Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Ezekiel, being in Babylon, sees God in that appearance of a man in which he had seen Him in chapter 1, verse 27, and by Him and by His hand is caught up in spirit to Jerusalem, and there sees the fourfold idolatry and abominations that were being committed in the temple: namely, in verse 5, he sees the idol of jealousy, that is, Baal; in verse 10, he sees painted idols in the chambers, and priests offering incense to them; in verse 14, he sees women weeping for Adonis; in verse 16, he sees priests turning their backs on the Holy of Holies, worshipping the rising sun. Wherefore in verse 18, God threatens them with His fury and vengeance. Hence it is clear that the Jews, with destruction at hand, were still worshipping idols, and indeed in the very temple of God.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 8:1-18
1. And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month: I was sitting in my house, and the elders of Judah were sitting before me, and the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. 2. And I saw, and behold a likeness as the appearance of fire: from the appearance of His loins downward, fire; and from His loins upward, as the appearance of brightness, like the vision of amber. 3. And a likeness of a hand sent forth took hold of me by a lock of my head: and the spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven: and brought me to Jerusalem in a vision of God, near the inner gate that faced northward, where the idol of jealousy was set up to provoke emulation. 4. And behold there the glory of the God of Israel, according to the vision that I had seen in the plain. 5. And He said to me: Son of man, lift up your eyes toward the north. And I lifted up my eyes toward the north; and behold, to the north of the gate of the altar, the idol of jealousy at the very entrance. 6. And He said to me: Son of man, do you think you see what these people are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel commits here, that I should withdraw far from my sanctuary? And yet turning again you shall see greater abominations. 7. And He brought me to the door of the court; and I saw, and behold one hole in the wall. 8. And He said to me: Son of man, dig through the wall. And when I had dug through the wall, there appeared one door. 9. And He said to me: Go in, and see the most wicked abominations which these people commit here. 10. And I went in and saw, and behold every likeness of creeping things and animals, abomination, and all the idols of the house of Israel were painted
on the wall all around. 11. And seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and Jezonias the son of Saphan stood in their midst, standing before the pictures: and each one had a censer in his hand: and a cloud of smoke rose up from the incense. 12. And He said to me: Surely you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, each one in the secret of his chamber; for they say: The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land. 13. And He said to me: Turning again you shall see greater abominations, which these people commit. 14. And He brought me through the door of the gate of the house of the Lord, which faced northward: and behold, there women sat weeping for Adonis. 15. And He said to me: Surely you have seen, son of man: turning again you shall see abominations greater than these. 16. And He brought me into the inner court of the house of the Lord: and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the vestibule and the altar, about twenty-five men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east: and they worshipped toward the rising sun. 17. And He said to me: Surely you have seen, son of man: is it a light thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here: because filling the land with iniquity they have turned to provoke Me? and behold, they put a branch to their nose. 18. Therefore I also will act in fury: My eye shall not spare, nor will I have mercy: and when they shall cry out to My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.
1. In the sixth year (from the exile of Joachin, as is clear from chapter 1, verse 2), in the sixth month — Elul, which corresponds to our August. Note: Ezekiel had this vision after the 430 days of lying down and fasting, as I said at chapter 4, toward the end; for in these days, namely throughout an entire year and two months, that is, from the 13th day of the 4th month of year 5 to the 5th day of the 6th month of year 6, the Prophet was silent, and being silent was instructed by God. Now therefore he is brought forth from the school, as it were, of God, so that what he learned from God he might teach others; yet first, in spirit, says St. Jerome, he is caught up to Jerusalem, to see the abominations which were being committed in the temple, and which were the cause of the destruction of the Jews.
THE HAND OF THE LORD FELL (like effective and penetrating lightning) UPON ME — that is, the power, operation, illumination of the Lord; that is, as the Chaldean puts it, the spirit of prophecy, and especially the vision of the glory of the Lord in the chariot of the Cherubim.
Verse 2: A Likeness
2. A LIKENESS. The Septuagint renders "a likeness of a man." The Prophet saw here, as also in chapter 1, verse 27, a man from the loins downward fiery and burning as in a furnace of fire; but from the loins upward shining like gold, namely like amber, that is, orichalcum. This golden color signifies the immense love of God; the furnace of fire signifies His zeal and indignation, because His bride, that is, the people of Israel, preferred Baal to Him. Hence this idol of theirs is called the idol of "jealousy," because it provoked God to emulation. Prado has beautiful antitheses here of love and emulation — consult him if you wish.
AS THE APPEARANCE OF BRIGHTNESS. Theodotion translates the Hebrew word zohar, that is, brightness, as "a breeze"; "so as to demonstrate the refreshments of God in the heights above. Thus in 3 Kings 19: Elijah contemplated the coming of the Lord not in a storm and whirlwind, not in the fires, but in the sight of a gentle and most light breeze, so as to confirm the gentleness of almighty God," says St. Jerome.
Verse 3: And a Likeness of a Hand Was Sent Forth
3. AND A LIKENESS OF A HAND WAS SENT FORTH. In Hebrew: "and he sent forth or extended" — namely that appearance of a man, that is, the amber-colored man appearing to me in spirit, a likeness of a hand, which seized me by the hair and transported me to Jerusalem. So the Septuagint, Vatablus, and others.
BY A LOCK. The Septuagint translated it as "fringes" (kraspedon) — "i.e. of which one is usually taken as a fringe in the hair, the other in garments," says St. Jerome.
AND THE SPIRIT LIFTED ME UP BETWEEN EARTH AND HEAVEN — I seemed to myself to be like a bird cutting through the air, and to be carried through it by the spirit of the hand and the man appearing to me.
Morally, such is the holy person, especially the religious and contemplative. For, as St. Gregory says, Book 31 of the Moralia, chapter 7: "Every holy person placed in mortal flesh is situated between heaven and earth; because he has not yet fully arrived at the heights above, but has already left behind the depths below." For, as the Apostle says, Philippians 3: "Our citizenship is in heaven." As if to say: We indeed live our life on earth through the flesh, but through desire and affection we dwell in heaven. Moreover, for this purpose he is seized by a lock of hair. "What is the lock of hair of the head," says St. Gregory in the same place, "but the gathered thoughts of the mind, so that they do not flow away scattered, but stand firm, bound by discipline? The hand is therefore sent from above, and the Prophet is lifted by the lock of his head; because, when our mind gathers itself through watchfulness, a power from above draws us upward from the lowest things."
(1) "And the elders of Judah sat before me." The Prophet sat in his house, fleeing the crowds, and the elders of Judah sat before him, either desiring to hear the Prophet's words, or plotting against his discourses. They are significantly called elders of Judah, so that we might understand this as referring not to Israel, that is, to the ten tribes which had been captured earlier, but to those who had been led into captivity from the tribe of Judah with Jeconiah. (St. Jerome.)
IN A VISION. Hence, also from verse 1, it is clear that Ezekiel saw not bodily, but in spirit, since he was sitting at home among the elders of Judah in verse 1.
NEAR THE INNER GATE. In Hebrew: "at the door of the inner gate" — supply, of the court of the temple; for the court was called inner, not the gate, 3 Kings 6:36. Now the inner court was the court of the priests, in which was the altar of burnt offerings. It is called "inner" in relation to the outer court, which was like the temple of the laity. "Which" — namely the gate, not the court — "faced northward." For in the court, there were gates toward the four quarters of the world.
THE IDOL OF JEALOUSY TO PROVOKE EMULATION. The Syriac renders "the statue of jealousy (emulation, indignation)"; the Arabic of Antioch, "the statue raging with zealous indignation," in the hiphil meaning, i.e., causing indignation, provoking God, angels, and men to indignation. It can be translated from the Hebrew: "The idol of the possessing jealousy," or "of the possessor." So the Septuagint; that is, Baal. For Baal in Hebrew means "possessor, master, lord": hence they called the idol Baal, as if the god who is lord and possessor of all things. Our translator, instead of "possessing," renders "provoking" (so the Chaldean and Vatablus) or "to provoke emulation" (because the Hebrew word kana with aleph means "to be jealous"; with he, kanah means "to possess": although here it is written with he, nonetheless our translator took he for aleph, because the Hebrews frequently interchange aleph and he). As if to say: The idol of jealousy, making Me jealous. Others translate "the idol of burning" or "of irritation." Hence God is called jealous: because He does not suffer other gods to be loved, worshipped, or adored in His place — just as a wife stirs up jealousy in her husband if she loves another. Hence the proverb: "He who is not jealous does not love," which St. Augustine cites in his book Against Adimantus, chapter 13. So Polychronius, St. Jerome, and Theodoret. Hence Isaiah, chapter 28, verse 20, says: "The bed is too narrow for one to fall off, and a short covering cannot cover both"; and the Apostle, 2 Corinthians 6:16: "What agreement has Christ with Belial?"
Note that Manasseh had placed an idol of Baal in the temple: Josiah removed it, 2 Chronicles 34:4, but it was restored under Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, as is clear from 4 Kings 23:37 and 2 Chronicles 36:14. Moreover, this idol was placed in the northern part of the temple: first, because on that sloping side the temple was more easily approached; second, because in that area the victims and burnt offerings were offered. So Prado.
Morally, the "idol of jealousy" is, in the covetous man, money and greed, which is the service of idols, as the Apostle says; in the ambitious man, honor and high position; in the drunkard, wine; in the unchaste man, a mistress; in the heretic, his own private judgment and heresy, says St. Jerome. For these are idols, that is, vain and shadowy things, which each person fashions for himself as the highest good, and consequently as a god, and imagines in his mind, by which he provokes God to jealousy and wrath, and brings upon himself His indignation and punishments both present and eternal. So in this very year 1618, we see the Bohemians, while departing from the one faith of the one God and the Church, and consequently from their one prince and king, and rebelling against him in order to protect their Wycliffite and Hussite idols, have exposed their reputation, wealth, and life to plunder, and have entangled themselves in inextricable difficulties. Similarly, we see the Calvinists in Holland, while departing from the unity of the faith and their prince, in this same year falling into irreconcilable sects and schisms, which will never be settled except by the destruction of one party or the other: indeed God admonishes them in reality to return to their former unity, to God, I say, and to the Church, if they wish to attain peace, and present and eternal salvation.
The poet elegantly says:
To the glutton his belly is god, and to the miser his coin, And Venus to him whose chief delights are Venus's joys. To another, honor is god, and fame stands in place of the divine, Whom the insatiable hunger for fame relentlessly goads. To him for whom Christ grows cheap through excessive love of study, Does not that study take the place of God?
So for Alexander the Great, glory was his idol: he served it, he made himself its slave. To whom therefore the Brahmins justly wrote with philosophical liberty: "You despoil external enemies in order to nourish internal ones; you subject other men to your service, and inwardly you serve your own appetites." So Curtius and Plutarch in their works on Alexander.
Furthermore, God is jealous for His divinity, and does not suffer a rival; because, if there were many gods, divinity, which is one and indivisible, would have to be divided among many, and thus divinity would be mutilated, and consequently removed from the world.
(1) The Prophet was not carried inside the court to this gate, says Lightfoot, Description of the Temple, in Works vol. 1, p. 620, but was placed outside, and there commanded to look northward. This gate was the lower northern one, also called (verse 5) the gate of the altar, because it was situated opposite it; but the upper northern gate, chapter 9:2, below verse 14, is called the gate of the house of the Lord, because it was opposite the temple building itself.
(2) By that name, says the same Lightfoot, you may rightly think that the creator of all things was first designated; since we very frequently read that, with other words of nearly the same meaning, both among the Hebrews, Arabs, and Greeks, what is held as the proper name of God Most High was purposely explained from antiquity. For the Tetragrammaton name YHWH is rendered by the Septuagint as Adonai or Kyrios, that is, Lord; and how the name Baal could apply to the true God is sufficiently shown by Hosea 2:18: "Then you shall call Me 'my husband' (ischi), and no longer shall you call Me 'my lord' (baali)."
which is one and indivisible, would have to be divided among many, and thus divinity would be mutilated, and consequently removed from the world. Prudentius learnedly says in Book 2 Against Symmachus:
You, passing over Me, devise a thousand deities, To diminish Me part by part, from whom no part Nor form can be cut away, since I am a simple substance.
Hence Pythagoras judged the monad of first principles to be God, who is also the good, which is of one nature, and mind itself. Socrates and Plato held that the one, only-begotten, born of His own accord, singular, true, and genuine good, namely God, exists.
Lactantius, Book 1, chapter 3: "God," he says, "because He is perfect, cannot be other than one, so that all things may be in Him. For whatever admits of division must also admit of destruction." Aristotle, Book 8 of the Physics, teaches that all motion must be referred to some first mover, lest there be a progression to infinity: therefore this first principle is one, namely God. See what was said on Deuteronomy 6:4.
Wherefore God justly complains, Deuteronomy 32:21: "They have provoked Me to jealousy by that which is not God; and I will provoke them to jealousy by a nation that is not a nation," as St. Jerome reads it.
And for this reason, burning with love as well as with the knowledge of God, and putting on this zeal of God, St. Augustine used to say: "Lord, my soul greatly rejoices when it considers that You are God. Truly, if it were possible per impossibile that Augustine were God and You were Augustine, I would entirely wish to be Augustine, so that You would be God." This saying is attributed to St. Augustine by our Father Ribadeneira in his Life of St. Augustine, by Father Rossignoli, Book 5 On Christian Perfection, chapter 20, and by many others whom the Reverend Father Cornelius Lancillotus, Doctor of Sacred Theology and Provincial of the Order of Hermits of St. Augustine for Belgium, cites and praises in his Life of St. Augustine, Book 3, chapter 42 — although I have not yet found it in the books of St. Augustine. For this saying to be sound, it must rightly be understood not as a change of person into person, or of substance into substance: for if it were taken that way, it would seem to sound absurd. For if God were changed into the substance of Augustine, He would entirely cease to be God, and would begin to be another person and substance, namely that of Augustine. Conversely, if Augustine were changed into the substance of God, he would cease to be Augustine and would begin to be God; and consequently he himself would have to be loved above all things by himself and by everyone else, and his Being and preservation would have to be preferred to the being of any other thing, as being created and finite. Therefore this saying must be understood as a change of state into state, or of conditions, endowments, and qualities, while the nature and person of each is preserved. As if to say: If it were possible per impossibile that Augustine, remaining in the substance and person of Augustine, could nevertheless attain the endowments and excellences of God, e.g., wisdom, power, glory
and the honor of God, so that He would be regarded by all as God: conversely, if vice versa it were possible per impossibile that God, remaining in His own nature, should descend to the state, abjection, and weaknesses of Augustine, if He were to put on the form and appearance of Augustine, so as to be regarded by all as Augustine — I would say: Lord, be You God as You have been until now, omnipotent, omniscient, glorious; and let me be Augustine, miserable, abject, without glory, ignorant, weak, as I was before. For to Your nature, that is, to Your divinity, these endowments and excellences are owed; but to my nature is owed this subjection, weakness, and misery. To You therefore, as to my God, I wish and ascribe every good of Yours, nor do I desire it for myself, but for You: for You are my God, my love, my good and the good of the whole world, and all things.
Verse 4: In the Plain
4. IN THE PLAIN. As if to say: The vision shown to me was similar to the one I saw when the Lord led me out from the Chebar to the plain, chapter 3:22. The Prophet saw here the glory of God in the temple, as though about to depart and preparing to migrate, since the temple was polluted by so many idols and crimes committed in it, as will be clear in chapters 10 and 11.
Verse 5: The Gate of the Altar
5. THE GATE OF THE ALTAR. So called from the altar of the idol, or rather, because in 4 Kings 16:14, Ahaz moved the altar of Solomon from the middle of the court to the northern gate, which was thenceforth called the gate of the altar. So Prado.
Verse 6: Do You Think You See What These People Are Doing?
6. DO YOU THINK YOU SEE WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE DOING? In Hebrew: "Do you see?" As if to say: Do you think you see all the abominations of Israel? If you think so, you are mistaken. For I shall shortly show you more and greater ones.
SO THAT (that is, "with the result that": for it signifies not cause but consequence) I SHOULD WITHDRAW FAR (in Hebrew, "to withdraw": which the Septuagint refers to the people; for they translate, "that they themselves should withdraw," namely the Jews) FROM MY SANCTUARY — namely from the sacrifices and worship, to the worship of their idols. Better is St. Jerome's interpretation, which refers it to God: As if to say: They drive Me from the temple by their crimes, and compel Me to withdraw, having introduced Baal. So also the Chaldean and the Hebrews.
Verse 7: The Door
7. THE DOOR — not of the temple, but of the treasury or chamber of the priests, as is clear from verse 12. For there were many such chambers in the court of the priests near the Holy Place or temple, in which the priests resided: these are called now exedrae, now treasuries, now pastophoria. Hence it is clear that this sin of idolatry belonged to the priests, who ought to have been teaching the people the law and worship of God, but who themselves now worshipped idols instead of God.
Grave therefore was this sin of theirs, which stirred up the jealousy and indignation of God to the destruction of the entire nation. Grave, I say, first, because it was against religion and directly against God, and as it were aimed at the throat of God. Second, because it was the profanation of a most holy place, namely the house of God. It was therefore a crime of injured divine majesty. Wherefore Isaiah, chapter 26:10, says: "In the land of the saints he has acted wickedly; and" — that is, therefore — "he shall not see the glory of the Lord."
Third, because the sins of the priests infect the entire people: just as if the heart or brain is seized by poison or plague, the disease soon spreads from them through the whole body. Wherefore St. Chrysostom, Homily 28 on Matthew, seeking the reason why Christ, upon entering Jerusalem, first went to the temple, gives this answer: Just as a physician, he says, visiting a sick person, first inquires about the stomach, and hastens to restore it — because when it is healed, the whole body will be healed — so if the priesthood is sound, the whole Church flourishes; but if it is corrupt, the faith of all grows weak and withers. And he adds: A farmer seeing a tree with yellowing leaves soon recognizes that the damage lies in the roots. So if you see a people lacking discipline, you may know without doubt that their priesthood is not sound. For who would not think it lawful for himself — indeed, good and pious — what he sees is permitted and freely practiced by priests? Thus under the adulterous Jupiter, adulteries gained their license, says Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 4 Against Julian, and as St. Cyprian says, Epistle 32: "They imitate their gods; and so for the wretched, their crimes become religious duties."
Verse 8: Dig Through the Wall
8. DIG THROUGH THE WALL. Hence it is clear that this door was of a chamber, not of the court. Mystically, St. Gregory beautifully teaches from this passage, Part 2 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 10, how prelates ought to search the consciences of their subjects, and diligently investigate, correct, and amend their sins, even secret ones.
Verse 10: The Idols of the House of Israel Painted
10. THE IDOLS OF THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL PAINTED. Maldonatus thinks that the idols were not actually painted, but were presented as if painted to Ezekiel's imagination, so that by this it might be symbolically signified that the Jews outwardly worshipped God, but in their chambers, that is, inwardly and in secret, they worshipped idols. But it is more true that the idols which were actually painted in the temple are here literally represented to the Prophet; and this is clear from what was said at chapter 5:11, and Jeremiah chapter 7:30 and chapter 32:34.
Verse 11: And Seventy Men of the Elders
11. AND SEVENTY MEN OF THE ELDERS. These seventy seem to have been senators of the Sanhedrin council: for this consisted of seventy men, and this was the supreme senate of the Jews, which condemned Christ to death, as I taught on Numbers 11:16.
JEZONIAS THE SON OF SAPHAN. Polychronius thinks he was the priest Zephaniah, who was appointed as a kind of judge over Jeremiah, chapter 29:25.
STANDING BEFORE THE PICTURES. The Jews therefore prayed standing, just as the Pharisee also "standing, prayed thus within himself," Luke 18:11.
Verse 12: In the Secret of His Chamber
12. IN THE SECRET OF HIS CHAMBER. In Hebrew: "in the inner rooms of his painting," that is, in their chambers splendidly painted and full of idol pictures. So tropologically the sinner paints in his mind the image of a harlot, of Bacchus, etc., while the saint paints the image of God, of angels, and of virtues. See St. Gregory, Part 2 of the Pastoral Rule, chapter 10. What Ezekiel said to the people of his own age, we with St. Cyprian, Book 2, Epistle 2, can say the same and more and worse things to the people of our own age: "Imagine for a little while," says Cyprian, "that you are taken up to the summit of a high mountain; from there survey the appearances of things lying below you, and with your eyes cast in every direction, yourself free from earthly contacts, behold the storms of the tumultuous world. Then you too will pity the age, and reminded of yourself and more grateful to God, you will rejoice with greater joy that you have escaped. Behold the roads closed by robbers, the seas beset by pirates, wars divided everywhere with the bloody horror of camps; the world is wet with mutual blood." And further: "Oh, if you could also, placed on that lofty watchtower, peer into secrets, unlock the closed doors of chambers, and open the hidden inner rooms to the light of conscience: you would see things done by the unchaste which a modest countenance cannot even look upon; you would see what is criminal even to behold; you would see what those maddened by the fury of vices deny having done, yet hasten to do: with insane lusts men rush upon men. Things are done which cannot please even those who do them. The same persons are accusers in public, the accused in secret — censors and offenders at the same time. They condemn abroad what they practice within: and the more secret the guilt, the greater the audacity," etc.
THE LORD DOES NOT SEE. The impious and atheists think that God, in darkness and hidden places, much less in the heart and soul, does not see their crimes, because they think they are not observed by God, says Theodoret. Hence they rush into the abyss of crimes.
Verse 13: Turning Again You Shall See
13. TURNING AGAIN YOU SHALL SEE — that is, you shall see again. The Hebrew verb schab, meaning "to return, to turn," when joined to another verb, signifies "again, once more." The same usage appears in verses 15, 17, and elsewhere.
Verse 14: He Brought Me Through the Door of the Gate
14. HE BROUGHT ME THROUGH THE DOOR OF THE GATE (as if to say: He led me to the gate of the outer court, for there the women and laity were, not in the inner court), WHICH FACED NORTHWARD.
WEEPING FOR ADONIS. The Syriac renders "weeping for Tomuzo"; the Arabic of Alexandria, "weeping for Tamuza"; the Hebrews retain the word Tammuz, that is, Adonis, about whom more shortly. The Arabic of Antioch wrongly translates: "weeping for Judah." There is an ancient fable of Egypt, about which Macrobius writes in Book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 26, Theocritus in Idyll 23, Ovid in Metamorphoses 10, Fulgentius in Mythologies 3 — that Adonis, son of Cinyras, king of Cyprus, the lover of Venus, while he was a handsome youth, was killed by the tusk of a boar, whom Venus mourned as dead, and shortly afterward received back alive with joy.
(1) That in this verse and the two that immediately follow, the Egyptian worship of animals is described, Warburton shows in the work in which he demonstrated the divine mission of Moses, vol. 4, p. 18; cf. P. E. Jablonski, Pantheon of the Egyptians, vol. 3, Prolegomena, p. 84 ff.
"Adonis is depicted," says Macrobius, "with head covered, with a sad expression, his face supported by his left hand within his garment; tears are believed to flow at the sight of those who gaze upon him." Therefore women and lustful men worshipped Venus through this mourning, and made her favorable to themselves. So St. Jerome. Moreover, Venus buried Adonis among the leaves of lettuce, about which there is an epigram of a learned man found in Giraldus, Syntagma 13:
Cypris laid Adonis, pierced by the fierce boar's tusk, Lifeless among the lettuce leaves to rest. Hence lettuce resists the generative field as much As wanton rocket can scarcely stimulate.
For lettuce weakens lust by its coldness. Wherefore Hercules, as Hesychius attests, when he first saw Adonis, said "nothing sacred" (ouden lepton).
The truth of this fable Macrobius and others explain thus: Adonis is the sun, say the Egyptians; the sluggish and muddy boar is winter; Venus is the beauty of the earth in spring, which mourns the absence of the sun through winter. For when the sun is concealed by clouds, the beautiful Adonis seems, as it were, to be slain by the boar; the soul rejoices when the sun returns in spring. Hence Adonis was so named from the Greek phrase meaning "from his delighting mankind," says Phornutus in Giraldus, Syntagma 13 On the Gods of the Gentiles.
Explaining this symbolically and tropologically, St. Jerome says: "Let us too call those who grieve or rejoice at the beloved things or goods of this world 'women,' as having a soft and effeminate spirit, and let us say they weep for Tammuz, that is, for those things which are thought to be the most beautiful in worldly affairs." Hence "the gardens of Adonis" proverbially signify things that bloom and delight for a little while, but soon perish and vanish. On the other hand, some others quite fittingly apply these things mystically to Christ dying and rising again; for Christ is our Adonis, our sun, our joy, our love. Hence the Blessed Virgin, Mary Magdalene, Salome, and other pious women mourned His death with wonderful grief, and the whole Church mourns it annually on Good Friday; indeed daily in the Mass, and at noon with the mournful toll of bells. And every pious and holy soul throughout all of life continually contemplates this her Adonis, as it were her Spouse, on the cross, mourns and marvels; and embraces Him rising again with new exultation and joy.
In Hebrew, Chaldean, and Syriac it is called Tammuz, that is, June, because in June Adonis is said to have been killed. Hence in that same month they celebrated an annual solemnity for him, in which he was mourned as though dead, and shortly afterward was sung and praised as though returning to life. So St. Jerome. Rabbis Solomon and David add that Tammuz was a hollow idol, whose eyes they filled with lead, which, when fire was kindled inside, would melt, and the image appeared to weep. But it was not the image that wept, but those who worshipped it — they wept and lamented, as is stated. Our Prado thinks that Adonis was Osiris, king and god of Egypt.
So also Stephanus, in his book On Cities. And they add: Adonisides means "the form of grief," that is, the appearance of sorrow, mourning, and lamentation. By that name Syrophanes, in Fulgentius's Mythologies, called the idol of his dead son, whose death he mourned. Prado believes this idol to have been the very first in the world, and to be the same one that the Wise Man describes in chapter 14:12, which will need to be examined there. But I would rather believe that the Egyptians received the name Adonis from the Hebrew Adonai, as they did other things, rather than from the Greeks, since the latter drew their wisdom and sacred rites from the Egyptians. For in Hebrew, Adonai oni means the same as "Lord" or "God of sorrow," which is what Adonis was. So Benjamin was called Ben-oni, that is, "son of sorrow."
Finally, Rabbi Moses, the son of Maimon, in his book More [Guide for the Perplexed], relates a story about a false prophet and idolater named Tammuz, who, having persuaded a certain king to make seven stars and twelve signs, was killed by him. On account of his death all the idols of the world assembled in the temple of Babel, around the golden image of the sun, which was suspended between heaven and earth: this then fell in the midst of the temple. All the idols standing in a circle wept throughout the night, and at the next dawn flew away to their own temples. Hence the custom arose that on the anniversary of his death, women would weep for him. But this is a fable fabricated in the usual manner by some Rabbi.
Verse 16: Into the Inner Court of the House of the Lord
16. INTO THE INNER COURT OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD — into the court of the priests.
AND THE ALTAR — of burnt offerings, which was before the temple or Holy Place, in the open air in the court of the priests.
WITH THEIR BACKS TOWARD THE TEMPLE OF THE LORD — that is, turned away, they gave their backs to the ark of the Lord and to the Lord Himself, and facing east they worshipped the sun in the manner of the Gentiles. For the Gentiles worshipped the rising sun, as Hermes Trismegistus attests at the end of the Asclepius, and St. Job, chapter 31:26, says: "If I saw (so as to worship in the manner of other Gentiles) the sun when it shone, and the moon advancing in brightness, and kissed my hand with my mouth." For this kiss was the rite of greeting and worshipping, as Lipsius teaches from St. Jerome, Pliny, Apuleius, and others, Book 2 of the Electa, chapter 6. Indeed Virgil too, in Aeneid 12, teaches that the ancients sacrificed to the rising sun; for he says:
Turning their eyes to the rising sun, They offer salted grain with their hands, and mark The foreheads of cattle with iron, and pour libations on the altars from bowls.
For the sun was called by the ancients the eye of the world. I pass over the fantasy of Xenophanes, who thought the sun perished at sunset and a new sun was created at sunrise. Hence arose those morning salutations to the gods, by which they were said to announce the first hour of the day to their gods, as if awakening the sleeping gods at first light, as Arnobius teaches in Book 7 Against the Gentiles, and Seneca in Epistle 95. So Plato relates that Socrates used to greet the rising sun. Thus Q. Catulus:
I had stopped to greet the rising sun by chance, When suddenly from the left Roscius appears. Forgive me, heavenly ones, but I must say: The mortal seemed more beautiful than a god.
This custom of worshipping the sun as a god the Hebrews seem to have received from the neighboring Egyptians, among whom they dwelt for a long time under the days of Moses, and absorbed their religion and customs. For the Egyptians worshipped the sun, to such an extent that they dedicated a city to its worship and named it Heliopolis after it, that is, "city of the sun." Indeed, Macrobius teaches that Osiris, their chief deity, was nothing other than the sun, Book 1 of the Saturnalia, chapter 21, when he says: "Whenever the Egyptians wish to express in their hieroglyphic letters that Osiris is the sun, they engrave a scepter, and on it carve the likeness of an eye, and by this sign they represent Osiris, because antiquity called the sun the eye of Jupiter." The same author in chapter 17 teaches that all gods refer to the sun. Thus the Persians worshipped the sun under the name of Mithra, the Greeks under the name of Apollo. Hence the proverb in Athenaeus, Book 3: "Jupiter who is young reigns"; and: "More people worship the rising sun than the setting sun" — which Pompey, flourishing in his youth, said to old Cinna; and later Caesar said the same to Pompey.
To avoid this idolatry, God had commanded the Holy of Holies to be erected facing west. Wherefore the Jews, turning toward the Holy of Holies, prayed facing west. By this, tropologically, says Theodoret, it was signified that those who wish to dedicate themselves to God must turn their backs to the east, that is, to the worldly pomp and appearances rising up in this world, just as the ambitious are said to worship the rising sun when they flatter new princes or prelates. For the servant of God must trample on these hopes, and therefore turn his back to the east and his face to the west, as though the world with all its hope and vanity sets there. Moreover the temple, as Josephus attests, Book 8 of the Antiquities, had its door facing east, so that the sun rising from there, immediately directing its rays through the doors of the temple and the sanctuary, would illuminate the ark and the mercy-seat, and as it were be the first to adore God sitting above the Cherubim there; so that the Jews might learn from the sun to adore God in the temple, not the sun.
Now when this idolatry disappeared, Christians worshipped and worship God facing east — partly because paradise was in the east, which is the reason given by St. Chrysostom, Theodoret, and Damascene, as I said on Genesis 2:8; partly because with the rising sun we receive the first benefits of God, as though the day dawns for us at the same time; partly because Christ was crucified with His face turned from Jerusalem and the temple and directed toward the west, that is, toward the Gentiles. Therefore, turning to the east, we look upon and adore the face of Christ crucified. So Damascene, Book 4 On the Faith, chapter 13, and others.
And finally, because Christ ascended above the heavens of heavens toward the east, and as though still bearing the desires of one ascending, we direct our attention there where heaven rises, says St. Augustine, volume 4, Book 2 On the Sermon on the Mount, chapter 9.
St. Thomas adds two other reasons, II-II, Question 84, article 2, reply 3: namely, first, "because of the indication of divine majesty, which is manifested to us in the motion of the heavens, which is from the east"; second, "because of Christ who is the light of the world and is called the Orient, Zechariah 6. And He ascended above the heaven of heavens toward the east: and from the east He is also expected to come, according to Matthew 24: 'As lightning comes from the east and appears even to the west, so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.'" So far St. Thomas. For just as Christ ascended to heaven on the Mount of Olives, which is to the east of Jerusalem, so He will descend there to conduct the judgment in the Valley of Josaphat, which lies adjacent to the Mount of Olives.
Note: The Prophet here counts four kinds of idolatry. First, Baal at the entrance to the first court; second, the paintings in the court; third, that of Adonis; fourth, that of the sun near the altar, which they worshipped with their faces turned away from the altar of God.
Tropologically, the first idolatry and abomination is the thought of sin; the second, its commission; the third, the habit; the fourth, its defense with contempt of God and obstinacy. This last is unforgivable impenitence; the other three can be forgiven to the penitent.
Verse 17: Iniquity
17. INIQUITY. In Hebrew chamas, that is, violence, injury, oppression of the poor and of neighbors. As if to say: This crime is not enough for them; but moreover they are violent against Me and provoke Me with their idolatry.
THEY PUT A BRANCH TO THEIR NOSE. The Hebrew word zemora, which some Hebrews, such as Rabbi Solomon and Rabbi David, translate as "stench." As if to say: They send a stench (that is, a breaking of wind) in My face. Hence the Septuagint translates: "And behold, they scoff." As if to say: They adore idols while mocking Me. The Syriac translates: "And they do violence with their noses," that is,
as the Scholiast says, they snort, and through their noses, for the purpose of displaying their indignation, they emit breath as it were with a certain noise. The Arabic of Alexandria: "And when mention is made of Me to them, they raise their noses, and scoff, and abhor the mention of Me." For the Hebrew word zemora signifies both a branch and a sound or song; hence mizmer, that is, a psalm. Hence Symmachus also translates: "Who emit a sound in the likeness of a song through their noses" — namely a foul and hoarse sound in contempt of God.
The Chaldean translates: "They bring confusion upon their faces," that is, they do things for which they will one day be ashamed and confounded. But that the Jews did this not out of mockery but out of worship is clear from the circumstances. Again, zemora properly means a branch, namely of laurel, which was sacred to the sun, says Giraldus, Syntagma 16, and Pliny, Book 12, chapter 1. For just as the Gentiles sacrificed to Jupiter crowned with oak, to Minerva with olive, to Venus with myrtle, to Hercules with poplar, to Bacchus with ivy (2 Maccabees 6:7) or vine leaves, to Pan with pine, to Silvanus and Diana with cypress, to Isis with southernwood — so to Apollo, that is, the sun, they sacrificed with temples wreathed in laurel. At Athens there was a festive day of branches, on which in honor of Bacchus they carried tender branches, especially of the vine, as calves and victims, so to speak. Hence those who carried them were called branch-bearers, and the festival was called the Oschophoria. Moreover, Josephus, Book 3, chapter 10, teaches that the Jews customarily sacrificed in thanksgiving carrying in their hands branches of myrtle and palm, from which Persian apples hung, to signify that the heart and tongue must be dedicated to God. For the peach has leaves pointed like a tongue, and fruit shaped like a heart. Hence also the Hebrews, bringing Christ into Jerusalem as their Messiah King on Palm Sunday, bore palm and olive branches before Him.
Porphyry gives the reason, and from him Nicolaus Caussin, Electa Symbola, page 212: "The ancients," he says, "offered neither incense nor any other victim, but leaves — they burned for the gods the leaves plucked by hand, like the first down of budding nature; by which sign they acknowledged God the Creator, from whom herbs and crops, and all things born from the earth, were produced and grew." Moreover they crowned not only themselves but also the victims and altars, and even the bystanders. For the sun is the king of the stars, as the laurel is of trees; hence the laurel was for the ancients a symbol and omen of kingship. So Suetonius in his Life of Galba narrates that when Livia, immediately after her marriage to Augustus, was revisiting her estate at Veii, an eagle flying over dropped into her lap a white hen holding a laurel branch in its beak. When it was decided to raise the bird and plant the branch, such an abundant brood of chicks resulted that to this day the villa is called "At the Hens"; and such a laurel grove grew that the Caesars about to triumph would pluck their laurel wreaths from it. And it was the custom for triumphant generals to immediately plant another in the same place. And it was observed that at the death of each, the tree he had planted withered. So in Nero's last year, the entire grove dried up from the roots, and whatever hens were there perished.
Moreover, laurel was believed, like the sun, to drive away poisons. Hence Pliny, Book 15, chapter 30, teaches that laurel was customarily used in purifications. Furthermore, the laurel alone among trees is not struck by lightning. Wherefore Tiberius, as Suetonius attests, always wore a laurel crown on his head during thunderstorms. Finally, the Roman kings used to send laurel to Delphic Apollo as a proper gift, as Pliny attests in the passage already cited.
It seems therefore that the Jews, turning toward the rising sun and worshipping it, held branches in their hands — not of palms, as St. Jerome says, but of laurel — and because they were fragrant, held them to their noses, as though giving thanks to Apollo, the creator of the laurel and author of its sweet fragrance, and by kissing them worshipped Apollo; just as they worshipped the sun by kissing their hands, Job 31:26. For since they could not kiss or touch the sun, they kissed their hand and the branch in its place, and thus adored and venerated it. Hence Virgil, Eclogue 7: "Laurel (most pleasing) to Phoebus."
And Horace, Book 4 of the Odes, Ode 2: "To be honored with Apollo's laurel." And by Ovid: "Laurel is Apollo's and Phoebus's," and conversely "Phoebus," that is, the sun, is called "the laurel-bearer." Therefore the Hebrews in Galatinus, Book 1, chapter 8, wrongly correct and read here: "They put a branch to My nose," when it should be read "their" nose, not "My." For so the Hebrew, Chaldean, the Vulgate, and the interpreters generally read.
Verse 18: I WILL DO to them
18. I WILL DO to them what they deserve.