(14) "And the Lord will take away the head from Israel, and the error, great and small, in one day."

After the Word sent to them reaches them, according to the word of the Prophet, all their evil dispositions will be thrown into confusion, the princes and their attendants, and those who think highly of themselves in their power, and those who are subordinate, will be taken away. The presidency of the elders and those who judge by partiality will be dishonored. And those who have no degree among the people, but set themselves up and falsely ascribe to themselves the prophetic gift, not receiving it from the Spirit, "teaching the wicked" (cf. Isaiah 9:15), such as there were false prophets under Jeremiah Ananias (cf. Jeremiah 28:5) and under Micah, in whom there was "a deceitful spirit and deceived" Ahab, inciting him to war with the Sirians (cf. 1 Kings. 22:22), and they, constituting, as it were, a "mistake" of the people, will also be taken away.

(16) But even "the blessed people flatter them" and deceive them. (17) "For this reason the Lord will not rejoice over their young men" and for those who are in the bloom of age; And if any man be an orphan among these people, and if any man be a widow, they shall not receive mercy. For that which is weak and helpless is worthy of pity, and that which is strong in malice and wickedness is worthy of abhorrence and hatred. That is why the Prophet adds that "His wrath is not turned away," "but His hand is still exalted," and threatens both those who flatter and those who are deceived among the people, among whom "all iniquity and wickedness speaketh unrighteousness."

But this threat has a certain kind of beneficence, because (18) "it will burn like the fire of iniquity." For the Good Lord, doing good to people, arranges that the substance prepared by iniquity is given over to destruction. "And like a dry cereal," says the Prophet, "it shall be consumed by fire, and it shall burn in the thickets of the oaks." As long as the soul is suppressed by earthly passions, hitherto its passions, struck by carnal wisdom, spread out like a "rope," mutually serving as the beginning of one another, and being born of one another. For just as the "rope" is the most fruitful of all things, and its birth never ceases, but the end of the first birth is always the beginning of the next, so is the nature of sins: one sin follows another. Fornication is born of fornication, the habit of lying becomes the mother of lies, and he who is tempted to steal easily dares to do wrong, because the previous sin becomes a pretext for a new sin. Therefore, if we expose sin by confession, then let us make it a dry cloth, worthy of being "devoured" by the purifying fire. But it flares up "in the thickets of oak forests". Notice what is said about oak groves in the First Book of Samuel. All the people who were in the battle went up to the oak grove and were exhausted, not eating (with the seventy: and the whole land dined). But Absalom also enters the oak grove during the battle (cf. 2 Samuel 18:9). Therefore, if our sin does not become like a "dry reed," it will not be consumed by fire and will not be kindled. And the Prophet calls people pretended to be thickets of oaks, who have a hidden mind, who keep much evil in the secret of their hearts.

Then the Prophet adds that (19) "Because of the fury of the Lord's wrath the whole earth is burned." By which it shows that earthly things are given over to the punitive fire for the benefit of the soul, as the Lord Himself gives us to understand, saying: "Thou hast come to bring fire upon the earth," and would like to see "if it has already been kindled" (cf. Luke 12:49). "And people will be burned with fire." He does not threaten with destruction, but means purification, according to the words of the Apostle: "His work shall be burned up, it shall be cut off; but he himself shall be saved, as by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:15).

Then the Prophet depicts malice in people and rebellion, which has not ceased among them and has reached a complete incurability. For he says: "A man will not have mercy on his brother." (20) But whoever comes to receive any help will "turn away to the right hand," that is, he will become ill-disposed towards him, "as if he were hungry, and he will be taken away from them." For whoever does not do what is right and is worthy of approval will be satisfied with what is unfavorable and unlawful. So, what does it mean to "come down from the Shuiikh"? The prophet interprets. "And he shall not be satisfied," he says, "a man who eats the flesh of his arms."

And this makes us see some kind of brutal state of mind, depicting how brothers, cruelly attacking one another, devour each other. "For Manasseh is Ephraim, and Ephraim is Manasseh." For the Prophet presents them as cruel and likens them to carnivorous beasts, so that they insatiably devour the "flesh of the arm" of another, which is why their end is complete destruction, according to the words of the Apostle: "If ye bite and devour one another, take heed, lest ye be destroyed by one another" (Gal. 5:15). But those who are so hostile to one another will at the same time be unanimous in their evil against their neighbor. For it is said: "Together they shall make war on Judas," that is, those who confess to God and abide in His service, because Judas is interpreted as "confession." But the Prophet, being at odds with himself, expresses some kind of agreement in the struggle with virtue. For example, audacity and cowardice are opposite to each other, one as an excess, the other as a defect; but they equally oppose the courage that forms the middle between them, and besiege it, as it were, on both sides. Therefore it is said that Ephraim and Manasseh devour each other's flesh, but came together "together to fight Judah."

Commentary on Chapter 10

(1) "Woe to those who write wickedness, for they who write wickedness," (2) "Blaspheming the judgment of the poor, rapturing the judgment of my poor people, for they may be a widow to plunder, and an orphan to plunder." (3) "And what will they do on the day of the visitation? For sorrow will come to you far away. And to whom will you have recourse, may it help you? And where will you leave your glory," (4) "if you do not fall into captivity? And they will fall under the slain. And in all these His wrath is not turned away, but His hand is still exalted."

There are people who, refusing to follow the fathers and the dogmas handed down to them, wish to become the leaders of heresies themselves. For this reason they invent certain innovations in the right teaching, "writing deceit" and impiety; It is upon them, on these fathers of falsely named knowledge, on these authors of godless teachings, that "woe" falls. For such people plunder those who are poor in faith, take possession of the souls, the widows of the true Bridegroom, God the Word. And if they see that someone has been orphaned from God through sin, then they make him as their prey, promising him every security and offering him a voluptuous life, if only they find him agreeing to godless teachings. Such is the heresy of the Anomoeans, who promise remission of sins to fornicators, adulterers, homosexuals, enslavers of free people, perjurers, and liars, if only they find them partakers in blasphemy against the Only-begotten. The prophetic word speaks to them: "What shall they do in the day of visitation?" and calls the day the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, when He will come into the world to reward each one according to his deeds. On this day, as "writers of wickedness," they will receive the tribulation that comes to them from afar. But "To whom do you have recourse, that it may help you?" for you have written against God, the Judge of the living and the dead. Your accusations will be your writings.

Then the Prophet says: "Where will you leave your glory?" You, who love to do everything for show, who are partial to human honor, but who wanted to become heresies in order to gain a name for yourselves, and therefore "spoke falsehood on high" (cf. Psalm 72:8), "where" then, on the day of judgment, "will you forsake your glory?" Now you, the leader of the deceived, take advantage of their surprise, bear the name of leader and teacher, respect and delight them; and then you will be more dishonorable than they themselves, whom you have killed. For the acceptance of a false opinion is the murder of the soul. Therefore thou shalt fall under them, and the burden of those whom thou hast slain shall fall upon thee."

And since each of us writes his own handwriting, as it were, with his own life, imprinting in his memory the images of deeds, then, perhaps, the prophetic word calls such as "those who write wickedness" unhappy. For the heart of the righteous is "not written with ink, but with the living Spirit of God" (2 Corinthians 3:3), and the heart of the unrighteous is not written with "the living Spirit of God," but with ink, akin to darkness and the enemy of light. For this reason each one either writes for himself, doing good, or, composing a handwriting on himself, gathers evil things. Thus, there is "handwriting on us" (cf. Col. 2:14), which is written with our own hands when we do evil; There is a handwriting for us when we do well. And there are also those who forge letters in contracts and change the letters in papers to the possession of margins, in wills, in sureties, and in various conditions, when they write something that is confirmed by written evidence; and such "write deceit," distorting the just judgment in the reasoning of the poor and plundering the wealth of the poor among the people, from which the widow turns into food for them, and the orphan into gain, as happens with the victors in robberies during war. They are reminded of the prophetic word: "What shall they do in the day of visitation?" And the day of judgment and retribution for each according to the measure of his sins he called the day of visitation, with which he threatens them: "Sorrow will come to you far away."

And let us understand the meaning of the word "far away" as follows: our salvation is not far away, but is near us, for it is said: "God draweth nigh, I am" (Jeremiah 23:23). I am closer to them than the tunic is to their body. And it is also said: "This commandment, which I command you today, is not heavy, it is far from you; Who shall ascend from us into heaven, and shall take it up to us, and make it to us, and to him that heareth it, we shall do? Below it is the land of the sea, saying, Who shall pass over to us the land of the sea, and shall take it to us, and we shall do it to him that hears it? do it" (cf. Deuteronomy 30:11-14). And our Lord says: "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). That is why the best and salvific is "near" to us and "within" us; and the opposite of this comes to us "far away," since it is outside of us. For sin was not contained in our very constitution, but was brought in afterwards. That is why the Prophet threatens that the sorrow sent for sins "will come far away."

(5) "Woe to Assyria, the rod of my wrath and wrath are in their hand." (6) "I will send my wrath upon the tongue of iniquity, and I will command my people to do covetousness and captivity, and to trample down the cities and lay me in the dust." (7) "This is not such a thought, and the soul is not so intelligible; but his mind will depart, and his tongues will not be small." (8) "And if they say to him, 'Are you the only prince?'" (9) "And he said, 'Have you not taken the countries above Babylon and Halani, where the pillar is made, and take Arabia and Damascus and Samaria?' (10) "As I have taken this, I will take all the principalities."