Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets

SAINT CYRIL ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, A CONTINUATION OF THE COMMENTARIES ON THE TWELVE MINOR PROPHETS

ON THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH, AN EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY

PROEMIUM

^A 1. The blessed Zechariah prophesies in Jerusalem during, as I suppose, the same times as Sophonias. For after the return from the captivity, Israel no longer dwelt divided throughout Judea and Samaria, but all were gathered into one city, namely Jerusalem, and throughout all Judea, with Zorobabel, from the tribe of Judah, reigning over them, and Jesus son of Josedec, the high priest, presiding in the priesthood. He weaves the discourse of his prophecy very skillfully. For since most of those carried away from Judea, or Samaria, had returned thither, knowing everything that had been wickedly perpetrated by the Babylonians against Jerusalem at various times, and not being ignorant, in addition to this, of the causes for which God had been angered; whereas those who had been born in the land of the Persians and Medes neither knew what or of what sort Jerusalem was, nor had they seen Judea with their own eyes, nor had they understood—except, perhaps, from casual narratives—the penalties brought down upon their fathers by an angry God, it was necessary that God, having granted them liberty, as it were

^A appointed the blessed Zacharias as their guide and director. He was of sacred blood, that is to say, of the tribe of Levi, and born according to the flesh of his father Barachias, but, according to the spirit, he was called and was the son of the prophet Addo. For he was reared, as is fitting, in that man’s ways, and he became an imitator of his equal virtues.

What, then, is the rationale of his prophecy, and why does he weave such narratives? How can one not say it is right? For he sets before those who have been liberated the punishment under which they exist, as they had not lightly neglected the divine command and had been accustomed to despise the precepts divinely handed down through the all-wise Moses. Striking terror into them in no small measure, he persuades them to change and resolve instead to choose to excel through obedience and submissiveness in every respect. He further adds that if they do not prove themselves good, compliant, and obedient to the divine laws, they too will suffer things more grievous than what their ancestors endured.

In a sense, as he expands his instructional discourse, he moves to teach what the practices of the fathers were, ^B and for what reasons divine wrath flowed upon them, and in what manner they afterwards perished. Likewise, in what way they themselves were liberated and, having been exempted from the yoke of servitude, returned to Judea. He joins to these, as I have said, that they will suffer more grievous things if they strive to persist in the footsteps of their ancestors in rejecting the love of God. And throughout he makes mention of the liberation that will one day come through Christ, and he describes to us in many ways the mystery that is to be displayed in Him. ^C Therefore, those who wish to examine more accurately each of the parts of this prophecy should not consider what is related and told concerning past events to be an idle repetition, but should remember instead that for those who had returned from captivity to Judea, narrating what had already happened was necessary in the highest degree. For he was correcting those who knew, by reporting to them for the purpose of remembrance what they had already suffered; and to the very young, who were ignorant of the things of old, he was providing security, so that they would not fall into the same evils by loving a profane and most lawless life.

VOLUME I. CHAPTER I.

Vers. 1, 2. *In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the Lord unto Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo the prophet, saying: The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers.*

II. You observe how, by his narrative, he casts terror upon them, and by setting forth to the very young things that happened before their time, he compels them to probity, threatening in a sense that they will bitterly lament ^D if they are subjected to similar or even more intolerable calamities, unless they prudently choose to set aside the examples of those men and resolve to embrace what is pleasing to God as worthy of all care and esteem. He says that God, the ruler of all things, was angry with a great anger: nor of His own words...

^A does He leave the discourse unproven, but rather from those things which they have already experienced and suffered, he shows that He who declares these things is not a speaker of falsehood. For it would be an indication of no ordinary indignation that He permitted the Babylonians to ravage the whole of Judæa, and with it Samaria, and to burn the Holy of Holies itself, and to raze Jerusalem; and that He caused the chosen Israel to be a stranger and a sojourner, serving miserably and pitiably in a foreign land, and enduring an insufferable tribulation, no longer occupied with sacrifices, nor treading within the holy court, nor offering thanksgivings according to the law, nor tithes, nor first-fruits; but being constrained by necessity and fear, and by the need to perform the feasts that were ordained for him and most dear. Therefore: ^B "The Lord was angry with your fathers with a great anger."

One might also proclaim such things to the Jewish peoples, if one were minded to instruct them in the mystery of Christ. For because they killed the prophets, and crucified the Lord of glory Himself, they have been captured and pillaged. The famous temple itself was shaken, and that which is through the voice of Hosea has now been fulfilled among them: "For the children of Israel shall sit for many days, there being no king, nor ruler, nor sacrifice, nor altar, nor priesthood, nor manifestations (Urim and Thummim)." And that they are captives, and under the devilish power for the time being, having offended God, and cast aside by Him, and despoiled of grace from above, who could doubt? But if at any time they should be redeemed, having accepted the faith, and having inscribed Christ as God and king and Lord for themselves, then, I say, it would be very fitting for one to make this exhortation to them, saying at the appropriate time: "The Lord was angry with your fathers with a great anger."

And you shall say unto them: Thus says the Lord Almighty: "Turn to me, and I will turn to you," says the Lord Almighty, "and do not be as your fathers, whom the prophets addressed in former times, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Turn from your evil ways, and from your evil practices. And they did not pay attention so as to listen to me, says the Lord." ^C

III. For, having been recalled, as I said, from the captivity and running back into Judæa, they became slothful in what was pleasing to God. They were not, however, given over to idols for a time, nor did they admit the ancient error; yet they were being ensnared by provoking Him in other ways. For as it is written in Ezra, they even mingled with foreign women; and, having brought in from the neighboring nations those whom they had taken, they became the fathers of alien children, although the law declared this thing to be abominable to them. ^D They also neglected the keeping of feasts, and the offering of sacrifices, and indeed...

^A they were found to be unwilling to rebuild the divine temple. Wherefore, just as it is written in Haggai: “I struck them with blight, and with blasting, and with hail, in all the works of their hands. And they put into a measure twenty measures of barley, and it became ten. They went in also to draw fifty vessels, and it became twenty.” ^B He promises them, therefore, that if they should choose to transfer themselves to what is better, and to return to Him, by choosing to see what is pleasing and dear to Him, then He also will return to them—that is, He will abstain from the anger that is against them and will return to mercy. He indeed declares that it is a cause of ruin to choose to emulate those who were before them, to whom there had been given by Him through the holy prophets the greatest possible encouragement and consolation, ^C calling them to turn away from shameful practices; but the matter was held as of no use at all by those who had turned away towards disobedience. Therefore, they are to be mocked, those who follow the ignorances of their fathers and who put forward ancestral custom as an irrefutable defense, even if they are blamed for the most serious crimes. But this is very common among the worshippers of idols. For, being called to the knowledge of the truth, they always boast of the error of their fathers and, embracing their ignorance as a kind of paternal inheritance, they remain blind. And I think that even if someone were to advise those of the circumcision to change for the better and choose to honor what is profitable, they too would flee to the custom of their fathers. Therefore, it is useful ^D to call out to those who are led astray: “Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.” And furthermore: “Be not as your fathers,” who were clearly led astray and remained until the end in ignorance.

VERS. 5, 6. *Your fathers where are they, and the prophets? Will they live forever? But receive My words and My ordinances, which I command in My spirit to My servants the prophets, who apprehended your fathers.* And they answered and said: *As the Lord Almighty has been arrayed to do to us according to our ways, and according to our pursuits, so He has done to us.*

IV. Before Judea and Jerusalem were subjugated, some, putting on the name of prophecy like a mask, spoke from their own heart, as it is written, and not from the mouth of the Lord. These men sang through lies that the holy city would not be occupied by enemies, nor would Israel be vulnerable to destroyers; but that it would always enjoy prosperity and live in perpetual pleasure, with God protecting and eternally honoring and loving the chosen race. They spoke such things, as I said, proving themselves wretches and liars, and they made Israel, who was already slothful, even more sluggish, when they ought to have urged them to appease God and, by casting away as far as possible the things by which they had angered Him, to choose to move toward doing His will. But they held the truth in the lowest regard, ^D

and being deceived by small and most trivial gains, they have led Israel astray. And certainly, the prophet Jeremiah accuses them severely, saying: "Who are you, O Lord, behold their prophets prophesy and say: You shall not see the sword, and famine shall not be among you, for I will give truth and peace upon the earth, and in this place." ^A But God says in response to these things: "The prophets prophesy lies in my name; I did not send them, and I did not command them, and I did not speak to them, because they prophesy to you false visions, and divinations, and auguries, and the desires of their own heart." And indeed, elsewhere He says again: "I did not send the prophets, and they were running; neither did I speak to them, and they were prophesying." Israel, therefore, as I said, has been led astray, having been foolishly carried away by the deceptions of the false prophets. ^B Yet they would never have been captured by enemies, nor would they have experienced such bitter and grievous slavery, if they had given attention to the prophets from God, who were proclaiming beforehand that such things were going to come upon them, and were openly declaring that they would certainly undergo the experience of evil, unless they chose to look upon what is pleasing to God. Therefore, in order to call to remembrance both the unholy prophets and those who were deceived, He says: "Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, will they live forever?" It is as if He were saying: Your fathers have perished, and this is pitiable, in captivity, and with them the false prophets and those who led them astray, who were merchandising both the name and the reality of prophecy. ^C But if they were still living, perhaps they would have made you better, always lamenting over what has occurred, and not making a small outcry about the false prophets who rose up among them. But they received the wages of both their sluggishness and their disobedience, namely, to perish together with those who deceived them. But you, accept the words of the holy prophets, and hold the decrees given through them in high regard. For they spoke even to those before you: "For the Lord has prepared to make," meaning clearly the captivity and the miseries that would come upon them; and they were rebuking them, saying openly: "For according to your ways and your dealings, thus He has done to you." For the God of all does not correct in vain, nor does the divine, unerring, and most just judgment issue its sentence in any matter without examination; but after having been patient beyond measure, then at that time it pays back to the guilty that which they most deserve. ^D It is wise, therefore, to be readily obedient, and to follow the divine laws will free us from every evil, and to honor the foretellings of the holy ones, and to grant faith to the voices of the Spirit, reflecting that whatever has been predicted will surely and in every way come to pass, and to change toward the better, and to move toward repentance.

VERSES 7-11.

^A by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the two shadowy mountains, and behind him were red, and dappled, and variegated, and white horses. And I said, What are these, Lord? And the angel who spoke within me said to me, I will show you what these are. And the man who stood among the mountains answered and said to me, These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord who stood among the mountains and said, We have patrolled the whole earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited and at rest.

V. God revealed visions to the holy prophets piece by piece and at certain times. For we do not say that the grace of the vision of God ^B and the revelation of future things was granted to them always, and frequently, and without any interval at all. Rather, it took place at times suitable to each particular matter, and according to the judgment of Him who reveals hidden things. And in this way, or that way, they were instructed by many and diverse methods. For sometimes they received simple knowledge, initiated by the Holy Spirit; at other times, nonetheless, they saw certain things being enacted through a vision, God informing and revealing mysteries to them in obscure forms, now in one way, ^C now in another. For the blessed Isaiah says that he saw the Lord Sabaoth "sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, with the Seraphim standing around him, and praising him by turns." And the divine Ezekiel says that he saw a throne upon the firmament, and the Seraphim underneath. And he states that He who sat upon the throne appeared in a twofold form, so that the lower part of Him, from the loins downward, was clearly seen in the likeness of fire, but the upper part in the appearance of electrum. These things could be explained exactly and at length, if anyone wished to investigate ^D more deeply the reasons why God offered them such varied visions. Thus, therefore, the blessed Zechariah also, clearly specifying the time, and days, and month, confesses that he saw the Lord in our form. For he says: "Behold, a man who had mounted upon a red horse." By these words, he silently signifies one as if exercised in war and not ignorant of military discipline. For to be mounted upon a horse, and that a red one, and of a color as if of blood, indicates, I think, something of this sort. For the God of all wages war against those who resist Him, and like a combatant He arms Himself against those who stiffen the neck of their minds rebelliously and proudly against Him. And those of the seed of Israel, the inhabitants of Judea and Jerusalem themselves, and indeed also those who held the region of the Samaritans, that is, the ten tribes, were doing this, and most audaciously. For they had turned to polytheism, and bestowing divine honors upon things made by hands, they cried out to the golden calves: "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt"; and further, having totally despised the sacred precepts of the Lawgiver, wherever each one's desire...

^A seemed to lead, thither he went. For this reason, the Creator of all things, being as it were on horseback with them, appears enigmatically in a form resembling our own. He stands ^B between two shadowy mountains. By these shadowy mountains, I think he means the mountain of Judea, that is to say, Zion, and also that of Samaria. For God says somewhere concerning them: "Woe to those who despise Zion and trust in the mountain of Samaria." Both are called "shadowy," because they were perhaps crowded by the immense multitude of their inhabitants, and resembled a thick and shady forest. ^B Behind the one who sat upon the red horse, there were other horses, and they were not of a single appearance; for they were red, and dappled, and various, and white. These signify kings, or nations that are warlike and very combative, and who are not content with their native soil alone, but are as if dispersed throughout the whole world, and strive to bring all the provinces and kingdoms under the sun into their own subjection; such were the kings of the Babylonians: first Phulas, who subdued the tribes beyond the Jordan; and after him, Salmanasar, who devastated Samaria; the third, Sennacherib, who savagely plundered the remnant of Samaria, and also burned many cities of Judea; the fourth, Nebuchadnezzar, who captured Jerusalem itself and carried Israel away into captivity. When therefore the horses are seen in various forms, it perhaps signifies this; and one could most fittingly interpret the difference in the colors, which they had, as an enigma of the difference in each one’s will and intent. ^C The prophet is therefore perplexed and asks for a revelation. He learns that these are they whom the Lord has sent to traverse the whole earth, and the sent ones themselves confirm this, asserting that they have traversed the entire earth; furthermore, that it is at rest, being unable to withstand their power, and enduring the yoke laid upon them not by will, but by necessity.

VERS. 12. And the Angel of the Lord answered and said: O Lord Almighty, how long wilt Thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Judea, which Thou hast neglected? This is the seventieth year.

VI. After the horses were sent, that is, the nations and kings who traversed the whole earth, and then clearly gave their answer that it is inhabited and at rest, and is bearing the yoke of necessity cast upon it, the blessed angel, who ^D had perhaps been appointed by God to instruct the nation of the Jews, turns immediately to making intercession for Jerusalem and Judea. We read, moreover, that when the insane Pharaoh was striking great terrors into those who had hastily departed from Egypt, armed for war and attempting to pursue them: "The angel of the Lord," he says, "stood in the midst of them, and they did not come together all the night." Moreover, the learned Paul writes that the law was ordained by angels. A similar meaning also suggests to us the sense of the evangelical parable. For Christ said ^D concerning the assembly of the Jews...

prefiguring by way of an enigma what was to happen to it: ^A "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. Since it was fruitless, he wished to cut it down, and he ordered the vinedresser, saying: Cut it down, why does it even use up the ground? But he said to this: Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure; and perhaps it may bear fruit in the future; but if not, you shall cut it down." For what else does the person of the vinedresser intimate to us in these words, if not the angel set in charge, and appointed, as I have said, to instruct it? ^B Therefore, since God had fixed the term of the captivity at seventy years, while the time had not yet reached its end, it was necessary to remain silent, lest he appear to be opposing the Lord’s own nods of will. But when the time had already reached its end, he offers his supplications; and with the suspicion of offense being removed, since he knows that the Lord cannot lie, he desires to learn whether the vengeance of the angry One, according to the ancient good pleasure which was to be extended to the seventieth year, has ceased in like manner as those who were sinning had ceased to sin, or whether it must be prolonged even further, with new sins being added, and the calamity extended for a long time. Therefore he says: "How long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which have now been neglected for up to seventy years?"

^C Wherefore those who worship God are sustained by a good and sure hope, that if it should happen that they offend out of weakness, there are those who supplicate before God on their behalf—not only men, but also the holy angels themselves—who render God mild and placid, calming His wrath by their own purity and innocence, and in a way compelling an indignant judge to grant pardon. But at that time, it was an angel who was supplicating for the assembly of the Jews. We, however, being faithful and having been sanctified in the Spirit, "have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." ^D And as the divine Paul left it written: "God set him forth as a propitiation through faith," delivering those who approach Him from their sins.

VERS. 13-15. *And the Lord Almighty answered the angel who was speaking in me with good words and consoling sayings. And the angel who was speaking in me said to me: Cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: I have been jealous for Jerusalem and Sion with great jealousy, and I am angry with great anger upon the nations that are set upon them. For I was indeed angry a little, but they together set themselves upon evil things.*

VII. We truly say, in accordance with the voice of the Psalmist, "The Lord is merciful and compassionate," and the very experience of events would cry out that it is so, and not otherwise. For observe how He immediately hears the prayers for the...

^A wretched who have been sold and crushed in a foreign land, and removing the yoke of captivity, He almost anticipates the request of the one offering supplication, and immediately responds with "good words, and words of comfort." By "words of comfort," I mean those capable of restoring and consoling those who have labored under misfortune. For throughout the entire time of their captivity, having perhaps spoken not one kind word to them, nor having deigned to address them with any other thing that might serve as a comfort, He begins to speak kindly and sets the beginning of His gentleness toward them. From this exceeding joy, therefore, the divine angel commands the prophet to cry aloud henceforth and to communicate the words of God to all. For he says: "I have been jealous for Jerusalem with great jealousy," not pouring out jealousy upon her, as he did before when she had turned aside to monstrous religions, but on her behalf against the ravagers, with whom he says he was angry, not with a simple or circumscribed agitation, perhaps, but with a supreme and implacable fury. "For I," he says, "was disciplining my own people, and I did not wish them to suffer anything beyond measure. But they, according to their own will, applied a horrible and untamable cruelty, omitting nothing that leads to inhumanity and savagery." This, I think, is what is meant by: "I was indeed angry a little; but they added themselves to the evils." For the God of all disciplines those who have sinned out of love, and by inflicting medicinal wounds or pains, He turns them toward what is better. But those who are employed for this purpose as ministers sometimes rush like wild beasts upon those who are being disciplined. But God is ^B angry at them with a great anger. For He, like a father, wished to correct them with stripes; but they rushed upon the afflicted with an unbridled impulse.

When the Church has suffered this, the persecutors do not know that they will render an account to the presiding God for the savagery they have shown toward her, and will be required to pay bitter penalties.

"Therefore thus says the Lord: I shall return to Jerusalem in mercy, and my house shall be rebuilt in it, says the Lord Almighty, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem still."

VIII. He shows that having suffered the turning away of Him who is able to save, she slipped into such misery and hardship, but shall be again without labor, and most easily, in the state she was in before, once the One who was provoked to anger has been softened—God almighty, indeed—and has returned as if to gentleness, again counting them worthy of indulgence and love, and, being unmindful of evil, forgiving their offenses. For He promises both to raise up the house and to make Jerusalem most broad. For the temple had been burned, and the very walls of the city had been razed, ^C so that it appeared utterly small and constricted, and had very few inhabitants. But, as I just said, He promises to restore her to her former magnitude, which indeed came to pass, with Cyrus sending them back from ^D captivity, Darius commanding the temple to be rebuilt, and the same

^A ruler permitting the city to be encircled and fortified by walls.

We see, however, that God, in order to test the faith of the saints and the love of those who cling to Him, sometimes allows the Church to be harassed by persecutions. Yet, when she has been moderately vexed, He immediately lifts her up and strengthens her anew with His own help, adorning His own house with heavenly grace. Indeed, every pious person is both a city and a temple of God. But he is often tested, when carnal pleasure and worldly anxiety provoke him to shameful deeds, so that the soul of the one suffering seems to be scorched and deserted by its walls, that is, by its protection. But when God has mercy, and upon the prayers of the saints turns himself toward gentleness, he is built up again ^B into a holy temple, into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. And truly, with all uncleanness driven away, he is fortified again from God, and becomes the city of the great King, that is, of Christ.

VERS. 17. And the angel who was speaking in me said to me: Cry out still, saying: Thus says the Lord almighty: Cities shall still be opened with good things, and the Lord will yet have mercy on Sion, and will yet choose Jerusalem.

IX. Since the captivity of Judea continued for a long time, the cities of the Samaritans were nonetheless turned into complete solitude. For their houses had been burned down, and as if with a voice, they accused the cruelty of the Babylonians; and the very appearance of the cities was seen to be deformed and completely destroyed. Among the very few inhabitants, it was not possible to see a man illustrious or otherwise distinguished, nor anyone leading a comfortable life, but all were sad, laboring under famine and poverty. ^C He promises that there will be an end to all these things. For He says: "Cities shall be opened with good things," that is, they shall dwell in their ancient happiness, and, increased with heaps of goods, they shall renew their appearance, and shall return again to their desired state. "For the Lord will yet have mercy on Sion, and will yet choose Jerusalem."

Consider, furthermore, how prudently the prophetic discourse proceeds for us. For it does not promise that He will be merciful to her in all things, nor that He will choose her for all time, but it says "yet," promising a time defined as a certain measure of leniency. For she was to undergo more atrocious calamities after these things, being condemned for the insults offered to Christ. Therefore, that word "yet" ^D declares a time of kindness that is, as it were, measured out, while containing an occult threat of the things that would befall her at the times of the presence of our Savior Christ.

VERS. 18-21. And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold four horns. And I said to the angel who was speaking in me: What are these, Lord? And he said to me: These are the horns that scattered Judah, and Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

And I said: What are these coming to do? And he said: These are the horns that scattered Judah, and broke Israel, and no one of them lifted his head. And these came to sharpen them in their hands. The four horns are the nations lifting up a horn against the land of the Lord, to scatter it.

^B X. The prophet comes to another vision, and not long after, so that he might be instructed in future events not by word alone, but by seeing the things that are to happen in visions, he may understand delicately and accurately what is meant. What, then, is the argument of this vision? As much as I am able, I shall endeavor to declare it. In divine Scripture, a horn is taken as a certain image and representation of power or kingdom. It often also has the notion of pride, as when Blessed David says: "I said to the iniquitous: Do not act iniquitously; and to the delinquents: Do not exalt your horn." And somewhere else he sings of Christ: "His horn shall be exalted in glory," that is, the kingdom, and the strength and power by which He may rule over all. The prophet therefore sees four horns, that is, four nations, harsh and very strong, and which can easily attack and scatter cities and regions as if with horns. ^C Some indeed wish these to be the kingdom of the Assyrians, another that of the Babylonians, and a third that of the Macedonians. For Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, being from Macedonia, ravaged Judea. To this, they add the Romans, who, after the Savior died on the cross, conquered Jerusalem with force and arms. ^D But since the divine angel, interpreting the vision for the prophet concerning the horns, said, "These are the horns that have scattered Judah, and have broken Israel," I think it proper now to leave these aside and come rather to the nations that have crushed Israel. There are, therefore, four principalities through which it is established that Judea suffered this. For Phulas, the first, subdued the two tribes across the streams of the Jordan. After him Salmanasar, third Senacherib, and lastly after them, Nabuchodonosor. Wherefore it may more properly be accepted of them that these are the four horns that scattered Judah and Israel. Then, with God showing and unfolding the vision to the prophet, four craftsmen appear. He asks again where and for what cause they come; the angel who was speaking in him answers that the four horns that had crushed and scattered Judah and Israel have come to sharpen [them]. What then shall we say this signifies? Were they being incited against Israel, they who had already devastated him, and was God making those more ferocious whom He had sent in his anger? Yet it is clear that He cries out and says: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Sion with a great jealousy, and with great anger I am angry with the nations that have combined together. For whereas I was a little angry, they however have combined in evils." But he who is angry a little and moderately, and pursues the devastators with jealousy, because they raged against the captives more than can be said, how...

^A does He command the horns to be sharpened against them? They are indeed sharpened, though not against Israel, but against themselves. For they rose up against one another, and the Persians and Medes, with Cyrus reigning, waged war against the Assyrians and Babylonians, as has been said before. Therefore, if the horns had not been sharpened, and the Babylonians had not been vanquished, Israel would not have been freed from servitude, would not have been released from bonds and from the intolerable misery. The four craftsmen, then, who sharpen the horns in their hands—that is, in the hands of those who possess them, or rather of those who hold power, so that we may understand the kings of the Persians—may be understood as angels, most appropriately appointed to carry out the commands of God. This, therefore, was the subjugation of the Babylonians, and their being reduced under the empire of the Persians and Medes, of whom the Lord of all says elsewhere: "They are sanctified, and I bring them; giants come to fulfill my fury, rejoicing at the same time and acting insolently." ^B

CHAP. II.

VERS. 1, 5. *And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man, and in his hand a measuring line. And I said to him: Whither goest thou? And he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold the angel that spoke in me, stood, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by reason of the multitude of men and of the beasts in the midst thereof, and I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.*

XI. That the horns were not sharpened against Israel, but rather against those who captured and devastated Jerusalem, and indeed Judea as well, the next vision will most clearly demonstrate. ^C For the prophet again lifts up his eyes—not, however, those of the body, but rather the inner ones, which are perceived by the understanding. He says that he then saw someone in the form and appearance of a man, holding a geometric measuring line; he asked him again upon what errand he was walking, and what his purpose was. And upon his replying that he wished to measure Jerusalem . . . the divine temple itself having been burned, and the houses and cities throughout all Judea having been razed, the hope that it could ever be raised up again had in some way perished. God therefore shows that, with the horns—that is, the nations or kingdoms—having been provoked and having engaged in war against one another, Israel will rise again, and Jerusalem, now ^D expanded, will be inhabited again, fortified by divine virtue...

^A and surrounded, as it were, by an invincible flame through the benevolences from above. The angel therefore runs to measure Jerusalem, and in a way to define it as broad and very long. And this, indeed, according to history.

I would say, however, that this vision may also rightly be understood of the Church of Christ itself. For Satan had exercised tyranny over all those who were on the earth, and we had become captives, subjected to his yokes. But the grace of the Savior crushed his horn ^B and weakened his pride. For He triumphed over principalities and powers and world-rulers, the opposing forces, and snatched us away and set us free from his bonds. He raised up our Church, the city truly holy and famous, the broad and very long one, which we, men and cattle, have inhabited fruitfully—that is to say, those who have been already instructed, and those who have not yet reached this measure, but are about to be and are being initiated. We have inhabited a city which Christ Himself fortifies, burning up with ineffable powers those who opposed it, and filling it with His own glory, and as it were standing in the midst of those who dwell therein, to whom He promised, saying: "Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." ^C Of this holy city the prophet Isaiah also makes mention somewhere, saying: "Your eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich city, tabernacles that shall not shake, nor shall the stakes of its tabernacle be moved, nor shall its cords be broken." And he says further to her: "Enlarge the place of your tabernacle and of your curtains. Fix it, do not spare; stretch out further to the right and left." For the Church of Christ is directed, and extends to infinity, ever receiving and welcoming those who worship Him.

VERS. 6, 7. O, O flee from the land of the north, says the Lord: because from the four winds of heaven I will gather you, says the Lord. Be saved in Sion, you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon.

XII. He laments in a certain way over those who had been captives, as they were exercised by an intolerable hardship: and he further urges them to depart from the land of the Chaldeans, since ^D it is now permitted for them to do this, with no one hindering, and He Himself gathers those who were dispersed by the invasions of the enemies. But he calls the Chaldean region the daughter of Babylon and the land of the north. For metropolises are placed in the order of mothers to other cities that might be subject to them. And the land of the Chaldeans is situated somehow to the north and to the east. And these things, again, have been said by us according to history.

But the discourse passes over to spiritual consideration, and henceforth insinuates the person of the Savior, who is, as it were, melting with sweet affection, and is almost weeping over mortals, because all were hastening to worship the tyrant Satan, and were serving him with such

burdensome and grievous weight. There is therefore for them an author of flight, as if from the land of the north—that is, from a cold land—so that from this we may conceive of a certain affection and worldly constitution of character, which if anyone possesses, and is seen to dwell within it, he will not be fervent in spirit, nor will he have living within him the fiery word of God. For David sings somewhere to God: ^A “Your word is exceedingly fiery, and your servant loved it” (Ps. CXVII, 140). Therefore, he who does not have the fervent and fiery word of God is cold and dead. For even Christ said that because of the abundance of iniquity, the love of many will grow cold (Matth. XXIV, 12). And the daughter of Babylon will be called sin—and very aptly so, if it is true that by that word confusion is signified. To sin, therefore, would be the business of a mind not yet settled and strengthened, but rather confused, and in some way intoxicated by inclinations toward vice.

We must, therefore, depart as if from the land of the north, from a cold and dead affection of the mind, and cross over into Sion, that is, to the true watchtower, that we may understand the Church of Christ, in which dwelling, we shall see the will of God, and shall ponder the doctrine concerning the holy and consubstantial Trinity. We shall find Christ himself gathering us in every way, and binding us together spiritually into unanimity. For He said concerning us: ^B “For I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd” (Joan. X, 16).

Vers. 8. *For thus says the Lord Almighty: After glory he has sent me to the nations which have plundered you; for he who touches you is as one who touches the apple of his eye.*

XIII. That Christ was a helper and redeemer even to the ancient peoples, no one who is a student of the truth can call into doubt. For if He himself was that rock which watered the thirsty Israel in the wilderness (Num. XX, 2 sqq.), and He is the one through whom we have received all things from God and the Father, there is by no means any reason to doubt that through Him, too, every liberation at every time and every kind of help was administered.

Now, however, we say that by these words He addresses those who have been justified in faith and sanctified in the Spirit, and shows the manner of the incarnation. For he says ^C that he was sent “after glory,” and he cannot in any way be accused of vanity in his speech. For if, when He was in the form of the God and Father—the God the Word who is from Him and in Him—He “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,” as it is written (Phil. II, 6-8), but nevertheless emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, and humbled Himself, being made like unto us, how did He not, after glory, become what was in the highest degree fitting for Him? What, therefore, was the reason that He suffered temporal ignominy? Because He came to plunder the plunderers, and those who, dwelling on the earth—that is, us—had subjected to their yoke those whom the evil ones ^D

and opposing powers were relentlessly despoiling. Now, however, they are being despoiled in turn, as Christ, the Savior of us all, gathers us unto Himself through faith and sets us up as His own worshippers, even us who were burdened by the greeds of those others, and grants us such great security that he who attempts to cause us harm touches, as it were, the very apple of his own eye. For the outcome of events for those who persecute the Church always turns into ^A exactly the opposite, and one might say of each of them what is in the Psalms: "He dug a pit and hollowed it out, and he shall fall into the ditch which he made: his labor shall return upon his head, and his injustice shall come down upon his crown" (Ps. VII, 16, 17). Thus, he says, he who plots against the souls of those who have believed in me shall touch himself. This is what He says also through the voice of the Psalmist: "Touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm" (Ps. CIV, 15). If we are the body of Christ, and members of a member, how would He deliver up His own body to those who love sin? Or how would He endure for His members to be heaped with evils? Nay, rather, how would those who wickedly plot against His servants not pay ^B the ultimate penalty? "For behold, I bring my hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to those who served them, and you shall know that the Lord almighty has sent me."

XIV. For Christ touched the rulers of this world, and with an intolerable hand He crushed the heads of the bloodthirsty dragon, and gave us "to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy" (Luc. X, 19). And those who were once terrible and most cruel, and whose assault could not be met, have become a spoil to those who had served them. For we who were once tyrannized by sins have been justified in Christ, and have ^C already arrived at such spiritual joy and security that we are able to excel in every virtue and to live uprightly the angelic life in Christ, and then to be filled with His charisms and to receive power against unclean spirits and to rebuke profane demons, as Christ spreads them out beneath us and crushes under the feet of His saints both Satan himself and the powers of wickedness beneath him. Furthermore, one may despoil those who once held sway in another way. For whenever we contend against our own passions and deem it worthy of all account to master worldly and fleshly pleasures and every ^D bizarre and detestable desire, then we have conquered those who once conquered us, even if we see that we ourselves were subject to them. Then, then we shall know also by experience itself, that the Word, being God, was sent in the flesh into this world by God and the Father, and that He did not come after His glory for any other reason than that He might bind up that which was broken, and strengthen the weak, and raise up the fallen, and that which was feeble He might corroborate

and heal that which was lost.

Verses 10-12. Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Sion, for behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall flee to the Lord in that day, and shall be to Him for a people, and shall dwell in the midst of thee; and thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty hath sent Me to thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah, His portion upon the holy land, and He shall yet choose Jerusalem.

^B XV. From this you may learn that the subject of the supreme joy for those upon the earth will be the coming of the Savior. For He commanded spiritual Sion—which is the Church of the living God, or rather the most holy multitude of those saved through faith—to rejoice and be glad by necessity. He promised that He would come and would be entirely with them. For the divine John says: "He was in the world, and God the Word was not separated from His own creatures; but He Himself was imparting life to those who partook of life, and was holding together and preserving all things so that they might be well and live; 'but the world knew Him not.' It worshiped the creature instead." But He was with us when, having assumed our likeness, He was born through the holy Virgin, "and was seen upon the earth, and conversed with men." The same holy David also testifies, saying: "God shall come manifestly, our God, and He shall not keep silence." Then He became manifest also to the nations. For the Israelite race was no longer being instructed by that ancient commandment alone; nay rather, the whole world under the sun was beautified by the evangelical preachings, and His name became great in every nation and in every region. For He Himself was the expectation of the nations, according to the voice of the prophet, and to Him "every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." For they have run together through faith unto Him, and have dwelt with Him in the holy and intellectual Sion, those ^C from the ends of the earth, and have known clearly "that God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." For the Father sent to us from heaven His Son, the Savior and Redeemer, so that by believing in Him we might see the Father in Him, and, as we behold the exact image of the Begetter—Him who was born of Him according to nature—we might consider the archetype. Then indeed, then also Judah became the inheritance of the Lord, that is, everyone who confesses and glorifies Him; for Judah is interpreted as "confession." For as it is written in Paul: "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and

circumcision in the spirit, not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Since, therefore, we have been enriched with circumcision in the spirit through Christ, we have become His inheritance upon the holy land, that we might contemplate the city on high, the intelligible Jerusalem, whose builder and maker is God, who also makes it lovable and desirable. “For He will yet choose Jerusalem,” He says. It is not, moreover, improbable if one should wish to consider that Jerusalem is even now called the Church, which the divine David also calls the city of God, when he says: “As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God.” ^B

VERS. 13. Let all flesh fear before His face, for He is awakened out of His holy clouds.

XVI. This is a beautiful and useful epiphonema, and a good exhortation for those who are willing to hear well, whether it be from God or from the person of the prophet. Nevertheless, that must be considered diligently. For He commands to fear, as if those who do not believe in Him are utterly lost. Christ Himself threatened this to the Israelites not admitting faith in Him, when He said: “Amen I say to you, unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins”; and again: “He that believeth in the Son is not judged, but he that doth not believe, is already judged, because he believeth not in the name of the Son of God.” For this reason, Christ is also called a stone of stumbling and a rock of scandal. For just as it is admittedly a good and salutary thing to crown Him by faith, so it is also a cause of destruction not to fear Him who for our sake took on what is ours, and for no other reason than to save what was lost. We consider Him to have been awakened out of His holy clouds, furthermore, as One who has come from the ancient quiet and silence to the motion of concern for us, having been born from the seed of the holy Abraham, Isaac, Jesse, and David, and others who are enumerated in the order of generation, whom He also calls “clouds,” because the mind of the saints is borne on high, and rejects things on the earth and base thoughts, and seeks rather the things above and in the heavens: and furthermore, in the manner of clouds, waters others with rains that are understood but not seen. That He means the resurrection, the Savior Himself again testifies, speaking thus by the voice of the Psalmograph: “By reason of the misery of the needy and the groaning of the poor, now will I arise.” He is awakened, therefore—that is, He has finally moved to bring help to those upon the earth who have fared miserably. He Himself is the solution to all evils, and the end of the ancient curse, and the beginning of every good, and the giver of the hope of life everlasting. ^{C D}

CHAPTER III.

VERS. 1, 2. And the Lord showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the face of the angel of the Lord.

^A And the devil stood at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to the devil: The Lord rebuke thee, O devil, and the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

XVII. The narrative contains the vision, yet it possesses a historical meaning, insinuating itself under an enigma and describing Jesus again as in an image. We must observe, furthermore, that the prophet is speaking of the vision when the matter was already accomplished and brought to its conclusion. The discourse is by no means fabulous, nor alien to the subject, nor does it pile up idle tales; but, as I said, he saw these things in the beginning before they occurred, and he deems it a task worth ^B much effort to announce them, while he thus instructs and renders Israel secure, so that he may not be involved again in similar faults, and become captive again, knowing that he was saved with labor, and that even his liberation was a matter of almost care and concern to the angels in heaven themselves. He says, therefore, that he saw the angel standing, and before his face Jesus, son of Josedec, the high priest. And the angel truly bore the type and image of Christ; but the priest may be understood to have sustained the person of the whole people: for so the divine Scripture accepts him. Wherefore God says somewhere to Moses: "And behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel, they are given as a gift to me." Wherefore the discourse does not sin at all against propriety in accepting the priest for the whole people. ^C For since Israel had been removed from the face of God, having worshipped idols, and having likewise despised the law given through Moses, then, when the just wrath against him was sated, he was pitied by God, and was called again into His sight. And this, I think, is the standing of the priest before the face of the angel of the Lord, under a certain veil of words. For indeed, in wrath He turns away, and averts His eyes from those who are accustomed to despise; but pitying, He truly looks upon and visits them. And thus the divine Psalmist prayed, saying: "Turn not Thy face from me, and decline not in wrath from Thy servant." And again: "Look upon me, and have mercy on me." But God, who is by nature kind and very merciful, liberated Israel from sin. But Satan, who had led him into it, ^D stood again opposing and struggling against him, and still accusing, and, as much as he could, not allowing him to be comforted, as being in offenses and caught in the charges of impiety, and having nothing righteous. For, he says, he stood at his right hand, in a certain manner destroying the right: for he attacks not our left-hand deeds, but the right-hand and praiseworthy ones. The blessed David sensed that such a thing had happened to one of the impious against Christ, saying: "And let the devil stand at his right hand." Satan, therefore, stood in opposition, but was rebuked by a voice. For he heard Him saying: "The Lord rebuke thee, O devil, and the Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee." Consider, then, how immediately [he] is hostile to God and to the heavenly councils

For while God is merciful and is already relieving Israel of their transgressions, and has received Jerusalem and is already making it his elect, [the devil] does not cease to accuse, and dares to condemn those who have found mercy. Thus, he reveals his insatiable anger by saying: "Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" ^A For it is as if he were to say, perhaps: "Israel has confessedly sinned, and is seen to be gripped by your accusations. Yet he has been punished not moderately; he has endured calamities, and has with difficulty been plucked like a half-burnt piece of wood from the fire; for in this way he has depicted the losses and troubles of the captivity. Now, and with difficulty indeed, he has escaped the flame of most grievous distress. Cease, therefore, to accuse those who have been shown mercy: 'For God is the one who justifies; who is he that condemns?'" ^B

"And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel of the Lord. And he answered and spoke to those who stood before his face, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said unto him: Behold I have taken away thine iniquities. And clothe him with a full-length garment, and put a clean miter upon his head."

XVIII. Once the priest has been accepted to represent the person of the whole people, it suffices, I think, to say henceforth only this: that the filthy garments could be an unambiguous symbol or indication of the uncleanness of the people. ^C For as if clothed in their own sins, and possessing the stain of impiety that is hard to wash away, they endured captivity, subject to miseries and paying the penalties for the things they had sinfully committed. But after God has had mercy, he has commanded them to be free from sin, to be stripped of the filthy things, and to be clothed in a way with the justifying grace. He indicates, furthermore, the end of their labors and misfortunes. For where the forgiveness of sin is, there also must necessarily follow the removal of the evils inflicted on account of sin. Wherefore, in the name of God, the blessed angel commands those standing by and ministering to him to take away the defiled garment, and adds: "Behold, I have taken away thine iniquities." Then he says that he should be covered with a full-length garment and that a clean miter should be placed upon his head, so that in this way the glory of the priesthood might always lawfully accord with the state of the people. For the boast of the priests is the purity and innocence of those subject to them; and they consider the honor of their priesthood a splendid ornament for themselves when the people is praised and, without reproach, accommodates itself to the will of God, submits its delicate neck to His oracles, and for this reason has God the Father as a friend and well-wisher to itself. ^D On the other hand, the reproach and ignominy of [the priests] is the sloth of their subjects and their blind impulse to commit sin. For just as, when the people [were] entangled in sins, the vestments of the priest were in a way filthy, so when [the people] have become accustomed to being righteous, it will be pure and conspicuous again.

^A, and in great boldness before God. And so the inspired Paul, having ministered the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles, and seeing them flourishing through their growth in virtue and having firm faith in Him, writes saying, "By my boasting, brothers, which I have in Christ Jesus." And again, "You are my joy and my crown." ^B And the angel was standing. And the angel of the Lord testified to Jesus, saying, "Thus says the Lord Almighty: If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My precepts, and you will judge My house, and you will guard My courtyard, and I will give you those who walk in the midst of these who are standing."

XIX. We accept that Jesus the high priest is described as a figure for Christ the Savior of all; for Aaron was appointed in the beginning to this role as well. Yet we say that what is spoken here relates to the son of Josedec: "Thus says the Lord Almighty: 'If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My precepts, and you will judge My house,' and the following." For such things cannot be said to Christ; for He is the Way, He is the righteousness of God and of His Father, He Himself judged His own house, exercising authority as the Son. For Moses was a faithful servant in all God's house, but Christ as a Son over His house, whose house we are. Therefore, let such things be spoken to the son of Josedec, but not to Christ. God ^C promised that the priesthood according to the law would continue even after the times of the captivity, so that the priests might preside over Israel and manage that holy city. For since, with the captivity having arrived, and the holy things burned, and the sacrifices no longer offered, some thought that the Mosaic [system] was to be abolished entirely and the law to have no more validity—even though the time had not yet come when it was necessary for the Only-Begotten, having become human, to appear—for this reason God, persuading Israel that it would live under the ancient customs and under the rule of the priests, just as before the captivity, necessarily affirms that if he keeps the law sincerely, he will again judge His house and will restore it to its first glory, with the holy angels also assisting him in the sacred ministry. For it cannot be said that the old law was destitute of intellectual virtues. ^D For if those legal things were types and shadows, they were nevertheless performed for the glory of God. This, I think, is what is meant by "I will give you those who walk in the midst of these who are standing," that is, angels, as it were, serving as fellow priests and ministering together. Observe further how everywhere the holy Scripture declares that angels stand, signifying by the term "station" that they do not succumb to sloth, but [keep] the mind as if erect and in

^Bcapable of weakness, standing with God. Thus, too, we shall find it written in Ezekiel concerning the Cherubim: "And their feet were straight" [Ezech. 1, 7]. For the human mind is curved, and indeed very easily so, and is easily seized by sloth. But the holy multitude of the celestial spirits stands in a certain manner. Wherefore it was also said to Zion by God: "Make as if you stand, O Sion." Blessed David also offers thank-offerings to God, saying thus: "He set my feet upon a rock" [Psal. XXXIX, 3]. For by these words he, full of the Spirit, expressed immobility and the firmness of his mind.

VERS. *Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your neighbors, and those who sit before your face, for they are men of portents; for behold, I bring my servant, the Orient is his name. For the stone which I have set before the face of Joshua, upon one stone are seven eyes.*

XX. Above, He was promising to Joshua, or rather, to speak more truly, to the priesthood according to the law, the judging of His house, and rule over the people, and the bringing to an end of the types, or shadows of worship, received according to the law. Weigh for me, moreover, the dispensation and the very great artifice of the divine counsels. There were, and in a short while they were to be changed, the legal [ordinances] to the true and genuine worship, and the rudeness of the types was to be transformed into an amiable and spiritual polity. The husbandmen who had slain the Lord were to be driven from the vineyard, and the field to be leased to others, namely to the holy apostles and evangelists, who were to render it fruitful and flourishing by their most useful solicitude [Matth. XXI, 33-39]. "A just king was to reign, and princes were to rule with judgment," according to the voice of the prophet. Another priest was to arise, not according to the order of Aaron, but "according to the order of Melchizedek" [Psal. CIX, 4], a minister of the holy ones, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man [Hebr. VIII, 2]. For our Lord Jesus Christ entered into the Holy of Holies, "not by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, having found eternal redemption, and by one offering having perfected forever them that are sanctified" [Hebr. IX, 12; X, 14]. Lest, therefore, God should seem to have spoken falsely and emptily, having promised to the legal priesthood that He would always and forever inspect and judge his house, He had to foretell the mystery of Christ, and to show that while the legal observances were indeed to cease, He would Himself judge His own house through Him who is begotten of Himself, that is to say, the Son. Wherefore He almost adjures Joshua himself, and his neighbors, and those sitting before his face, namely the Levites and priests. For the Levitical order stood ministering to the high priest: but the senior priests, as being superior and more sacred, were according to the law also adorned with the honor of the council [Num. XVI, 2]. Furthermore, those ^Cmen of portents...

that is to say, those always seeking to see signs, and craving miracles. For by nature the Jewish nation is always of such a kind. And so, when Christ, having made a kind of whip from cords, drove everyone out of the temple, saying, "Take these things hence, and do not make the house of my Father a house of trade" [John II, 14-16], they approached saying: "What sign do you show us that you do these things? And who gave you this authority?" [John II, 18]. And we shall find others ^B also approaching and saying to him: "Master, we wish to see a sign from you" [Matt. XII, 38]. Therefore, since, he says, they are men who track portents, let them learn with you the things that are to be, and [let them learn] of the signs, of which they always seek the most powerful performer. And who indeed is this? "Behold, I lead in my servant, the Orient is his name" [Zach. III, 8]. God indeed, by nature and from God the Father, has shone forth the Only-Begotten, and as being this, he is free. But he has emptied himself, according to the Scriptures [Phil. II, 7-8], lowering himself into what he was not, and he was named a servant ^C on account of the human state, although he was Lord of all, as God. But he was also the same as the "Orient," that is, the Sun of righteousness [Mal. IV, 2]. For he arose and shone upon us who were continuing as it were in darkness, and who were all but overwhelmed as in night and lethargy by worldly pleasures, and who had the eye of the mind darkened; he awakened [us] to wakefulness, and made [us] bright by his own grace. Hence the wise Paul also gives us instruction, signifying this very thing: "The night is far spent, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light, let us walk becomingly as in the day" [Rom. XIII, 12-13]. And again: "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall enlighten you" [Eph. V, 14]. He therefore proclaims in advance the glorious accomplishments of our Savior's coming. He calls him a servant, indeed, because of the having descended into the form ^D of a servant [Phil. II, 7]; but "Orient," because he himself is the true light, and the day, and the bright Morning Star, rising into the mind, and brightening hearts. In addition to this, he also names him a Stone, and indeed he also says that he has been given before the face of Jesus, and he asserts that he has seven eyes. For it was necessary above all for the priesthood according to the law, the type of which we have placed in Jesus, to have as it were before its face and before its eyes at all times the elect, corner, precious stone, the one decreed for the foundations of Zion [Isa. XXVIII, 16; 1 Pet. II, 6], which looks upon all things with many eyes. For the number seven is in some way always indicative of that which possesses perfection. The barren woman, at any rate, is said to bring forth seven [1 Reg. II, 5]. And that the divine and ineffable nature of the Son looks upon and examines all things concerning us with myriad eyes, no one could doubt: "For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and reaching unto the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and there is no creature invisible in his sight. But all things are naked and opened unto his eyes" [Heb. IV, 12-13], as it is written.

^A "Behold I will dig a pit, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will search out all the iniquity of that land in one day."

XXI.

[people] poured out upon the earth. And so, Christ was being led away to the cross, and there followed also women lamenting and weeping; whereupon, turning toward them, He said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." For they are delivered unto destruction and slaughter, and there has befallen them that which is through the voice of Isaiah: "Your land is desolate, your cities are burned with fire; your land, strangers devour it before you, and it is desolate, overthrown by strange peoples." ^A

In that day, says the Lord Almighty, call ye together every man his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.

XXII.

in the sides of thy house." And God himself, ^A the Lord of all, says somewhere: "The vines are in blossom, they have given a scent, the fig tree has brought forth its green figs." For just as when the Churches had already begun to give forth fragrance in the world through faith in Him, He spoke of the vines blossoming, and hinted also that the green figs were appearing—by which could be understood those who have recently come to the faith, a multitude not yet ripe and sweet, but destined to become so little by little, and advancing toward this through improvements for the better. For having grown up and ascended unto a perfect man of the fullness of Christ, we shall be sweet fruits to God, as though born to the Church as to a mother. Therefore, since the Churches are understood by the fig tree and the vine, we shall be under them and dwell within them, ^B stirring one another up by saying that prophetic word: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and He shall show us His way, and we will walk in it." And if it should come to pass that we obtain this, we shall account those who have called us to it worthy of all praise, saying again that word: "I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the Lord." For the object of our highest delight may rightly be understood as this fruit. Therefore, we shall again say with the Psalmist: "One thing I have asked of the Lord, this will I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the delight of the Lord and to visit His holy temple."

VOLUME TWO. CHAPTER IV.

^C Vers. 1-3. And the angel who spoke in me returned and awakened me, as a man is awakened from his sleep, and said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I have seen, and behold, a golden lampstand all of it, and its lamp bowl upon it, and seven lamps upon it, and seven pouring vessels for the lamps that are upon it, and two olive trees upon it, one on the right of its lamp bowl and one on the left."

XXIII. We shall not understand "returned" here as a change of place—for that would be exceedingly foolish—but we shall rather consider it as a transition straightaway from both visions to another and neighboring ^D spiritual one. Since, however, in these things there is need of singular vigilance, and of one greater than is suitable for human capacity, God infuses a sharp watchfulness into the prophet, with the angel who spoke in him acting as teacher, so that he might think himself stirred from sleep. For such is the condition of our mind, and so much inferior to that which exists in the holy angels, that one might say theirs is constant wakefulness, while ours is as it were a perpetual sleep. After, however, the divine angel saw that his will and mind were inclined to this, that he might observe with sufficient subtlety what was being done...

he inquired, asking what he might think the things shown to be. But the prophet again gave a very precise account of the vision, saying that he had seen a candelabrum, all of gold throughout, and upon it a lamp, and indeed seven lamps as well, and an equal number of funnels for them, and two olive trees, one on the right of the lamp, and the other situated on the left. And this is undoubtedly the clearer explanation of the things shown. It is necessary, however, for those who search more ^A curiously into the inner meanings of this vision, to apply themselves most diligently to the consideration of the things signified, and to connect them skillfully with the things already said. For the God of all says that He will both dig a pit and examine all the iniquity of that land in one day. He also exhorts others to call one another under the vine and under the fig tree. We, revealing the aim of the prophecy, said that for the unbelieving and churlish despisers of the salvation won through Christ, a certain destructive pit has been dug, namely, the insult to the cross and the crime of the bloodthirsty murder of Christ. For those ^B miserable men have perished who impiously slew the Lord. But for those who have loved His appearing, there have been joys and delights, and what indeed of this kind has not happened to them? For they have been in the Churches as if under fig trees and vines. But behold, in another way also the prophet sees the mystery. For we interpret the golden candelabrum again as the Church, as being honorable to the world, as most illustrious and splendid in virtues, and as raised very high by the dogmas of true divine knowledge, upon which is the lamp, namely, Christ, of whom the God and Father says: *For Zion's sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until my righteousness go forth as light, and my salvation be kindled as a lamp* (Isa. LXII, 1). For this lamp, ^C illuminating the whole world, the God and Father has placed upon the candelabrum, *that all who enter may see the light, and it may shine for all who are in the house* (Luc. XI, 33). But the seven lamps, not having light of their own, but an acquired and external one, and one nourished by the pouring of oil, also signify the holy apostles themselves, and moreover the evangelists, and the teachers who have existed in the Churches at various times, who have received the illumination from Christ like certain lamps into their minds and hearts, and who have it nourished by the gifts of the Spirit, and who provide light to those in the house and illuminate the believers ^D together with the lamp. Observe, moreover, that the seven lamps had funnels through which oil was poured into them, but the lamp had no funnel. For what reason? Because the Son is the true light, not external, nor acquired, nor having received the ability to illuminate from another; but He is light according to nature. What is in the saints, however, is communicated from Him. The wise John testifies to this: *Of his fulness, he says, we have all received* (Joan. I, 16). The Son Himself, however, called those who had become partakers of His own brightness the light of the world. For He says to the holy apostles—

^A “You are the light of the world.” Furthermore, the two olive trees, one lying on the right and one on the left of the lampstand, signify the two peoples, as if standing around Christ in a circle. For they have been honored as having attained mercy in such a station. And those indeed were from the good olive tree, that is to say, from the Synagogue of the Jews; but the others sprang from the wild olive, that is to say, from the multitude of the Gentiles. Nevertheless, having been grafted into the good olive tree, they became partakers of the richness of the root, according to the voice of the blessed Paul. Observe also how, upon the lampstand, together with the lamp, there are also the lamps and the two olive trees. For Christ is with us in the Church, and the multitude of those who believe—having obtained mercy—is illuminated by the light from Him, and is also illuminated through the lamps, which possess the light communicated from Him as well. It must be known that even in the construction of the holy tabernacle, a golden lampstand was placed in the Holy of Holies, holding seven lamps. For God commanded Aaron in this manner, saying: “The seven lamps shall shine opposite the face of the lampstand from the southern side.” ^B For the illumination through the lamps is not given to those behind it, but to those who look upon the face of Christ through faith. And so, the Jews, placed as it were behind Him and at His back, have a darkened mind. But those from the Gentiles who have believed have the lamps before their face; for the illumination that has come through the saints is for them free and entirely unimpeded. One lamp also burned in the first tabernacle, signifying to us that the legal institution follows behind the evangelical teaching. For see how, whereas one lamp burned in the first tabernacle, those who entered into the Holy of Holies were flooded by seven lamps and the lampstand, as with a most abundant radiance.

And I asked, and said to the angel who was speaking in me, saying: “What are these, Lord?” And the angel who was speaking in me answered and said to me, saying: “Do you not know what these are?” And I said: “No, Lord.” And he answered and said to me, saying: “This is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not by great power, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.” ^C

XXIV. That the mind of the intelligible powers is both better and holier than the intellect in us, and superior to our affairs by incomparable excellences, you may learn from this as well. For the angel returned, as the prophet says, and awakened him, “as when a man is awakened from his sleep.” For if someone were to choose to compare the measure of the human intellect as against the mind that is in the superior powers, he will find it to be inferior by as much as we know the visions or dreams of those who sleep to yield to the thoughts of those who are awake. The prophet, therefore, was awakened to wakefulness; nonetheless,

^A even so he remains slow to be able, I say, to understand what is being shown. For this reason, and very reasonably, he inquires and asks to learn from the angel who is explaining it. The angel is almost astonished that he does not understand, and asks if he truly does not know. Since the prophet openly confesses his ignorance and is not ashamed of his slowness to learn, the angel finally clarifies the enigma arising from the vision, and as if from an image plain and visible, interprets the purpose implicitly contained within it. ^B "For this," he says, "is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not by great power, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty." It is as if he were to say, perhaps, that all these things that are seen will reach their end in due time, not achieved by human power, nor yet by bodily strength, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, and as it were by divine impulses. For the Only-Begotten did indeed become man, as we are, but he did not wage war in a bodily manner, in order to set up the Church in the world like a sort of candelabrum; nor did he, by taking up sensible arms and ^C gathering battalions of warriors, attach to himself the two peoples, nor did he place onto the candelabrum lamps visible to the senses, but in the power of the Holy Spirit he appointed in the Churches first apostles, second prophets and evangelists, and the entire remaining assembly of the saints, filling them with divine gifts, and enriching them abundantly with the effusion of the Spirit. Therefore, it was not by great power, nor by carnal strength, that Satan was despoiled by Christ, but as by the power of the Spirit; and there fell with him the hosts of the opposing powers, and they were called to the knowledge of God through faith, both those who were from Israel and those who of old "had worshipped the creature rather than the Creator." Moreover, the lamps were revealed ^D also in the Churches—that is, the saints—shining together with the lamp, I mean, Christ. For they have become, as the wisest Paul writes, lights in the world, holding forth the word of life. And that Emmanuel has saved the world under heaven not by human hand or power, but by his own powers as God, he testified also through the voice of Osee. For it stands thus: "But I will have mercy on the sons of Juda, and I will save them in the Lord their God, and I will not save them with bow, nor with sword, nor with war, nor with chariots, nor with horses, nor with horsemen." And the word was very appropriately directed to Zorobabel, who was of the tribe of Juda and was at that time occupying the throne of the kingdom in Jerusalem. For lest, because of such brilliant and admirable deeds announced to his account, he might imagine that he would at some time have to undertake an expedition and wage battles at the proper times, he necessarily diverts him from such shallow and human thoughts, and commanded him rather to consider that the efficacy is divine, and the power is not human, but belongs to Christ who performs such things. We also remember saying that Zorobabel himself, as being born of the tribe of Juda and a king, signifies Christ, also joined with Jesus the son of Josedec, so that together and in one person...

Emmanuel might be understood as both king and high priest.

VERS. 7. *Quis es tu, mons ille magnus, ante faciem Zorobabel, ut instaures? Et educam lapidem hereditatis, aequalitate gratiae gratiam ejus.*

^D XXV. The passage proposed is most difficult to understand; nevertheless, we shall bring forward that which we believe can be said most rightly and excellently. The discourse seems, therefore, with a certain reproach to attack the "great mountain," that is to say, Satan, who rises up and sets himself in array against Christ—the power of his own perversity—which, indeed, was also enigmatically written for us above. ^B For the prophet said that he saw Jesus, the great priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil standing at his right hand to oppose him. For that he, as much as was permitted and lay within his power, fought and vehemently rose up against the economy of the Savior, who was calling the world under the heavens to salvation, no one will doubt if he considers that he first approached Him who was fasting in the desert, and, having looked upon the Savior of the world, desired to be adored by Him, when, showing Him all the kingdoms of the world, he had said that all would be His if He would not refuse to fall on His knees and adore him. ^C Then, from the very choir of the holy apostles, he snatched the traitorous disciple, having persuaded him to become an instrument of the savagery of the Jews. The discourse therefore rebukes him and says: "Who art thou, O great mountain, before the face of Zorobabel, to establish?" But this "Who art thou?" is not to be understood as one wishing to learn who he is and whence he comes (for God, being what He is, would not have been ignorant of this), but rather as one belittling him and deeming him worthy of no account, even if he were a great and unassailable mountain, and an impediment lying in the way of one who wishes to establish such things in Christ—of whom Zorobabel is a type, as we have already said. For although the apostate dragon has implacable perversity, nevertheless he has been trampled by Christ without toil or sweat. For He was by nature God, surpassing all. Either, therefore, we shall explain the words spoken in such a way, or, if it pleases, in another manner. For he said that affairs pertaining to life will not be established for the world by human power. And the lampstand shall indeed stand, having the lamp, that is, Christ; but the lamps—and indeed, from the right and from the left of the lampstand, the two olive trees shall by all means stand—will shine, signifying the two peoples. Then, as if someone were inquiring and saying: "Who then art thou, who dost promise to establish such great things without any war and without effort?" God and the Father is understood to answer: "I am the great mountain before the face of Zorobabel, to establish," that is to say: I am the nature that surpasses all things, which, by divine, lofty heights, shines forth toward the glory that is above all, which in its own time will suffice for the establishing of the things promised, even before the face of Zorobabel. For Christ did not ignore His own Father ^D

but He acted as one who made Him a certain assistant in His own works, saying: «I do nothing of myself; but the Father who abideth in me, He doeth the works.» For He wrought [everything] as if by the power of the Son, through whom He also from the beginning brought all things into existence, and is therefore deservedly wondered at. By the most wise Daniel, again, ^A God and Father is named a mountain, from whence also the stone was cut without hands, which bruised the gold, the silver, the brass, the iron; and this was also a type of Christ. For the Son, having been begotten of God the Father in an unspeakable and transcendent manner, crushed the kingdoms, that henceforth all authority might be set up for Him: «For every knee shall bow to Him, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, unto the glory of God the Father.» Therefore, as from the mountain of God and Father, the ^B God and Father has been cut as an elect and corner-stone for us, and has become our inheritance. For we have been called unto the adoption of sons through Him, and have become heirs of the living God, gaining grace by an equality of grace. And what then is this? There was indeed given to Israel a certain grace, that ancient and celebrated one: for they were delivered from Egypt according to the flesh, they cast off from their necks the servile yoke of domination by which they were oppressed, they were led through the midst of the sea, they ate manna in the wilderness, they crossed rivers on foot (for they thus passed over the Jordan), they were brought into the land of promise. This, then, is that first grace. But in equality and similitude to that ancient grace, grace has been bestowed by Christ, who has become for us a stone as a foundation, or corner-stone, and again an heir, as the Son. For through Him we have been made heirs of God. How then is the second grace in equality with the first? ^C Because those things which were done for them according to the flesh, or sensibly, these same things Christ has accomplished for us spiritually and intellectually. He delivered us from diabolical servitude, as from clay and brick-making. He set us free from worldly affections and carnal defilements. He granted a passage as if through the sea: for we have passed by the waves of this present life, and the bitterness of its anxieties. We have eaten bread from heaven (we speak mystically), we have crossed the Jordan, we have received the circumcision in the spirit, we have inherited the upper city, the truly holy land, of which even Christ Himself made mention when He said: «Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the earth.» But ^D I myself think that the most wise evangelist John also wishes to signify this very same thing, when he speaks of Christ: «Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.» For Moses was the minister and mediator of that ancient grace; but Christ is the mediator of the second grace, which has a likeness to the former (for they were types as toward the truth, or rather, pregnant with the beauty of the truth, so much the better and more excellent, as what is apprehended by the understanding alone [surpasses] that which is for the senses).

And giving witness, Paul writes that Jesus has become the surety of a better covenant. ^A

The word of the Lord came unto me, saying: The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty hath sent me unto you.

XXVI. Behold, again, he portrays for us things intelligible by means of things sensible, and sets forth as a type of the things miraculously accomplished through Christ that which was once performed by the hand of Zorobabel. For since, after the Babylonians had been subdued by the Persians and Cyrus, those from Israel were released from the bonds of servitude, and had indeed returned to Jerusalem, ^B when Darius was thereafter governing the empire of the Chaldeans, God exhorted those who had returned that before all else they should rebuild the divine temple, with Zorobabel as king, and Jesus the son of Josedec as priest. And they set their hand to the work, and indeed the work was already in the first stages of laying the foundations, and the walls were already raised on high, when, due to some obstructing him and the envy of the neighboring nations posing a hindrance, there was a certain intermission, and a slackening of the zeal for the tasks. But when God again granted them the power to succeed, the temple was with difficulty brought to completion, with Jesus holding the priesthood and Zorobabel in command and reigning. But with these the account of the history is concluded. ^C But since we have taken Zorobabel, who was of the tribe of Judah, as a type of Christ, come now, let us say how and in what manner he himself began to build the house of the Lord, while the intelligible and spiritual Zorobabel later perfected and finished it. For at the beginning He established a certain house and a divine dwelling for Himself and the Father, the Synagogue of the Jews. For thus he was accustomed to name it, speaking concerning the wisest of all, Moses: "If there be a prophet among you to the Lord, I will be known to him in a vision, and in sleep I will speak to him. Not so my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my house." ^D Therefore it was founded indeed as a house through Christ; yet it was subsequently destroyed. And for this reason the prophet Jeremiah lamented it as having fallen and been shaken, saying: "The house of Israel has fallen, and there is no one to raise it up." Nevertheless, it has been raised up through Christ and fashioned into something better, with the nations being brought into it and the Church being revealed in the world, which is the "house of the living God," of whose beauty the Lord and God of all became a lover. For that the temple raised up in the last times—that is, the Church—is incomparably better than the former, He has fully assured us, speaking through the voice of the prophet Haggai: "Who is there among you, O man, who has seen this house in its former glory? And how do you see it now?"

As things that are not before your eyes?" And afterwards: "For the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord Almighty." ^A Now, that it is the height of madness to understand such things only historically, no one will doubt who considers that the glory of the divine temple in the latter times could never be deemed superior to the former, if indeed the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar burned and plundered the one, while the Romans later burned and plundered the one raised up after it following the time of the captivity, destroying along with it both ^B Jerusalem itself and the entire land of the Jews. Therefore, a historical account does not suffice for the truth. But the latter glory is better and more excellent than the former, when the Church is taken up as a holy temple, into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. For we are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, through every contact of the supply provided by the operation of each member, being joined and fitted together, and as it were entering into a covenant with one another into the unity of faith and love through the Spirit, for the forming of a holy temple. For we are living stones. Wherefore the divine ^C Paul called the multitude of believers at one time God's husbandry, and at another time God's building; and the wise architect has laid a foundation, and this is Jesus Christ, upon whom we all lean, through whom we also stand, and are named a temple, having Him dwelling and abiding in our mind and heart through the Spirit.

VERS. 10. *For who has despised the days of small things? And they shall rejoice, and shall see the tin stone in the hand of Zorobabel. These seven are the eyes of the Lord, looking upon all the earth.*

XXVII. The vision is not concerning things immediately about to happen, but rather concerning those to be brought to their proposed end, as in the times of the coming of Christ, the Savior of us all, which took place in the latter times of this present age; yet it was not long after this prophecy was given, or the temple ^D raised up by the hand of Zorobabel. If anyone, therefore, he says, has despised the small and few days in between, or has considered the delay of no account, he shall not be saddened by this, but will be filled with all joy. For he shall rejoice, and shall see the tin stone in the hand of Zorobabel. He calls Christ the tin stone. And if anyone wishes to learn the reason, I would say immediately both what seems to others to be the case, and what is accepted by us as correct. For some say that tin has an alloy of copper and lead, and for this reason it is neither entirely lacking in hardness, nor yet devoid of softness. We also, in a certain manner, compose Emmanuel of the unbreakable divinity, and of the human nature that is as it were subject to affections. It should be noted, moreover, that they say even the adamant stone is easily broken by lead, although it does not suffer this from any other material. We say, therefore, that Christ, though very kind and by far the most powerful, and as God endowed with no cruelty, like a certain adamant, breaks Sa—

suffer, even though it does not endure to suffer this through another material. ^A We say, therefore, that although Christ is exceedingly good and all-powerful, and as God does not possess any harshness, he shatters Satan like a kind of adamant, concerning whom it is written: "His heart is hardened like stone." And he stands like an unhammered anvil. It seems, however, that tin, or lead, is necessarily assumed for the purification of another material through fire, and this matter is especially necessary for those accustomed to working with silver. Indeed, God himself said somewhere through the voice of Jeremiah—again, in an enigmatic way: "The bellows have failed from the fire, the lead has failed, the silversmith refines in vain, their wickednesses are not melted away." By tin, then, that is to say lead, he compares Christ, as one who melts away filth, as one who removes the superfluous, as one who purifies in a spiritual sense. If, therefore, anyone ^B should prevail over the incursion of the intervening times, and should consider the small days in between as nothing, he will rejoice and "will see the tin stone in the hand of Zerubbabel." And what, then, is "in the hand of Zerubbabel"? The divinely inspired Scripture accepts "hand" as meaning both power and authority. Therefore, in the power, that is, in the authority of Zerubbabel, he shall see the tin stone, that is to say, Christ. For Zerubbabel, as I said, being born of the tribe of Judah, presided over Israel. And Christ also reigned over Israel, not in our manner, or holding a kingdom bounded and limited by a certain time, but as God truly extending himself to infinite ages, as the blessed Gabriel testified when speaking to the holy Virgin concerning him, that she would bear a son and would call his name Jesus. He adds that "the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father, and ^C he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end." In the hand of Zerubbabel, therefore—that is, as in the power and authority of Zerubbabel—the tin stone shall be seen in its own time. The Word of prophecy immediately adds to these things: "These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which look upon all the earth." And who, again, might these be? For he has called those seven lamps, which he saw at the lampstand, the eyes of the Lord, so that we might understand the saints through whom the whole earth is illuminated and is seen to be deemed worthy of visitation by God; or certainly, I think, we shall say that this signifies that God and Father of all will not neglect His creatures, but, as though with many ^D and ever-watchful eyes looking all around at everything, He will grant to those upon the earth the tin stone, that is, Christ, through whom the manner of consideration—or rather, of visitation—has come even to us. "For the Dayspring from on high has visited us," as it is written. And if we are the body of Christ, and members in part, I do not think it inappropriate if we call the saints, the teachers of divine things, as being more excellent and sublime than others, "eyes," and, as I feel, for this reason also "bishops." Through them, therefore, our Lord Jesus Christ watches over those who believe in him. Finally, Christ can be understood as the tin stone in another way as well. For tin joins together things that are separate, having the power of conglutination. Christ also did something of this kind for us, if it is true that he has made the two peoples into one new man, making peace, and

reconciling both in one body through the Spirit ^A. Hence he has been called the chief cornerstone, connecting the two peoples into unity, as I said. He has also linked the angels to those who dwell on the earth: he has associated us ourselves with God and the Father through himself, having destroyed the sin which lay between and as it were walled us off from him.

VERS. 11-14. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees, which are on the right of the lampstand and on the left? And I asked a second time, and said to him: What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are in the hands of the two golden pipes, pouring out and returning the golden vessels? And he said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: Not so, Lord. And he said: These are two sons of fatness who have stood before the Lord of all the earth.

XXVIII. On the sons of fatness

natural olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a good olive tree, how much more shall those who are according to nature be grafted into their own olive tree? ^A Thus, the Synagogue is the good olive tree, as I said just now, and the flock of the Gentiles is the wild olive. For the former, having received training through the Law, did not remain fruitless; but the latter were places for wild wasps to dwell, having minds full of demons, and were altogether fruitless. Nevertheless, neither did the whole Synagogue of the Jews receive faith in the Son, nor did the entirety of the Gentiles; but as if plucked from both sides, many have obtained mercy and have been called through faith to the illumination by the Spirit. Those branches of the olive trees that have been plucked out might ^B fittingly be understood as those who have found mercy through grace and have reached the light of the lamp, that is, of Christ, and the seven shining lamps, that is, the multitude of the saints. Observe, moreover, how the holy angel adopts the lamp as an image and representation of Emmanuel. For with the branches placed at his right and his left (which he also called the two sons of fatness), he says that they stand before the Lord of all the earth, the act of standing in this place signifying familiarity and a ready will to obey and minister to Him. For in this manner it can be understood that Christ has caused the Church, gathered from two peoples, to stand by Him. In this way, I believe, the divine Moses was also honored with the term of "standing," when God said to him: "But you stand here with me." For the instruction through the Law is not rejected by God, who knows all things. For what reason? Because it is a pedagogue to Christ ^C and, as if in types and shadows, it gives birth to the truth for us, and Christ Himself will confirm this for us, saying to the disbelieving Jews: "If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me."

CHAPTER V.

VERS. 1-4. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, a flying sickle. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth. For every thief shall be ^D punished from this up to death, and every perjurer shall be punished from this up to death. And I will bring it forth, says the Lord Almighty, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of the one who swears in my name falsely, and it shall rest in the midst of his house, and it shall consume it, and the timber of it, and the stones of it.

XXIX. Again, in these words, "I turned," no one, I think, should interpret it as pertaining to a place, but as a change according to a different vision. For in the former [vision]...

^A, and as the vision passes on to another contemplation, he tacitly indicates the event by the name of conversion. He lifts, therefore, the eyes of his mind on high, then he sees a sickle ^B, raised up like a bird, and flying, as it were, over the whole earth. It was, indeed, very wide and long. For its length was twenty cubits, and the breadth contained half of that. Upon the angel asking again what it might be, and the prophet saying that he did not know, "This," he says, "is the curse going forth over the face of the whole earth," and it clothes the perjurer, and with him the thief, with the punishments befitting them. And insofar as it concerns a clearer declaration of this sign, there is no difficulty. For the divine curse will altogether and entirely lay hold of thieves, and in addition to these, those accustomed to swear falsely, and as it were with a sickle, cutting down the insolent, it will make them as the grass of the housetops, and will give them as food for the fire, and entering into the house of the man, it will likewise bring him to an end and will shake him vigorously. I think it is necessary to curiously and diligently examine the reasons why the present vision which we have in hand needed to be joined to the others. Wherefore (some one of those who are students of equity might say), since very many sins were being committed in life, and at that time the children of Israel had defiled themselves with diverse crimes, why does he say that the punishment of the sickle ^C has fallen only upon thieves and perjurers—or that the curse goes forth, cutting down those who are caught and completely destroying them? To these things we respond that God always spoke through the holy prophets those things that were advantageous for each time, always providing for those who hear. It was, therefore, necessary for those living at that time especially that this vision should be made clear. And we will set forth the causes, demonstrating that it was most opportune. For since the Israelites, having with difficulty left Chaldea, and having been freed from the yoke of slavery, returned to Judea ^D and received Jerusalem, it was their duty to put an end to those ancient transgressions of theirs, and having returned to salutary paths, to amend their past actions, and to refresh their liberator by serving his will; yet, nevertheless, they persisted in wickedness, freely violating the prescriptions of the laws. For although Moses had willed that there should be no marriages with foreign women, they, unconcerned about this command, were coupling their bodies with the daughters of neighboring nations, and were becoming fathers of alien children, and furthermore were filling the holy city with unholy seed. Moreover, there were some among those who were more honorable who were not immune from such a sin, which Ezra lamented; indeed, even approaching the divine house, he poured forth prayers for the impious. What happened afterward, we shall learn from his own writings, where we read thus: "And when Ezra, praying, had set forth what was [the matter], weeping and falling upon the ground before the temple, there were gathered to him from Jerusalem a very great multitude, men and women and children: for there was a great weeping among the people. And Jechonias the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Israel, answering, said to Ezra: We have transgressed against the Lord God, and have taken to ourselves foreign wives from the peoples of the land, and have lived with them...

^A in this let us make a covenant with the Lord, to cast out all our wives, those who are from the foreigners, together with their children, as it has been judged by you and by as many as obey the law. Arise, perform it; for the matter is yours, and we are with you to be strong. And Ezra arose and made the leaders of the priests and the Levites of all Israel swear to do according to these things, and they swore. Since, then, they had sworn to fulfill what the law deemed necessary, it was in a way necessary to stir up the curse, which relentlessly attacks those accustomed to commit perjury, so that they might also become guardians of the things sworn. Since, moreover, as the divine temple was being built, there was a great accumulation of money, partly given by Darius and partly contributed by the people, it was likely that some of those appointed to manage such things might misappropriate some of what had been contributed to the glory of God. For this reason, he rightly declares the curse to be against thieves, so that having become better, they too might not touch the sacred money out of shameful greed, spending it on their ^B own needs. This, then, is the occasion of the vision. But those who are accustomed to steal or swear falsely ought to fear the curse and the cutting of the sickle, because God will in every way and altogether bring to pass what He has decreed, and He will spare neither thieves nor the others. For He always hates those who despise His divine glory and who, with an insatiable mind, desire things that do not belong to them.

And the angel who was speaking in me came out, and said to me: Lift up your eyes, and see what this is that is going out. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is the measure that is going out. And he said: This is their iniquity in all the earth. And behold, a talent of lead being lifted, and behold, one woman was sitting in the middle of the measure. And he said: This is iniquity. And he cast her into the middle of the measure, and he cast the stone of lead into her mouth.

XXX.

^A “And the angel who spoke in me went out.” But where did he go out? Or where was he, after all? His departure occurred from the display of the sickle to the proposed vision, that is to say, regarding the measure. Therefore, the prophet raises his eyes on high—eyes which, having been trained to run through sublime things, ought as is fitting, with divine power, to contemplate the mystery. He asks, therefore, what it is that is being shown. And he [the angel] said to him: “This is the measure that is going out. This is their iniquity in all the earth.”

We must consider what the measure is. We say, therefore, that the Lord of all is by nature good and a lover of mankind. For He shows forbearance to those who sin, and tolerates those who act unjustly, awaiting the repentance of each. But if anyone continues sinning for a long time and has experienced the supreme patience of God, then at last he will be subjected to punishments, nor will he be able to offer any pretext for such long-continued sloth; nor will anyone rescue him from punishments equal to the deeds he has committed. Therefore, Christ said to the crowds of the Jews, who were rushing with impotent frenzy to any wicked deed: “And you have filled up the measure of your fathers.” The measure that appeared, therefore, was showing the heap of the people’s sins magnified against Him. In the measure, moreover, a woman was sitting, filling up the standard of iniquity, and as it were filling the capacity by herself, perhaps even overflowing, and looking out from what was protruding. ^B “And behold,” he says, “a talent of lead was lifted up, and he cast it into her mouth.”

The vision describes for us iniquity in the guise of a woman; for the woman is a type of pleasure and also of infirmity; and all iniquity would not be committed otherwise than by some pleasure enticing one to what is base, and by an infirmity of the mind consenting to this. For if the mind were firm in itself and manly, it would never suffer itself to be deflected to vice. But if it were softened and enchanted by pleasure, it will feel the affliction. It is depicted, therefore, and indeed very appropriately, as iniquity in the form of a woman. But the talent of lead that was lifted up and blocking her mouth, I think, cannot be understood as anything other than our Lord Jesus Christ, who was exalted by the precious cross and bore our iniquities in His own body onto the tree, and triumphed over the handwriting against us, ^C so that, as the divine singer says: “All iniquity shall stop her mouth.” And He is likened to lead; for lead is used, as I said, by those who are accustomed to refining silver, for the purification of things that are smelted. Such, in a way, is the power of Christ in us. For if it enters the mind and heart, it entirely melts away all filth. Some believe that the lead was cast into the mouth of iniquity precisely as if God were blocking it, not permitting it to accuse the sinners beyond measure. Therefore it is also bounded as if by a rope, with God, the pitier of all, ^D defining the punishment of each to correspond proportionally to the crimes.

VERSES 9, 10. And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold two women going forth, and a spirit in their wings, and they had wings of a hoopoe, and they took up the measuring basket between the earth and the heaven. And I said to the angel who was speaking in me: Where do these carry the measuring basket? And he said to me: To build it a house in the land of Babylon, and to prepare it, and they will place it there upon its own base.

^A XXXI. What this pair of women might signify, or what they might be a type of, I think it necessary to say before all else. God therefore said to the prophet Ezekiel: "Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother, and they played the harlot in Egypt, in their youth they played the harlot, there were their breasts pressed." He adds to these, clarifying what he was proclaiming, their names: Samaria or Oholah, and Jerusalem or Oholibah. For in the beginning the synagogue of the Jews was one. But in the reign of Rehoboam, the ten tribes having been broken off from the others, they inhabited Samaria, and they played the harlot with the golden calves which Jeroboam ^B the son of Nebat made. But it did not happen without cause, that is, regarding Jerusalem; for she too played the harlot in many ways, some worshiping idols and sacrificing to Baal, to Astarte, to the high places, to the sun, to the moon, and to other stars; others greedily pursuing every impurity, and regarding as nothing what was decreed through the all-wise Moses.

The vision again compares the two synagogues of Israel to two women, to whom it also says were wings of a hoopoe, so that it might exceedingly well signify the impure mind within them, and the facility for every sort of base action. For the hoopoe is a species of bird that is well-known, fond of mud and dung, and raging ferociously against swarms of wasps, and accustomed to take the deepest impurity as its food. Such, in a way, is the mind that exists in idolaters. It does not travel by a straight path toward what is respectable; but it is carried outside of what is reasonable, and does not know the divine law. ^C It is full of all impurity, and considers every kind of wickedness as its food. For this reason the word of the vision says that wings of a hoopoe were fitted to the women, teaching that the same frame of mind is in them as well. And they take up the measuring basket, filled with [the] iniquity. For it is necessary for each soul to be burdened with its own weight—I mean, that of sin.

Since the crimes of both, I mean of Samaria and of Jerusalem, are equal and cognate, for this reason they are also weighed down in the same way by the measure and by the iniquity, and with the spirit falling upon their wings, they are carried in a swift and unimpeded course ^D toward the land of the foreigners, it being clear that this is the land of the Babylonians. For since the unclean spirit urges them on to what is blameworthy, and since iniquity weighs them down, they were dragged off into captivity and reduced under the feet of their enemies. But after the blessed angel said that they were carrying the measure to build a house for it in the land of Babylon, let us indeed accept this as a sign,

^A that those of Israel would pass a long time among enemies, as they also built a house for iniquity, providing as it were a foundation and a station for it among the enemy. And this is just what has been accomplished. For scarcely, after the seventieth year had been completed, were they released from the bonds of their servitude.

CHAP. VI.

VERS. 1-8. *And I turned and I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold four chariots coming out from the midst of two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze.* In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot were black horses; and in the third chariot were white horses; and in the fourth chariot were dappled and spotted [horses]. And I answered and said to the angel who was speaking in me: What are these, Lord? And the angel who was speaking in me answered, and said: These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth. ^B In which the black horses were, they went forth into the land of the north, and the white went forth after them. And the dappled went forth into the land of the south, and the spotted went forth, and they were concerned to go, and to walk round the earth. And he said: Go, and walk round the earth. And they walked round the earth. And he cried out, and spoke to me, saying: Behold, those who go forth into the land of the north have brought my fury to rest in the land of the north.

XXXII. He previously showed that, having been caught in their own snares and bound by the chains of their own sins, as it is written, they had departed into an unknown region and lived among enemies, enduring an unaccustomed yoke of servitude. ^C But it was also necessary to call to remembrance the times of deliverance; wherefore, by inserting other things, he makes mention of these as well. For the prophet was taught in sum all things that would in time come to pass for the nation. Therefore, we say that the four chariots in the midst of the mountains of bronze are again the most illustrious kingdoms, which in as many climates of the world, or rather to the four winds, were famous in their own ages. I conjecture that the two parts of the world are called the mountains of bronze. For some divide the whole globe into Europe and Asia, the parts of which are bronze because of their firmness on every side, and their immobility, and because they cannot be harmed. ^D For the divine David sings somewhere to the Maker of the universe: *You founded the earth, and it abides in your ordinance.* These kingdoms, then, as if from the four winds, more powerful than the rest, as we have said, and having obtained much glory, went forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth. And the standing sets forth for us the manner of their servitude: for they served His nods, and they have become strong and famous through Him, and this was an advantage to them. For if they performed anything brilliantly, and conquered regions and cities, they had value only with His assent. For indeed, if the prophet speaks truly: *Is there evil in the city, which the Lord hath not done?*

^A by "evil" we mean here affliction. How then could those nations and lands have prevailed, if He had not in an administrative sense granted them the power to prevail?

It is time now to say which these kingdoms are. In the first chariot, he says, there are red horses, representing the cruelty of the Chaldean monarchy. For the color red aptly suggests to us the shedding of blood; the Babylonians were indeed exceedingly bloodthirsty, for they themselves laid waste Judea and the cities in Samaria without any mercy. In the second chariot are black horses; by this, I say, he seems to signify the monarchy of the Persians and Medes under Cyrus. The color black is attributed to them because they wrought very many and immense slaughters among the Chaldean people, and plunged the whole kingdom into mourning. Now, black is the symbol of mourning and death.

In the third, he says there are white horses, perhaps indicating the empire of the Greeks and Macedonians, or the kingdom of Alexander. They are white because the peoples of Greece generally lived delicately and were accustomed to white garments, and because they were articulate in their speech, lacking the shadowy ^B qualities of barbarian tongues. In the fourth chariot, he says, there were horses that were dappled and piebald; it should be known that the Hebrew edition, and certain other interpreters, have placed "strong" or "robust" instead of "piebald." Nevertheless, we affirm this to be the Roman empire, which at all times and under its various successive rulers has flourished through a variety of teachableness and profound understanding. For those who have managed the powers of the Roman state have been, and are, most prudent and, moreover, most mighty. They are placed last after the first ones, according to the times.

Let us now consider the departure of each of the chariots, or monarchies—where it inclines and where it tends. For in this way the interpretation of what we are considering will become most clear to us. The prophet says there are four, but he mentions the departure of three, and is silent about the first. Let me repeat in few words what I have said. In the first, he says the horses are red. He begins, however, with the second, and says: *In which were black horses, that went forth into the north country; and the white followed after them. And the dappled went forth toward the south country.* But although he adds the piebald, he does not on that account mention four chariots; for we posit that they are the same as the dappled. For he says: *In the fourth chariot there were dappled and piebald horses.* He mentions three, having passed over the first.

What then is the rationale of the whole dispensation? Come, let us explain it to those more teachable, as far as we are able. We have asserted that the red horses are the bloody Chaldean empire, which utterly overturned all Judea, and having burned its cities, led Israel away captive. By the name of the black ones, we have accepted the monarchy of the Persians and Medes. ^C Under the white ones, furthermore, the empire of Alexander and the Macedonians was described, both of which brought arms against Chaldea and occupied it with the fiercest war—first of all Cyrus, and afterwards Alexander, who also captured Darius himself near the city that is called Issus in Cilicia, having slaughtered countless thousands of the Persians. There is a report that a great heap of bones was raised up from those who fell there; an epitaph was also inscribed in these words: ^D

At the ramparts of Issus, by the turbulent wave of the Cilician sea,* *We, the myriads of Persians, lie,* *The work of Alexander the Macedonian, who once we followed* *To the furthest path behind King Darius.*

Since it is likely that Israel would have grieved not a little to hear of the monarchy of the Chaldeans, by whom they had been devastated, the prophet, lest he appear to provoke them needlessly to sadness, and that at the wrong time, wisely passes over any mention of them. But he relates clearly what brings them the utmost joy—the monarchy of Cyrus, I mean, and of Alexander—who were sent, as it were, to exact an account for the cruelty the arrogant Chaldeans had shown toward Israel. Hence he added, as if from the person of God: "Behold, those going forth toward the land of the north have quieted my temper in the land of the north." For the land of the Chaldeans is, in a way, further to the north, and the God of all was wroth with the Babylonians. ^B This becomes manifest once again when He Himself says clearly: "I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and I am angry with a great anger against the nations that have conspired against them. For I was angry only a little, but they conspired to do evil." Since the land of the Chaldeans paid the penalty, with Cyrus having laid it all waste at the hands of the Persians and Medes, and Alexander after him, for this reason He says: "Those going forth toward the land of the north have quieted my temper in the land of the north." ^C Furthermore, having prudently kept silent about the incursion of the Chaldeans (for he passed over, as I said, the red horses), he has not, however, kept silent about the empire of the Romans. For he says: "The dappled ones went forth toward the land of the south." Observe how cleverly, and as if only in passing, he interprets his own words. For after the cross of the Savior, Vespasian and his son Titus ravaged the land of the Jews with devastating hunts, and burned that holy city itself. But the prophet cleverly says, "They went forth toward the land of the south," for the country of the Jews tends most toward the south. Moreover, these very "dappled and multi-colored" ones were commanded to travel around the earth, and they have indeed traveled around it. For they subdued the whole world under the sun and ruled over the entire known world, with God truly helping them and from there adorning the princes of the Romans with illustrious glory, since He, as God, foreknew the magnitude of their future piety. ^D

VERS. 9-13. *And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Take from the captivity from the princes, and from its useful men, and from those who have acknowledged it, and you shall enter on that day into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, who has come from…*

Babylon. And you shall take silver and gold, and make crowns, and you shall place them upon the head of Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest. And you shall say to him: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Behold the man, whose name is the East; and beneath him he shall spring up, and shall build the house of the Lord. And he shall receive virtue, and shall be seated, and shall rule upon his throne, and the priest shall be at his right hand, and a counsel of peace shall be between them both. And the crown shall be for them that wait, and for his useful ones, and for those who have acknowledged it, and for favor to the sons of Zephaniah, and for a psalm in the house of the Lord. And they that are far off from them shall come, and shall build in the house of the Lord, and you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. And it shall be, if you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God. ^A

COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH

XXXIII. God was addressing the blessed prophet Zechariah, or rather, through him, all the friends of Zerubbabel, prince of Israel, of the royal tribe from which he had sprung, calling him to the kingdom. But it is necessary for me first to recount what was said about him by God. He says, therefore: "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it." But Jesus the son of Josedec, the high priest, was a companion and helper to him who was founding and also finishing the house. On this account, the God of all commanded the holy prophet to take [offerings] brought from the captivity from the princes, and from his useful men, and from those who had acknowledged it. ^B Who these were, and what those things from the captivity were, I shall explain conveniently. The Israelites returned from Babylon not in confusion or mixed together, but in organized ranks, and in order, according to their families and tribes, having standard-bearers and leaders, as we read in Ezra. After they had now come to Jerusalem, with God urging the building of the temple, they established the treasury, for gathering money for the construction of the works, and for the priestly vestments, and for the sacrifices prescribed by the law; and Josiah the son of Zephaniah was appointed treasurer and steward of these monies. The God of all therefore commands that from those things which had been brought by the princes of the captivity, and which remained deposited with Josiah, gold and silver be taken: then let crowns be prepared, and let them be placed upon the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and let these words be spoken to him concerning Zerubbabel: "Behold the man, whose name is the East." ^C The Hebrew version, moreover, indicated "the East" by the name of the "Offspring." "And beneath him he shall spring up," that is, he shall sprout from his own root. "And he shall receive virtue," that is, comeliness or glory, for other interpreters have rendered it thus. He added to these that both, Jesus and Zerubbabel, will be seated upon the same throne, so that the kingdom may be common to him also who administers the priesthood, and the dignity of the priesthood be shared also with him who reigns; and that the will of both might be one in peace and harmony, so that they may appear to differ in nothing at all. Then he commands the crowns to be made, a splendid gift, which may be offered ^D

^A to God and brought into His house, so that it may be for glory, or rather a boast, for those who brought them—for Josias, I say, and for the useful men of the captivity, and for its princes. And they were to be dedicated, not in vain, but as a source of song for the singers of the temple and the sacred chanters. ^B Then, I say, even those who are far from them, that is, those from other nations, will come and worship the Lord. He says that these things will happen if they choose to adorn themselves with the jewel of obedience and to hear the voice of the Lord God. And then, at last, when what was foretold has come to pass, they will clearly recognize that the prophet was sent to set forth clearly the things of God, and not rather, according to some of those who are accustomed to lying, to speak to them from his own heart; but that he is a truth-teller rather than a messenger of falsehood. This is the easiest and most obvious interpretation of the history.

It is certain, moreover, that no one will doubt that the matter pertains to the mystery of Christ, if it is well investigated. For we have ^C confirmed from the beginning that Christ was prefigured in Zerubbabel, and indeed in Jesus, both individually in each one and collectively in both, as one. For He is at once both King of Israel and the great High Priest, "Holy, innocent, undefiled" (Hebr. VII, 26). And since those from the tribe of Judah administered the kingdom, and those born of the tribe of Levi performed the office of priesthood, therefore through the two He is transformed into one Lord, as is evident. Therefore, if God says of Zerubbabel, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it" (Zachar. IV, 9), you will take it historically of him, but according to the other meaning which is understood, you will refer it to Christ. For He Himself has been made our foundation, and on Him we are all built up ^D spiritually into a holy temple; He is for us the beginning and the end. For He has presented us sanctified in the Spirit, a splendid and holy habitation for Himself and the Father, with sin utterly blotted out and corruption abolished. For He Himself is Jesus, the great priest, and "Jesus" is interpreted as "salvation of the people." For thus did the divine Gabriel also say to the Virgin: "And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus; for He will save His people from their sins" (Luc. I, 31; Matth. I, 21). And Josedec is understood as "the righteousness of God." For we have been justified in Him through faith (Rom. V, 1), and we have washed away the filth of our ancient sins. He rescued us while we were captives, and delivered us from the slavery which we had in our minds; and, as if from a foreign country and the region of aliens, He brought us back from the diabolical seduction to the knowledge of God, and to the excellent city of the saints, the truly holy Jerusalem, which is the Church (Galat. IV, 31). Therefore, He is crowned by us with right and blameless faith, and with the ornaments of virtues, and with hymns and thanksgiving. And those crowns indeed were of gold and silver, and

were fashioned from perishable material. ^D But those which have been woven and wreathed by us possess nothing earthly; rather, they are composed of the glory that is worthy of God. For we offer to Him, as gold, the unerring contemplation of the dogmas concerning Him; and as silver, the intellectual brightness that comes from good works. There is also, in another way, a crown and glory of Christ: the salvation of those who have been saved by Him. For not one nation has been saved, as was the case of old with Israel through Moses, but whatever is under heaven; for this indeed was fitting for Christ. Observe, moreover, how the materials for the fashioning of the crowns are brought by those who are useful to Him and who have recognized Him. For the leaders of the peoples, and those placed in such offices by God, and those who know the manner of our ancient captivity, and who are useful to the redeemed as guides and teachers, and who are able to instruct and lead them quite well toward a life according to law—they themselves offer gifts on behalf of all, fulfilling the weaknesses of the impotent through their own strength. ^B And when the crowns had been placed upon the head of Jesus, it is said to him concerning Zorobabel: "Behold the man, whose name is the Orient, and he shall sprout up from beneath him." He sees Jesus being crowned as a priest, and again he sees him excelling, and in royal glory, as in Zorobabel. Understand, therefore, that He himself is the "Orient," that is, the "sprout," concerning whom the inspired Isaiah says: "A rod shall sprout from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from the root." We, however, have sprouted beneath Him. For Christ has become the root of humanity, or rather of those invited through faith—a second one, and not according to the first, I mean Adam, but one incomparably better. For we sprouted no longer for corruption and for death because of the curse, but for life and incorruption, having as our root the Life, that is, Christ. And just as He is the vine and we are the branches, grafted onto Him through communion in the Spirit, so also He is the rod and the sprout, or the offshoot and the "Orient," and we have sprouted upon Him and have flourished into incorruption and life, as I have said. "He built the house of the Lord." He is also full of every virtue, that is, of the glory most suitable to God. "For His virtue covered the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise," as ^C the prophet Habakkuk says. And the wise John writes somewhere: "We have seen His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." He has sat upon the throne, He has reigned as God, and He sits at the right hand of His own Father, and reigns together with Him over all. And that Zorobabel and Jesus, joined to one another as if into a unity, signify Christ very well, he showed by adding, as if about Zorobabel: "And the priest shall be at his right hand," that is, in honor and glory. "And a peaceful counsel shall be between both." For He is, as I have already taught, king and high priest at the same time, as if being numbered by two for the one Emmanuel. However, the labor of those who crown Christ will not lack its reward: but the fruit perceived therefrom shall create for them an everlasting memory.

^A That the word is true and firmly established, he adds: "And the crown shall be for those that wait for it, and for those who are useful to it, and for those who have known it, and for a grace to the sons of Sophonia, and for a psalm in the house of the Lord." For it shall be a grace to those who have offered the things dedicated, and they shall be an occasion for divine praises. For the piety of the leaders becomes a path of love toward God for others. When Christ is crowned by us, then the multitude of the Gentiles also shall hasten to his acknowledgment, and those who were afar off because of error shall be called through faith, "And they shall build in the house of the Lord." But whom shall they build? Clearly themselves, joining themselves to the saints, and being built together in faith into a unity with those who are from Israel, with Christ as the cornerstone, connecting into concord through himself things that were once divided. "For he created the two peoples into one new man, making peace, and reconciling all things to the Father in his body." When these things have already come to pass, we shall grant the testimony of truth to the holy prophets, knowing clearly that it was God who spoke in them and proclaimed to us beforehand the mystery of Christ.

CHAPTER VII

XXXIV. After the demonstration of the visions, other words were given by God, a short time having passed. For before the visions it is written: "In the four and twentieth of the eleventh month, which is the month of Sabat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo the prophet, saying." But in the themes now set before us, another time is expressed after that. For in the fourth year, on the fourth of the ninth month, which is Chasleu, in the Hebrew tongue, a certain divine vision was offered to the prophet. The narrative will explain the occasion of the history again and again. ^D For some will not grasp the meaning of these proposed words in any other way. For it must be said before other things: who exactly were Sarasar and Arseber the king, and those who were with him? Furthermore, what is the sanctification in the fifth month? Likewise, to what does the manner of the inquiry look, and what is the intention of those who ask?

Since Osee the son of Ela was reigning over the ten tribes

in Samaria, being a notable deserter (for he had served idols), God is provoked against Israel. Then Salmanasar, king of the Assyrians, invaded the region with arms, occupied Samaria, and compelled Israel to migrate; and in turn he sent in certain people from the region of the Chaldeans to inhabit the land, so that it might become the proper territory of the Persians, insofar as it would henceforth have them as inhabitants. You have the history in the fourth book of Kings in these words: ^A “In the twelfth year of Achaz king of Juda, Osee the son of Ela reigned in Samaria over Israel for nine years; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Salmanasar king of the Assyrians, and Osee became his servant.” And further on: “And Israel was carried away into Assyria unto this day. And the king of Assyria brought from Babylon, from Chutha, and from Aia, and from Emath, and from Sepharvaim, and they were settled in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they possessed Samaria.” These, therefore, are they who took the lot or region of the Samaritans and inhabited the land, and perhaps they also fathered children, and inclined toward the customs or rites of the Jews, fearing the inroads of the lions, among whose number were Sarasar and Arbeser—who is also named king, because he was their leader and prince—who migrated from Persia to inhabit Samaria. And these things indeed [we say] concerning the men. Now, come, let us speak ^B of what is likely regarding the sanctification of the men.

But before Judea was subdued by Nabuchodonosor, the blessed prophet Joel proclaimed what was to come. He urged the priests, and furthermore the people subject to them, to mourn, as if Jerusalem were soon to be under the feet of the enemies, and the divine temple itself would be set on fire, and he also spurred them to lament. He spoke thus: “Gird yourselves and howl, O priests; lament, you who serve the altar; enter in, lie in sackcloth, you who serve God; for the sacrifice and drink-offering have been cut off from the house of your God. Sanctify a fast, proclaim a healing, gather the elders, all the inhabitants of the land, into the house of your God, and cry out to the Lord vehemently, ‘Alas for the day!’” And these things, indeed, the prophet said. But in what manner those things ^C that were foretold came to pass, I shall now declare, having recited the words of Holy Scripture itself. For it is thus recorded in the fourth book of Kings: “In the fifth month, in the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan, the chief of the cooks, standing before the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem, and he set fire to the house of the Lord, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem.” Then he appointed Godolias over the remnant of the people of Israel in the seventh month, whom Ismael the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisaba, of the seed royal, attacked being in ambush, and slew: for we have read it written to this effect. Therefore, after it came to pass in the fifth month on the seventh day that Jerusalem was captured, the temple was set on fire, and moreover Godolias was slain ^D by the men. But concerning the holy place, come now

in the seventh month, perhaps it was in remembrance of the prophet’s word that the remaining Jews who had been led away ^A from all the surrounding regions had established that in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, all should ascend to Jerusalem, and should sanctify a fast, and should perform a lamentation as if for a dead man, and should wail over the temple, which lay in a manner as a corpse, and should pour out tears over the city that had been burned, in accordance with later decisions. They thought that they had discovered a most wise mode of worshipping God that was pleasing to Him. For this was being done while Israel was still lying under the yoke of servitude that had been imposed upon them, and no one was concerned for the divine temple. But when they returned from the Persians and Medes, and dwelt in the holy city again, and repaired the divine temple, it seemed that the custom was no longer being performed at the proper time or with reason. For it was better to turn from ^B past events to gladness, and to keep feast days, and to offer thanks with hymns to the One who called them to liberty. Therefore, those of whom the discourse treats, Sarasar and Arseber, send certain men to question the priests and the prophets: "Has this sanctification been performed here in the fifth month, as they have done for many years," that is to say, do those who inhabit Jerusalem still mourn with them, and do they accept the custom used in the form of a sanctification, even though the temple has been raised and the captivity has been loosed? For they were performing a sanctification of the fast, as I said, just as they had done for many years. For while Israel was captive, they were constantly observing the time of mourning and sanctifying the fast, as I already said. Therefore, the inquiry of those who were doubtful is this: whether the sanctification and mourning ought to be performed ^C even though the temple has been rebuilt, or whether they should abstain hereafter, since the cause of the mourning has, of course, been removed.

Vers. 4-7. *And the word of the Lord of hosts came unto me, saying: Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying: If you fasted or lamented in the fifth or in the seventh months, and behold, seventy years, did you indeed fast a fast for me? And if you eat, or if you drink, do you not eat for yourselves, and do you not drink for yourselves? Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of the prophets who were before, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and her cities round about her, and the mountain country and the lowland were inhabited?*

XXXV. Some were inquiring, as I have already taught, concerning what is called the sanctification, of the priests and ^D the prophets; and as is likely, since they had offered prayers, and had diligently contemplated within themselves what they should clearly answer those who were so eagerly asking such things, the word from God followed, brief and by no means long, and containing nothing involved; but, if we may so speak, naked,

and in which you may easily perceive its utility. For what is the great thing, he says, even if you fasted by chance on the fifth and seventh days, or what kind of virtue is it at all to wail ignorantly over consumed wood and stones? And in what way might God take pleasure in what you are doing, when you have done nothing conducive to profit, yet imagine that you are performing all things excellently according to yourselves? For if I have required such a fast, and it is a praiseworthy institution befitting women, for what reason have you continued for seventy years without fasting? For while living among the Babylonians, they did not observe a public fast, nor would you have seen them zealously performing anything else according to the Law of Moses. Then, he says, I had compassion and delivered you from the hand of those who ruled over you, and you ate and drank, not for me, but rather gratifying yourselves. Wherefore, in vain and uselessly does the faster act; even the tears are empty, and the sweat lacks its reward. Are these not the words of the prophets of old, when Jerusalem was inhabited, and abounded and was encompassed by good things, and was still boasting in its unharmed cities, both those in the hill country and in the plain? For the prophet Joel says ^A that the elders, the priests, and the people must wail, and furthermore, must sanctify a fast. And the aim of the exhortation was to call them to repentance. For he did not wish to wait for them to learn by the experience of evils themselves, so that you would then lament the temple burned with fire, he says, but that before experience, as I have said, by wailing and lamentations you might appease God and escape the evils. Wherefore, are these not the words of the prophets of old? Being ignorant of which, you wail in vain and sprinkle with tears, out of ignorance, the stones lying on the ground. And yet it was necessary to correct the way of your own life and walk the glorious and blameless path, wishing to perform entirely well what is pleasing to the Lawgiver.

And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Judge righteous judgment, and show mercy and compassion every man to his brother, and oppress not the widow and the fatherless, and the sojourner and the poor, and let not any man remember in your hearts the malice of his brother.

^C XXXVI. Having rejected the mourning as useless and unprofitable, and having mocked their vain labor, he brings them to that which is most conducive to utility, and having made clear and manifest the path of life acceptable to Him, he explains to a certain extent the mind of the Law itself and of the prophets. For the Lawgiver rejoices in righteous and blameless judgment; and He honors above all [things] mercy and the mutual desire to be of service; and He deems praiseworthy the love for orphans and the leniency toward women burdened by widowhood. And ^D he shakes off

^A gluttony, and whatever crushing of the weak occurs. He wills, moreover, that those who choose to think these things should be kind and not bear grudges. For Christ Himself says somewhere: "Forgive, and it shall be forgiven you." Nay, He even taught those praying to say: "Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors." For the merciful God indeed releases the sins of those who release [them] to others; but "the ways of those who remember wrongs lead to death," according to what is written in the book of Proverbs.

VERS. 11-14. *And they refused to attend, and gave a rebellious back, and made their ears heavy so as not to hear, and set their heart as disobedient so as not to hear my law, and the words which the Lord Almighty sent in his spirit, in the hands of the former prophets. And there was great wrath from the Lord Almighty. And it shall be, as He said. And they did not listen to Him. Thus they shall do, and I will not listen to them, says the Lord Almighty, and I will cast them out to all the nations whom they did not know, and the land shall be desolate behind them from one passing through and from one returning. And they set the chosen land into desolation.*

^B XXXVII. He testifies that they did not cease to provoke the Judge of all against themselves. For although it was permitted to them to obey the words of the holy prophets, and to embrace the commands of the Lawgiver with a noble spirit—since they might have chosen a life worthy of praise and harmonious in every way with the laws, and pursued the straight path of virtue with all their might—they became stiff-necked, and held the Lord in no account, and had a heart [that was] unyielding and all but iron. For they did not cease to vilify the word of God, and to rebuke bitterly and impiously those who brought it and performed the office of prophets, even though they spoke in the Holy Spirit. And they had already progressed to such a degree of savagery and unteachable ^C madness, rejecting all admonition, that they would not repent until they felt the foretold evils; and thus they fell into the punishments inflicted upon them by an angry God. But since God says here: "I will cast them out to all the nations, and the land shall be desolate from one passing through and [one] returning," we understand these things as being uttered in a prophetic foreshadowing. For they have been cast out to the Persians and the Medes, and have already experienced captivity, and the land has been laid waste, and the best of all regions has been "set," as the word says, "into desolation," having no one passing through or returning. For some were consumed by war; others, burdened by the yoke of slavery, have departed into captivity. Therefore, we shall ^D accept these things, like the others, as belonging to the aforementioned place. Moreover, that disobeying divine words is detrimental, or rather fatal, can be seen even from the events of the ancients, nor is there need of many words to prove this, since the matter is manifest to everyone who has once known the goods that come from ready obedience.

^A

VOLUME III. CHAPTER VIII.

VERS. 1, 2. *And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Sion with great jealousy, and I have been jealous for her with great wrath.*

XXXVIII. After He has sufficiently inveighed against the disobedience and rebelliousness of the ancients and the evils that proceeded from them, and showed that they themselves were the cause of all their miseries, He transfers his discourse to the goods of reconciliation, and strives from this point on to promise them prosperous times and to enrich them with an abundance of desired goods, as those who have already paid the penalty for the things they wickedly transgressed, and who have washed away, as it were, the crimes of their ancient vileness through the very fact of being punished by their enemies and having endured the yoke of servitude. He cries out, as it were, against the cruelty of the Babylonians, who, going beyond all limits of audacity, have perpetrated against them things which God Himself, even when angry, did not desire. For He said clearly above: *I was indeed angry a little, but they have added to the evils.* Therefore, *I have been jealous for Jerusalem*, that is, I have taken up zeal on her behalf, and with great wrath I have been jealous for her; as if He were saying: It shall happen to the Babylonians in turn that they will suffer things more grievous than those they have perpetrated, and I shall send evil upon those such great devastators. ^B

This Christ has fulfilled. For sorrowing over us who were miserably lost, and as though He had become zealous for the Church, He has driven away the swarms of the demons themselves and the leader of their madness from dominion over us, having henceforth set free the throng of those who worship Him from that brute's savagery.

VERS. 3. *Thus saith the Lord: I will return to Sion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a true city, and the mount of the Lord Almighty a holy mount.*

XXXIX. God fills all things, and all things are full of His ineffable nature. Yet He is sometimes said to depart from those who have sinned, not being separated from them by intervals of place (for it would be foolish to think so), but in the fact that He refuses to be present with them and to deem them worthy of pardon and love. We say that the nature of His anger is also of this kind. So Israel had turned toward the worship of false gods, and Jerusalem had played the harlot. ^C The God of all had departed, in a manner of speaking, and had subjected her to the evils that follow upon His turning away. But because He is merciful hereafter, He says *I will return*, that is, I will cease from My anger, I will deem her worthy of My regard, and I will make her My house again. And just as when He had turned away, the holy mount, that is, the temple in Jerusalem, no longer seemed venerable to those who looked upon it burned, so again, when God has been stirred and has determined to dwell within it, the veneration for it shall be renewed ^D

and it shall be called the true city, Jerusalem, no longer as of old offering up its worship to gods made by hand and to idols falsely so called; but honoring the one, and by nature, and true God with kindnesses, for hereafter it has chosen to live according to the law, and with obedience in all things whatsoever. ^B You might fittingly apply such expressions to the Word who for our sake became one of us, who, being in the form of the Father, and equal to Him in all things, "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was made man, and became poor for our sake, that we might become rich through his poverty." Therefore, He who of old, because of the transgression in Adam, and "because the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth," was justly averted, has turned to us again as if from natural gentleness, and has inhabited the Church, and has made those who have been sanctified a city and a holy dwelling-place. For He says somewhere concerning the chosen, that is, the Church: "I will dwell here, for I have chosen her." The blessed David also sings: "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God." The prophet Isaiah also signaled this to us, saying: "It shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God at the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall come to it." For the Church of Christ is conspicuous, and as if set upon a mountain, is known to all everywhere. It is also called true, for it serves not at all by types and shadows, but rather embraces the truth, which is Christ, and practices worship in spirit and in truth.

VERS. 4, 5. Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Yet shall old men and old women sit in the streets of Jerusalem, ^C each one having his staff in his hand for the multitude of days. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.

XL. Since the Jewish nation has been consumed by war, it was to be expected that their cities would be seen empty of inhabitants, and houses with their elegant structures and works cast down. But behold, after the enemies have been turned back, He promises that He will grant a long-lasting peace, which the Greeks most appropriately called "rearer of children." For it leads those who are born to maturity, and for those who have entered youth, it paves, as it were, the way to old age, with no one ravaging, no war crushing, no battle devouring. We must therefore consider—and most deservedly—that in times of peace, cities, even if they be wide and long, will appear narrow and smaller than the multitude of those who dwell in them. We elicit, moreover, such an opinion from what is said. For He says that old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, having staves with which they may modestly ^D support their feeble old age, and having a staff for a guide. This matter is a praise of the times, and of long peace, leading infants to the years of youth, and

bringing to old age those who already fulfill the role of men, and passing the whole time of life without trouble. And if indeed they should be likely to dance—the boys, and the maidens to lead the choirs in the midst of the streets—this too would have a clear demonstration that no bitter care has subdued any of them; for they would not have endured to play, if it were a time of sorrow.

Christ has become peace for us ourselves, who also having crushed every war, has rendered the Church full of holy ones. And indeed, many who are preeminent in discernment in it, and countless and exceptional ones, to whom also the wise John sends a letter, saying: "I write to you, fathers, because you have known Him who is from the beginning." But like immature boys and little girls are the most infant-like multitude of those who have just believed, ^B almost adorning the truly holy city, that is to say, the Church, with spiritual leapings. To whom it would also be fitting to say: "Come, let us exult in the Lord, let us shout with joy to God our Savior." And if indeed the elders might also be said to lean for support on a staff, you will understand that Christ sustains the small and the great; the staff which is from Jesse and named of power, which God and Father sent to us from the Jerusalem above, so that we, rejoicing in this, might say: "Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me."

Thus says the Lord Almighty: If it be impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible in My eyes? says the Lord Almighty.

XLI. Great and eminent ^C matters are wont to seem almost incredible, and do not reach their end without wonder. Wherefore Sarah, as one incredulous, laughs at the promise concerning the conceiving of Isaac, looking to her old age, and setting against the promises the impossibility through the laws of human nature. Nevertheless, she gave birth contrary to expectation, when God had made the matter easy and as it were possible. It was therefore strongly fitting that those liberated from captivity should be distracted by wavering thoughts, and not trust very much that their affairs would become so happy and blessed as that Jerusalem should be filled with old men, and choirs of boys ^D and dances of maidens be seen in it, and that the benefits of lasting peace should exist. For they were gazing upon walls torn down, houses burned, and all the cities round about as lairs of wild beasts, because they were utterly emptied of those inhabiting them, and fields that were formerly very fertile and flowering were filled with thorns, having nothing of ripe fruits, and the race of farmers destroyed entirely. Hence therefore, as I said, it was reasonable to doubt whether the things promised would reach their end for them. This is why God does not allow them to waver, but exhorts them to have confidence, and confirms them in this manner: "If it be impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible in My eyes?"

^A For what is impossible to us is easily accomplished by God, who is powerful in all things. For He is Himself the Lord of hosts, fulfilling by His will even things that far exceed the limits of nature, and bringing what He determines to fulfillment without delay. God the Father also said something elsewhere to the Jews, foretelling the glorious things that would spring from the advent of our Savior: "Behold, you despisers, and look, and marvel, because I am doing a work in your days, which you will not believe, if one tells you." For as far as our words go, the very mystery of the incarnation exceeds wonder and speech; and no less so are the good things that have flowed to us from it. For how is it not almost beyond faith that the Word born of God should be united to flesh, and have taken the form of a servant, and have endured the cross, and borne insults and stripes, and the mad outrages of the Jews? Or how could one not marvel greatly at the outcome of the economy, when sin has been destroyed, death abolished, corruption vanquished, and man, who was once a fugitive, is seen henceforth adorned by the grace of the adoption of sons? Therefore, let Christ say with regard to these very things: ^B "If it be impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, shall it also be impossible in My eyes?" For all things are smooth and easy for Him, and if He wishes to accomplish anything extraordinary, nothing, I think, will stand in the way.

VERS. 7, 8. *Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the east, and from the land of the west, and I will bring them in, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.*

XLII. God indeed saved the offspring of Israel in times past, gathering those dispersed by war into Jerusalem and dwelling among them, by permitting the divine temple to be rebuilt, and once again allowing Himself to be propitiated by legal sacrifices, worshipped with prayers, and honored by the keeping of festivals. But the fact that He says He will again save His own people from the east and the west, would fittingly apply to Emmanuel, who has called all who are under heaven, having caught them as with a net by faith from the ends of the earth, and gathered the whole flock of the nations into the truly holy and famous city, which is the "Church of the living God," or the heavenly Jerusalem. And who can doubt that He also dwelt in its midst? For He became like us, and "dwelt with men" in the flesh. And God foretells this to us through another prophet, saying: "Be of good courage, O Sion, let not your hands be slack. The Lord your God is mighty, He will save you; He will bring joy upon you, and will renew you in His love." But He also is with us; for He did not leave us orphans, but instead of Himself He sent us the Paraclete, and through Him He is present to those who love Him, as He testifies to them with the words: "Behold I [am] with [you...]"

^A you all [the] days, even unto the consummation of the age.” [Matt. xxviii, 20.] His people, therefore, have become those who were once not a people; and we who were accustomed to worship stones, detesting [our] ancient and profane error, have inscribed Him as our God, and this “in truth and justice.” For we do not, like those who set their hearts on the letter, cleave to types and shadows; but rather, having admitted into our mind and heart the brightness of the evangelical proclamations, we perform the true worship, and clinging fast to the justice that is well-pleasing to Him, we fulfill the worship in spirit. “For God is Spirit,” as the Son Himself said, [John iv, 24.] “and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

“Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Let your hands be strengthened, you who are hearing in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, since the day that the house of the Lord Almighty was founded, and the temple was built.”

XLIII.

“For before these days the wages of man shall not be for gain, and the wages of cattle shall not exist, and there shall be no peace for him who goes out and for him who comes in, because of the affliction. And I will send forth all men, every one ^D to his neighbor.”

XLIV.

were not available.” And again: “To him who goes out and to him who comes in there was no peace.”

This account is very reasonable, and the strength of the narratives demonstrates the truth in these things. For it wishes to signify something like this: The people of Israel came from Babylon to the holy city, but there ^B was no sanctification for them in the place because the temple had been destroyed long ago; there was no sacrifice or libation, because the altar was not standing. Then the God of all urged them to take primary care of such necessary things for them, and to rebuild the temple, and to raise up again the divine altar within it, so that they might be able to perform with great dignity the things that were ordained, and to appease the God of all. ^C But they demurred for various reasons, sometimes feigning a lack of money, and sometimes putting forward the perversity of those who prevented them from building. And furthermore, since they were offending God in this, they were struck with frequent and successive blows—I mean by famines, and by blights caused by the winds, and by the incursions and forays of neighboring nations. God, the Lord of all, brought against them the charge of laziness, saying thus through the voice of the prophet Haggai ^D: “This people says: ‘The time has not come to build the house of the Lord.’ If it is time for you to live in paneled houses, while this house of the Lord is not built?” For as I said, because they had fallen into laziness, they were continually struck by the lack of necessities and by wars with their neighbors. But when they had rebuilt the temple, the punishments ceased, and all things were in abundance for them, and a great breadth of prosperity lay before them.

Therefore He says: “Before these days,” that is, before the temple was raised up, “the wages of man was not for gain, and the wages of cattle were not available.” For the farmers were without wages, and having gathered absolutely nothing at all, they would depart from the fields together with their exhausted oxen. “But neither to those going out or those coming in was there peace.” By those going out and coming in, He mentions those who were traveling from city to city, either for the sake of practicing trade or for the sake of other business. Therefore, He says, there was no peace for them either, since the neighboring nations were, as I said, still grieving Israel, and each one looked upon his neighbor—his near kinsman, his brother, or his neighbor—as one of his worst enemies.

Commentary on Haggai 1:6, 4

It must be known that before the Only-begotten assumed the nature of man and the Church was established, there was no wage for men, nor indeed for cattle. For those who were more rational in this life, and who had a reputation for wisdom—who might be considered men—bestowed their labor, which was unfruitful and useless, upon their disciples, neither committing anything remarkable to writing, nor being able to benefit others by understanding or by speaking. Likewise, those who lived a common and brutish life remained without wages; for it was not possible to do anything approved by God. But neither was there any peace at all on earth, with the herd of demons keeping everything in confusion and filling the world with tumult, as

well as the affairs of all men, and even their very minds, as if they were being tossed and shaken, possessing no stability. ^B VERS. 11, 12. "And now not according to the former days will I do unto the remnant of this people, saith the Lord Almighty: but I will show peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the earth shall give its increase, and the heaven shall give its dew; and I will make the remnant of this people possess all these things."

XLV. He removes with the wrath also those things that happen as a result of it, and says that the punishments will run their course along with the times of the transgressions. For when sin has ceased, or rather when Israel has already been sufficiently punished with scourges for its sake, He says that the calamities will end—and quite reasonably—and that the onrush of painful things will no longer have any effect. For He has determined for them things not matching the former ones, but all things that look toward gentleness. These, then, were the increase of peace and the generous supply of the most delightful things for them, such that the vine might be seen heavy with clusters, and the arable land, in response to the cultivators' sweat, might produce deep, thick crops, with heaven itself all but running alongside and moistening the fields and their contents with dews, so as to nourish their bounty for fruitfulness. For heaven and earth, and the creation as a whole, follow the nods of the Lord. These were the inheritances of Israel, as God enlarged their prosperity and freed them from every painful thing. ^C

This discourse shall be adapted to Christ, the Savior of us all. For before the times of His advent, we were walking each according to his own judgment, living a life like that of beasts and most alien to reason, and were yoked to the deceptions of demons. But when the Father took pity on us, as we were, so to speak, fallen and cast down to the ground and under the feet of enemies, He no longer "did unto us according to the former days." For He did not suffer us to be plundered any longer, and while living under a cruel tyrant, to be dragged off to every shameful thing whatsoever; but He rather gave us the peace from heaven—that is to say, Christ—who has also bestowed upon us the supply of all intelligible fruitfulness. For we have been filled with corn and wine, and the true vine—that is to say, Christ—has given us His own fruit, which gladdens the heart of man, according to what is written. He Himself is also the grain of wheat, and the holy sheaf; He Himself was revealed to us as life, and He also rendered us very flourishing, moistening us with dews from heaven—it is clear that these are the intelligible ones and those through the Spirit, of which the inspired David also makes mention, saying: "As the dew of Hermon, which descendeth upon the mountains of Sion." These things are for us the share of an inheritance from God, and a good portion, ^D since we have become Israel, which is to say, a mind seeing God; for we have seen the Father in the Son.

"And it shall come to pass, that as you were in a curse among the nations, O house of Juda and house of Israel, so will I save you,"

and you shall be in a blessing. Take courage and be strong in your hands. ^A

XLVI. When the Israelites had been led into captivity and were enduring the unjust rule of their conquerors, they were even called cursed, as some would say—a thing not far from the truth—"May that which happened to Israel not happen to me." But when the merciful God saved them and they were restored to their former goods, they ceased to hold the opinion that they were cursed along with their calamities. For they were blessed, and became no less to be envied than they were of old, God delighting them with goods from above, and unfolding to them, as it were, fields of total security.

This same truth is seen in our own case again. We were cursed, subject to the herds of demons, and brought down to every kind of wickedness through their depravity. But when we acknowledged God, the Maker of all, and we were acknowledged by Christ, then, yes then, we learned to sing within ourselves: "Blessed are we by the Lord, who made heaven and earth." ^B Since, however, we have been called to such honor and glory, it is necessary to apply ourselves to good works, and to manfully overcome vicious affections, and to abominate sin, and to excel in keeping the evangelical laws, and to set our minds on duly performing what is pleasing to God. For we have heard the cry addressed to us: "Take courage, and be strong in your hands." Moreover, we have obtained from Christ the ability to take courage; for He has conquered the world for us, and has trampled down our enemies, and has shown His temple to be unconquered by death, and has stopped the mouth of iniquity, so that we too might shine forth in these things. For He conquered, as I said, not for Himself, but for us who are weak, for whom He prepared the goods of His victory. ^C

VERS. 14, 15. *Thus says the Lord Almighty: As I thought to afflict you, when your fathers provoked me to anger, says the Lord Almighty, and I repented not; so have I determined, and thought in these days to do well to Jerusalem and the house of Juda. Take courage.*

XLVII. That nothing can resist the divine counsels is revealed again from these things. For whatever God has decreed, and has willed to do, that indeed will surely come to pass. For it is thus that He speaks through Isaiah, demonstrating the most powerful strength of His nature: "And I said: All My counsel shall stand, and all things whatsoever I have thought, I will do." Wherefore, from those things which it befell them to suffer while the divine anger was raging, from these very things, I say, it is permitted to understand most clearly that the way of joy is also being opened up for them, with God willing and bestowing happiness; nay, even in His goodness preferring that they should abound in all good things. For as the text says, nothing held Him back when He willed ^D to afflict you because of your many sins: so also, for one who is thinking of good things and who wills to pursue with mercy those who have been sufficiently afflicted, nothing

^A will be an obstacle. “For I have determined to do good unto Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.” ^B The expression is very emphatic. For He did not merely say, “I have deliberated and perhaps thought about it,” but rather, “I have advanced to such a state of mind and of gentleness toward you, that I have even determined.” This is a clear manifestation of intense reflection. And He seals the promise into truth by adding, “Take courage.”

Thus, ^C Christ also secures us who have been called through faith to the knowledge of the truth. For just as before the calling we had fallen into every kind of wickedness, and He had given us over to a reprobate mind and chastised us on account of impurity, so also in these days He has both thought and determined, as He Himself says, to do good to the Church and the house of Judah; that is, to us who confess Him, celebrating Him with praises as Lord, Savior, and Redeemer—for “Judah” is interpreted as “praise.” ^D Yet the “house of Judah” can also be understood in another way. For it has been called the house of Christ, who has sprung from Judah, which name is also given to Him by the divinely inspired Scripture. And so the patriarch Jacob speaks of Him in these words: “Judah, let thy brethren praise thee.” And again: “From the shoot, my son, thou hast ascended.” For Christ ascended from the root of Jesse, and as if from a shoot of the holy Virgin, a rod and staff of power, according to the voice of the prophet. Therefore, the word “Take courage” is said to us as well, and very reasonably. For “with a shield of goodwill” the Father has crowned us with the salvation and grace through Christ.

“These are the words which you shall perform. Speak the truth every man to his neighbor, and judge peaceful judgment in your gates, and let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath; for all these things I have hated, saith the Lord Almighty.”

XLVIII. To those who have chosen not to be disobedient, nor to depart into a degenerate manner of life, but who rather love to walk in the straight path and have chosen to live piously, God promises that He will bestow the good things that come from His own gentleness, and indeed that He has even determined to do good unto them henceforth. For He has commanded that they should not be seen as speakers of falsehood, but rather that they should utter true words, and that they should love the integrity of judgments, and should pronounce a sincere sentence on every matter, one that is entirely removed from any reproach and free from the desire for shameful gain, not looking to shameful profits, nor betraying the grace of God for the sake of money, but looking only to what is pleasing to God; and further, that they should make concessions to their brethren if they have in any way stumbled against them, whether in deeds or in words, and in addition to these things, that they should zealously shun perjury; for He affirms that He hates such evils.

^A Consider, then, how He commands nothing to be done that is in shadows or in types. For He does not order that bullocks be sacrificed, nor does He command that incense be burned; rather, He desires them to practice a life that is, so to speak, disciplined, well-turned, and all but evangelical. Since, therefore, the discourse given to us in these passages is brief regarding the coming of our Savior, for this very reason it was necessary to introduce a commandment that would speak the oracles that come through Him. For if it is fitting for us, as we follow the divine words, to speak the truth, we shall surely discuss those things which are of Christ; for Christ is the truth. For this reason the most wise Peter also commanded us to be most ready to give an answer to everyone who asks us for a reason concerning the hope that is in us. But if those who are accustomed to speak the things of Christ, and who have Him always upon their tongue, and have made Him the meditation of their mind and heart, would be in every way just, and would excel in every uprightness, being peaceful, gentle, and in addition to this, long-suffering, and knowing not how to perjure themselves—or rather, not even to swear at all—they would truly remember His saying: "Let your speech be: Yes, yes, and No, no." ^B

Vers. 18, 19. *And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda joy, and gladness, and good festivals; therefore love the truth and the peace.*

XLIX. I consider it necessary for those who thirst for learning to set forth again beforehand the causes of the fasts mentioned here, what the fourth is, what the fifth, and the ones that follow them, namely the seventh and the tenth. For thus we shall proceed to explain opportunely and fittingly what the force of the commandments is. Therefore, after the holy city had been captured, the temple burned, and Israel, along with the sacred vessels, led away into captivity, those who remained safe in Judea considered the days on which these things had happened to them to be detestable and abominable; and gathering in a multitude, they would raise a clamor and lamentation, abstaining from food as if in fasts. Come, let us say what the things are that happened on each of the days just mentioned by us. The blessed Jeremias therefore said: "And it came to pass in the ^C ninth year of his reign,"—that is to say, of Sedecias—"in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, came Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it, and built round about it with square stones; and the city came into straits until the eleventh year of King Sedecias, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month. And the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land; and the city was broken into, and all the men of war went out by night by the way of the city between the walls and the outer fortification, which was along the garden of the king." Then, after the slaughter of the children of Sedecias and his blinding, it continues: "In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, came Nabuzardan, the captain of the guard, who stood before the face of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, and burned the house of the Lord, and ^D

the house of the king, and every house of the city, and every great house he burned with fire; and every wall of Jerusalem round about, the army of the Chaldeans that was with the captain of the guard pulled down. You hear how in the tenth year Nebuchadnezzar had besieged Jerusalem; then, in the fourth month of the tenth year, he says the city was breached; and in the fifth month, he asserts that the temple itself and the whole city were burned by the captain of the guard. They used to observe the fourth, and the fifth, and the tenth day as days of abomination, for the reasons I have stated. But it is necessary to say something also regarding the seventh. For when the captain of the guard had taken Jerusalem, he ^B appointed Gedaliah as a leader for the remainder of the Jews in Jerusalem; then, having done this, he departed for Babylon. When those who had survived from among the Jews learned that this had been done, they ran together into Jerusalem, and they were in high hopes of dwelling in the land. But in the seventh month, as it is written, Ishmael slew Gedaliah; and all the people were scattered then, and they fled into Egypt and perished there. Therefore, on account of this cause, they held as hateful both the seventh day and the month itself. This, then, is the cause of the fasts. And since it was appropriate, when the punishments had ceased, and Israel had been brought back to Jerusalem, and those mournful times had passed, that they should no longer fast and lament, He commands them to transform the mourning into cheerfulness, and rather to rejoice in the good things they have received from God, or—to put it another way—to keep in memory those things for which they are punished from time to time, sinning carelessly, and having shamefully slipped into every sort of ^C transgression.

Christ has done this for us also. For He "turned our mourning into joy, He rent our sackcloth and girded us with gladness," according to the voice of the Psalmist. And we do not complain at all that, because we did not know God at one time, and because we worshipped the creature rather than the Creator, we fell under the feet of our enemies and were handed over to a reprobate mind; rather, we give thanks that we have obtained mercy and salvation, and have been delivered from the hand of our enemies, and dwell in the holy city, that is, the Church; and we have been deemed worthy henceforth to honor Him with prayers and spiritual sacrifices; and we are taught by divine Scripture to account Him as peace, and truth, and the cause of the highest joy. "For He Himself is our peace," and, as I said, the truth; through Him we are in good hopes, and while we ought to rejoice, all dejection is taken away.

"Thus saith the Lord Almighty: Yet there shall come many peoples, and those who inhabit many cities, and the inhabitants of five cities shall gather together ^D

in one city, saying: Let us go to entreat the face of the Lord, and to seek the face of the Lord Almighty. I will go also, and many peoples and many nations shall come to seek the face of the Lord Almighty in Jerusalem, and to propitiate the face of the Lord."

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CHAPTER 50

VERS. 23. "Thus saith the Lord Almighty: In those days ten men shall take hold out of all the languages of the nations; and they shall take hold of the hem of a man that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you."

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CHAPTER 51

^A their path without error and in security. In equal manner, I believe, those who used to serve the created things rather than the Creator of all, inscribing as their genuine fathers the proclaimers of the evangelical dogmas, and being joined to them through unanimity, follow them—being still childlike in their minds—and enter upon the same path, indeed surely proving themselves zealots of their manner of life, and by the constant advances toward what is better, "growing into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." And for what cause do they follow? Because they are fully persuaded that God is with them, that is to say, Emmanuel; for it is interpreted, "God with us." But that the calling at that time was not to be only of those from the blood of Israel, but rather of all the nations throughout the whole world, he has made manifest by saying that there will be those from all languages who take hold of the hem. But when were the nations called to the knowledge of the truth, and when did they desire to seek the face of the Lord, and to propitiate Him, and to walk in the same way, as it were, as the holy apostles, if not when the Only-begotten came among us? Who is the "expectation of the nations," to whom also the inspired David sings: "All nations, as many as You have made, shall come and worship before You, O Lord." For even the multitude of the nations ^B has been saved through Him.

CHAPTER IX

The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place, because the Lord regards men, and all the tribes of Israel. And Hamath in his borders.

LII. The passage is rugged, and the very connection of the words is exceedingly difficult to grasp. Nevertheless, as far as it is in us, we shall unravel it. But it is necessary first to explain regarding whom we rightly deem these things to have been said. For thus, and even then with difficulty, will the meaning of the prophecy become clear. When, therefore, Israel was released and freed from the bonds of captivity at the appointed times, and had come at last into Judea, and undertook to rebuild Jerusalem, then, at that time, the surrounding nations, both those dwelling in Samaria, and those inhabiting the cities of Palestine, and indeed also those of Phoenicia, were gnawed by envy; at the same time they also feared ^C lest, with their affairs being restored to their former prosperity and their race extending to an immeasurable multitude, they might then, possessing a city so difficult to capture and so well-fortified, make war upon them again and, as of old, stir up against them a power impossible to resist. For these reasons, they strove to hinder those who were attempting to build the walls, casting bitter words, and indeed even mounting plundering raids against them. They arrived at such a degree of slander and envy that they even wrote to the king of the Persians at that time the things which lie in Ezra. And it runs thus: "To King Artaxerxes our lord, your servants: Rathumos the secretary of affairs, and Semellius the scribe, and the rest of your counsel, and the judges in Coelesyria and Phoenicia. Be it known to you, O king, that the Jews, having been led away from Babylon, have come into our province, and the city...

which is rebellious and wicked they are building, and they are repairing the marketplaces of this same city, and the walls, and are raising up the temple. Be it known to you, however, that once these things are done, they will neither consent to pay tribute nor to obey; but they will even resist kings, and will prefer to rule rather than to obey. Since, therefore, the work surrounding the temple is being carried out and eagerly pursued, it seemed good to us to write to you, O king, and not to overlook such a matter." Accordingly, since they had derided Israel when he was captured and in servitude, not moderately, and when he was at length liberated and set free from his bonds, they insulted him no less, and harassed him with countless troubles, lying in wait for him in many ways, and permitting him neither to restore the divine temple nor to encompass the city with walls, it was necessary for God to be angered at them, and to deliver them into the hands of Israel. For the works having been completed, and the temple having been raised up, they ravaged all their cities, led their inhabitants captive, and amassed immense wealth. ^B Therefore it says: "The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus;" that is, the word from God which we have in hand shall come to pass against the land of Hadrach and of Damascus, and further also against Hamath, which is in its borders, that is to say, the borders of Damascus. Now the land of Hadrach is a region of the East, to which Hamath is adjacent, which is Epiphaneia, a little above Antioch, and Damascus, which is the metropolis of the Phoenicians and of Palestine. And they shall be subjected, clearly, along with the metropolises, together with the cities that are under them. Why, therefore, is this "burden" against them? Because in them has been His rest, that is, the rest of God, who is ruler of all. And He has rested, because He saw them punished. For He who beholds all things would not have remained silent, granting pardon and visitation to the chosen race, that is, Israel. For God, the Lord of all, beholds men, and considers the path of each one, and takes vengeance upon those who commit injustice; He inflicts penalties in His wrath, but He saves those who have suffered injury. ^C It is, moreover, necessary to remember that even when He was speaking above of the four chariots and describing the appearance of the horsemen, He added further: "Behold, those who go forth to the land of the north have made my wrath rest in the land of the north." The wrath of the Lord, which is hostile to evils, rests in a certain way when those who have offended Him by sinning exceedingly and without restraint have paid their penalties.

VERS. 3, 4. "Tyre and Sidon, because they were very wise; and Tyre built strongholds for herself, and heaped up silver as the dust, and gathered gold as the mire of the streets. Therefore the Lord will possess her, and will strike her power in the sea, and she herself shall be consumed in fire."

LIII. The events concerning the cities, against which He affirmed the burden of the Lord had been made, harmonize with the words. He begins from Tyre and Sidon, which are ^D extremely famous above all others, excelling in their strength,

... ^A foremost among others, distinguished by their strength, their wealth, and the bravery of their inhabitants, and having, as it were, the others under their hand and superior to their neighbors. Since, therefore, he says, Tyre and Sidon lift up their brow and deem themselves powerful and unshakable, and place their hope in fortifications—that is, in the walls by which they are surrounded—or in other things by which a city might flourish and be safe, and also applaud themselves for the abundance of their riches, for this reason they will learn by experience that the Lord will possess them. For by saying that they were captured by the Israelites, or rather by Vespasian and Titus, he means that they will be possessed by the Lord. For He it was who delivered them and put them into the hands of those who captured them. For the Romans, bringing the whole world under their sway, showed themselves gentle and benign to those who surrendered of their own accord, but sharp and invincible to those who were willing to resist. He says, therefore, that it will be burned down, its fortifications being pulled into the sea and its wealth plundered, even if its gold were as dust, and its silver as the mire of the streets. For the inhabitants of Tyre were experienced merchants and most greedy for gain, a subject about which the prophet Ezekiel has spoken at great length. Nothing, therefore, will ever profit those who offend God and accuse the saints and laugh excessively if anything—when God is testing the faith of His own people—should befall them. For every fortification of theirs will be rendered useless—that is, every surrounding wall and every means of safety; and wealth will profit them nothing at all, but will rather provide an incentive for the despoilers to be zealous in their work. ^C And one might see even now the sons of the Greeks likewise puffed up with worldly wisdom, and, as if in fortifications, placing their own error behind the power of their eloquence as if behind a wall, by means of the deceits of complex syllogisms, and being exceedingly wealthy—their eloquence as brilliant as silver, and their precious intellectual thoughts as gold. Nevertheless, Christ has taken possession even of men such as these. For the fortifications have been destroyed—that is, the inventions of deceit have fallen—and the gold and silver have been plundered. For those who in their own times have presided over the Churches, men eloquent and wise, having seized for themselves the power of that eloquence, have made it a sacred offering to God, contending for the doctrine of faith and making a most abundant and true refutation of their imposture. The Israelites also did such a thing ^D; for having borrowed gold and silver vessels from the Egyptians, and having despoiled their unjust masters, they offered them in the wilderness to the most holy God, and from them the tabernacle and the holy vessels for His service were fashioned. Therefore, those who, through worldly wisdom and the splendor of speech, build up the Church, despoil the sons of the Greeks, and, having become wealthy from their great abundance, as it were, of gold and silver, they make it a possession for the Lord, speaking to others of things that pertain to His glory, and while overthrowing the fortification of those others, they build up what is understood to be the holy city, namely, the Church.

^A

VERS. 5, 6. *Videbit Ascalon, et timebit: et Gaza, et dolebit nimis; et Accaron, quia confusa est a spe sua. Et peribit rex de Gaza, et Ascalon non habitabitur. Et alienigenae habitabunt in Azoto, et destruam superbiam alienigenarum.*

LIV. When the onset of war and battle spreads through a region, the cities within it are at times more confident and uplifted by good hopes. They believe, in fact, that they will be victorious over their enemies, either through the multitude of their inhabitants, or the strength of their walls, and their knowledge of military arts. But if one of their number—perhaps the one that could be called the most powerful—is captured, then indeed, then every one of them succumbs to fear, casts off its hope—I mean the hope of being able to flee—and laments as if already fallen. Since, then, such a conspicuous, most valiant, and wealthy city has been captured: "Ascalon shall see," He says, "and shall fear, and Gaza shall grieve, and also Accaron." These are cities of the Philistines. It shall grieve, moreover, "because it is confused by its hope." For they thought that the strength of the Tyrians would also be sufficient for their own aid. But after they saw them overturned, they fell from their hope. And the prince of Gaza, He says, shall vanish, as one destroyed. And aliens shall dwell in Azotus, the natives having been consumed, as is consistent, by the war. He adds to these: "And I will destroy the aliens," that is, the Philistines, whom He habitually calls aliens. It is possible, if it pleases anyone, to transfer these words to the other nations that have vexed Israel, those that are bordering and neighbors to the Jews. But these things have been said by us again ^B as adapted to the letter.

One must know, however, as I have said, that sometimes when the Church is suffering persecution, it is horribly invaded, and mocked by enemies who perhaps shout, "Aha, aha!" according to what is written. Nevertheless, Christ brings aid and will shatter their entire power, raising up His own temple and imposing the most severe punishments upon those who lie in wait, casting down like certain cities the synagogues of heresies, and furthermore, the impious crowds of idolaters.

VERS. 7. *Et auferam sanguinem eorum de ore illorum, et abominationes eorum de medio dentium eorum. Et relinquentur et isti Deo nostro, et erunt ut tribunus in Juda, et Accaron sicut Jebusaeus.*

LV. These, too, had devoured Israel, and like wild beasts, had their mouths, as it were, stained with blood. Since, however, they were idolaters and addicted to superstitions, they almost always had upon their tongue, or rather in their teeth, the invocations of their own abominations, everywhere calling out, as they say, "up and down," things made by hands as gods, and saying to stones devoid of sense, according to the prophet: "You are my God, and you have begotten me." But since they had so savagely set themselves against Israel... ^C

Nevertheless, they have not perished utterly; for God, foreseeing their future conversion, has put a stop to the slaughter from their own mouths. This means that, even if they had almost swallowed up Israel like wild beasts, a time will come when they shall be pure and freed from the guilt incurred by these things. For they too shall be justified by faith, and they shall wash away the stain of their ancient depravity. ^A And I will take away, He says, the names of their abominations from the midst of their teeth; for they shall no longer mention the falsely-named gods, nor shall they call upon them. ^B And these also shall be left to our God, just as Israel himself indeed also is; for the remnant of him has been saved, however wicked they may have been towards Emmanuel Himself. But since the multitude of the Gentiles that was called has been united spiritually to those from the blood of Israel who have believed, Christ coupling them into one—"For He is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition, and has created the two peoples into one new man, making peace, and reconciling both in one Spirit unto the Father"—therefore He says that they shall be as a captain in Judah, that is to say, they shall advance to such sincerity of faith and goodness that princes of Judah shall arise even from them. ^C And Accaron shall also be—that is to say, the alien, he who is of the Philistines—as the Jebusite, that is to say, as the very people who are the inhabitants of Jerusalem. For Jerusalem was called Jebus in ancient times; wherefore, by the name Jebusite, the inhabitant of Jerusalem is here to be understood. Now, many captains—that is to say, leaders and moderators of peoples—have been raised up even from the Gentiles, and they exist throughout the whole world. But by the name Judah, you shall understand those who are accustomed to praise, namely us, who have been called in faith, who are accustomed to celebrate with perpetual hymns Christ, by whom we have been called.

"And I will set upon my house a bulwark, that no one may pass through, nor return, and the oppressor shall no more come upon them; for now have I seen with my eyes." ^D

LVI. Behold, He clearly calls Christ a bulwark and a wall, through whom we also are built up on high, according to the good pleasure and will of God and the Father. For the house which falls under the intellect, and the building of God, according to the voice of Paul, is surely we who have believed; if it is true that He dwells in our hearts through the Spirit, and has His abode in those who love Him. 56 For He Himself says through the voice of the prophet: "For I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." The bulwark, therefore, raised up by the will of the Father for the Church is Christ, so that no longer, as formerly, may certain ones pass through and return, in

^A moving hither and thither over us, and treading upon us as upon a desolate path, and filling our hearts with every harm. For He says somewhere concerning the children of Israel, which was a vine of old to its owner: "I will take away its hedge, and it shall be for plunder; and I will tear down its wall, and it shall be for trampling." But to us who have known His manifestation, a wall has been raised, and Emmanuel Himself is our hedge, surrounding us with ineffable power, and driving away from our minds the unclean demons, nor suffering us to be subjected to their feet. Wherefore also the prophet says to Him: "And you shall be called," he says, "a builder of hedges, and you shall cause the paths that were in the midst to cease." For just as those who are accustomed to fence in uncultivated vineyards destroy the paths through the middle, not allowing them to be trodden by the feet of those passing by, ^B so also our Lord Jesus Christ, placing Himself around us as a most solid wall, and surrounding us with angelic hosts, has ensured that we can no longer be trodden underfoot. He says, furthermore, that the ravisher will no longer come against them. For of old we were captives, and easily led away to any kind of wickedness, moving readily, with Satan driving and carrying us, and from these things inciting us to those—but Christ has put an end to this too. For the plunderer shall not come against us; he shall not rush in, as before, just as he pleases. For we have been fixed in Christ, and we have a safe and established heart, no longer cast down toward that which is not fitting; not entering into the worship of many gods, not driven away to error; but as if having stepped into faith and love toward God, so that rejoicing in this we may say: "And He set my feet upon a rock." ^C And in saying, "Because now I have seen with my eyes," he clearly points out the time of the Savior’s advent to be the time of visitation. For "the Dayspring from on high has visited us," and, as David says, "the Lord looked down from heaven upon the earth," although of old, on account of the sin by which we were bound, He did not deem us worthy of healing, nor pardon, nor love, nor any other such thing at all, but as it were turned away. Wherefore also we were troubled, which the blessed David also testifies, saying: "When You turn away Your face, they shall be troubled, and they shall return to their dust." But since now, that is, at the time of the coming, we have seen with His eyes, we have been saved and have found mercy, and what—in the end—have we not obtained that is greater and more admirable than any speech?

VOLUME FOUR

^A LVII. He clearly proclaims in these words the presence of our Saviour hereafter, so that there may be no place left at all for sadness. For he commands Sion, which is understood as the Church, to rejoice earnestly, as if all our sorrow were dissipated. For why should we still mourn, or indeed lament any of our affairs, now that sin has been cast away, death has been trampled underfoot, human nature has been called to a state of freedom and dignity, and has been adorned with the grace of the adoption of sons, and illuminated with heavenly and divine gifts? Observe, moreover, that as he gives the good news of the advent of our Saviour, he immediately calls her the daughter of Sion. Wherefore, he most justly commands her to rejoice in the greatest measure, and urges Jerusalem to announce that her king, righteous and saving, is already about to arrive and appear in the flesh. For Christ has justified us by faith, ^B and he broadens the path of salvation for those who approach him. Moreover, he is meek, not bringing legal severity, nor punishing with death those who violate the commandment, but rather, out of meekness, raising up those who have fallen. We have read that "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life." For the letter is the punishing law, a shadow and a figure; but the life-giving spirit is Christ, for we have been taught to worship in spirit and in truth through the evangelical instruction. That he also mounted a young foal, and thus entered Jerusalem, does not require many words for confirmation. For the divine evangelist suffices for our faith, in whom this is written. Christ indeed sat upon the foal, while its mother followed; and the event was for us a sign of a most necessary matter. For Christ rested upon the new people, that is, upon those called to the acknowledgement of the truth, ^C who once worshipped idols. For it was like a foal, not yet broken, nor indeed knowing how to walk aright; for it had not been disciplined by the divine law. But he who leads all to spiritual excellence set the foal apart for himself. He signifies, moreover, that the Synagogue of the Jews will at some time follow, through the ass that follows, even though at the time of the vocation it had preceded, for it had been called beforehand through Moses and the prophets. But since it stumbled against the saving king (for it did not accept the faith), it follows the foal justly with difficulty, and has become a "tail," that is, a follower, even behind the nations; and that which was first has become last. Observe, furthermore, how he who "knows the reins and hearts" revealed the human nature that has lapsed into extreme madness. For the Synagogue of the Jews and the multitude of the nations are compared to the ass, ^D a creature devoid of reason. For the latter worshipped the creature rather than the Creator God; while the former, despising the law as a pedagogue or instructor, lost its good sense and declined into every kind of wickedness. "For they have been compared to senseless beasts and have become like them," as the Psalmist says. Moreover, the ass is a symbol of impurity, being a profane animal and condemned by the law. Such precisely are those who wander in error and willingly wallow in their sins.

^A Ver. 10. *And He shall destroy the chariots from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle-bow shall be destroyed, and the multitude, and peace from the nations; and He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth.*

^B LVIII. That the Only-begotten, having become man, was about to subject to the feet of those who love Him the “principalities and powers, and the world-rulers of this darkness,” that is, the detestable companies of demons, and to subject to them every enemy visible and invisible, and to break every war, and to gladden them with the good things of peace, the prophetic word enigmatically reveals to us. For at certain times the Babylonians, and indeed certain other of the neighboring nations too, did invade the residents of Jerusalem, riding on horses and in chariots and shooting with bows, according to what is written, and they were thus oppressed and afflicted with bitter pains. By way of the event that is customary, he declares the splendor of the achievements in Christ. For He who saves, he says, the righteous and most meek King, will indeed arrive, and not far hence. Yet not with a great multitude of satellites, not having bodyguards, nor thousands of those who know the art of war with Him. And he is so exercised in moderation of mind, that he will with difficulty even mount the foal. Yet he will be so great in virtue, and will so benefit those who trust in him, that he will remove chariots from Ephraim, and take away the horse from Jerusalem; he will destroy the battle-bow, and spread a deep peace, that from all the nations. He calls Ephraim the ten tribes in Samaria; Jerusalem those who have settled in it, namely Judah and Benjamin. Therefore, the prophetic word brings before us a subject of security and peace. For the holy city will not become easy to attack for those who wish to do it harm, he says, but the Savior of it will so extend his own kingdom as to rule over all Judea, from sea even to the rivers. For these are the exits of the earth, that is, the boundaries and limits. The divine David, too, chants in a certain place, speaking as if of the vine of the Synagogue of the Jews: “It stretched out its shoots unto the sea, and its branches unto the rivers.” For the land of the Jews is defined by the sea and the region to the south, and India, and what is called the [Land] Between the Rivers. But the kingdom of Christ will not be confined within these limits, far from it. The discourse proceeds, as from a particular example, to what is universal and most general. For He will not reign in Judea alone, but rather over the whole world under heaven, and His power will extend from end to end.

Vers. 11, 12. *And you, by the blood of your covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit that has no water. You shall sit, prisoners of the congregation, in the strongholds,*

^A LIX. The discourse now passes to the just and saving king, and indeed the gentle one as well, that is to say Christ, and it declares the illustrious and admirable works of his incarnation. For the only-begotten Word of God, willing, "emptied himself," having become man. "He endured the cross, despising the shame," and laid down his own soul as a ransom for the life of all, and acquired for God the Father that which is under heaven in the blood of an eternal covenant, of which the blood sprinkled upon the ancients by the most wise Moses was a type. For he says: "Moses having taken the blood and the book himself, sprinkled all the people, saying, This is the blood of the covenant which God has ordained towards you." But those things were types and a foreshadowing of the truth. But now the truth itself is Christ, who has purchased us all in the blood of the covenant. "For we have been redeemed," as his disciple says, "not with corruptible silver or gold, but with the precious blood as of a lamb ^B blameless and unspotted, Christ." You, therefore, he says, O most just and most gentle king, have sent forth—that is, you have brought out, or led forth, or released—those of yours who had become prisoners "from a pit that has no water" (meaning those whom you have bound with the bonds of love, and have persuaded to submit the neck of their mind to your yoke, and to bind it openly). By these words we say that either Hades is signified, which has no life—for we may accept water as a symbol of life—or we will interpret it, and most fittingly, as Hades, the deception of the false gods. For it is truly a pit into which, if anyone should fall completely, he will be destitute of the life in the world to come. But that Christ, when he died, emptied Hades and opened the lower gates to the spirits in prison, is clear to everyone. And the God of all said somewhere through the voice of Jeremiah concerning those from Israel who had abandoned him and turned senselessly to the deception of idol-madness: ^C "The heaven was astonished at this, and shuddered exceedingly, says the Lord; for my people have wrought two evils. They have forsaken me, a fountain of living water, and have hewn out for themselves broken cisterns, which will not be able to hold water." For just as the true and unerring knowledge concerning God is a fountain of life and a life-giving fountain; so waterless pits, and as it were broken cisterns, might be understood as the toys of idolatry and the delusion concerning them. Then he addresses the prisoners themselves and urges them on to good hopes, saying, "You shall sit in the stronghold, prisoners of the congregation." And he calls the Church a stronghold, as I suppose, because it is walled about in Christ and possesses immovability. And by "sitting," he speaks of a certain stability in the faith. For it is written concerning God: "For you are sitting for the ages," ^D which is to say, possessing a stable and immovable nature. You shall be secure, therefore, he says, having the firmness of faith, O prisoners of my congregation, which is the holy multitude of those justified in Christ. Not indeed destitute...

of reward is the endurance they possess in all excellent things, and the fact that it is rooted in the love of God, he indicates by saying: «And instead of one day of thy sojourning, I will render thee double.» And what the meaning is of what he wishes to say is this: For all the saints are sojourners on earth, and strangers, and the life of every man in the body is very brief, so that for this reason, because of its extreme brevity, you could perhaps compare it to one day. Therefore, "instead of one day of thy sojourning," he says—that is, instead of the brief and short time of life in the body—I will render thee rewards, both double and in abundance. And Christ also says somewhere that «a good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall they give into your bosom.» For we do not expect rewards equal to our actions, but with great increase, since the giver is munificent.

VERSE 13. Because I have bent thee for myself, Juda, as a bow, ^C I have filled Ephraim.

LX. In what way the multitude of the Gentiles, about to enter through faith, shall be called, and how he who formerly triumphed, that is, Satan, shall be wretched, stripped of the worshippers whom he had most greedily acquired, and shall be brought to worship, he further declares. He speaks, however, as if to the holy apostles, or teachers from Israel, who also, traversing the regions of the Gentiles, called those who are native [to those regions] to the acknowledgment of the truth, and enclosed them in their net. Therefore he says: «O Juda, I have bent thee for myself as a bow,» that is, through thee ^D I will shoot the adversaries; «and thee, O Ephraim, I have filled.» And what this is, I will say again. For when those skilled in archery bend the iron bow and draw the string to their breast, then they are said to fill the bow, and they cast the flying arrow, or javelin. It is, therefore, one and the same thing said significantly. I have made thee a bow, he says, O Juda; I have filled thee also, O Ephraim. Now Juda and Ephraim embrace the whole Israelite race. Therefore, he has made those of the Jews who believed before others as a bow, moved to such a state of mind that they might instruct the nations, and drive away from the seduced the herds of demons, and strike Satan, and, in a word, all those who set themselves against divine decrees and resist the sacred doctrine proceeding from them. Thus also the divine David says somewhere to the God and Savior of all: «Thy arrows are sharp, O mighty one; peoples shall fall under thee, in the heart of the king’s enemies.» For the arrows of the mighty one, that is, of Christ, strike the enemies of God and the Father into the heart and into the reins. Again, his arrows are those who teach the wandering and those who by nature and in truth know not God. They strike, however, not to death, but bringing them down to the love that is in Christ, that they may also fall under him. Such is she who in the Song of Songs is described as the bride, saying explicitly: «I am wounded with love.» That the most brave and valiant divine disciples have gone forth, the wise Psalmograph testifies, speaking of them in the Spirit: «As»

arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of those who have been cast out.» For he calls those from Israel «cast out,» as having fallen from divine grace because of their insolence toward Christ. Their children, however, have become as arrows sent from the hand of a mighty man. The prophet Habakkuk also says at one point, as if to Emmanuel Himself concerning the holy apostles: «Thy darts shall go forth in the light of the shining of thy weapons.»

And [I will] raise up thy children, O Sion, against the children of the Greeks, and I will handle thee as a warrior's sword.

LXI. Behold, he clearly calls the teachers from the Jews his own bow. For what are the children of Sion who rise up against the children of the Greeks, if not the divine disciples, and those who at various times preside over the Churches, and rightly divide the word of truth? For how could the intelligible Sion be understood as anything other than the Church? They fight against the children of the Greeks and make war upon those who have been led astray, God having set them as a warrior's sword. Thus also the divine Paul represents the soldier who is understood to be in Christ as being adorned; for he clothes him with «the breastplate of righteousness» in Christ, and furthermore also with «the helmet of salvation.» Then he gives him «the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.» Making use of this sword against the children of the Greeks, they cut away the deceit that sprouts up within them, and by applying to them the word of God, which is «living and active,» they cut out the wicked and unclean spirit, so that they may henceforth be able, with a mind pure and free and unfettered by the servitude of demons, to receive the word of the true knowledge of God.

And the Lord shall be over them, and he shall appear, and his arrow shall go forth as lightning.

LXII. He teaches that the Lord God will be with them, ^C and will fight alongside them, and will overthrow those who have resisted them. For he says: «The Lord shall be over them,» meaning, clearly, over those who have prepared themselves to resist the ministers of His Gospel. Each arrow is a teacher, or apostle; for he compares them again to a dart or arrow sent by God, and adds that its path is like lightning, clearly meaning that it illuminates and strikes the eyes of all without effort. And the divine disciples, and the heralds of the Savior’s Gospels, and those after them who led the peoples and presided over the Churches, have become so bright and radiant that no one could be ignorant of the splendor of virtue within them. And signifying this very thing, the Savior said: «No one, having lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but upon a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.» And again: «Let your light so shine...»

742 VERS. 15, 16. *And the Lord Almighty shall sound the trumpet, and shall go in the tumult of his threatenings. The Lord Almighty shall protect them, and they shall consume them, and they shall overwhelm them with slingstones, and they shall drink their blood like wine, and they shall fill the altar like bowls. And the Lord shall save them in that day as sheep, his people.*

LXIII. As I have said, the Word clearly presents the God of the universe to them as a fellow soldier and companion in arms, so well-equipped and eager to struggle alongside them that he seems to advance in hostile fashion—nay, rather, to join battle—pouring forth all the strength that is in him against the enemies and their might. Most rightly, moreover, he says that he will wage war, not against those who have been caught by faith unto justification as in a net, but against those who unhappily resist the divine preaching, whom Paul also pointed out when he said: *For a great and evident door is opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.* [19*] ^A The Lord, he says, shall sound the trumpet. For the Lord has spoken the evangelical preaching, which has pervaded all the earth, when the mystery could be heard by all. For Moses was of a weak voice and slow of tongue, wherefore he was scarcely heard even throughout Judea alone. 20 But the discourse concerning Christ is by no means contained within such limits. For like a noble and most resonant trumpet, it has resounded everywhere in the ears of all. ^B *He shall go as in the tumult of his threatenings,* and he shall so protect his own guards that the adversaries shall be consumed as if by fire, and they shall all but overwhelm them, striking them down mightily with the stones of a sling. *And they shall drink their blood,* that is to say, as certain wild beasts leaping upon them, they will easily overcome and kill them. Moreover, they will offer bowls full of the blood of those who have fallen, as a kind of libation upon the altar. For the death of those who hinder the wandering from being saved is a sweet odor to God and an acceptable sacrifice. ^C For if the slayers of bodies do not deserve mercy, but are rather to be punished with like torment, what shall we say of the corrupters and slayers of souls?

Such as these may also be considered to be the eminent men among the Greeks, who have attained the glory of worldly wisdom, who frequently have gods and goddesses in their mouths, and who incite men to worship the creature rather than the Creator, and consecrate to any element the honor due to God. And yet they have seduced the world, not only as long as they themselves lived, but even unto subsequent times. For many thousands, persuaded by their lies and listening to cold and old-wives' fables, have perished throughout various ages. ^D Such men, therefore, have been taken away from the midst for the future.

^A For the profanation caused by their writings has vanished, their myths are rendered ineffective, and their blood, as it were, has been drunk up. For they are crushed and buried under the dogmas of truth just as if by stones cast from a sling, and, as I said, their empty babbling has become a sweet fragrance to God through their destruction. "And the Lord has saved His people like sheep." ^B Since He is the Creator of all, they who once wandered can rightly be called His people; and these, like a flock driven away by robbers, Christ has saved, having cast out the false shepherds and taken the human race into His own care. For He is the good shepherd who lays down His life for His sheep.

For holy stones are rolled upon His earth. "For if there is anything of His that is good, and if there is anything fair from Him, it is grain for young men, and wine sweet-smelling for virgins."

^C LXIV. We affirm that the "holy stones" that are rolled upon His earth are those who, at various times in the Churches, act as holy men and who might be termed mystagogues and teachers. For they have become conformed to the "precious and chief corner stone, which was set by God and the Father as the foundations of Sion." If the foundation is a stone, then those who are joined and fitted together, and are raised up into a holy temple to the Lord, are themselves also appropriately named stones. He says, most aptly, that they are "rolled," signifying thereby the agility and readiness of the saints for any task whatsoever. For stones that are spherical, or round, are superior to any delay and are more ready for movement than any others, if one should wish to move them; and the mind of the saints is very easily turned towards whatever pleases God. Since, then, the stones are thus, He teaches us to be suitably disposed. "For if there is anything of His that is good, and if there is anything fair from Him"—it is clear that all things are from God, who distributes to us everything that pertains to piety. And what are these things? "Grain for young men, and wine sweet-smelling for virgins." For to those who are growing into manhood ^D and who look toward what pleases Him with a youthful spirit, and have chosen to fulfill what is good, greater strength will be given by Him, which is understood as "grain." "Bread, indeed, strengthens a man's heart." But to those who are already purified and possess an undefiled mind, who might rightly be compared to venerable and holy virgins, there will be given "wine" in a spiritual sense—the clear and unadulterated knowledge about God, which "gladdens a man's heart." Therefore, both the young men and the virgins, according to the arguments just given to us, will rightly be called to a broad and abundant participation in the good things from above, and will hear God saying, "Eat, and drink, and be intoxicated, O neighbors." For such as these are neighbors of God: not in local proximity—for it is an absurdity to think or conceive of this—but by the presence of the mind, which is far more robust, and by the desire for whatever is best, and by love toward Him. For just as wickedness disturbs us and, as it were, drives us further away, so virtue sets us before God, that which we

^A separate and interpose—that is to say, sin—removing from our midst.

CAP. X.

VERS. 1. *Ask of the Lord rain in the time of the latter rain, the morning and the evening.*

LXV. For just as neither corn can grow in the fields without labor, nor can a vineyard produce much and good wine, so neither in us could there exist any spiritual fruitfulness, unless God, like rain, should send down the revelation of His own oracles into our minds and hearts, and should, as it were, instill into us the knowledge of the Old and New Testament, that is to say, of the legal and the evangelical; for such are the morning and evening rains. That the knowledge and spiritual commentary of the Law is not fruitless, but rather educates us through types and shadows toward the mystery of Christ, the Savior himself proves, speaking to the crowds of the Jews: *Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe me also; for he wrote of me.* He says elsewhere, too, concerning the Scribes and Pharisees, as those called from the legal institution to the better, that is, the evangelical: *Therefore every scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a householder, ^B who bringeth forth out of his treasure new things and old.* Asking, therefore, from God the legal and evangelical knowledge, and showing ourselves worthy to obtain it, we shall certainly receive it, and we shall heap up treasures in our minds, gathering things old and new, and we shall fill the mind with the greatest abundance.

VERS. 2. *The Lord hath made bright clouds, and will give them showers of rain, to every one herb in the field.* Because those who spoke, spoke vanity, and the diviners saw false visions, and spoke lying dreams, they comforted in vain. Therefore they withered away as not having rain, and were afflicted as sheep, because there was no healing.

LXVI. This passage is pregnant with a certain hidden meaning, which I consider must first be clearly explained by me: for thus those who are studious will perceive the counsel and aim of the prophet in the recited words. For his discourse ^C was concerning the saints, whom he also called holy stones, and to whom he affirmed that corn properly belongs, as to those acting manfully, or as to young men, and indeed also fragrant wine, because they are virgins—that is, chaste and undefiled. For they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified their flesh with the vices and concupiscences, as the divine Paul writes. He commanded them, however, to ask for morning and evening rain; then, the mention of those who wandered having been interjected, he brings forward as it were the cause, why they have neither corn nor wine, nor are they ^D watered by the rains which are perceived by the intellect,

so that from this they should have no herb in the field. ^A And the language is indeed composed as if concerning sensible things; yet the theory contained within them is very subtle and extremely pure. For God, he says, by bringing about appearances, that is to say, lightnings, and by pouring out upon the earth the winter rain which is useful, and by providing to each—that is, clearly, to those things in the fields—the herb, those who speak out have led them astray, that is to say, those who are false in speech and false in their oracles, and who tell divinations from their own hearts. These have spoken labors, that is to say, not things leading to rest for those who believe them, but things by which it is necessary to toil, offending God and being disregarded by Him. Moreover, the diviners also spoke false dreams, ^B smoothing their ears, clearly, with pleasing things, and fattening them with good hopes, while stating nothing true; rather, they were leading them off into deceit and error, not in the least indicating to them the giver and provider of spiritual things, but instead persuading them to seek prosperity from gods falsely so called. "Therefore," he says, "they dried up, as not having rain, and were troubled as sheep." For there was no herb, "there was no healing." For there was not among them one to bind up that which was broken, to raise up that which was crushed, to restore that which was afflicted. We must attend, therefore, not to those who speak vanities, false in word, sycophants and dreamers, but rather to God who flashes into our mind the light of true knowledge of God ^C and pours down intelligible rains—the consolations, I say, given through the Holy Spirit—and who causes herb to spring up for those in the field, that is again, Who feeds us as if on most flourishing grass, the blameless knowledge of the divinely inspired Scripture. "For a man who was in honor, did not understand, he was compared to the senseless cattle, and was made like unto them." But if one should somehow take into his mind the knowledge of the divine oracles, and partake of the spiritual food, then indeed, then, having cast off sloth, and having reassumed the mind befitting a man, he will again be in honor.

"Against the shepherds my wrath was kindled, and I will visit upon the lambs."

^D LXVII. In this passage, as I suppose, he calls the false prophets and false diviners shepherds, and the teachers of deceit, who have become a destruction and a snare to those who, having stumbled in the true opinion concerning God, have dedicated the honor and worship proper to Him to the creature, and have worshipped the works of their own hands, as it is written.

Nor is it strange to join with the false diviners also some of the Greeks, who, seeming to be very wise, have led astray those who adhered to them by their own eloquence, and like some shepherds who are not good, have fed them among thorns and into a great uselessness of rotten thoughts. For what among them...

^A tends to the knowledge of the truth? They are most worthy to be punished by God. For they have not only lost their own souls, but have furthermore led others into error, as I said, by gilding over their lies with the bombast of words, and abusing their speech for the sake of deception. But He visits the lambs, showing mercy, clearly, and transferring them from deceit to the recognition of the truth, and moving them from wandering into the straight path. For just as it was consistent that the penalty befits the injuries done to those who had been wronged by them, so again, there could by no means be lacking to those who had suffered a merciful judgment, consistent with divine gentleness and just decree. For it was necessary, I say, it was necessary that those who were unjustly treated be saved, with God forgetting the injury done to Him by them beforehand, and setting free from punishment those who had been subjected to the deceits of the shepherds, perhaps even against their will.

VERS. 4, 5. *And the Lord God Almighty shall visit His flock, the house of Judah, and shall set them as His goodly horse in the battle, and from Him He looked, and from Him He set the bow in the spirit of wrath. And from Him shall go forth every one that driveth [the taskmaster] upon it, and they shall be as warriors trampling the mire in the ways in battle, and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them.*

LXVIII. How He will punish the evil shepherds, and will visit and recover the lambs, He clearly shows. For having produced from the Jews the teachers of the world, the holy apostles and evangelists, through them He overcame the wise men of the Greeks; and He snatched the lambs from their garrulity, and having extricated them from the snares of deceit, removed them into the true and blameless knowledge of God. He says, therefore: *He will visit His flock, the house of Judah.* He shall make it as a goodly and most warlike horse, upon which, as it were, spiritually riding, He shall, as I said, make war upon the language of the Greeks, and shall lay bare the deformity of their wisdom and the emptiness of all its fruit. For who could doubt that through the dispersions of the Greeks, the divine disciples were as certain horses, all but neighing against their loquacity and God-hated deceit? Since Christ says concerning the blessed Paul to Ananias: *Go, for this man is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the nations, and kings, and the children of Israel.* And Habakkuk also says, as it were, addressing our Lord Jesus Christ: *For Thou shalt mount upon Thy horses, and Thy riding is salvation.* He says, therefore: *He shall place him as a goodly horse in the battle, and from Him He looked.* Just as if He said: God indeed considered those who were fit for the ministry of the evangelical preaching, but He chose them from the tribe of Judah, and from them He appointed the preachers. For He willed them to become the ministers of His will, and the helpers, and as it were mediators and dispensers of the grace to be bestowed by Him. Furthermore, he says, from Him, that is, Judah, in the fury is the bow stretched.

^A against the adversaries. In addition, from Him shall go forth and come forth [v. 4] the plunderer and the one leading the captives. I think he calls the plunderer and the one leading away the captives an "abactor" (one who drives away cattle or captures).

The holy disciples did this: they snatched from the Greeks those whom they offered to the great King—I speak of Christ—so that they might be under Him and willing to think His thoughts, having late and with difficulty shaken off the yoke of diabolical servitude. And the holy disciples behaved themselves so bravely against the wise men of the Greeks that already they seemed, in a certain way, to be trampling upon the mud lying in the street. For the Lord was with them, ^B "who does great and inscrutable things, glorious and marvelous, of which there is no number." And Christ also calls to those who believe in Him somewhere: "Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." We must know, furthermore, that we say these things while weaving together a spiritual interpretation.

But it seems to the Jews that the matter is not thus; rather, they receive it historically, and they say that after the time of the captivity, Antiochus, nicknamed Epiphanes, made war upon them, having gathered a vast multitude of combatants from the land of the Greeks, and he was likewise puffed up by the help of others. But as they themselves say, Israel conquered, and gained a better glory from his cruelty. For then it happened that the martyrs from the Maccabees were crowned with the crown of approval ^C for their virtue. To prove their opinion, they bring forward what was said by us just now, and what follows shortly after; they stand as follows: "For I have bent you for Myself, O Judah, as a bow; I have filled Ephraim, and I will raise up your sons, O Zion, against the sons of the Greeks, and I will handle you like the sword of a warrior. And the Lord shall be over them, and His javelin shall go forth like lightning. And the Lord Almighty shall sound with a trumpet, and He shall go in the shaking of His threats. The Lord Almighty shall shield them."

^D VERS. 6. And the riders of horses shall be ashamed, and I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will make them dwell, because I have loved them.

LXIX. Again, those who support Jewish narratives assert that when the battle with the Greeks was joined, their horsemen perished, but those who are of the blood of Israel conquered, so that they occupied their country—the land of Judaea, of course—free from every fear, and with no one at all being taken away or made a captive. But we, striving to bring forward an explanation of the meanings that is consistent with the former and authentic, contend that the "riders of horses" who are put to shame are none other than the leaders of Greek dogmas and the champions of that God-hated seduction, by whose overthrow Judah conquered, and the house of Joseph was also saved. For by these things is signified the Israelitic blood and race, or the multitude of the justified in Christ, who in mind and

heart bear about the Jew, and have obtained the circumcision which is in the spirit, and have a mind seeing God; for thus is Israel interpreted. ^A Since they have been beloved by God, for this reason they have been settled, that is to say, they have obtained a permanent dwelling-place in all good things. For it is written: "God maketh those who are of one mind to dwell in a house." And the divine Isaiah also somewhere says concerning him who leads a life of singular virtue: "Walking in justice, hating iniquity and injustice, and keeping his hands from presents, stopping his ears that he may not hear the judgment of blood, and closing his eyes that he may not see iniquity, he shall dwell in a lofty cave of a strong rock." It is also not unreasonable to say that the house given by God to the saints is the Church, or the heavenly mansions; a matter which the blessed David deems worthy of all admiration, thus addressing the Saviour of all: "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house; they shall praise thee for ever and ever." ^B

VERS. 7. *And it shall be as when I had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them, and they shall be as the warriors of Ephraim.*

LXX. He promises that he will strengthen those who were confused by the wise men of Greece, who are also called horsemen, and that he will cause those who have rejoiced in his mercy to dwell, adding, "For I have loved them." And what benefit they shall receive from being loved by God, he explains in what follows: "As," says he, "when I had not cast them off." For I did not abandon them entirely, but I visited them even when they were struggling with dangers, "For I am the Lord their God," that is, I will make their supplications acceptable, "and they shall be as the warriors of Ephraim." As if he said again: Those who were at one time, through the weakness of mind and spirit, as it were relaxed and prostrate, shall now advance to such a degree of spiritual strength, that they will seem henceforth to be in an equal rank with those who have prospered from Ephraim, that is to say, with the apostles and evangelists from the Jews. ^C For such as these have become spiritual warriors, putting to flight enemies, casting down adversaries, and conquering indeed "principalities, powers, and the spiritual hosts of wickedness," and overcoming the opponents of the sacred preaching without a struggle. There have also been called from the multitude of the nations through faith to the knowledge of Christ, holy men, filled with the Spirit of God, and as it were warriors of Ephraim. For they have been warriors: for, according to their ability, they have emulated the manner of life of the apostles and their virtue by walking in the same footsteps, and they themselves also have fearlessly contended against the enemies of the truth, and against vices and sins. ^D

*And their heart shall rejoice as with wine, and their children shall see, and shall be glad, and their heart shall rejoice in the Lord.*

LXXI. The mind of those who have drunk wine is always somewhat inconsistent and discordant, and it bids farewell to prudence; for it admits nothing that causes sadness, but is in a way relaxed and gains dominance over all anxieties. If, therefore, they should become like the warriors of Ephraim, then, aye then, their souls will be filled with joy, and they will rejoice in the hope of future good things as illustrious and approved men, and they will have those born of them—their sons, spiritually understood—as imitators of their excellent life. Such was the divine Paul, who cried out to those called through him, writing and saying: "For though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers. For in Christ Jesus I became your father through the Gospel." The children, therefore, who shall be born of them "shall see and shall rejoice." For having been born into the contemplations regarding Christ, and having learned the power of the mystery, and having been enlightened by the gifts of the Spirit, they will act rightly and will receive the joy in the Savior Christ Himself, and will make Him their gladness and delight and exultation of soul and heart. And this may also be a clear proof of having chosen to live in a way pleasing to God. For those who devote the inclination of their own mind to the things in the world, and have inclined toward base things, rejoice in them and make wealth the source of their gladness, and they delight in the pleasures of the flesh; accustomed to the other luxuries of the present life, they reckon the things of God as of very little account at all. But those who seek Him with their whole heart, and are nourished by the contemplations upon Him, will expand the eye of their mind and will enjoy the pleasures which are in Him and in Him alone. ^C

VERS. 8, 9. *I will signal to them, and I will receive them, for I will redeem them, and they shall be multiplied as they were many. And I will sow them among the peoples, and they that are far off shall remember me, and they shall rear their children, and they shall return.*

LXXII. He makes mention again of His love for the Jews, and moreover promises to gather them, dispersed as they are, and to bring them together from every land into Judea, so that absolutely no one is lost. He then indicates the manner in which this future gathering will take place. For they say that beekeepers are accustomed to make certain signals, either by whistling or by doing other things I know not, and thus call back the swarms of bees that have wandered away from the hives. Something of this sort was also said through the voice of Isaiah. For He says: "And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall whistle to the flies that rule part of the river of Egypt, and to the bee which is in the land of the Assyrians." Others say that in times of war, if it happens that soldiers are scattered, whether while pursuing those who flee or while fleeing themselves from those who pursue, a signal is raised from a high place by the commanders; seeing this, they assemble and retreat to the same place. The thing set down by the prophet Isaiah also points to something of this sort: "And it shall be as a mast on a mountain, and as a standard bearing on a hill." Therefore, he draws a similitude from what is accustomed to happen. For he says: "I will signal to them, and I will receive ^D them, for I will redeem them."

A great and manifest sign has been raised for us, the cross of the Savior, ^A through which we have become acceptable to God and the Father. ^B Moreover, we have been redeemed, and we who have believed have spread out into an immeasurable multitude. Since he added, "And I will sow them among the peoples, and those who are far off will remember me," we say the same thing again, and not without good reason; for the discourse has a high degree of probability. For the divine disciples and heralds of the holy Gospels were sown as if in many nations, and in every land and city; and they caused those who were furthest from God, on account of the intervening sin and error, to remember Him, and to bring to mind the Savior and Creator of all, even though they had previously offered divine honors to the creature, and had thus fallen away from the friendship of God. And the divine Paul, speaking to those called through him to the knowledge of Christ, says: "But now you, who were once far off, have been brought near." They will come, therefore, mindful of God. Yet the blessed prophet Jeremiah hints at something similar to us, as it were, to Israel: "You who are far off, remember the Lord, and let Jerusalem come up into your heart." And if they should indeed remember the God who is such by nature, then, at that very time, they will proceed to spiritual strength, so that they may even become fathers of children, and nourish their own children with words of piety, and boast in this very thing. The blessed Paul also writes to those nourished through him, who have ascended to a perfect man and have reached the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ ^C: at one time, "My joy and crown"; at another, "By the glory that I have in Christ Jesus." For as it is written: "The crown of the aged is their children's children, and the glory of children is their fathers."

Vers. 10. And I will turn them from the land of Egypt, and I will receive them from the Assyrians, and I will bring them into Galaaditis and into Libanus, and not one of them shall be left behind.

LXXIII. When Nabuchodonosor conquered Judea by force of arms and burned the most sacred temple and the city of Jerusalem itself, then all of Israel was afflicted. For some were led away captive to the Assyrians and Medes; ^D but others, who had escaped their cruelty and were able to flee, fearing and shuddering at being caught in the same miseries, went of their own accord to the Egyptians, and were compelled by necessity to submit to the yoke of servitude among them. Therefore, since He promised that He would gather them together from every place, He also mentions the regions to which they were taken: some having been made captives, as I said, and others having been driven by intolerable terrors to do things that they did not wish to do.

^A Since it is proper for those who are most lovers of contemplation and spiritual men to apply themselves to spiritual interpretation, we say that He promises to rescue them from the region or hand of invisible enemies, and to free them from every terror; and, while they are captives and as it were subject to others, to transform them, so to speak, into freedom. Or, in another way, He says that they shall be delivered from darkness and confusion; for Egypt is interpreted as "darkness," and Babylon as "confusion." The account very often does not distinguish, but counts the Assyrians and Babylonians as one nation, because they were subject to one scepter and one kingdom had been established over them. Therefore, He promises that those ransomed from the hand of those who were defrauding them, He will bring into Gilead (this is a portion of the Jewish land that is most fertile and productive) and indeed also into Lebanon, and this is a wooded and great mountain lying in the borders of the land of the Jews and the Phoenicians. By both of these, I suppose, that thing is signified. For when our Lord Jesus Christ had delivered us as if from Egypt and the Assyrians—that is, from the greed of those who had held us captive (for these are wicked and unclean demons)—He brought us as into a wooded and most fertile land, the Church, in which there is a very great fruit of those who are well-approved, and the heads of the saints are innumerable, raised on high because of virtue and, as it were, flourishing in the order of the cedar ^B, as might be said of them, and very appropriately, through the voice of David to the God of all: "The cedars of Lebanon which Thou hast planted" (Ps. CIII, 16). For the divine Paul also clearly named those justified in faith "God's tillage" (I Cor. III, 9).

And they shall pass through a narrow sea, and shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the rivers shall be dried up, and all the pride of the Assyrians shall be taken away, and the scepter of Egypt shall be taken away, and I shall strengthen them in the Lord their God, and they shall boast in His name, saith the Lord.

LXXIV. The promise of help to those who believe in Christ is given by way of similarity to the things granted to the ancients. For just as Israel was led across the Red Sea, having prevailed over the waves within it—for the waters stood firm like a wall, while God brought the matter to pass marvelously—and just as they crossed the Jordan on dry foot; so, He says, those called through Moses to the knowledge of Christ, and having obtained salvation through the sacred instructions of the holy apostles, shall cross, as it were, a sea ^C of the present life that is savagely surging with waves. Having become free from worldly turmoil, they will serve at leisure Him who is by nature God. They shall also pass through temptations, like certain flooding rivers, so that rejoicing in this very thing they may say: "If it had not been that the Lord was with us, let Israel now say; if it had not been that the Lord was with us, when men rose up against us, perhaps they would have swal^D lowed us alive..."

When their wrath was kindled against us, perhaps the water would have swallowed us up. Our soul passed through the torrent, perhaps our soul passed through the insupportable water.” ^A Just as he says that Israel, once he had been made captive and carried off to the Assyrians and Medes, escaped their insolence or tyranny—they who were accustomed to press upon him and harass him with arms—in the same way, he says, those who have been redeemed through Christ will be stronger than their enemies, both visible and invisible, who all but drove them into unwanted slavery and, as it were, bound them as captives with the chains taken from their own depravity. ^B But they will be stronger than these too, and will escape their insolence and tyranny, with God strengthening them, in whom they will also boast. For we think highly in Christ, and have made Him our strength, and we have placed our trust in Him, and have fixed all the hopes of our life in Him. For not an ambassador, not an angel, but the Lord Himself saved us; and as the blessed Psalmist says: “God is our refuge and strength, a helper in the tribulations which have found us exceedingly.”

CHAP. XI

VERS. 1, 2. Open, O Lebanon, thy gates, and let fire devour thy cedars. Let the pine howl, for the cedar is fallen, because the great ones have been miserably afflicted. Howl, O ye oaks of Basan, for the thick forest is cut down.

LXXV. He now shifts the meaning of what is said to certain other senses. For when he had sufficiently and very aptly narrated the calling of the Gentiles in Christ through faith, he clearly foretells the future incredulity of the Israelites concerning Him, precisely at the time when He was a man among us; and for this cause, that the temple itself must be burned, and also Jerusalem, and furthermore that the cities of Israel themselves must be subdued and perish along with their inhabitants. ^C These things were accomplished by the hand of the Romans, when at one time Vespasian and Titus were moving arms against Judea. And, as it appears, it is superfluous to recount in detail each of the things that happened to the cities or peoples of the Jews on account of their reviling of Christ, since it is permitted to those who wish to read the history of Josephus, and from thence to learn accurately each single thing they might desire. He passes, therefore, to those who were of the blood of Israel. And he compares Judea to Lebanon; for what reason? For Lebanon is a mountain conspicuous for its beautiful trees and very dense forests. The region of the Jews, however, is most populous, and most frequent in its ^D countless inhabitants, and as it were the tallest cedars or pines, and those more worthy of being seen than others—I refer, that is, to the priests and those in their own times reigning from the tribe of Judah, and those eminent in the ornaments of leadership, known throughout the whole province.

^C But since they have acted impiously against Christ—for "they took away the key of knowledge, and neither entered themselves, nor allowed those who were entering to enter," and finally crucified him, even though they knew that he is the heir; for this reason they have justly perished root and branch, together with their houses, their cities, and their most beloved ones.

Therefore, enigmatically, as I have said, he calls Judea "Lebanon," and he compares those who are prominent in it to the tallest trees, as being exalted above the others and greatly surpassing them. He signifies that the city was to be destroyed easily, just as indeed it did perish, by admitting the Roman army as it poured into it, and by being consumed in such a way, as if a thicket had had fire applied to it, saying: "Open, O Lebanon, your doors, and let the fire consume your cedars. Let the pine tree howl, for the cedar has fallen."

The expression is taken from a metaphor. For having named Lebanon—that is, having likened the land of the Jews to a mountain—he necessarily compares the inhabitants within it to the pine tree and the oaks. But that the discourse is about men is easy to see. For he says immediately that the great ones have greatly suffered. And he indicated what the manner of their suffering might be by saying, "Let the pine tree howl, for the cedar has fallen." For when the Roman hand was overrunning the cities in Judea, it happened ^D that the illustrious ones in them were captured every day. And those to whom this calamity had not yet happened would lament for those who had been captured, and they would receive them with a mourning that was meant for themselves, being despondent and terrified, as if they themselves were about to suffer this very thing immediately. This is what I believe is meant by: "Let the pine tree howl, for the cedar has fallen."

However, perhaps by the "oaks of ^B Bashan" he calls those in Jerusalem. For Bashan is a small region in Judea, fertile and very productive, and it nurtures very tall trees. And because those in Jerusalem were nobler than the others—I mean the priests and the rulers of the peoples—he called them the "oaks of Bashan," who indeed naturally lamented for the cutting down of the thicket that was natural to them. For they learned that the multitude throughout the whole country had been consumed like a kind of thicket, being cut down as if by axes by the savage onsets of those waging war. By "the natural thicket," which he says has also been cut down, understand nonetheless the very multitude in Jerusalem; for they have perished by famine and war, while the oaks of Bashan—that is, the leaders—are howling over it.

"A voice of shepherds wailing, for their magnificence has been brought to ruin. A voice of lions roaring, for the pride of Jordan has been brought to ruin."

^C LXXVI. He makes the clarification of these things more evident than what I just said. For he no longer names the pine or the oak, but he openly signifies the leaders of the Jewish orders, whom he says are wailing, and as if emitting voices, and mourning because they have been brought to ruin.

^A For they have become wretched and cast away, pitiable and most contemptible, though they formerly possessed a more splendid glory. For since those who are by Christ shepherds have been displayed—that is, the divine disciples—the magnificence of the false shepherds has been deservedly brought to misery. For the Lord of the flock used to accuse them through the holy prophets, speaking thus: "O shepherds who scatter and destroy the sheep of my pasture." And again: "For the shepherds became foolish, and did not seek the Lord; therefore, the whole flock did not understand, and was scattered." But he promised to those who believe in him that he would display genuine shepherds, saying again thus: "And I will bring you into Zion, and I will give you shepherds according to my heart, and they shall shepherd you, shepherding with knowledge." And who are these? The divine disciples, and those who lead the Churches in their own times, "rightly handling the word of truth," and who understand how to lead the flock subject to them to every possible spiritual advantage. Therefore the false shepherds have lamented, because their magnificence has been turned into misery; and he signifies this to us also in another way, adding: "A voice of roaring lions, because the roaring of the Jordan has been brought to ruin." ^B For a roar is properly the voice of lions, which they might make while wailing because of hunger and fasting. And divine Scripture accepts this regarding lions as well. The leaders of the Jewish orders were therefore discovered as roaring lions, hungry and wailing, because they did not have from the people the fruits, the tithes, the first-fruits, the thank-offerings. For since they fell away from the flock, they were no longer refreshed by the interests they used to take from it.

But if anyone should think that the Scribes and Pharisees also roared against Christ after the fashion of lions (for they cried out against him, and cast voices from hatred and envy and sheer madness, calling him a Samaritan, and drunken, and born of fornication, and crying, "Take, take, crucify him"), he will also judge these things rightly. ^C Nevertheless, even if they roared, they have been brought to ruin in no small measure: "Because the roaring of the Jordan has been brought to ruin." And I will say again what this means. The Jordan flows past Jericho, and about it were as many lions as could be, roaring in a terrifying manner and striking the inhabitants with incredible terror. Such were the Scribes and Pharisees in their behavior, roaring against the commoners and the ordinary people, and startling the weaker ones with the terrors of their power. "But the terror of the lions has been brought to ruin." He says this is "the roaring of the Jordan." And a *roaring* is the sound emitted from the nostrils of horses and mules with fierce spirit; ^D but it is also said of those who think highly of themselves. Hence the divine David, regarding those who

^A have raved against Christ, says: “Why did the nations rage, and the peoples meditate vain things?” (Ps. II, 1). When, therefore, he speaks of the roaring of the Jordan, you will understand the spirit—not necessarily of the river, but of the lions that are found nearby; for sometimes the places signify what is contained within them.

VERS. 4, 5. Thus saith the Lord Almighty: “Feed the sheep of the slaughter, which the possessors slew and did not repent, and those who sold them said: ‘Blessed be the Lord, and we have become rich,’ and their shepherds spared them not.”

LXXVII. To these same shepherds, who are lamenting and roaring like lions, is the discourse directed; for it is still permitted to them to tend the sheep of the slaughter, albeit most negligently, so that when they are sold or slaughtered, they do not even for a moment feel sorrow. For just as most unjust shepherds, looking only to what provides them pleasure and caring little for the Lord of the flock, slaughter some mercilessly, imitating the attacks of wild beasts, and sell others—feeling, as I said, no sorrow for them at all, but rejoicing instead in their most shameful profits and succumbing to such base greed—in the same way, one might see that the rulers of the Jewish people had cared poorly for their flocks and had padded their own wealth, and, as with an insatiable hand, had widened their purses. ^B Wherefore the Savior, rebuking such as these, said: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe mint and anise and cumin, and have left the weightier matters of the law: judgment and mercy and faith” (Matth. XXIII, 23). For they were so precise, and reckoned their accounts so minutely, that they would rebuke even those who did not bring tithes on the most trivial things according to the prescription of the law, yet they took absolutely no care for the heavier, that is, the more necessary and useful commands of God. That these were not good shepherds, but rather looked only to their profits, he makes clear by speaking through the voice of Ezekiel: “O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds not feed themselves? Is it not the sheep that the shepherds should feed? Behold, you eat the milk, and are covered with wool, and you kill that which is fat, but you do not feed my sheep” (Ezech. XXXIV, 2, 3). ^C He says, therefore: “Feed the sheep of the slaughter,” that is, those that are either about to die soon by the hand of the Romans, or those which you yourselves slaughter, even though you hold the order and place of shepherds. For the time for them to be slaughtered has not yet arrived. For after the coming of the Savior, and God’s long-suffering towards them, the multitude of the Jews was consumed by Roman swords. That the peoples under their hand had become the portion of these shepherds, he indicated by saying: “Which the possessors slew, and did not repent.” For just as they made the Lord’s intellectual vine—Israel, I mean, or the man of Judea, newly planted and beloved—their own portion, ^D so too did they in a way possess the flocks,

^A reaping their own fruits, and always in some way making the increase their own portion, while abandoning them to those who wished to plunder them. Therefore, those who had acquired them were slaughtering them, while those who sold them said, “Blessed is the Lord, and we have become rich.” These, too, might be understood as judges, trafficking in the integrity of judgments, and all but bidding farewell to the Law given through Moses, even though it clearly says, “You shall not show partiality in judgment, for judgment is God’s.” For it was pleasant and agreeable to them to sell judgment in every matter to those who wished to buy it. And this will again be made clear to us through the voice of the saints. For one of the holy prophets says concerning Jerusalem, “Her leaders judged for bribes.” And the inspired Habakkuk almost cries out to God, saying, ^B “How long, O Lord, shall I cry, and you will not hear? I shall cry out to you, suffering violence, and you will not save? Why have you shown me labors and sorrows, to behold misery and impiety? Judgment has arisen against me, and the judge accepts [bribes]. Therefore the law is slackened, and judgment does not go forth to the end, because the ungodly oppresses the righteous. Because of this, judgment shall go forth perverted.” Therefore, those who gather wealth from unjust gains, and who pervert justice, and who sell judgments in every case for a price, could indeed be the judges themselves, as I just said, who say, “Blessed is the Lord, and we have become rich.” In this they can be rebuked as most senseless and bold. For they pretend to bless God, just as if it were permitted by His concession to gather from iniquities and grow rich from blood. ^C Yet, when actually exercising their office, it would have been better for them to say, “Blessed is the Lord,” as having been illumined and found to be sincere observers of divine commandments, pronouncing a just sentence in every case. Therefore, a fair speech is a deceit and a disgrace, unless we do what is pleasing to God. But it would be better to say this, having valued judging rightly: “Blessed is the Lord,” for we have been shown to be bright, and we bring forth our vote according to the divine decrees. Thus, fair speech is a deception and a reproach if the things that would please God are not done by us.

VERS. 6, 7. Propter hoc non parcam ultra super habitantes terram, dicit Dominus. Et ecce ego trado homines, unumquemque in manus proximi sui, et unumquemque in manus regis ejus. Et concident terram, et non eruam de manu eorum, et pascam oves occisionis in Chananitide.

^D LXXVIII. He threatens the flocks with destruction together... for although it was permitted to them to take refuge under the protection of the Chief Shepherd of all—Christ, that is—and to be under Him, they nevertheless preferred ignorantly to surrender themselves to the faith of those who were killing and selling them. For the Only-begotten Word of God assumed man: and furthermore, He spoke not obscurely, showing both their ignorance and His own sincerity in the economy undertaken for our sake: “I

am the good shepherd.” ^A But the wretched Jews, though they ought to have denounced the hireling shepherds, did not do this; on the contrary, they injured in ten thousand ways the good Shepherd, who laid down His own soul as a ransom for the life of all, stoning Him, mocking Him, and finally opening their mouths without restraint against Him. For they cried out together with their own leaders to Pilate: “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him,” and they drew that innocent blood upon their own heads. For they said again: “His blood be upon us and upon our children.” Therefore, He says, “I will no longer have pity upon those who inhabit the land.” For they were no longer deemed worthy of pity from God; but rather, each one was given into the hands of his neighbor, and into the hands of his king, that is, his ruler. For they crucified Emmanuel and became slayers of the Lord, filled with every kind of impiety. Nevertheless, God called them to repentance and did not instantly inflict the things born of wrath. ^B But thirty years having already passed after the crucifixion of the Savior, peace departed from the land of the Jews; wars were everywhere, with city rising against city, and those in each place being split into factions, and fighting against one another, so that their own evils appeared equal to the calamities that happened to them through war. For the bravest generals of the Romans took control of the Jewish land, and having burned their cities over the people themselves, they subjected it to the yokes of slavery. But those who were able to escape settled in the lands of the Gentiles, and even to this day one may see them. And this, I think, is what He means when He says: “I will feed the flock of the slaughter for the Chananitide,” that is, for the land and country of the Canaanites. Now the Canaanites are the nations among whom the flock of the slaughter are still fed by God even to this day, or at least appear to be fed. For they still guard something according to the law, and one would not see them having discarded the ancient customs entirely. ^C For instance, they circumcise the flesh, and they observe the Sabbath, and they hold other things besides these in concern and regard. And this was indeed what had been said by God through the voice of the prophet: “And I will be to them a small sanctuary in the lands whither they shall go.” But the civil wars throughout all Judea, and in every city, were clearly recorded by the one who wrote the tragedies of the Jewish calamities—Josephus, who was an eloquent and learned man.

“And I will take unto me two rods; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Band, and I will feed the flock.”

^D LXXIX. In the divine Scriptures, the term “rod” has a varied meaning. Sometimes it signifies kingship, as when it is said to Christ:

“A rod of uprightness is the rod of Your kingdom.”

“Shepherd Thy people with Thy rod.” ^B But in what has been said before, the rods signify to us the modes of pastoral knowledge and a twofold kind of instruction, according to what seems to exist without blame. The good Shepherd, who laid down His life for the sheep—that is to say, Christ—receives the rods so that He may shepherd His own sheep with them. For of old (that is, even before the ages of the incarnation), being God and Legislator, the Word from God the Father shepherded Israel, using as it were one rod, the instruction according to the Law. For He somewhere says by the voice of the prophet to him: “I shepherded you in the wilderness.” But after He became man as we are, He receives two rods. For He assigns His own worshippers—those, clearly, who have been justified by faith and sanctified in the Spirit—both with legal and at the same time evangelical decrees, not persuading them to offer oxen, nor teaching us to be diligent with offerings according to the Law, ^C but rather commanding that we celebrate worship in the Spirit as an unbloody sacrifice. For shadow has been changed into truth, and things that were in figure have been refashioned into the grace of the life that is in Christ and the Gospel. The rods have names: the one is Beauty, which is the New Testament, beautiful and worthy of admiration, which the Son Himself spoke: “Fair in beauty beyond the sons of men”; the other is the Funiculus (Cord), which means a portion, that we may understand the Law, which was wont to instruct the portion set apart for God. For it is written: “When the Most High divided the nations, when He dispersed the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the angels of God, and the Lord’s portion became His people Jacob, the cord of His inheritance, Israel.” With these two rods, then, the great prince of shepherds promises to shepherd His sheep; and He has indeed promised. For He brought those who were from Israel and those from the Gentiles into one fold, and puts before them legal and evangelical doctrine for nourishment, and supplies them with a certain spiritual grass to enjoy, and fattens them richly.

VERS. 8, 9. *And I will take away the three shepherds in one month, and my soul will be weighed down over them. For their souls howled against me. And I said: I will not shepherd you. Let that which dies, die; and let that which fails, fail; and let the rest devour, each one the flesh of his neighbor.*

^D For now that the true and good Shepherd has been revealed, it was surely most fitting, or rather, it was now even necessary, for the hirelings and false shepherds to be removed from the midst—that is to say, the leaders and teachers of the Jews according to the Law, some of whom were slaughtering the sheep and not repenting, while others, selling them, said: “Blessed be the Lord, and we have become rich.” But now, whom he calls by the name of three shepherds, and

in what manner they are removed, as he says, in one month, come let us speak, setting forth those things from the Holy Scriptures for the sake of conviction. I think, then, that he names three shepherds: ^A those ministering as priests according to the law, the judges appointed for the people, and in addition to these, the teachers of the law, or the legal experts; for these were shepherding Israel. And indeed, those who held the honors of the priesthood were of the tribe of Levi alone, and concerning them Malachi said: “The lips of the priest will guard knowledge, and they will seek the law from his mouth” (Malach. ii, 7). But those who were allotted the authority to judge were also indeed chosen, but they were brought forth from every tribe. And in the same way, I think, it was with the teachers of the law, or as I said just now, the legal experts, who were always attending those appointed to judge, and bringing forward the words of the law for the proof of each matter. That the ministers of the divine mysteries, as I said, were from the tribe of Levi alone, would need no further proof. But that those who judged ^B were chosen as being learned in the law from every tribe, the blessed Moses in Deuteronomy will assure us, speaking to the sons of Israel: “You shall appoint judges and teachers of the law for yourself in all your cities, which the Lord your God gives you by your tribes, and they shall judge the people with a righteous judgment. They shall not turn aside judgment, they shall not respect persons, and they shall not receive gifts; for gifts blind the eyes of the wise, and remove the words of the just” (Deut. xvi, 18, 19). Therefore, there are three shepherds: priests, judges, and those learned in the law, that is, the legal experts.

We shall find that our Lord Jesus Christ himself ^C rebuked the Pharisees and the Scribes and the legal experts separately. For He said: “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees” (Luc. xi, 45). To Him saying these things, one of the legal experts interrupted Him, saying: “Master, saying these things, you insult us also.” But He said to them: “Woe to you legal experts, because you load men with burdens heavy to bear, and you yourselves do not touch them with one of your fingers” (ibid. 43, 46). Now, I know that even those who ruled in Jerusalem from time to time from the tribe of Judah fulfilled the order of shepherds for the people under their hand (IV Reg. xxii, 33). But since, upon the birth of Christ, the race of kings had failed, ^D or rather had been cast out from the leadership (for the ruler of Judea at that time was Herod the Ascalonite, son of Antipater, and Pontius Pilate), we have necessarily kept silent concerning those from the tribe of Judah. For that they had failed when Christ was born, the written word will assure us: “A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his loins, until the things laid up for him come, and he is the expectation of the nations” (Gen. xlix, 10). Wherefore, since he had arrived, and the expectation of the nations, that is, Christ, had now been born, of necessity “a ruler from Judah, and a leader from his loins, has failed.” There are, therefore, three shepherds, as I said: priests, judges, and legal experts, who held their leadership, or rather their order and place, until the times of the coming of Christ. These, by full right, are removed.

^A in one month. For since they killed the Author of life, they are cut down as if in one month, during which Emmanuel endured the slaughter on our behalf. For although they continued to administer Israel even after the Savior was suspended upon the cross, with God—the Ruler of all—tolerating, pitying, and inviting them to repentance, yet as far as the verdict pronounced by God on this matter is considered, we assert that they were removed at the very time they led the Savior and Deliverer of all to the cross. They were removed, therefore, in one month.

And so much for the shepherds. But judgment upon the flock itself follows: "I will not shepherd you," and, "If they wish to devour and bite one another." For, without any sparing, they devoured the sheep among themselves, and they were given over as a most ready prey to those wishing to tear them apart. ^B He says, moreover, and very aptly, concerning the three shepherds who were removed in one month: "My soul was grieved over them," that is, "I will impose a heavy punishment upon them," because "their souls cried out against me." For, differing in no way from savage beasts, they attacked Christ most often, and finally presented Him to Pilate, shouting, "Away with him, away with him, crucify him." Jeremiah also makes mention of this, saying: "I have forsaken my house, I have abandoned my heritage, I have given my beloved soul into the hands of her enemies. My heritage has become to me as a lion in the forest; it has uttered its voice against me; therefore I have hated it."

Verses 10, 11: *And I will take my beautiful rod, and I will cast it away, that I may break my covenant which I made with all the peoples of the earth. And it shall be broken in that day, and the Canaanites, the sheep that observe me, ^C shall know that it is the word of the Lord.*

LXXXI. He calls "beautiful rod" the instruction, excellently adorned through the evangelical mystagogy, consistent with that which is understood, not felt by the eyes. But the fact that He says He will cast it away and break the covenant, one might plausibly suspect does not mean that He is about to abandon it and dissolve it as something null, or to obliterate it as useless; not at all. I would say it should be understood rather in this way: shepherds sometimes, if by chance they see one of the sheep having strayed from the flock and gone quite far from the others, then they ^D by all means cast the rod or staff toward them, compelling them to unite with the others. The prophet, therefore, speaking in accordance with pastoral custom, says that the rod will be cast away, certainly toward the Gentiles: for they were those of whom the Apostle speaks, "who were far off." However, they have become near through faith. And he says the rod is to be cast away in such a way that it is dispersed over the whole earth, that is to say, so that the word concerning Christ, or the gospel preaching, might be seen to be distributed and diffused everywhere. For he says:

^A “It shall be dispersed in that day,” that is, at that time when Christ, having trampled down the power of death, should rise to life, and say to the apostles: “Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” For then the word of our Savior had traveled over the whole world under heaven; and it is accurate to say concerning the holy apostles: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”

That it was not unprofitable for the nations that the rod—by which I mean the Testament—should be cast forth and dispersed throughout the earth, or rather distributed also in their own regions, which he no longer disposed toward Israel alone but rather towards all the nations, we might perceive very easily if we understand the word of the prophecy: “For they shall know,” he says, “the Canaanites who observe me, that it is the word of the Lord.” For by Canaanites he means the nations. And these might be understood as the sheep observing Christ. For they have observed him; for he himself is the expectation of the nations. And after the Testament was dispersed also in their regions to all, they believed that it is the word of the Lord. For we who are called from the nations have perceived through faith that he is Lord, and that the only-begotten Word of God, having been born and existing from God by nature, has himself addressed us through his own divine and evangelical words. Wherefore we have worshipped him, and we serve him, having abandoned that ancient and disgraceful error, and having been untaught from the habit of worshipping many gods. And this is what is sung to him by the mouth of David: ^B “All nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord.” “For at the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

“And I will say to them: If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, or else forbear. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: Cast them into the furnace, and I will see if it is proven, in the way that I was proven for them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the house of the Lord into the furnace.”

^D LXXXII. By the evangelical oracles, or by the beautiful rod, that is to say, by that excellent instruction, we have been taught the mystery of the dispensation of the Only-Begotten in the flesh. For we have heard and believed that, being God, as I said, the Word from God the Father became flesh, “and dwelt among us,” and came in the form of a servant, being in the form and equality of the Begetter, “and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross; and though he was rich, he became poor for our sakes, that we through his poverty might be enriched.” For he delivered us from the

^A bonds of death, set us free from sin, and rendered us sons of God. And indeed, what good things has he not bestowed upon us? Furthermore, we have acknowledged that we were bought, “not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, but with the precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, Christ”; and so, lastly, we began to owe our own lives to him. “For if one died for all, then all died in him,” and we ought no longer to live for ourselves—according to the reasonable and correct way of thinking—but rather for him who died and rose again for our sake. On this account he says: “If it is good in your sight,” clearly referring to the mystery of the economy of the flesh, “if you have been saved through him, and it is well with you, and you have acknowledged me as Savior and Redeemer, and as one who endured death for the life of all, ‘Give,’ having set,” that is, having fixed, “my reward, ^B or else cease.” Howbeit, those who were converted from the Gentiles were grateful. For they have set a reward, not indeed one in any way equal, yet in some manner consistent with those things which we have received from him. For just as he died for us, so too have we laid down our souls for the sake of sincerity and love toward him; and it would be fitting for the holy martyrs to say: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” For nothing has conquered the courage of the saints. Thus, a certain likeness to us of what comes from Christ is foreshadowed in the fact that it is said that thirty pieces of silver were given as his reward. For the traitor, and truly most execrable and God-hated Judas, having received thirty pieces of silver, betrayed Christ to the murderers, and sold the Author of our salvation to miscreants. But by the Gentiles, thirty pieces of silver were brought as his reward, which also, by God’s command, are cast into the melting-pot, to be tested again and again, just as Christ himself was tested for our sake. For our faith will not go unexamined before God, who knows all things, ^C nor indeed will our life go without trial; but, as the blessed Paul says: “The fire will test of what sort each one’s work is.” And it is written also concerning Christ: “Suddenly he shall come into his temple, whom you seek, and the Angel of the testament, whom you desire. Behold, he comes, says the Lord Almighty, and who shall endure the day of his coming? Or who shall stand at his appearing? For he himself enters as the fire of a refiner, and as the lye of washers; and he shall sit, refining and purifying as silver and as gold.” The divine David also sings somewhere, as if in the person of everyone who believes in Christ and desires to live according to the Gospel: “Test me, O Lord, and try me, purge my reins and my heart.” Moreover, the prophet says that the melting-pot is in the house of the Lord. For the Church of Christ examines everyone’s character and the sincerity of their love toward Christ, and, having discernment of spirits, she knows accurately ^D who indeed speaks in the Holy Spirit, naming Jesus as Lord, and who speaks in Beelzebul, calling him anathema, and who they are

who are the true worshippers, and who again are the wolves coming to us in sheep’s clothing.

And I cast away my second rod, the Funiculus, to dissipate the covenant between Judah and between Israel.

^B LXXXIII. He said that Christ would take two rods, and with them pasture his own sheep; it is manifest that this refers to the holy multitude of those called through faith. We said that the beautiful rod is the discipline, that is, the evangelical preaching; whereas the other [rod] is the Old Testament, that is, the one given to Israel for assistance, according to the voice of the prophet. For he says: "He gave the Law as an assistance." That the multitude of the Gentiles, therefore, was not going to be instructed only by the evangelical teachings, but indeed also by those very commandments given of old through Moses—the shadow in the Law being manifestly transformed into truth—he makes clear to us through the things set before us. And just as he said the beautiful rod was cast away and scattered (for the evangelical instruction was spread about as if in the regions of the Canaanites, carried around, that is to say, by the holy apostles), so also the other rod, that is, discipline—namely, the Funiculus, that is to say, the Law, which was placed by God in the rank of a covenant between Judah and between Israel—that is, the whole race from Israel; for by Judah he names the two tribes in Jerusalem, I mean Judah itself and Benjamin, but by Israel he names the remaining ten, settled in Samaria with Jeroboam. Thus, the Law has indeed been given to those from Canaan, for one is formed by legal and evangelical decrees. Therefore, the Savior also said: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one iota or one serif will by no means pass from the Law until all things come to pass." For he fulfills the Law by teaching things above the Law, and does not set the one being instructed outside the Law, as, for example, in saying: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients: You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment. But I say to you: Everyone who is angry with his brother without cause shall be liable to judgment." And again: "You have heard that it was said: You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." For [the command], "You shall not kill," is brought to completion, as it were, by setting aside anger, which is the root and origin of murder. And by not admitting desires at all, that is, by chastising the pleasures, the manner of adultery is totally taken away, just as we say that when the roots wither, the sprouts from them also wither—or rather, they would not even sprout at all.

And the Lord said to me: Still take for yourself pastoral implements of an unskilled shepherd, because behold, I am raising up an unskilled shepherd over the earth. He shall not visit that which is failing, and he shall not seek that which is scattered, and he shall not

heal that which is broken, and he shall not direct that which is whole, and he shall consume the flesh of the elect, and he shall overturn their ankles. ^A LXXXIV. Concerning the good, wise, and skilled shepherd, that is to say Christ, who cast away and scattered the two rods in the regions of the Chanaanites, in the manner already explained by us above, some have understood it to be the Word of the Lord. For they believed, as I have said, that since the Word, born ineffably of God the Father, is God, He, after having become like us and being called the Prince of Shepherds, set before them for their mystagogy and for an accurate knowledge of His mystery, both the evangelical instruction and illumination, and also the legal discipline. We said that these are the two rods by which Christ feeds us in good pasture and in a fertile place, as it is written. But the Jews, not understanding the mystery, and being ignorant of the beautiful rod—that is to say, the evangelical preaching—and furthermore, having held in contempt the other rod, whose name is "Cords," namely the Law given through Moses, they rejected the faith and did not know Him who was foretold through the Law and the prophets. This is what the Savior himself openly reproached them for: "Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you have hoped. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" ^B There is, therefore, no doubt at all that they have put faith neither in the Mosaic writings nor in the words of the Savior. But because they have spurned the knowledge of the truth, it is written by the most wise Paul: "Therefore God will send them a working of error, so that they may believe a lie." He calls the Antichrist the "working of error," the one to whom, by attaching themselves, the Jews will be condemned, and the Savior will be found truthful in saying to them, since they have chosen to be disobedient: "I have come in the name of my Father, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive." ^C Since, therefore, the Jews are surely going to receive the son of iniquity without delay when he appears, the adversary who "exalts himself above every one that is called God or an object of worship, so that he sits in the temple of God, showing himself as if he were God," and who does not know how to feed well and expertly—God commands this to be prefigured by the prophet, using these words: "Take to yourself still the pastoral implements of an unskilled shepherd." For shepherds who are better and by no means unskilled in the pursuits they manage, have slender rods, so that even when it is time to strike, that which is struck is not crushed. One who is unskilled in this matter, and most ignorant of the shepherd's art, bruises the flocks with thicker staves. ^D And these, I think, are the pastoral implements of an unskilled shepherd. Since, indeed, the son of iniquity was at some time to be possessed of royal honor and to be held in the place of a shepherd by mortals, and not to spare at all a people so subject to him, as

[The shepherd’s] vessels are the vessels of the foolish shepherd. ^A Since the son of iniquity, invested with royal honor, was destined to appear at times as though he were a shepherd to those upon the earth, while counting as worthy of no concern the peoples under his hand, or even those beyond his reach, he declares, on this account: "Behold, I will raise up a shepherd upon the land. He will not visit that which is failing." It is as if he were to say: "That which has slipped into lack of faith, he will not strengthen with holy instruction." "And that which is scattered, he will not seek." That which has wandered, he says, from the straight path, and is accustomed to leaping away from the flock, he will not seek; that is to say, he will not restore it to what is better and right. "That which is broken, he will not heal." A person is broken when he is overcome by base pleasure—unable, as it were, to bear the weight of carnal-mindedness—or when he is swept away by the deceits of unholy heretics and is bereft of a mind sound enough to believe rightly. ^B This one, the good shepherd heals in turn. But the foolish one "will not guide that which is whole, and he will devour the flesh of the elect, and he will pervert their heels." For the son of iniquity will war against the saints, and, letting loose his unbridled wrath upon them, he will almost as if graze upon them, and he will devour them like a wild beast. He will also pervert their heels, so that no one might be able to walk in the right way. For he will compel them to worship him, striking them with awe by his wonders. "For he has his presence according to the working of Satan, and he will perform prodigies in Beelzebul, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect," and as the Savior says, "no flesh would be saved," his rapacity raging against all. "But for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened." "For the Lord will kill him with the spirit of his mouth, and will destroy him by the manifestation of his coming."

"O you who feed on vanities, and you who have abandoned the sheep, ^C a sword is upon his arm, and upon his right eye. His arm shall wither away, and his right eye shall be blinded."

LXXXV. Having once taken up the discourse concerning the foolish shepherd, he is saddened, as if already lamenting for the shepherds who are not good, and he speaks in a very general way, announcing what is to befall those so disposed. Observe, however, how he now perhaps even feels compassion for the punishments hanging over their sloth, because of his innate gentleness; although he accuses them of having become shepherds of vanities—that is, those concerned with temporal things—and so lazy that they even rejoiced over the sheep miserably perishing. For some, selling them, would say, "Blessed is the Lord, and we have become rich." ^D Others slaughtered them and were not moved at all; for as to grazing them rightly, there was no thought of this among them. Such, moreover, were the teachers of the Jews, closing the kingdom of heaven, as Christ says, "and neither entering themselves, nor allowing others to enter; but traversing sea and land, so that they may make one proselyte, and when he has become one, they make him a son…"

^A of hell, twofold more than themselves." ^A What then shall happen to such wicked shepherds? "A sword," he says, "upon his arm, and upon his right eye." ^B The arm is taken for power and as a type of spiritual activity. And indeed, of the animals slaughtered in the sacred tabernacle, the arm, or shoulder, was a choice portion for the sacred altar and a holy offering to God, signifying, I think, by an enigma of the Word, that one's own physical and spiritual strength ought to be dedicated to God. That the arm signifies power, someone of the saints will confirm, addressing the God of all: "By the greatness of Your arm may they become like stones." ^B The eye, however, is taken as an image of the mind. He who does not feed the flock rightly will suffer the mutilation of arm and eye; that is, he will be destitute of bodily and spiritual strength. For he will not be able to perform any good deed without God strengthening him; and he will be darkened in his mind, existing as one devoid of divine light. For he will not be able to say with confidence: "For You, O Lord my God, will light my lamp; You will enlighten my darkness." Now, it is the right arm that is cut by the sword, and the right eye that is blinded. For there is nothing "right" among the crowds of the Jews, no good action. For, as Paul says, "Until this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies upon their heart." David also sings somewhere of them: "Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see." Therefore, all things among them are "left" [sinister], whether you speak of their understanding, or their conduct, or anything else of those things believed to be theirs. For I know that the removal of things on the left might benefit those who endure it. For the rejection of perversity would deliver them from cause and reproach. But the loss of the right would harm them not a little. For it leads [one] entirely to the most shameful and execrable things. But it would befit the Jews, and very appropriately, to endure poverty despoiled of their right [deeds]; but we who are in Christ [should] cast away the "left" and glory in the "right."

VOLUME FIVE. CHAPTER XII.

^D VERSE 1. The burden of the word of the Lord over Israel. The Lord says, who stretches out the heaven, and lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

LXXXVI. Having discoursed very conveniently and at sufficient length concerning the true shepherd, that is to say, Christ, and also concerning the unskilled, most cruel, and murderous one of the sheep—whom we declare to be the Antichrist—he makes useful mention also of the persecutions that will at some time happen against Israel, not indeed the Israel according to the flesh, but that intelligible and truly holy Jerusalem, which is the "Church of the living God." For just as we maintain that there is an intelligible Jerusalem, so [too we maintain the same]...

heart, through the spirit, and not indeed in the flesh according to the letter—so also might one say that Israel is to be understood, not entirely as one who is of the blood of Israel, but rather as one who possesses a mind that sees God. Such ^A persons are without controversy those who have been called through faith in Christ to sanctification, and who through Him and in Him have known the Father. For this is a true and excellent mode of divine vision. The text is therefore to be taken as referring to the Israel we have just mentioned. That the God of all is almighty, He who makes the following prophecy to us, He Himself reveals, saying: ^B "Stretching out the heaven, and founding the earth, and forming the spirit of man within him." For, he says, God, who can do all things, accepts the assumption of the word over Israel, "and stretching out the heaven like a curtain," according to the voice of the Psalmist, and rendering the earth so very stable that it is always and everywhere immovable, even though it is founded upon the seas. For the divinely inspired Scripture says thus: "And forming the spirit of man within him." For if He is the Creator and Artificer of such great things, how would He not without toil, and most easily, perfect what is pleasing to Him? But the spirit of man is formed within him, not in the sense that it is called to the beginning of its existence, even though it has come to be through Him, but as if it were transformed—from weakness to strength, from cowardice to endurance, and, simply put, intelligibly reshaped from worse things to better things. The divine David also sings: ^C "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inward parts." And no one of sound mind, I suppose, would say that he wishes to receive a heart or a spirit as if he did not possess them at all; rather, he would think that he is praying for a clean heart and a right spirit to be created within him. And this is what "re-formation" means. It is a custom of the holy prophets, if they are about to make a prophecy of matters that are not trivial, to try first to show that the God of all is all-powerful and most mighty, so that their message may have on all sides a foundation for faith, even if they speak of things beyond all hope, and—insofar as it reaches human conception—things that seem ^D beyond reason and incredible.

"Behold, I will set Jerusalem as a threshold, shaking all the peoples round about, and in Judea there shall be a siege against Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in that day, I will set Jerusalem as a stone trodden underfoot by all the nations. Every one who treads upon it shall mocking mock, and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it."

LXXXVII. In the things already foretold, the war against the land of Judea that was to be brought about by the Roman army had been clearly spoken of. For indeed it said: "A voice of the shepherds lamenting, because their magnificence has been made miserable." And after other things, again: "For this reason I will no longer spare those who dwell upon the earth, says the Lord."

And behold, I deliver the men, everyone into the hands of his neighbor, and into the hands of his king. And they shall cut down the land, and I will not rescue them from their hand." ^A In the words just set forth, he clearly prophesies the persecutions that have arisen against the Church. For the leaders of the Synagogue of the Jews fought against those who believed in Christ, before all others, commanding the holy apostles not to speak in the name of Christ, and scourging them in their councils, and moreover, preparing for them to be stoned—and indeed, what impious things did they not see and say and do to them? But after the word concerning Christ spread also through the regions of the Gentiles, and the natives obeyed the evangelical preachings, again other persecutions were stirred up by those who reigned in their turn, who, while attempting to champion an impure and detestable idolatry, and having become ministers of diabolical impiety, slew the saints by calling them to the martyr contests. The Church seemed easy to injure, with no one defending her, and like a threshold shaken and tottering, or even like a stone trampled upon. For although the Savior of all, when he could easily have calmed every war, or rather, could have turned it away entirely from those who honor him, and could have rendered them immune to every temptation and superior to the strength of the enemy, he nevertheless, by his divine providence, permitted them to be made illustrious through trials and hardships, so that, having been rendered conformed to him, they might both be glorified together and reign together. "For if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him," as it is written, "and if we are partners in his sufferings, we shall also be of his glory." ^B He says, therefore: "Behold, I make Jerusalem like a shaking threshold." If this happens, it will be encircled, that is, it will be besieged by all; and when it appears as a trampled stone, then every one mocking will mock. He connects this, as I was saying a little while ago, to the persecutions of every age. For they attacked the saints, torturing them in many ways, and, wretched as they were, they mocked them perhaps even as they were dying. For they surely did not know how great a glory would come from their afflictions, and that the pain would produce for them a perpetual cheerfulness of soul. Consider, furthermore, how he does not say that the trampling of the Church is a work of the power of the Gentiles, but of his own will and counsel. For he desires, as I have said, that his worshippers be perfected and completed through adverse circumstances. He says, namely: "I make Jerusalem like a shaking threshold for all peoples round about." That which is said by the Savior to Pilate, "You would have no power against me, unless it had been given to you from above," is not different, I think, from this. ^C So, with good reason, the Jerusalem that the mind envisions—that is, the Church—might say to the world that persecutes her: "You would have no power against me, unless it had been given to you from above."

^A On that day, says the Lord Almighty, I will strike every horse with stupor, and his rider with madness; but upon the house of Judah I will open my eyes, and all the horses of the nations I will strike with blindness. ^B

Commentary on the Prophet Zechariah

^A is turned away from those who have been seen by Him, and we are established in the glory of the Lord.

VERS. 5. And the tribunes of Judah shall say in their hearts: We shall find for ourselves those dwelling in Jerusalem, in the Lord Almighty their God.

LXXXIX. We affirm that the "tribunes of Judah" are called the holy apostles, chosen like leaders by Christ, and having taken the primacy in Judah—that is, in those who are called to confession and praise; for "Judah" is interpreted as "praise." These would be all those from the nations, to whom the divine Chanter bids the duty of glorifying Emmanuel, saying in the Spirit: "Bless, O nations, our God, and make the voice of His praise heard" (Ps. LXV, 8). Therefore, "Judah" in this passage are those called through faith to praise and confession; but the "tribunes" set over them, the captains and leaders, are the divine disciples. One may observe them crying out to the worshippers of the Savior as if they were soldiers, saying: "Stand therefore, having girt your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet in the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in all things taking up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one" (Eph. VI, 14-17). The divine disciples, then, are the tribunes, and most fittingly, since "They shall say," he says, "in their hearts: We shall find for ourselves those dwelling in Jerusalem." For the holy disciples truly desired to see the holy Jerusalem, that is, the Church, filled ^B with worshippers, and for it to be glorified, as if it were some city distinguished by a multitude of inhabitants. And so they proclaimed the faith, evangelizing Jesus, and confirming their words with signs and wonders. Nevertheless, they did not persuade; for the people remained stubborn and inflexible, and like an untamed horse, refused the bridle. Therefore, they subsequently sought for themselves inhabitants of the holy city "in the Lord Almighty their God," that is, in Christ. Moreover, they were even turned toward the nations, crying out to the crowds of the Jews: "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first. But since you repel it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the nations: for so the Lord has commanded us" (Acts XIII, 46, 47). From there they acquired the citizens of the Church, of whom the divine David also makes mention, saying: "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God" (Ps. LXXXVI, 3). Having sought them, they were enriched by an innumerable multitude and crowd. Indeed, they even say to the holy city: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and of thy tabernacles. Fasten, do not spare. Extend thy cords and thy nails, strengthen still on the right, and on the left extend" (Isa. LIV, 2, 3). But she exults in the multitude of her inhabitants, and as if ^C wondering at the throng of her own children, she says: "But I am without children, and a widow; and these, who has begotten for me? And these, where were they for me?" (Isa. XLIX, 21).

VERS. 6. In that day will I set the tribunes of Judah as a

^A torris of fire among wood, and as a lamp of fire in stubble, and they shall devour on the right and on the left all the peoples round about.

XC. By "tribunes of Judah," as I have already stated, he designates the holy apostles, or indeed simply all those who are set over the holy Churches. And he so affirms that their word, or rather their sacred doctrine, is implanted in their minds, that it appears to have fallen like a torch into wood, or a lamp into stubble, which catches fire most easily. ^B "For they shall devour," he says, "all the peoples on the right and on the left round about," that is, wherever they wish to go, they will prevail in every way, calling them to acknowledgment and warming those who are cold with a divine and intellectual fire, as it were. God, the Lord of all, said something of this sort also to the blessed prophet Jeremiah: "Behold, I have given my words into thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood, and it shall devour them" (Jerem. I, 9)—that is, instead of consuming them, it shall call them to acknowledgment, and those who had become cold in sin, it will again make warm in the Spirit. For the heart of those who wander is cold, and they have a dead mind, worshiping the creature rather than the Creator God (Rom. I, 25), and rendering divine worship to stones and wood. But such people, as I said, become fervent in spirit, ^C glowing for righteousness, and, as the divine John says, are "baptized with the Holy Spirit and with spiritual fire" (Math. III, 11), which is accustomed—as if consuming some refuse—to consume the sin that has settled in our souls and to melt away the filth of carnality. Hence it was also said by the voice of Isaiah: "Thou hast coals of fire, sit upon them; they will be a help to thee" (cf. Isa. XXVIII, 16; cf. Ezech. X, 2). And indeed, he also says about himself: "And there was sent to me one of the Seraphim, and he had in his hand a coal of fire, which he took from the altar with a pair of tongs, and touched my mouth and said, 'Behold, this has touched thy lips, and it shall take away thy iniquities, and shall cleanse thy sins with fire'" (Isa. VI, 6, 7). By the "coal of fire," it is probable he means Christ, who is divine and most holy, and who is the fire that consumes sins. Therefore, the divine disciples became as a torch of fire to stubble, ^D and indeed they devoured the nations round about. Yet they did not consume them unto destruction, but rather burned up the detestable and impure dogmas of the false "knowledge" that was in them, and melted away the filth of ancient deceit, and did not allow the minds of those who had once believed to grow cold again into foolish and empty counsels, so that, exulting in themselves, they might say to Christ, the Savior of all: "Thy word is very much refined, and thy servant has loved it" (Psal. CXVIII, 140). That the word of God is fervent and most sharp, it becomes clear from what He says to Jeremiah: "My words are as a burning fire, saith the Lord, and as a hammer that breaks a rock" (Jerem. XXIII, 29). For the word of God is most capable both of rekindling what has become cold in sin, and of unfolding what has grown hard and constricted, for it is living and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword, reaching even to the division

^A of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is said also somewhere, through the voice of the prophets, to the stiff-necked and unyielding Jew: "Be circumcised to your God, O men of Judah."

VERS. 7. *And Jerusalem shall dwell still in herself, and the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Judah, as from the beginning, that the boasting of the house of David may not be magnified, and the elations of those who dwell in Jerusalem against Judah.*

XCI. He predicts that the Church shall not always be agitated by tumults, nor will she undergo persecutions without end; but that she will be at rest at times, and shall dwell in herself, that is, apart, without anyone troubling her, without bringing tribulation upon her, without casting fear into her, without heaping up the sadnesses of temptations. "For the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Judah, as from the beginning." He will thus protect His own Churches, or rather His own tabernacles, so as to bestow upon them a grace as great as that which He conferred formerly upon Israel, whom He delivered out of Egypt. For the God of all brought Israel ^B out of the house of bondage, and "from the iron furnace," as it is written, and from an intolerable tyranny, with a strong hand and a high arm, when He caused their persecutors to sink into the Red Sea; the deep covered them, and they descended like lead in mighty water, but the ransomed were brought over. A pillar of fire led them by night, showing them the way, and a cloud hung over their head by day. Then they ate bread from heaven, and escaped the bites of the serpents in the wilderness. They overcame their enemies, they crossed the Jordan, they were circumcised with stone knives, they came into the land of promise. These things Christ will grant to those who seek His tabernacles, that is, the Church; thus He will also save them, having released them from slavery — I mean that under the devil—and having delivered them from demonic covetousness, and having brought them over, as if through a sea, of the distractions and vain tumults in this life; and having set forth Himself as a brilliant pillar and foundation for them, enlightening those in darkness, and as a cloud ^C watering them with the dews which we discern by the mind; having become also the bread of life to them, rendering the bites of the intelligible serpents weak and void, and bringing them over the Jordan, and through the circumcision of the Spirit making them pure, and introducing them into the kingdom of heaven. These things He will distribute to His own worshipers, and will save them by such means, "that the boasting of the house of David may not be magnified"—that is, the princes of the Jews—"nor that there be elations," or occasions of elation, against Judah, to those dwelling in Jerusalem, which the sense perceives, and which is earthly. For they carried themselves aloft, and swelled with pride against those who believed in Christ, and in Emmanuel Himself, through ^D

^A presenting the things given by Moses to the ancients, and holding up the indulgence granted to their fathers. And so they would say, at one time: “What sign do you perform, then, so that we may see and believe? What work do you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” At another time: “We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” He says, therefore, that the God of all things will perform miracles for us, even if not manifestly, as was the case then, yet indeed in a spiritual sense; and thus He will save us who are in His own tabernacles, that the Jews, or those who hold the leadership among them, may not boast against us. For I think that the “boasting of the house of David” signifies the same thing.

And it shall be in that day, the Lord will protect those who inhabit Jerusalem. And he who is weak among them in that day shall be as the house of David, and the house of David shall be as the house of God, as the angel of the Lord before them.

XCII. God and the Father has crowned them with the armor of His good will. ^B For He has given us His own Son as a shield ^C and champion, through Whom we have also been saved, easily escaping every temptation, and accustomed to overcome the war from enemies and the perversity of our persecutors. But in the matters set forth, something of such a kind is indicated, although one might see the meaning overshadowed by much obscurity. For He says that the God of all will protect those who inhabit Jerusalem, and not rather those who dwell beside it. And Jerusalem in this place is understood, without controversy, to be the Church of Christ. One who is not very secure, but shaken as if by waves and altogether easily carried off to evil, or is otherwise sluggish toward learning, dwells beside it. But he who is confirmed and rooted in the love toward Christ, and is always devoted to the benefits flowing from divine instruction, ^D dwells in it, so that he is able to say with the voice of David: “How sweet are Your words to my throat! More than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth.” He says, therefore: “He will protect those who inhabit it, and he who is weak among them in that day shall be as the house of David.” We say that the house of David is termed, in these passages, those most honored among the Jews. For from the tribe of Judah, sprung from Jesse and David, they once reigned in Jerusalem. But by the one who is weak among those who inhabit the holy city, the intellectual Jerusalem, which is the Church, he perhaps calls the one still a catechumen, who has not yet been washed by the sacred font, and is in a way still sick, burdened by the weight of sin, and has not yet been freed from ancient infirmities, that is, from his passions. But even so, since he has only believed, and has departed from the legal shadow, and has inclined himself entirely toward choosing to fulfill the life in the Spirit, and

^A the boastings of life in Christ, he says: "It shall be," he says, "as the house of David," that is to say, in nothing inferior in understanding to the wise and most honored man among the Jews. The most wise Paul hints at something of this sort, too, while speaking to the crowds of Jews. For he says thus: "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: which shew the work of the law written in their hearts." And again: "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision? And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law? For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God." ^B How then is he not better—even if in virtue he is surpassed by those learned in the law and most honored among the Jews, and even if he might perhaps have remnants of infirmity, as one not yet baptized? For by the healthy part of his own heart, that is, by faith, he will in any case differ from him who rejects the faith. And if anyone of the house of David, that is, of the illustrious and most honored among them, should receive the faith and understand the mystery of Christ most rightly, this man will be to be venerated, "and the house of God, and as an angel of the Lord in their sight." It is known that the Savior Himself said something similar; for He says that "every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." ^C For he who already has the knowledge of the law stored up within himself, if he should also receive the evangelical knowledge, will be a man rich in understanding, proposing new and ancient contemplations, as if from storehouses, to those eager to learn; such as was the divine Paul, at one time striving to confirm the discourse concerning Christ with proofs sought from the law; at another time also compelling his hearers, by means of mysteries above the law, to the desire to be adorned by faith in Him. For at one time he used to say: "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. ^D But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." And at another time also concerning the Son, "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image"

of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high." ^A You understand, therefore... he adapts to the souls of those who are being instructed, with both ancient and new teachings. "It shall be, therefore," he says, "the house of David as the angel of the Lord before them."

And it shall be in that day, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem; and I will pour out upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and mercy, and they shall look to me.

^B XCIII. My counsel is, he says, to remove, to destroy the nations who have fought against the holy city, that is to say, the Church; but by grace and mercy to encompass the house of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that is to say, the citizens of the Church, and those who have been appointed to render praise. And these, again, may be understood as those who worship Christ and have chosen to follow evangelical decrees, fostering a praiseworthy life, free from any fault. For that the enemies of the truth were destined to be altogether weak and feeble, the Savior himself makes clear when he says: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ^C Behold, here he calls those who seek to persecute it gates, as if they were plagues and destructions, and those who join themselves to them are accustomed to lead others to the shackles of hell. They will be paralyzed, therefore, or rather they will be removed, who have waged war against it, and they will depart into destruction. "For many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord will deliver them out of them all." And it is true that "all who desire to live godly in Christ will suffer persecution." ^D Nevertheless, Christ renders the plots of those who lie in wait, and their very attempts, useless and ineffective, he who has given us "power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." And he encourages us, saying: "In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Therefore, those who from time to time rise up against the Church are removed, but upon his own, that is to say, upon those who have believed, the "spirit of grace and mercy" is poured out in abundance. For God and the Father crowns us with heavenly blessings and fills us with spiritual gifts, so that, lifting up the eye of our mind to him, we might place all our hope in him. For this, I think, is what he says: "They shall look to me." Being moved in this way, we rejoice within ourselves, and we say, praising God: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your infirmities, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you in mercy and compassion, who fills your desire with good things."

"In whom they have offended [or: insulted], and they shall lament over themselves with a lamentation as over one beloved, and they shall suffer pain as over a firstborn."

XCIV. The Hebrew edition begins the present context with these words, "And they shall look upon me"; yet it does not agree with the tradition and interpretation of the Seventy. For where it has "insulted," it says, "they shall look upon him whom they have pierced." ^A For the soldiers of Pilate pierced his side, as we read. Wherefore we shall aptly explain these words as concerning the person of Christ; and we also consider that what follows—"And they shall lament over themselves with a lamentation as over one beloved, and they shall suffer pain as over a firstborn"—is to be referred to him. ^B For when they had fastened the divine temple to the wood, the crucifiers stood around, cursing him wickedly. For some were saying, "You who destroy the temple of God and in three days rebuild it, save yourself." And others again were saying, "He saved others; himself he cannot save." But when he surrendered his own soul for us, and preached to the spirits in Hades, and came to life again—the earth being shaken and the monument disturbed—those who sat by were filled with wonder, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God"; and there was great repentance among many. ^C But when the Roman war also bore down upon them, with the land devastated, cities burned, houses emptied, and Jerusalem itself now besieged and famine consuming those within, some at last were brought to a realization of their daring deeds against Christ, and knew finally the causes of their suffering, and that their own impieties against him were the reason for their doom. Therefore, since "they insulted [him]," "they shall lament over themselves with a lamentation as over one beloved, and they shall suffer pain as over a firstborn." For indeed, tears are always somehow uncontainable for parents over a firstborn and beloved son lying dead, and lamentations do not find an end, but the grief is altogether deep and, as it were, perennial, lacerating the soul with bitter and unbearable assaults. Now, that the Jews were about to experience calamities of this kind, Christ predicted, chastising the women weeping over him and saying, ^D "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children."

VERS. 11-14. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in Jerusalem, as the lamentation of a pomegranate tree cut down in the field. And the land shall lament, tribe by tribe. The tribe by itself, and their women by themselves. The tribe of the house of David by itself, and their women by themselves. The tribe of the house of Nathan by itself, and their women by themselves. The tribe of the house of Levi by itself, and their women by themselves. The tribe of Simeon by itself, and their women by themselves. All the remaining tribes, tribe by itself, and their women by themselves.

^A When the whole of Judaea was being devastated at intervals by the Roman army, and Jerusalem itself was being besieged, the prophet says that such a wailing would be uttered by those in it as a husbandman would make if a pomegranate tree were being cut down. For the plant is blossoming, and sends up from the root straight and very long branches, and if it should also be adorned with fruits, then it is especially an object of great wonder. For the pomegranate is a most desirable thing, distinguished by a natural beauty as it hangs from the branch, and having the rind colored red with seeds inside. But it is very terrible, as I said, and grievous, to have the tree cut down along with its fruits. ^B Indeed, it is possible to see that something of this kind happened to the Jews. For as far as rewards in accordance with the Law are concerned, those who held the leading place among them could rightly be compared to fruit-bearing pomegranates. For those born of the tribe of Judah, having been assigned the thrones of the kingdom, had attained to a portion of glory among them. And those from the tribe of Levi, being very well crowned with the honors of the priesthood, were brilliant and renowned. And what should I say of the judges and those learned in the law, and those adorned with other honors? But since they raged against Christ, they were delivered to the enemy; and as Vespasian and Titus were ravaging their country and besieging Jerusalem, and as famine was destroying everyone in it, everything was filled with lamentation and wailing. Josephus also bears witness to this. For, compiling his books on the *Jewish War*, he said somewhere about Jerusalem in these very words: "There was wailing throughout the whole city in every place, and a piercing cry, and a lamentation called forth." And just as he called it Lebanon and a forest, saying: "Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, and let fire consume thy cedars. Let the pine howl, because the cedar has fallen, because the great men have been made very miserable. Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, because the planted forest has been torn up," so he also calls it a pomegranate tree being cut down. The divine Matthew will also confirm the word, having proclaimed to the crowds of the Jews: "Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees. Every tree therefore not bringing forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire, and burned." It will be thus, he says, that the wailing in it will be great, such as would happen to a pomegranate that has flourished with fruit and is unexpectedly cut down. ^C "'And the land shall mourn tribe by tribe, and their women by themselves.'" And we by no means say that the blessed prophet intends to signify that the males would stand in one place in each tribe, and the females in another place, and they would perform the wailing; for such a thing, as it seems, is superfluous and ill-considered. But he teaches rather that each tribe will have a particular reason for mourning over the women who are in it. For this reason he says: "'The tribe of the house of David by itself, and their women by themselves.'" And come now, let us explain, as far as we can, the pain of each. For those from the tribe of David, or Judah, having been cut off from the kingdom, wail uncontrollably, having been despoiled of such great splendor. The Levites, on the other hand, cast down from the honor of the priesthood, will give themselves to lamentation together with the women. Concerning the family... ^D

^A of Nathan—and this was a prophet, though not entirely truthful—they will likewise lament; for it will no longer be permitted to them to prophesy iniquities, to speak from their own hearts, to sell their own words to the simple-minded as if they were from God, and to collect shameful gains from this. But tradition says that the Jews were accustomed to choose their judges from the tribe of Simeon, since it possessed men who were very prudent and learned in the law, and far more excellent than others in living according to the law. For this reason he says that the tribe of Simeon will mourn by itself. For they did not judge uprightly, nor did they strive to perform what is pleasing to God in obedience to divine laws; but they were rather greedy for gain, very easily corrupted, and, as the prophet says, “Their judges are like the wolves of Arabia.” ^B It was necessary for the other tribes also to mourn together with these, since they were being cast out from the customs and places most dear to them, and, what is more, with death itself looming over their heads, when the sword of the enemy was arriving, as was famine as well.

CHAPTER XIII

VERS. 1. In that day there shall be every place opened in the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and into transmutation and sprinkling.

XCVI. After this, he recounts the things that are to happen to those who love the advent of Christ. For those who have behaved themselves insolently in their unbelief will be besieged, he says, and will wail in their miseries. But in that which we contemplate in the mind, and which is truly the holy Jerusalem, and in the house of David, ^C that is, the Church, where Christ has appeared from the seed of David according to the flesh, “every place shall be opened,” that is, there shall be great breadth, and as it were a relaxed and unrestricted manner of life, most desirable and most free from all vexation. But I would have you know that in the Hebrew edition this statement exists differently. For instead of, “Every place shall be opened,” it says that every spring shall gush forth. And it is very probable that the interpretation of the Seventy also tends toward this same thing, even if the phrasing of the words is otherwise, so that something of this kind is signified. For the unbelieving and recalcitrant, perverted and apostate Jerusalem, ^D “which kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her,” will pay penalties worthy of its audacity. For it will be cut down like a pomegranate tree. But for those who dwell in the Jerusalem which is perceived by the mind, or the house of Judah, that is to say, of Christ, “every place shall be opened,” or rather, in every place there shall be a spring gushing forth the water of purification, clearly of holy baptism, so that it may be useful to those who believe, “and into transmutation and into aspersion.” What is this transmutation? [It is the passing] of the Jews from the legal institution to life in Christ,

from shadow to truth, from type and letter to spiritual worship. But what will be the transmutation for the Greeks? They come from unbelief to believing in Christ; from the primary ignorance to the pure knowledge of the One who is God in truth; from darkness to illumination. But the common transmutation, appropriate to everyone called through faith, both Jew and Greek, is from thinking the things of the flesh to choosing to live holily and purely, and to walk in the Spirit, according to the word of the blessed Paul, from honoring the things in the world to loving the things above the world. And that by receiving the divine and holy baptism we are sprinkled with the blood of Christ for the washing away of sin, who could doubt? Therefore the way to transmutation and to aspersion for those inhabiting the house of Judah is saving baptism—that is, every place and the water of expiation welling up ^B and spreading forth.

VERS. 2. *And it shall be in that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will destroy the names of the idols from the earth, and there shall be no longer any memory of them. And the false prophets, and the unclean spirit, I will take away from the earth.*

XCVII. All things have passed into a better state in Christ, and things in Christ are a new creature, having cast off the disgrace of ancient rot. And one might perceive the truth of these words from the facts themselves, if one were willing. For before the times of the incarnation, when the Only-Begotten had not yet put on any body, nor was yet illuminating all things with divine light, there was still thick darkness and gloom in the hearts of the nations. For they were worshipping idols, and they had slipped into such folly ^C as to offer worship to wood and stones, and to offer to unclean demons the honors befitting God. And these were the crimes of the madness of those who were going astray. But among Israel, who was also accepted, and “the portion of the Lord,” as it is written, and “the lot of his inheritance,” there was such a corruption of manners and ways that they were worthy of little account; although the law had been given to them for assistance, and it was not insufficient for training them so that they might live correctly, they inclined rather towards slothfully turning aside to follow the errors of the nations, and embracing the superstitions of their neighbors. ^D Famed, indeed, were they for clinging most absurdly to the oracles of the false prophets. For some of them, ministers of idols, sitting by profane temples, were oracular and false-speaking; while others, having “The Lord lives” on their tongue, and feigning piety, and covering the wolf in sheep’s skin, as it were, and attaching to themselves the title of prophets, the wretches, and sacrilegiously stealing the glory of it, vomited forth what they pleased, and claimed that the thoughts of their own hearts were the divine counsel. Regarding such people, who were so abandoned and audacious, the prophet Jeremiah compels the Lord God of all in this manner: “Who are you, O Lord; behold the prophets pr”—

prophesy, and they say: You shall not see the sword, and there shall be no famine among you, for I will give truth and peace upon the earth, and in this place.” ^A And furthermore, God says regarding this: “Falsely the prophets prophesy in my name. I did not send them, and I did not command them, and I did not speak to them; and false visions, and divinations, and auguries, and the desires of their own hearts, these they spoke to them, and they themselves were prophesying.” For they were, as I have said, speakers of lies, and being overcome by sordid gains, they spoke to their listeners those things from their own hearts, as it is written, and not from the mouth of the Lord. Then, whereas the Jews ought to have been indignant at these things, they, on the contrary, made them out to be venerable, and strove to crown them with the highest honors. But after the only-begotten Word of God at length appeared to us, the inept and childish trifles of idolatry vanished and were utterly extinguished, and the nefarious and impious pursuit of the false prophets, who were filled with an evil and unclean spirit, and who, being infected with a kindred and similar error to the idol-worshippers, could have been most truly convicted, was also taken away along with it ^B. For there was one who presided over the impiety of both alike, namely, Satan. Therefore, he says, “I will take away from the earth the names of the idols, and there shall be no remembrance of them in that day,” that is, at that time when the divine and heavenly light shall shine, and the intellectual morning star, whom we see with the eye of the intellect, shall have risen in the hearts of those who were wandering, according to what is written, and the day shall have dawned, with the ancient night and the deeds that took place in it having been driven away; so that, with the ancient uncleanness removed, the athletes and holy worshippers might henceforth appear arrayed in the ornaments of a holy manner of life, and honoring the life in Christ.

*Verse 3. And it shall be, if a man shall prophesy again, and his father and his mother who begot him shall say to him: You shall not live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother who begot him shall restrain him as he is prophesying.*

^C XCVIII. So great, he says, will be the reverence of the mortals of that age for the divine, and so concerned will they be for the utmost uprightness and a praiseworthy life, that even parents will be spurred to zeal and anger against their own children, because, when they say false things, they feign to be prophesying, and speak out of their own heart, as though God had spoken to them. “They shall restrain him,” he says, that is, they shall bind him like one who is deranged and insane, and without delay, they shall determine his death if he persists in this disease fixedly and brazenly. ^D For it is sufficient for them to decree any punishment whatsoever against their son, that he has spoken falsely in the name of the Lord. See, moreover, how truly this has been spoken, and what firm faith this prediction deserves. For who of us today would tolerate one who prophesies in such a way?

at the present time, when someone is prophesying; or how could one not immediately consider such a person to have lost his senses, and how could one not find someone who is so disposed loathsome? What father would leave his son unreprimanded when he has fallen into such terrible transgressions? ^A This, therefore, is, in my opinion, a very clear demonstration of piety toward God, when the nature of our affairs has shifted greatly for the better, with God transforming it according to His own will and into a condition better than before. Wherefore, things that were once held in esteem and admired by many ^B are now loathsome and accursed, and to the virtuous are intolerable and deserving of punishment.

VERS. 4-6. And it shall be in that day, the prophets shall be ashamed, every one of his vision when he has prophesied, and they shall be clothed with a garment of hair, because they have lied, and he shall say: I am not a prophet, because I am a man tilling the earth, because a man begat me from my youth. And I will say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With which I was struck in the house of my beloved.

^C XCIX. That things that were once admired by us are deemed worthy of punishment and vengeance is easy to see from the sense of the words set before us. For in Israel, as I said, there used to prophesy liars, impostors, and deceivers, accustomed to leading others astray for the sake of "a handful of barley and a morsel of bread," as it is written. Then, there was no one to rebuke those who dared such things, nor did anyone wish to restrain them as people who had chosen to act impiously; nay, the wretches were rather deemed worthy of praises and the highest honors. Wherefore they became even worse, as the levity of those who admired them fed their disease. But at this present time, ^D he says that they shall be put to shame, for their false prophecy will be repudiated, or rather accused, and the penalties of repentance will be required from such shameless men, so that, once rebuked, they may immediately abstain from wickedness and put on the hair-garment, because they have lied; that is, they shall mourn for their wickedness and lament on account of their transgression, repenting that they had fallen into such mindless thoughts as to speak falsely against God with a brazen forehead, and they shall confess their sin and ask for pardon, saying openly: "I am not a prophet, because a man begat me from my youth," that is, because I am the son of a man. For our nature is exceedingly weak and very easily diverted toward perversity and is inclined to sin without any struggle. Such, then, could be the voices of those repenting. But if I should wish to ask him, he says, "What are the wounds or blows seen in your hands?" he will answer again: "With which I was struck in the house of my beloved," with his father and mother clearly restraining him and punishing his recklessness. For the house of the beloved to each one of us is the house of our parents. Wherefore, how great are the ancient

^A and modern turns of affairs, consider with yourself. For the false prophets used to be held in regard in the eyes of those people, and they flourished in glory and good repute, nor did it repent them of doing such things. But in the present time, if any choose to follow their divinations, they are rebuked and put to shame, and are summoned to punishment by the assessments of their parents; they repent as those who have sinned, and they mourn and weep, confessing the weakness of human nature and its proclivity to sin. For the unclean spirit has been removed from the earth by the virtue and power of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Vers. 7. *Rhomphæa, consurge super pastorem meum, et super virum civem ejus, dicit Dominus omnipotens. Percute pastorem, et dispergentur oves, et inducam manum meam super pastores.*

^C God and the Father delivered His own Son for us, allowing it dispensatorily, although He was God and begotten of Him by nature in an ineffable manner, both to come in the form of a servant, and to become a man like us, and to endure the cross, so that He might restore salvation to the world, and tear away the dominion of Satan over all things, and destroy polluted idolatry, and abolish divination, and the false prophets, and the deceits sprung from each one's own heart, and also remove the unclean spirit from the earth, and furthermore constitute and form the world, translating those who were led astray to the knowledge of the Divinity, and urging them to pious and honest manners of life and to the reputation of all-embracing virtue. For this reason, He endured death upon the wood, although it was most ignominious, despising the shame, since it so seemed good to God the Father Himself. And such a thing the Son Himself reveals to us when He says: “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that all that He has given Me I should not lose, but should raise it up at the last day.” And as the divine Paul writes: “For indeed Christ died and rose, that He might have dominion over both the dead and the living.” He laid down His soul willingly for us, therefore, and not only that, but with the God and Father even delivering Him as man by His own decree, and as it were permitting Him, as I said, to purchase the life of all ^D with His own blood. And so the Savior, when Pilate thought that he had power over Him, countered by saying: “You could have no power at all against Me, unless it had been given you from above.” Since, therefore, He had foretold through the voice of the prophet that there would be a very great change in human affairs for the better when He had undergone death in the body, He almost hastens to show the time when these things are to be, and commands the mystery of the passion to be performed, exhorting the sword itself and saying: “Consurge super pastorem meum, et super virum civem ejus.”

says the Lord Almighty. ^A And we say that the sword in these passages signifies, in the form of a blade, the temptation, or rather the very passion itself, brought upon Emmanuel by the madness of the Jews. For it seems that the righteous Simeon understood and spoke thus, when the holy Theotokos brought eight-day-old Jesus: “And a sword shall pierce through your own soul also.” For she was, as it were, slain by a sword, seeing Him who was born of her according to the flesh, as I say, hanging upon the cross. Therefore, says He, “O sword, awake against my shepherd,” that is, let at last the saving passion proceed, and let the time come in which good things are revealed. For Christ is indeed the Chief Shepherd over us, and under Him are all we who have believed, yet we are not outside the hand of God and the Father. For He rules over us in the Son, and through Him and in Him we have been saved, and through Him we have obtained access. And so the Savior said: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the hand of my Father. I and the Father are one.” The Son, therefore, is the own shepherd of God and the Father, ^B not feeding a flock that is foreign, but rather His own and the Father’s, whereas the mercenary shepherds are understood not to be His own, who slaughtered the sheep, devoid of all pity. Indeed, selling them, they used to say: “Blessed be the Lord, and we have become rich.” But the citizens, that is, the household and acquaintances of the good shepherd, are those who are subject to Him, and before others, the divine disciples, who, when the shepherd was struck, were scattered and fled. For since the servants of the Jews came, and with them the traitor with the cohort to arrest Jesus, “they all forsook him and fled,” for thus the evangelical Scripture says. But that God and Father, having given His own Son to death for us, is said in a certain way to have struck Him, by the very fact of His having permitted Him to suffer altogether, the Son Himself testifies through the voice of the Psalmist about those who had done impious things against Him—clearly meaning the Jews—saying: “For whom you have struck, they have pursued, and have added to the pain of my wounds.” Voluntary therefore, as I said, was the passion wrought, in order that the accomplishment arising from His suffering might be made manifest. But that the event will be a cause of destruction to those who crucified Him, and that upon those who are the architects of such counsel and undertakings—these were the leaders of the peoples—evils from divine wrath will be brought, He makes clear, saying: ^C “And I will bring my hand upon the shepherds.” For they have destroyed His vineyard, according to the voice of the prophet: “They have made His desirable portion a pathless wilderness. It has become a dissipation of destruction.” Furthermore, God brings His hand upon the shepherds as if it were a sword to press them and exact penalties for impiety, because not only did they rage against Christ, but because they were also the authors and leaders of a horrible fury in others against Him. For, as it is in the holy Gospel according to Matthew,

when Pilate had set before the Jews Christ and Barabbas, and had asked which of the two they wished to be released to them, the chief priests and the elders ^A persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to destroy Jesus. They furthermore urged them to cry out, "Crucify, crucify him." Therefore, the voice of the prophet is true: "The shepherds have acted foolishly, and have not sought the Lord; therefore, all the flock has not understood, and they have been scattered." For just as the vigilance of good shepherds benefits the flock, so does lethargy destroy it; and those subject to them follow entirely in the footsteps of the shepherds.

VERS. 8, 9. *And it shall come to pass in that day in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts thereof shall perish and fail, but the third shall be left in it. And I will lead the third part through the fire, and I will burn them as silver is burned, and I will test them as gold is tested. He shall call upon my name, and I will hearken to him, and I will say: This is my people; and he shall say: The Lord is my God.*

^B PA'. The divine hand having been brought down upon the impious false shepherds who have corrupted the royal vineyard, he states that those who most thoughtlessly aided their wicked schemes—it is clear that he means the crowds of the Jews and the multitude under their care—will not be exempt from punishment and judgment. For they have been consumed by war, and their cities with their idols have been utterly destroyed; only a few have been saved as a remnant, which is understood as the third part of the entire multitude. For Israel did not perish entirely, as God took pity on them for the sake of the fathers. The blessed Isaiah confirms this: "And unless the Lord of Hosts had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been likened unto Gomorrah." Nevertheless, he affirms that he will lead the third part, that is, the remnant—namely, those from the blood of Israel who believe—through the fire, and will test them with fire as silver and gold. For the life of the saints is not devoid of troubles and labors, and it is true that "all who desire to live piously in Christ will suffer persecution." ^C The divine disciples were proven most excellent, as were all who were their companions in labors and afflictions at that time, while they were proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to the nations through the sacred ministry. For they were called to experience many vexations and persecutions, and they were, so to speak, burned as they were tested through temptations, so that they could say with confidence: "For you have tested us, O God; you have examined us with fire, as silver is examined." What, therefore, is the benefit from this? Or what reward will those who have thus labored and have been tested receive? They have become members of God’s household, acquainted ^D and beloved by God. For they have been counted

^A as a holy nation, a royal priesthood, a people for God's own possession, that they may proclaim the virtues of Him who called them from darkness into His marvelous light; and they who were once not a people have become a people. And at one time they used to hear: “When you stretch out your hands to me, I will turn my eyes away from you; and if you multiply your prayer, I will not listen to you.” But now He says: “He himself will call upon my name, and I will say: 'This is my people.'” Therefore, they have become the peculiar inheritance of God and the Father, and they have been given to the Son; for He holds authority over all things together with Him who begat Him, and those who have the Creator and Lord of all as benevolent and propitious possess this.

VOLUME SIX. CHAPTER XIV.

^B “Behold, the days of the Lord are coming, and your spoils will be divided in your midst. And I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem, and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be plundered, and the women shall be defiled, and half of the city shall go out into captivity.”

CII. Indicating the saving passion on the cross, He was saying a little before, “O sword, awake against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow, says the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.” ^C But that the multitude of the Jews would be subjected to extreme punishments, and most deservedly so, since with the utmost audacity they killed the Lord, He taught by adding: “And I will bring my hand upon the shepherds, and it shall be in that day, says the Lord, two parts shall be destroyed and fail, but the third I will lead through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined, and I will test them as gold is tested.” We have explained to the best of our ability how such things are to be understood, and not without good reason. The scope of what is proposed is also written now as regarding Jerusalem, which rushed with insane impulse into crime, ^D and indicates to us the manner of the capture. For He says, “Behold the day of the Lord,” that is, those days which He Himself brings with equal judgment and righteous decision. For it is true, as He also says through another prophet: “Is there evil in the city which the Lord has not done?” For nothing that has the power to greatly disturb the whole city could happen, which we might not say occurs by His permission, and because He wills to exact accountability for sins from those who rush headlong with unbridled impulses into evil deeds. Therefore, He says these are His days, because they are announced as things to be expected from His wrath. For they had been intolerably insolent, having killed the prophets and added to these the murder of the Son as well. And what shall be in those days, He clarifies by saying: “And your spoils will be divided in your midst (evidently with all the nations gathered together), and houses shall be plundered, and they shall violently carry off women with their infants.” Then, He says, half of the city shall go out into captivity. For they say that the Romans, having captured the city and disregarding the shamelessness of those resisting them, even the same

^A set fire to the temple and the houses of the city; but they spared those who fell before them, having inhabited the upper city and the sacred place. Behold, moreover, how he says that the victors would arrive at such a pitch of boldness as: after plundering the houses, they would not immediately depart with the spoils, nor quietly effect their distribution, having arrived at their own tents; but would do this in the very city that had been captured—something which would not have happened if there had been anyone at all coming to the aid of the wretched ones, and fighting against those who were pillaging. He affirms that women would be defiled, being dragged away against their will by others, and often from those with whom they had frequently shared conjugal secrets according to the law. But these are the inconveniences of war, and calamities not foreign to those who have been captured once and are completely destitute of all aid.

At the rest of my people shall not be destroyed from the city. ^B

CIII. This, I think, is nothing other than what I said just now, that some reprieve was granted to the inhabitants of the upper city, and a part of Jerusalem remained unharmed. For the Roman commanders were restraining the temper of their soldiers, if they saw any weeping and submitting themselves, and falling to their knees with their arms thrown down. He speaks, therefore, either of the remainder of his people in the preserved part of the city; or perhaps of those who had believed in the common Savior of all, Christ, concerning whom he says that they would not be destroyed from the city. For they will always be citizens of the Church, and even if they might fall away from the earthly and destroyed Jerusalem, yet they possess the upper one, concerning which the inspired Paul also writes: “But the Jerusalem above is free, which is our mother.” ^C The blessed David also seems to hint at something of this sort, speaking in this way: “Whoever dwells in Jerusalem shall not be moved forever.” For the Church remains unshaken, and, according to the voice of the Savior, “the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,” for it has Him as its foundation. It is therefore necessary in every way that those who inhabit it, and are reckoned among His people, and are enrolled in its lawful privileges, should also be unshaken and immovable.

Vers. 3-5. *And the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against those nations, as the day of his fighting in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem on the east. And the mount of Olives shall be cleft, its half part towards the east, and its half part towards the sea, a very great abyss. And the half of the mount shall incline towards the north, and its half towards the south. And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, and the valley of the mountains shall be joined as far as Asael. And it shall be stopped up as it was stopped up in the days of the earthquake, in the days of Uzziah king of Judah.* ^D

CIV. The discourse is formulated as if concerning some most noble commander, inciting his soldiers to battle, and in

the presence of the One who is almost physically present, and standing in the battle line alongside the nations that are ravaging Judea and laying waste even Jerusalem itself.

^A We remember, moreover, that in the evangelical parables there is something of this sort. For a king, making a wedding feast for his son, sent his servants to gather those who had been invited. But they, having impiously and most insultingly received the callers, even killed them, and lastly they murdered the son. What then does the logic of the parable say? "And the king was angry, and sending his armies, he destroyed those murderers, and burned their city." It will be in the same way, he says, as when on the day of battle one stands up generously against the enemies, even to their destruction. ^B And this is a demonstration of the finality of wrath, and of the highest victories, and of inflicting a victorious defeat upon those who have disowned Him. For they have killed, as I said, the Author of life. Since, however, it belongs to the Queen of all, the divine nature, to perform in a brilliant manner things that are beyond speech and worthy of wonder, he therefore says: "His feet shall stand"—that is, Christ's—"on that day upon the Mount of Olives." It will suffer four ruptures, two indeed toward the east and the west, or toward the sea (for thus the divinely inspired Scripture is accustomed to call the western part), and the other two tending, one toward the arctos and the north, and the other toward the south. ^C He says that the very summits themselves will be cleft, so as to fill the intervening valleys, being unexpectedly shaken as far as Asael; which, as it is said, is a village situated in the extreme recess of the mountain. He compares this heavy earthquake to that which happened in the times of Uzziah, who is also called Azariah. For after he was established on the throne of the kingdom in Jerusalem, being born of the tribe of Judah, he dared to lay hands illicitly on the priestly ministries; he was immediately struck with leprosy, and God, manifesting His wrath at these things, the land of the Jews and even Jerusalem itself trembled horrifically. They say also that Zion itself was so shaken that it was split into two parts, and the valleys adjacent to its ridges were filled. By such earthquakes, the prophet ^D seems to us to suggest the one which the sacred ministers of the evangelical proclamations say happened at the venerable crucifixion. The prophet discusses the event more broadly in these matters. But our most wise Matthew, abbreviating the narrative, says: "And Jesus, crying out again with a loud voice, yielded up the spirit. And behold the veil of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were split, and the monuments were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised." And since it is necessary to apply a probable reason to these things which occurred, he seems to signify in a certain way, by the rocks being split and the valleys being stopped up, the blinding of the Jews and the hastening of the idolaters toward saving things. For these, since they served the creature rather than the Creator,* were like a stony, hard, and inflexible heart, and in

equality to stones, they bore no fruit. But what did God say concerning them through the voice of Ezekiel? "And I will take away the stony heart from their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh, that they may know me." Therefore, the hearts of the wanderers were rent, as God opened them, so that they might receive the word of the saving proclamation. And the voice of Jeremiah indicates something similar, saying: "Are not my words like fire burning, says the Lord, and like an axe that cleaves the rock?" For the word of God is living, and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword. Therefore, as I said, the rending of the rocks can be a very clear argument for the turning of those who had wandered toward a holier state. Furthermore, that the valleys were stopped up implies the blindness of the Jews, as I have taught. For something of this kind is found in the divine Isaiah: "And it shall be in that day, the Lord shall shut off the flow of the river even to the Rhinocorura"; ^B that is, the mind of all throughout Judea shall be blocked, "that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear, and may not understand." For a veil lies upon their heart, as it is written, in the reading of the Old Testament. And that the earth was shaken would signify, I suppose, a transition from one state of things to another. Thus, the divine David cried out, saying: "He who sits upon the Cherubim, let the earth be moved." And we do not say that he urges that the orb of the earth be shaken physically and perceptibly; for this is a common thing, and brings us no benefit. But rather, he requested that they, being filled with the Spirit, might be, as it were, transferred from the worship of idols to know Him who is truly and by nature God, and from the mind of the flesh to the will of living spiritually, and, to speak summarily, from earthly things ^C to heavenly things. And as for his saying that the monuments of those who had slept were opened, we say that even death itself is seen to have been overcome by Christ, who died in the flesh for us economically, "that he may be Lord both of the dead and of the living."

VERS. 6, 7. And the Lord God shall come, and all the holy ones with him. In that day there shall be no light, and cold and frost shall be for one day, and that day shall be known to the Lord, and it shall not be day nor night, and at evening there shall be light.

CV. After having recounted in passing the unholy and impious crimes of the Jews against Christ, the Savior of us all, and the capture of Judea, and indeed of Jerusalem itself, he proceeds next to the end of the present age, and profitably records the descent of Emmanuel from heaven. For he shall descend with his holy angels, ^D in the glory of God and the Father, "that he may judge the world in righteousness," since, as the divine Paul writes: "For we must all be manifested..."

before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive according to what he has done, whether good or evil." He shall come then, he shall come, he says, and all his saints with him; ^A that is, the purest multitude of the holy angels, who in any case attend him and offer a ministrant presence. For Emmanuel is the Lord of all, and he is glorified by them as God, and reigns together with Him who begat him. If, however, anyone should say that the saints themselves will also stand with him, having been caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air after the resurrection from the dead, as seems right to the most wise Paul, he would by no means stray from what is fitting. For the divine Isaiah said something of this sort about them: ^B "There hinds met, and they saw one another's faces. They passed by in number, and not one of them perished, nor did one seek another. For the Lord commanded them, and his spirit gathered them." The divine David also sings, foretelling the descent from heaven of the Savior of us all, Christ: "For the Lord will not cast off his people, and he will not forsake his inheritance, until righteousness shall return unto judgment, and all the upright in heart shall follow it." For he calls Christ righteousness, and says that he will return unto judgment. He was indeed taken up, having trampled upon death, and ascended to the Father and God in heaven; but he will return at the proper time to judgment, ^C and with him all the upright in heart, that is to say, the saints, as I said just now.

And that at the time of the consummation there will be another state for the visible creation, and that it too will be transformed for the better, renewed through Christ, the prophet will confirm, saying: "On that day there shall not be light, and cold and frost shall be for one day; and that day is known to the Lord." For now, day and night are distinguished, and the times have been divided by the nods of the Creator, and the light of day arises, and then night follows. But when the Judge arrives, transforming all things according to what seems good to him, the creation will receive, as I said, ^D a different order. "For there shall no longer be light, and cold and frost for one day." By the mention of frost and cold, he signifies the night; for the period of a day and a night is reckoned as one day, similar to as if one should say, perhaps: "At that time, when he has arrived from heaven and is transforming all things, and is refashioning them for the better, as Creator and Artificer, there will be no night, nor light for a day." Something of this sort is also said by the blessed prophet Isaiah: "The sun shall no longer be for you in the light of day, nor shall the rising of the moon shine upon you for the night; but the Lord shall be for you an everlasting light, and your God your glory." And that the very utility of the elements will at times be rendered idle, Christ himself creates faith: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light." For Christ is sufficient for us for eternal light, and he himself will be the long and perpetual day. He calls that day "known to the Lord," for only God and the Father knows the day of the consummation. Persua-

^Ading us of this, the Son himself speaks thus: "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only." Insofar as he is understood to be a man like us, he does not know what is in the Father. But insofar as he is by nature God, and has come forth from him, he surely knows the last day as well, even if he says he does not know it because of his human nature. Interpreting for us what the prophet said, and making it clearer, he adds: "And it shall be neither day nor night, but toward evening there shall be light," that is, in the time of night there shall again be light, which has shone through Christ upon the world under heaven, with darkness entirely scattered and no longer spread over the eyes of the saints.

Moreover, we do not believe without good reason that the creature itself is to be reformed for the better. The disciple of the Savior is worthy of belief, who says that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and that the heavens will pass away with a great rush, and the elements, melting away, will be dissolved, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up, but that we look forward, according to his promises, to new heavens and a new earth. And it is necessary for us to think this. For if our affairs are to be entirely in newness of life, we shall also need a new creature. For, as the divine Paul writes: "The creation itself will also be delivered from its bondage into the glorious liberty of the children of God."

VERS. 8, 9. *In that day living water shall go out from ^B Jerusalem, half of it toward the first sea, and half of it toward the last sea, and in summer and in spring it shall be so. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth.*

CVI. Again he tells us, albeit more enigmatically, that the Holy Spirit will be poured out upon the saints most abundantly and richly, especially at that time when they have been brought to the holy and ever-enduring life, I mean, that of the age to come. For now, through faith in Christ, we have received the first fruits of the Holy Spirit as an earnest and pledge in place of riches. But when we have risen from the dead, with sin entirely removed, the divine Spirit will no longer be in us as an earnest and in measure, but abundantly and richly, as I said, and we shall then rejoice perfectly in the gifts acquired through Christ. He calls the Spirit living water, which, he says, "shall go out from the Jerusalem above." For since the divinely-inspired Scripture foretells that the God of all dwells in the heavens, although he is everywhere and all things are full of him, for this reason he says that the life-giving Spirit will go out from heaven. That it is habitual for the divine Spirit to be compared to waters in the holy Scriptures, the giver of the Spirit himself, the Son, will testify: "He who believes in me, as says

^A Scripture, rivers of living water shall flow from his belly." The divine evangelist, interpreting this and making it clear, says, "But he said this of the Spirit, which those who believed in him were about to receive." For since the Spirit is life-giving, it is for this reason very correctly compared to water that gives life to bodies. And that it is permitted for those deemed worthy of the holy life to acquire in abundance the possession of the gift of the holy Spirit, and to be filled as it were with life-giving waters, he indicates when he says of that water which is expected to go forth at appointed times from Jerusalem, "Half of it shall go to the first sea, and half to the last sea." But what is this? The divine Scripture often likens many nations of men and multitudes beyond count to seas and waters. And so it says somewhere through one of the holy prophets: "For the whole earth has been filled, that it might know the Lord, as much water would cover the seas." And the divine Daniel also says somewhere, foretelling things to happen in the last times to all men upon the inhabited earth: "I, Daniel, was watching, and behold, the four winds of heaven were rushing into the great sea, and four great beasts were coming up from the sea, differing from one another." And the blessed David makes this very thing clearer, singing: "This sea, great and spacious, there are creeping things without number, small animals with great. There the ships pass through; this dragon which you formed to play in it." For what dragon fashioned to be played with by God, the ruler of all, would we say exists in the sensible sea? It is the custom, then, for the holy Scriptures to liken the whole world, and sometimes the great multitude of men, to seas. ^B Therefore, he indicates that the grace of the Spirit shall be distributed with equal measure by God to those who have believed from Israel and to those from the nations, by saying regarding the life-giving water, that "half of it shall go forth to the first sea, and the other half to the last sea." By the first sea, he names Israel; by the last, the multitude of those who have believed after them, that is, the nations. And we do not at all say that the holy Spirit is divided, and that he will be imperfect in either side because "half" is spoken of—far from it! Rather, we shall think that the prophet wished to signify that the grace would be imparted to these and those in equality. For "half and half" will be a sign of a generosity of equal weight and of equality itself. That the grace is also perpetual and will remain for every age is not difficult to see from the fact that it is added: "For in summer and in spring it shall be so," that is, always. You should know, however, that in place of "in spring," the Hebrew edition reads "in winter." But it is not ^C inconvenient to say "spring" in place of "winter" according to the LXX Scripture; for it is situated, as it were, in the middle space between the two seasons, so that if anyone should also ascribe it to the winter season, he would be doing nothing improbable or alien to the right path. But if anyone should also wish to understand in another way that which is said concerning the water understood in the mind—namely, that "half of it shall go forth to the first sea, and half of it to the last sea, and in summer and in spring it shall be so"—such a word

will receive this understanding: For he calls the first sea that which is situated, perhaps, toward the rising sun, beyond the boundaries of the entire earth; and the last, that which is at the very extremities of the west. For he defines the rising sun as the face and beginning of the world; but by summer, I think, he designates the warm and southern parts of the world, and by spring, the northern and cold ones. For thus the divine David, wishing to signify the four climates under heaven, exclaimed to God: "Summer and spring, You have fashioned them" (Ps. LXXIII, 17). And again: "The north and the sea, You have created them" (Ps. LXXXVIII, 13). Therefore, I say, the living water will go forth in equality and in equal grace to both the first sea and the last—that is, to the east and to the west—and in summer and in spring—that is, again, into the south and into the north. For the world under heaven shall be filled with the gifts through Christ, and the gift shall remain entirely with those who have received it. Then, then "shall the Lord be king over all the earth" (Zach. XIV, 9). For we shall be under Him alone, and He shall rule over all, when those who presided over this age have been completely destroyed, and every perverse principality and tyranny against us has been triumphed over, with Satan himself and his malignant powers routed.

VERS. 10, 11. ^C In that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one, encompassing the earth and the desert from Gaba even to Remmon toward the south of Jerusalem. And Rama shall remain in its place, from the gate of Benjamin even to the place of the first gate, even to the gate of the corners, and even to the tower of Anamuel. Even to the king's winepresses shall they dwell in it, and there shall be no more anathema, and Jerusalem shall dwell confidently.

CVII. The obscurity of the prophetic word, and its manifestation by Christ

^D The discourse of the holy prophets is always, in a way, covered and obscure; and I think this is wisely ordained by God, so that holy things may not be set before dogs, nor the truly precious pearl be cast carelessly before the feet of swine and be trodden upon most contumeliously (Matth. VII, 6). Nevertheless, Christ in the Spirit reveals the knowledge to those who are worthy, and makes manifest the powers or beatitudes of the world to come. For the things that are hidden and belong to the understanding are almost always fashioned in those things which are perceived by the senses, and those things which strike our eyes become, as it were, a body for the things that are more invisible. He says, therefore: "In that day"—that is, in that time, when we have been translated into newness of life, and the creature itself has been reformed into a state more noble than before—"there shall be one Lord, and His name one, encompassing all the earth." For He was, and is, and always shall be one Lord, the God of all by nature and in truth, who has brought into being the things that were not.

^A And truly God of all, who caused those things that at one time were not, to be. But when the inventor of sin, Satan, seduced the world, we unfortunates were led away to a false and impure cult, and we remained in the world, blind and foolish, calling the seducers lords, and foolishly attributing the name of divinity to unclean demons. Furthermore, when the present age has passed by and already come to its end, ^B then, then truly, with all madness removed from us and our enemies prostrated under the feet of Christ, the Lord shall from then on be one over all the earth, with no one taking from Him the glory of the Lordship. And in another way too, Christ shall be one Lord, with every kingdom—the earthly one, that is—ceasing, and the power of the whole world being consecrated to Him alone. Such a thing is stated by the most wise Daniel. For, explaining the vision, he says: "Just as you saw, O king, that a stone was cut from a mountain without hands, and it crushed the clay, the iron, the bronze, the silver, and the gold. The great God has made known to the king what must come to pass after these things, and the dream is true, ^C and ^D its interpretation is faithful." Therefore, He shall be one and alone, and He shall fill the holy city with His own glory, that is, the intelligible Jerusalem, the breadth and length of which He shows again, as in a type, by the earthly Jerusalem. Now Remmon is a kind of rock in the southern desert. Therefore, the breadth of Jerusalem is from Gaba to Remmon. He also defines the length with these words: "From the gate of Benjamin unto the first gate, unto the gates of the corners, and unto the tower of Anameel, unto the winepresses of the king." Now the first gate, and indeed also the gate of the corners, were so named in Jerusalem; and there was a tower called Anameel, after which immediately followed the winepresses of the king: these places signify the length of Jerusalem as in a type. For just as the God of all commanded the blessed prophet Ezekiel to measure the house with a reed, extending it here and there, indicating that there are many mansions with God, and many thousands of resting-places for the saints, so to me it seems that here, too, the breadth and length are signified and described to us by these places, even Jerusalem, which we comprehend by reason and thought, that is, the Church of Christ, to which the divine Isaiah also was calling out, saying: "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and thy curtains; fix, do not spare, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy nails yet more, to the right and to the left extend." The saints, therefore, shall inhabit the holy city thus enlarged, and extended in length in proportion to its breadth, and, he says, "there shall be no more anathema;" that is to say, in no way shall it be alienated from God; for He shall bestow upon it an unshakable love, and they shall not fall again into offending God, now that sin, as I said, and Satan the tempter have been utterly removed. For there shall not be a lion there, nor shall any of the evil beasts ascend to it, nor shall it be found there. "For they shall dwell confidently." Since, however, it is inserted: "But Rama shall remain in its place," we speak of that again, interpreting the sense of the words as much as lies within us. Rama

is a certain little city, or village, an inheritance for those of the tribe of Aser. And there is another one nearby of the tribe of Nephthalim; and the holy prophet remembers either one or the other Rama. For he says: ^A “A voice was heard in Rama, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning; Rachel bewailing for her children, and she would not be comforted, because they are not.” We maintain that this happened in Bethlehem, Herod having ordered the infants in it to be slain. Rama, therefore, signifies Jerusalem, because a great lamentation had occurred in it at the time of its capture; for the prophet Jeremiah introduces it as if weeping and wailing over its own lost children. For he says: “Weeping she wept in the night, and her tears are upon her cheeks.” And what was the mourning? “My virgins and my young men went into captivity; thou didst slay them with the sword and in famine, in the day of thy wrath thou didst cook them, thou didst not spare.” But if any should wish to place the appellation of Rama upon the spiritual Jerusalem, that is, the Church, and that it is named Rama now, we say that the account holds very true. ^B For there are many who weep in the churches, and who have sorrow according to God, which indeed “worketh repentance into a stable salvation.” Christ himself even commends such, saying: “Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.” And again, “Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh.” Therefore, even if the Church should be called Rama through the voice of the prophet, the account would still bear a certain probability. Yet he says it shall remain in its place, that is, it shall not be shaken. For the Church of Christ, as I have said, is established and immovable.

VERS. 12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will strike all the nations, whoever have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away, while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall melt away from their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.

^C CVIII. “You shall have tribulation in the world,” Christ foretold to those who believe in him. Nevertheless, he raises them to confidence, usefully adding: “But be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” For he has given to us “to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and upon all the power of the enemy.” But who are the scorpions, and who are the serpents? Are they not plainly the detestable and bloodthirsty cohorts of the pestiferous demons, and of those who persecute the saints, who have even become ministers of the utter madness of the spirits in this world, who also ^D prowl around this whole universe, waylaying the saints in many ways, although they were triumphed over through Christ, who nailed to his own cross the handwriting that was against us, so that he might deliver us from their dominion? Since, therefore, Jerusalem, which is the Church of the living God, shall dwell confidently,

^A and it was indeed right to expect that this would be brought to completion once its enemies had been removed and those who were accustomed to persecute it had been overthrown, the prophet necessarily provides this account of these things for us. "For this," he says, "shall be the destruction with which the Lord will strike all the nations, as many as have campaigned against Jerusalem: their flesh shall waste away, and their eyes shall melt, [while] the tongue also wastes away." For while this common death, which is of the natural order of things, wastes away the flesh of all alike, and strips away [the use of] eyes and tongues, it would be a most terrible and calamitous thing, and not without reason, for the flesh of those who are still living and standing to waste away, and for their eyes to fall out and tongues to be punished. And he very rightly says that such things will befall those who have pursued a life hateful to God and execrable. For they shall pay the penalties, not only for what they have committed against the saints, but also for the [attachment to] carnal things with which they burned in this world: which was likewise the reason for them that they neither accepted faith, nor were willing to cultivate piety and love the glory of the life in Christ. For they had, as I said, turned aside absurdly ^B toward bizarre pleasures; and they had a desire for everything they saw, drinking it in, so to speak, in great gulps. They also sharpened their tongues against Christ and impiously carped at the holy dogmas of the Church. Rightly, therefore, did they receive punishment in their flesh, and eyes, and tongues. For just as the woman who drank the water of conviction and swore falsely was punished in her thigh, where the crime of fornication is committed—for, he says, "Her thigh shall be broken and shall fall away"—so, I think, in the same manner will the punishment be inflicted in flesh, and eyes, and tongues upon those who persecute the holy city, in whom we see the love of flesh and pleasure and, furthermore, the sins of the eyes and the voices of an intemperate tongue.

Verses 13, 14. And there shall be in that day a great trembling from the Lord upon them. And each shall lay hold of the hand of his neighbor, and his hand shall be linked with the hand of his neighbor. And Judah shall fight in Jerusalem, and shall gather the wealth of all the nations round about, gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.

^{C D} CIX. In this place, he calls fear or consternation "trembling" again. At that time, therefore, he says, when the enemies of the Church shall assemble themselves together, caught as they are by such grave penalties, they will be stunned by terrors, and having abandoned from that point on the boldness to persecute the holy city, they will depart as fugitives, and seeking from one another—but to no avail—assistance, they will be miserable, and cast down, and subject to the feet of the saints. But Judah, he says—that is, those who have been justified through faith in Christ and who carry within them the spiritual Jew, and are enriched with the circumcision in the Holy Spirit—they shall fight in Jerusalem, that is, they shall combat the enemies, and they will prevail over their adversaries by virtue, trampling them underfoot like scorpions; and

^A treading upon the viper and the basilisk, absolutely despising the lion and the dragon. They shall be illustrious and admirable, gathering from such splendid feats a treasure like gold, silver, and precious clothing. For it is certain that the mind of the prophecy does not lie in things that touch the perception of the body. For the riches of the saints are not those that are subject to corruption and are earthly, but those which are merely understood, and are heavenly and everlasting, which those who teach and who distinguish themselves in the Church by other means gather into their own souls. For they plunder, in a manner, the strength of all the nations, bringing the excellent ones of the nations to Christ through faith. For thus He Himself said that He had despoiled the vessels of the strong man.

But if anyone should say that Judea gathers the strength of all the nations in the circle—gold, silver, and clothing—so that we might understand that they gather also the wisdom in the world and are made bright by it, contending for the dogmas of piety, he would have a reasonably probable argument. For once, the wise women of the Israelites despoiled the Egyptians, borrowing golden and silver vessels and clothing from their neighbors and those who dwelt in the same tent. Therefore, just as in those things perceived from without, and as in things that come under our gaze, the splendor of goods pertaining to the mind is expressed. But the primary riches of teachers are their disciples. Hence, the divine Paul addresses those saved through him and who have embraced the faith, saying: “By your boasting, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus,” and again he names them his crown and joy.

VERS. 15. *And this shall be the ruin of the horses, and of the mules, and of the camels, and of the asses, and of all the beasts that are in those camps according to this ruin.*

110. After he has already described the manners of the vengeance ^C which at their own times those who have been persecutors, and contemptuous, and execrable, and wicked, and those speaking iniquity against God, ^D “and lifting the horn on high,” according to the voice of the Psalmist, fully experienced as having waged war against the holy city, he adds usefully: “For this shall be the ruin of the horses, and of the mules, and of the camels, and of the asses, and of all the beasts.” Now by the pack animals, he signifies those who are borne by them. For the most distant nations and those surrounding them were pressing against the Jews and against Jerusalem itself; some were riding on horses, such as the Babylonians and Syrians, and indeed also the nations of the Egyptians; others were harnessing camels and asses and mules, such as the Moabites, and the dwellers in the desert, of whom also the prophet Isaiah makes mention, saying: “In the tribulation and distress, the lion and the cub of the lion, thence also vipers and the offspring of flying vipers, who were carrying their riches upon asses and camels.” And he says elsewhere that he saw the rider of an ass and the rider of a camel. He describes, therefore, the enemies of the truth as in a figure among the nations,

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which have always been hostile to the earthly Jerusalem, so that from them we might discern our visible and invisible enemies, with whom we have a struggle. But if it should please anyone to refer the characteristics of the beasts to the enemies of the Church, as if in a type, it would be lawful to declare that they should be understood in this way: some are importunate and audacious, perhaps like horses, to whom one might most fittingly attribute a craving for pleasure and an insane love for women; others are rustic and savage, like mules, which it is the custom of the Greek poets also to call rustic; others have been found similar to camels in their disposition, that is, uneven and arrogant, and possessed of a mind lifted up by madness; others, differing not at all from donkeys, suffer from the extreme lack of reason; for the donkey is sluggish and slow to perception, and an image of extreme stupidity. It must be noted that the opponents of the Church are ^A likened to none of the tame and clean animals, such as, I say, the sheep and the ox, but are rather compared to those that are loathsome and savage, which are condemned by the words of the Law as profane and unclean.

VERS. 16, 17. And it shall be, whoever of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem are left, they shall also go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, God, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be, whoever of all the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, God, even they shall be added to those.

^C CXI. Having said that those who have fought against the Churches and have lifted up a high and arrogant eyebrow against the holy Jerusalem will pay the appropriate penalties, he now predicts the adoration of those who remain behind them, namely, that which comes about through faith in Christ. For he himself is the "expectation of the nations," according to the voice of the patriarch. He has also been set as a "light to the nations, and for a covenant of the race, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring the prisoners out of their bonds, and those sitting in darkness from the house of prison." Since, therefore, those from the nations, having abandoned the gloom of idolatry and having broken the bonds of the devil and of perversity, will come to the light of truth and will submit to the yoke of the Savior, he makes it clear, saying that the remainder of those who have been punished, that is, of those who have fought against the Churches (and these are innumerable), shall go up from year to year to worship the Lord Almighty, God, and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles. For the Law given through Moses commanded that the feast of Tabernacles be performed on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the fruits of the fields had been gathered into the storehouses. Wherefore it names it the feast of "Departure" [or "Exit"], because the rustic labors had already reached their end. It commanded, moreover, to take palm branches, and the fruit of a beautiful tree, and dense branches of trees, and willows and ^D branches of a lamb [or "of a thicket"], and to drink water from the torrent, and to rejoice in these things. And the Law indeed provided the reason for the feast: that Israel had dwelt in tents when they were delivered from the houses of the Egyptians.

^A And the thing was a type of the mystery concerning Christ. For we ourselves have also been delivered from the greed of the devil, and have been called, as I said, into freedom through Christ, and have been made subject to Him who is the King of all and Life, having disregarded the wickedness of those who formerly ruled over us. We celebrate the true feast of Tabernacles, that is, the day of the resurrection of Christ, when all bodies in Him are in a manner fixed and compacted, even though they have been dissolved by corruption and held by death. For He Himself is the resurrection, He Himself is the Life, being as it were the first-fruits from the dead, "and the first-fruits of them that are asleep," filling us with that fruitfulness which is known by the understanding, and causing us to accumulate our labors, gathered as it were from the fields, into the storehouses on high. He will grant us food and delights in paradise—spiritual, of course—for those who have conquered sin, for those who are well-scented in their understanding, and who possess the beautiful and desirable fruit of the evangelical life, having conducted themselves chastely and holily. A sign of this might also be that they held the palm-branches and the beautiful fruit of the tree bound together with the others. He is the torrent of delights with which God and our Father has given us to drink. He is the fountain of life and the river of peace, which has turned aside to us who have been called from among the nations, concerning which we have discussed more ^B exquisitely elsewhere. Therefore, those who go up to worship God the Almighty, and to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles, are those who have been justified by faith in Christ. But He threatens destruction to those who do not go up, and punishments equal to those which persecutors and the insolent shall pay. For those who have chosen not to love shall be placed in the same lot as the enemies. And this, I think, is what Christ Himself also said: "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth."

VERS. 18. *But if the family of Egypt do not go up, and do not come thither, and upon these shall be the fall, wherewith the Lord will strike all the nations, whoever do not go up to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles.*

CXII. From one nation, the Egyptians I mean, he points out those who are ^C in the highest degree of error, and who have chosen beyond measure to worship idols, to whom a severe, inevitable, and destructive punishment shall come, for the reason that they have rejected the acceptable grace of salvation through Christ. For they might almost be found to be murderers of their own souls, if it is true that, while it was permitted for them to lay hold of eternal life, and the kindness from above was set forth for those who desired to grasp it, and also the possibility to unburden themselves of sins, they indulged their own errors, and neither washed away the stain contracted from thence, nor the defilement of sin, but have persisted in error; even though the divine light was illuminating all things, and encouraging those who were dwelling in gloom and darkness to look up.

I would say regarding each such person: ^A "Better than he is the one who is stillborn, for he came in vanity and departs in darkness, and in darkness his name shall be covered." Better, indeed, for him if he had not been born, according to the voice of the Savior. That the word is not about the Egyptians alone, but will also come to pass regarding all the nations—who shall be punished in every way and altogether for having disregarded the salvation through Christ and for failing to honor the festival concerning him—he will confirm, saying: ^B "This shall be the sin of Egypt, and the sin of all the nations, whoever shall not go up to keep the feast of Tabernacles."

CXIII. For before the arrival of the Savior, perhaps the excuse of the nations was still in some part plausible, since they said that they were called by no one; for no one had preached to them. Therefore, the Savior also, revealing this very thing to us in the evangelical parables, says that the laborers called about the eleventh hour said, "No one has hired us." But after Christ shone forth, he bound the strong man, snatched away from his perversity those who were laid under him, justified by faith those who draw near to him, and laid down his own soul for the life of all. Those who have not accepted a grace so venerable will therefore find no word sufficient for an excuse. Truly, then, Christ might also speak regarding those nations: "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin."

"In that day there shall be upon the bridle of the horse, holy to the Lord Almighty."

CXIV. As all war has now been extinguished, and battle abolished, and the enemies have been driven away, and a cessation of war now crowns the holy city, that is to say, the Church, he says that the instruments of war—the trappings and the bridles—shall henceforth be rendered useless. For what use will a horseman of this kind have, ^C when he is skilled at excelling in battle, if there is no one at all to contend against him? ^D Therefore, he says, the instruments useful for war shall be holy and dedicated to God. For since he himself is the arbiter of peace, to him also shall the instruments of war, being now superfluous and henceforth idle, justly be dedicated. For just as the blessed prophet Isaiah said concerning certain people, that "They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation shall not take up sword against nation, and they shall not learn to make war anymore," the times of peace all but persuading them to forgo martial matters for the sake of agriculture and to run instead to other covenants, having neglected military training; so too the divine Zechariah, as perpetual peace has now been granted by God, tells that instruments suitable for those fighting shall be transformed into a dedication to God. For warfare will cease entirely, nor shall there be any care for horses, or bridles, or trappings, and minds will instead incline toward studies in which one might excel in virtue and piety.

^B It seems to some that the power of the prophecy might have been fulfilled in another way. For they say that the Sign of the Cross was found in times past, with the nails still fixed in it; the pious Constantine took one of these and saw to it that it was set into the bit of his own horse, believing that he would thereby obtain a blessing from God. One might say this is not incredible, if indeed such is the case, and it could reasonably be understood as not inappropriate or unworthy, that such a man was kept in memory by God and that the most pious emperor was honored by prophetic prediction. For the word of the holy prophets has made mention and prior announcement of very many things at various times, as, for instance, of Josiah and certain others. And sometimes the tranquility of the times and the piety of those who are in power at those times are signified through them. There is therefore nothing unlikely if the prophet Zechariah should even now make mention of a matter that is especially worth remembering and dear to God, of an emperor who is true and pious, and of times dedicated to the love of Christ. For indeed, that the nail taken from the precious Cross should shine upon the horses of emperors, what else could it shadow forth to us than the very great and truly admirable piety of those who hold power?

And the pots in the house of the Lord shall be like the bowls before the face of the altar.

CXV. Pots were in the holy tabernacle and in the temple built after it, in which the flesh of the sacrifices was boiled, the priests consuming them in the holy place, as the law commanded it to be done, so that what was sanctified should not be carried out anywhere away from the sacred places. ^C But since those ancient rites have ceased and the mysteries have passed over for us into another manner of divine worship, and we have been taught to honor the God of all—and Christ, the Savior of all, himself—no longer by the slaughter of sheep and by incense, but rather by bloodless sacrifices, by which we mean the sacrifices we celebrate in the churches, we use for the pots other sacred vessels, which the prophet calls bowls here. These vessels are, moreover, most convenient for those who drink; and the wise listener will surely understand the power of what is being signified, even if the account provided by us is somewhat more obscure than it ought to be, because we must be brief when narrating hidden things. Therefore, at that time there were ^D pots, but now there are bowls before the face of the altar.

VERS. 21. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord Almighty. And all who sacrifice shall come, and shall take of them, and shall boil in them.

CXVI. He calls them pots, using still the ancient names for the mystical vessels, which are also holy, venerable, and precious even to those who are in Jerusalem, that is, in the Church—namely, to the divine priests and ministers

^A and to the Jews themselves, that is to say, again, to those who have obtained circumcision in the Spirit; and these would be, again, the believers. For by no means are the vessels of the holy altar taken for common use; but they are, as I said, holy, and kept for the glory of God, and accustomed to serve only the needs of the holy table; and through them and in them the sacrifices of those who offer are accomplished, not each person bringing their own vessel, but all using only the sacred ones. "For every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holy to the Lord," he says. Therefore, the prophet speaks indeed as if regarding the sacrifices that were still according to the Law, and he names pots and those who cook; but we shall understand them appropriately for the times of Christ. Economically, moreover, we say that the discourse of the holy prophets was made obscure and not simply plain to all, so that it might not be cast by them to the dogs, nor that the word, which is fitting only for the holy, should be revealed to the profane and most abominable. ^B And there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty in that day.

CXVII. One might behold the mind of the ancients as weak and easily broken, and in truth wretched. For the Israelites were delivered from Egypt through Moses, and they shook off the unbearable yoke of servitude, and after very many and admirable signs were wrought upon them, they finally went forth; they crossed the sea itself, and they ate the bread from heaven, and they drank water unexpectedly brought forth from the rock in the desert. What then did the wretches do? In Moses' absence, they cast a calf, and as the prophet says: "Yea, ye took up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Remphan, the figures which ye made to worship them." But those men perished. "For their limbs fell in the desert," as it is written. But when those who came after them crossed the Jordan, with Joshua as their leader, ^C and then, as time went on, they were under judges, they served idols. But even in the times of the holy prophets, they sacrificed to the golden calves which the accursed Jeroboam made for them. And in addition to these, erecting shrines and altars, they nevertheless worshipped Baal, Chamos, Astarte, and Beelphegor. And what is worse than these evils, we do not say that the common and vulgar mob alone was caught up in these things, but it is clear that many from the order of the priests themselves had turned aside. Wherefore God also said through the prophet: "The priests did not say, Where is the Lord? and those who handled the law did not know me, and the shepherds behaved impiously towards me, and the prophets prophesied to Baal, and went after what was useless." The prophet Ezekiel also saw ^D about twenty-five men from the elders of Israel, having only their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their countenances turned away, and they were worshipping the sun towards the east. And it is no task to accumulate many things of this kind. But these, I believe, shall suffice to convict their crudity. Therefore, the mind of the ancients wavered and deliriously wandered much. Wherefore also...

in their presence, worshipping toward the sun. And it is not hard ^A to pile up many other distressing things regarding this; but I think that these suffice as a refutation of the lack of learning that existed among them. Their mind was unsettled concerning the ancient traditions, and it was altogether easily led astray. Therefore, God also said concerning them: "They loved to move their feet, and did not spare; and God was not well pleased in them." For they were easily transported into absurd idolatries, and, though being born of the blood of Israel, they sought zealously to imitate the alien Canaanites. But since the only-begotten Word of God has become like us, and having justified those who approach Him by faith, He has sealed them with His holy Spirit through His grace. Our mind has become steady, secure, and unshakeable, and established in piety. For no one can persuade those who have been sanctified to worship another god besides Him who is God by nature and in truth, whom we have known as God in Christ. For He showed us the Father in Himself, saying: "He who has seen Me, has seen the Father." Therefore, in that day, He says—that is, at that time—"There shall no longer be a Canaanite," that is, an alien ^B and idolater, "in the house of the Lord Almighty." For we have been supported, as I said, by faith, and have been crowned with the ornaments of security through Christ, through whom and with whom to God and the Father be glory, with the holy Spirit, unto the ages. Amen.

OF OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS, CYRIL, ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA, EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY ON THE PROPHET MALACHI

PROŒMIUM

^A I. It is necessary to say a few things in advance concerning the prophecies of Malachi, for the benefit of those who read, and so that they may understand how each of the things spoken by him should be taken. Now, the times of the captivity having passed, from Baby-

- ^A lon Israel returned to Judæa, and came once again to the holy city, exonerated from the yoke of servitude. The divine temple was already standing, with Zorobabel, son of Salathiel, of the tribe of Judah, and Jesus, son of Josedec, the high priest, set over the works. At that time, while the captives were being liberated, Aggeus and Zacharias were prophesying, and Esdras and Neemias the priests were among them. ^B Contemporary with the aforementioned holy prophets, or a little while after them, was the divine Malachias, who is also called "Angel"—for that is what Malachias means when interpreted. We must not accept the accounts of some who have raved in vain about him, thinking he was an angel by nature, and saying that he assumed the form and habit of a body by the will of God, and performed the office of prophecy for the Israelites. For he was called an angel, as I said, primarily because his name bears this interpretation in itself, and then because, as he announced the words from above and from God to those of Israel, he could not unpersuasively be called an angel. And, in fact, the prophet Malachias himself says regarding every priest in the following context: "The lips of the priest shall guard knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is an angel of the Lord Almighty." ^C And regarding Emmanuel, the prophet Isaias says: "And they shall wish, if they have been burned with fire, that a child is born to us, a son is given to us, and his name shall be called the Angel of great counsel." You see how the act of announcing to others the things of the highest nature causes some to be called angels, even though they are not angels by nature? For men are they who interpret the divine law, namely the priests; but the Son is God, and by nature from God. Therefore, the prophet Malachias is a man like us. The entire scope of his prophecy tends in a way toward these two things. For when the divine temple had been built, and the time called those who were set over the people—that is, those from Israel—to perform sacred duties, to fulfill, if they wished, the prayers according to the law, they indeed used the commandments given through Moses, but not blamelessly and kindly. For the people brought their customary offerings for sacrifice, yet not with great care, but rather sluggishly and neglectfully. ^D For they brought the baser things from their flocks, both sick and unacceptable, to the altar. The priests, meanwhile, received them, no longer examining for blemishes according to the law—whether it was lame, or with a cropped ear, or with a mutilated nose, or with a docked tail, or mangy, or having sores, or a single testicle; for the law made these things rejectable, and it was nothing other than a disgrace. The priests also neglected the people under them in another way, not explaining the laws rightly, nor guiding them toward what is pleasing to God, but rather allowing them to turn away into outlandish departures and to be carried outside the straight path. And this is one type of rebuke; there is another, in addition to this, toward those of Israel, concerning...

the affections for their wives, then throwing a bill of divorce at them—and sometimes to those who had deserved nothing of the sort—they would join themselves to others, and thought that they were in no way offending God, even if they chose to do this. Others raged after the daughters of foreigners, even though the Law had clearly proclaimed: "You shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son. For he will tempt your son away from me, and he will go and serve other gods" (Deut. VII, 3-4). A short discourse concerning this also appears in the books of Ezra. Whence some assume that he is Malachi, but the truth is not so. And such are the matters of the rebuke; but at the end of the prophecy he speaks of the manifestation of our Savior, since at that time a pure and unbloody sacrifice is to be offered to God, and the accusations of all are to cease, as mortals are reformed into newness of life. For they will be a new creature, those who are in Christ, when the old things have passed away, as it is written. ^B

VOLUME I. CHAP. I.

VERS. 1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel in the hand of his angel.

II. He calls the assumption of the word a kind of receiving of the prophecy inspired by God. For blessed prophets were receiving the knowledge of future things through the Holy Spirit, and they would instruct some with counsel, and even rebuke them—not bringing forth words from their own hearts, as they might happen to wish, nor uttering false things against others, but setting forth what they had learned from God, and bringing the words from on high to others sincerely and without reproach. Therefore, he says the receiving of the prophecy was from the Lord. But he indicates by these things that the word contains neither a prediction of some calamitous and grievous matter that is about to befall those from Israel, ^C nor, indeed, praises, as if they had lived a life according to virtue, but rather a rebuke toward both the priests and the people. But you shall understand "in the hand of his angel" in this way: as one administering, that is to say, performing the ministry of the prophecy, the one whose surname is Angel, the assumption was made upon Israel. But Malachi is called Angel for the reasons I have already brought forward.

VERS. 2. Lay it upon your hearts. I have loved you, says the Lord.

III. He commands them not to listen to what is to be said inattentively, but rather studiously and with attention and singular concern. For it behooves those who are about to listen to divine ^D words to be disposed in this way, for the benefit will be very abundant and very great when they have been poured into the mind. For somewhere the divine David also sings and says: "In my heart I have hidden your words, that I might not sin against you" (Ps. CXVIII, 11). For it is permitted, it is permitted to hear

^A a person without it seeming that he has heard, if the words do not take hold of the mind, but rather, having flown away as it were from the tongue of the speaker, they then only strike the ear of the hearer—such words are rightly judged as empty and as if they had not been uttered. Of such a kind were some, concerning whom one of the holy prophets said: "Behold a foolish people, and without heart: eyes they have, and they do not see; ears they have, and they do not hear" (Jer. V, 21). Therefore, it was necessary for the prophet to exhort them, saying: "Set it upon your hearts," that is, store the divine words deep within your mind and heart, and understanding the power of the oracles from above, give your full consent: "Because I have loved you, says the Lord," and I have deigned to show all gentleness, and forbearance, and the diligent care ^B that is wont to be bestowed upon the beloved. But he again most deservedly upbraids them with this, that they rendered evil for good, although they ought, as those deemed worthy of love, to have gladdened him in return with kindness and with zeal and readiness for everything that is pleasing to Him. For if it is among the things that are absurd not to wish to pay back the debts we owe to our fellows, what argument could be made toward God, who distributes to us all things in abundance for our well-being, if one were not willing to offer Him in return the rewards for the gifts bestowed? Indeed, it would most befit those who are truly sound of mind to say: "What shall I render to the Lord for all that he has rendered to me?" (Ps. CXV, 12).

"And you say: In what have you loved us? Was not Esau brother to Jacob? says the Lord, and I have loved Jacob, and hated Esau? And I have set his borders for a waste, and his inheritance for the dwellings of the wilderness."

IV. ^C The Jews were occasionally struck by an offended God when they had entangled themselves in many impieties. For their land was devastated, they were led away as captives, their homes were emptied, and Jerusalem together with the divine temple was burned (IV Reg. XXV). But because they had suffered such things, they seized this as a legitimate opportunity to desert God and to hold the reverence for the Law in complete contempt. Since, therefore, God said that He loved them, and it was indeed very credible that they, mindful once again of the miseries of the captivity, would perhaps say, "In what have you loved us?", God, with most prudent design, passes over the things that had happened to them, and leaves aside the narration of them, and recalls the demonstration of His love to the very origin of their race, ^D I mean Jacob, whom He asserts He has loved, while having made Esau an object of hatred, even though he was bound by the laws of nature to the one who was loved, as a brother. For, as the divine Paul writes: "When they were not yet born, nor had done anything good or evil" (Rom. IX, 11), He chose Jacob, from whom the Jewish nation took its origin; but He rejected Esau, and surely we do not say this was because He was provoked (for God is not unjust, nor does He pass an inequitable, or uncertain, or variable judgment upon any mortal); but because, as God, He had foreknown the future actions of both and the character of each, He

deemed the better and the more holy one worthy of love. Just as, indeed, He says that He knew blessed Jeremiah ^A even before He formed him in the womb, and sanctified him before he came forth from the belly. For He knew him to be a future prophet, and one suited for the mission of proclaiming beforehand those things which were to come. And in this way, the divine Paul asserts that we ourselves, who are justified in faith, have been sanctified: "For those whom God the Father foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son." It is said therein that He also called these and sanctified them. Therefore, according to foreknowledge, Jacob was deemed worthy of love, while Esau was justly hated. "To you, therefore," He says, "O Israel, I have loved you." I should not be uttering a falsehood in the least if I were to say this to you; rather, you shall know that the statement is straight and true, if you refer the manner of the love to the beginning of the race. For both were born of Isaac; but Jacob was good in his ways and a lover of God, while the other was stern, and intractable, and ready for profanation. ^B On this account, I have inclined toward Jacob, and I have brought to nothing the inheritance assigned to Esau, and I have given it over to desolation; but by My indulgence I have gathered together the inheritance of Jacob, that is, you, or rather the land which you have inhabited. It should be known, moreover, that the name Esau is interpreted in Latin as "oak"; for he was hard and unbending like the hard oak. And because he sold his birthright for a single meal, he was also called Edom, which signifies "earthly." Whence also the Holy Scripture bears witness that the region of the descendants of Esau was named Idumea, which the Jews at certain times, having subdued it, rendered desolate and totally uninhabited. And what would the intent of the prophecy mean to signify to those from Israel? That, I think: that He says He loved Jacob, and for no other reason than that he was a man "simple, dwelling in a house." And that He hated Esau, for he was indeed, according to the blessed Paul, ^C earthly and profane. Wherefore it behooved the Jews to understand that they would not have suffered desolation, nor migration from their homeland to foreigners, if they had set before themselves the intention of imitating Jacob. But because they chose to express the character of Esau, and preferred to walk in the footsteps of his folly, they were afterward handed over to their enemies.

If, however, anyone should wish to apply the spiritual contemplation to the things mentioned, let him think clearly that Jacob is translated as "supplanter," and thus he could be a type of everyone who supplants sin. But Esau, as I said, is "oak," and Edom is "earthly," and he himself would be a type and image of anyone who thinks only on the things of the earth. Therefore, God loves the supplanter Jacob, but has hated the unbending and stern Esau, that is, Edom—that is to say, one who has inclined toward earthly things, and who foolishly prefers the temporary and perishing things of ^D the earth to spiritual goods. Our God, who loves virtue, will destroy the inheritance of those accustomed to living in such a way. For things of the earth possess neither firmness nor an unshakable standing. And that they will fall completely, the desolate inheritance of the Idumeans will declare, as it were, in a figure.

^A But he who adheres to God will be sustained by certain and firm hope, and will cry out to the Giver of all good things, saying: "In thy hand are my lots."

For it will say: "Idumea is subverted, and let us return and rebuild the deserts. Thus says the Lord Almighty: They shall build, and I will destroy; and they shall be called borders of iniquity, and a people against whom the Lord is set for ever." ^B

V. The context of the words is extremely difficult, yet the underlying meaning is not inappropriate. He says, in fact, "I have truly given the inheritance of Esau to desolation and to solitude, laid waste by you who are sprung from Jacob." But perhaps the Idumean will say: "Even if the region which we have inhabited has been reduced entirely to desolation, and has been afflicted by extreme evils, nevertheless, having returned, we shall rebuild the desolate cities and villages, and we who have retained our salvation shall inhabit them." What then? To this he says, "Thus says the Lord: They shall build, and I will destroy." And Idumea will certainly be called "borders of iniquity," inasmuch as it has been laid waste because of a vast multitude of sins, and "a people against whom the Lord is set for ever." ^C The literal meaning, therefore, is none other than this, I think. I would add, moreover, that the inheritance of those who have a fleshly and earthly mind—for Edom, as I have said, is interpreted as "earthly"—will fall entirely and completely, with God destroying it. For the things that are done in this world possess no stability, nor do they offer a lasting participation; for fleeting pleasure passes by those who possess it, and moves itself in the likeness of a shadow, either through death taking someone away, or through some unforeseen calamity intervening.

But if anyone of the Idumeans should desire to build up his own inheritance according to an understanding of things that fall, either by gathering riches from iniquity, or delighting in empty vanities, or wishing to be puffed up with the powers of this life, he will find the very God of all almost standing against him and fighting him. For as the inspired disciple wrote, "Whosoever wishes to be a friend of this world is constituted an enemy of God." ^D For He will not yet cease, as I have said, from those who choose to think on earthly things, nor will He cease from the conflict against them. For He always hates the wicked man, and treats the lover of sin as an outcast.

"And your eyes shall see, and you shall say: The Lord has been magnified over the borders of Israel."

VI. When, he says, you rightly understand the nature of things, and—if I may say—with the eyes of the mind now opened you clearly see what I just said, then you will all certainly say, agreeing that God has been glorified and magnified within the borders of Israel. For those who were born from Jacob, that is to say the Jews, having given offense, as I have said, because of manifold impiety, were made strangers

to their own knees, being taken captive and captured by their enemies. But when God took pity on them because they had been wretchedly put to the test and sufficiently punished, they were brought back to the state of things as it was from the beginning, having been restored to a better condition. The land then became prosperous; they inhabited the cities, they rebuilt the temple, they walled in Jerusalem, and once again they came to enjoy things beyond their expectation and according to their prayer. But the land of the Idumeans has been laid waste and has remained in evils, not having risen to a better condition. Therefore, God is glorified within the borders of Israel. ^B One must also know that according to the most recondite sense, even if some of those who know God should fall into offense, and even if they are disciplined because of sin, yet it does not follow that they are to perish utterly; for God, when He has taken note of what is sufficient regarding them, has mercy and brings them back again to prosperity. But against those who love a worldly disposition and look only to the things of the flesh, He is always at war, and He prolongs the time of His wrath upon them: "For they shall be called," He says, "the borders of impiety, and a people upon whom the Lord has extended Himself forever." VERS. 6. A son glorifies his father, and a servant his master. And if I am a father, where is my glory? And if I am a lord, where is my fear? says the Lord Almighty. VII. He shows everywhere that they had gone beyond the limit of reason and had ^C despised what they ought by no means to have despised. For it was fitting for useful sons, and indeed very justly and deservedly so, to take seriously the procuring of their father's glory, so that they might be called the children of a most illustrious father. And if anyone should be a faithful or genuine servant, he would assuredly and greatly desire his own master to become celebrated, and not obscure or trodden underfoot as it were by feet. For thus he himself also will take a share of the happiness that is in these things, and will make the matter a source of pride for himself, and will deem it an occasion for the highest joy. "But you," He says, "whereas you ought to honor Me as a father and fear Me as a master, you have failed in both respects not a little from your duty; and you will be found rendering neither honor to a father nor fear to a master. For where is My honor? Where is the fear, if you do not ^D endure to do anything pertaining to My glory, nor, fearing punishment from a master, do you carry out His commands?" He says something of this sort also through the voice of Isaiah: "Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rejected Me." We must therefore seek those things which are honorable to God, and indeed hasten to perform them, knowing what is written: "I live, says the Lord, that I will glorify those who glorify Me, and he who despises Me shall be despised." Now the Father, the God of all, will be glorified by us if we are not eager to accomplish what is pleasant and agreeable to ourselves, but rather if we have dedicated our mind to Him and have conformed ourselves to His inclinations in all things. And we shall fear Him as Lord if we check our inclination toward wickedness by the reverence of causing Him offense.

^A and have turned over the accusation before the divine tribunal with ourselves. "For we must all be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or evil."

"You, O priests, that despise my name!" And you say: "Wherein have we despised thy name?" "Offering upon my altar polluted bread." And you say: "Wherein have we polluted them?" "In that you say: The table of the Lord is polluted, and the food set thereon is despised."

VIII. Expostulation with the priests on account of their sloth.

VIII. He expostulates vehemently with the priests on account of their sloth, to whom the law also cries out: "Make the children of Israel religious." For the subject multitude follows in almost all things the good examples of their leaders; nor does it receive mediocre detriment when it perceives them to postpose reverence toward God. ^B For immediately it is reduced to the same state, and sloth in divine worship languishes at the same time, and is fashioned after the lazy negligence of the teachers. That I speak the truth is manifest from the words of the God of the universe: "The shepherds have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord. Therefore, the whole flock hath not understood, and they are scattered." Therefore, those who minister at divine altars are, more often than not, found to be a pretext for others unto a life of approval, if they should choose to live uprightly and to ignite devotion in the way that it behooves; but [they are a pretext] for shameful and detestable practices if, before others, they themselves are found to be ^C afflicted with such evils. Hence also the divine Peter wisely admonished the teachers to come together, that they might become a pattern of the flock. "You, therefore, are," he says, "who are conspicuous in the dignity of the priesthood, who despise my name." And if you wish to hear the manner of the despising, you shall hear Him crying out: "In that you offer upon my altar polluted bread." And if they should object, "Wherein have we polluted them?" I shall say to you: Because you perhaps think, or rather, you testify by the facts themselves, that the table of the Lord is despised. But since it is necessary to gather together each of the things said, and to declare them clearly, come, let us say what the "polluted bread" signifies. He calls that which is ^D contaminated, or unclean, "polluted." It is necessary to know, furthermore, that according to the will of the lawgiver, bread was also accustomed to be offered in the sacrifices that were performed, but it was unleavened and pure; yet He commanded only the sacrifice of praise to be performed over leavened loaves. As to what mystical discourse can be offered concerning these matters, we have taught sufficiently elsewhere; which I shall now repeat briefly, lest I seem to be weary in matters that are most useful. Therefore, the unleavened bread, or that which is not leavened, could be a sign of a life that is not leavened and [is] pure. And thus also the divine Paul writes to those justified in faith: "Therefore let us feast, not with the old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth." And again: "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new paste, as you are unleavened." Likewise, Christ exhorts the holy apostles with these words: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Saddu-

Sadducees." The bread is, therefore, a sign of a pure, sanctified, and unleavened life. They who offered ^A unleavened loaves and unleavened bread according to the law were offering them instead of themselves, as if still in types and shadows. But since we do not cast out of the churches those who are still catechumens, and not yet washed from sin through holy baptism, when we glorify God, but rather make them participants in the completion of the sacrifice of praise—for this reason, I say, the law says that it must be looked upon in leavened bread, calling by "leavened bread," in an enigmatic way, him who is not yet cleansed, as I said, through holy baptism, but who has within himself, as it were a kind of leaven, the remnants of ancient wickedness. "You, therefore," he says, "O priests, who despise my name," because you offer polluted bread upon my altar. It is necessary, therefore, for those who possess the divine priesthood to take care that nothing of this sort should be done in the Church; and to know that careful observance will please God, but that it will greatly offend him to choose negligence in matters so holy. For it is not ^B a matter without penalty for those who are in some way liable; nor is it difficult to see, when those same people hear: "You are the priests who despise my name." For the negligence of priests is a certain contempt for God, and that sin is opposed to the glory that is attributable and due to Him.

VERS. 8. *For if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And if you offer the lame or the sick, is it not evil? Offer it to your governor; if he will accept you, if he will accept your face, says the Lord Almighty.*

IX. Although the law commanded ^C one to consider the defects of victims, and to reject those that were maimed or captured with physical injury, and to sacrifice those that were whole in every part, they in those days offered everything indiscriminately and without distinction, and the concern for the glory worthy of God was altogether meager. Instead, much labor and effort were consumed in gathering as many victims as possible, and in having an abundance of rams at home, and perhaps even in the tabernacle itself. Are you then, O illustrious guardians of the laws, if anyone offers a blind creature for sacrifice, not going to consider the victim defective? And if, indeed, it is also lame or sick, will it escape the blemish of having an injured limb? Will you not yourselves judge such evils as bad and unfit for sacrifice? But if you decide otherwise in your own minds, come! Let anyone offer it as a gift, and in the place of a tribute, to one of his rulers. ^D Yet he will not accept it, he says, nor will he deem it worthy of being offered, even out of respect for the face of the one offering it; but he will be vehemently angered, as if insulted by an injury. It is therefore entirely contrary to reason to dare to offer to God what not one of us would deign to accept. This is a great sin for us: if we are about to offer something to God, we wretched ones seek what is fouler or viler; not understanding that even

^A in considering how God rejected the sacrifice of Cain, because he offered it wrongly, while keeping the first and best portions for himself, he thought he would honor God with the lesser ones. But the God of all did not look upon his sacrifice. For He does not count the negligence of those who offer as an honor to Himself.

For the Law excluded blind animals from sacrifice, as well as the lame and the sick, the blind signifying by way of enigma those who do not have divine illumination in their hearts; the lame, those who do not know how to walk straight in good works; the sick, those who do not serve God very firmly and constantly, but rather dissolutely and sluggishly. He says also somewhere through the voice of the prophet: "Woe to those who do the work of the Lord negligently." It is necessary, therefore, that we have an enlightened mind, and that it walk straight and be strong. Then will we be acceptable and holy before the God who loves virtue.

And now seek to appease the face of your God, and ask of Him. In your hands these things have happened; if I receive your faces, says the Lord Almighty. ^B

X. He invites the impious to repentance, and most justly declares that the divine wrath, because of the insult brought against God Himself, must be mitigated by a change for the better. For God is good, "And raises up those who are bowed down, and heals the broken in heart, and leads back that which had gone astray." When He said, "Appease the face of your God," He shows—and with full reason—that God turns away from those who do not shrink from offending Him, and from those who do not seek His glory, as if averting His gaze, and that He does not embrace them with indulgence, or charity, or inspection. "For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous," as it is written. And to certain wicked ones, He says through the voice of Isaiah: "When you stretch out your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes away from you. And when you multiply prayer, I will not hear you; for your hands are full of blood." Therefore, sinners ought to propitiate God, if by chance He might turn His face back toward them, and ward off from their heads the harms that resulted from His turning away. ^C For He defines what the sin of the priests was, and He cuts off their denial. For He would not lie when He says: "In your hands these things have happened." It is as if He said: "Not only have you remained silent while others were sinning," He says, "but you have yourselves committed, as if with your own hands, the impious deeds done against Me, and these are the sacrifices of your own negligence, since none of you stood in the way." But if there are those who were afraid to rebuke you regarding these things, truly I myself will not be as one of you, nor will I take the face of those who have acted impiously. Similar to this is that which is said through the voice of David: "You imagined iniquity, that I would be like you. I will rebuke you, and set your sins before your face."

For the judge does not regard the face, but is upright and impartial as God. ^A

VERS. 10. For even among you doors shall be shut, and you shall not kindle my altar for nothing.

XI. Opportunity, and the Prediction of the Christian Life

Very opportunely, as in a prediction, he meanwhile foreshadows the beauty of the life in Christ; for as the shadow under the Law was soon to cease, and that ancient priesthood was about to be abandoned, and the ministers of spiritual worship—who would truly and very zealously seek the glory of God—were about to be revealed in their own time, he says that doors shall be shut upon these men. ^B This is because there will be no sweet savor for those who serve according to the Law: "For if he shuts against a man," he says, "who will open?" That is, when the truer tabernacle, which is the Church, has been revealed, some who still perform the priesthood according to the Law will not enter into it. For they will remain outside as if excluded by unbelief, and they shall not touch holy things. That they have fallen from the priestly office is made clear by God speaking through the voice of Hosea: "For the children of Israel shall sit for many days, with no king, and no ruler, and no sacrifice, and no altar, and no priesthood, and no manifestation." Therefore, it seems to me that by saying the doors shall be shut against them, he signifies the end of the worship under the Law and the conclusion of the priesthood according to it, as the Church does not admit them; for it is no longer the time for slaughtering sheep, since now God, the Prince and Author of all things, is honored by bloodless sacrifices. But since he adds to these, "You shall not kindle my altar for nothing," we say this is expressed in a moral sense. For he wishes to show by these words that those called to the priesthood and to put fire on the altar were not called to diminish the glory of Him who called them, ^C but that by honoring it in the ways that are fitting, they might also receive the rewards of the priesthood. But they, considering such venerable labors as nothing, and not being deterred by reverence for the sacrifice from offending God, will justly pay the penalties hereafter. For it would be no small crime, and very reasonably so, to treat as nothing the participation of the gifts bestowed by God and to very foolishly reject the honors conferred by Him. Thus, Esau was named earthly and profane, because for the sake of one meal he sold his birthright. Therefore, when he says, "You shall not kindle my altar for nothing," he warns the priesthood not to be disappointed of its reward, yet also not to be without its own punishment, if one has not used it in the mode and manner that is fitting. ^D You should know that the Hebrew edition presents another sense, with a different context of the words. For it says: "You, both the Levites and the priests who occupy the last place in the temple, appointed by you to shut the doors, you shall not kindle my altar for nothing," that is, you do not perform the service—that is, the priesthood—without wages, since the people bring youths, tithes, first-fruits, and thank offerings. Since, therefore, you have reckoned divine things among the least, and have not cared for the things that are better and should be preferred,

^A Verse 11. "I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice from your hands. For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is glorified among the nations, and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure sacrifice; for my name is great among the nations, says the Lord Almighty."

XII. He henceforth clearly repudiates the offering made according to the Law, and almost departs from the love for the Jews, and expresses an abhorrence for the priesthood, and does not admit the shadow—I mean the slaughter of oxen and the smoke—since this was not his purpose even from the beginning. And indeed, he revealed this to us clearly through other prophets as well, saying through the voice of Isaiah: "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats I do not desire; nor should you come to appear before me. For who has required these from your hands? You shall no longer trample my court. If you bring fine flour, it is vain; incense is an abomination to me." And through the voice of Jeremiah: "Gather your burnt offerings with your sacrifices, and eat the meat, for I did not speak to your fathers concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices on the day that I led them out of the land of Egypt." For the Law was, as it were, a sketch and a foretelling of the true worship in spirit, and ordinances of the flesh, as the divine Paul writes, laid upon them until a time of amendment. And the time of amendment would be, I think, none other than the advent of our Savior, when the first testament is also said to have been abolished because it was not blameless; for it grew old, and a place was sought for the new and second, in which there is no reproach, and no fault falls. For He spoke through it, who is also called the "Angel of the Great Counsel." Therefore, He also said: "I do not speak from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment regarding what I should say and what I should speak." He tells the priests under the Law, therefore, plainly, that they are not acceptable to Him, or rather that He has no will in them, as they fulfill their sacrifices in shadow and types, and that He would not accept the things sacrificially offered by them. But He foretells that His name shall be great and illustrious among all those under heaven, and that in every place and nation, pure and unbloody sacrifices shall be offered to His name, ^D with the sacrificers no longer disparaging Him, nor offering Him spiritual worship carelessly; but, with diligence, kindness, and holiness, being earnest in bringing up the fragrance of mental incense—that is to say, faith, hope, love, and the boastings from good works—the celestial and life-giving sacrifice of Christ being clearly ordained, through which death has been rendered void, and this corruptible flesh, which is of the earth, is clothed in incorruption.

Verse 12. "But you profane it, in your saying..."

The table of the Lord is polluted, and the food set upon it is despised."

XIII. ^B That those called from the nations would be better and more frugal than those of Israel, he makes clear from this. For among them, he says, there are pure sacrifices, and sweet-smelling incense, and the name of the Lord is great "from the rising of the sun to its setting." But among you, he says, the altar is not in the great and fitting glory due to God. For you profane it, saying: "The table of the Lord is polluted, and what is upon it is despised." And it is likely that the priests did not use such words, yet by their very deeds they cried out this, just as, indeed, "The fool says in his heart: There is no God." For through those things by which a man is seen to be contemptuous, even if he does not speak with his voice, yet by his deeds themselves and the perversity of his life he cries out all but the words: "There is no God." For they who are accustomed to live in such a way, as if God were not watching, and to do all things in a relaxed spirit, insolently and impiously, these by their very affairs and deeds deny God. In this way, then, those who have not striven to preserve for the holy altar the reverence that is especially fitting and due to it, say by the very things they pursue: "The table of the Lord is polluted." Negligence in these matters must therefore be avoided; for whoever does otherwise will have to hear God saying: "I have no pleasure in you, and I will not receive a sacrifice from your hands." Moreover, who that is sound in mind and soul could doubt that it is a most dreadful thing to offend God?

VERS. 13. "And you said: These things are from affliction, and I have blown them away, says the Lord Almighty. And you brought what was seized, and the lame, and the infirm. And if you offer a sacrifice, shall I receive them from your hands? says the Lord Almighty."

XIV. He sharply accuses the priests, as those who in no way chose to examine the offerings for sacrifice to see if they were defective, but rather accepted the lame, the blind, and the sick carelessly and without inspection, although the law clearly commanded that the maimed among the sacrifices must be rejected. And if any of the priests, clinging to the law, drove away one who was presenting a useless animal for sacrifice, those bringing the offerings would persist, urging on every side the captivity, and asserting very boldly that they were not bad victims, but had been afflicted thus on the journey, when they were returning from Babylon to Judea. They also brought in what was seized, and the lame, and the infirm. For wild beasts, swooping down, sometimes harm the flocks; and if they have seized anything, then the shepherd, having run in pursuit, snatches the seized animal from their jaws, either by frightening them with the barking of dogs, or by throwing a staff. These, I suppose, are the "seized" ones; these they brought along with those that were maimed in the feet and could no longer feed with the others. They brought also the "infirm," ^D that is, the already dying, dishonoring rather than honoring the Lord of all. But "I have blown them away," says the Lord Almighty.

^A And since you have learned to sacrifice unholily, He says, I would in no wise accept them from you, nor would I reckon such unlawful and impure things as an odor of sweetness.

It behooves us, therefore, to sacrifice both most becomingly and with diligence, and not simply to offer to God what is cast away, and most dishonorable, and worthy of no account, but rather what is excellent and select. And if anyone should consecrate himself as a host to God, let him remember the blessed Paul writing thus: "Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, your reasonable service." Let him search diligently into his own affairs, and let him become as it were an exact scrutinizer of his own soul. Let him see that he be not by any means blind, that is, not having the light of truth in his mind; let him not limp in his foot, being unable to walk straight towards every one of the goods; let him not be a prey, nor infirm. For it behooves you to be wakeful, "Because our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, goes about, seeking whom he may devour." When, therefore, we are found wakeful and watchful, the beast passes by. But if he sees us slumbering and negligent, he makes a prey of us, and makes us infirm, that is, weakened and altogether sluggish regarding the ability to accomplish virtue. Let him also be far from being troubled, that is, let him be superior to faintheartedness, and let him not fall in patience. For just as the manner of patience carries one along towards life, so also does faintheartedness towards death. For we call this thing a weakness of mind and a softening of the heart. Therefore, the blessed prophet Isaiah also advises us to be freed from such vicious affections, saying: "Be strong, ye slackened hands, and ye paralyzed knees. Take heart, ye that are faint-hearted in mind; be strong, do not fear. Behold our God, behold the Lord comes with strength, and His arm with dominion." ^D

VERS. 14. "And cursed be the man who was powerful, and there was in his flock a male, and his vow was upon it, and he sacrifices a corrupt thing to the Lord. For I am a great King, says the Lord Almighty, and my name is illustrious among the nations."

XV. He now determines the curse upon the one sacrificing impiously, and that quite reasonably. For if anyone, He says, should make a vow, and have in his flocks a male, and one pure from every blemish, because he does not offer this to God, but rather chooses what would appear to be of no value, he does nothing other than offer an insult to God. For we do not serve, as certain ones who are in darkness and errors and unclean idolatries, by prostrating ourselves to senseless stones; but we serve the Almighty God rather, and Him from whom the beginnings and origins of all things have flowed, whom the heavens tremble at, and the earth trembles, and all things that it sustains. Again, He bears witness to those from the nations that they are of great probity, saying that the [glory] of the Godhead ^D

among them is a thing holy and to be admired. Let us therefore be disposed in no other way than in this manner.

Our Lord Jesus Christ also received the centurion, who was an idolater, and furthermore said: "Amen I say to you, I have not found so great faith in Israel" (Matt. VIII, 10). Cursed, therefore, is he who sacrifices to God what is corrupted or defective, when he can honor Him with better things, if indeed he has in his flocks, as I just said, the unblemished and the male. It is to be noted that He asks for a male for sacrifice, although the Law has commanded to sacrifice to God even females (Lev. XXII seqq.). We say, therefore, that the sacrifices made by vow, that is, those that are voluntary, accepted an unblemished and male victim, and the type pertained to the one offering, the Law in a certain way exhorting those who wish to ascend to God in an odor of sweetness that they ought to be manly and superior to the perturbations of the soul, and furthest removed from every cause of reproach. But indeed, the sacrifices offered for sins accepted the female, at any rate involving lambs and goats. And this too was a figure of the weakness of those offering. For the female is shiftless and inferior to males in strength. And every sin is committed when the mind has become weak and no longer preserves its spiritual vigor.

CHAPTER II

VERSES 1, 2. *And now this commandment to you, O priests: If you will not hear, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord Almighty, I will send upon you the curse, and I will curse your blessing, and I will curse it. And I will dissipate your blessing, and it shall not be in you, because you do not lay it to heart.*

XVI. He forgives the faults hitherto committed out of His goodness, and grants mercy, recalling sinners, as it were, to their original virtue. This, I think, He signifies when He says kindly: "And now this commandment to you, O priests." But He threatens thereupon that, if they do not wish to perform what it is fitting for them to perform, and to set the sense of the divine oracles into their mind and heart, and if they do not become better than they were, and seek the glory of God, and no longer treat the altar with contempt, nor perform the sacred rites established by the laws rashly and without investigation, He will most thoroughly curse and be angry with them. I think, indeed, that "I will curse your blessing, and I will dissipate it" perhaps means this: when God grants prosperity to some, there will be abundant produce in the fields, and all things will succeed prosperously, and the flocks will be increased in incredible numbers, and they themselves will suffer nothing adverse or harmful in their bodies. But when He Himself takes away the blessing

things will turn to the entirely opposite state, and prosperity will be altogether absent, and those things which one might reasonably incur will prevail. And these things are said concerning things that fall under our senses and are transitory.

It is necessary to know that, unless one chooses to have the divine commandments in his mind, all things will depart from him towards nothingness, and he will bear no fruit of the God-loving life; but he will be deprived of the blessing from above and from God, and will fall into curses and the punishments resulting from them. We must therefore seek the glory of God; and in what way we shall accomplish this, the Savior Himself taught us, saying: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." Then we shall also receive full blessing and unshakable serenity, and we shall delight in the abundance of spiritual fruits; and, having been filled with every good thing, we shall lead a life truly dignified and excellent.

"Behold, I will separate for you the shoulder, and I will scatter the maw onto your faces, the maw of your festivals; and I will take you to it." And you shall know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with the Levites, says the Lord Almighty.

^C XVII. Again, something lies hidden in the matters before us, which I think ought to be clearly explained to those who are lovers of hearing; for thus they would perceive the meaning of what is being declared quite well. The Law, then, which was given through Moses, placed the one standing by the divine altars and performing the sacred rites in the highest honors, as it were, in the place of God. For He says that "The offering of the Lord is his portion." And the divine Paul says somewhere: "Consider Israel according to the flesh: are not those who approach the altar partakers of the altar?" For it was the custom from every sacrifice to separate for God the shoulder, and the breast, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, and indeed the maw—that is, the belly—the legal text indicating enigmatically that all the inward parts of those who have dedicated themselves to God as a sweet-smelling savor must be holy and sanctified. For the inward parts were offered cleansed of the impurity inherent in them. And the shoulder may be understood as a sign of strength. I think, however, that we, being powerful and courageous for every good work, should wisely sing that which the Psalmist sang with his lyre: "Bless, O my soul, the Lord, and all that is within me, His holy name." And concerning the inward parts and the sacrifices performed according to the Law, our argument has been made very strong in other writings. Therefore, leaving off saying these things for the present, let us endeavor to provide an explanation of the matters before us as best we can. Since the Law commanded that the holy things must be examined for blemishes, and that an unexamined sacrifice should not be offered to the altar, and that the parts of the victims should be separated for those appointed to perform the sacrifice, they...

did not care to examine sins; and the commandment concerning the offerings, which are called the heave-offerings, they rendered void, no longer presenting what was pleasing to God, but what was pleasing to their own greed, striving diligently and assiduously to maintain those things which seemed to profit them, gathering the meat from the sacrifices. This He brings forward for rebuke, and says: "Behold, I separate the shoulder for you." He used "I separate" instead of "I have already separated, and I wish the custom to be maintained henceforth." And I have added as it were, or I cast the "maw" also upon your faces. Because they themselves dishonor the altar, therefore God says, "I will scatter," as if returning like for like. "For he that dishonors me," He says, "shall be dishonored." ^B "I will therefore take you to the same place," that is, I will have the upper hand in this very thing and will rebuke the impious. For because you have observed the law concerning the selection of things for your own use, and could not bear by any means to neglect the portion granted to you, but consider it superfluous to look into sins, therefore you shall know that the doors are closed to you: that is, that you are excluded and cast out from the priesthood. Because I have given this commandment, or covenant, which I arranged with the Levites. What then results from this? It is fitting for those who minister at the divine altars to know that the thing pleasing to God must be kept, and that whatever otherwise seems profitable to them must be cast behind, and not to be lovers of temporal things or overcome by shameful gain.

Vers. 5. My covenant was with him of life and peace.

^C XVIII. He turns His discourse to those who have served as priests holily and praiseworthily, and shows that the priesthood is a truly admirable thing, in as much as it pertains to the law and to the benefit and confirmation of the divine Scriptures. For as the most wise Paul writes: "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." When, therefore, it seems that the words are spoken about Levi, the meaning is very appropriately not to be referred to him who was begotten of Jacob and was numbered among his twelve sons—for none now at all exist who perform the priesthood from the family of Levi—but we must understand the priesthood, and this very thing which is the performing of sacred rites, to be in ^D a way symbolized in the person of Levi. "There was therefore," He says, "with him my covenant of life and peace." For the law written in letters was spoken as if to Moses the most holy, and ministered by angels, but it was set through the mediator Moses for those of the blood of Israel, bringing a proclamation of life and peace to those who wish to live uprightly and to make the will of the Lawgiver a rule for their own life.

⟩

^A The Word seems to intimate to us something of the most necessary things for contemplation at the present time. For the law was given to the ancients—to those of the blood of Levi—bringing a guidance toward Christ, and presenting a certain image and clear foreshadowing of the truer realities. But true is Christ, who is life and peace, and it is Him whom the shadows written by Moses describe for us. Therefore, also, when He spoke to the Jews, He said: "If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me." The lamb, offered in the first month on the fourteenth day, and wanting to save by its blood those who were willing to smear the doorposts of their houses, prefigured Him. The red, unblemished heifer, whose ashes mixed with water purified those who were defiled for the cleansing of the flesh, as it is written, prefigured Him. The unleavened bread, the turtledoves, the young pigeons, and, in a word, the Law was full of the contemplation of Christ. Therefore, it is rightly called a Covenant of life and peace. For having been brought to life in Him, through Him we have again obtained access to God and the Father, and we have peace with Him through obedience and faith.

"And I gave to him that he might fear me in fear, and he might tremble from the face of my name."

^B XIX. Not uselessly does he recount the brilliant distinctions of the priesthood, discovered through the initiation of the Law. For he was imbuing the priests, above all, with the fear of God; persuading them to tremble before the face of His name—that is, making them ready to stand in awe and to recoil before the name of the Lord, and persuading them that the reverence toward Him ought to be performed not in a perfunctory way, but with earnestness; and ^C leading them to a certain study—for what could finally be more honorable? For it is written: "He who fears the Lord, it shall go well with him." And again: "The fear of the Lord is glory and exultation." He ^D therefore testifies holily and truly to those who have performed the priestly office that a firm security will come to pass for them. For he does not simply say they feared, but that "in fear they feared," that is, with their whole soul and heart they received the divine fear. For the emphases in these things, and the reduplications of the words, signify to the hearers the firmness of those being praised in virtue.

"The law of truth was in his mouth, and injustice was not found in his lips."

XX. For the Law commanded [them] to depart from lying, to speak what is upright and just, and to love to make a judgment that is straight and not distorted on every matter. And it seems again that he calls our Lord Jesus Christ "truth," whose law he says those who live in a priestly manner have carried on their lips. For even if, as I have said, the Law was in shadows, yet within it was the form of truth, and, as in a writing, a sketch of the evangelical oracles. For we shall find in the types the power of worship in spirit. And that the law of old, given by God to those of older times through Moses, was the law of Christ, the Savior Himself is the author.

^A He declares, saying: “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. For verily I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, one iota or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” “In peace, directing, he walked with me, and turned many away from iniquity.”

XXI. What else could it mean for us and for others, if there be any who understand the divine Scriptures, to live in peace with God, than to choose to think and do what He wills, and in no way to offend Him? But rather to strive to cultivate customs worthy of commendation and glory, and to lead a life deserving of honor and in the greatest possible harmony with all His laws. Thus also the divine Paul addresses us: ^B “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” Thus, indeed, we honor Him whom we recognize as inherently and truly the Lord. But if we bestow divine honors also upon the creature, while impure and detestable sin rules in our thoughts, we resist the Lord, and we marshal an army, as it were, against Him for battle; we stretch out a stiff neck, and we practice contumacy and rebellion. The disciple of the Savior confirms the same, saying: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” But if we convert to the ^C Lord of all through faith and the ejection of sin, nothing will stand in our way, nor will anything hinder us from His friendship, to which we shall be joined, as it were, in every kind of goodness; and we shall proceed by a straight way, and we shall walk along the beautiful path, directing both ourselves and others toward it. In these things, however, it especially behooves the holy priests to be occupied above others, of whom it may most truly be said: “In peace, directing, he walked with me, and turned many away from iniquity.” For subjects generally follow the good customs of their leaders along the same paths: and those who walk in the straight way save many, and not without difficulty do they move them to renounce their wanton and execrable life and wicked habits, and to choose and love better things, which are worthy of being admired, and which ^D are followed by praise both before God and men.

VERSE 7. For the lips of the priest shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty.

XXII. He explains in what manner he turned many, and walked directing in peace with God, and says that he bore on his lips, or tongue, the knowledge of all things required for living well, and that he was an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of infants, and to those wishing to learn the decrees of the law, a true and most unfailing preceptor, not twisting the meaning of the divine oracles elsewhere, nor teaching “doctrines, the commandments of men”; but as an angel of God, [explaining] to the peoples subject to him the obscure...

words of the divine Scriptures, even if they occasionally require illumination. ^A For he does not proclaim his own will, nor does he pour forth words of his own knowledge and wisdom, but rather he serves the oracles of the Lord. I might say, moreover, that what is said in the book of Proverbs is truly found in these things: “A desirable treasure shall rest upon the mouth of the wise, but foolish men shall devour it.” [Prov. XXI, 20.] For that pertains to the praise of those proclaiming anything from God, that they add nothing to what they have heard, nor do they dare to make any subtraction, holding such a thing to be of zero value whatever. The impious crowd of the Pharisees slipped into such ignorance that it taught doctrines [that were] commandments of men, and, because of its own tradition, made the commandment of God void. [Matt. XV, 6-9.] For such were the charges brought against them by Christ. ^B The law is therefore secure; for it is said somewhere concerning the divine oracles, that it is permitted neither to add to them, nor to take away from them. [Deut. IV, 2.] Therefore, the lips of the priest shall guard the knowledge of the law, and he who proclaims it shall add nothing. For this reason he is also named the angel of the Lord Almighty, although he bears a human nature, because he clearly proclaims the will of God, and has the movement of his tongue [directed by] the law.

“But you have turned aside from the way, and have made many weak in the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the Lord Almighty. [Malach. II, 7.]

23.

“And I have made you contemptible to all...” [Vers. 9.]

gentes, pro eo quod vos non custodivistis vias meas, sed accipiebatis personam in lege.

XXIV. ^B He returns to the sins of the fathers and reminds them of their ancient crimes. And since they were not steadfast in keeping the law, he affirms that for this reason they were handed over to those by whom they were led into captivity—wretched, cast down, and shut out from all mercy. For what calamities did they not suffer, and what disasters did those unhappy people not endure? "But if," he says, "you wish to know the causes for which I am angry with you, you will hear me saying: 'Because you did not keep my ways, but showed partiality in the law.'" This, I think, is what it means to have corrupted the covenant of Levi: not to have chosen to keep the path of life according to the law, and to have judged most iniquitously in every single matter—even though God says plainly: "You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall not judge according to small or great." By the very faults for which he says they were handed over to enemies and cast down, he aptly threatens that, unless they reform their ways of life, he will not refrain from their punishment. For a penalty fit and most appropriate will follow those who insolently sin against the law.

VERS. 10. *Nonne pater unus omnium vestrum? Nonne Deus unus creavit vos? Quare reliquistis unusquisque fratrem suum, ut pollueretis testamentum patrum vestrorum? Derelictus est Judas, et abominatio factus est in Israel et in Jerusalem.*

XXV. When we began to write this commentary on the prophet, we said that after the return from Babylon and the land of Assyria, the Israelites, making light of the law, had entangled themselves with foreign wives. This matter proceeded so far among those deranged men that the priests themselves fell into the same state alongside others, and they considered their own wives, who were of the blood of Israel, as utterly contemptible, casting them out of their homes and introducing in their place foreign women—Ammonites and Idumeans—whereby Israel was greatly defiled. ^C For those women did not abandon their ancestral customs, but continued to worship idols, and they worshiped the host of heaven; and those who lived with women so corrupted in mind were almost compelled to be defiled together with them and to offend God. ^D Much is written about these things in the books of Ezra. God, the Lord of all, therefore accuses them because they spurned their Israelite or Judean wives, but wickedly clung to the daughters of foreigners, even though the law forbade such a union. But they, for I know not what reason, making light of such a venerable commandment, were either snatched away by the beauty of the women to lascivious pleasures, or perhaps they were trying to cultivate the friendship of foreigners—so that they might not wage war against them, being now their allies and joined by the intermarriage of affinity—in this way. And this was nothing other than, with wavering faith, acting more injuriously against God, as if those whom they sought to appease by such means could truly deliver them from that wrath...

^A or render them superior to the rapacity of the foreigners. This matter, therefore, was in every way grievous to God. For this reason, seeing them disregard the love that is innate to them, He says: "Has not one God created you? Is there not one Father of you all? Why have you forsaken every man his brother?" For there is one Creator of all, and all are of one Master, who desires that what He has made be bound together in unity and harmony with the bonds of love. For if there were two gods and lords, or even more than that, it would involve nothing absurd for the things created to be divided and separated according to the wills of their makers, and for them easily to fall into conflict with one another, as it might please the lords themselves. But since there is one God who is through all and in all and over all, what occasion can there be for dissension? And since, furthermore, there is one father of all the Judeans according to the flesh—namely, the divine Abraham—what is there that should cause them to break off friendship? Or how is it not a necessary duty to fulfill the love that is owed to those of the same blood? How, moreover, is it not near to madness to despise one's own wives, born of the same kin, and to rave over the daughters of strangers, so as to profane the very testament of the fathers? For the fathers had indeed kept the things prescribed by the divine laws concerning foreign women. For they heard: "You shall not give your daughter to his son, and his daughter you shall not take for your son. For he will turn your son away from me, and he will go and serve other gods." But these men, accounting the oracle as nothing, have trampled upon the law and, as far as was in their power, have rendered the covenant void and profane, grieving the Best One by the violation of the laws. And as if struck with amazement at what was being done, and seeing the race of Judean women oppressed by most unjust hatred, He adds and says: "Judas has been forsaken," and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^B "O," He says, "what a paradoxical thing! Not among the Assyrians, not among the Persians, not among the Elamites, not among the neighboring enemies, but in Israel itself and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Judas has become abominable and hateful"—that is, the race from Judah and the wretched multitude of the women who are kinsfolk. It is to be noted that he calls Israel the ten tribes that dwelt in Samaria before the times of the captivity, which Salmanasar first deported to the Assyrians and Medes. But he calls those who dwelt in Jerusalem those whom Nabuchodonosor subjugated at the time of the final captivity, having burned Jerusalem and the divine temple itself, whom he also carried off to Babylon. He accuses, or rather, he complains against them not lightly, because they had sent away their wives from among the Judeans and had unlawfully taken wives from among the foreigners, who, as I said before, still held fast to their ancestral customs and were still wallowing in the mud of idolatry. ^{C D} We ourselves who are in Christ must also take heed to

^A those who have been justified and, through faith in Him, have attained communion with the Holy Spirit, that we do not mingle with those who might have a distorted mind and profane thoughts, and who do not hold the faith aright. For such as these are foreigners and barbarous in speech, and they speak what is distorted. If anyone mingles with them, he will be defiled in every way and altogether. For it is written: “He who touches pitch will be defiled by it.” If, therefore, it is possible to bear fruit spiritually in the churches of Christ, what reason could there be for wishing instead, as it were, to be joined and to communicate with profane synagogues, and to provoke the God of all against oneself?

^B V. 11, 12. *Because Judas has profaned the holy things of the Lord, and what he loved, and has applied himself to strange gods. The Lord will destroy the man who does these things, until he is humbled from the tabernacles of Jacob, and from those who offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.*

XXVI. He says that Judas has rendered himself odious, not by the action of another of the foreigners, but by Judas himself, who has profaned the Law by having inclined to love foreign women, and having chosen to seek their desires, and by having loved apostasy from God, and having devoted himself to the worship of idols. For, as I said, some were being led away to this, following those whom they had joined in unlawful marriage, and in all things obeying their wills. Just as, indeed, even in Shittim, those who had been liberated from Egypt joined themselves to the Midianite or Moabite women; who a little later went to such a pitch of derangement and impiety that they were even initiated into Beelphegor. On account of this crime, the wretches perished. And so the God of all detests the one who does these things and who is so unholy a practitioner of such forbidden undertakings; and if he is of the people, ^C until he is exterminated from the tabernacles of Israel, that is, until he is utterly destroyed and is not known to have even existed any longer. But if anyone is of the order of priests, until he is humbled from among those who offer sacrifice to the Lord Almighty, that is, until he perishes and is struck from the catalog of priests. For some priests, as I said, have involved themselves in the same sin as the people, and, succumbing to the love of foreign women, have utterly despised the divine oracles.

Wherefore, if he is cursed who provokes God and does not refrain from preferring worldly delights to His commands, let us not despise virtue; but, having utterly scorned those things, let us rather strive to illuminate our souls with the ornaments of obedience. For thus, immune and free from the curse, the Lord of all, from His own gentleness, will enrich us with good things.

V. 13. *And these things which I hated, you did. You covered the altar of the Lord with tears, and with weeping ^D and groaning.

^A

XXVII. The modes or kinds of sacrifices prescribed by the law were very many. For some were offered by voluntary vow, others regarded thanksgiving, and others were for sin. There were also tithes, and first-fruits, and the didrachma tax, which were offered according to the mandate of the law by reason of the priests. Those, therefore, who offered voluntarily to God brought, as I said, the lame and the blind and things taken by plunder, recounting the evils from the captivity, and naming up and down the devastation and the consequent poverty brought upon them; although the all-powerful God, after their return from Babylon, had gladdened them with incomparable kindness, and had abundantly bestowed those things with which it was reasonable they should be not moderately delighted. They offered, therefore, sad and weeping, all but lamenting over the victims, and saying to the ministers of sacred things: "These things are from our labors and tribulations," that is, not without labor, and acquired with difficulty by sweat and toil. Then, how, He says, is it worthy to look upon the sacrifice, or how could I still consider as acceptable that which does not proceed from a good mind? For it is fitting to sacrifice cheerfully, keeping festival and rejoicing. And this, I think, is what was rightly said through the voice of Paul to those collecting the ministries: ^B *Not out of sorrow, or out of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.* If, therefore, we should sacrifice cheerfully, God will look upon and receive and praise; and having received, He will honor and bless.

But I think it will contribute greatly to profit if we elicit another meaning from the proposed words. The God of all curses, and indeed most justly, him who profanes the testament of the fathers on account of foreign women taken into marriage, those of the same race having been driven out, and often condemned for no cause. Furthermore, He arraigns certain of the priests as accepting persons in the law. And indeed He said: *The Lord will destroy the man who does these things, until he be humbled from the tabernacles of Israel, and from those offering sacrifice to the Lord Almighty.* ^C And to these He added immediately: *You covered the altar of the Lord with tears, and with weeping and groaning from your labors.* Understand "you covered" as "you were causing the divine altar to be filled with wailings and lamentations." For women who had been unreasonably expelled, and who had endured the iniquitous judgment of you priests, stood around the altar, bewailing the injuries they had suffered and weeping immoderately on account of the vexations brought upon them. Then how, He says, is it worthy to look upon the sacrifice, or to receive it as acceptable from your hands? For just as it is true that which is written in the book of Proverbs, *The vows of a harlot are not chaste,* ^D so that priest will not be considered clean and free from fault, if he says that he is in a certain way [alt-version omitted] confirmed and established by the divine Scriptures, and by the law of sacrifice.

^A Indeed, it is full of fear to offer sacrifice to God with hands such as those. For I think that a ministry so wise ought to be performed by those who are purified with all their might, as much as they are able to be. For such a one is found to be outside of all crime, and will not deserve the divine wrath.

VERS. 14, 15. *Yea, you have said: Why does the Lord testify between you and the wife of your youth whom you have abandoned? And she is your partner and the wife of your covenant, and she has not acted otherwise, and she is the remnant of your spirit. And you have said: What else does God seek but seed?*

^B XXVIII. Since God frequently reproves these things, and urges that those of one’s own race be cherished, and that marriages with aliens—which the divine law itself condemns—be dissolved, they foolishly retorted: "What else does God seek but seed?" It is said, he says, through the commandment of Moses: "There shall not be an infertile or sterile woman in Israel." And somewhere the God of all says to Abraham: "Multiplying I will multiply your seed, as the stars of the heaven in multitude." Therefore, he says, the divine purpose looks to multitude and the procreation of children, so that the grace of the promise made to Abraham might attain a fitting end. But whether this is performed by us with those of another race, or with those of our own kin, it is the same to God; for the promises attain their end. ^C "You have said, therefore," he says, "Why does the Lord testify between you and the wife of your youth whom you have abandoned?" But if it should please you to say this—namely, why the Lord has testified, and has commanded that she with whom you dwell should in no way be sent away—I too will answer this: Consider, "For she is your partner or associate, and the wife of your testament or covenant," that is, one flesh with you, and according to law a companion, and God did not create her otherwise. It is, moreover, I think, also the "remnant of his spirit," and the husband is, as it were, mingled both bodily and spiritually with her whom the religion of the law has joined to him. And just as they become one body, ^D so in a certain way they also become one soul, with love binding them together, and the divine law yoking them into harmony. Therefore, he calls the wife the remnant of the man’s spirit, and as it were a part of his own soul, because of the union which—I say—is, as it were, a single soul in the harmony of love. Do not, therefore, blame God more than is reasonable, as if He were perhaps unjustly rebuking those who send away the wife of their youth, who is a partner of the covenant and the spirit, and joined in the flesh. I think, indeed, that the most wise Paul, moved by this, commanded those who had believed in Christ: "Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a release." And somewhere the Savior Himself also says: "Whoever shall dismiss his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever shall marry her who is dismissed, com-"

- mits adultery." To those of the Sadducees who were inquisitive, asking, "Why then did Moses command to give a bill of divorce and to be rid of a wife?" He answered again: "That Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, permitted it; but from the beginning it was not so; for He who created them made them male and female. What therefore God has joined together, let no man put asunder." — "And keep yourselves in your spirit, and do not abandon." Since the Law clearly and openly declared that it was permitted for those who wished to throw a bill of divorce to those they had been joined with, and to be rid of their spouse without blame, it seemed somehow to run counter to what was decreed of old through the voice of the prophet, who brings one under judgment and writes the crime of lawlessness against one who dares to cast off and deprive himself of a wife. ^B Most economically, therefore, through what is set before us, he neither declares the ancient commandment to be ineffective, nor does he permit any to make it a pretext for impious undertakings. For he says that not because the Law permitted the giving of the bill, are you therefore blameless in giving it so that you might attach yourselves to foreign women; but if it is permitted to depart from a wife, and this is done by legal decrees, "keep yourselves in your spirit." For it is better, even if the Law has allowed for those who wish it, the separation. "But if you have hated, send her away," says the Lord the God of Israel.

XXIX. That is, if making the dismissal plausible and based on a fair occasion, you have written that you have hated and so sent her away.

"And impiety shall cover over thy thoughts," says the Lord Almighty, "and keep yourselves in your spirit, and do not abandon." ^C XXX. That is, if an impious and profane skin wraps around your thoughts, and hatred is falsely pretended for her, but you are found overcome by the beauty of others and wanting to be bound to foreign women, "keep yourself, do not abandon," or you shall be totally and utterly cursed. For he said: "Because the Lord will destroy the man who does these things, until he is humbled from the tabernacles of Israel, from those offering sacrifice to the Lord Almighty." And this much as regards the plain and obvious meaning.

But those who have been called through faith unto sanctification must also take heed, lest perchance they be carried away, just as to women hateful to God and to those of foreign origin, unto profane heresies. For it suffices for them, ^D for spiritual fruitfulness, that the pure and blameless instruction of the teachers of the Church makes them as it were fathers of noble children, begetting intellectually from a good heart the ornaments of divine charity.

LATER VOLUME.

"You who provoke God with your words, and say: In what have we provoked him?"

"

^A "In your saying: Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he is pleased with them, and where is the God of justice?" XXXI. I have previously noted that God, the Lord of all, was provoked against the descendants of Levi in more than one way, but rather in many. And lashing out at the despondency of the priests, he said: "And you brought in what was seized, and the lame, and the sick." And he added to these: "And you accepted persons in the law." For honoring, as is natural, and out of ill-timed reverence for certain of those who approached them, they condemned the weaker ones not righteously, and inflicted greed upon some, not judging what was just according to the law, but rather ^B passing a biased and unequal vote; or perhaps even plundering inheritances that did not belong to them at all; and rejoicing in gifts and receiving them, abusing the honors of the priesthood, and carrying themselves haughtily over those beneath them. Seeing those who were living their lives in such a shameful and most lawless way, certain of those who had suffered injustice were all but astonished and bewildered. For there was no rebuke from God upon them, nor were they punished, as is sometimes the custom for those who despise him; but rather they enjoyed prosperous circumstances and lived with pleasure. Being aggrieved at such things, and perhaps unwilling to contemplate any further the immense kindness of God, they almost cried out of despair: "Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he is ^C pleased with them"; that is to say, perhaps even the worker of evil is good in the eyes of God; and he is pleased with those who have chosen to live so shamefully. "For if this is not true," he says, "where is the God of justice?" For it was necessary, it was necessary for the dispenser of justice not to be so long-suffering toward avaricious priests, and those who pollute the altar, and who strive with the greatest zeal to commit unjust, impious, and lawless acts. And these would be the charges of the petty-mindedness that has beset them. However, one must know that, according to the power of the words set before us, those who use such ignorant language provoke God. For they ^D have effectively set themselves to rebuke the God who is long-suffering, and who most graciously awaits the return of the erring and those who have slipped into sin, and their turning toward better things. And thus the divine Paul, grieving over those who are sluggish and flee from repentance, said: "Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, and forbearance, and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation and righteous judgment of God." Therefore, those who thus give their hands to empty things and with an unbridled tongue revile God offend him again and again, and they will be held guilty of the offense who gave them the occasions for their sickness. Therefore, one must live holily and walk in the straight path [in]

^A in the Church, [setting an example] for the chosen priests, or those called to the priesthood. For thus they will be for a pattern of seemliness and all virtue to the peoples under their hand, who also celebrate God the Lord of all, beholding the bright and singular beauty of the priests' manner of life. And this, I suppose, is what we read has been rightly said by the voice of the Savior: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. v, 16). For just as peoples are scandalized when priests live in a way far from innocent, so do they gain a very great advantage and ample benefit if they see them fulfilling their duty of goodness, and consider that one must live in a way that pleases God.

CAP. III.

VERS. 1. *Ecce ego mitto angelum meum, et speculabitur viam ante faciem meam. Et statim veniet ad templum suum Dominus, quem vos quaeritis, et Angelus testamenti, quem vos vultis.*

^B XXXII. Most aptly have these prophetic words passed over to the mystery of Christ. For Emmanuel has become for us from God and the Father righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. i, 30), and the cleansing of all filth, and the laying aside of sins, and the casting off of shameful things, and a way to better and more becoming things, and as it were a door and an entrance to eternal life; and through him all things have been set right, the dominion of the devil has been overthrown, and righteousness has been found. For what marvels attained through him are we not enriched with? He says, therefore: "Behold I send my messenger, and he shall inspect the way before my face." By these words he appears to be announcing the holy Baptist. For Christ himself says somewhere: "This is he of whom it is written: Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee" (Matt. xi, 10). Of the same, divine Isaiah has also given a sign, saying: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God" (Isa. xl, 3). Which having come to pass, he says, and he who was appointed to announce such things having run his course for a little while, "Suddenly shall come to his temple the Lord, whom ye seek, and the messenger of the covenant, whom ye desire" (Mal. iii, 1). ^C The blessed John also confirms the same, addressing those who were coming to receive the baptism of repentance: "I indeed baptize you with water; but there cometh a man after me, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Matt. iii, 11). You perceive, therefore, how immediately and almost on the very footprints [of the herald] Christ followed, holding himself hidden until then from all the Jews, and appearing as it were suddenly and unexpectedly. We call the most holy Baptist an angel, not indeed because of his nature, for as a man born of a woman he was just as we are, but because he was a messenger ^D sent to us to preach such things.

^A Thus, the name is derived from the task, and will not be an indicator of an angelic essence. But He says that He will come into His temple, either because the Word became flesh and dwelt in the most chaste body of the holy Virgin as in a temple; that is, in a perfect man, who is believed to have been joined immediately and economically to soul and body; or He simply names as temple the city that is, as it were, holy and dedicated to Him, it being clear that he means Jerusalem, or, as in a type, the Church. He proclaimed His own coming in many ways, performing wonders and «preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people,» as it is written. Therefore, the Lord whom you seek will come, He says, you who say out of faint-heartedness: «Where is the God of justice?» But He will come teaching things above the law and beyond shadows and types. For He will be the angel of the covenant, which was announced of old by the voice of God and the Father. ^B For in a certain place He speaks to the lawgiver Moses: «I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brethren like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them according to all that I command him.» That Christ was the angel of the New Covenant, the blessed Isaiah also makes clear, speaking about Him: «For every garment gathered in deceit, and clothing with change, they shall repay, and they shall wish, if they had been burned with fire. For a child is born to us, a son is given to us, whose sovereignty is upon his shoulder, and his name is called the Angel of [great] counsel,» ^C which is clearly that of God and the Father. Therefore He also said: «I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who sent me, he himself has given me commandment what I should say and what I should speak.» For the Savior's word was not human, but as it came from God and the Father through the Son who is such by nature, it happened to us. For He is the Word of Him who begat Him, and He will prove it by saying through the voice of David: «My heart has poured forth a good word.»

VERS. 2. *Behold he comes, says the Lord Almighty, and who shall endure the day of his entrance? And who shall stand at his vision?* ^D This is similar and very much akin to what is read in Isaiah: «Be encouraged, you weak hands and paralyzed knees. Be encouraged, you who are faint-hearted in mind; be encouraged, do not fear.» And again elsewhere: «Behold, our God comes with power.» For as one showing Him to be truly present, or rather even already at hand, He plainly declares that the time of His advent into this world will not be delayed for long. And that the power of His economy will not be contemptible to some, nor tolerable to unbelievers, He teaches by saying: «And who shall endure the day of his entrance? And who shall stand at his vision?» And by entrance He calls the descent of the Only-Begotten into this world in the flesh:

and by vision, the manifestation as it were. For being invisible by nature as God, He became visible, having taken upon Himself our likeness. And the Psalmist has clearly proclaimed this beforehand, saying in the Spirit: «God shall come manifestly, our God, and He shall not keep silence.» For the Word became flesh, as the divine John says, and dwelt among us, and became in the form of a servant. And to those indeed who have loved His manifestation, He was in no wise burdensome; but rather He became gentle and mild, and the giver of eternal life. And concerning Him, God and Father also says somewhere: «Behold My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. He shall not contend, nor cry out, nor shall His voice be heard abroad. A bruised reed He shall not break, and smoking flax He shall not extinguish; but He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.» ^B But to those who spurn the salvation through Him, and do not accept the purification through faith, it has happened that they suffer all the most shameful of evils. For the wretches have perished. Wherefore also He said to the crowds of the Jews: «Amen I say to you, that unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins.» And John also says somewhere: «He who believes in the Son is not judged; but he who does not believe is already judged, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.» And He also addressed those from Israel: «And now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.» Therefore, to the disobedient, the time of His entrance and His vision has become unbearable and not very tolerable. For they were being reproved, as those who destroy their own souls, and were about to die in their own sins, because they chose not to think rightly and to admit into mind and heart the purification through faith. «Who then, He says, shall endure the day of His entrance? Or who shall stand at His vision?» That is, who then shall be so unyielding and harsh, as to be able to stand and remain unshaken in the time and day of His incursion into the world (it is manifest that this refers to the one with flesh, through which He could also be touched or seen)? Therefore he shall be punished in every way and altogether, and shall pay bitter penalties for his foolishness. Because He shall enter as the fire of a refiner, and as the lye of washers. And He shall sit refining and purifying, as silver and as gold; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and He shall pour them out like the gold and the silver.

34. Explanation of the figurative fire of judgement.

^D 34. In these things the discourse has been fashioned as if from a similarity of our own affairs, but it would introduce the realization of an ineffable mystery to those who are more prudent. For those skilled in these matters make a testing of silver and gold, melting with fire everything in them that is counterfeit and less beautiful. But the divine and heavenly fire, that is, the grace through the Holy Spirit, by which even living beings...

are perfected ^A when it enters the mind and heart, since Christ sends it in, then truly it wipes away all the filth of sin and consumes the defilement contracted from previous falls. Having thus purified them, he makes them most approved, and in a way almost recast by a spiritual process for a new life, he makes them henceforth shining vessels, sanctified and prepared for honor, and useful to the great house, that is, the Church. The blessed John pointed to this divine and intelligible fire when he said: "I baptize you with water; but one is coming after me, of whom I am not worthy to stoop down and loose the strap of his sandal; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." We also remember Christ saying: "I came to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I wish if it has already been kindled?" ^B Since, therefore, the Israelites were not laying a light foundation for the uncleanness or iniquity of the Levites, nay, were rather being spurred on by them to provoke the God of all constantly, speaking contumeliously and not fearing to say, "Everyone who does evil is good before him, and in them he himself is well pleased, and where is the God of righteousness?" he predicts usefully that Christ will shine forth at some time, who takes away all our sin from the midst and makes his own ministers most pure, testing them like gold or silver in the fire, that is, making them approved and shining. For such, for the most part, ought the ministers of the Church to be, to whom it might in the best right be fitting to say that word of David: "You have tested us, O God, you have burned us as silver is burned." For the garment for the sons of Aaron was indeed the one prescribed by the Law. ^C But for those chosen in Christ and destined for the priesthood, the garment is splendid, priestly, and holy: Christ himself. Wherefore, also, God and Father through the lyre of the Psalmist said concerning the Church from the Gentiles: "I will clothe her priests with salvation, and her holy ones shall exult with exultation." For the salvation and admirable garment of holy priests is Christ; nay, the seemly attire of all the faithful. "For as many of you," he says, "as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ."

Vers. 4. *And they shall be offering to the Lord a sacrifice in righteousness. And the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old and as in years gone by.*

XXXV. *They shall be consecrated*, he says, *to God*: for this I think is what he intends by, *They shall be offering to the Lord.* But we shall be consecrated ^D to God if henceforth we no longer live for ourselves, but remain wholly attached to the love for him and choose with all strength to perform as is fitting the things that are pleasing to his divine impulses. The divine Paul also said something of this sort regarding Christ, the Savior of us all: "For one died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again."

^D Describe for us, as it were, the beauty of his own manner of life, and revealing the power of the mystery concerning Christ, he says again: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God." They will be, then, he says, those who bring offerings to the Lord, that is, they will be consecrated to his will, not setting their minds on earthly things, not loving the pollutions that come from wickedness, not choosing to value greed above others, but rather offering sacrifices of righteousness. And it seems to me that Paul spoke very wisely: "For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well." For we who are called in Christ perform a rite of holy service, not by means of blood and smoke any longer, nor do we bring lambs or goats to God, but rather we fulfill in the Church the sacrifice that is spiritually understood in Christ, the holy and spiritual one, and setting him forth for sanctification and indeed for the participation in the life eternal, we offer as a certain excellent incense the fragrances of good works. And sacrificing righteousness to him, we have confidence that we shall be acceptable. For it is written: "Honor the Lord with your righteous labors, and offer him the first fruits from the fruits of righteousness." For I believe the God of all is well-pleased not with other sacrifices, but with such as these. He therefore speaks concerning those who are called in Christ to priestly service, that they shall be better than the former ones, not slaughtering sheep as they did, nor profaning the altar by offering defiled bread; but as in the order of incense they bring to God righteousness and the intelligible beauty of the gospel manner of life. And they will perform the worship so acceptably that it will in no way be inferior to the sacrifices that befit the days of the age, that is, the life of the holy spirits in heaven, who spend continuous and long days, or rather ages. And the former times also abound, that is, the acts of worship of the saints which came to pass in previous times. For in obedience to those of old was there excellence. Thus Abraham offered his son to God, "And it was reckoned to him as righteousness," and he was called a friend of God. Thus also Noah built the ark for the salvation of his house, as it is written. Therefore, he says, the sacrifice of Judah will be pleasing, that is, of the people who carry about the circumcision in heart and in spirit, and indeed of the Jerusalem that the mind perceives, that is, of the Church; just as also the sacrifice of those who possess the days of the age, and of the saints who were in life in previous ages, who through obedience and faith were pleasing to God. The divine Paul also counts these in the Epistle to the Hebrews, testifying that many were justified by faith.

And I will draw near to you in judgment, and I will be VERS. 5. Et accedam ad vos in judicio, et ero

testis velox super veneficis, et super adulteras, et super ^A eos qui jurant in nomine meo in mendacio, et super eos qui privant mercede mercenarium, et qui opprimunt per potentias viduam, et qui pugno percutiunt pupillos, et qui pervertunt judicium advenae, et qui non timent me, dicit Dominus omnipotens.

XXXVI. On the Scope of the Written Works

^A And to those things He adds also those that are manifest, namely, the defrauding of the hireling, and greed, and the oppression that some might commit against the weaker—I mean widows and orphans. He adds to these also those who pervert the rectitude of judgments, and those who do not fear Him. These would also be those who in some other way, besides those we have just mentioned, grieve God. "I will be, therefore," He says, "a judge, and a swift witness, and a self-moving one against sorcerers, and adulteresses, and those who are practitioners of other evils." And it is likely that such things were dared by some at that time, and that because of them the tongue-lashing of the many against God occurred.

It is therefore necessary to flee with all strength from evil things, and to hasten toward better things, and to strive to accomplish those things by which one might become filled with all praise and gentleness. For thus one will also be spared from those things that will be perceived from divine wrath by those accustomed to doing wrong. And there will be, furthermore, rewards and glory, which God may grant to those who love Him.

"For I am the Lord your God, and I do not change. And you, O sons of Jacob, you have not refrained from the iniquities of your fathers. You have turned aside from My statutes, and you have not kept them."

37.

This, Christ is found saying in a certain place. For He rightly laments the unlearned activity of the workshop of the Scribes and Pharisees. And He spoke thus: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets, and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' So that you bear witness to yourselves..."

And you fulfill the measure of your fathers. Therefore, it is necessary for us, if we are truly of sound mind and possess proper judgment, to emulate those among our forefathers who were the most approved, and to reject the imitation of those who were not good. But if someone refuses to do this, and follows his forefathers simply and without examination, he will be exactly like those children of the Greeks who, if anyone were to rebuke them for having abandoned the knowledge of the truth and having left behind the God who is by nature, and for worshipping stones, they always have the custom of their own fathers in their mouths.

VERSES 7-9. *Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty. And you said: In what shall we return? Shall a man supplant God? Because you supplant me. And you say: In what have we supplanted you? Because the tithes and first-fruits are with you. And you look and look, and you supplant me. The year has been completed, and you have brought all the produce into the treasuries, and in their houses is their spoil.*

^C XXXVIII. After having restrained them from curses against Him, as was fitting, and having turned them to the opposite course by a suitable defense, He calls the guilty to repentance, promising most readily to restore to them the customary blessings. For just as He brings down punishments proportionate to their sins upon those who insist on living a shameful life, so also over those who, as it were, turn their backs on sin and henceforth recoil from that action, He truly rejoices in every way, and cuts off despair as the cause of destruction. Whence you may perceive how pernicious a disease they introduce into life who adulterate the grace of repentance and ^D falsely ascribe to themselves the name of purity. It would certainly be better to consider that the opinion of their own purity, of which they are devoid, brings upon them the crime of extreme impurity. For it is written: *Tell your iniquities first, that you may be justified.* And the divine David sings: *For I know my iniquity, and my sin is before me always.* For *no one is clean from filth,* as it is written. Therefore, those who are thus sick through such weakness have need of the goods of repentance and of heavenly gentleness, which perfectly washes the defiled and sanctifies the impious. By His kindness, therefore, He invites sinners to repentance. But to those who ask in turn and wish to learn in what way they had committed an offense: *Shall a man supplant God,* He says, *because you supplant me*

^A To "supplant" means to plunder or to deceive, and perhaps to imagine that one’s deceit might lie hidden from those who are deceived, even though one may have committed some most outrageous act. And so, Esau was angry with Jacob, and explaining the pretext for his envy, he said: *For he has supplanted me a second time; he took my birthright, and now he has snatched away my blessing.* [Gen. XXVII, 36] Shall a man, therefore, he says, be superior to God, or shall he plunder Him who knows all things? Why then do you supplant me?

I think it necessary, for a more precise clarification of the thoughts set before us, to mention now what is recorded in the books of Ezra. [II Esdr. XIII, seqq.] For since those from Jerusalem had returned to Judea, having left the land of the Babylonians, they dwelt in Jerusalem. The divine temple had been built, and the ranks of the priests, the singers, the psalters, and the gatekeepers were subsequently in order. ^B What then followed? Liberated from servitude, they became sluggish in executing the divine oracles. For they did not keep the law, and they transgressed the ancient commandment as if in sport, and offered in sacrifice with difficulty and hesitation the blind, the plundered, the lame, and the ailing. Then, harvesting in the fields at the proper time the grain and also the other crops, and gathering the grapes, and pressing the oils, they did not bring the tithes, nor the first-fruits according to the law, so that the ranks of the priests might have sufficiency and might attend to the worship of God without distraction, and remain in the ministries ordained for them by the law. ^C Since, therefore, nothing of this was brought, the ministers of the divine altars were cheated, and the people thus remained destitute, as neither were the sacred rites performed, nor was anything else practiced for the glory of God. Everything in the fields was finally perishing, and famine raged; and they were reduced to such necessity and poverty that they did not shrink from selling their own children to those who had food, until Ezra, having perceived the divine wrath, admonished the leaders of Israel about these things. And thus at last, with difficulty, the tithes and first-fruits were brought, and then the ministers entered and stood performing their accustomed duties in the temple.

*Why then*, He says, *do you supplant me?* The year has been completed, the fruits have been gathered, and yet the tithes and the first-fruits according to the law are still with you. *And in his house there shall be his plunder,* He says; as if He were saying: You have indeed gathered the fruits from the fields into your houses, and you perhaps think that they are safe for you and well-stored in those very houses. They shall vanish, and the stuff shall be no different from plunder. For you shall be pressed by famine, even though you have gathered, he says, with sweat that which had been found.

We shall learn from this, then, that we too must consider it a great offense not to offer to God the thanksgivings which we owe, and not to set aside for His glory the portion of the field which He has granted as sufficient for our sustenance. For if we do this, He will altogether and in every way bless us and liberally bestow good things. But if, on the other hand, we draw back our hand, and for our own

^A gratification alone keep what has been given us, we would not willingly offer the gifts of God to others for their participation.

VERS. 10-12. *Return now in this, says the Lord Almighty. If I do not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out My blessing upon you, until it is sufficient. And I will divide for you for food. And the fruit of your earth shall not be destroyed for you, and your vine that is in the field shall not be weak, says the Lord Almighty. And all nations shall call you blessed, because you shall be a desirable land for Me, says the Lord Almighty.*

^B 860 XXXIX. Again He remits crimes, and absolves them of all guilt, and promises that He will grant what is desired, forgetting their injuries, and that He will refresh them with a munificence that exceeds anything that can be told. However, He wants them to learn through experience and through actual events how very full of utility this fruitfulness will be. And if they do not refuse to do this, He pledges an abundance of rain and a bountiful blessing, so that they may have enough, and more than enough, of food, and may receive as much of the fruits of the earth as they wish. "For I will divide," He says, "for you for food." Understand the word "divide" as "separate," either because whatever grows from the earth has its own proper time in which it either develops or reaches maturity. Further, He promises that the fruit of the earth will suffer no harm, that there will be a great abundance of grapes, and that the vine in the fields will be most splendid, so that everything is brought to maturity; and after this, He says they will be blessed, and will be called, as it were, a "desirable land"—that is, worthy of love because of the abundance and fertility ^C of its fruits.

Whoever, therefore, has bowels of mercy will clearly experience such a God; he will lay up treasure in heaven, and will eat the fruits of his own labors, as it is written. Nor will he imitate that unfeeling and senseless rich man whom the Savior describes in the evangelical parable as having filled his villa. For he used to say: "What shall I do? I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; eat, drink, be merry." But to one who thinks such things and is ignorant of the future, God says: "You fool, this night they will require your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" Therefore, as I said, he who shares his own [goods] is full of blessing. Such a one will also receive spiritual showers irrigating his heart and abundantly gladdening it, and he will produce fruits of piety, now in one way and now in another, and as it were ^D separately, excelling now in charity, now in kindness and mutual humanity, and in fortitude and patience; and he will be like a land blessed with fruits and most fertile, renowned and famous, and truly long-blessed. "For a good name is better than great riches," as it is written.

^A *“You have spoken harsh words against me, says the Lord, and you have said: In what have we spoken against you? You have said: Vain is he who serves God, and what is more, that we have kept his observances, and that we have walked as suppliants before the face of the Lord Almighty? And now we call the aliens blessed, and all who do lawless things are built up, and they have withstood God, and they have been saved.” These things did those who fear the Lord speak against, each one to his neighbor. And the Lord took heed and heard.*

^B XL. When God wishes to correct certain of his acquaintances who have slipped into sin, he brings their transgressions into the open, rebukes them clearly, and strikes them, as it were, with reproaches, so that, blushing at their own faults, they might be disposed to move on to better and more useful things, and thus, having sought the mercy that comes from him, they might obtain salvation. Therefore, he accuses the Israelites also for another reason, weaving together a censure that is, as it were, common also to those who come after them, knowing that this is useful and salutary for all. For "whatever things happened to those before us in type, have been written for our admonition," as the most wise Paul says. He accuses, therefore, those who are incontinent of tongue and have chosen to speak against him with blasphemous words. For he says, "You have spoken harsh words against me." And ^C what then was the manner of their contradiction? "You have said," he says, "Vain is he who serves God, and that there is nothing extra in wishing to keep his observances," that is, his decrees through the Law. "It is vain, moreover," you say, "to supplicate him," that is, to offer the petitions you might choose to bring before him. And the God of all is entirely true, if he speaks thus, and brings charges against those from Israel.

But it is necessary to state what excuse for sin those who have prattled on might offer. For myriad were the tribes that were pastured, yet from all of them God chose that which is from Israel, and it has been named his portion, and his measuring-line, and his inheritance. Having taken it as his own, he tutored it with the Law and benefited it through the prophets. And what did the senseless Israel ^D do in response to these things? It worshipped the host of heaven, it served idols, it said to the graven images: "You are our gods." The God of all, having rightly become indignant at such terrible impieties, disciplined them in many ways, calling them to repentance by famines, blasts of wind, dearth of fruits, locusts, and cankerworms, jaundice, and caterpillars. For he did not yet wish to strike them with a firm hand, but rather, as it were, to urge them on with moderate strokes, and also with measured movements, to choose to do what is beneficial and to love God, who is such by nature and in truth. But since there was no reason among them even for being struck with moderation, and they rushed unbridled into every kind of impurity, he sent them into captivity and caused them to fall under the hand of the Babylonians. But after they had been, by God's mercy, recalled to Judaea, and had rebuilt the city and raised up the temple, having relapsed once more into sloth, they did not fulfill their vows, nor did they...

follow the ordinances given through the law, nor did they bring their tithes and first fruits. But being sluggish and scarcely coming to sacrifice, they slaughtered the lame, the blind, and those suffering from ailments; and though God ^A corrected them for doing such things improperly, by famine and by failure of crops, nevertheless, these people—even though, had they been good and knowledgeable of what was for their own benefit, they ought to have appeased God, who was grieved by their actions, by returning to what is better—they instead raised a senseless outcry. For because they saw the neighboring nations, who did not know God but rather worshipped carved idols and were suffering from the most extreme deception, living in comfort and luxury, they said foolishly, "Vain is he who serves God, and what is the profit that we have kept his commands?" For we, he says, who are the guardians of the law, are in poverty and plagues; we are even captives, although we continually fall down and become suppliants to the Lord Almighty. But those who do none of these things have no plague, they have no pain. "Therefore we call the foreigners happy, and those building and doing lawless things have resisted God and have been saved." For those who are led astray truly fight against the glory of God in many ways, both by offering sacrifices to molten images ^B and by saying to the wood, "You are my God," and to the stone, "You gave birth to me." These things, he says, those who fear the Lord spoke against. The crime of blasphemy is entirely an evident proof of the most extreme diseases of the soul. For the words are indicative of a sick disposition and a drunken mind, and it is a God-hated discharge to say anything against God. That He listens to such words not as if casually, but with diligence, He has confirmed by saying, "And the Lord hearkened and heard. For the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things has knowledge of the voice." If then any word should be spoken against His divine glory, this will be grave and, as it were, unbearable, even for Him who is accustomed to being most tolerant of injuries. For this reason He also said, "You have burdened Me with your words." It is our duty, therefore, even if we are in afflictions—with God usefully disciplining us—not to be too despondent, nor to think that He who is so loving of virtue ^C would reject the good, but rather to inquire solicitously into that in which we have offended before God; and thus to appease Him and implore His mercy. If, indeed, some who are lovers of sin live in worldly comfort and enjoy temporal goods, it is right to refer the reasons for His patience toward them to the secret providence of His long-suffering.

VER. 16, 17. "And He wrote a book of remembrance before Him for those who fear the Lord and who reverence His name. And they shall be Mine, says the Lord Almighty, for the day which I make for a possession, and I will choose them as a man chooses his son who serves him." ^D

^A XLI. God observed and heard the Israelites accusing themselves and babbling impiously against Him. Then, when it was fitting to inflict the appropriate punishment upon the guilty and to demand an account of their petulant words, God, as being Himself unremembering of injuries, overlooks even this. He writes a book of remembrance for those who fear Him, about whom, if I am not mistaken, David himself also speaks to the One who writes the book: "And in Your book shall all be written."

We shall find even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself saying to His holy disciples: "Do not rejoice that the demons are subject to you; but rather rejoice because your names have been written in the heavens." And the inspired David very justly prays against the crowds of Jews who killed Christ, saying: "Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and with the righteous let them not be written." A book of remembrance is therefore written for those who fear God, whom He further affirms will be His own, His very domestics and closest friends, at the time of the acquisition, when Christ shall sit upon the throne of His glory, with angels as His bodyguard: "And He shall place the sheep on the right, but the goats on the left, and He shall say to those who shall be on the right: Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom ^B prepared for you from the foundation of the world." For then He will elect them—that is, He will make them the elect—yielding nothing in tender affection and love to our own earthly fathers, who exult over their children when they are most wise and obedient, and whom they follow with the utmost reverence, from whose seed they were begotten.

"And you shall return, and shall see the difference between the righteous and the unrighteous, and between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him."

XLII. Then, He says, then, having ceased from such clandestine vanity of speech and curbing your incontinent and foolish tongue, you shall no longer speak against God, the lover of goodness, and having, as it were, put away your drunkenness, and having drawn back your foot from error, you shall see most clearly what and how great the difference is ^C between the righteous and the unrighteous, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him. For the wicked and the rebellious, and those who shake off the yoke of servitude to Him, shall go away into destruction and endless punishment. "There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth," as it is written. But the good and God-loving, and those who are knowledgeable in the divine laws, intent upon every virtue, brilliant and sanctified, shall be crowned with the wreath of immortality; and having been received into the mansions above, they shall dwell together with the holy angels, and having been shown to be participators in the glory of Christ, they shall sweetly enjoy for long ages the good things "which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and did not ascend upon the heart of man," according to ^D that which is written. Nevertheless, observing in this life men who are friends of wickedness, blessed and flourishing in prosperous circumstances, they are distracted in thought

^A even if some of the saints have not been ignorant that they will have the end of their life in destruction. And so the blessed Jeremiah says something like this: "Righteous are you, O Lord, that I may plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments. Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? Are all they happy that deal very treacherously? You have planted them, yes, they have taken root: they grow, yes, they bring forth fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their reins. But you, O Lord, know me: you have tried my heart before you." And again he says: "Prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long shall the land mourn?" You see how he has fallen into perplexity of thoughts, yet he was not ignorant of the end of those who act impiously. "All flesh is grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass," according to that which is written.

CHAPTER IV

VERS. 1. For behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yes, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

^B 43. It is consistent to think that the day of judgment will be in fire, "in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth," for one of the holy disciples said this. He says, therefore, The day of the Lord shall come as an oven, and it shall burn up all the strangers, and it shall take in also those who do wickedly; for both the one and the other will undergo one punishment. Note here the keenness. Now he mentions the strangers. For after they had proclaimed them blessed, saying, "And now we call the proud/strangers happy; yes, they that work wickedness are set up; yes, they that tempt God are even delivered," because of this he says that they shall be burned up, as those who have warred against the glory of God, and have chosen to worship the creature rather than the Creator.

We reason also in another way, that the idolaters are called strangers, and in another way also those who are estranged ^C from the holy and elect nation: I mean the heretics, concerning whom it is most aptly said, "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us." For these, having cast off their divine nobility, and having become separated from the holy and elect nation ^D which has been made for a possession (evidently through faith in Christ), will be food for the all-consuming fire. In the same place before God will they be who do wickedly, even if they have perhaps been mingled with the believers and the elect, and have known him who is by nature and truth God. For this does not suffice them for the washing away of sins:

if it is true, as it is, that faith without works is dead. For faith in Christ indeed justifies, and cleanses away the stain of past transgressions. But if anyone after this should be found sluggish and fallen back into the passions of the flesh and of the world, he has, as it were, slain faith within himself, adding nothing of what is praiseworthy, but rather turning back to the ancient perversity of life. Regarding such people, the divine disciple also says: "For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it to turn back ^B from the holy commandment delivered to them. For it has happened to them according to the true Proverb: The dog has returned to his own vomit, and the sow, after washing, to her wallowing in the mire." Therefore, those who do iniquitous things are of the same stamp as the aliens, who shall also be stubble, and shall be burned up just as that [stubble] is burned when fire is applied to it. For the wheat is gathered into the barn, as the Savior also says regarding the holy reapers; but the chaff is burned with unquenchable fire. "And there shall be left to them neither root nor branch," that is to say, they shall have no hope of sprouting again to life—and by life, I mean that which is to be desired and which is directed toward the glory of God, and is understood as being in holiness and beatitude. For when the root is not entirely cut away, nor the branch plucked out from the depths, some hope remains of sprouting again; "For there is hope for a tree," as it is written: "If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoot will not fail." But if it should be rooted out entirely from below and from the very root, and the branches should also be cruelly cut off, then one and all, every hope of being able to sprout again hereafter to life will perish with it. Therefore, from this likeness to plants, he clearly declares that all hope is taken away for those who are led by the pleasure of sinning. That which divine Isaiah clearly announces, when he says: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be extinguished, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh." ^C And there shall arise for you who fear my name the Sun of righteousness, and healing in his wings. And you shall go forth and leap like calves released from bonds. And you shall trample down the lawless, for they shall be ashes under your feet, in the day which I make, says the Lord Almighty.

XLIV. The only-begotten Word of God did indeed shine upon those dwelling in this world, and having assumed our likeness, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us," and shining as a kind of sun with his own rays upon those who were in mist and darkness, and casting the bright ray of true knowledge of God into the souls of those who believe, he rendered them pure, and wise, and knowledgeable of every good work. He showed us the Father in himself, and through his secret and divine ^D

^A gift of initiation, he rendered them most fortunate. But even those who have been brought to this splendor, and have been ^B made rich, according to the word of the blessed Paul, "in all speech and in all knowledge and in all wisdom," ^C see now in a mirror and in an enigma, and know in part. But that which is perfect will come in due time, when we shall at last be in the most full knowledge of Christ, when he again shines upon us from heaven, ^D and makes of no effect that which is in part, and the knowledge that is in a mirror and in an enigma; but he will illuminate us as perfect ones, and fill the mind with a certain divine and ineffable light, and will gladden it with the effusion of the Holy Spirit. For the divine Paul says: "Whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away, and whether there be knowledge, it shall come to an end." But we say that we shall not proceed from knowing in part to knowing nothing at all—far from it. For how could the time of future hope not be detrimental to the souls of the saints, if it were necessary to lose even what we possess, not gaining better things, nor raising the mind to something more sublime, but rather even selling what was already acquired not without struggle? Prophecies will be done away, and knowledge shall cease, when that which is superexcellent shall clearly enter into our souls. For just as if someone, when one lamp is shining in a house and shedding a moderate light upon those who see it, should bring in a torch, it would be absolutely necessary for that former light to become almost idle and void, yielding, as it were, to the immensity of the greater; and just as when the sun illuminates the world, the feeble brightness of the stars is left behind, so, with a clearer knowledge brought to us, the lesser will be done away. And Christ also says to the holy apostles: "These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour comes when I will no longer speak to you in proverbs, but I will announce to you plainly of my Father." Therefore, upon the saints who have greatly feared the name of God and have become diligent in every kind of virtue in this world, Christ will shine, as a sun of righteousness, sending forth the rays of most perfect knowledge, and lifting them from whatever weakness and languor of soul they may have, and removing them as far as possible from their ancient tribulation. For this is what he says: "Health is in his wings," as if speaking of eagles and their young, according to that, without doubt, which was said by Moses, most wise about God, and about those who were redeemed from Egypt: "As an eagle will cover her nest, spreading her wings, she received them." There will be, therefore, he says, "health in his wings." For in this age, we greatly feel the stirrings of the flesh in us, which awaken the mind to forbidden pleasures, and the law of sin rages in our members, although with Christ's help and the moderation of the saints, sometimes

^A it is overcome. The mind is also, in a way, intoxicated and irritated by passions in another manner; for arrogances, love of vain and worldly glory, anger, greed, and other such plagues rush in. But since we have been enriched with the pledge of the Spirit through Christ, we have become accustomed to mastering our passions, albeit not without sweat; and according to the age to come, being endowed with the full light of divine knowledge and enriched with the most perfect gift of the Holy Spirit, and having put off corruption and the passions of the flesh, we serve God in every way, not divided by sin, nor indeed troubled by former passions, but in equal order with the holy angels, we lead a pure and harmless life. For it is written concerning the saints, that they shall forget their tribulation, and it shall not come up into their heart. ^B "And there shall be," he says, "everlasting joy upon their heads; praise and joy and exultation shall lay hold of them; sorrow, grief, and sighing shall flee away." On this account the prophet, or God who is the agent and giver of these things, says: "You shall go forth, and shall leap as calves released from their bonds." For just as calves that are still sucklings, when their bonds are removed, leap about the fields and jump and low in the verdant grass; so at the fitting time the saints, having been released as it were from the bonds of the tribulation, anxiety, sweat, and labors of this life, shall enter into the joy that befits the saints, and they shall trample underfoot the wicked—no longer fighting and resisting, but already fallen and defeated, and as it were lying under their feet, because the very material for war and all fear has been taken away from them. "For there shall not be a lion there, nor according to what is written, shall any of the evil beasts ascend there; but rather it shall be a pure way, ^C and it shall be called a holy way." For at that time especially, the life of the saints shall be devoid of conflict and pure from every stain.

"Behold, I will send to you Elias the Thesbite, before the great and manifest day of the Lord comes; who shall restore the heart of a father to a son, and the heart of a man to his neighbor, lest I come and strike the earth utterly."

XLV. An argument for the gentleness and long-suffering of God is that He also sends Elias the Thesbite before us ^D at the fitting times, to herald to all mortals scattered across the world that the judge will soon be present. For the judge will descend in the glory of God and of the Father, with angels attending him, "and shall sit upon the throne of his majesty," judging the world in righteousness, "and shall render to each one according to his works." Since, however, we are bound by many sins, the divine prophet wisely goes before, bringing men upon earth into concord, so that all, gathered into the unity of faith and resting from the pursuits of perverse works, may choose to perform what is good, and thus be saved when the judge arrives. The blessed Baptist therefore had already come "in the spirit and power of Elias." But just as

he himself proclaimed, saying: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God,” so too the inspired Elias will proclaim that he who is near is then about to be present, “that he may judge the world in righteousness.” And now indeed perhaps some differ, and father is divided against son, and son against father. For one has believed in Christ, while another is numbered among the apostles; others have fallen away from love for one another, divided by hatred and incessant anger and contentions over any worldly matter whatever. ^B Yet the prophet will restore them, and those once separated he gathers into one faith, and «converting a man to his neighbor, lest I come,» he says, «and strike the earth utterly,» that is, in every respect and in every way. Do you see, therefore, the gentleness of the Lord of all? He forewarns those on earth, and by the voice of Elias he almost testifies that he will be present as judge, so that those living on earth at that time, by turning to better things and amending their life, may not encounter a harsh judge, who sends them to the flame «and into the outer darkness»; but may hear instead: «Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.»

Verse 4. Mementote legis Mosi servi mei, sicut præcepi ei in Horeb ad omnem Israel præcepta et judicia.

XLVI. Christ announced from the beginning by the Law and the Prophets

^C XLVI. Again he urges those who read the prophet’s words to consider that the preaching concerning Christ was not something new or unusual, nor was it foretold by Malachi alone, but from ancient and first times, if I may so speak, in which Israel was called to the knowledge of God, when the laws were divinely given in Horeb. For the God of all descended in the form of fire upon Mount Sinai, and smoke appeared, and flames flashing on high, and causing great terror to those who beheld them. And there were darkness, and gloom, and tempest, and the sound of a great trumpet. Then, yes then, the sons of Israel, struck with fear, approached and said to the mediator and instructor, namely Moses: «Speak you to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die.» ^D To which God said: «Well, all that they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet from among their brethren, like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them according to all that I shall command him.»

Do you see how from the remote times of old the sacred Scripture foretold Christ? But even if anyone should wish to examine the very shadows of the Law, he will find Christ and his mystery written therein. And so he was saying to the Jews: «If you believed Moses, you would perhaps believe Me: for he wrote of Me.» For Christ is the fullness of the Law and the prophets; through whom, and with whom, to God and the Father be glory, with the most holy Spirit, unto all eternity. Amen.