Seas and Rivers

Increpans mare, et exsiccans illud et omnia flumina ad desertum perducens. Juxta litteram Dei potentia describitur, qui vindicaturus est de adversariis Israelem, quod non grande sit ei Asyyrios destruere, cujus majestatis sit etiam elementa mutare. Vel certe quia semel de consummatione mundi esse diximus prophetiam, et hoc simpliciter accipite: cum venerit mundi consummatio, et pertransierit coelum et terra, mare quoque et fluvies siccari. Sed mihi legenti illud in Psalmis: 'Hoc mare magnum et spatiosum: ibi reptilia quorum non est numeras: animalia parva cum magnis; ibi naves perambulant. Draco iste quem formasti ad illudendum ei, dignum videtur bonitate, et clementia Dei, omnem amartiduinem et salsuginem maris, sua comminatione destruere: et regnantem in aquis humiliare draconem, et malitiae exsiccare gurgites in quibus parva natant reptilia, quorum non est numerus: neque enim digna sunt numero quae cum dracone versantur. Flumina quoque ad desertum perducens, omnem fulsi nominis scientiam, quae se contra Deum erigens, flumine eloquentiae utitur, et volubilitate verborum, et tumentes contorquens gurgites, cum miraculo spectantium fertur in pronum. Vide Platonem, specta Demosthenem, Tullium quoque philosophum pariter et oratorem, et haereticorum principes intuere, de quibus fuit Valentinus, Marcion, Bardesanes, Tatianus, et de fluminibus non ambiges. Sed haec omnia consumet Dominus Jesus spiritu oris sui, et destruet illuminatione adventus sui, et ad deserta per ducet. Simulque cerne quod juxta titulum, qui inscribitur Assumptio Ninive: liber visionis Naum Elcesaei, recte et in Ninive mundus figuraliter intelligitur, et mare ejus eloquentiae flumina in consummatione siccantur. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Source: Migne PL 25.1234d-1235b

At His rebuke the sea shall dry up and all the rivers become desert. 1 According to the letter the power of God is described here, who shall be revenged on the enemies of Israel, for whom it is no great thing to destroy the Assyrians, He whose majesty transforms even the elements. Or certainly because we have spoken once concerning the prophecy of the consummation of the world, this also should be simply understood: when comes the consummation of the world, heaven and earth pass away, and the seas and the rivers shall dry up. But there comes to me those lines of the Psalm: 'This great and spacious sea where there are reptiles without number, animals great and small, there where boats sail. The dragon whom you formed to play with,' 2 and it seems worthy that by goodness, even the mercy of God, that He destroy with His threat all the bitterness and salinity of the sea and humiliate the dragon ruling in the waters, and that He drain the floods of wickedness in which the little reptiles swim, of which there are a countless number, for they are not worthy of numbering who swim with the dragon. He also turns the rivers to desert, that is, the knowledge of every celebrated name, which flows against God, which uses the river of eloquence and the volubility of words, and swells into a fearsome flood, which is a wonder to those who see it brought to heel. See Plato, look at Demosthenes, Cicero also, together with all the philosophers and orators, and mark there the princes of the heretics, among whom were Valentinus, Marcion, Bardesanes, Tatian, and be in no doubt concerning these rivers. All these the Lord Jesus shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, 3 and he shall destroy them by the radiance of His coming, and lay them to waste. And at same time, see according to the title of the book, which is written as 'An oracle about Nineveh, the book of Nahum of Elkosh,' that Nineveh is rightly understood as a figure of the world, and in its end, with its sea, the rivers of eloquence dry up. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 1.4 2 Ps 103, 26-26 3 2 Thes 2.8

Watching And Sleeping

Dormitaverunt pastores tui, rex Assur, sepelientur principes tui, dispersus est populus tuus super montes... Semper diaboli studium est, vigilantes animas consopire. Denique et in passione Domini apostolorum oculus gravi sopore premit, quos Salvator suscitans ait: Vigilate et orate, ne intretis in tentationem. Et rursum: Quod vobis dico, omnibus dico: vigilate. Et quia non cessat semper consopire vigilantes, quoscumque ille deceperit, et quasi suavi et pernicioso carmine Sirenarum illexerit ad dormiendum, excitat sermo divinus, et dicit: Surge qui dormis, et elevare, et illuminabit te Christus. In adventu ergo Christi et sermonis Dei et doctinae ecclesiaticae, et consummationis Ninive, speciosissimae quondam mereticis, elevabitur et properabit populus, qui sub magistris ante fuerat consopitus: et ibit ad montes Scripturarum, ibique inveniet montes Moysen et Jesus fillium Nave; montes prophetas; montes novi Testamenti apostolos et evangelistas: et cum ad tales montes confugerit, et in hujusmodi fuerit lectione versatus, si non invenerit qui eum doceat, Messis enim multa, operarii autem pauci, tunc illius studium, comprobabitur, quia confugerit ad montes, et magistorum desidia coarguetur. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Source: Migne PL 25.1272a-b

Your shepherds have slept, O king of Assur, your princes shall be buried, your people have been scattered over the mountains...' 1 It is always the devil's desire to lull watchers of souls to sleep. Even in the passion of the Lord the eyes of the Apostles were weighed down with sleep, those whom the Saviour roused, saying: 'Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation.' 2 And again: 'What I say to you, I say to all, be watchful.' 3 And because he does not cease to lull watchers to sleep, that he might deceive whom he will, and as with the sweet and ruinous song of the Sirens he charms them to sleep, the Divine word rouses and says: 'Rise up, you who sleep, and stand, and Christ shall enlighten you.' 4 Therefore in the coming of Christ, and the word of God, and the teaching of the Church, and the end of Nineveh, once a most beautiful harlot, the people are lifted up and made quick, who before beneath teachers slumbered, and they go to the mountains of Scripture, and there they find the mountains of Moses and Joshua, and the mountains of the Prophets and mountains of the Apostles and Evangelists of the New Testament, and when they shall have fled to such mountains, and considered the writings there, if they do not find there him who teaches, for 'the harvest is many and the workers are few,' 5 the desire of that one shall be confirmed, because they shall have fled to the mountains and the sloth of teachers shall be made manifest. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 3.18 2 Mk 14.38 3 Mk 13.37 4 Ephes 5.14 5 Mt 9.37

Consoling Nineveh

Er erit, omnis qui viderit te, resiliet a te, et dicet: Vastata et Ninive; quis commovebit super te caput? Unde quaeram consolatorem tibi? In Hebraeo non habetur caput sed nos apposuimus, ut sensus manifestior fieret. Denique Symmanchus ita interpretatus est: Et omnis qui viderit te, recedet a te, et dicet: dissipata est Ninive, quis lugebit cum ea? Porro Septuaginta: Et erit, omnis qui viderit te, descendet a te et dicet: Misera Ninive, quis gemet eam. Unde quaeram consolationem illi -apantem chordam. Qui ruinas viderunt Ninive, et positam eam omnibus in exemplum, expavescet atque mirabitur, et dicet: Dissipata est Ninive, quis commovebit super te caput? hoc est, quis dolebit super te, quis tuus poterit esse consolator? quae quamdiu potens fuisti, quasi crudelis domina, non miserebaris senis: nec parvulum respiciebas: nec praeparasti luctus tui socium, quae noluisti consortem habere regnandi. Qui autem haec terrena contemnit, et veneficae Ninive maleficia despexerit, nec falsa pulchritudine ejus fuerit irretitus, cum omnem illius turpitudinem intrinsecus viderit, et coeperit odisse quod caeteri diligunt, refugiet et resiliet ab ea, sive, ut a Septuaginta dicitur, descendet. Quamdiu enim terrena honoramus, et putamus esse sublimia, velut in quondam superbiae culmine sumus, et miramur pulchritudinem Ninive. Cum autem consideraverimus naturam ejus, et omnia corporalia bona, quasi humilia despexerimus, subjicientes nos potentiae manus Dei, tunc miserebimur Ninivitis et omnia terrena bona digna planctu judicabimus, dicemusque: Misera Ninive, quanti tuis laqueis irretiti sunt, quantos alligatos vinculis tuis tenes. Quis, putas, resilet a te et descendet de superbia tua, et te miseram judicibat? Quod autem ait, quis, non tam pro difficili, quam pro raro debemus accipere, ut saepe diximus: Quis, putas, fidelis et prudens dispensator? Et Quis sapiens et intelliget haec. Et Quis ascendet in montem Domini? Quis ergo gemet super Ninive? Quis poterit inveniri, qui hoc tabernaculo praegravatus cum Paulo dicat: Miser ego, quis me liberabit de corpore mortis hujus? Videmus quotidie si cui vicina mors venerit, et intellexerit se vel febre, vel vulnere, vel quolibet genere morborum, de hoc mundo subtrahi, pavere, trepidare, et toto corpore tremescentem in Ninive haerere complexibus, et a speciosae meretricis corpore vix avelli. Quod autem sequitur: Unde quaeram consolationem, vel consolatorem tibi, qui aptet chordam? adhuc ex persona ejus dicitur, qui resiliet vel descendet a Ninive, et dicet: Misera Ninive, quis gemet eam? de confusa saeculi hujus conversatione disputatis, in quo nihil cuiquam potest placere perpetuum: sed quod placuit displicet, et quod displicuerat, rursum placet. Quis itaque poterit talis inveniri consolator?  Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Source: Migne PL 25.1258b-1259b

And it shall be that all who see you recoil from you and say, 'Laid waste is Nineveh. Who shall shake his head over you? Where shall I find one to console you?' 1 In the Hebrew we do not find 'head' but we add it that the sense may be more clear. And the translator Symmachus has: 'And all who shall see you shall withdraw from you and say: Ruined is Nineveh, who shall lament for her?' However the Septuagint reads: 'And it shall be that all who see you will fall back from you and say: 'Wretched Nineveh, who shall bewail you? Where shall I seek consolation for it with the touching of a chord?' They who see ruined Nineveh, placing it above all things as an example, shall be shocked and astonished and say, 'Laid waste is Nineveh; who shall shake his head over you?' That is, who shall grieve over you? Who shall able to be your consoler? She who while powerful, was as a cruel mistress, not being compassionate to the aged, nor looking after the young, nor attending to mourning for friends, she who was unwilling to have a consort while she ruled. But he who spurns this earth and scorns the wickedness of the witch Nineveh shall not be ensnared by her false beauty, when he shall see all the ugliness within her, and he shall begin to hate what others love, and he shall withdraw and recoil from her, or as the Septuagint says, 'fall away'. While indeed we honour worldly things and we think them to be sublime, we are as set on the height of pride and we admire the beauty of Nineveh. When, however, we consider its nature, and all its worldly goods, as if looking down on base things, the hand of the mighty God upon us, then we shall bewail Nineveh, and all its fine earthly goods we shall judge a grief, and we shall say, 'Wretched Nineveh, how greatly your snares entangled me, how greatly your chains held me. Who, do you think, recoils from and withdraws from your pride, and judges you wretched? The 'who' in this passage is not so difficult to understand, but is used to express rarity, as often we say, 'Who do you think is a faithful and prudent steward?' 2 And 'Who is wise and understands these things?' 3 And 'Who ascends the mount of the Lord?' 4 Who therefore will groan with Nineveh? Who shall be able to be found, who with this tabernacle burdened, will say with Paul, 'Wretched me, who shall liberate me from this body of death?' 5 Every day we see death approach a man, and marking that it is a fever, or wound or whatever type of disease, taking him from this world, he fears, shakes and the whole body trembles, as he clings to the embraces of Nineveh, and scarcely can he be torn away from the fair body of the whore. So indeed it follows: Where shall I find consolation, or a consoler for you, who shall touch a chord? Yet it is spoken as a person who recoils or falls away from Nineveh, when he says: 'Wretched Nineveh, who shall lament her?' Concerning the confused way of this world you dispute, in which nothing is able to please forever, but what once pleased displeases and what was displeasing pleases again. Who then can find a comforter in such things? Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 3.7 2 Mt 24.45 3 Hosea 14.10 4 Ps 23.3 5 Rom 7.14

Three Commands

Contemplare viam, tene lumbrum, confortare robore vehementer, quoniam avertit Dominus contumeliam Jacob... Tria preacipiuntur Judae. Primum, ut contempletur viam, et iter per quod ambulaturus est, diligenter ascpiciat, juxta illud quod in Jeremia scriptum est: State in viis, et interrogate semitas aeternas, et videte quae sit via bona; et ambulate in ea: ut cum steterimus in viis multis, veniamus ad eam viam quae dicit: Ego sum via. Deinde dicitur ei, ut teneat lumbum, id est, ut post electionem viae mortificet corpus suum, et servituti subjiciat, ne quasi rex et magister aliis praedicens, ipse reprobus inveniatur. Longum est nunc dicere, quod virtus diaboli vel maxime sit in lumbis, et quod ad David repromissio fiat: De fructu lumbi tui ponam super thronum tuum. Et illud Apostoli: Adhuc enim in lumbo patris sui erat Abrahae, Levi, quando ivit in occursum Abraham Melchisedech. Et quod Joannes zona pellicea cingitur, et quod a Salvatore discipulis imperatur: Sint lumbi vestri praecincti. Et Apostolus ad Ephesios: State ergo accincti lumbos vestros in veritate: licet enim ἄσκησις plurimum praestet, et vitae continentia super mortificatione lumborum; tamen nihil eos ita mortificat ut cognitio veritatis. Unde dicitur: Accingite lumbos vestros in veritate. Si enim veritas est Christus, qui tota in Christo mente credidit, lumbos suos mortificavit in Christo. Tertio praecipitur, confortate virtute nimis: elegisti, inquit, viam, tenuisti lumbum, assume virtutem: ut possis pugnare cum hostibus. Et ne forte diffidas, datur tibi causa cur speres: Avertit, inquit, Dominus contumeliam Jacob, sicut contumeliam Israel, Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Migne PL 25.1244b-1245d

Contemplate the way, gird your loins and gather all your strength, since the Lord will take away the disgrace of Jacob like the disgrace of Israel...' 1 Three things are commanded Judah. First that he contemplate the way and diligently scrutinize the path on which he shall walk, according to which it is written in Jeremiah, 'Stand in the ways and ask after the eternal paths and see what might be the good way and walk in it.' 2 That when we have stood in the many ways, we come to that way which says, 'I am the way.' 3 Then it is said to him that he should gird his lions, that is, that after the choice of the way that he should mortify his body, and that he should subject it to discipline, lest as a king and teacher admonishing others, he is found worthy of reproof. 4 Too long would it be for me now to speak of what great power the devil has in the lions, and what was promised to David, 'From out the fruit on your loins I shall place on your throne. 5 And the Apostle: 'For yet in the loins of his father Abraham was Levi, when Melchizedek went to meet Abraham,' 6 And when John girded himself with a belt of leather, 7 and that the Saviour commanded his disciples: 'May your loins be girded.' 8 And the Apostle to the Ephesians: 'Stand thus with your loins girded in truth.' 9 for one may set asceticism over these many things, and the continence of life over the mortification of loins: however nothing so mortifies like the knowledge of truth. Whence it is said: 'Gird your loins in truth.' For if Christ is the truth, he who believes in Christ with his whole mind, mortifies his loins in Christ. Thirdly it is commanded, gather all your strength. You have chosen the way, it says, you have girded your loins, now take up virtue that you be able to fight with the enemy. And lest perhaps you hesitate, the reason is given why you should hope: 'The Lord takes away the disgrace of Jacob and the disgrace of Israel.' Saint Jerome, from the Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 2, 1-2 2 Jeremiah 6.16 3 Jn 14.6 4 1 Cor 9.27 5 Ps 131.11 6 Hebr 7.10 7 Mt 3.4 8 Lk 12.35 9 Ephes 6.14

Goodness And Hope

Bonus Dominus et confortans in die tribulationis, sciens sperantes in se. LXX: Suavis Domnis exspectanibus eum in die tribulationis, et cognoscens timentes se. Cum irasci coeperit gentibus, et quondam potentissima regna vastare, sciet eos qui sui sunt, et non una tempestate opprimet navigantes. Diem autem tribulationis secundum ἀναγωγὴν, diem intelligamus judicii, de quo scripsit Isaias: Ecce dies Domini insanabilis venit furoris et irae, ponere orbem terrae desertum, et peccatores perdere ex eo. Speremus in Domine, et per patientiam ejus exspectemus adventum, ut cum venerit, bonum eum, non judicem sentiamus, et cognoscat vel sperantes in se, vel timentes se. Scit enim Dominus eos qui ejus sunt. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam Source: Migne PL 25.1237

'The Lord is good and a comforter on the day of tribulation, knowing those who hope in Him.' The Septuagint has: 'Sweet the Lord to those who hope in him on the day of tribulation, and He knows those who fear Him.' 1 When He has begun to be angry against the nations and when His great power lays waste kingdoms, He knows those who are His, and not one blast will overturn their ships. For according to the Greek ἀναγωγὴν, that is, 'bringing up', of tribulation we understand the day of judgement, concerning which Isaiah says, 'Behold the irremediable day of the Lord comes with fury and anger to make on earth a desert and to exterminate sinners from it.' 2 Let us hope in the Lord and with patience expect His advent, and when He comes we will know His goodness, not His condemnation, for He knows those who hope in Him and those who fear Him. The Lord knows those who are His. Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum 1 Nahum 1.7 2 Is 13.9

An End Of Troubles

Haec dicit Dominus, si perfecti fuerint, et ita plures: sic quoque attondentur et pertransibit: afflixi te, et non affligam te ultra: et nunc conteram virgam ejus de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam LXX: Haec dicit Dominus regnans acquis multis, et sic dividentur, et auditus tuus non audientur amplius, et nunc conteram virgam ejus a te: et vincula ejus disrumpam.   Juxta litteram manifestus est sensus: Licet, inquit, robusti sint Assyrii, et fortitudo eorum numero augeatur cunctarum gentium: sic quoque angelo vastante, tondentur. Quomodo enim numerus capillorum acutae forcipi non repugnat: ita et numerus adversariorum Dei, facili succisione tolletur, et pertransibit Assur, vel esse desistet, sive, vastato exercitu suo, revertetur ad patriam, te sospitem dereliquens. Rursumque ad Judam et Jerusalem sermo dirigetur: Afflixi, te, et non affligam te ultra: non quod perpetuam securitatem polliceatur, sed illius tantum temporis, et ab illis hostibus a quibus tunc obsidebatur. Denique infert: Et nunc conteram virgam ejus, id est, Assyrii, de dorso tuo, et vincula tua disrumpam: vel per metaphoram potestatem ejus significans: vel certe, virgam qua percutere conabatur, et vincula quae captivis parabat: quanquam possit et obsidio clausae multitudinis pro vinculis accipi. Porro juxta LXX multo aliter est senus. Adhuc enim videtur adversus eos loqui, quibus supra dixerat: Quid cogitatis contra Dominum? Et: Ex te exibit cogitatio contra Domnium pessima, cogitans contraria. Haec ergo dicit Dominus regnans aquis multis, sive virtutibus, quae dicuntur aquae super caelos: et praecipitur eis, ut laudent Dominum: vel certe intellectibus et sapientiae et doctrinis Dei. Sicut enim flumina de ventre justi fluent, et fontes uberes in vitam aeternam, per varias multiplicesque sententias, quibus imperat sermo Domini: ita habent et haeresiarchae aquas sua, quibus imperant, et quae ex eorum primum fonte manarunt. Quod autem sequitur: Et sic dividentur, vel de coelestibus quae in supernis Deo serviunt virtutibus intelligi potest; quod unaquaeque in suo officio sit et ministerio, vel de multiplici varietate spaientiae. Ne quia dixerat, regnans aquis multis, confusus et indiscretus sensuum numerus putaretur: sed quod unaquaeque sententia divisos habeat inter se sensus et separatas materias propriasque ὑποθέσεις. Nam quod dicitur: Auditus tuus non audietur amplius, increpatio est in eos, qui adversus Deum contraria cogitaverant, quod ostensis sophismatibus et decipulis, quibus Dei populus irretiebatur, sermo eorum ultra non currat, nec suscipiatur a populis. Sed et hoc quod infert: Et nunc conteram virgam ejus a te, et vincula tua disrumpam, pro ipsis dicitur quibus fit comminatio, ut nequaquam caedantur a diabolo, et ei subjecti sint, quo auctore tanta excogitaverant atque confixerant. Conteretur ergo imperium ejus in eos: et vincula quibus peccantium animae ligabantur, disrumpentur a sermone Dei, dicente his qui in vinculis sunt, exite. Sanctus Hieronymus, Commentariorum In Naum Prophetam

'These things the Lord says, 'Though they were great, even though so many, even so they will be cut off and pass. I afflicted you but I shall afflict you no more, and now I shall shatter his stick from your back and your chains I shall break.' The Septuagint has: 'These things the Lord says ruling with the many waters, and so they shall be divided, and your ears shall not hear any more, and now I shall shatter his stick from you and his chains I shall break.' 1 According to the letter the meaning is plain: It was allowed, it says, that the Assyrians became strong, and that their might exceed that of all the other nations, even so by the devastating angel they were cut off. As even the great number of hairs may not avoid the sharp pincers, so even the number of the enemies of God are easily cut off and taken away, and Assur he shall pass on, or, he shall desist, or, with his wasted army he shall return to his homeland, and you will be left unscathed. And again the speech is directed to Judah and Jerusalem: 'I afflicted you but I will afflict you no more.' It is not that perpetual safety is promised here, but only for a time and from those enemies by which they were besieged. Next comes: 'And now I shall shatter his stick,' that is, Assyria's, 'from your back, and your chains I shall break.' Either this is a metaphor for his power, or the stick with which he has tried to strike and the chains which he has prepared for captives; but whatever he may have tried to do, I give the end of the siege for a multitude of chains. However, according to the Septuagint the meaning is quite different. For it seems that against them it is spoken about whom it was said before this passage, 'Why do you think against the Lord?  And: 'From you will go out a most wretched thought against the Lord, plotting harm.' 2 These things thus says the Lord who rules with many waters, or powers, which they say are the waters above the heavens, and He commands them, that they praise the Lord, 3 certainly with understanding of the wisdom and the teaching of God. For as flow waters from the bosom of the righteous, 4 even abundant founts into eternal life, through various and many meanings the word of the Lord rules, and thus the heresiarchs have their own waters, by which they command, and which from the fount of them first flowed forth. And it follows, 'And so they shall be divided,' which is can be understood either as the high powers in the heavens serving God, each one in his office and ministry, or on account of the manifold variety of wisdom. Because he did not say, 'ruling with the many waters,' that this be thought to be a confused and indistinguishable mass of things, but that each among them has his different purpose and separate are his substance and hypothesis. Then it is said, 'Your hearing shall not hear any more,' which is a cry against those who have set their thoughts against God, that with its sophisms and deceptions, by which the people of God are entangled, their word will not go forth any more, nor will it be taken up by the people. But even this which is said: 'And now I shall shatter his stick from you, and your chains I shall break,'  about the same is said as a warning, that they shall not be slain by the devil and be subject to him, with which author such things they have plotted to do and struck. For He shall crush down his power upon them, and the chains by which they were binding the souls of sinners will be broken by the speech of God, saying to those who are in chains, come out! Saint Jerome, Commentary on Nahum  1 Nahum 1 12-13 2 Nahum 1. 11  3 Ps 148.4  4 Jn 7.38