Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
The very wording of the passage just read contains something unclear, which must first be understood; and after that, if God grants it, we shall know its hidden intention. He wants us to know, then, that, as it is written in Kingdoms, the people was divided in the days of Rehoboam into the kingdom of the ten tribes under Jeroboam and into the
two tribes under Rehoboam; and those under Jeroboam were called Israel, and those under Rehoboam, Judah. And this division of the people remained, so far as the historical record goes, until now; for we know of no history that brought Israel and Judah together as one. Israel, then, the people under Jeroboam and
his successors, sinned first, and sinned more than Judah, so much so that they were condemned by providence to become captives among the Assyrians, as scripture says, until this day. After this the sons of Judah also sinned and were condemned to captivity in Babylon, not until this day as Israel was, but for seventy years, concerning which Jeremiah prophesied,
and which Daniel also mentioned. If we understand these things as referring only to that people at that time, look at the words of the prophet, to see whether they do not indicate something else as well. For the argument, so to speak, accuses Israel of its sins, and says that although so many sins had been committed by Israel, the assembly of Judah, having heard of their failings and of how I had made them become captive,
was not thereby instructed but added to its own sins, so that, because of this addition of sins, when compared with the sins of Israel, righteousness was found to belong to Israel rather than to Judah. Then, on account of this, the prophet is commanded to prophesy, on the ground that Judah is worse than Israel, so that after its sins it might turn back. After the prophecy, then, to Israel commanding it to turn back,
the prophet prophesies concerning him that Israel and Judah are going to come to be together, and that there will one day be a single kingdom of both. Let whoever cares about the readings take up the words of today's whole reading, and then he will see the meanings made plain. "And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king: Have you seen what the dwelling of Israel did to me?" — not
Judah, but Israel first? "She went up onto every high mountain and under every leafy tree, and played the harlot there; and after she had done all these things I said: Return to me — and she did not return. And the faithless Judah saw her unfaithfulness," that of the assembly of Israel. "And" those of Judah "saw that concerning all the things in which"
the dwelling of Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce." Judah ought to have been instructed by this — for I sent Israel away, the assembly of Israel, I cast them out among the Assyrians "and gave her a bill of divorce into her hands" — "yet the faithless Judah was not afraid." But after all these things which I did to Israel, having sent it away,
having given a bill of divorce, since the assembly of Judah needed to be instructed by what those people had suffered — yet they were not only not instructed, but added to their sins, so that the sins of the assembly of Israel, compared with the sins of the assembly of Judah, seem to be righteousness. "And I gave her a bill of divorce into her hands; and the faithless one, Judah, her sister, was not afraid,"
and she too went and played the harlot, and her fornication came to nothing for her, and she committed adultery with wood and stone. And in all these things the faithless one, Judah, did not turn back to me with her whole heart, but turned back to me in falsehood. She was not ashamed before me for what I had done for Israel, so that she would turn back completely, but
since she needed to turn back in truth, she instead turned back in falsehood. "And in all these things the faithless one, Judah, did not turn back to me with her whole heart, but in falsehood. And the Lord said to me: Israel has justified her soul in comparison with the faithless one, Judah." The sins of Israel, compared with the offenses of Judah, became a justification of the soul
of the assembly of Israel. "Go, therefore, and read these words toward the north." If the saying has been understood, let us see what it means to make clear by these things. The calling of the nations had its beginning from the transgression of Israel, and the apostles, having preached to the assemblies of the Jews, say that "the word of salvation was sent to you; but since you judge yourselves unworthy,"
behold, we turn to the nations. And the apostle, knowing what he knows about these matters, says: "By their transgression, salvation came to the nations, so as to provoke them to jealousy." Therefore the many sins of that people caused it to be abandoned, and us to come to the hope of the covenants, the heirs of the covenants, we who were strangers to the promises. For how could I,
who have become in whatever way a stranger to the so-called holy land, now speak about the promises of God, and believe in the God of the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and by the grace of God receive Jesus Christ, proclaimed by the prophets? If you understand these two peoples, the one from Israel and the one from the nations, consider for me the
deportation of Israel, and understand it with reference to that people, Israel, and think of it as written about that people: "I have sent her away and given her a bill of divorce" — for God sent that people away and gave it a bill of divorce. This is what happens among married people: if a wife becomes displeasing to her husband, the law of Moses says, a "bill of divorce" from
her husband was drawn up and the wife was sent away, and it was permitted to the one who had sent away the first wife, since she was thought to have acted shamefully, to marry another wife. In this way, by this word, understand those people as receiving a bill of divorce. And because they received the bill of divorce, they were for this reason utterly abandoned. For where are the prophets still among them? Where are signs still among them? Where is the manifestation of God? Where
the worship, the temple, the sacrifices; they were cast out from their own place. So he gave to Israel “a bill of divorce.” Then we of Judah (called “Judah” because of the savior who rose from Judah; for it had been foretold, “our Lord has risen from Judah”) turned back to the Lord, and our final state — which, may it not be so! — seems to be becoming like their
final state, unless indeed even worse. For that our own affairs too will be such at the consummation of this age is clear from what was said by the Savior in the Gospel, where he says: “because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, this one will be saved.” And: “he will perform signs and wonders, the
so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” — such will our own affairs be, so that the Savior speaks concerning his own coming as though scarcely a faithful person could quickly be found among so many churches: “yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” And truly, if we judge matters by truth and not by crowds, and judge matters
by conviction and not by seeing many gathered together, we will now see that we are not faithful. But they were faithful then, when the noble martyrdoms were taking place, when, having escorted the martyrs from the burial grounds, we would come to the assemblies, and the whole church, unafflicted, would be present, and the catechumens were catechized by the martyrdoms and by the deaths of those confessing the
truth “unto death,” “not frightened” nor troubled “before the living God.” Then, we know, we had also seen extraordinary and marvelous signs. Then the faithful were few, but truly faithful, journeying the narrow and afflicted road that leads “to life.” But now, since we have become many — since it is not possible for many to be elect, for he who said this does not lie,
Jesus: “many are called, but few are elect” — out of the multitude of those who remain in the practice of piety, very few indeed are those who arrive at God’s election and blessedness. If then he says, “as I first sent Israel away because of their sins, and sent him away into exile,” and Judah, hearing what had happened to Israel, did not turn back, he speaks concerning
our own sins. Because the things that happened to Israel are read, and the failures concerning that people, we ought to fear — and “if he did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare” us — if that God, who is at once kind and loving to mankind, did not spare those who boasted of being a “good olive tree,” rooted in “the root” of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, but cut them off, how much more
will he not spare us, being God’s own.” For he is not kind without also being severe, nor severe without also being kind. For if he were kind only, and not severe, we would despise “his kindness” all the more. If he were severe only, and not kind, we would perhaps also despair over our sins.
But now, as God — for we humans need repentance in the face of his kindness, while if we persist in our sins we meet his severity — God is both kind and severe, and he speaks to us through the prophets and says: "Have you seen what the dwelling-place of Israel did to me?" Understand by "Israel" that people of mine: "She went up on every high mountain and under..."
"...every leafy tree." If you see the Pharisee going up into the temple in a boastful manner, not beating his breast nor troubled over his own evils, but saying: "I thank you that I am not like the rest of humankind — greedy, unjust, adulterers — or even like this tax collector; I fast twice a week, I tithe everything I possess," you will see that he has gone up
"onto every high mountain" — blameworthily, having loved grandiosity, and in keeping with his arrogance and his pride he has turned every hill into a high one, and has become "under every tree" — not a fruit-bearing one, but a "grove tree." For a grove tree is one thing, and a tree planted in a sacred grove is another: when people plant trees in groves, they do not plant the fruit-bearing kinds, not fig nor vine, but only fruitless trees, for the sake of pleasure.
Such you will find the arguments of the heterodox, and the attractiveness of their plausible claims does not turn their hearers back. So then, whenever someone gives himself over to such arguments, he has gone "under every tree of the grove." Scripture did not say "every tree" and stop there, nor again add "every fruit-bearing tree," but said "under every tree of the grove." From this you will understand why the lawgiver
says: "You shall not plant any tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall not make yourself a sacred grove" — for you see that even the name "grove" is forbidden. "And she played the harlot there. And I said, after she had done all these things, Return to me; and she did not return, and the faithless one, Judah, saw her treachery." We too have been reproached — I mean we who sin
and do not keep the covenants of God, and fail to see that those others — noble as they were, though of Abraham's line, though they had received the promise — have lost the covenant. We ought then to reckon that they have fallen away from the blessings and the promises, and that being descended from the fathers profited them nothing; how much more shall we, if we sin, be abandoned. "If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of
Abraham," the Savior says to them. And John again: "Do not begin to say among yourselves, We have Abraham as our father; for I tell you God has the power, out of these very stones, to raise up children for Abraham" — hinting at stones, meaning us, who have a heart of stone and have been hardened against the truth. And truly God has raised up
children for Abraham from the stones, if we remain in that begetting of children and keep the spirit of ... So then, "her treachery" — the treachery of the dwelling-place of Israel — "the faithless one, Judah" saw, she who did not keep the covenants toward God, and she saw that concerning all the things for which that woman had been forsaken (for we see all these things, we who are Judah, if we read the
...scripture) — that "concerning those on whose account the dwelling of Israel was abandoned, in which she committed adultery, God sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce" — for us to be instructed by what he did to them, having judged them according to their sins, abandoning them and handing them over to captivity and handing them over to slaughter and handing them over to their enemies; and it is necessary that we turn back from these things, and that each of us reason that, if
God did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare us, since it was after becoming sinners that the fathers were thus cast out — what shall we suffer, we who have been called from the nations? We have reckoned none of these things, though we were called so that that people might be provoked to jealousy, seeing the slave honored, seeing the base-born one drawn near. But if they suffered so much, how much more, if we sin,
shall we be abandoned? "In which the dwelling of Israel committed adultery, I sent her away and gave a bill of divorce into her hands; and the faithless Judah was not afraid" — what I did to the dwelling of Israel, namely that "I sent her away and gave her a bill of divorce." "She was not afraid" from what had happened to them. Someone enters the house of a householder; he is newly bought; he inquires which
of the former servants he honored and why, and which of the servants he dishonored and why. Having taken note, if he wishes to remain in the household of the householder, he guards against falling into what the former slaves did who sinned and were cast out and handed over to punishment. Then, learning what the former slaves who found favor did, and by what sort of conduct they attained freedom, he emulates them. And
as for us — we were not slaves of God but of idols and demons, pagans; only yesterday and the day before did we come to God. Let us read the scripture; let us see who was justified, who was condemned; let us imitate those who were justified; let us guard against falling into those things into which the captives fell, those cast out from God. "And the faithless Judah was not afraid, and she too went and played the harlot." Israel having played the harlot first,
Judah too played the harlot afterward. "And her harlotry came to nothing, and she committed adultery with the wood and the stone." Whenever we sin, we do nothing else than this: becoming stony-hearted, we commit adultery with "the stone." Whenever we sin and play the harlot "beneath every leafy tree," we too commit adultery with the wood. "And the faithless Judah did not return to me with all
her heart, but in falsehood." If we have turned to God, but only partially, we stand accused of not having turned "with all the heart." Hence "the faithless Judah did not return to me with all her heart" — it does not say: and the faithless Judah returned, and stood firm, but rather: "and the faithless Judah did not return to me with all her heart,
but in falsehood" was how she returned. The true turning, then, is this: to read the old things, to know those who were justified, to imitate them; to read those same things and to see those who were blamed, and to guard against falling into those same blameworthy acts; to read the books of the new covenant, the words of the apostles, and after reading, to write all these things upon the heart, and to live according to them, so that it may not be given to us as well
a certificate of divorce, but rather that we may be able to come to the holy inheritance, and, once the fullness of the nations is saved, that Israel may then be able to enter. For if the fullness of the nations enters in, then all Israel will be saved, "and they will become one flock, one shepherd," teaching us to glorify the almighty God in Christ Jesus himself, whose is the glory and the dominion forever
and ever. Amen.