Circumcision inherited and the pretense of righteousness
Gregory is explaining how Jeremiah can call Egypt, Edom, Ammon, and Moab circumcised, and then draws a moral lesson about pretense of righteousness.
What was said a little earlier about Ishmael, that he received the law of circumcision from his father and handed it down to his own descendants, we may also say about Esau. He was the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, and the law that came to him from his grandfather and his father he also handed down to his children. He himself circumcised Edom. Is this no longer unclear?
And how are the sons of Ammon and the sons of Moab circumcised? Those who have studied more carefully know that these are the sons of Lot, Abraham's nephew.
And after a little: Ammon and Moab were born from Lot, each from his daughters, when Lot's daughters suspected that the earth was desolate and so wished to preserve the human race. Moab was born to the elder daughter, and his name means "from a father." Ammon was born to the younger, and his name means "son of my people."
All these things, once said, persuade us without difficulty to agree that all these peoples are called circumcised by the sacred word. The sacred word itself testifies through Jeremiah about the sons of Moab and the sons of Ammon, that he counted them among the circumcised.
And after a little: If we should gain some benefit from these words, we may rightly say that many peoples of the human race have a pretense of righteousness and bear certain traces of the law of God. They are shaped in some way and superficially cultivate virtue. Yet their resolve stops at outward form, at pretense and hypocrisy. They did not even strive to cut out evil from themselves, as the reproaches against Egypt and Idumea, that is Edom, show.
Jeremiah 10:2: "Do not learn according to the ways of the nations." And what do you learn? You learn the law of God, which says: "You shall have no other gods besides me." "Let the gods who did not make heaven and earth perish from the face of the earth and from under heaven" (Jeremiah 10:11).
Greek
Οὐκοῦν ἄπερ ἐλέγετο μικροῦ πρόσ-θεν περὶ τοῦ Ἰσμαὴλ, ὅτι δὴ παραλαβὼν νόμον πατρόθεν, τὸν τῆς περιτομῆς, παρεδί-δου ἐγγόνοις τοῖς ἑαυτοῦ, ταῦτα λέγειν ἡμῖν 595 ἔξεστι περὶ τοῦ Ἡσαῦ, ὅτι ὢν παῖς Ἰσαὰκ τοῦ υἱοῦ Ἁβραὰμ, ὃν παρέλαβε νόμον παρά τε τοῦ πάππου, παρά τε τοῦ πατρὸς ἥκον-τα
εἰς αὐτὸν, παρεδίδου καὶ τοῖς παισὶ, καὶ περιέτεμέν που καὶ αὐτὸς τὸν Ἐδώμ· οὐκέτι οὖν ἀσαφές; Πῶς δὲ καὶ υἱοὶ Ἀμμὼν καὶ υἱοὶ Μωάβ; τούτους γινώσκουσί που οἱ φιλοπονώτεροι εἶναι τοὺς υἱοὺς Λὼτ, τοῦ ἀδελφιδοῦ Ἁβραάμ. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Ἐτέχθῃ οὖν ἐκ τοῦ Λὼτ, ὅ τε Ἀμμὼν καὶ ὁ Μωὰβ, ἐκάτερος ἐκ τῶν θυγατέρων αὐτοῦ, ὁπηνίκα ὑπονοήσασαι ἔ-ρημον εἶναι τὴν γῆν, οὕτω διασώσασθαι τὸ γένος τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἐβουλήθησαν αἱ θυγα-τέρες Λώτ· ἐτέχθη γὰρ τῇ μὲν πρεσβυτέρᾳ ὁ Μωὰβ, ἑρμηνευόμενος ἐκ πατρὸς, καὶ τῇ δευτέρᾳ Ἀμμὼν, ἑρμηνευόμενος ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ γένους. Ταῦτα πάντα εἰρημένα οὐκέτι δυσ-κόλως ἡμᾶς συγκατατίθεσθαι παραπείθει, πάντας τοὺς περιτετμημένους οὕτω καλεῖσ-θαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ λόγου, μαρτυροῦντος αὐτοῦ Ἱερεμίου καὶ περὶ υἱῶν Μωάβ, καὶ περὶ τῶν υἱῶν Ἀμμὼν, ὅτι ἐν τοῖς περιτετμημένοις κατέλεξε καὶ τούτους. Καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ὠφελείας τινος ἡμῖν προσγίνεσθαι δεῖ ἐκ τῶν εἰρημένων τούτων, οὕτως ἄν τις ὀρθῶς εἴποι, ὡς τὰ πολλὰ γένη τῶν ἀνθρώπων προσποίησιν μὲν ἔχει δικαιοσύνης, καί τινα μὲν ἴχνη φέρειν νόμου Θεοῦ, καὶ σχηματίζεσθαι πως, καὶ ἐπιπλάστως ἐπιμελεῖσθαι ἀρετῆς, μέχρι μέντοι σχήματος αὐτοῖς ἵσταται τὰ τῆς προαιρέσεως, μέχρι προσποιήσεως καὶ τοῦ καθυποκρίνεσθαι, οὐ μέντοι καὶ τέλεον ἐσ-πουδάσαμεν τὴν κακίαν ἐκκόπτειν ἐξ ἡμῶν καὶ τὰ ὀνείδη ἐπ' Αἴγυπτον καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν Ἰ-δουμαίαν. Cap. x, 2. Κατὰ τὰς ὁδοὺς τῶν ἐθνῶν, μὴ μανθάνετε. Τί δὲ μανθάνετε; Νόμον μανθάνετε Θεοῦ, τὸν λέγοντα· Οὐκ ἔσονταί σοι θεοὶ ἕτεροι πλὴν ἐμοῦ, θεοὶ, οἱ οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν οὐκ ἐποίησαν, ἀπολέσθωσαν ἀπὸ προσώπου τῆς γῆς καὶ ὑποκάτω τοῦ οὐρανοῦ.