Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Under the figure of two eagles fighting, of which the greater defeats the lesser, he describes Nebuchadnezzar and Pharaoh warring against each other, of whom the former defeated the latter. Wherefore he predicts that Zedekiah and Judea (which he compares to a vine), relying on Pharaoh and rebelling against God's will against Nebuchadnezzar, will be deprived by him of kingdom, eyes, and homeland: but Jehoiachin, by God's will, surrendering himself to him, will be exalted. First, he sets forth the parable itself: then, in verse 11, he applies and explains it in the manner I have described.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 17:1-24
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, propose a riddle, and tell a parable to the house of Israel, 3. and say: Thus says the Lord God: A great eagle with great wings, with long spread of limbs, full of feathers and variety, came to Lebanon, and took the marrow of the cedar. 4. He plucked off the top of its branches: and transported it into the land of Canaan, he placed it in a city of merchants. 5. And he took of the seed of the land, and placed it in the ground for seed, that it might take root over many waters: he placed it on the surface. 6. And when it had germinated, it grew into a spreading vine of low stature, with its branches looking toward it: and its roots were under it; so it became a vine, and brought forth branches, and sent out shoots. 7. And there was another great eagle with great wings, and many feathers: and behold this vine, as if sending its roots toward it, stretched out its branches to it, that it might water it from the beds of its planting.
of the beds of its planting. 8. It was planted in good soil over many waters: that it might produce branches, and bear fruit, that it might become a great vine. 9. Say: Thus says the Lord God: Will it then prosper? Will He not tear out its roots, and strip off its fruit, and dry up all the branches of its growth, and it will wither: and not with a great arm, nor with many people, to pluck it up by its roots? 10. Behold it is planted: will it then prosper? Will it not, when the burning wind touches it, dry up, and wither in the beds of its planting? 11. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 12. Say to the rebellious house: Do you not know what these things mean? Say: Behold the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem: and he took the king, and its princes, and brought them to himself in Babylon. 13. And he took of the royal seed, and struck a covenant with him: and received an oath from him, but he also took away the mighty of the land, 14. that the kingdom might be humble, and not lift itself up, but keep his covenant, and observe it. 15. But he, departing from him, sent messengers to Egypt, that it might give him horses, and many people. Will he prosper, or achieve safety who has done these things? And he who has broken the covenant, will he escape? 16. As I live, says the Lord God: in the place of the king who made him king, whose oath he made void, and whose covenant he broke, which he had with him, in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 17. And not with a great army, nor with many people shall Pharaoh make war against him: in the casting of mounds, and in the building of ramparts, to destroy many souls. 18. For he had despised the oath to break the covenant, and behold he had given his hand: and having done all these things, he shall not escape. 19. Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, the oath which he despised, and the covenant which he violated, I will bring upon his head. 20. And I will spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon, and will judge him there for the transgression by which he despised me. 21. And all his fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword: and the rest shall be scattered to every wind: and you shall know that I the Lord have spoken. 22. Thus says the Lord God: And I myself will take from the marrow of the lofty cedar, and will set it: from the top of its branches I will crop a tender one, and I will plant it upon a high and eminent mountain. 23. On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, and it shall shoot forth into a bud, and shall bear fruit, and it shall become a great cedar: and all birds shall dwell under it, and every fowl shall make its nest under the shadow of its branches. 24. And all the trees of the country shall know that I the Lord have brought low the lofty tree, and exalted the low tree: and have dried up the green tree, and have caused the dry tree to flourish. I the Lord have spoken, and have done it.
Verse 2: Propose a Riddle
2. PROPOSE A RIDDLE — that is, an obscure similitude, or, as follows, a parable. For in Scripture these three — parable, riddle, proverb — are often confused and taken for the same thing, as Jansenius notes at the beginning of Proverbs. Namely, they signify any illustrious saying, especially one that is pointed, parabolic, or moral. For the Hebrew mashal signifies an eminent and dominant saying, such as a proverb, axiom, or maxim, as are found in the Proverbs of Solomon. Parable, in Greek parabole, is properly a comparison and similitude. A riddle is an obscure and subtle saying: for the root signifies to speak obscurely. Hence in Hebrew it is called chida, that is, a pointed proposition, from the root ched, or chad, that is, to sharpen, to make acute, to speak acutely.
Verse 3: A Great Eagle
3. A GREAT EAGLE — that is, Nebuchadnezzar the king. For the eagle, the prince of birds, by its strength, keen sight, height of flight, boldness, and rapacity of beak, displays a royal majesty. Hence Cyrus and Artaxerxes the Persians, and afterward the Romans, had the eagle as their emblem, just as the Chaldeans had the dove, Jeremiah 1:16. So of the same king Jeremiah says in chapter 49, verse 22: "Behold, he shall come up like an eagle, and fly away, and spread his wings over Bozrah."
Note: The eagle is a symbol of kingship and empire; for it is itself the queen of birds. Hence King Pyrrhus wished to be called the eagle. For, as Plutarch says in his Life: "When he had returned to Epirus from battle with great glory and joy, and was saluted by his people as aetos, that is, eagle: 'Through you,' he said, 'I am so; you who with your arms, as with wings, have lifted me on high.' Hence the surname of eagle always pleased him greatly, and he used it."
The son of Charlemagne was called Arnulphus, which in German means Arent hulp, that is, the eagle's aid; either because he once received help from one; or rather, so that by his name he might be reminded that he ought to provide to his children, friends, and subjects eagle-like strength, that is, like an eagle, he ought to provide aid. For this is the duty of a prince.
Ajax had the surname of eagle: the reason is given by Pindar in the Isthmian Ode 6, when he says: "When he had spoken thus, God sent a leader, a great eagle of birds, and sweet joy stirred within him, and he spoke as a prophetic man: 'You shall have a son, Telamon, whom you seek, and you shall call him by the name of the eagle that appeared, Ajax, wide in power, a wonder in the labors of the troops of Mars.'" For when Hercules was sacrificing on behalf of Telamon, that a son might be born to him, an eagle flew past: and so on account of the auspice of the passing eagle, the son Ajax born to Telamon was called aetos. Hence the Gentiles relate, and even Catholics, that the eagle portended empire for many. Indeed the Gentiles took omens and auguries from the eagle even to the point of superstition. Thus, they say, "on the birthday of Alexander the Great, two swift eagles perched upon the ridge of the house; bearing the omen of a double empire, over Europe and Asia."
"When Maximus was born (who in the most turbulent times of the republic was elected Emperor by the senate, to oppose Maximinus's cruelty), although of humble and obscure origin, his father being a blacksmith, or, as others say, a carpenter, an eagle gave an auspice, when it had thrown beef, and indeed a great deal of it, into his father's chamber through a narrow skylight; and finally, when it lay there and no one dared touch it, from religious fear, it took it up again and carried it to the nearest shrine of Jupiter Praestes."
"By a similar portent an eagle lifted the infant Aurelian, still wrapped in swaddling, without any harm from his cradle, and placed him on an altar which happened to be without fire in a chapel," as Sabellicus is the authority, and before him Flavianus Vopiscus, from Callicrates of Tyre in the Life of Aurelian.
"Also for Albinus, at the seventh hour after he was born, at the banquet prepared for his birthday, while a name was being given to him, seven small eagles were brought, and placed as if beside the child's cradle. His father accepted the omen the more readily, because it was extremely rare in those regions where Hadrumetum is."
"When Octavian Augustus, still a boy, was being raised in the country, four miles from the city on the Campanian road, an eagle suddenly snatched bread from his hands while he was lunching in a grove, and soon flew up very high: which shortly after gently descending, unexpectedly returned it to him," with Xiphilinus, Suetonius, and Dio as witnesses.
"When Gaius Marius, still a boy, found a nest of an eagle with seven chicks in the field, and carried it in his arms to his father; the father, moved with wonder, having consulted the augurs, learned that the supreme command would rest with his son seven times. This appeared in as many consulships as he held, which he was the first of all to achieve in that number." However, Plutarch, the censor of Roman history, considers this to be fabulous, because they say the eagle does not produce more than two chicks, that is, naturally and ordinarily.
Cicero shows from Ennius, in Book I of On Divination, that the auspice of kingship was brought to Romulus by eagles: "For when the brothers were contending for rule, and were disputing which of them would found the walls, they agreed to abide by the auspice; and so two swift eagles brought the primacy to Romulus."
"That an eagle portended kingship for Tarquinius Priscus is most well known: for it snatched the cap from him as he sat, and soon returned it: Tanaquil, his wife, trained in Etruscan discipline, interpreted this as meaning he would attain sovereignty." Dionysius of Halicarnassus narrates the event in Book III of Roman Antiquities.
Plutarch writes about Agon: "Among the Argives, the line of the Heraclidae once failed, from which the custom of their country commanded them to choose a king. When they were inquiring and consulting, an oracle was given that a king would be indicated by an eagle: and after a few days an eagle was seen to fly down into the house of Agon, and so Agon was designated king."
"The Emperor Marcian, endowed with an excellent character, when he was a soldier, happened to be making his way to an expedition. On the journey, when he was sleeping at one point, those who were lying with him, having awakened earlier, saw an eagle providing shade to the man with outstretched wings. Likewise, on the expedition against Geiseric, prince of Libya, it happened that Marcian among others came into the enemy's power. And so Geiseric, wishing to inspect the captives, was observing them from a certain elevated place. Seeing a shadow being made over the sleeping Marcian by an eagle with outstretched wings, he considered this a miracle, and judged the man to be divine and worthy of the Roman Empire."
"The same happened to Basil the Macedonian emperor, who held the kingdom for twenty years. When he was still quite an infant," as Zonaras records, "he happened to be lying exposed to the sun in the heat, while his parents, who were quite poor, were occupied with the harvest. Then an eagle, flying down from on high, provided him shade with outstretched wings. And when his mother tried several times to drive it away and accomplished nothing, she finally regarded this as a good omen."
Lechus, the first duke of the Poles, found an eagle's nest, and there built the stronghold of his duchy and nation, like a citadel, and called it Gnesna, from the nest, which the Bohemians call Gnisdo. From this, the emblem of good auspice and the coat of arms remained for his successors, so that to this very day the coat of arms of the king and kingdom of Poland is a white crowned eagle, upright, with outstretched wings and gaping beak, justly formidable to the Turks, threatening their destruction. So Martinus Cromerus, Book II of On the Affairs of Poland, and Book XVI.
Suetonius also, among other prodigies which portended kingship for the Emperor Galba, writes thus about an eagle: "The grandfather of the Emperor Galba, while performing sacred rites and seeking to avert lightning, when an eagle had snatched the entrails from his hands, and having carried them aloft had brought them to a fruit-bearing oak, and an augur had said that supreme but late empire was portended: 'Indeed,' he said mockingly, 'when a mule gives birth.' Galba is said to have been especially confirmed by this prodigy. For when he set about stirring up revolution in Spain, a mule gave birth in that land."
Fortunate moreover was what the same Suetonius relates of Claudius, "who, when he had long been among the mockeries of the court, at last under Gaius, his brother's son, attained the consulship; but as soon as," says the author, "he entered the forum with the fasces, an eagle flying by settled on his right shoulder, a clear sign of the future empire in his hands."
And again about Vitellius dividing his forces, which he would send ahead against Otho and which he himself would lead, he narrates this favorable augury: "For suddenly from the right an eagle flew up: and having surveyed the standards, gradually preceded those entering the road."
"An eagle also indicated that Hiero of Sicily, still quite a young man, of private fortune, would one day be king — the eagle which, in the first war he entered, settled on his shield." So Aldrovandus, Ornithology chapter I on the eagle.
Furthermore, the emblem of a pious prince and Emperor is an eagle so depicted that it touches the earth with its feet, and with its heads (for it is two-headed for our Emperors) raised to heaven, and with wings outstretched, holding lightning on the left and a laurel branch on the right, it bears this motto: in kairo hekapteron, that is, both at the right time. For this is the type of an Emperor, showing that he indeed rules on earth, but yet aspires to heaven with the intention of his mind, and with the greatest zeal is intent both on contemplation and on the administration of empire (that he may conduct it well both at home and in war), so as to reach God, to whom he attributes all he has received: for the eagle is a sign of empire; lightning, of war and punishments; the laurel, of peace and reward.
WITH GREAT WINGS — having many peoples under him, and numerous armies, which he had drawn with him. For these are his military wings.
WITH LONG SPREAD OF LIMBS. The Chaldean paraphrase says: long limbs; the Septuagint: extended. By this is signified the strength and power of the Chaldeans, as if extending far and ruling widely. For the outstretched length of limbs fittingly signifies the vastness and duration of his kingdom: for he himself reigned 45 years. From the Hebrew it can be translated with Vatablus and Maldonatus as: with long feathers, and by feathers can be understood metaphorically spears, or very swift horses, by which the Chaldeans seemed to fly. Of whom Jeremiah, chapter 4, verse 13, says: "His horses are swifter than eagles."
FULL OF FEATHERS, AND VARIETY — that is, full of multicolored feathers, like a peacock, says R. David. These feathers signify Nebuchadnezzar's army assembled from various nations. The Septuagint translates: Full of claws, that is, of rapacious soldiers. Again, these clearly signify riches and glory.
Hear St. Gregory, Book XXXI, Morals chapter 19: "The eagle," he says, "is Nebuchadnezzar: for the immensity of his army, he is said to have great wings; for the duration of his reign, long spread of limbs; for his great riches, full of feathers; for the countless array of earthly glory, full of variety he is described." And Aldrovandus, Ornithology chapter I: "The feathers," he says, "signify the riches in which he abounded; the variety of feathers, the glory of his deeds; the claws, the terror of his weapons: Lebanon, the splendor of Judea, and its eminence conspicuous through a long series of years. Hence he plucked the marrow of the cedar, that is, he tore out the nobility; and plucked all the topmost branches, that is, he did not spare even the most tender offspring of kings, that is, those of the youngest age. For the feathers of kings are their riches. For just as an eagle without feathers cannot fly: so too every dignity of princes, unless supported by money (which is the sinew of war), being without strength and lacking vigor, easily collapses, as Emperor Charles IV said to the princes of Germany, according to Dubravius, Book XXII."
HE CAME TO LEBANON — that is, to the temple, says St. Jerome, or to the royal palace, constructed by Solomon from the cedars of Lebanon: or rather to Judea itself and the city of Jerusalem, as is explained in verse 12. For Lebanon is the boundary of Judea, whose capital is Jerusalem, which in the height and whiteness of its walls, and in the density of its palaces built from the cedars of Lebanon, was similar to Mount Lebanon. So Origen, Apollinaris, Theodoretus. He therefore calls Jerusalem Lebanon, because he persists in the metaphor of the eagle, which is accustomed to dwell in the mountains, not in cities. The Septuagint translates: Who has the direction to enter Lebanon — as though Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem not of his own will, but by God's impulse and guidance. So Theodoretus.
4. HE TOOK THE MARROW OF THE CEDAR. The Hebrews translate: He took the top of the cedar, that is, he led the royal stock with its princes to Babylon.
HE PLUCKED THE TOP OF ITS BRANCHES (that is, the taller shoots, so the Chaldean paraphrase: for he alludes to shoots that are torn from a tree to be grafted and transplanted into another) — that is, he carried off King Jehoiachin, a tender youth, namely eighteen years old, and the nobles. So Theodoretus and Apollinaris, and it is clear from verse 12. Hence St. Gregory, Book XXXI, Morals chapter 19: "Nebuchadnezzar," he says, "like an eagle seeking the height of Judea, carried away the nobility of its kingdom, like the marrow of the cedar, and when he took away by captivity the most tender offspring of kings from the summit of his own kingdom, he plucked, as it were, the top of its branches."
AND HE TRANSPORTED IT INTO THE LAND OF CANAAN — that is, into Chaldea, which is called Canaan because it was devoted to trade, and therefore most powerful, most populous, and most wealthy: for the Canaanites were dedicated to commerce. Hence Canaanite in Hebrew signifies a merchant, as is clear from Proverbs 31:24 and elsewhere. In the same way Babylon was a marketplace of all goods, and a city of merchants, as is clear from Revelation 18:10. Hence explaining "Canaan," he adds: "he placed it in a city of merchants." So St. Jerome, Prado, Maldonatus and others. Apollinaris and Theodoretus think otherwise; for they consider that the Chaldeans are called Canaanites because they had adopted their customs and vices. The Chaldean paraphrase also translates otherwise, namely: he brought it to a land free from servitude, which was subject and tributary to none, such as was the land of Canaan before the entry of Joshua and the Hebrews into it.
The word tsameret, found in our translator only, and indeed four times, besides this passage (below verse 22, and chapter 31, verses 3, 10, 14), Jarchi says means the same as the Italian and French cima, cime, that is, the top of a tree, which Columella calls turio, Book XX, chapter 30. Turiones are the tender tips of the tops of trees. (Rosenmuller.)
Full of feathers for defense against oncoming injuries, so that it is contrasted with bald, Micah 1:16. For upon entry, birds of prey are subject to the shedding of feathers, see Bochart, Hierozoicon volume II, page 750. But an eagle full of feathers is more vigorous and stronger than one that has undergone feather loss.
Verse 5: And he Took of the Seed of the Land
5. AND HE TOOK OF THE SEED OF THE LAND — that is, after he had transplanted the shoots, that is, after he had transferred Jehoiachin and the princes to Babylon, he took from the seed of the land of Judah, that is, he took Zedekiah, who was of the royal seed of the Jews, namely the uncle of Jehoiachin, and "he placed him in the land," that is, he established him as king in Judea, "for seed," so that the seed of the royal line might remain in him; and so that he might "take root over many waters," that is, many peoples, Revelation 17:2. The Septuagint, the Chaldean paraphrase, and the Hebrews translate: in a land of seed, that is, fertile and fit for sowing, which readily receives seed and abundantly returns it. So Judea is called, because it was fruitful.
HE PLACED IT ON THE SURFACE. He did not plant it deep, but cast this seed on the surface (for this is the Hebrew tsaphtsaph), just as vines are set in a trench, not deep, but standing and almost level with the surface of the earth. The meaning is: Nebuchadnezzar did not establish Zedekiah with deep royal roots, but Nebuchadnezzar broke his strength, so that he might remain submissive to him and dependent on him, since he could uproot him as easily as he had planted and made him king. The Chaldean paraphrase translates: He placed it as a vine, because there follows: "It grew into a vine," as though the Prophet changes the metaphor: for he compared Jehoiachin to a cedar, but here he compares Zedekiah to a vine for the reason I shall shortly explain.
6. IT GREW INTO A SPREADING VINE OF LOW STATURE — that is, Zedekiah, like a vine, grew in riches, glory, and dominion, but not like a lofty cedar, but rather like a lowly vine. For the Babylonian always kept him subject to himself, that is, the cedar was turned into a vine, because the kingdom of Judah, which in Jehoiachin and others had been lofty like a cedar, in Zedekiah was lowly like a vine.
WITH ITS BRANCHES LOOKING TOWARD IT — namely, toward the eagle, that is, as St. Jerome says, Nebuchadnezzar wanted Zedekiah to preside over the Jewish people: but in such a way that he and the people would look to the authority and commands of Nebuchadnezzar their lord.
Secondly, more closely and better: "toward it," namely the vine, that is, the branches of this vine did not rise up high, but being checked, they bent down and looked back to the vine itself and the vine's root. For the power of Zedekiah was so broken and checked by the Chaldeans that he had branches, that is, princes, but not powerful ones like Solomon; rather, cut down, depressed, weak and feeble. It is a metaphor from a vine or tree whose branches are bent back by another taller one, or by a roof or wall, so that they do not rise up high, but curve back and look toward the tree itself. So Maldonatus.
AND ITS ROOTS WERE UNDER IT — that is, that vine, namely the kingdom of Zedekiah, had some roots, though not deep, so that it spread out laterally. Others interpret: "under it," namely under the eagle, that is, under Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom of the Jews stood with a firm root.
IT BORE FRUIT IN BRANCHES — that is, it produced sons and nobles.
AND SENT OUT SHOOTS — that is, more tender branches, namely of citizens and people spreading themselves far and wide.
Verse 7: And There Was Another Great Eagle
7. AND THERE WAS ANOTHER GREAT EAGLE — namely Pharaoh, who was called Hophra, or Apries, or Ephree, king of Egypt, who was indeed great but lesser than Nebuchadnezzar, with whom Zedekiah, rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar, entered into a treaty. So St. Jerome, Theodoretus, St. Chrysostom, in a homily to the People, volume V, and others everywhere. This eagle, therefore, opposed to the first and subdued by it, signifies Pharaoh opposed to Nebuchadnezzar and subjugated by him. Thus two eagles fighting each other, when one was defeated, portended destruction for Brutus, who was about to contend with Antony and Augustus, if we believe the Roman historians. For when both battle lines stood ready awaiting the signal, two eagles with great clanging of wings clashed from opposite sides, attacking each other with beaks and hostile flight. This portent held both armies in suspense as to the outcome of the present battle. Finally, the one that stood on Antony's side vigorously put the opposing bird to flight. By which omen the Antonians, raised to certain hope of victory, with a shout rushed upon the enemy. Nor was the fighting less fierce on the other side: the first encounter produced a bloody battle, soldiers grappling each other, and fighting hand to hand with no less hatred than force on both sides, groans and sighs of the fallen echoing all around, and already a great deal of blood had been shed on that land in the bloody slaughter, when at the first
It might seem surprising, says Hilferus, that the vine is said to be planted by waters, if one considers that Italy, a very hot region, does not owe the abundance of its vineyard plantations on the Massic mount of the Falernian field to streams of water, and that Wurttemberg, the most fruitful mother of Neckar wine, produces the most agile wine on arid hills, even in a drought year: were it not that Caecuban wine, whose excellence was most celebrated before Nero's time, was known to have been born among the marshy poplar groves of the Amyclanian gulf (see Pliny, Natural History, Book XIV, chapter 8); and Cornelius Celsus, most expert in natural things, considered that soil should be chosen for vineyards that supplies moisture to the roots from springs nearby. From this one may gather that vines, if they sense the scent of waters, that is, if their roots are moderately irrigated by the proximity of springs or streams, grow more quickly and more prosperously.
the battle line of Brutus was driven from its position, and with the ranks broken by force, fear penetrated to the second and third line. Then things turned to flight: perceiving this, Octavian's soldiers seized the gates of the enemy camp with great force, lest an escape route lie open to those retreating from behind. Then the slaughter of those shut out took place, and the soldiers of Brutus, pressed from the front in foul struggle, were cut down by those rushing upon them in the encounter. Appian also mentions the same augury, in Book IV of the Civil Wars: "And now the day," he says, "while they were preparing, had advanced to the ninth hour, when two eagles began fighting between both battle lines, which stood in the deepest silence; and when the one that had stood on Brutus's side was put to flight, the enemy raised a shout and the standards were brought together, and the engagement was proud and fierce."
A similar auspice of two eagles fighting befell Vespasian, Suetonius narrating in these words: "And not long after the election to his second consulship, at the beginning of Galba's reign, the statue of the divine Julius turned of its own accord toward the East: and in the battle of Bebriacum, before it was joined, two eagles had fought in the sight of all, and when one was defeated, a third came from the rising of the sun, and drove off the victor." By the two first eagles are understood Vitellius and Otho; the third, coming from the rising of the sun, signified Vespasian, who, coming from Judea, drove off that victorious eagle, that is, Vitellius, the conqueror of Otho.
About Octavian Augustus, about to fight against Antony and Lepidus, Suetonius writes in these words: "When the forces of the triumvirs had been shattered at Bononia, an eagle perching on his tent struck down two crows attacking from either side and cast them to the ground, the whole army noting and foreboding that someday there would be such discord among the colleagues as followed, and foretelling its outcome." For the eagle signified Augustus, who would so afflict and harass his hostile colleagues Antony and Lepidus, just as the eagle struck down the two crows.
Likewise sad and by no means favorable was what is written to have happened to the Emperor Lacapenus and Simeon, prince of the Bulgarians. For at the time when these two met and were conversing, two eagles are said to have flown above them, and after they had attacked each other with clanging and remarkable flapping of wings, with hostile beaks and talons, one was soon crushed by the other and departed, with one betaking itself to Shem and the other flying toward Thrace. The augurs judged this prodigy to be by no means favorable; for they said it signified that this peace between them would be broken.
Zedekiah sent envoys to Egypt to seek help, which is entirely irrigated by the waters of the Nile. So Maldonatus, who by roots understands envoys.
HE STRETCHED OUT HIS BRANCHES (that is, his messengers, says St. Jerome, and commanders with gifts) TO IT.
THAT HE MIGHT WATER IT FROM THE BEDS OF ITS PLANTING — that is, to water it against the heat, that is, the anger of Nebuchadnezzar which was drying it up, from its growth, that is, from the strength and abundance of soldiers of its field, that is, of Egypt. For waters are soldiers, because just as waters are channeled through beds into neighboring gardens or fields: so too soldiers were sent from Egypt into Judea. Others, like Vatablus, interpret: that he might water it through its germinating channels, that is, through the channels of its Nile abundant with produce, that is, through the crops and riches of Egypt. For he alludes to the Nile, which irrigates and fertilizes Egypt by being directed into the fields through channels that are led from it into the fields. The Septuagint: that he might water it with the clod of its planting, that is, that he might help Judea with the people in whom King Zedekiah was planted as the primary vine. For he compares the king to a vine, the people to the clod.
8. IN GOOD SOIL — that is, Zedekiah did not defect to Pharaoh out of need or oppression of his kingdom, because he was treated kindly by Nebuchadnezzar, and the land of Judea was fertile and rich; but out of ambition, not wishing to be subject to Nebuchadnezzar.
Verse 9: Will he not Tear Out its Roots?
9. WILL HE NOT TEAR OUT ITS ROOTS? (that is, will not that first eagle, namely Nebuchadnezzar, tear out the root, that is, the strength of the kingdom of the Jews, and uproot Zedekiah from his kingdom?) AND WILL HE NOT STRIP OFF ITS FRUIT (that is, sons, like tender olive berries) AND DRY UP ALL ITS BRANCHES — that is, he will deliver the princes to death, so that they will be like dried branches.
NOT WITH A GREAT ARM, NOR WITH MANY PEOPLE — that is, there will be no need of great strength or soldiers to overcome the Jews and Egyptians: for Nebuchadnezzar will do it in the first encounter. And so it happened; hence after obtaining this victory, Nebuchadnezzar, as if secure and at rest, sat in Riblah with his forces, and sent part of them against Jerusalem, which, under the command of Nebuzaradan, he took and burned, 2 Kings, last chapter. Alternatively Maldonatus: the king of Egypt, even though he comes with great forces, will not be able to free the Jews and Zedekiah from the Chaldeans.
TO UPROOT IT. This question depends on the beginning of the verse: "Will He not tear out its roots," etc., that is, did He not do what I said a little before, namely, did He not act and accomplish "to uproot it?" — and with no great forces at that.
10. WHEN THE BURNING WIND TOUCHES IT. In Hebrew it is kadim, that is, the east wind, which is dry and burning, that is, when the Chaldean, who is to the east of Judea, touches it like a vine, even though irrigated by the forces of Egypt, and blows upon it like a burning wind,
AND WITH MANY FEATHERS — that is, with many soldiers; with the same riches and pomp; the Septuagint: of many claws, that is, rapacious and a destroyer of many nations. So St. Jerome.
AND BEHOLD THIS VINE, AS IF SENDING ITS ROOTS TOWARD IT — that is, Zedekiah and the Jewish nation joined their forces with the troops of Egypt against Nebuchadnezzar. He alludes to trees which send their roots in the direction where they sense water to be. For thus he will dry up and desolate it in its own field, namely in Judea itself, fruitful and sprouting. For Zedekiah and his princes were captured in the plains of Jericho, and the rest in the city itself already conquered, 2 Kings 25. Note: Chaldea lies to the northeast of the land of Israel; hence it is sometimes called eastern, sometimes northern. See the comments on Jeremiah 1:14.
12. HE WILL TAKE, etc., HE WILL BRING — that is, he took, he brought. For the Prophet said these things in the sixth year after King Jeconiah was taken away to Babylon. Hence in the Hebrew there is the conversive vav, which turns the future into the past. Here he begins to explain the riddle of the eagles, the cedar, and the vine in the way I have already explained.
13. AND HE WILL TAKE OF THE ROYAL SEED — he will take Zedekiah, and establish him as king in place of his nephew Jehoiachin.
"And it sent out shoots." In Hebrew, frot. Thus the branches of trees are so called from their likeness to a crown, just as among our gardeners the tops of trees and among foresters a new growth of branches is called a corona.
AND HE WILL STRIKE A COVENANT WITH HIM — that he may reign, but be tributary to him, which although it is not narrated in the Books of Kings, is nevertheless clear from this passage to have been done.
BUT HE WILL ALSO TAKE THE MIGHTY OF THE LAND — he will take away many princes, or having taken them, will retain them with himself, both as hostages and to weaken the strength of the kingdom. For thus he took away Jehoiachin with his sons and other nobles.
17. AND NOT WITH A GREAT ARMY, NOR WITH MANY PEOPLE (not of Pharaoh's, but of the Chaldeans, that is, the army of the Chaldeans and Nebuchadnezzar against whom Pharaoh will fight will not be great, and yet he will be defeated. "Nor": for this must be repeated by Hebraism) IN THE CASTING OF MOUNDS, AND IN THE BUILDING OF RAMPARTS — Pharaoh will fight to kill many of the Chaldeans; but at the first encounter all Syria will flee and yield. So Polychronius and Green, and it is clear from verse 9; for he here applies and explains that verse. Others take this affirmatively, and in two ways: first, concerning Pharaoh, that is, Pharaoh's small army will not impede the force of the Chaldeans, however much he casts mounds and builds ramparts. Josephus favors this, Antiquities X, chapter 20. Second, concerning Nebuchadnezzar. Hence Vatablus translates: Neither will Pharaoh accomplish anything with these great forces and vast multitude, while the mound and fortification is being built to destroy many lives, that is, as Maldonatus says, when Nebuchadnezzar has cast a mound, Pharaoh will be unable to help Zedekiah: which meaning is plain, and coherently connects with what precedes and follows.
18. FOR HE HAD DESPISED (Zedekiah) THE OATH of fidelity given to Nebuchadnezzar.
AND BEHOLD HE HAD GIVEN HIS HAND — that is, and yet he had entered a covenant with Nebuchadnezzar, with his right hand given, that is, he violated the covenant entered upon by the giving of the hand. So Vatablus. Secondly and more fittingly: when Zedekiah had despised and violated the covenant made with the Chaldeans, he gave his hand and entered into another covenant with Pharaoh. So the Chaldean paraphrase and Maldonatus. See here how God wills that faith be kept even to an enemy, and an unfaithful one at that, and how He avenges treachery. See the comments on Jeremiah 39, at the end.
19. THE OATH. The Hebrew and the Septuagint: My oath and my covenant — not that this covenant was made with God, but that it was entered into with the name of God interposed.
I WILL BRING UPON HIS HEAD — I will avenge it upon his head.
20. I WILL SPREAD, etc., MY NET — namely the forces of the Chaldeans. Concerning which see chapter 12, verse 13.
FOR THE TRANSGRESSION (in Hebrew, on account of the transgression) BY WHICH HE DESPISED ME — by violating the oath and covenant made and entered in the name of God.
Verse 22: I Myself Will Take from the Marrow of the Cedar
22. I MYSELF WILL TAKE FROM THE MARROW OF THE CEDAR (from the royal family), FROM THE TOP (that is, from Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah the king, a branch) I WILL CROP A TENDER ONE (that is, Zerubbabel, his grandson: for Jehoiachin begot Shealtiel, and he begot Zerubbabel). The Septuagint: I will take away — that is, with the remaining leaves and branches, namely kings and princes, removed, I will take this one and raise him up (for this is what distringere means), that I may plant him on a high mountain, that is, in Jerusalem. The cedar, therefore, is the royal family of David, the top of the branches is Jehoiachin the king, the tender and fresh shoot is Zerubbabel, Jehoiachin's grandson, the high mountain is Jerusalem. The Prophet here, as is his custom, adds joyful things to sorrowful ones, and promises and consolations to threats.
Note: He touches briefly on Zerubbabel, but under him he more intends to signify Christ, who, born from Zerubbabel, or, as Theodoretus says, from the marrow of the cedar, that is, from David, who was a man after God's own heart, and as it were the marrow of the cedars, that is, of the saints in Israel, established the kingdom of His Church in Jerusalem. So Theodoretus. For Zerubbabel was not a king, nor did all birds rest under his shadow, except hyperbolically. Hence the Chaldean paraphrase, and from it R. Solomon, translate thus: I will take the Messiah king, and plant him upon a high mountain.
God here sets Himself against Nebuchadnezzar, that is, the latter will establish Zedekiah as king from the royal seed, but he will reign for only a short time. For he will be treacherous, and therefore he will be blinded by the Chaldean and deprived of his kingdom. But God will establish from the same seed of David, as He promised, Christ the King, to reign over Zion His holy mountain, that is, in the house of Jacob forever: for of His kingdom there will be no end.
AND I WILL PLANT (this tender branch and top of the cedar, that is, Christ) UPON A HIGH AND EMINENT MOUNTAIN — namely on Zion, that is, the Church. The Septuagint translates: I will hang Him on the lofty mountain of Israel — that is, as Theodoretus says: I will crucify Christ on Mount Calvary, so that afterward He may produce fruit and the immortal bud of Christians in the whole world. Note this against the Jews who deny the cross and death of Christ; because they think the Messiah will come with pomp and show, like a new Solomon.
Moreover, the Septuagint translates aptly. For instead of vetalul, that is, "and suspended on high," that is, eminent, as our translator renders it; they read etlol, that is, I will suspend. For properly something or someone is said to be suspended on a mountain; not the mountain itself to be suspended. Add that with the change of only one point, it can be read vetalol, that is, "and to suspend," that is, "and I will suspend." For the Hebrews often use the infinitive for the future, especially when other futures precede or follow, as happens here. For Christ is the cedar, which never rots; hence also as man He could not sin. Again, He makes His own, those faithful to Him, immortal. Thirdly, Prado says: The lofty cedar is God, who alone has immortality. The heart and marrow of the cedar is the Only-begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, whom He planted on a high mountain, that is, in the womb of the Virgin, lofty in virtues, as in a paradise, so that there, born man, He might bear the most beautiful and excellent fruit. I will say more about the cedar in chapter 31, verses 3 and following.
Verse 23: It Shall Bear Fruit
23. IT SHALL BEAR FRUIT — it shall make men faithful, holy and blessed.
IT SHALL BECOME A GREAT CEDAR (that is, He shall become a great king and Lord: for the cedar holds the primacy and, as it were, the kingdom among trees — not Zerubbabel, as is clear, but Christ; so that) UNDER THE SHADOW OF ITS BRANCHES (that is, under His power and protection) ALL BIRDS (that is, the just, says the Chaldean paraphrase, who contemplate heavenly things and fly from earth to heaven) SHALL DWELL. A similar passage is Daniel 4:17, about which more is said there.
Note first: The cedar is an evergreen tree, not unlike the juniper, with sparse roots spread along the surface of the earth, with hard leaves tipped with a hairy and thorny point; with twisted, knotted wood; with reddish, fragrant pith; with yellow, fragrant and edible myrtle-like berries; with new fruit hanging in autumn along with the year-old crop. The most praised kind grows in Crete, also in Lebanon and Africa. Cedar provides eternal timber, not susceptible to decay. Hence things worthy of cedar are said of those who deserve immortality, to be consecrated to eternity.
Note secondly: The cedar denotes three gifts of Christ's kingdom. For, first, the cedar is a supremely tall tree. In Cyprus it grows to 130 feet in height; in girth to the embrace of five men; hence it signifies the sublimity of Christ's kingdom. Second, it is fragrant with scent; hence it foreshadows the renown of Christ and the Church. Third, it is incorruptible; hence it denotes His eternity.
Pliny narrates in Book XIII, chapter 13, that the books of Numa, although they were made of papyrus and buried in the earth, because they were coated with cedar oil, lasted for 535 years. Moreover, this oil has a diverse effect: for it corrupts living bodies, but preserves dead ones incorrupt: hence by some the cedar has been called nekrou zoa, that is, the life of the dead, namely of a corpse.
Verse 24: And All the Trees of the Country Shall Know
24. AND ALL THE TREES OF THE COUNTRY SHALL KNOW — that is, all men, all nations who from various regions shall believe in this cedar, that is, in Christ, especially the wild and barbarous ones: for these are the trees, that is, the trees of the field, as the Hebrew has it; since the Jews, as God's household, are as it were His garden trees.
I HAVE BROUGHT LOW THE LOFTY TREE, AND DRIED UP THE GREEN TREE — that is, I will cast down the kingdom of Zedekiah, who seems now to flourish and be proud; and I will exalt the lowly and dry tree, that is, the kingdom of Jeconiah, who now, captured in Babylon, seems to have withered, and to have no hope of offspring who will reign. For Evil-Merodach exalted Jehoiachin to the throne of the kingdom, 2 Kings 25:7; and his grandson Zerubbabel was the leader of the people returning from captivity, and from him Christ was born, the Lord of the whole earth. For these things properly apply to Christ, and to Zerubbabel only hyperbolically. This is what Isaiah says, chapter 11, verse 1: "A shoot shall come forth from the root of Jesse (which seems now to have withered), and a flower shall rise from his root."
Morally, St. Bernard says: "Humility is the receptacle of grace;" namely, it is the vessel in which God stores His gifts. Hence St. Chrysostom: "Humility," he says, "is the greatest sacrifice, and the mother of the loftiest philosophy." And St. Gregory: "The humble, while they cast themselves down, ascend to the likeness of God." The proud, on the contrary, while they ascend, imitate the devil, who, being an angel, wished to ascend the mountain of God, but was thrust down and became a devil.
AND I HAVE DONE IT — and I will most certainly do it.