This man is also the son of the inner person, about which it is frequently said in Leviticus,^[1] a person is blessed in that he does and understands these following things as the priority: namely, judgment, justice, and the salvation of the Lord, all of which are near and are to be revealed to all the nations. Such a person also understands that he will not only do that which is commanded but will hold it firmly. And he will keep the sabbath so that he does not pollute it. . . . But we are called into freedom, and by this freedom Christ grants us that we do not work for food that perishes. Instead, cleaving to the Lord, let us say with the prophet, It is good for me to stay close to God, and let us become one spirit with him, and let us fulfill the delightful sabbath, and we shall not belong to the six days in which the world was made.

The inspired prophets spoke not only of things to come but also gave dogmatic and ethical instruction. And they announced both judgment and salvation to those of former times, so that by the promise of good things and by the warning of pains they might turn them from evil and point them to virtue. One can easily learn this from the present oracle. For the prophetic word counsels Israel to be held by righteousness and to have uprightness as the soul’s principle and then adds the prediction of the Savior and the revelation of mercy. For both [the moral and the predictive teaching] point to the Master’s appearing.

No one should be exercised by the words said to the Israelites about keeping the law, which doubtless belongs to the shadows of the world of types; for no one is justified by the law with God. . . . We should understand this spiritually; and abstaining from the care of the flesh we should offer spiritual sacrifices with the odor of a good spiritual fragrance and minister to God . . . to keep the sabbath spiritually now means for us keep-ing away from worldly cares . . . and with holy vigor making him glad, and offering ourselves in holy sweetness.

The stranger who comes before the Lord should not say, The Lord will surely cut me off from his people. For it will not be because he is foreign in the sense of not having Israelite blood therefore that he will be without a share in the gifts from the Lord, the intimate and spiritual relationship with him. But if he clings to the Lord in his domestic affairs and his friendships, he will be made to belong in the holy people and to the royal priesthood and to the inheritance of God. He will be numbered among the children of Abraham. For not all from Israel are Israel as most-wise Paul said: not all the progeny are the seed of Abraham, but the children of the promise are reckoned as descendants.^[1]

This barrenness is made fruitful by virginity, this eunuch forces entry to the kingdom of God and forcefully snatches it. Who is the observer of the sabbaths that never does the works of marriage? Such a person chooses what the Lord desires and offers more than is demanded of him; he does not think about leniency but the will of his apostle. He keeps the everlasting covenant of the Lord and does not leave what he says unfulfilled and again return to his [former] self, but he knows that he will receive in the home of the Lord the best place . . . and that instead of children of the flesh he will have spiritual children. Such was the Evangelist John . . . who, while Peter was walking slowly, was flying with the wings of virginity and ran to the Lord, and who, losing himself in the secrets of the divine birth, dared to say things of which the ages were ignorant: In the beginning was the Word.^[1] . . . Therefore, let all murmuring of the Jews end and cease to taunt that the kingdom of God is open to half-men, since purity is not measured in the disability of the body but in the will of the mind.

Those who please me are those who choose to be eunuchs voluntarily. . . . Who can receive this teaching, let him receive it.^[1] It is a matter of great faith and great virtue to be the purest kind of temple of God, in that one dedicates oneself completely to the Lord as a burnt offering and to be holy in body as well as spirit. Those are eunuchs who, thinking themselves to be dry trees because of their infertility, hear through Isaiah that instead of sons and daughters they will have a place prepared in heaven. Of this sort were Ebedmelech in Jeremiah and that eunuch of Queen Candace.^[2]

The Lord says this to the eunuchs: Let not the eunuch say, I am only a dry tree, for the Lord says to the eunuchs, Whoever keeps my commands and chooses what I want and embraces my covenant . . . will receive a place that has a better name in my house and within my walls. I will give them the eternal name of sons and daughters. He promises others that they will not be deprived. Was anyone de-prived of their own mother? Mary did not go without [a family]; the mistress of virginity did not go without, just because she was not thought able to bear a man, who had already borne God.

All the pure virgins who are betrothed to Christ shall light their lamps, and with the Bridegroom they shall go into the marriage chamber.^[1] All those who are betrothed to Christ are far removed from the curse of the law and are redeemed from the condemnation of the daughters of Eve. For they are not wedded to men so as to receive the curses and come into the pains of childbirth. They take no thought of death, because they do not deliver children who will die. And in place of a mortal husband, they are betrothed to Christ. And, because they do not bear children, there is given to them the name that is better than sons and daughters. And instead of the groans of the daughters of Eve, they utter the songs of the Bridgroom. The wedding feast of the daughters of Eve continues for only seven days. But for these virgins, the Bridegroom never leaves. The adornment of the daughters of Eve is wool that wears out and perishes, but the garments of these does not wear out. Old age withers the beauty of the daughters of Eve, but the beauty of these shall be renewed at the time of the resurrection.

The house and wall that are strength and security seem to describe the church that is above somewhere in the heavens, that is, over the earth. People dwell there who have grown in holiness and virtue and who shine forth and receive the honor of self-control along with a greater inheritance. They receive from God an eternal glory. There is nothing lacking of grace in them. For the rewards of self-control are great. And not only to the guileless eunuchs does he announce the provision of illustrious dignity, but he also announces it to those who keep the [new] sabbath that Christ established. For the others kept his sabbath by the law. For what was formerly in type is now illuminated in the beauty of truth.

And the sons of the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, . . . these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. These words refer to the church of the Gentiles, as the Lord himself explained to the Jews, and it is written in the Gospel, My house shall be called the house of prayer for all nations.^[1]

The holy mountain or the teachings of the truth are the confession of the Trinity or the Lord himself, to whom in the last days, according to Isaiah and the prophet Micah, many nations will flood.^[1] The house of prayer is the church, which is distributed across the whole globe.

Is it not written, He says, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? We read this in Isaiah: But you have made it a den of thieves.^[1] . . .

Where we read, You have made it a den of thieves, John’s Gospel had instead, You have made it a house of business. Wherever there are thieves, there is a house of trafficking. Would that it were applied only to the Jews and not the Christians! We would, indeed, weep for them but rejoice for ourselves. But now, in many places, the house of God, the house of the Father, has become a place of business. . . . I who am speaking and each one of you, priest, deacon or bishop, who yesterday was a poor man, who today is a rich man in the house of God!

Heresies and schism spring from the source of evils and, therefore, whoever comes to unity returns from vice to nature; for just as it is natural for many to become one, so is it a vice to avoid the sweetness of brotherly love. Let us, then, with our whole hearts be lifted up in joy that Christ has restored to his friendship in a single church the people who perished from love of strife. In this church, the harmony of love will again receive them. Of this church, the prophet foretold, saying, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.

As if you did not know that all human beings come from Adam and that it is written that the nations will believe in Christ, as it is said, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. . . . . The saints were uncircumcised before they were circumcised, and Abraham before circumcision had faith, since there is one God who justifies a circumcision of faith. And he proclaims that each nation ought to be saved through the faith of Christ, that is, by faith in him.

It is written in the prophet Isaiah, My house will be called a house of prayer among all nations. But perhaps the Jews will say that the house of God, that is, the synagogue, is open to all. We will not argue the point, except to say that the circumcised always appeal to the law. For their law is of the manner of Abraham’s circumcision. Nothing new is to be seen in what the prophet gives. But if only worthless things can be found, who will say that the prophet is speaking unnecessary and empty words? I do not know whether it is prudent to listen and not to prohibit. For since the Jewish people because of their sins, which took them away from God, were asking requests from idols, they were often rebuked by the prophets. They did not want to walk the road of penitence and return to God; to their shame he signals his house is open to all nations for prayer and that since the Jews have abandoned it, he will put others in their place. For if the nations were always being admitted to the law, as the Jews claim, how was the prophet speaking of the future, unless that signified something other than had already been commanded? For it would not be possible to speak of such things as happening every day, since they were yet to come.

The Savior, however, is gentle not only with the nations. For he says, I will gather the scattered of Israel. For these were far from the community in the law, being far away from Judah, and [they] were idol worshiping and teaching doctrines and precepts of human invention. Those who were thus gathered included the godly of old and even the disciples of the Savior.

The beasts of the forest means the nations. For a forest denotes the group of nations of different branches that he invites to the spiritual banquet. According to Aquila, he does not call them simply wild beasts, but his wild beasts. Why his? Why God’s? Because, captured by the devil, they became wild beasts under his tyranny and while alive they were hardly human. Yet God calls these as his own to his spiritual banquet, to eat the bread of life and to rejoice. . . . For although they were away from him for a long time, they were able through faith to come close to him and to share in the bread that strengthens the heart of humankind.

We have often seen the mass of the other nations called the woodlands. These are the beasts of God’s calling worthy to be called up due to their fear. Aquila has instead, all the beasts, all his living beings, and then, the second time, all his living things. Do they belong to someone or to God? For he does not call them simply beasts but his. Isaiah made mention of the nations of other tribes and the forest of beasts, and he saw in the Spirit that these would obey the call; yet so many of the Jews were persistent in unbelief.

Having made these promises to foreigners and eunuchs, he predicts to the Jews the last siege that would be made by the Romans. . . . The Roman army was gathered from diverse nations, because they were at that time the masters of all Europe and had conquered the larger part of Asia. This is why the prophetic text says, Come to devour, all you beasts of the forest. Some, however, have related these words to Gog and Magog,^[1] without observing the fact that the latter were consumed in the mountains of Judea under the effect of punishment coming from God, whereas those who are now summoned are being urged to devour other people.

Hence even sacred Scripture, with these sorts of disturbing passions in mind, in many places applies the names of brutes and of wild beasts to those gifted with reason; sometimes it calls them dogs on account of their shameful and headstrong behavior—dumb dogs, since they are unable even to bark. ^[1] THE PRACTICE OF IDOLATRY AND DIVINATION. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: They are all stammering dogs who stutter the praise of God and cannot bark against the idols, as against strangers. They dream, lay down and love to slumber, that is, they love to sleep in the graves and in the places where sacrifices are offered to demons, and there they expect from them visions, dreams and ghosts. ^[1]

In souls, pure and cleansed from all defilement, the prophetic gift shines clear. In a foul mirror you cannot see what the reflection is, neither can a soul preoccupied with cares of this life and darkened with the passions of the lust of the flesh receive the rays of the Holy Spirit. Every dream is not a prophecy, as Zechariah says, The Lord shall make bright clouds and give them showers of rain . . . for the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have spoken false dreams.^[1] Those who, as Isaiah says, dream and love to sleep in their bed forget that an instigation of error is sent to the children of disobedience.^[2]

For often church leaders do not have foresight, and they fear to lose favor with human beings and fear to say the right things freely and according to the voice of truth. They in no way act with the attention of the pastors of the flock but are more like hired hands who flee when the wolf approaches,^[1] while they themselves quietly hide.

The peace of the righteous Man is coming, who, when departing from the apostles and ascending to the Father, said, My peace I give to you, my peace I bequeath to you.^[1] And when the peace of Christ that surpasses every bodily sense arrives, his apostles will be resting in their beds, and death will become their rest. This shows that martyrs do not perish but conquer and take their rest on an eternal throne. But the Man of peace, whose apostles rest in their beds, walks his own direction, a victor ascending to the Father by the upright path. Then there is what we read in the Septuagint: The Righteous Man is removed from the face of evil and there will be peace at his grave, which is set apart, all referring directly to the Messiah, without any admixture from the apostles. For Christ’s grave is in peace and set apart, nor did his body either see corruption or remain in the tomb. He is free among the dead,^[2] as the angel said to the women: Jesus whom you seek is not here.^[3]

He foretells here the cross of the Master; for he calls the Master Christ righteous, he who committed no sin and in whose mouth no deceit was found. . . . His grave shall be in peace. For the righteous has been removed out of the way of injustice. He says this about Christ our Master and simultaneously lets us see the injustice of the murder and the victory that followed the death. For the death effected for us the reconciliation with God. He himself left his grave to ascend to the heavens.

The malice remaining in the world deserves no better than to have those who could be of profit quickly taken away. It is to spare the elect the sight of worse evils that they are removed when the end of time approaches. . . . It is not our belief, however, that all the elect are taken out of this world, leaving only the perverse to continue on, for sinners would never turn to sorrow and repentance if there were no good examples to motivate them.