Table Of ContentJ S ’
acob of arug S
H e
omilieS on liJaH
TexTs from ChrisTian LaTe anTiquiTy
18
General Editor
George A. Kiraz
The Metrical Homilies of Mar Jacob of Sarug
G e m e
eneraL diTor anaGinG diTor
s P. b G a. k
ebasTian roCk eorGe iraz
fasCiCLe 9-13
J s ’
aCob of aruG s
h e
omiLies on LiJah
T i
ransLaTed wiTh nTroduCTion by
s a. k
TePhen aufman
GorGias Press
2009
First Gorgias Press Edition, 2009
Copyright © 2009 by Gorgias Press LLC
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the
prior written permission of Gorgias Press LLC.
Published in the United States of America by Gorgias Press LLC, New Jersey
ISBN 978-1-60724-942-5
ISSN 1935-6846
GorGias Press
180 Centennial Ave., Suite 3, Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA
www.gorgiaspress.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jacob, of Serug, 451-521.
[Homilies on Elijah. English & Syriac]
Jacob of Sarug Homilies on Elijah / translated with introduction by Stephen A.
Kaufman. -- 1st Gorgias Press ed.
p. cm. -- (Texts from Christian late antiquity ; 18) (Metrical homilies of Mar
Jacob of Sarug ; fasc. 9-13)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59333-942-5
1. Elijah (Biblical prophet)--Sermons. 2. Sermons, Syriac. 3. Sermons, Syriac--
Translations into English. I. Kaufman, Stephen A. II. Title.
BS580.E4J3313 2008
252’.014--dc22
2008020708
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standards.
Printed in the United States of America
This publication was made possible with a generous grant from
The BarnaBas Fund
and
The aThanasius Yeshu samuel Fund
In memory of my father
Leo J. Kaufman
(1915–2009)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents....................................................................................................v
List of Abbreviations.............................................................................................xi
Introduction.............................................................................................................1
I The First Homily on Elijah the Prophet...........................................................3
Introduction.............................................................................................................5
Outline..............................................................................................................5
Jacob’s Emphases in this Homily................................................................6
Exegetical problems dealt with....................................................................6
Types................................................................................................................7
Summary..........................................................................................................7
Text and Translation...............................................................................................9
I. The Resurrection of the child.................................................................10
II. The Widow’s Psalm................................................................................14
III. How the boy’s resurrection was designed to enable Elijah to
restore the Rain....................................................................................18
IV. Ahab and Obadiah search for Elijah, and Obadiah encounters
him.........................................................................................................22
V. The true Reason for the Famine...........................................................28
VI. Elijah confronts Ahab: “You are the troubler of Israel”................34
VII. The Prophet demands a contest on Mount Carmel.......................38
VIII. Elijah chastises the people and sets up the test.............................40
IX. The great contest is prepared..............................................................42
X. Why Israel did not know its God.........................................................44
XI. Elijah instructs the Prophets of Baal..................................................48
XII. Elijah waits patiently, and then begins to make fun of the
other prophets......................................................................................50
XIII. Why the Demon of Falsehood did not dare to appear................52
XIV. Elijah begins his reconstructive sacrifice.......................................56
XV. The Reason for Elijah’s water............................................................60
XVI. Elijah’s Prayer and its Amazing Efficacy........................................64
v
vi HOMILIES ON ELIJAH
XVII. The Miracle Produces the Desired Response..............................66
XVIII. The execution of the Prophets of Baal........................................76
XIX. Elijah Restores the Rain....................................................................78
XX. The responses of the various classes of people, and the fields
themselves, to the gift of rain............................................................86
XXI. Why Elijah ran before Ahab.............................................................90
XXII. Jezebel reacts to the news of the outcome of the contest.........94
XXIII. Jezebel and Zion: Who was worse?............................................102
XXIV. Why Elijah had to flee..................................................................104
II On Elijah When he Fled from Jezebel........................................................111
Introduction.........................................................................................................113
Outline..........................................................................................................113
Summary......................................................................................................114
Text and Translation...........................................................................................117
I. The poet has attempted this homily once before but failed in the
face of the enormity of the task. Only by approaching it
through Love, can one speak of and truly understand this
message...............................................................................................118
II. Elijah fleeing before Jezebel prefigured the confrontation of
Jesus with Sin.....................................................................................120
III. You will not understand my message without love, that Ahab
and Jezebel are types of Adam and Eve, and, the prophet,
realizing this, fled...............................................................................122
IV. Why the Prophet went on alone, and why Grace lagged behind.126
V. The food brought by the angel was created out of nothing and
full of meaning..................................................................................130
VI. The power of divine Grace................................................................132
VII. The forty days of fasting were prefigured by those of Moses
and themselves prefigure those of Jesus. Jesus did not
undertake to imitate the OT prophets; they acted the way they
did simply in order to prefigure his acts........................................134
VIII. In Moses’ cave, prototype of Jesus’ tomb, God enables the
prophet to speak openly, casting Israel as faithless wife.............136
IX. The storm, quake, and fire are made to pass before Elijah to
show God’s strength.........................................................................140
X. Having wiped Elijah’s mind clear with those manifestations of
His power, God reveals Himself in the “still, small voice” and
so raises the prophet up to highest level of spiritual
understanding that a human being can achieve............................144
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
XI. Why Elijah covered himself when he went out of the cave, and
the nature of the voice that he heard.............................................146
XII. Surely it was not necessary for the Lord to take Elijah to the
wilderness simply to commission him to anoint kings and a
disciple; but only through the wilderness experience can the
prophet merge with God..................................................................152
XIII. Having been elevated to perfection, Elijah must now choose
his successor and depart the World................................................156
XIV. The hidden seven thousand zealots for the Lord are those
secret righteous always in the World..............................................158
XV. Why the seven thousand remained hidden while Elijah was
chosen to fight openly......................................................................162
XVI. The poet is unable to continue further, once again
overwhelmed by the amazing events of his story and the glory
of God and of Elijah.........................................................................164
III On Naboth the Jezreelite.............................................................................169
Introduction.........................................................................................................171
Outline..........................................................................................................171
Jacob’s Emphases in this Homily............................................................171
Exegetical problems...................................................................................171
Types............................................................................................................172
Summary......................................................................................................172
Text and Translation...........................................................................................175
I. Proem on the importance of Scriptural Commandments,
especially against Lust.......................................................................176
II. King Ahab violates the Commandment against Lust, the Mother
and Foundation of Sin.....................................................................178
III. Ahab succumbs to his secret sin.......................................................182
IV. Ahab asks Naboth for the vineyard and is refused........................184
V. Jezebel offers to solve the problem of Naboth................................186
VI. Jezebel writes her guile-filled letter of instructions........................188
VII. The elders receive the letter and react with Astonishment.........190
VIII. Realizing the true reason for the fast, their astonishment
turns to disgust...................................................................................192
IX. They proclaim the fast day.................................................................194
X. How the Crucifixion was prefigured..................................................196
XI. The details of the prefigurations.......................................................196
XII. Why and how the typology was not exact.....................................200
XIII. The sinners rehearse and present their testimony.......................204
XIV. The crowd surrounds and stones Naboth....................................208
