I will grant you a weariness of teeth in all your towns and a scarcity of food in all your regions; but you did not turn back to Me, says the Lord.
Let us first establish the historical context. Your captivity, wretched Israel, is near; the Assyrian army is already advancing: act as you wish - indulge in lawlessness, freely worship idols, and the more brazen you are, the more will My justice be evident in your sufferings. He says, “Go to Bethel,” where you have erected the golden calf, and act unjustly towards God. Go to Gilgal, the location of idol worship, concerning which I mentioned through Hosea: “All their wickedness is in Gilgal” (Hosea 9:15); and again he states, “They sacrificed to calves at Gilgal in vain” (Hosea 12:11). When you arrive at Gilgal, “multiply your transgressions.” For all that you did there was an affront to God, whom you preferred over idols. And you shall present your offerings in the morning, ensuring there is no respite for your sins, and your tithes on the third day, or as Simmachus has rendered it, “your tithes on the third day.” We interpret this as follows: under Levitical law (Leviticus 7), certain offerings were not to be kept until the next day, and if others were left until the third day, they would become unclean. The understanding here is that you should offer daily defiled sacrifices and contaminated gifts, and “offer leavened offerings of praise,” which, according to Mosaic law, should not be presented to God at all. Instead of “praise,” Aquila translates it as “thanksgiving,” which is known in Hebrew as “toda.” Proclaim, he asserts, voluntary offerings known as “nadaboth,” or kind offerings. A voluntary gift should express joy, which we may call in Latin “epulum” (feast). Upon doing this, let your misdeeds be made known to all, so that you may not only be found guilty but also openly acknowledged. However, I command this only to fulfill your desires, for you have acted upon these urges, O children of Israel, says the Lord God.
Thus, I have given you a dullness of teeth, as the LXX translates, which we have followed here for simplicity, or a “cleanness of teeth,” as Aquila and Symmachus translate, indicating that the clean teeth represent severe hunger. I have caused a shortage of food, not just in one city but across all your cities; not in a single location, but in every place. While I did not do this merely to punish but to encourage your repentance, you have still turned away from Me, says the Lord.
Now let us briefly explore what allegorical meanings we see in each phrase from the LXX, as an extensive commentary encompassing both interpretations would be too lengthy. You have entered Bethel, signifying the house of God, which represents the church, and you have acted unlawfully toward the Lord, violating His commandments. In “Gilgal,” which means “wheel” or “rolling,” you have increased iniquity, arrogating knowledge of the sacred Scriptures for yourselves, falling into arrogance and sinking into the mire. You have also brought your offerings in the morning and your gifts on the third day, transforming yourselves into an angel of light, while limiting your understanding to one day regarding the threefold significance of the Scriptures, which we are instructed to inscribe in our hearts in various ways. We are to grasp the Scriptures initially in a literal sense, imbuing all commands with a moral dimension, then allegorically, spiritually, and finally in relation to future glory. But you have disregarded the first and second days, building for yourselves spiritual edifices without a foundation, merely placing a roof over the walls.
These heretics, to whom this message is directed, are not satisfied with such extreme impiety; they have distanced themselves from the church, reading the law of God outside its fold, attempting to merge confessions of faith with their self-invented doctrines, which spring from depraved hearts, or to offer leaven, of which the Gospel warns: “Beware of the leaven,” that is, the teachings of the Pharisees (Matthew 16:6). They have not done this out of lack of understanding but with full knowledge, driven by a profound love for wrongdoing. Hence, the Lord warns them with judgment, stating, “I will give you a splintering of teeth,” which in Greek is termed γομφιασμός. According to Ezekiel (chapter 18), those who consume sour grapes will bear the consequences, for by misusing the scriptural testimonies and partaking of them unripe, lacking the sweetness inherent within, they will weaken their ability to consume solid nourishment, thus failing to sustain the body. This shakiness of teeth and lack of bread I will likewise impose across all your cities and in every region, that you may hunger for the Word of God and for the Bread that comes down from heaven (John 6), of which it is declared in the Psalms: “He gave them the bread of angels; they ate the food of mighty ones” (Psalm 78:25). All this I have done, not out of cruelty or malice as the heretics accuse but for the purpose of your conversion to Me, as written: “I have struck your children in vain; you did not accept correction” (Jeremiah 2:30).
THEOSIS