Commentary on Hosea

Cyril of Jerusalem (313–386)

After Moses, prophets were sent to heal Israel. But in their exercise of healing they deplored the fact that they could not overcome evil, so that one of them says, "The faithful are gone from the earth, among men the upright are no more," and again, "All alike have gone astray; they have become perverse; there is not one who does good, not even one." And again, "Cursing, and theft, and adultery, and killing have overflowed" upon the land. "They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons." They engaged themselves in auguries and enchantments and divinations; and again, "they fastened their garments with cords and hung veils next to the altar."

A few of the Jews of that time were persuaded, but the world hearkened to the truth. Those who concealed the truth were buried in oblivion, but those who received it were made manifest by the power of the Savior, who rose from the dead and raised the dead himself. In the person of the risen dead the prophet Hosea says plainly, "He will revive us after two days; on the third day he will raise us up, to live in his presence."

See also

• More works by Cyril of Jerusalem

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