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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput XXVIII: De his, quae ad euangelium Christi pertinent, quid Osee et Amos prophetauerint.

Osee igitur propheta, quanto profundius quidem loquitur, tanto operosius penetratur. sed aliquid inde sumendum est et hic ex nostra promissione ponendum. et erit, inquit, in loco quo dictum est eis: non populus meus uos, uocabuntur et ipsi filii dei uiui. hoc testimonium propheticum de uocatione populi gentium, qui prius non pertinebat ad deum, etiam apostoli intellexerunt. et quia ipse quoque populus gentium spiritaliter est in filiis Abrahae ac per hoc recte dicitur Israel, propterea sequitur et dicit: et congregabuntur filii Iuda et filii Israel in id ipsum, et ponent sibi principatum unum et adscendent a terra. hoc si adhuc uelimus exponere, eloquii prophetici obtundetur sapor. recolatur tamen lapis ille angularis et duo parietes, unus ex Iudaeis, alter ex gentibus; ille nomine filiorum Iuda, iste nomine filiorum Israel, eidem uni principatui suo in id ipsum innitentes et adscendentes agnoscantur a terra. istos autem carnaliter Israelitas, qui nunc nolunt credere in Christum, postea credituros, id est filios eorum - nam utique isti in suum locum moriendo transibunt - , idem propheta testatur dicens: quoniam diebus multis sedebunt filii Israel sine rege, sine principe, sine sacrificio, sine altari, sine sacerdotio, sine manifestationibus. quis non uideat nunc sic esse Iudaeos? sed quid adiungat, audiamus. et postea, inquit, reuertentur filii Israel et inquirent dominum deum suum et Dauid regem suum, et stupescent in domino et in bonis ipsius in nouissimis diebus. nihil est ista prophetia manifestius, cum Dauid regis nomine significatus intellegitur Christus, quia factus est, sicut dicit apostolus, ex semine Dauid secundum carnem. praenuntiauit iste propheta etiam tertio die Christi resurrectionem futuram, sicut eam prophetica altitudine praenuntiari oportebat, ubi ait: sanabit nos post biduum, in die tertio resurgemus. secundum hoc enim nobis dicit apostolus: si resurrexistis cum Christo, quae sursum sunt quaerite. Amos quoque de rebus talibus sic prophetat: praepara, inquit, te, ut inuoces deum tuum Israel; quia ecce ego firmans tonitrum et creans spiritum et adnuntians in hominibus Christum suum; et alio loco: in illa die, inquit, resuscitabo tabernaculum Dauid, quod cecidit, et reaedificabo, quae ceciderunt eius, et destructa eius resuscitabo et reaedificabo ea sicut dies saeculi; ita ut exquirant me residui hominum et omnes gentes, in quibus inuocatum est nomen meum super eos, dicit dominus faciens haec.

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The City of God

Chapter 28.--Of the Things Pertaining to the Gospel of Christ Which Hosea and Amos Prohesied.

The prophet Hosea speaks so very profoundly that it is laborious work to penetrate his meaning. But, according to promise, we must insert something from his book. He says, "And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there they shall be called the sons of the living God." ¹ Even the apostles understood this as a prophetic testimony of the calling of the nations who did not formerly belong to God; and because this same people of the Gentiles is itself spiritually among the children of Abraham, and for that reason is rightly called Israel, therefore he goes on to say, "And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together in one, and shall appoint themselves one headship, and shall ascend from the earth." ² We should but weaken the savor of this prophetic oracle if we set ourselves to expound it. Let the reader but call to mind that cornerstone and those two walls of partition, the one of the Jews, the other of the Gentiles, ³ and he will recognize them, the one under the term sons of Judah, the other as sons of Israel, supporting themselves by one and the same headship, and ascending from the earth. But that those carnal Israelites who are now unwilling to believe in Christ shall afterward believe, that is, their children shall (for they themselves, of course, shall go to their own place by dying), this same prophet testifies, saying, "For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an altar, without a priesthood, without manifestations." ⁴ Who does not see that the Jews are now thus? But let us hear what he adds: "And afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and shall be amazed at the Lord and at His goodness in the latter days." ⁵ Nothing is clearer than this prophecy, in which by David, as distinguished by the title of king, Christ is to be understood, "who is made," as the apostle says, "of the seed of David according to the flesh." ⁶ This prophet has also foretold the resurrection of Christ on the third day, as it behoved to be foretold, with prophetic loftiness, when he says, "He will heal us after two days, and in the third day we shall rise again." ⁷ In agreement with this the apostle says to us, "If ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above." ⁸ Amos also prophesies thus concerning such things: "Prepare thee, that thou mayst invoke thy God, O Israel; for lo, I am binding the thunder, and creating the spirit, and announcing to men their Christ." ⁹ And in another place he says, "In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and build up the breaches thereof: and I will raise up his ruins, and will build them up again as in the days of old: that the residue of men may inquire for me, and all the nations upon whom my name is invoked, saith the Lord that doeth this." ¹⁰