Theodoret on today’s 1st reading

Today’s first reading for Mass (in the Novus Ordo) is from Hosea 11. The reading ends…

My heart is overwhelmed,
my pity is stirred.
I will not give vent to my blazing anger,
I will not destroy Ephraim again;
For I am God and not man,
the Holy One present among you;
I will not let the flames consume you.

St. Theodoret of Cyr (+c. 457) has something to say about this passage in the prophet.

God imitates a father and mother who are naturally worried and cannot turn away from their children for too long. He says that, however, not because he wills one thing now and then changes His mind. Rather, He expresses His thought in different ways. In anger and love, in threat and mercy, chastising and persuading. (Commentary on Hosea 11 – PG: 81:1612)