Unjust suffering under divine oversight; Israel and the enemies

Therefore, since we have no longer possess any other excuse but ourselves, and since we recognize that the misfortunes that befall us come from our own actions, we ought to turn back and examine the wrongs we have committed. For it is impossible to return to the Lord while remaining ignorant of oneself; yet one comes to know oneself by reflecting on one’s actions, simultaneously observing them and engaging the mind in their consideration. At that moment, with unveiled face we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord, as in a mirror, and we shall confess the things we previously acknowledged, saying: “We have sinned and we have acted lawlessly in turning away from you,” and “That you are righteous in all that you have brought upon us.” To take up the heart upon the hands seems to signify that, having taken hold of our own thoughts with our hands, we ought to examine them, if indeed they are pure. And these things constitute a part of the earlier confession: just as you, O God, brought upon us the circumstances of dreadful things by a cloud of darkness, and though we were far from you, you pursued us and destroyed the dead by means of punishment in their sins. And since our sins separate us from you, as if by a wall of cloud, our prayer did not reach you; for we did not possess “the wings of a dove” to fly upward and say, “In God I shall scale a wall.” For it was not easy to cast off sin, which is substantial, dark, and devoid of the Holy Spirit. Symmachus: destruction. With one mouth we have devoured you, and we have been brought down into the depths of evil, filled with fear and disturbance, as it is said: “He who falls into the pit which he dug,” the sinner reaping the wages of what he has committed. And since, according to Solomon, “pride precedes destruction,”

This means pride—being lifted up and then shattered. That is why David sings: “Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let the hand of the wicked not shake me.” And having endured so much from those who act arrogantly, he suffers deeply, for “love does not reckon evil.” Instead of saying my eye grew weary and would not cease from lack of vigilance, Symmachus declared: My eye endured, and it did not cease from lack of rest. The Seventy indicate that although the eyes were weakened from an abundance of tears, they did not cease, yet one could not muster the strength to resume weeping; but Symmachus says that he persisted in tears and did not cease, for a prolonged prayer and the intensity of tears draw God toward mercy. For my tears strike me, he says, like a meticulous grape gatherer striking a vine; but according to Symmachus, because the tears drowned me, using the metaphor of those who suffocate in water. Yet enduring, I will endure the Lord until He turns His face away from us. To wait for God is to hope that He will deem us worthy of His oversight. It is declared that He surpasses all in every respect—namely, upon the same afflictions—for the female nature is more compassionate than the male. Or he speaks of what he has endured: he was plunged into a pit, and as long as he remained there, he died in mind; but rescued from hope, he cried out with David: “My soul has been delivered like a bird from the snare of the fowlers,” for he was not “to fall upon the earth without the Father who is in heaven,” according to the voice of the Savior. Either he speaks of himself alone, or he also makes the sufferings of the people his own. Yet it would reasonably be said of him that he acted freely: what wrong have they done him? Rather, has he not failed to benefit them? God judged by destroying the false prophet and handing over the king, and by delivering the nation to Christ into captivity. And as for me, I—