THEOSISJerome of Stridon
My anger is ignited against them; how long will they remain unclean? For he is also part of Israel: the craftsman formed him, yet he is not God; the calf of Samaria will be transformed into the threads of spiders. According to the LXX: Cast down your calf, O Samaria; My fury is burning against them; until when will they be able to purify themselves in Israel? The craftsman created it, and he is not God, for he led your calf astray, O Samaria. In the passage where we refer to the threads of spiders, in Hebrew, it is written as “sababim,” with the letter yod in the second to last position, rather than “sababbum,” with vav, as some incorrectly suggest.
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The LXX and Theodotion have translated this term as πλανῶν, meaning seducing or deceiving; Aquila translates it as wandering or turning; Simmachus refers to it as erratic or unstable, that is, ἀκατασταττῶν; and the fifth edition uses ῥεμβεύων, implying wandering and wavering. From the Hebrew, we understand that “sababim” correctly refers to spider webs that float in the air, nearly invisible as they disintegrate and vanish. This imagery aptly reflects the calf of Samaria, which at that time was worshipped by the people due to its significant worth as it was made of gold. The earlier statement regarding their silver and gold, which they fashioned into idols for themselves to their own demise, is reiterated with more clarity: Your calf is cast down, O Samaria; My anger is kindled against them—whether directed at the calves, since two were made, or against the people of Samaria who adored them. The exhortation to cast down your bullock, O Samaria, is directed at its people—not just one city, but all ten tribes collectively referred to as Samaria (for the calves were located in Dan and Bethel, not in the city of Samaria)—to demolish the idols that provoked the Lord’s wrath, or, in other words, to eradicate them so that they might purify themselves from the prolonged service to them. Yet, in their disobedience, God speaks to others, asking how long they will remain unclean. What utter folly it is, He remarks, that they refuse to turn and be healed despite His call to repentance! Thus, as He called them to cast down their calf, He clarifies its identity: it is of Israel; you did not receive a calf from other nations, like Baal and Astarte from the Sidonians, or Hamos from the Moabites, or Moloch from the Ammonites, but you, alongside your king Jeroboam, have crafted in Israel what you learned in Egypt. What kind of deity is created by human hands? Ultimately, the calf of Samaria will meet its end, just as the delicate wisps of spider silk are swept away by the wind. The Lord will dismantle the idols of the heretics and of Samaria, who claim to uphold the commandments of the law; these idols are anchored to the earth, pursuing earthly matters rather than spiritual truths, and do not lift their gaze toward heaven. Therefore, the Lord’s anger burns against them, and He is bewildered by the depth of their corruption as they refuse to abandon the idols they have fashioned, opting instead for the purity of the Church over the defilement of heresies. Israel, which thinks it beholds the Lord, did not acquire these idols from foreign nations; rather, it itself, by misinterpreting the Holy Scriptures, invented them and crafted its own god, destined to perish like the delicate fabrics of spiders, easily destroyed by the gentlest touch.