The Instructor 1.9.77

He shows this through Jeremiah: “They became horses mad for females; each neighed after his neighbor's wife. Shall I not visit for these things? says the Lord. Shall not my soul take vengeance on such a people?” He weaves fear in everywhere, since “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of understanding.” And again through Hosea: “I will not visit them, because they themselves mingled with harlots and sacrificed with the initiates, and the people that understands embraced a harlot.” He shows their sin more plainly by admitting that they understand, since they sin willingly. And understanding is the sight of the soul. So Israel is the one who sees God, that is, who understands God. Complaint (mempsis) is blame of those who are negligent or careless. He uses this manner of instruction through Isaiah, saying: “Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten sons and raised them up, but they have rejected me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's manger; but Israel has not known me.” How is it not dreadful, if the one who knows God will not recognize the Lord, while the ox and the donkey, slow and foolish animals, know who feeds them, and Israel will be found more irrational than they? And through Jeremiah, after many complaints against the people, he adds: “And they have forsaken me, says the Lord.”