Commentary on Ezekiel 1 part 19/19

but when he had completed the fourth number, it became, he says, a very great torrent, which one could not pass through, because the water was surging up like the rushing of a torrent, which none shall cross.

By these things he taught us that at the beginning the evangelical proclamation would bring but few to salvation;

then it would double these, and triple them;

and after these things it would fill the whole inhabited world, according to the prophecy which says:

'The whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covereth the seas.' And it is fitting to observe that he measured four times, and presented a measure equal in number to the divine Gospels.

And I consider that the fourth measure signifies the Gospel of the wondrous John, which contains a theology inaccessible and insurmountable to men.

Immediately, he says, and at once he showed me beside the bank of the water trees teeming with fruits of every kind.

And on each bank were these trees;

for this water made men to bring forth not only faith toward God, but also action according to God.

'The water of the river, that goeth out into Galilee toward the east, and cometh down upon the uninhabited land, and goeth as far as the sea, unto the water of the outlet of the sea.'

And these things too one may find fulfilled exactly in the actual history.

For first the saving proclamation ran into Galilee;

and thence upon the uninhabited land, the region of the nations that was desolate of piety.

And it reached also unto the surging sea, the races of the barbarians;

and he adds that it shall also sanctify the waters;

for it shall make the Greek and mythical teachings serve the divine proclamation, and those diseased waters, being sanctified through these waters, shall become imparters of health.

'And it shall be, that every living soul of the creatures that swarm, upon everything upon which the river shall come thither, shall live.'

'For everyone,' he says, 'that partakes of the saving waters shall obtain salvation.'

He says also that this water shall become full of fish, and shall have many fishermen;

for many are they who through these waters are caught for salvation, and many too are they who have been entrusted to hunt this catch.

And the phrase 'from Engaddi unto Enaglim' signifies the gladness that comes after temptations and afflictions.

For Engaddi signifies 'the trial of the eyes';

and Enaglim signifies 'the eye of a calf offered for sacrifice and loosing sin,' or drawn under the yoke and entrusted with husbandry.

And the phrase 'a drying-place for nets' signifies not only the multitude of the fishermen, but also their diligence.

'For they shall not cease,' he says, 'from fishing, but shall there take their rest';

for he called the resting 'a drying-place for nets,' since fishermen, when they cease from fishing, are wont to spread out and dry their nets.

'It shall be by itself,' he says—that is, the soul that is being saved shall be separated from ungodliness;

and he says too that the multitude of the fish is not like a river, but like the greatest sea.

For the new people is not equal in number to the former people, but is likened to the sea of the nations, and fills the whole inhabited world.

'And at its outlet, and at its turning, and at its overflowing, its marshes shall not be healed; they shall be given over to salt.'

And this too we see having come to pass at the present time;

for having increased into a multitude, we have run aground into slothfulness.

'For when,' he says, 'lawlessness is multiplied, the love of the many shall grow cold.' Those, then, who are superficial and clothed only with the profession—such as most of us are—he calls marshes;

for the marshes too are not deep, but hold their water only at the surface.

Those, therefore, who are in such a condition he says do not obtain healing.

'But even so,' he says, 'they are not useless to the rest';

for being chastised, they shall become an occasion of benefit to others.

For this reason he said, 'they shall be given over to salt.' For it knows how in some way to season us and to fill us with benefit—not only the teaching word, but also the punishment brought upon sin.

Having thus foretold the things concerning the slothful, he again recounts the fruits of the earnest and the holy, and that among them nothing is unfruitful, but all things are edible.

'And its leaf shall not fall off, nor shall it grow old upon it, neither shall its fruit fail of its freshness throughout its months;

it shall bring forth first-fruits, because their waters issue forth out of the holy places, and their fruit shall be for food, and their yield for health.'

'These trees,' he says, 'shall all bear this edible fruit continually.'

For not once a year, but month by month;

for the saints are not devout only on feast-days, but continually fulfill the keeping of the divine laws.

'But also the leaves,' he says, 'shall not fall off from them.' For they have the gladness of heart that follows upon the practice of virtue.

'And their fruit shall be wholly for food.' For we are wont to admire the athletes of virtue.

'And their yield shall be for health.' For reckoning how great a good is the life according to God, we reap the benefit that comes from it, and obtain the health that is according to God.

From this the prophet is taught what the boundaries of Israel are.

By Hamath they mean Epiphania, though some understand it as Emesa.

For indeed the divine Scripture knows two places bearing the same name.

'To great Hamath.' On the east he names the Jordan as the boundary, and the palm-grove that lies toward the east;

and on the south, as far as the waters of Contradiction;

for so the Syriac interpreted 'Marimoth';

and on the west, that the sea be the boundary.

He commanded that this be apportioned not only to those who derive their descent from Israel, but also to the proselytes who sojourn in their midst: 'Those,' he says, 'who have begotten sons in the midst of you.'

'And let the proselytes who dwell together with each tribe,' he says, 'receive the inheritance along with that same tribe.' CHAPTER 48

then the portion set apart for the priests, twenty-five thousand in breadth and ten thousand in length;

and he commands that the allotment of this be placed around the city.

'For my sanctuary shall be in their midst, for the priests, the sanctified sons of Zadok, who keep the charges of the house.' Then again he divides off the five hundred cubits of the temple in the midst of the city.

'And when the city is being built,' he says, 'let the fruits of this land be set apart for those who carry out the building.'

Then after this he commands that Benjamin receive the allotment, and after him Simeon, then Issachar, and Zebulun after him, and Gad last of all.

He says also that there will be twelve gates to the city, three in each section;

and he said that the whole circuit was eighteen thousand cubits.

'And the name of the city,' he says, 'from the day it comes to be, shall be its name.'

Not because it received another name after the building;

for it was called Jerusalem even after Zerubbabel;

but by these words he hinted that it would again become renowned.

For Scripture often knows how to call glory itself a 'name,' as indeed the same prophet said to Jerusalem in the person of God:

having built the temple over a long time, on account of the war against the neighbouring peoples;

and Nehemiah restored the surrounding walls, eighty years having elapsed in between after the completion of the building of the temple.

And in the days of the Maccabees again it enjoyed much prosperity and renewal, and after them again Herod made it more splendid.

But Apollinaris, who delights in fables and differs in nothing from the little old women who expound myths, promises us another building of Jerusalem, and the worship of the Jews according to the Law, and, alongside the keeping of the Law, faith in the Lord;

then again churches set against one another, the one from among the Gentiles living outside the Law, the other from among the Jews conducting itself according to the Law.

And the most 'wise' man did not perceive the infallibility of the divine declarations.

For concerning the Jews He said: 'He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out the vineyard to other husbandmen, who will render him the fruits in their seasons.' And again:

'I have come in my Father's name, and you did not receive me;

another comes in his own name, and him you will receive.' And concerning the temple He says, first: 'There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.' Then:

'Behold, your house is left to you desolate.' And Isaiah also cries out:

'The city of the ungodly shall never be built up.' And:

'The house of Israel is fallen, it shall rise no more.' And, as it seems, he did not even listen to the teaching of Paul which he brought to the Galatians, saying:

'Whoever of you are justified by the Law, you are fallen from grace.' And again:

'For where there is no law, neither is there transgression.' And again:

'For what the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.' And elsewhere:

'If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to Judaize?' Then he adds:

'We are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles.'

'Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but by the hearing of faith, we also have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith.' Thus he calls the Galatians senseless for consenting to be circumcised after their faith.

And writing to the Philippians also, and accusing those who taught these things, he calls them dogs, saying:

'Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the mutilation;

for we are the circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and put no confidence in the flesh.' And lest anyone suppose that he relied on spiritual things because he was destitute of the fleshly, he fittingly added:

'Although I too have confidence even in the flesh.'

'If any other man thinks he has confidence in the flesh, I more.' And he recounts the honours of the Jews:

'Circumcised on the eighth day.' 'According to the Law,' he says, 'I received circumcision.'

And since it happened that the sons of the proselytes were also circumcised according to this number of days, he necessarily added:

'Of the stock of Israel.' And he is not content with the name of the patriarch, but also states the name of the tribe, showing its distinction: 'of the tribe of Benjamin.' 'For from Rachel,' he says, 'the beloved, I derive my descent.'

'For not only am I not among the half-slaves, but I also have a distinction over the freeborn, as having sprung from her who was betrothed and greatly loved.'

From this he ascends to the more ancient root, in the words 'a Hebrew of Hebrews.' For the Hebrews were so named from Eber.

But let him say: why, then, will He give to those from among the Jews the polity according to the Law, as though faith were unable to grant salvation? And for what reason did He also bestow this same faith on all of us Gentiles, that He might grant them perfect salvation? But if He put an end to the keeping of the Law as though faith were sufficient both to save and to procure the kingdom of heaven, for what reason will He again impose upon the Jews the Law that cannot save? For that most of its precepts furnish no righteousness to those who keep them, God Himself taught us through this prophet:

'For I gave them,' He says, 'statutes that were not good, and ordinances in which they shall not live.' How then will He again impose upon the Jews things that are not good and cannot furnish life, if He wills to save them and not to destroy them? And from another consideration too it is easy to perceive the folly of one who expects these things.

For if the affairs of the Jews are a type of ours—

for he concedes this and does not deny it—

what need is there of the yearling lamb after the sacrifice of the spotless Lamb who took away the sin of the world? And what profit is there in the unleavened bread after the heavenly bread, or in the typical Passover after the spiritual? But he neither listens to the divine Apostle saying:

'Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'

'For our Passover, Christ, was sacrificed for us'—nor does he listen to the Lord teaching his own disciples and saying:

'This is my body, which is broken for you;

do this in remembrance of me.' And:

'This is my blood, which is shed for you for the remission of sins;

do this in remembrance of me.' And elsewhere too, having said to the Jews:

'Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died,' he added:

'This is the bread of life, that one may eat of it and not die.' And, to leave aside the countless other places, even now in Jerusalem there is both the church of the Cross, and the Resurrection, and the Ascension, and the church on Zion, and holy Bethlehem, and countless other places of prayer.

When, then, the temple of the Jews has been rebuilt, will these be abolished, or will they too remain honoured? And if they remain in their former honour, will they be honoured by the Jews, or dishonoured? If, then, they dishonour them and remain in their former madness, they will gain no benefit from the proclamations of the great Elijah;

but if they honour them, which then of the places of prayer will be greater—that of the Cross, or of the Resurrection, or the one that is to be built? For if that one is greater, they will be doing so as not having perfect knowledge;

but if they prefer these others, then the building of that one is superfluous;

but if they assign equal honour to these and to that, they will offer their sacrifices there, but here they will partake of the sacred mysteries.

And how is it possible that they, together with those who have believed from among the Gentiles, should partake of the divine mysteries, when the Law forbids intermingling with the Gentiles? It remains, then, that in the very same temple both the evangelical and the legal observances are fulfilled at the same time;

and again there must necessarily be strife and contention, we for our part conducting ourselves by ourselves, while they choose the worship according to the Law.

And how then is Paul speaking the truth when he says:

'Christ is our peace, who made both one, and broke down the middle wall of the partition, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that he might create the two'—that is, the Gentile and the Jewish—'into one new man, and reconcile them both in one spirit to the Father'? And again:

'Where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircumcision, but Christ is all and in all.' Indeed, says our most learned adversary, even in the days of the Apostles the Jews at Jerusalem who had believed the preaching still kept the worship according to the Law, while the other Churches ordered their life outside the Law.

And he does not perceive that the holy Apostles, condescending to the weakness of those men, permitted this to be done at that time, while they themselves transgressed the Law without fear; whereas, had they known the keeping of the Law to be necessary, they would never have brought themselves to transgress it.

But they themselves, as knowing that the manner of life according to the Law was superfluous, pursued the evangelical life;

yet to those who were weakly disposed they conceded the keeping of the Law in part, leading them by degrees toward the more perfect things.

Thus the blessed Paul, having circumcised Timothy, ordained him a teacher of the evangelical polity.

But perhaps we too have caught a share of Apollinarius' foolish babbling, in undertaking to refute his mythmaking, which is not only false but also unpleasant;

to whom the blessed Paul might fitly say:

But if the gain fall short of our hope, and the fruit be not equal in weight to the labours, let him grant pardon to the weakness of our nature, yet nonetheless accept our eagerness, and requite our labours with prayers, asking of the Saviour of all a remission of our sins;

with whom to the Father be glory, together with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages that have no end.