not stumble' — or 'shall not go astray' — 'therein, because I am become a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.' If we read according to the Hebrew, 'In weeping they shall come' — for this is what 'iabu' signifies — we shall say that sometimes weeping is also a sign of exceeding joy, according to that saying: 'I weep for joy.' But if according to the Septuagint, who said:
'In weeping they shall go forth, and in mercy' — or 'in consolation' — 'I will bring them back,' we shall set forth that meaning which is also stated in the Psalms: 'Going they went and wept, casting their seeds; but coming they shall come with exultation, carrying their sheaves.' For they wept when they were led away captive, and they received the greatest consolation when they were brought back by the mercy of the Lord. And the Lord led them, through the apostles and apostolic men who were full of waters and of a most abundant river, in the straight way, namely of faith, not in the faithlessness of the Jews. 'And they shall not,' he says, 'stumble' therein, because they have ceased to be blind, to whom it was once said: 'If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, We see; your sin remains.'
We can also understand the 'straight way' to be Christ, in which whoever walks shall not stumble. 'I am become,' he says, 'a father to Israel,' who has been brought back, 'and Ephraim is my firstborn'; for where sin once abounded, grace did much more abound. Now that Ephraim stands as a type of the people gathered from the Gentiles, the Scripture bears witness. For he was the later son of Joseph and seized the birthright from Manasseh, who by nature was the firstborn; but in the mystery of the cross, with hands crossed, he who stood at Jacob's left received the blessing of the right hand, while he who had stood at the right, blessed by the left hand, was reduced to the second rank.
And just as Jacob seized the birthright from Esau, so Ephraim seized it from Manasseh; and the whole people of the ten tribes was called Ephraim, because Jeroboam, son of Nebat, from this tribe was the first to obtain the kingdom in Samaria. 'Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles that are afar off, and say: He that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock; for the Lord has redeemed Jacob and delivered him out of the hand of the mightier' — or 'stronger.' 'And they shall come and give praise on Mount Zion, and shall flow together to the good things of the Lord, over corn and wine and oil and the young of flocks and herds. And their soul shall be as a watered garden' — or 'as a fruitful tree' — 'and they shall hunger no more.'
'Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance' — or 'the virgins' — 'and young men and old together; and I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them and make them glad from their sorrow, and I will inebriate the soul of the priests with fatness' — or 'of the sons of Levi' — 'and my people shall be filled with my good things, says the Lord.' Clearly the calling of the Gentiles is shown, since the Scripture says: 'Hear the word of the Lord, O nations, and declare it in the isles that are afar off, and say!' What do they declare to the isles that are situated afar off?
That the Lord, who scattered Israel, will himself gather him — therefore it was by no means through the power of the adversaries that they were scattered, but through the will of the Lord — and will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock — for the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep — because the Lord has redeemed Jacob at the price of his own blood and delivered him out of the hand of the mightier or stronger. By these words it is shown that the adversary powers are stronger than the nature of human frailty, and, as to how much strength there is in each, that they are stronger by nature, but we are stronger by faith — provided that we deserve to be delivered by him who is able to bind the strong man and plunder his house.
'And they shall come,' he says — there is no doubt that it means those delivered from the hand of the mighty — 'and they shall praise' their deliverer 'on Mount Zion,' that is, in the Church, 'and shall flow together to the good things of the Lord,' the abundance of all things which is perceived not in the crops and foods of this flesh, but in the variety of the virtues. 'Over corn,' he says, 'and wine and oil' — from which the bread of the Lord is made, and the type of his blood is fulfilled, and the blessing of sanctification is shown, since the Scripture says: 'God, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows' — 'and the young of flocks,' who in the Church are the simple, 'and of herds,' which are horned and toss the adversaries. But that we may know these blessings pertain by no means to the body but to the soul, there follows:
'And their soul shall be as a watered garden' — or 'as a fruitful tree, which is planted beside the running streams of waters,' and the paradise of the Lord in delights. 'And they shall hunger no more,' he says — by no means with that hunger of which it is written: 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness,' but with that hunger which is exchanged for satiety and shuts out the want of all things. 'Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance' — of whom the Apostle writes: 'For I have espoused you to one husband, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ' — 'and the young men' — to whom John speaks: 'I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one' — 'and the old men,' to whom the same one testifies in mystical speech: 'I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning.'
'And I will turn,' he says, 'their mourning into joy' — so that those whom the cross had terrified, the resurrection may gladden — 'and I will comfort them and make them glad from their sorrow' — according to that which the Lord speaks: 'Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted' — 'and I will inebriate the soul of the priests,' who have the knowledge of God, from whose mouth men inquire the law of the Lord, who believe in him to whom the prophet sings: 'Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.' But as to what follows according to the Septuagint, 'of the sons of Levi,' it is not found in the Hebrew, and it is evident that here it is by no means said of those priests who are the sons of Levi, but of those in whose type Melchizedek went before.
But the 'inebriation' of the priests is also confirmed in the apostles, when they burned with faith and were said to be full of new wine; whence also the place in which the Lord was seized is called 'Gethsemane,' which in our tongue sounds 'valley of fatness.' And when the priests have grown fat with the teaching of the Lord and, inebriated at the banquet of Joseph, shall say: 'How goodly is thy inebriating cup!', then shall also come to pass this which the Lord now promises: 'And my people shall be filled with my good things.' All which things are now given in part; but then they shall be given in full, when we shall see face to face and the body of our lowliness shall have been changed into the glory of the resurrection. Thus says the Lord:
'A voice was heard on high, of lamentation, of weeping and mourning, of Rachel bewailing her sons, and she would not be comforted for her sons, because they are not.' The Septuagint: 'Thus said the Lord: A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation and weeping and mourning, of Rachel bewailing her sons, and she would not be still, because they are not.' Neither according to the Hebrew nor according to the Septuagint did Matthew take his testimony; for we read in him, after the account of the slaughter of the infants: 'Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying: A voice was heard in Rama, weeping and great wailing, of Rachel weeping for her sons, and she would not be comforted, because they are not.'
From which it is clear that the evangelists and apostles by no means followed anyone's translation from the Hebrew, but, as Hebrews from Hebrews, expressed in their own words what they read in Hebrew. Rachel, mother of Joseph, when she came to Bethlehem, was suddenly seized with the pains of childbirth and bore a son, whom the midwife, because she was dying in giving birth, called Benoni, that is, 'son of my sorrow'; but the father Jacob changed the name and called him Benjamin, that is, 'son of the right hand.' It is asked, therefore, how the evangelist Matthew transferred the testimony of the prophet to the killing of the little ones, since it is plainly written of the ten tribes, whose chief was Ephrathah, and is by no means in the tribe of Ephraim, but in the tribe of Judah.
For she herself is also Bethlehem of two names, whence the names of both agree: 'Bethlehem' is called 'house of bread,' 'Ephratha' is called karpophoria, which we can render 'fruitfulness.' Since, therefore, Rachel was buried in Ephratha, that is, in Bethlehem — as both the holy Scripture and the inscription of her tomb bear witness even today — she is said to weep for the children who were slain beside her and in her own regions. Certain of the Jews interpret this passage thus: that when Jerusalem was taken under Vespasian, countless thousands of captives were sent to Rome by way of this road, of Gaza and Alexandria;
but others say that in the last captivity under Hadrian, when the city of Jerusalem was also overthrown, an innumerable people of every age and of both sexes was sold at the market of Terebinth; and for that reason it is abominable to the Jews to visit that most crowded market. Let them say what they will; we shall say that we have rightly taken the testimony, saying that the evangelist Matthew, in place of the spot where Rachel was buried and of the sons of the neighbouring villages round about, wept for them as though her own. 'Thus says the Lord: Let thy voice cease from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for there is a reward for thy work, says the Lord, and they shall return from the land of the enemy' — or 'of the enemies' — 'and there is hope for thy latter end, says the Lord, and the sons shall return to their own borders.'
This has not yet been fulfilled according to the letter — for we do not read that the ten tribes, who are exiled in the cities of the Medes and Persians, have returned to the land of Judaea — but according to the spirit it was fulfilled in the passion of the Lord and is being fulfilled up to now, when Israel is saved out of the whole world, and it is said to Rachel: 'Let thy voice cease from weeping and thine eyes from tears!' And the meaning is: 'Cease to weep — for the Lord has regarded thy former works — and thy sons shall return from the land of the enemy, nor be held by present sorrow! For there is hope in thy latter end, says the Lord, and thy sons shall return to their own borders, which their fathers had, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.'
But we understand it better of the little ones, that they have a reward for the blood poured out for Christ, and that in place of the land of Herod the enemy they possess the kingdoms of heaven and shall return to their former seat, when in place of the body of lowliness they shall have received a glorious body. This is the latter hope, when the just shall shine as the sun, and the infants who were once little ones and sucklings, without the increase of years and without wrongs and bodily toil, shall rise again into the perfect man, into the measure of the fullness of Christ. 'Hearing I have heard Ephraim removing' — or 'lamenting' — : 'Thou hast chastised me and I was instructed like an untamed bullock' — or 'like a calf, and I did not learn' — 'convert me, and I shall be converted, for thou art the Lord my God.'
'For after thou hadst converted me' — or 'I was taken captive' — 'I repented, and after I knew' — or 'thou hadst shown me' — 'I smote my thigh' — or 'I groaned' — 'I was confounded and I blushed' — or 'from the day of confusion I made thee known' — 'because I bore the reproach of my youth.' God speaks of what he heard Ephraim saying and lamenting. And there is no doubt to anyone that it signifies the ten tribes, over whom Jeroboam, son of Nebat, first ruled, who also made the golden calves in Dan and Bethel, so that the people, seduced by this error, ceased to worship and adore the God of Israel. 'Thou hast chastised me,' he says, 'and I was chastised.'
Every reproof profits unto salvation, which for the present seems to be of sorrow, but afterwards brings forth peaceable fruits. And as to what he says, 'like an untamed bullock' or 'a calf, and I did not learn,' this signifies that he was instructed with much toil and with blows, that he might be turned to repentance, and yet made no progress. 'Convert me,' he says, 'and I shall be converted' — therefore even the very fact that we do penance we cannot accomplish unless we lean upon the help of God — 'for after thou shalt have converted me and I shall have been turned to thee, then shall I know that thou art the Lord my God, and by no means my errors and sins. And after thou hadst converted me, I repented.'
See how great is the help of God and how frail the human condition, so that this very thing, that we do penance, we can by no means accomplish unless the Lord first converts us. 'And after thou hadst shown me either penance itself or the knowledge of thee, or I knew thee, I smote my thigh.' This is a sign of one grieving and mourning and weeping over former error, that he strikes his thigh with his hand and confesses that he was foolish before. 'I was confounded,' he says, 'and I blushed,' or 'from the day of confusion.' For what time is there that is not a time of our confusion, if we recall our old sins and take memory of all the evils we have done? And as to what the Septuagint said:
'And I made thee known,' it signifies that, after he groaned and acknowledged his sins, then he came to such progress that he made God known even to others who did not know him, according to that which the penitent David also says: 'I will teach the unjust thy ways, and the wicked shall be converted to thee.' 'Because I bore,' he says, 'the reproach of my youth.' He says that he sinned through the ignorance of his age, that he might more easily obtain pardon, according to that which David also sings: 'Remember not the sins of my youth and my ignorances!' Whence also in what follows the Lord calls him 'a little one' and 'abounding in delights'; but this he says because of the greatness of the riches and the fertility of the land, in which the tribe of Ephraim luxuriates even to this day.
'Is Ephraim an honourable son' — or 'beloved' — 'to me? Is he a delicate child? For ever since I spoke of him' — or 'my words in him' — 'I will remember him still; therefore my bowels are troubled over him, having compassion I will have compassion on him, says the Lord.' When Ephraim does penance and says at the beginning: 'Thou hast instructed me and I was instructed like an untamed bullock,' and at the end: 'because I bore the reproach of my youth,' the Lord answers, and sustains him, converted with his whole mind to himself, with such an oracle: 'Ephraim is a son beloved to me, whom I have so loved from the beginning that I preferred him to his brother Manasseh.' An honourable son, who against the order of nature received the honour of the firstborn by the Lord's approbation;
a delicate child, of whom he writes: 'The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow, turned back in the day of battle,' against whom and to whom the whole book of the prophet Hosea is directed, to whom Jacob gives his blessing. But let us take 'delights' in this place according to that which is said in the psalm: 'Delight in the Lord, and he will give thee the petitions of thy heart,' for which in the Greek and in the Hebrew it has: 'Abound in delights'; whence also the paradise in Eden is called 'paradise of delights.' 'Because,' he says, 'my words were in him, remembering I will still be mindful of him.' Lest the blessing should be thought gratuitous and conferred rather from the indulgence of the giver than by the merit of him upon whom it was bestowed, therefore he says:
'I will remember him, because my words were in him,' not in his mouth, not on his lips, but in the inmost affection of his heart; for which cause also 'my bowels are troubled over him.' To whom he also speaks through Hosea: 'What shall I do to thee, Ephraim? What shall I do to thee, Israel? Shall I set thee as Adama, and make thee as Zeboim? My heart is turned within me, my bowels are troubled; I will not execute the fury of my wrath, and I will not destroy Ephraim. Having compassion I will have compassion on him, says the Lord.' 'My words indeed were in him, and he received all my commandments with an eager soul and kept them in his heart; but nevertheless, having compassion I will have compassion on him' — that he might show that all the righteousness of men needs the mercy of God.
'Set up for thyself watchtowers, place for thyself bitternesses, direct thy heart to the straight way in which thou hast walked; return, O virgin Israel, return to these thy cities! How long wilt thou be dissolved in delights, O wandering daughter? For the Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: a woman shall compass a man.' The Septuagint: 'Set up for thyself watchmen, make punishment, give thy heart to thy shoulders: the way in which thou hast walked. Return, O virgin Israel, return to thy cities, mourning! How long wilt thou be turned away, O despised daughter? For the Lord has created thee for salvation into a new planting; in thy salvation men shall go about.' Where we said, 'How long wilt thou be dissolved in delights?', Symmachus put: 'How long wilt thou be plunged into the deep?'
I have set down both editions in full, so that I might show a most obscure chapter, one containing the mysteries of the Church, to have been either not understood or omitted by the Septuagint — or by whoever else translated this prophet. The Hebrew word 'sionim' is rendered either as 'watchmen' or as 'watchtowers,' as Aquila and Symmachus translated. Whence I wonder what the Vulgate edition meant, in that for 'sionim,' that is 'watchmen,' it put 'Zion,' and confused the reader's understanding, so that he might think that after Ephraim the discourse of God was suddenly made to Zion and to the tribe of Judah, whereas the whole speech is to Ephraim, to whom above also he spoke: 'Hearing I have heard Ephraim,' and:
'Ephraim is an honourable son to me' or 'a delicate child,' to whom he now also speaks: 'Set up for thyself watchtowers or watchmen, who may foretell to thee the coming of so great a felicity of all things.' And as to what follows, 'bitternesses,' which in Hebrew are called 'themruum,' for which Symmachus translated 'transmute,' this indicates that he ought to weep either over old sins, or, out of the greatness of joy, to be converted to God with his whole mind, and to set or direct his heart towards the way by which he had set out; for from there she was to return. And as to what the Septuagint said for this, 'give thy heart to thy shoulders,' it signifies that he ought to join his thoughts to his works, or to contemplate the shoulders of those carrying her, of those bringing her back from captivity;
which Isaiah more fully sets forth, asserting that they are to be brought back on camels and chariots and litters. 'Return,' he says, 'O virgin Israel, return to thy cities, which thou didst desert as captives! How long wilt thou be dissolved in negligence and wander in profound error? Look at what I am about to say, and, from whence so great a blessedness is to be hoped for thee, attend diligently; hear what thou hadst never before known! The Lord has created a new thing upon the earth: without the seed of man,'
'without any intercourse or conception, a woman shall compass a man in the womb of her belly, who indeed according to the increments of age shall seem to advance in wisdom and stature through cries and infancy, but as a perfect man shall be contained in the female womb for the accustomed months.' Whence both Symmachus and Aquila translated according to our edition. But what the Vulgate edition meant in this place, I could tell and could find some meaning, were it not sacrilegious to argue about the words of God from human sense. Theodotion also, himself agreeing with the Vulgate edition, translated: 'The Lord has created a new salvation, in salvation a man shall go about,' putting the singular for the plural;
and at the same time this too is to be noted, that the nativity of the Saviour and his conception is called a 'creation' of God. 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Yet shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall have turned back their captivity: The Lord bless thee, O beauty of righteousness, O holy mountain! And in it shall dwell Judah and all its cities together, husbandmen and those leading flocks.' The Septuagint: 'Thus said the Lord of powers, the God of Israel: Yet shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall have brought back its migration: Blessed be the Lord upon his just holy mountain, and they who dwell in the land of Judaea and in every city of it with the husbandman; and he shall be exalted in the flock.'
According to the Hebrew it is manifest that, at the return of Israel and the turning back of the captivity into their own land, they shall dwell in the cities of Judah, and it shall be said to each one: 'The Lord bless thee, who art truly the beauty of righteousness and the holy mountain, in which whoever dwells shall fear no snares'; and Judah shall dwell without iniquity in his cities, and there shall be husbandmen and a multitude of cattle. This seems to have been fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel and Ezra, but let the fullness of the prophecy be referred to the times of Christ: either in his first coming, when these things were done spiritually, or in the second, when all things are fulfilled — for us spiritually, for the Jews and our Judaizers carnally. Further, according to the Septuagint the sense is this:
'Yet this word shall be spoken in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall have turned back its captivity' — what shall be said? 'Blessed be the Lord upon his just holy mountain.' The mountain which deserves to receive the name of 'righteousness and holiness' is none other than the Saviour; otherwise it is foolish, in the Jewish error, to believe an irrational and insensible mountain to be 'just and holy.' He it is of whom also in what follows it is written: 'And in every city of it' — the Saviour's is understood — 'with the husbandman'; there is no doubt that it signifies God, of whom it is also written in the Gospel: 'I am the vine, you the branches, and my Father the husbandman'; whence also the Apostle speaks: 'You are God's husbandry, God's building.' And as to what follows:
'And he shall be exalted in the flock,' this shows that in each of the flocks the just and holy one and the husbandman, the Lord himself, is exalted and ascends to the heights in his servants and believers. 'Because I have inebriated the weary soul' — or 'because I have inebriated every thirsting soul' — 'and every hungry soul I have satisfied' — or 'I have filled' — 'therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.' The change of persons makes the understanding of the prophets obscure. The Lord had said: 'Yet shall they say this word in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I shall have turned back their captivity.' But what shall they say? There is no doubt but that it is this which follows: 'The Lord bless thee, O beauty of righteousness, O holy mountain,' and the rest.
And when they say these things, the Lord in turn answers: 'Because I have inebriated the weary soul' — or 'thirsting' — 'and every hungry soul I have satisfied.' And when he says this, the people who had come out of captivity answer: 'Therefore I awoke and saw, and my sleep was sweet to me.' For the Lord inebriates the weary or thirsting soul and says in the Gospel: 'He that thirsts, let him come to me and drink,' and: 'He that believes in me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water'; and he satisfies every hungry and thirsting soul, of which thirst and hunger he likewise testifies in the Gospel: 'Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.'
And it is to be noted that 'inebriation' in this place is put in a good sense, of which it is also said in the Song of Songs: 'Eat, O friends, and drink and be inebriated, O dearest ones!' With which inebriation Joseph too was inebriated with his brothers at noonday. But those inebriated and satisfied, who had been weary and had hungered, give thanks, answering: 'I awoke and saw the Lord,' namely rousing them and saying: 'Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten thee.' 'And my sleep,' he says, 'was sweet to me, so that I might imitate the words of my Lord who says: I slept and took my rest;'
'and I rose up, because the Lord sustained me.' 'Behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of men and with the seed of beasts. And as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to scatter and to afflict, so will I watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no more say: The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the teeth of the sons are set on edge; but every one shall die in his own iniquity; every man that shall eat the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.' 'House' and 'house,' that is the house of Israel and the house of Judah, is not in the Septuagint, but only: 'Israel and Judah,' so that it is: 'And I will sow Israel and Judah.' And as to what he added:
'with the seed of men and with the seed of beasts,' we ought to refer this to the rational and the simple. And as at the beginning of Jeremiah it was said to him: 'Behold, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to destroy and to scatter and to break down and to build and to plant,' and 'I watched over them, to do what I threatened,' so, he says, 'now I will watch over them, to build and to plant; for you are God's husbandry, God's building.' All promises of this kind are thought by the Jews and our Judaizers to be fulfilled in a reign of a thousand years. But we, since the Apostle says:
'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase,' and the prophet Isaiah, since the Saviour is recorded to be the builder of hedges and of houses, we maintain that these things were fulfilled spiritually at the first coming of Christ — and fulfilled in part, not in whole, because now we see in a mirror and in a riddle and know not as we ought to know; but when that which is perfect shall have come, then that which is in part shall be done away — or else we believe they are to be fulfilled at the second coming, when the Lord shall appear in his majesty and the fullness of the Gentiles shall enter in, so that all Israel may be saved, and by no means in part through individuals, but that God may be all in all. And as to what is added: 'In those days they shall no more say:'