Was the Lord a wilderness to Israel?
The Lord says at the beginning of what was read about Israel that he was not a 'wilderness' to him, nor an 'untilled land.' Who stands in this passage and does not press to examine what the writing means? Grant that God never became a wilderness in Israel, never an untilled land there. Has the Lord then become a wilderness to Israel today? Or is he untilled land to him now? And when he was neither wilderness nor untilled land to Israel — was he wilderness and untilled land to the nations? For if he is never a wilderness to anyone, and never untilled land to anyone, why was this said specially to Israel: 'Have I become a wilderness to the house of Israel, or an untilled land?' Come first to God's kindnesses that belong to all, and after those to the kindnesses that belong to one people.
Greek
Φησὶν ὁ κύριος ἐν τῇ ἀρχῇ τῶν ἀναγνωσθέντων περὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, ὅτι «ἔρημος« αὐτῷ οὐκ ἐγένετο οὐδὲ «γῆ κεχερσωμένη. τίς οὖν γενόμενος έν τῷ τόπῳ οὐκ ἂν ζητήσαι ἐξετάζων τὸ βούλημα τοῦ γεγραμμένου; ἔστω, ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ οὐ γέγονεν ἔρημος, οὐ γέγονεν έν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ γῆ κεχερσωμένη· ἆρα οὖν ἔρημος γέγονεν ὁ κύριος τῷ Ἰσραὴλ σήμερον ἢ γῆ κεχερσωμένη νῦν αὐτῷ ἐστιν; τί δέ: ὅτε τῷ Ἰσραὴλ ἠν οὐκ ἔρημος οὐδὲ γῆ κεχερσωμένη, τοῖς ἔθνεσιν ἦν ἔρημος καὶ γῆ κεχερσωμένη; εἰ γὰρ πᾶσιν ἀεὶ οὐκ ἔρημός ἐστι καὶ πᾶσιν ἀεί ἐστιν οὐ γῆ κεχερσωμένη, τίς χρεία τοῦ ἰδίως πρὸς τὸν Ἰσραὴλ κατ᾿ ἐξαίρετον λεχθῆναι· «μὴ ἔρημος ἐγενόμην τῷ οἴκῳ Ἰσραὴλ ἢ γὴ κεχερσωμένη«; ἀλλ’ ἔστιν ἐλθεῖν ἐπὶ τὰς καθολικὰς εὐεγεσίας τοῦ θεοῦ, εἶτα μετὰ τὰς καθολικὰς εὐεργεσίας αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὰς ἰδικάς.