But indeed, at such a time as this, at which it is necessary that the mountain of the Lord be proclaimed to all the nations, and the house of God upon the mountain, to which all the nations come together, saying, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob" — the discourse, having employed such accusations against the Jewish nation, and having threatened them with the last extremities, joins to all these the passages already set forth by us, teaching that, while the whole Jewish nation was about to fall away from piety toward God, some among them would be left over, not partaking together with all the rest in the evils; but on the contrary, as though preserved from among the wicked and the lawless, and having shown proof and sincerity of piety, they would be counted worthy of being enrolled before God and would be called holy servants of God.
By these he indicates the apostles and disciples and evangelists of our Savior, and all the rest of those from the circumcision who believed in him, at the time of the falling away of their whole nation.
And this the discourse hints at, saying, "on that day" — that is, evidently, when everything foretold concerning the calling of the nations and concerning the falling away of the Jews shall take place — "God shall shine forth in counsel with glory upon the earth, to exalt and to glorify the remnant of Israel, and that which is left in Zion, and that which is left in Jerusalem, shall be; all who are written for life shall be called [holy] in Jerusalem" — on whose account it is also fittingly held that the prophecy, proceeding from Jerusalem and from Judea, has as its preface the words "concerning Judea and concerning Jerusalem" — or else on account of the true Jerusalem, and the Judea contemplated analogously to it according to the mind; concerning which we shall learn in due course.
And who among the apostles of our Savior and the evangelists, beholding the divine power by which their voice went out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the inhabited world, and all the churches of Christ from that time to this have their words upon their lips and as their teachings, together with the legislation of Christ's new covenant proclaimed through them — would not bear witness to the truth of the prophecy which plainly declares that God shall be exalted in counsel and with glory over all the earth, and shall glorify the remnant of Israel, and that the remnant left in Zion and left in Jerusalem, those written for life, shall be called holy? Instead of what is said by the Seventy, "in counsel with glory," Aquila and Theodotion, in agreement, translated "with power and glory," setting forth the power given by God to the apostles and the glory attending it from God, in accordance with, "The Lord will give a word to those who preach the gospel with great power."
"And you shall indeed hear the report by hearing, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive. For the heart of this people has grown fat, and they have heard heavily with their ears, and closed their eyes, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them. And I said, How long, Lord? And he said, Until cities are made desolate, so that they are not inhabited, and houses, so that there are no men, and the land that is left shall be desolate. And after this God shall remove men far away, and those left upon the land shall be multiplied."
Here too, in what manner those left again upon the land — while all the rest becomes desolate — are said to be multiplied alone, is worth asking. These too would be the disciples of our Savior from among the Hebrews, who, having gone forth to all men, and being left behind after the manner of seed, brought forth abundant fruit — the churches of the nations throughout the whole inhabited world; and observe how, in this very passage, it says that these would be multiplied, being left alone from the falling away of the Jews, while those others would become altogether desolate.
"For a tenth part of them," he says, "shall again be left desolate." This too was said to them earlier by the same prophet, according to the passage, "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire, strangers devour your country in your presence."
And when indeed were these things fulfilled, if not from the times of our Savior? For as long as they had not yet dared their impieties against him, their land was not desolate, nor were their cities burned with fire, nor did strangers devour their country; but from that divine voice by which our Savior and Lord himself foretold beforehand what was to happen to them, saying, "Your house is left to you desolate" — from that time, and not long after the prediction, being besieged by the Romans, they were reduced to desolation.
And the cause of their desolation the prophetic word itself lays bare, almost plainly interpreting it, and setting forth the reason for their falling away. For since, when our Savior was teaching among them, they heard with the ears of understanding but did not hear, nor did they comprehend who he was, and though they saw him with the eyes of the flesh, they did not behold him with those of the soul, and made their heart fat, and, one might almost say, closed the eyes of their understanding, and made their ears heavy, as the prophecy says — for this reason, it says, their cities would be made desolate, so as not to be inhabited, and the land would become desolate, while a few of them would be left, preserved after the manner of fruitful and living seed, who, having gone forth to all men, are said to be multiplied upon the earth.
Yet even after the departure of these, that is, of the apostles of our Savior, it says that a tenth still remained in the land of Judea itself, and that afterward these too would again be given up to plunder, like a terebinth, and like an acorn when it falls from its case. The word makes clear through this, I think, that after the first siege which they are recorded to have suffered in the time of the apostles and under the Roman emperor Vespasian, being besieged a second time under Hadrian, they were altogether shut out from the place, so that they were not even permitted to set foot on the soil of Jerusalem. Hinting at this, then, he says again, "And it shall again be for plunder, like a terebinth, and like an acorn when it falls from its case."
"And it shall be on that day, a man shall nourish a young cow of the herd and two sheep; and it shall be that, from the abundance of milk produced, he shall eat butter, and every one left on the land shall eat honey."
Here, if you inquire after the day indicated, you would find it to be the very time of the manifestation of our Savior. For the prophet, having said, "Behold, the virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bear a son," prophesies many things in between concerning what would happen on that same day — that is, about the time of the manifestation of our Savior.
For he says that invisible powers, certain enemies and adversaries, called by the allegorical names of flies and bees, would come upon the land of the Jews, and that the Lord would shave, as it were with a razor belonging to the enemies, the great body — that is, the Jewish nation — its head and the hairs of its feet and its beard, and, to speak comprehensively, all its adornment.
These things being about to happen on the prophesied day of the one who was to be born of the virgin, he prophesies that the man left over from the destruction of the whole nation — that is, everyone from among them who has believed in the Christ of God — shall nourish a young cow of the herd and two sheep, and that, from the abundance of milk produced, he shall eat butter and honey; and you will understand these things too, according to a mystical contemplation, as fulfilled with respect to the apostles of our Savior.
Each of whom, in the churches which he established together with the power of Christ, [nourished] two sheep — that is, two orders coming together after the manner of sheep into the flock of Christ, the one still being catechized, the other already illumined through the bath — and besides these, having nourished one young cow, the ecclesiastical office of the presiding elders, with divine and rational food, brought forth from them, as the fruit of the food he had labored over, fertile milk and honey.
Now there is no need to say how the divine word is accustomed to liken the multitudes of the less perfect to sheep, since every Scripture teaches this; but that the one who tends the many, the leader of the church, is likened to the farmer who tends oxen, the sacred apostle establishes, saying,
"Is it for oxen that God is concerned, or does he speak entirely for our sake? For it is fitting that the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes, in hope of sharing."
But if anyone should stumble at such allegorical interpretations, it is time for him not to contemplate in a spiritual sense the so-called flies or bees, nor the razor, nor the beard, nor the hairs of the feet, but rather to fall into absurd and untenable fables. But if it is necessary to receive these things in no other way than by contemplation alone, it is clear that what follows should be received likewise.
In that day the mountains, and the hills, and the forests shall be quenched, and it shall devour from soul even to flesh; and the one fleeing shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame, and those left of them shall be a number, and a little child shall write them down. And it shall be in that day, the remnant of Israel shall no longer be added to, and those of Jacob who are saved shall no longer trust in those who wronged them, but they shall trust upon the holy God of Israel in truth, and the remnant of Israel shall turn back to the mighty God.
And though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, their remnant shall be saved. For, bringing a matter to completion and cutting it short in righteousness, God will make a word cut short over all the inhabited world.
And here note that, in the threat of these grim things, he says, the one fleeing shall be as one fleeing from a burning flame; and those left of them shall be a number, and a little child shall write them down. By this he sets forth how few will be those who escape the destruction of the people of the circumcision and the burning of Jerusalem. And these who are left, he says, shall be a number—
that is, they shall be able to be taken by number, being so few and easily counted. So many indeed, in comparison with the whole multitude of the Jewish nation, have become those who believed in our Savior and Lord, who were also deemed worthy of being written down by him, as the text makes clear in saying, "and a little child shall write them down"; having previously taught what the child was, in the words where he said, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son; and before the child knows how to call father or mother..."
And since here it says, "a child shall write them down," fittingly it was said before, "and it shall be, the one left in Zion and the one remaining in Jerusalem shall be called holy, all who are written unto life." Just as in those words the one "left" was named, and these same were "written unto life," so also here those left of them shall be a number, and a child shall write them down.
And this remnant left of Israel, and those of Jacob who are saved, shall no longer, it says, be upon those who wronged them, but shall be trusting upon the holy God of Israel.
And observe whether it was not with just this trust that those who came forth from the Jewish nation, and who, out of the fall of Israel, were left behind as the disciples and apostles of our Savior—taking no account of the rulers of this age or of the rulers of the people of the circumcision who of old had wronged them—went out into all the nations proclaiming the word of Christ, with trust toward God.
(since, according to the prophecy, they were trusting upon the holy God of Israel, in truth—for not deceitfully, nor with hypocrisy, but with truth they gave themselves wholly over to hope)—they not only went forth beyond their own country, but they accomplished what had been set before them.
This same remnant, then, became as it were the seed of the fall of Jacob, trusting upon the mighty God; and this very remnant, when the whole of their nation had become as the sand of the sea—but not according to the stars of heaven—was deemed worthy of the salvation that is with God, just as the apostle testified when he said, "And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel: Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved."
For, there being two promises given by the oracle to Abraham concerning those who would come from him—namely, that they would be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea—those who were beloved of God shone like the heavenly lights, such as were of old the prophets and the apostles of our Savior, to whom he bore witness, saying, "You are the light of the world"; while those who were earthborn and grovelling were compared to the sand of the earth.
Fittingly, then, in these words the prophetic word, when the whole multitude of the sons of Israel, having fallen from their worth and from the greatness of virtue, and having become altogether wholly grovelling, is compared to the sand of the sea, declares that then indeed only their remnant shall be saved—concerning which remnant much has already been discussed by us.
And he says these things shall be, when the Lord himself, cutting short and finishing a word, shall make it throughout the whole inhabited world—clearly setting forth the evangelic proclamation, in which, the whole cycle of the law of Moses in customs and symbols and bodily forms of worship having been taken away, the concise word of the gospel, handed down to all men, confirmed the truth of the prophecy.
And it shall be in that day, the root of Jesse—even he who rises up to rule the nations; on him shall the nations hope, and his resting-place shall be honor. And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again show forth his hand, to be zealous for and to seek out the remnant that is left of his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians and from Egypt and from Babylonia and from Ethiopia and from the Elamites and from the rising of the sun and from the islands of the sea. And he shall lift up a sign for the nations, and shall gather the scattered of Judah from the four wings of the earth.
Since many things are repeatedly said to come to pass "in a notable day," that is, at the appearing of a particular time, we have shown, by gathering through reasoning the sequence of the things indicated, that this is referred to the coming of God, in accordance with which, while the whole Jewish nation falls away, the divine words make clear that some few, who shall be left of them, shall be saved.
Indeed, the passage now in hand sets forth most clearly both the day and the time signified by it and the things that came to pass in connection with it; for, prophesying the birth of the Christ that would come from the seed of David, it proclaims beforehand at the same time the fall of the Jews. And it speaks thus:
"Behold, the sovereign Lord Sabaoth shall confound the glorious with might, and the lofty shall be brought low, and the lofty shall fall by the sword, and Lebanon shall fall together with the lofty ones." Now by "Lebanon" here he hints at Jerusalem, as we have shown elsewhere, which the text threatens shall fall together with all the venerable and glorious things within it. And having thus foretold these things, he next adds, "And a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall come up out of the root," and so on.
Most clearly setting forth the birth of the Christ from the root of Jesse—who was the father of David—and upon that birth, he proclaims beforehand, first by riddle in prophetic manner, the calling of the nations. For "the wolf shall feed together with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down together with the kid," and such things, signify nothing other than the change of the nations—who in manner were wild and savage and no different from beasts—into a pious, gentle, and sociable way of life.
And yet again, the prophetic word, interpreting itself, adds: "And it shall be in that day, the root of Jesse—even he who rises up to rule the nations; on him shall the nations hope, and his resting-place shall be honor."
Since, then, above he indicated in a veiled manner the fall of the Jewish nation, and after this the calling of the nations, sometimes veiledly, sometimes openly, fittingly, taking up the discourse again, he makes mention of those of the circumcision who believe in Christ, so as not to shut off entirely their hope in Christ. For, he says, "there shall be one who rises up to rule the nations."
But who was the one who rises up, if not the root of Jesse, of whom he says plainly that he will rule the nations, but not Israel? Since, then, he had variously taught the turning of the nations to the one who sprang and blossomed from the root of Jesse, but had as yet said nothing favorable concerning those of the circumcision, fittingly he supplies what was lacking in the prediction, saying, "And it shall be in that day"—that is, in the time of the appearing of the one sprung from the root of Jesse—"the Lord shall again show forth his hand, to seek out and be zealous for the remnant that is left of the people, which shall be left from these and those enemies." Instead of which Aquila has rendered: "And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall again the second time show forth his hand, to acquire the remnant of his people, which shall be left from the Assyrians," and so forth.
And you will understand these things also, regarding the enemies of the people of God, as certain intelligible and spiritual beings—that is, evil demons or powers opposed to the Word—when you consider that these, having of old invisibly presided over the aforementioned nations, laid siege to the souls of Israel, surrounding them with various passions, dragging them down and taking them captive into a way of life like that of the foreign peoples.
So then, since, so to speak, almost the whole of this people was taken captive in soul by the aforesaid, those who were kept and left behind unwounded and inviolate shall, according to the prophecy, obtain the promise indicated, seeing the hand of the Lord and becoming his possession, in accordance with the oracle which says, "the Lord shall again show forth his hand, to be zealous for the remnant that is left of the people."
And what will the Lord add? Why, in addition to what he had once already shown of old—when through the prophets the hand of the Lord came upon them—he will add to these, as being saved from the fall of the whole people, what was lacking to those former things. And these were the mysteries of the new covenant, shown by the hand of the Lord to the remnant left of the people. And also, he says, "to be zealous for the remnant that is left of the people."
Instead of which, Aquila and Theodotion agree in saying, "to acquire the remnant of his people, which he shall leave from the Assyrians and from the rest of the enemy nations." And this remnant left of the people, he says, shall lift up a sign for the nations.
Clearly the Lord, through them, displays his own sign among all the nations, and through them shall gather the lost of Israel and the scattered of Judah from the four wings of the earth, unto the Christ of God, those who have taken refuge through the preaching of his apostles—declaring that those who are gathered are of those who long ago had been removed and separated from Israel and Judah according to the mind.
It is the character of such souls that shows the true Israel of God, just as, conversely, a base and wicked disposition causes Israel according to the flesh to be styled rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah.
This remnant, then, according to the election of grace, that is, what is called in the prophecy the remnant left of the people, proclaimed the sign of the Lord to all the nations, and, having drawn such souls of the nations out of destruction to the knowledge of the Lord, gathered together one people unto God, which even now is being assembled from the four wings of the earth by the power of Christ.
And these same, who were saved out of the lost of the Jewish nation, the disciples and apostles of our Savior, though belonging to different tribes, were deemed worthy of one calling and one grace and one Holy Spirit, and shall cast away all the jealousy which the tribes of the Hebrew nation once had toward them, as the prophecy says.
Being joined together, then, in the same mind and the same purpose, they traversed not only the mainland, but also the islands of the nations, plundering and taking captive from every quarter the souls of men into the obedience of Christ, in accordance with the oracle which said, "and they shall fly in the ships of the Philistines, plundering the sea together, and those from the rising of the sun."
And the rest of the prophecy also you will examine analogously to these things, testing each expression for yourself, and rejecting whatever is disjointed and lowly in it, but understanding the mind of the spirit, as the Spirit of God himself may suggest to you to perceive. For time does not permit us to dwell longer upon these passages, since we are pressed to complete the subject before us.
"And I will command evils for the whole inhabited world, and their sins for the impious; and I will destroy the pride of the lawless, and I will humble the pride of the arrogant; and those left shall be more precious than unrefined gold, and a man shall be more precious than the stone of Sophir."
And by these things the text most clearly sets forth the fewness of those who shall be saved in the time of the destruction of the impious, so that there is no room to suppose, without distinction, that absolutely all those of the circumcision and the whole Jewish nation shall obtain the promises of God.
"And it shall be in that day, there shall be a failing of the glory of Jacob, and the fatness of his glory shall be shaken. And it shall be as when one gathers standing grain in harvest, and reaps the seed of the ears; and it shall be as when one gathers ears of grain in a firm valley, and a stalk is left in it; or as two or three berries of an olive left on the topmost bough, or four or five upon its branches. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: In that day man shall trust in his Maker, and his eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel, and they shall no longer trust in the altars, nor in the works of their hands, which their fingers made."
And through these words it is clearly prophesied that the glory of Israel and all their fatness shall be brought down; while few, again, and countable by number, like the small olive-berries on a tree, shall be left behind. And these would be those of them who have believed in our Lord. Fittingly, after what was said concerning those, it is prophesied concerning the whole race of men, that it shall turn away from the delusion of idols, and shall come to know the God of Israel.
See in what manner here too he does not summon all those of the circumcision to the hearing of the hidden things, but only those whom he names "left behind" and "pained," such as were, according to the apostle, those who groan and bewail the wickedness of human life.
"The lofty ones of the earth have mourned, and the earth has transgressed the law because of its inhabitants. Therefore the dwellers upon the earth shall be poor, and few men shall be left." And in these words, having convicted the people of the circumcision who transgressed the law and the covenant of God, and having threatened them with the things thus written, he prophesies that few men shall be left of them. And these would be what is called by the apostle "the remnant according to the election of grace."
"Cities shall be left desolate, and the houses that are forsaken shall perish. All these things shall be in the land, in the midst of the nations, in the manner that one gleans an olive tree, so shall they glean them; and when the vintage ceases, these shall raise their voice—but those left upon the earth shall rejoice together with the glory of the Lord." And here those left behind alone are said to rejoice, all the rest being handed over to the things prophesied.
"The crown of insolence, the hirelings of Ephraim, shall be trampled underfoot. And the flower that has fallen from the hope of glory, on the top of the high mountain, shall be like the first-ripe fig; the one who sees it, before he takes it into his hand, will desire to swallow it. In that day the Lord shall be the crown of hope, the plaited crown of glory, for the remnant left of his people; for they shall be left in a spirit of judgment."
And here it prophesies that the Lord shall be a crown of hope and glory for the remnant left of the people—not for their whole nation, but for those alone signified by the remnant—calling the rest, apart from the remnant of the people, "crown of insolence" and "hirelings of Ephraim."
"And those left in Judea shall take root downward, and shall produce seed upward; for out of Jerusalem shall come those who are left, and those saved from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord Sabaoth shall accomplish this."
It prophesies that those left of the Jewish nation according to the election of grace shall take root downward and produce seed upward, most clearly setting forth the election of the apostles and disciples of our Savior. For these, being left of those of the circumcision, cast down into the earth below the roots of their teaching, so that their doctrine was fixed and rooted throughout the whole inhabited world, while above they exhorted that the seed and the fruit should be borne up to the heavenly promises.
And these same men, left behind out of the Jewish nation, while the rest perish, are said alone to be saved. And all these things the zeal of the Lord accomplished; for, in order to provoke to jealousy the impious ones of the circumcision, the zeal of the Lord, having chosen these, provoked those to jealousy through them, according to what is said in Moses: "They provoked me to jealousy with what is not God, and I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a nation; with a foolish nation I will anger them."
"Thus says the Lord: As a berry shall be found in the cluster, and they shall say, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing of the Lord is in it'—so shall I do for the sake of him that serves me. For this reason I will not destroy all, and I will bring forth the seed that is of Jacob and that is of Judah, and it shall inherit my holy mountain."