Leaders And Rich Men

Vae qui opulenti estis in Sion, et confiditis in monte Samariae, optimates, capita populorum, ingredientes pompatice domum Israel. LXX: Vae qui despiciunt Sion, et confidunt in monte Samariae: vindemiarunt primitias gentium, et ingressi sunt sibi. Ad Sion, ut supra diximus, et ad montem Samariae, id est, ad duas tribus, quae appellabantur, Juda, et ad decem, quae Israelis nomine vocabantur, prophetae sermo confertur, maxime ad eos, qui in utroque populo optimates sunt et principes, et vacant deliciis in exemplum illius divitis purpurati, qui laetabatur in convivio, et in tantam erigebatur superbiam, ut Lazarum ante ostium suum plenum ulceribus indigaretur aspicere, et ne hoc quidem ei tribueret, quod periturum esset ex mensa. Isti sunt capita populorum, qui confidunt in divitiis, et opulenti sunt in Sion, et habent fiduciam in monte Samariae, et ingrediuntur pompatice domum Israel, ut tumorem animi corpus ostendat, et pomparum ferculis similes esse videntur. Juxta leges autem tropologiae et Septuaginta interpretes, Sion refertur ad Ecclesiam, de qua scriptum legimus: Qui exaltat me de porta mortis, ut annuntiem omnes laudationes tuas in portis filiae Sion. Mons vero Samariae, propter superbiam et jactantiam custodiae mandatorum Dei, intelligitur super haereticis, qui despiciunt Ecclesiam; quia infirma mundi elegit Deus, ut confundat fortia, et stulta, ut perdat sapientiam sapientium, et intelligentiam prudentium repobet. Isti vindemiaverunt primitias gentium, ut sub nomine Christiano introducerent eos in torcularia sua, ubi non calcatur uva, sed perditur: ubi non mustum exprimitur, sed venenum. Et ingressi sunt sibi. Pulchre dixit, sibi: non enim ingressi sunt Deo, sed sibi ingressi sunt. Alioquin Deo magis egressi sunt, dum recedunt de Ecclesia. Hieronymous, Commentariorum In Amos Prophetam, Liber II Source: Migne PL 1057a-1058b

'Woe to you who rich in Zion and assured on the mount of Samaria, rich men, leaders of the people, entering in with pomp into the house of Israel.' The Septuagint: 'Woe to you who look down on Zion, and are assured on the mount of Samaria; they reap the first fruits of the peoples, and they have entered into themselves.' 1 The speech of the Prophet is addressed to Zion, as we have said above, and to the mount of Samaria, that is, to the two tribes who are called Judah, and to the ten who are called by the name of Israel, especially to those who are rich and leaders among both peoples, who are at ease in pleasures and whose example is to be rich in purple, who have rejoiced in feasts, and have been elevated in such pride that they balk to look upon Lazarus at the door covered in sores, nor do they give to him anything which has fallen from their tables. 2 These are the heads of the peoples, who are confident in their wealth, and who are rich in Sion, and who trust in the mount of Samaria, and who enter with pomp into the house of Israel. So the body shows the bloated nature of the soul, and they seem to be like frames for pomp. According to the law of tropology and the translation of the Septuagint, Zion refers to the Church, concerning which it is written: 'Who shall lift me up from the gates of death, that I might proclaim all your praises in the gates of your daughter Zion.' 3 But the mount of Samaria, on account of its pride and its boasting that it keeps the laws of God, is to be understood as speaking of heretics, who look down on the Church, 'because God has chosen the weak of the world, that he might confound the strong, and the foolish that he might destroy the wisdom of the wise and reprove the understanding of the prudent.' 4 They have harvested the first fruits of the peoples who under the name of Christian have brought in their own winepress, where the grape is not been pressed but destroyed, and where wine is not squeezed out, but poison. And they have entered into themselves. And well it is said, 'into themselves', for they have not entered into God, but into themselves. Rather they have gone out from God, since they have withdrawn from the Church. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Amos, Book 2, Chap 4 1 Amos 6.1 2 Lk 16.19-21 3 Ps 9.15 4 1 Cor 1.27