Kind and severe — learn from Israel's fall
So when he says that first I sent Israel away for their sins and sent them into exile, and Judah, hearing what happened to Israel, did not turn, he is speaking about our sins.
The things that happened to Israel are read, and the failures about that people. We ought to fear: 'If he did not spare the natural branches, how much more will he not spare' us? If he did not spare those who boasted of being a 'cultivated olive,' rooted in 'the root' of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac and Jacob — if the God who is both kind and loving toward man cut them off — how much more will he not spare us? For he is not kind and not severe, nor severe and not kind. If he were only kind and not severe, we would have despised 'his kindness' still more. If he were severe and not kind, we might have despaired of our sins. But as God (for we who repent need his kindness, and we who remain in sins need his severity) he is both kind and severe. And he speaks to us through the prophets and says: 'Have you seen what the dwelling of Israel has done to me?' Understand that Israel as that people. 'She went upon every high mountain and under every shady tree.'
If you see the Pharisee going up into the temple boastfully, not striking his breast and not caring for his own evils, but saying, 'I thank you that I am not like the rest of men — robbers, unjust, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all I get' — you will see that he has gone up 'upon every high mountain' blameably, loving greatness of mind, and in boastfulness and pride every high hill, and has come to be 'under every tree' that is not fruitful but 'leafy.' For a leafy grove-tree is one thing, and trees planted into groves are another: when they plant such trees they do not plant the fruit-bearing ones, not a fig and not a vine, but only barren trees for pleasure. You will find such to be the words of the heterodox and the beauties of their persuasions that do not turn the hearers.
So when someone gives himself to such words, he has gone 'under every leafy tree.' He did not say 'every tree' and stop, nor again add 'every fruitful tree,' but said 'under every leafy tree.' Therefore you will understand why the lawgiver says: 'You shall not plant any tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, and you shall not make a grove' — for you have the very name of the grove forbidden.
Greek
Ἐὰν οὖν λέγῃ ὡς πρῶτον ἐξαπέστειλα διὰ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τὸν Ἰσραὴλ καὶ ἐξαπέστειλα εἰς μετοικίαν αὐτόν, ὁ δὲ Ἰούδας ἀκούων τὰ γενόμενα τῷ Ἰσραὴλ οὐκ ἐπέστρεψε, λέγει περὶ τῶν ἡμετέρων ἁμαρτημάτων.
ὅτι ἀναγινώσκονται τὰ τῷ Ἰσραὴλ συμβεβηκότα καὶ τὰ πταίσματα τὰ περὶ ἐκεῖνον τὸν λαόν, δέον ἡμᾶς φοβεῖσθαι καὶ >εἰ τῶν κατὰ φύσιν κλάδων οὐκ ἐφείσατο, πόσῳ πλέον οὐδὲ ; εἰ ἐκείνους τοὺς αὐχοῦντας εἶναι «καλλιέλαιον«, τοὺς ἐρριζωμένους εἰς «τὴν ῥίζαν« τῶν πατριαρχῶν Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ μὴ φεισάμενος ὁ χρηστὸς ἅμα καὶ φιλάνθρωπος θεὸς ἐξέκοψε, πόσῳ πλέον ἡμῶν οὐ φείσεται θεοῦ. οὐ γὰρ χρηστὸς μὲν οὐκ ἀπότομος δέ, οὐδὲ ἀπότομος μὲν χρηστὸς δὲ οὔ. εἰ γὰρ χρηστὸς μόνον ἦν, ἀπότομος δὲ μὴ ἦν, ἐπὶ πλεῖον ἂν κατεφρονήσαμεν «τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ. εἰ ἀπότομος μὲν ἦν, χρηστὸς δὲ μὴ ἦν, τάχα ἂν καὶ ἀπέγνωμεν ἐπὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις ἡμῶν. νῦν δὲ ὡς θεὸς (χρῄζομεν γὰρ οἱ ἄνθρωποι μετανοοῦντες τῆς χρηστότητος αὐτοῦ, ἐμμένοντες δὲ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις τῆς ἀποτομίας) καὶ χρηστός ἐστι καὶ ἀπότομος ὁ θεός, καὶ λαλεῖ ἡμῖν διὰ τῶν προφητῶν καὶ λέγει· «εἶδες ἃ ἐποίησάν μοι ἡ κατοικία τοῦ Ἰσραήλ«; τὸν Ἰσραὴλ τὸν λαόν μοι νόει ἐκεῖνον· «ἐπορεύθη ἐπὶ πάν ὄρος ὑψηλὸν καὶ ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου κατασκίου.
ἐὰν ἴδῃς τὸν Φαρισαῖον εἰς τὸ ἱερὸν ἀναβαίνοντα ἀλαζονικῶς καὶ μὴ τύπτοντα ἑαυτοῦ τὸ στῆθος μηδὲ κηδόμενον τῶν ἰδίων κακῶν, ἀλλὰ λέγοντα· «εὐχαριστῶ σοι ὅτι οὐκ εἰμὶ ὡς οἱ λοιποὶ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, ἅρπαγεσ, ἄδικοι, μοιχοί, ἢ καὶ ὡς οὗτος ὁ τελώνης· νηστεύω δὶς τοῦ σαββάτου, ἀποδεκατῶ τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου«, ὄψει ὅτι ἀναβέβηκεν «ἐπὶ πᾶν ὄρος ὑψηλὸν« ψεκτῶς καὶ ἀγαπήσας μεγαλοφροσύνην καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀλαζονείαν καὶ κατὰ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν πάντα βουνὸν ὑψηλὸν καὶ γέγονεν «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου« οὐ καρ- πίμου, ἀλλ᾿ «ἀλσώδους«· ἄλλο γὰρ τὸ ἀλσῶδες ξύλον, ἄλλο τὸ εἰς ἄλση ὅταν φυτεύωσι ξύλα, φυτεύουσιν οὐ τὰ καρποφόρα, οὐ συκῆν οὐδὲ ἄμπελον, ἀλλὰ μόνον τέρψεως χάριν ἄκαρπα ξύλα. τοιούτους εὑρήσεις τοὺς λόγους τῶν ἑτεροδόξων καὶ τὰ κάλλη τῶν πιθανοτήτων αὐτῶν οὐκ ἐπιστρεφόντων τοὺς ἀκούοντας.
ὅταν οὐν τοῖς τοιούτοις λόγοις τις ἑαυτὸν ἐπιδῷ, πεπόρευται «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους. οὐκ εἴρηκε «παντὸς ξύλου« καὶ σεσιώπηκεν, οὐδὲ πάλιν προσέθηκε· παντὸς ξύλου τοῦ καρπίμου, ἀλλ᾿ εἴρηκεν «ὑποκάτω παντὸς ξύλου ἀλσώδους. διὰ τοῦτο νοήσεις τί δήποτε ὁ νομοθέτης λέγει· «οὐ φυτεύσεις πᾶν ξύλον παρὰ τὸ θυσιαστήριον κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ σου, καὶ οὐ ποιήσεις ἄλσος( ἔχεις γὰρ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ ἄλσους ἀπηγορευμένον.