The Bird from the East
But if the God of all wishes to do anything, what could there be to stand against it and oppose it? For “what the holy God wills, who will scatter? And His high hand, who will turn it back?” (Isaiah 14:27). So, as proof that He is God by nature and in truth, He may fittingly say: “All My counsel will stand, and all that I have planned I will do” (Isaiah 46:10). Then He adds to this: “calling a bird from the east, and from a land far off, for the things I have planned” (Isaiah 46:11); and to this also the words “I am” will be joined.
The bird called from the east and from a land far off we say is the Babylonian, who set fire to the whole country of the Jews, took Jerusalem and shook down the temple in it. Then, uprooting very many of both the common people and the notable, he carried them away from their native land and settled them in the country and land of the Persians, laying on them the hard and unbearable yoke of captivity. This too will be clear to you from what God said to the blessed prophet Ezekiel. It runs thus:
“And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, tell a tale and speak a parable to the house of Israel, and say: Thus says Adonai, the Lord: The great eagle, of great span, full of talons, whose purpose is to enter Lebanon, took the choice parts of the cedar; he nipped off the tops of its tender shoots and brought them into the land of Canaan; he set them in a walled city. And he took some of the seed of the land and put it in the plain as a plant beside much water; he set it where it could be watched over. And it became a weak vine, small in size, so that its branches showed toward him, and its roots were beneath it in its ground. And it became a vine, and put out shoots, and stretched out its climbing branches” (Ezekiel 17:1-6).
These things God said to the blessed prophet Ezekiel. But since the saying was hard to grasp and the force of its meaning not very clear to the hearers, He Himself explains it again, saying: “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: Do you not know what these things are that I have said? When the king of Babylon comes against Jerusalem, he will take its king and its rulers and lead them to himself into Babylon. And he will take one of the royal seed, and make a covenant with him, and bring him under a curse; and he will take the leaders of the land, so that the kingdom may become weak and never lift itself up, but keep his covenant and uphold it” (Ezekiel 17:12-14).
For as we have read in the Books of Kings, after the capture …
Greek
Θεός γε μὴν ὁ τῶν ὅλων, εἴπερ τι βούλοιτο δρᾷν, τί ἂν γένοιτο τὸ ἀντιστατοῦν, καὶ ἀντεξάγον αὐτό; Ἃ γὰρ Θεὸς ὁ ἅγιος βούλεται, τίς διασκεδάσει; καὶ τὴν χεῖρα τὴν ὑψηλὴν τίς ἀποστρέψει; Οὐκοῦν εἰς ἀπό- δειξιν τοῦ ὅτι Θεός ἐστι κατὰ φύσιν καὶ ἀληθῶς, λέγοιτο ἂν εἰκότως παρ' αὐτοῦ τὸ, Πᾶσα ἡ βουλή μου στήσεται, καὶ πάντα ὅσα βεβούλευμαι, ποιήσω. Εἶτα πρὸς τοῦτό φησι, Καλῶν ἀπὸ ἀνατολῶν πετει- νὸν, καὶ ἀπὸ γῆς πόῤῥωθεν περὶ ὧν βεβούλευμαι· καὶ ἀκολουθήσει καὶ τούτῳ τὸ, Ἐγώ εἰμι. Πετεινόν γε μὴν τὸ καλούμενον ἐξ ἀνατολῶν, καὶ ἐκ γῆς πόῤ- ῥωθεν τὸν Βαβυλώνιον εἶναί φαμεν, ὃς τὴν Ἰου- δαίων ἅπασαν κατεμπρήσας χώραν, εἷλε τὰ Ἱεροσό- λυμα καὶ τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς κατέσεισε νεών· εἶτα πλείστους τῶν τε ἀγελαίων, καὶ ἐπιφανῶν ἐξαναστήσας ἀπεκό- μισε μὲν τῆς ἐνεγκούσης αὐτοὺς, ἐναπέθετο δὲ τῇ Περσῶν χώρᾳ τε καὶ γῇ, τὸν τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας σκλη- ρῶς τε καὶ ἀφορήτως αὐτοῖς ἐπιῤῥίψας ζυγόν. Ἔσται δέ σοι καὶ τοῦτο σαφὲς, ἐξ ὧν ἔφη Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν μακάριον προφήτην Ἰεζεχιήλ. Ἔχει δὲ οὕτως· "6Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με, λέγων· Υἱὲ ἀνθρώ- που, διήγησαι διήγημα, καὶ εἶπον παραβολὴν πρὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ ἐρεῖς· Τάδε λέγει Ἀδωναῒ Κύριος· Ὁ ἀετὸς ὁ μέγας ὁ μακρὸς τῇ ἐκτάσει, πλή-ρης ὀνύχων, ὃς ἔχει τὸ διήγημα εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν Λί- βανον, καὶ ἔλαβε τὰ ἐπίλεκτα τῆς κέδρου, τὰ ἄκρα τῆς ἁπαλότητος ἀπέκνισε, καὶ ἤνεγκεν αὐτὰ εἰς γῆν Χανὰν, εἰς πόλιν τετειχισμένην ἔθετο αὐτὰ, καὶ ἔλαβεν ἀπὸ τοῦ σπέρματος τῆς γῆς, καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτὸ εἰς τὸ πεδίον φυτὸν, ἐν ὕδατι πολλῷ, ἐπιβλεπόμενον ἔταξεν αὐτὸ, καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς ἄμπελον ἀσθενοῦσαν, καὶ μικρὰν τῷ μεγέθει τῷ ἐπιφαίνεσθαι αὐτῇ τὰ κλήματα αὐτῆς ἐπ' αὐτὸ, καὶ αἱ ῥίζαι αὐτῆς ὑπο- κάτω τῆς γῆς αὐτῆς ἦσαν. Καὶ ἐγένετο εἰς ἄμπελον καὶ ἐποίησεν ἀπωρυγὰς, καὶ ἐξέτεινε τὴν ἀναδενδρά- δα αὐτῆς."6 Ταυτὶ μὲν οὖν ἔφη Θεὸς πρὸς τὸν μα- κάριον προφήτην Ἰεζεχιήλ. Ἐπειδὴ δὲ δυσέφικτος ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ τῶν νοημάτων ἡ δύναμις οὐ σφόδρα σαφὴς τοῖς ἀκροωμένοις, αὐτὸς δὴ πάλιν αὐτὴν δια- τρανοῖ λέγων· "6Εἶπον δὲ πρὸς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ τὸν παραπικραίνοντα· Οὐκ ἐπίστασθε τί ἐστι ταῦτα ἃ εἶπον. Ὅταν ἔλθῃ βασιλεὺς 367 Βαβυλῶνος ἐπὶ Ἱερου-σαλὴμ, καὶ λήψεται τὸν βασιλέα αὐτῆς, καὶ τοὺς ἄρχοντας αὐτῆς, καὶ ἄξει αὐτοὺς πρὸς αὐτὸν εἰς Βα- βυλῶνα. Καὶ λήψεται ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος τῆς βασι- ‹70.1000› λείας, καὶ διαθήσεται πρὸς αὐτὸν διαθήκην, καὶ εἰσ- άξει αὐτὸν ἐν ἀρᾷ, καὶ τοὺς ἡγουμένους τῆς γῆς λήψεται τοῦ γενέσθαι βασιλείαν ἀσθενῆ, καὶ τὸ καθ- όλου μὴ ἐπαίρεσθαι τοῦ φυλάσσειν τὴν διαθήκην αὐ- τοῦ, καὶ ἱστάνειν αὐτήν. Ὡς γὰρ ἐν βίβλῳ τῶν Βασι- λειῶν ἀνέγνωμεν, μετὰ τὸ ἁλῶναι