Chapter 17
The examples of Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Job, and Moses
| 1 Μιμηταὶ γενώμεθα κἀκείνων, οἵτινες ἐν δέρμασιν αἰγείοις καὶ μηλωταῖς περιεπάτησαν κηρύσσοντες τὴν ἔλευσιν τοῦ Χριστοῦ· λέγομεν δὲ Ἠλίαν καὶ Ἐλισαιέ, ἔτι δὲ καὶ Ἰεζεκιήλ, τοὺς προφήτας· πρὸς τούτοις καὶ τοὺς μεμαρτυρημένους. |
Let’s also be imitators of those who went about in goatskins and sheepskins preaching about the coming of Christ. We mean the prophets Elijah and Elisha and likewise Ezekiel, the prophets, and as well the other famous men of the past. |
| 2 ἐμαρτυρήθη μεγάλως Ἀβραὰμ καί φίλος προσηγορεύθη τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ λέγει ἀτενίζων εἰς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ ταπεινοφρονῶν· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός. |
Abraham was greatly famous and was called "the friend of God" {Jas. 2:23}. He looked intently at the glory of God and said in humility, "I am only dust and ashes" {Gen. 18:27}. |
| 3 ἔτι δὲ καὶ περὶ Ἰὼβ οὕτως γέγραπται· Ἰὼβ δὲ ἦν δίκαιος καὶ ἄμεμπτος, ἀληθινός, θεοσεβής, ἀπεχόμενος ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ. | Furthermore, concerning Job, it is written thus: "And Job was righteous and blameless, a truthful man who feared God and avoided all evil" {Job 1:1}. |
| 4 ἀλλ' αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ κατηγορεῖ λέγων· Οὐδεὶς καθαρὸς ἀπὸ ῥύπου, οὐδ' ἂν μιᾶς ἡμέρας ἡ ζωὴ αὐτοῦ. | Yet he accuses himself saying, "No one is clean from filth, not even if his life lasted for only one day" {Job 14:4-5}. |
| 5 Μωϋσῆς Πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ ἐκλήθη, καὶ διὰ τῆς ὑπηρεσίας αὐτοῦ ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς Αἴγυπτον διὰ τῶν μαστίγων καὶ τῶν αἰκισμάτων αὐτῶν· ἀλλὰ κἀκεῖνος δοξασθεὶς μεγάλως οὐκ ἐμεγαλορημόνησεν, ἀλλ' εἶπεν ἐκ τῆς βάτου χρηματισμοῦ αὐτῷ διδομένου· Τίς εἰμι ἐγώ, ὅτι με πέμπεις; Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος. |
Moses was called "faithful in all his house" {Num. 12:7}. Through his ministry God judged Egypt with their plagues and torments. Although he was greatly exalted, he didn’t boast. Instead, when an oracle was given to him at the bush, he said, "Who am I, that you send me? I have a feeble voice and a slow tongue" {Ex. 3:11; 4:10}. |
| 6 καὶ πάλιν λέγει· Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι ἀτμὶς ἀπὸ κύθρας. | And again he said, "I am only the steam from a pot" {unknown source}. |
Summary
In Chapter 17, Clement expands his appeal for humility (ταπεινοφροσύνη) beyond Christ Himself to include the great prophetic and patriarchal figures of redemptive history. Having set forth Christ as the supreme pattern of self-emptying service in Chapter 16, he now presents the prophets and patriarchs as additional witnesses whose lived asceticism and voluntary self-abasement condemn the arrogance of the Corinthian agitators.
Clement highlights two key dimensions of these holy exemplars:
Ascetic Simplicity: The prophets (Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel) walked in humble, austere attire (ἐν δέρμασιν αἰγείοις καὶ μηλωταῖς), heralds of Christ’s coming who claimed no earthly grandeur.
Self-Abasement Despite Divine Favor: Patriarchs and leaders who received singular divine testimony (τοὺς μεμαρτυρημένους) responded not with pride, but with heightened self-effacement:
1) Abraham ("friend of God") acknowledged himself as mere "earth and ashes" (γῆ καὶ σποδός).
2) Job ("blameless and upright") confessed human impurity (ῥύπος).
3) Moses ("faithful in all God’s house"), despite wielding miraculous power over Egypt, disclaimed his own adequacy (ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος).
2) Job ("blameless and upright") confessed human impurity (ῥύπος).
3) Moses ("faithful in all God’s house"), despite wielding miraculous power over Egypt, disclaimed his own adequacy (ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος).
Significant Greek Expressions
ἐν δέρμασιν αἰγείοις καὶ μηλωταῖς (In goatskins and sheepskins): Directly parallels Hebrews 11:37 (περιῆλθον ἐν μηλωταῖς, ἐν αἰγείοις δέρμασιν), referencing the ascetic mantle of prophetic office (cf. 2 Kings 1:8 LXX regarding Elijah). Clement uses their austere lifestyle to rebuke the luxury and social ambition of the factional leaders in Corinth.
τοὺς μεμαρτυρημένους (Those who have been attested / witnessed to): Uses the perfect passive participle of martyreō. In Clement’s vocabulary, divine approval is marked not by self-assertion or charismatic flair, but by God’s explicit testimony (martyria) borne to a person’s humble faithfulness.
Ἐγὼ δέ εἰμι γῆ καὶ σποδός (I am but earth and ashes): Quoting Genesis 18:27 LXX. Demonstrates that true intimacy with God ("friend of God") does not produce self-exaltation, but a profound awareness of creaturely mortality and frailty.
πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ (Faithful in all His house): Quoting Numbers 12:7 LXX (cf. Hebrews 3:2–5). Even Moses, the preeminent leader and mediator of the Old Covenant, derived his dignity from faithful service (hypēresia) as a servant, not from self-appointed rule.
οὐκ ἐμεγαλορημόνησεν (Did not speak with lofty words): From megalorēmoneō (to speak arrogantly or boast grandly; cf. 1 Clement 15.5). Clement contrasts Moses’s restraint with the arrogant speech (γλῶσσαν μεγαλορήμονα) of the Corinthian rebels.
ἰσχνόφωνος καὶ βραδύγλωσσος (Weak of voice and slow of tongue): Quoting Exodus 4:10 LXX. Ischnophōnos denotes a thin, weak, or hesitant voice. Moses’s awareness of his own physical and rhetorical limitations stands as the antithesis of the boastful rhetoric disrupting the Corinthian church.
ἀτμὶς ἀπὸ κύθρας (Steam from a pot): An extra-biblical or apocryphal attribution to Moses (common in early patristic tradition, drawing on themes from Job and Wisdom literature). It captures human transience (atmis, vapor/steam) in its most vivid, humble form.