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Commentary on Hosea, Chapter Seven
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COMMENTARY ON HOSEA, CHAPTER SEVEN Begin harvesting for yourself when I turn back the captivity of my people, when I heal Israel.1 HE VERSE addresses once again the resident of Gilead, its message being, I began as God both to heal and to turn back Israel. The Shechemites, for instance, longed to submit their neck to God in the future and to celebrate feasts, no longer those of Jeroboam but those according to the Law, and to abandon the deceit derived from goodness-knows-what source. But you, people of Gilead, so to speak, cut them back, plucked their fruit, and acquired unjust gain by brigandage. Again he proclaims with some delicacy, Begin harvesting for yourself , as if to say something of the kind, or rather gently insinuate instead of saying it, I shall make you the first-fruits of those punished ; beginning with cutting back Israel, and harvesting those involved in such dreadful sacrilege, I shall make you the first spoils of my wrath. You need to know, in fact, that Pul king of Assyria , who was the first to come against (151) Samaria and Israel, deported the first tribes into captivity across the Jordan, and Gilead was one of those. So just as, when I turn back Israel and then begin to heal, you have harvested for yourself, people of Gilead, the fruits of your brigandage, so, too, I will surrender Israel to Assyria and make you the first-fruits of those sent off. Now, the ancient crimes are of a similar kind to those of the Jews against Christ; the God and Father called the whole of Israel to opt in the future to adopt a better mentality, to cease worshiping according to the Law and choose instead the new form that is according to the Gospel. But they raised considerable op150 1. This sentence in Cyril’s text incorporates elements of both the final verse of chapter 6 and the first verse of the next chapter. position to those who were converted and who called them to healing; Scripture says, “The Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed him to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.” And the leaders among them heard the words, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for taking away the key of knowledge; you neither go in nor allow those going in to go in.”2 So they were given over to the foe, and paid a harsh penalty for their intoxicated frenzy against Christ. The iniquity of Ephraim will be revealed, and the wickedness of Samaria , because they were responsible for falsehood. A thief will gain entrance to him, a brigand robbing him on his way, with the result that they will be of one voice, as though singing together in their hearts (vv.1–2). The Lord of all is surely good and longsuffering by nature, “patient and rich in mercy”;3 as long as he continues to be patient with the fallen, however, their crimes are somehow still covered over. But when he takes vengeance, calls us to account, and (152) does not persist in showing mildness, they then become obvious and seem to be laid bare, as if he likes them to be publicized and made visible to the eyes of all. This is what he is saying will happen also in the case of Ephraim and Samaria. You should take Ephraim here to mean the royal tribe in Samaria, from which came Jeroboam and those after him, and by Samaria the people in Samaria, that is, the ten tribes. He says their sins will be revealed for the following reasons: because they were responsible for falsehood, practicing a spiritless and out-of-date worship and manufacturing idols, as I said, and because a thief (that is, a brigand) will gain entrance to him; that is, a thief entered, stayed on, and caused havoc in his home, robbing him on his way. The purpose in this, he is saying, is that it may be clear that they are singing together in their hearts, meaning, of one voice and one mind. Some, in fact, made raids on those wanting to go up to Jerusalem; others shared their crimes with them, participating in their sacrilegious plundering.4 COMMENTARY ON HOSEA 7 151 2. Jn 9.22; Lk 11.52. 3. Jl 2.13. 4. Cyril is loath to admit obscurity in the text (in both Heb. and LXX in this case), persisting in...