Fragment on Hosea
Fragmentum in Osee
Solecism of number in Hosea: plural tears, singular address§1
1Scripture sometimes speaks with faulty wording that unsettles a reader and tempts the guess that the text was not written rightly or consistently. Some even dare, under the pretext of correction, to alter sayings and shift the sense that already lies in wording that looks consistent.
Here a similar case has fallen on the wording before us, so we must see the sense that lies in it. Hosea first speaks in the plural: "They wept and begged me" (sense of the plural tears), and again in the plural: "While I was in the house, they found me." Then he continues in the singular: "And there it was spoken toward him."
A reader fixed on bare wording and suspecting a slip would either pluralize the last clause or singularize what came before—reading on as if it said "spoken toward them," that is, toward those who wept…
Greek · §1
Fragmentum ex commentariis in Osee ΕΚ ΤΩΝ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΩΣΕΕ ΕΞΗΓΗΤΙΚΩΝ. 13.825 Ἐπειδὴ τὰ σολοικοειδῶς εἰρημένα κατὰ τὴν Γραφὴν ὅσα κατὰ τὴν λέξιν συγχύνει τὸν ἐντυγχάνοντα, ὡς ὑπονοεῖν οὐκ ὀρθῶς, οὐδὲ ἀκολούθως, οὐδὲ ὡς ἔχει, γεγράφθαι τὰ ῥητά· ὡς καὶ τολμᾷν τινας, προφάσει διορθώσεως, ἀλλοιοῦν, μετατιθέντας τὸν ἐγκείμενον περὶ τὰ δοκοῦντα ἀκολούθως γεγράφθαι ῥητὰ νοῦν· ἀναγκαίως καὶ ἐνθάδε τοῦ ὁμοίου ἐμπεσόντος, ὅσον κατὰ τὴν λέξιν περὶ τὰ προκείμενα ῥητὰ, ἴδωμεν τὸν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐγκείμενον νοῦν. Πληθυντικῶς γὰρ εἰπὼν, Ἔκλαυσαν καὶ ἐδεήθησάν μου· καὶ πάλιν πληθυντικῶς τὸ ἑξῆς δηλώσας, Ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ὢν, εὗρόν με, τὸ ἑξῆς ἐπὶ ἑνικοῦ ἐπιφέρει, λέγων· Καὶ ἐκεῖ ἐλαλήθη πρὸς αὐτόν. Τῇ γὰρ λέξει ψιλῇ τις ἐνιδὼν κατὰ πλάνην δοκῶν γεγράφθαι, ἢ καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον πληθυντικῶς γράψει· ἢ τὰ προά 13.828 γοντα εἰς ἑνικὸν μεταθείη. Ἀναγνοὺς γὰρ, Ἔκλαυσαν καὶ ἐδεήθησάν μου· καὶ, Ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ὢν, εὗρόν με, εἴποι ἂν, ὅτι καὶ τὸ ἑξῆς οὖν ἐστιν, Ἐκεῖ ἐλαλήθη πρὸς αὐτούς· τουτέστι τοὺς κλαύσαντας
Genesis singular permission, plural prohibition§2
2…and those who begged, and who, while he was in the house, found God. From like sayings we can show that this too is said consistently.
In Genesis, when God commands Adam, he says: "From every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day you eat of it you shall surely die."
There too he begins in the singular—"you may freely eat"—and then shifts to the plural prohibition and warning. When the command is about the life-keeping precept, he addresses Adam in the singular. Those who walk according to God and hold his commandments, even if many, by…
Greek · §2
καὶ δεηθέντας, καὶ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ὢν, εὑρόντας τὸν Θεόν. Ἐκ παρατηρήσεως δὲ ὁμοίων ῥητῶν καὶ τοῦτο ἀκολούθως εἰρῆσθαι δείξομεν. Ἐν τῇ Γενέσει ὁ Θεὸς τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐντολὴν διδοὺς, οὕτω φησίν· Ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ βρώσει φαγῇ· ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρὸν, οὐ φάγεσθε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε. Ἀρξάμενος γὰρ κἀκεῖ ἀπὸ ἑνικοῦ ἐν τῷ εἰρηκέναι, παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ βρώσει φαγῇ, ἐπιφέρει πληθυντικῶς, εἰπὼν, ἀπὸ δὲ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ γινώσκειν καλὸν καὶ πονηρὸν, οὐ φάγεσθε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε. Ὅτε γὰρ περὶ τῆς ἐντολῆς δι' ἧς αὐτὸν ἐν ζωῇ ταύτην τηροῦντα ἠθέλησεν εἶναι, ἑνικῶς ἐντέλλεται, καὶ φησίν· Ἀπὸ παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ βρώσει φαγῇ. Οἱ γὰρ κατὰ Θεὸν περιπατοῦντες καὶ τῶν ἐντολῶν αὐτοῦ ἀντεχόμενοι, κἂν πολλοὶ ὦσι, τῷ
Many become one when they find God§3
3…being of one mind, the many are one. That is why a command about the good is spoken in the singular—"you may freely eat"—but when the text turns to transgression it shifts to the plural: "You shall not eat; in the day you eat, you shall die."
So here also: while they still weep and beg toward God, the wording stays plural—"They wept and begged"—but when they find God it no longer says "spoken toward them," but "toward him." For the many have already become one in finding God and hearing his word.
The single person, when he sins, is multiplied—split from God, divided, fallen from unity—whereas the many who follow God's commandments are one. So the Apostle testifies: "We who are many are one bread, one…"
Greek · §3
ὁμόφρονες εἶναι οἱ πολλοὶ ἕν εἰσι. ∆ιὰ τοῦτο ὅτε περὶ ἀγαθοῦ ἐντολὴ δίδοται, ἑνικῶς αὐτὸ λέγεται τὸ, βρώσει φαγῇ· ὅτε δὲ ἤδη περὶ παραβάσεως διαστέλλεται, οὐχ ἑνικῶς, ἀλλ' ἤδη πληθυντικῶς φησιν· Οὐ φάγεσθε ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· ᾗ δ' ἂν ἡμέρᾳ φάγητε, θανάτῳ ἀποθανεῖσθε. Οὕτως οὖν καὶ ἐνθάδε, ὅτε ἔτι κλαίουσι καὶ δέονται πρὸς Θεὸν, πληθυντικῶς λέγεται τὸ, Ἔκλαυσαν καὶ ἐδεήθησαν· ὅτε δὲ εὑρίσκουσι τὸν Θεὸν, οὐκέτι πληθυντικῶς φησι τὸ, Ἐκεῖ ἐλαλήθη πρὸς αὐτοὺς, ἀλλὰ, πρὸς αὐτόν. Ἤδη γὰρ ἐν γεγόνασιν οἱ πολλοὶ ἐν τῷ εὑρηκέναι τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀκούειν λόγον αὐτοῦ. Ὁ γὰρ εἷς, ὅτε ἁμαρτάνει, πολλοστός ἐστιν, ἀποσχιζόμενος ἀπὸ Θεοῦ καὶ μεριζόμενος, καὶ τῆς ἑνότητος ἐκπίπτων· οἱ δὲ πολλοὶ ταῖς ἐντολαῖς ἑπόμενοι ταῖς τοῦ Θεοῦ, εἷς εἰσι· καθὼς καὶ ὁ Ἀπόστολος μαρτυρεῖ, εἰπών· Ὅτι εἷς ἄρτος καὶ ἓν
One body, one faith; tower of many stones§4
4…body; and again: "one God, one Christ, one faith, one baptism"; and elsewhere: "all are one in Christ Jesus"; and again: "I betrothed you to one husband, to present a pure virgin to the Lord."
That those who please the Lord are one is clear from the Savior's prayer for his disciples: "Holy Father, grant that as you and I are one, they also may be one in us." When the holy are called members of one another, what are they if not one body?
In the Shepherd too the tower is built of many stones yet appears as one stone: Scripture signifies the concord and unity that come from many.
Greek · §4
σῶμα οἱ πολλοί ἐσμεν· καὶ πάλιν· Εἷς Θεὸς, καὶ εἷς Χριστὸς, καὶ μία πίστις, καὶ ἓν βάπτισμα· καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ· Ὅτι πάντες ἕν ἐσμεν ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· καὶ αὖθις· Ἡρμοσάμην γὰρ ὑμᾶς τοὺς πάντας ἑνὶ ἀνδρὶ παρθένον ἁγνὴν παραστῆσαι τῷ Κυρίῳ. Καὶ ὅτι οἱ εὐαρεστοῦντες τῷ Κυρίῳ ἕν εἰσιν, ἀπὸ τῆς προσευχῆς ἧς ὁ Σωτὴρ εὔχεται πρὸς τὸν Πατέρα περὶ τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, ἔστιν ἰδεῖν· Πάτερ γὰρ, φησὶν, ἅγιε, δὸς ἵνα, καθὼς ἐγὼ καὶ σὺ ἕν ἐσμεν, οὕτω καὶ οὗτοι ἐν ἡμῖν ἓν ὦσιν. Ὅταν δὲ καὶ ἀλλήλων μέλη λέγωνται εἶναι οἱ ἅγιοι, τί ἄλλο εἰ μὴ ἓν σῶμά εἰσι; Καὶ ἐν τῷ Ποιμένι δὲ τὴν οἰκοδομὴν τοῦ πύργου διὰ πολλῶν μὲν λίθων οἰκοδομουμένην, ἐξ ἑνὸς δὲ λίθου φαινομένην εἶναι τὴν οἰκοδομὴν, τί ἄλλο ἢ τὴν ἐκ πολλῶν συμφωνίαν καὶ ἑνότητα σημαίνει ἡ Γραφή;