THEOSISTheodoret of Cyrus
If God declares that He intends to punish a sinful people by allowing them to face starvation, and those suffering will refuse to turn away from their wrongdoing, He will not show mercy, even if Noah, Job, and Daniel were among them. These righteous individuals will reap the rewards of their own faithfulness and find salvation, but they cannot rescue the unrepentant from the consequences of their actions. I reference these men because their experiences parallel the current situation. Noah, who lived in a morally corrupt era, could not save those unwilling to repent from the flood.
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Similarly, Daniel, in the time of captivity, could not deliver others from the disasters that descended upon them due to their great wickedness; yet he himself triumphed over his oppressors, maintaining dominion over those who held him captive. Job's children also could not benefit from their father's righteousness; he alone triumphed over the malice of his adversaries. God reiterates this truth through various expressions, stating that if He decrees death upon a land, exposing it to wild beasts and enemy invasion, even if these three men are found there, they will not save their children, but will achieve salvation for themselves only. This illustrates that those who refuse to repent will not benefit from the righteous. Salvation is a result of repentance, a principle consistently affirmed in Scripture. For instance, the people of Nineveh, lacking Noah, Job, or Daniel but having Jonah, who did not intercede for them but desired to vindicate his message, found salvation through repentance. Therefore, prophetic teachings convey that those entrenched in sin, unwilling to repent while merely claiming association with the righteous, will have no defense. Additionally, it pleased the God of all to show that He acted for Israel in a manner distinct from any other nation, for He states: