Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt
…“to a people who will not profit them, neither for help nor for profit, but for shame and reproach” (Isaiah 30:5).
Again he laments over those from Israel as lovers of sin who have become apostates, exceedingly wicked and planning bitter things, not through God (Isaiah 30:1). For it is not right for those who wish to agree together on some evil thing to take counsel with God. But everyone who is pious and good and a lover of righteousness will take counsel with God and will go on to do what must be done. For it is written: “The thoughts of the righteous are judgments” (Proverbs 12:5).
He therefore accuses chosen Israel of bringing in, concerning Christ, a mind out of tune with God. For they deliberated, sitting in council, and indeed said: “What are we doing? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on like this, the Romans will come and take away both your city and your country.” And another, one of those set among the leaders, says: “You know nothing at all; it is better that one man should die, and not that the whole nation should perish” (John 11:47-50).
The Lord teaches this very thing more clearly in the parables of the Gospel: “The master of the house who planted the vineyard sent his own servants to receive the fruits, but the tenants killed them” (Matthew 21:33-35). And the charges of their impiety did not stop there; for when they saw the son, sent by the father after the servants, they said among themselves, it says: “This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance for ourselves” (Matthew 21:38).
So the authors of such bitter and unholy schemes are apostates, who add sin upon sin (Isaiah 30:1). For they killed, as I said, the holy prophets, and after them the heir himself, that is, the Son. And he tries to show that their mind had long been turned toward apostasy from God, saying: “Those who set out to go down into Egypt, but they did not ask Me, to be helped by Pharaoh and to be sheltered by the Egyptians” (Isaiah 30:2). He threw in the words “but they did not ask Me” in between.
The train of thought runs like this: Woe, he says, to those who go down into Egypt to be helped by Pharaoh and to find shelter from the Egyptians. For when war and battle had been announced to them, and the king of Assyria had taken up arms against the land of the Jews, they ran ahead to the Egyptians and called for their help. Yet they ought to have appeased God and, by turning to better ways, to have wiped away the offences by which they had struck against Him. For had they been rich in His favor, they would not have fallen under the feet of those making war…
Greek
πρὸς λαὸν ὃς οὐκ ὠφελήσει αὐτοὺς, οὔτε εἰς βοήθειαν, οὔτε εἰς ὠφέλειαν, ἀλλ' εἰς αἰσχύ- νην καὶ ὄνειδος.9 Ταλανίζει πάλιν ὡς φιλαμαρτήμονας καὶ ἀποστά- τας γεγονότας τοὺς ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ, πονηρούς τε ἄγαν καὶ πικρὰ βουλευομένους, οὐ διὰ Θεοῦ. Οὐ γάρ τοι θέμις μετὰ Θεοῦ βουλεύεσθαι, τοὺς ἐπί τινι τῶν φαύλων ὁμογνωμονεῖν ἐθέλοντας. Βουλεύσεται δὲ μετὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ χωρήσει πρὸς τὰ πρακτέα πᾶς εἴ τίς ἐστιν εὐσεβής τε καὶ ἀγαθὸς, καὶ δικαιοσύνης ἐραστής. Γέγραπται γὰρ, ὅτι "6Λογισμοὶ δικαίων κρίματα."6 Καταιτιᾶται τοίνυν τὸν ἀπόκλητον Ἰσραὴλ, ὡς ἀπ-ᾴδουσαν τῷ Θεῷ γνώμην εἰσενεγκάμενον ἐπὶ Χριστῷ. ∆ιεσκέπτοντο μὲν γὰρ συνεδρεύοντες, καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔφασκον· "6Τί ποιοῦμεν, ὅτι οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος πολλὰ ποιεῖ σημεῖα; Ἐὰν ἀφῶμεν αὐτὸν οὕτως, ἐλεύσονται οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι, καὶ ἀροῦσιν ὑμῶν καὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὴν χώραν. Ἕτερος δέ τις τῶν τεταγμένων ἐν ἡγου- μένοις, Ὑμεῖς, φησὶν, οὐκ οἴδατε οὐδὲν, ὅτι συμφέρει ἵνα εἷς ἄνθρωπος ἀποθάνῃ, καὶ μὴ ὅλον τὸ ἔθνος ἀπόληται."6 Σαφέστερον τοῦτο αὐτὸ διδάσκει λέγων ὁ Κύριος ἐν παραβολαῖς εὐαγγελικαῖς, ὅτι "6Ὁ τὸν ἀμπε-λῶνα φυτεύσας οἰκοδεσπότης, ἀπέστειλε τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ δούλους, ὥστε κομίσασθαι τοὺς καρποὺς, ἀπεκτόνασι δὲ τούτους οἱ γεωργοί."6 Καὶ οὐ μέχρι τούτων τὰ τῆς ἐκείνων δυσσεβείας γεγόνασιν ἐγκλήματα· ἀλλὰ γὰρ καὶ τὸν υἱὸν τεθεαμένοι μετὰ τοὺς οἰκέτας ἀπεσταλμέ- νον παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς, εἶπον, φησὶν, ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, "6Οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ κληρονόμος, δεῦτε, ἀποκτείνωμεν αὐτὸν, καὶ σχῶμεν ἑαυτοῖς τὴν κληρονομίαν αὐτοῦ."6 Ἀποστάται τοιγαροῦν οἱ τῶν οὕτω πικρῶν καὶ ἀνοσίων σκεμμά- των εἰσηγηταὶ, οἱ προστιθέντες ἁμαρτίαν ἐφ' ἁμαρ- τίας· ἀπεκτόνασι γὰρ, ὡς ἔφην, προφήτας ἁγίους· εἶτα καὶ αὐτὸν μετ' ἐκείνους τὸν κληρονόμον, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τὸν υἱόν. Ὅτι δὲ ἐκ πολλοῦ ἄνωθεν αὐτοῖς ἡ γνώμη πρὸς ἀπόστασιν βλέπει τὴν ἀπὸ Θεοῦ, πληροφορεῖν πειρᾶται λέγων· Οἱ πορευόμενοι καταβῆναι εἰς Αἴ- γυπτον· ἐμὲ δὲ οὐκ ἐπερώτησαν, τοῦ βοηθηθῆναι ὑπὸ Φαραῶ, καὶ σκεπασθῆναι ὑπὸ Αἰγυπτίων, προσέῤῥιπτε διὰ μέσου τὸ, Ἐμὲ δὲ οὐκ ἐπερώτησαν. Ἡ δέ γε τῶν νοημάτων ἀκολουθία τοῦτον ἔχει τὸν τρόπον· Οὐαὶ, φησὶν, οἱ καταβαίνοντες εἰς Αἴγυπτον τοῦ βοηθηθῆναι ὑπὸ Φαραῶ, καὶ σκέπην εὑράσθαι τὴν ἀπό γε τῶν Αἰγυπτίων. Περιηγγελμένου γὰρ αὐτοῖς πολέμου καὶ μάχης καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀσσυρίας κατὰ τῆς Ἰουδαίων χώρας ὅπλα κινήσαντος προδεδραμήκασιν Αἰγυπτίοις, καὶ τὴν παρ' αὐτῶν ἐπικουρίαν ἐκάλουν, καίτοι δέον ἐκμειλίσσεσθαι Θεὸν, ἀποτρίβεσθαί τε ταῖς εἰς τὰ ἀμείνω μεταδρομαῖς, τὰ ἐφ' οἷς αὐτῷ προσκεκρού- ‹70.669› κασιν. Ὅτι γὰρ τὴν παρ' αὐτοῦ πλουτοῦντες εὐμέ- νειαν, οὐκ ἂν ὑπηνέχθησαν τοῖς τῶν 245 πολεμούντων ποσὶν