of slumber, the LXX interprets this as brokenness, while Theodotion uses the term mindfulness, and Aquila refers to it as a sound sleep, which in Hebrew is termed thardema, a state inflicted by God, as the Scripture recounts concerning Adam (Gen. 2), when a woman was formed from a rib taken from his side. In a similar manner, Jonah was in deep sleep aboard the ship (Jon. 1:5). The entire prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, referred to as Ariel, is a denunciation aimed at the scribes and Pharisees, who, despite possessing the key of knowledge, neither enter into the truth themselves nor permit others who wish to enter. They are commanded to be astonished and amazed, or rather, as suggested by the LXX, to be left in a state of complete disarray in body and mind, becoming drunken and staggering—not from wine or sackcloth, but rather from a spirit of lethargy or brokenness from the Lord, so that upon recognizing their wickedness, they might turn and exclaim with the prophet, “I have returned to anguish, when I have seen my sin” (Psalm 31:4). Therefore, be mindful, O scribes and Pharisees, leaders of the Jews, that the Lord will deliver to you your just recompense. For you did not desire to understand when you heard the Lord Savior, and you closed your eyes so that you could not perceive Him, and dulled your ears so that you could not hear. Thus, He will also blind your eyes, specifically those of the prophets through whom you have come to know God. Or He will cause your eyes to be closed, along with those of your prophets who are your leaders. As it is recorded, the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist (Luke 16:16), so that those who cannot see may find vision, as attested in the following discourse: “In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see” (v. 18). For the Lord came in judgment that those who are seeing might not see, and that those who are blind, meaning the Gentile nations, might perceive and behold the Lord (John 9:39). Therefore, it is not explicitly stated that the revelations of all the prophets will be sealed to anyone who reads; instead, it will be sealed, He claims, to you to whom I now address, to whom I predict, or will forever blind the eyes of your leaders, who boast, according to the Seventy, that they have comprehended the hidden and secret things. He proclaims that all the Holy Scriptures shall be enclosed and sealed for you, so that you—who presume to possess knowledge of the Law and the prophetic types, and who day and night incessantly speak from the Scriptures—will fail to comprehend what you read, as stated in the Revelation of John: “Who is worthy to open the scroll, and to break its seals?” (Rev. 5:2). And when no one was found qualified to break the seals, he wept, until he was honored with the words of God: “Weep not, for the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so as to open the scroll, and its seals” (v. 5). The Lion of the tribe of Judah is the Lord Jesus Christ, who shattered the seals not only of the Psalms of David, as many presume, but of all Scriptures, composed by the same Holy Spirit, and hence regarded as one book. Ezekiel attests to this with mysterious utterances, stating it is written both within and without (Ezekiel 2:10), referring to its meaning and its text. (Psalms 39:8), not solely in the scrolls of Jeremiah or Isaiah, but throughout the entirety of the Holy Scriptures, which is recognized as a single book. Thus, while the Jewish teachers remain unable to read and unveil the seals and mysteries of the Scriptures, should this book be presented to unlearned individuals—who are consumed by their instructors—they admit their ignorance of the writings, and thus cannot read. Yet it is far better to confess ignorance of the Law than to boast of wisdom while failing to grasp what is being said.
THEOSIS