Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He threatens devastation and slaughter against the mountains, altars, high places, idols and idolaters, and the whole land of Israel, that is, the Jews. Secondly, at verse 8, He promises to preserve remnants of the people, who, seeing such great slaughter, will return to their heart and to God. Thirdly, at verse 11, God commands the prophet to strike his thigh with his hand, and stamp with his foot, and beat the ground, to show by his anger the wrath and vengeance of God. Because, He says at verse 12, he who is far away will die of plague: he who is near will fall by the sword: and he who is left and besieged will die of famine.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 6:1-14
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them, 3. and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains, and the hills, to the rocks, and the valleys: Behold, I will bring the sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places, 4. and I will demolish your altars, and your idols shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain before your idols. 5. And I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before the face of your idols: and I will scatter your bones around your altars, 6. in all your dwelling places. The cities shall be desolate, and the high places shall be demolished and destroyed: and your altars shall perish and be broken: and your idols shall cease, and your shrines shall be shattered, and your works shall be blotted out. 7. And the slain shall fall in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the Lord. 8. And I will leave among you those who shall have escaped the sword among the nations, when I shall have scattered you throughout the lands. 9. And your freed ones shall remember Me among the nations to which they were led captive: because I crushed their fornicating heart that departed from Me, and their eyes that fornicated after their idols: and they shall be displeased with themselves over the evils they committed in all their abominations. 10. And they shall know that I the Lord have not spoken in vain, that I would do this evil to them. 11. Thus says the Lord God: Strike with your hand, and stamp with your foot, and say: Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel: for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. 12. He who is far off shall die of pestilence: and he who is near shall fall by the sword: and he who is left and besieged shall die of famine: and I will accomplish My indignation upon them. 13. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when their slain shall be among their idols, round about their altars, on every high hill, and on all the summits of the mountains, and under every leafy tree, and under every branching oak, the place where they burned sweet incense to all their idols. 14. And I will stretch out My hand upon them: and I will ma-
...ke the land desolate and forsaken from the desert of Deblatha, in all their dwelling places: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Verse 2: Set your face
2. Set your face — with intrepid brow, speak freely and boldly and prophesy to the Jews these calamities of theirs.
To the mountains of Israel — to Zion, Moriah, the Mount of Olives, the mount of offense, on which the Jews had placed and worshipped idols. For he does not call the ten tribes Israel: for they had already been carried away, but the Jews, as I said in chapter 4, verse 3.
He therefore foretells that the mountains of Judah are to be punished and laid waste, because they were defiled by the sin of idolatry. For sin stains not only man, but also the elements and all creatures; indeed it dissolves the harmony of the universe. For on the first day of the world light was created: sin puts this to flight, Jeremiah 4:23: "I looked at the heavens, and there was no light in them." On the second day the firmament was created: now because of sins "the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll," says Isaiah 34:4, that is, so that they may no longer cover men. On the third day, plants were produced: sin destroys these; for, as Jeremiah says, 4:23: "I looked at the earth, and behold it was void and nothing." On the fourth day, the sun was made: sin eclipses and darkens it, Isaiah 13:10. On the fifth day, fish and birds were formed: now because of sin "every bird of the sky has departed," says Jeremiah 4:25. On the sixth day, quadrupeds and man were created: sin removes them from the mountains and forests, as is clear here, and Hosea 4:3. Therefore all creatures are punished, because they served man for sin. Hence Vatablus translates verse 6: "So that your altars may be laid waste, and pay for their guilt." Or rather, man is punished in all things when he is deprived of all things he has abused.
Note the personification: He addresses inanimate things, namely the mountains, as if disdaining to address men so wicked, so as to provoke them to hear the word of God, which inanimate things hear by hearing, that is, by the instinct of nature, and obey. So Prado.
Mystically, the mountains are the great and very wise; the hills are those of lower rank; the rocks are the strong and zealous; the valleys are the common people, who are all commanded to hear the word of God, so that each according to his capacity may understand what the Lord commands, says St. Jerome.
Verse 3: To the rocks
3. To the rocks. The Hebrew aphikim, which St. Jerome translates as torrents; the Septuagint, napas, that is, wooded places situated among the mountains: for these are pleasant and fertile, because of the reflection of the sun's rays at the feet of the mountains. Hence the Napeae, goddesses and nymphs of herbs and flowers, of whom Virgil writes, Georgics IV: "Worship the gentle Napeae."
The Hebrew word aphikim properly seems to signify the bed of torrents or streams; from that it signifies the banks, and rocks, and neighboring groves, under whose shade the Jews erected altars to their idols.
And to the valleys. Thus in Gehenna, that is in the valley of Hinnom, they sacrificed their children to the idol Moloch. More commonly, however, the Jews set up and worshipped idols on hills and mountains: and from this they are called "High Places," which follow next: and the name "High Place" was a general term, applied to all altars and temples of idols, so that even if they were in valleys, they were still called by the common name High Places, as Ezekiel calls them here. Thus "altar" is said to be quasi alta ara (a high hearth), says Festus.
Your high places — namely the locations, that is the mountains and hills, on which you worship the gods of the nations after the manner of the nations. See 1 Kings 14:23.
Mystically, the high places of the soul are pride, arrogance, ambition for honors; these God demolishes. Truly the Poet says: Envy aims at the highest, winds blow upon the loftiest: The thunderbolts hurled by Jove's right hand strike the summits.
Verse 4: I will cast down your
4. I will cast down your slain (or bloodied, or wounded, as Vatablus translates it: for the Hebrew challechem signifies all of these, citizens) before your idols — and so I will pollute and defile those idols and their altars with the contact of your corpses. For by the law, touching a corpse made one unclean. So Theodoret. The reason for this was first, that blood, or a corpse, or bones are signs of death, which is the daughter of sin. Secondly, because death is rightly judged to be horrifying, foul, shameful, hateful, and detestable. Note: Where they sinned, there the Jews are punished and killed. So St. Jerome.
Idols. In Hebrew gillulim, that is, filth, dung, wallowing places, as if to say: In your idols you wallow like pigs and hoopoes in dung. The reason is, first, because idols are most foul things; secondly, because just as true faith is followed by honesty and purity of life, so false faith, namely idolatry and heresy, is followed by luxury, filth, and all manner of sordidness. Rightly therefore idols and heresies are called dung.
6. They shall perish. In Hebrew iescemu, that is, they shall be laid waste.
Shrines. In Hebrew chammanim, that is, sun-pillars, namely shrines or images dedicated to the sun, which in Hebrew is called chamma from heat, from the root chamam, that is, it grew hot. Secondly and more plainly, idols are called Hammonim from the famous idol of Jupiter Ammon, who had a temple in Africa famous for its image of the sun, as Macrobius attests, book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 21. Because therefore the idol of the sun and of Jupiter Ammon was famous in Egypt, hence any idols are called chammanim, that is, sun-pillars: for the Jews were neighbors to the Egyptians. But whence was Jupiter called Ammon? I answer first: Sextus Pompeius book 8, Pliny book 12, and Latin lexicons generally derive Ammon from the Greek ammos, that is, sand, so that Jupiter is called Ammonius, that is, the sandy one—
...the sandy one, because he was found in it (sand). But in truth Ammon was not a Greek, but an Egyptian deity and name: hence also by the Hebrews, as is clear from Ezekiel in this passage, their idols are called by their name Hammonim. Secondly, by the word Ammon, Manetho of Sebennytos thinks is meant something hidden and concealment: but Hecataeus of Abdera says the Egyptians use this word when they call upon one another. For it is an invocatory word, and since they consider the chief God to be the same as the universe, as being obscure and hidden, He is called and prayed to by them as Ammon, saying that He may reveal Himself and present Himself to be seen, says Plutarch in his book On Isis and Osiris, near the beginning. Thirdly, the Hebrews judge that the idols are called hammonim, that is, sun-pillars, from the Hebrew chamma, that is, sun; and that from this Jupiter was called Ammonius. Hence also many of the Gentiles, as Giraldus attests concerning Ammon, judge that in Ammon the sun was worshipped and adored. Hence also Ammon is said to have had the form of a ram, both because his horns represent the rays of the sun (hence in Hebrew rays are called horns; so Moses is said to have had horns, that is, rays of light), and because in spring, when the sun is in Aries, the world was created: hence formerly the beginning of the year and the solar course began from there, as is clear from Exodus 12:2. Fourthly, others more truly judge that Ammon is not a Hebrew but an Egyptian word and signifies a goat: for Jupiter Ammonius was worshipped in the form of a goat: for he was himself raised to the rank of the gods by shepherds, the keepers of goats, so that he might be for them Jupiter the goatherd, and the tutelary god of goats and shepherds, about which more in Daniel 8:5. For this reason, in the form of a goat or he-goat, the Gentiles worshipped their Fauns and Satyrs. Hence also the poets handed down that Jupiter was nourished with goat's milk. Pliny gives the reason, book 28, chapter 9: "The most nourishing of all," he says, "is human milk, then goat's milk: hence perhaps the legends say Jupiter was so nourished. The sweetest for humans is camel's milk, the most efficacious is from donkeys, the best for the stomach is goat's milk, since goats feed more on leaves than on grass."
...for which reason it is prescribed by physicians for those prone to consumption. Finally, some think Ammon is Cham (or Ham: for some pronounce the letter chet as ch, others as h), the impious son of Noah: just as Apollo of Dodona seems to have been named from Dodanim, grandson of Noah, Genesis 10:4. For Cham first inhabited Egypt and was its king; hence he was called the Egyptian Saturn, as Berosus teaches in books 4 and 5, and Diodorus in book 1. For this reason Egypt is called the land of Ham, Psalm 105:23, and elsewhere. Cham was succeeded by his son Mizraim, from whom Egypt was called in Hebrew Misraim, and is still called Mesra by the Turks and Arabs. See what was said on Genesis 10:6.
Your works — namely your idols and shrines, that is, the gods which you make for yourselves with your own hands. It is sarcasm, or hostile mockery.
7. And you shall know that I am the Lord — you shall know that I alone am God, Lord of all; and that the idols are the most vain of gods. Secondly, you shall know that I am YHWH (for so the Hebrew has it), that is, the One who is most constant in His words and deeds, that I will fulfill in deed the threats I have directed against you. Thirdly, you shall know Me to be a holy and just God, who hates sins, when you shall have felt their punishment.
Verse 9: Your freed ones
9. Your freed ones — those who shall have escaped death. Note: the sign of repentance here is to utterly destroy or banish one's idols, and the provocations and occasions of sins. For who truly repents if he keeps with him the enticement to sin, for example, a concubine? Our idol is ambition, lust, riches, pleasures, and whatever, having abandoned God, we worship, and whatever we love as our supreme good and imagine and depict in our mind. Rightly St. Chrysostom says: "Despise riches, and you will be rich; despise glory, and you will be glorious."
Where note: Just as the will's complacency is required and sufficient for sin, so the will's displeasure, if it is serious and flows from the love of pleasing God above all things, is required and sufficient for contrition. For this brings with it an efficacious purpose of amendment of life. For by the same causes by which something is produced, by the same it is also dissolved. So St. Chrysostom.
I crushed their fornicating heart. "I crushed," that is, I will crush, meaning: I will cause them to repent of their sin, afflicting them with long captivity. Note: Affliction and vehement sorrow is like a heavy weight, pressing and distressing the heart, and like a hammer, crushing and softening the stony heart, so that like wax it may receive the word of God; "and their eyes," so that from the contrition of the heart they may dissolve into tears.
Truly St. Augustine says: "Prayer soothes God, but a tear compels Him: the one anoints, the other stings." Weeping is the washing away of crimes and the refreshment of souls. All the water of the sea does not extinguish one ember of purgatory; yet tears extinguish all its flames. R. David translates passively, I was crushed; and Pagninus, I crushed myself; and Vatablus, I was broken, that is, afflicted with sorrow, because of their wanton heart
...they shall be afflicted; the Septuagint has, they shall strike their face, or they shall weep before their face. You could translate literally, they shall be weary of themselves, and disgusted with themselves, they shall be weary (and so our translator renders Job 10:1: "My soul is weary of my life") of their sins, they shall be offended at themselves, they shall be cut to the heart, that is, the evils they have done shall, like executioners, tear apart their hearts; hence it is clear against Luther that repentance is not mere recovery of one's senses, but detestation and sorrow for past deeds, self-displeasure, hatred of a past licentious life, etc.
And they shall be displeased with themselves. In Hebrew nokottu, which Vatablus translates as, with shame and sorrow
and their eyes, that is, because by their fornication they grieved Me. He calls idolatry fornication, as is customary: this is the mystical and spiritual fornication of the soul with idols. Some translate passively, because the Hebrew nisbarti is the niphal passive. But often the niphal is taken for the active qal. Thirdly, others translate nisbarta as "I bought." For so it is taken in Genesis 41:57, meaning: Their heart, which had given itself over to demons, and their eyes, which served vanities, I bought; I made their minds and eyes My own, though previously they belonged to the world, the flesh, and the devil. For sinners have neither heart, nor eyes, nor feet, nor anything else of their own, because they have enslaved all these things to pleasure and the devil. God therefore buys and redeems them for Himself. "All things are yours, and you are Christ's," says Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23.
Verse 10: Not in vain
10. Not in vain. That is, not uselessly, but so that by chastising them I might correct them and lead them to repentance.
Verse 11: Strike with your hand (so
11. Strike with your hand (so the Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Septuagint who translate: Clap your hand, and stamp with your foot, and the corrected Latin; not "your hand" as others read. Strike therefore with your hand; supply, your other hand, or your thigh, as you do in chapter 21, verse 12), stamp with your foot (that is, upon the ground. These are signs of one who is astonished, grieving, and indignant at so great evils impending over the Jews, say St. Jerome and Polychronius, namely) because of the abominations of the wicked (that is, of the sinners) of the house of Israel.
Alas. So the Hebrew ach is to be translated, as expressing grief. But the Septuagint and Theodotion take ach for heach; hence they translate it euge (well done!), meaning, says Theodoret: You, O Ezekiel! clap with your foot, or rather stamp, and admire the justice of the sentence: and, as the Scholiast says: Rejoice at the overthrow of the idols, and mock them, saying: Well done! — so that the clapping is not of one grieving, but of one praising and urging on the punishment. For so the Romans by applause showed favor, approval, and congratulation at comedies, as is clear from Plautus.
Mystically St. Jerome says: "We strike with our hand when we separate ourselves from evil works. We stamp our foot when we do not walk in the way of sinners. We beat our breast and weep when we are displeased with what is being done."
14. From the desert of Deblatha — supply, as far as Jerusalem, meaning: All of Judea shall be laid waste by the Chaldeans, from Deblatha to Jerusalem; "so that it may be clear to all that there is nothing between the wilderness and the great sea that the enemy sword has not consumed," says St. Jerome. Moreover, Deblatha appears to be the same place called Riblah by Jeremiah, and in 2 Kings 25:6. For the letters daleth and resh are very similar in form, so that the slip from one to the other is easy. Hence for Benadad the Septuagint translates Benadar, Amos 1:4. So Zephaniah 3:9, for "then I will restore to the peoples a pure lip" berura, that is, chosen; the Septuagint reads bedora, that is, in its generation. So for Gershom, Numbers 3:17, 22, and elsewhere, they read Gedsam. So for Ashdod, Ashdor is read; for Dodanim, Rodanim; and the Jews for Duma read Roma, but deceitfully.
Moreover, Riblah is Epiphania of Syria, where, as Jeremiah attests in chapter 39, verse 5, Nebuchadnezzar took up residence, waiting for the end of the Jewish war; whence Zedekiah was led to him there, and blinded: and for this reason he names Deblatha here above other places. So St. Jerome, Vatablus, and the Hebrews. Adrichomius, however, distinguishes Deblatha from Riblah, and places Deblatha at the boundary of the tribe of Reuben. So he says in his Description of the Holy Land.
Tropologically St. Jerome says: "Deblatha," he says, "means a lump, that is, a lump of figs, so that, after they have found bitterness in the simulated sweetness which was not of cultivated land but of the wilderness, then they may recognize that He is the Lord. For honey drips from the lips of the harlot, which for a time fattens the throats of those who eat, but afterward is found more bitter than gall. This is also signified by the two baskets of figs, Jeremiah chapter 24.