Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God, consulted through Ezekiel by the elders of the Jews about the outcome of the Jewish war, denies that He will respond, but reproaches them for their own sins and those of their fathers, and asserts that, having abandoned them, He will be piously worshipped by the true Israelites. Therefore, first, He magnifies the benefits He bestowed upon them, both in Egypt, verse 4, and in the desert, verse 13, and in Canaan, verse 27. For He shows that in all these places He contended with their impiety and ingratitude by His benefits. Hence, second, verse 30, He threatens them with grave punishments, and to those saying: We will be like the nations, and wishing to shake off God's yoke and scourge, He responds: As I live, in poured-out fury I will reign over you. Third, verse 39, He predicts that, having abandoned the impious and idolatrous Jews, He will cause Himself to be worshipped by pious Israelites on Zion, both by those returning there from Babylon under Ezra, and more especially on the new Zion, that is, the Church to be established by Christ. Finally, verse 43, with a new parable of fire and flame He threatens destruction upon the Jews.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 20:1-49
1. And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month: men from the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. 2. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 3. Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live, I will not answer you, says the Lord God. 4. If you judge them, if you judge, son of man, show them the abominations of their fathers. 5. And you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I chose Israel, and lifted up My hand for the offspring of the house of Jacob, and appeared to them in the land of Egypt, and lifted up My hand for them, saying: I am the Lord your God: 6. On that day I lifted up My hand for them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt, into a land which I had provided for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the most excellent of all lands. 7. And I said to them: Let each one cast away the abominations of his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. 8. And
they provoked Me and were unwilling to hear Me: each one did not cast away the abominations of his eyes, nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt: and I resolved to pour out My indignation upon them and to fulfill My wrath against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations, in whose midst they were, and among whom I appeared to them to bring them out of the land of Egypt. 10. Therefore I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the desert. 11. And I gave them My precepts and showed them My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. 12. Moreover I also gave them My sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them: and that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13. But the house of Israel provoked Me in the desert: they did not walk in My precepts, and they cast away My judgments, which if a man does he shall live by them: and they grievously violated My sabbaths: so I resolved to pour out My fury upon them in the desert, and to consume them. 14. But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations, from whom I had brought them out in their sight. 15. Therefore I lifted up My hand against them in the desert, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the foremost of all lands: 16. Because they cast away My judgments, and did not walk in My precepts, and violated My sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols. 17. Yet My eye spared them so that I did not destroy them: nor did I consume them in the desert. 18. But I said to their children in the wilderness: Do not walk in the precepts of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19. I am the Lord your God: walk in My precepts, keep My judgments, and do them: 20. and sanctify My sabbaths, that they may be a sign between Me and you, and that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 21. But the children provoked Me: they did not walk in My precepts, and they did not keep My judgments so as to do them -- which if a man does, he shall live by them -- and they violated My sabbaths: and I threatened to pour out My fury upon them and to fulfill My wrath against them in the desert. 22. But I turned away My hand, and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned before the nations, from whom I had brought them out in their sight. 23. Again I lifted up My hand against them in the wilderness, to scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the lands: 24. because they had not kept My judgments, and had rejected My precepts, and had violated My sabbaths, and their eyes had followed the idols of their fathers. 25. Therefore I also gave them precepts that were not good, and judgments by which they would not live. 26. And I defiled them in their own gifts, when they offered everything that opens the womb, for their sins: and they shall know that I am the Lord. 27. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Furthermore, in this also your fathers blasphemed Me, when they despised Me with contempt: 28. and when I had brought them into the land over which I had lifted up My hand to give it to them: they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they sacrificed their victims: and there they presented the provocation of their offerings, and there they set their sweet odors, and poured out their libations. 29. And I said to them: What is the high place to which you go? and its name has been called High Place to this day. 30. Therefore say to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Certainly you defile yourselves in the way of your fathers, and you commit fornication after their abominations: 31. and in the offering of your gifts, when you make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols
even to this day: and shall I answer you, house of Israel? As I live, says the Lord God, I will not answer you. 32. Nor shall the thought of your mind come to pass, when you say: We will be like the nations, and like the families of the earth, to worship wood and stone. 33. As I live, says the Lord God, surely with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with poured-out fury, I will reign over you. 34. And I will bring you out from the peoples, and I will gather you from the lands in which you are scattered, with a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with poured-out fury I will reign over you. 35. And I will bring you into the desert of peoples, and I will enter into judgment with you there face to face. 36. As I contended in judgment against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you, says the Lord God. 37. And I will make you pass under My scepter, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant. 38. And I will separate from you the transgressors and the wicked, and I will bring them out of the land of their sojourning, but they shall not enter the land of Israel: and you shall know that I am the Lord. 39. And you, house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: Go, each one of you, walk after your idols and serve them. But if you will not listen to Me in this also, and you continue to profane My holy name with your gifts and with your idols: 40. on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord God, there all the house of Israel shall serve Me; all of them, I say, in the land where they shall please Me, and there I will require your firstfruits and the beginning of your tithes with all your holy offerings. 41. I will accept you as a sweet odor, when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands into which you were scattered, and I will be sanctified in you in the sight of the nations. 42. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land for which I lifted up My hand to give it to your fathers. 43. And there you shall remember your ways and all your crimes with which you defiled yourselves: and you shall be displeased with yourselves in your own sight for all the wickedness you have done. 44. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have done well by you for the sake of My name, and not according to your evil ways, nor according to your worst crimes, O house of Israel, says the Lord God. 45. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 46. Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the southwest, and prophesy against the forest of the southern field. 47. And you shall say to the southern forest: Hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and I will burn in you every green tree and every dry tree: the flame of the kindling shall not be quenched: and every face shall be scorched in it from south to north. 48. And all flesh shall see that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched. 49. And I said: Alas, alas, Lord God: they say of me: Does not this man speak in parables?
Verse 1: And it Came to Pass in the Seventh Year
1. AND IT CAME TO PASS IN THE SEVENTH YEAR -- namely, of the deportation of Jehoiachin and of the reign of Zedekiah, that is, after 11 months and five days from the preceding vision. So St. Jerome. And this is gathered from chapter VIII, 1. For from that point depend all the things that follow up to here, where a new year is recorded.
In the fifth -- supply: month, namely in July. For this is the fifth from March, which is the first month of the Hebrews, Exodus XII, 2.
MEN CAME, etc., TO INQUIRE OF THE LORD -- through me the prophet: "to inquire," I say, about the outcome and success of the war which Nebuchadnezzar was already preparing against Zedekiah, because he had broken the treaty. So the Scholiast.
Verse 3: I Will not Answer
3. I WILL NOT ANSWER -- because you ask out of mere curiosity, intending to do the opposite, unless I answer what you desire. So Theodoret and Apollinaris.
Verse 4: If You Judge Them, Son of Man
4. IF YOU JUDGE THEM, SON OF MAN. -- This must be read as a question. For in Hebrew it is hatispot, will you not judge them? which, first, can be explained as meaning: Will you defend them, will you plead their cause in My judgment? For the Hebrew scaphat signifies the actions that take place in a trial, of the judge as well as of the plaintiff and advocate. So Theodoret from the Septuagint. For ekdikeseis here should be translated not as "you will avenge" (as the Latin translator of Theodoret renders it), but as "you will defend," as is clear from Theodoret himself. So Prado. Second, others explain it as meaning: Do not judge, that is, condemn them, but rather show them the crimes of their fathers, so that they may be moved to compunction and repent. Third and best: will you not judge, that is, accuse, and by accusing condemn their impiety? So Maldonatus. Hence the Chaldean also translates: If you rebuke them after the manner of a judge, and condemn them? Similar is chapter XXII, 2.
SHOW THEM THE ABOMINATIONS OF THEIR FATHERS -- so that those who imitate their vices may dread their punishments: "Because by hereditary evil they drag the longest rope of sins," says St. Jerome.
Verse 5: I Appeared to Them in the Land of Egypt
5. I APPEARED TO THEM IN THE LAND OF EGYPT. -- Here there is a climax, or gradation. For first He here reproaches the Hebrews for idolatry and sins committed in Egypt. Then, verse 13, for greater ones committed in the desert. Third, verse 27, for the greatest ones committed in the promised land.
Verse 6: I Lifted up my Hand
6. I LIFTED UP MY HAND. -- Note: To lift up the hand sometimes means to swear with a hand raised toward heaven, as if calling God to witness, Genesis XIV, 22. Hence the Chaldean translates here: I swore. So also Vatablus and Maldonatus. Second, the Septuagint translates: I was made known to the seed of Jacob; as if by a hand uncovering, showing them My face. Third and best: "I lifted up My hand," that is, I showed My power, help and assistance to Moses and the Hebrews, by striking Pharaoh and the Egyptians with My hand, and powerfully liberating and leading the Hebrews from their tyranny.
FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY. -- That is, most fertile. This is a hyperbole, which I discussed at Exodus III, 8 and Numbers XIII, 28.
WHICH IS THE MOST EXCELLENT. -- In Hebrew tsebi, that is, excellence, exultation, pride, meaning: The land of Israel is the excellence and pride, as well as the beauty and delight of regions. Vatablus: It is desirable and lovely as a gazelle, which in Hebrew is called tsebi. The Septuagint: It is a honeycomb above every land, that is, sweeter and more fertile than every land. Aquila translates tsebi as firmament; Theodotion as strength; Symmachus as stasis, that is, state, namely an established religion, because in it was the temple and worship of God. What tsebi properly means I will discuss at Daniel, chapter VIII, 9. He commemorates His former benefits toward them, in order to convict them of ingratitude.
Verse 7: Offenses
7. OFFENSES. -- Symmachus translates: nausea; Aquila: cuttings off; the Hebrew tsicutse enav means abominations of the eyes, that is, abominable idols, foul and horrible, which move nausea and aversion in those who look upon them, so that they want them cut off and removed from themselves.
IDOLS. -- In Hebrew gillulim, that is, filth, dung, that is, the most sordid idols, and as it were, excremental.
Verse 8: And I Said
8. AND I SAID -- within Myself in My mind, meaning: I was thinking about destroying the Jews, so impious, in Egypt.
Verse 9: And I Acted
9. AND I ACTED (not as I had thought, but) TO BRING THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT (as follows), THAT IT SHOULD NOT BE PROFANED -- that is, blasphemed and defamed, My name before the nations, as if I could not or would not liberate and save the people who worshipped Me, as I had promised.
Verse 11: AND I GAVE THEM MY PRECEPTS AND MY JUDGMENTS, etc.
11. AND I GAVE THEM MY PRECEPTS AND MY JUDGMENTS, etc. -- These two are the same thing, says Theodoret. But Polychronius says the precepts are the Decalogue, the remaining commandments are the judgments. Again, the Scholiast says the precepts are those which concern reward, the judgments those which concern the worship of God.
WHICH IF A MAN DOES, HE SHALL LIVE BY THEM -- meaning: He who does those things which are commanded by My law, on account of them will not be punished with the death which the law threatens to transgressors, but will live a long, happy and blessed life in the land. This is clear from Deuteronomy XXX, 19. Theodoret interprets differently: He shall live, he says, the life of grace; and the Chaldean: He shall live eternal life, namely if he fulfills them in the faith and grace of God. See what was said at Leviticus XVIII, 5, and Romans X, 5.
Verse 12: Moreover I Also Gave Them my Sabbaths
12. MOREOVER I ALSO GAVE THEM MY SABBATHS. -- Some think that "sabbaths" is said here in the plural to signify a threefold sabbath. Namely, first that of days, which was properly called the sabbath; second that of months; third that of years. The sabbath of months was the seventh month, which for the most part was festive. The sabbath of years was the seventh year and the fiftieth year of jubilee. For God gave all these sabbaths to the Jews as a sign of the salvation and rest to be given through Christ. Second and better, meaning: "My sabbaths," that is, My feast days, and consequently My delights, and My blessedness, which consists in the contemplation
of Myself, I gave and communicated to them, so that in them, as on sabbaths and sacred feasts, being free from the labors and cares of the world, they might meditate on divine works, judgments, and counsels; which I Myself on the seventh day considered, examined, praised, and in whose perfection I rested: so that by this consideration and meditation they might be kindled and sanctified toward love, praise and imitation of Me. For the sabbaths were signs and spurs of this.
Verse 15: Therefore I Lifted up my Hand
15. THEREFORE I LIFTED UP MY HAND. -- That is, therefore I swore, according to Psalm XCIV, verse 11: "To whom I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter into My rest." Therefore this phrase is taken here differently than in verse 6.
Verse 16: For their Heart
16. FOR THEIR HEART (that is, their mind and affections) WENT AFTER THEIR IDOLS -- meaning: With all their zeal and affection they were carried toward worshipping idols.
Verse 23: Again I Lifted up my Hand
23. AGAIN I LIFTED UP MY HAND, meaning: Again I swore, and by swearing I threatened. For as the people murmured often in the desert, so also God often wished to destroy them, but was restrained by the prayers of Moses.
Verse 25: Therefore I Also Gave Them Precepts that Were not Good
25. THEREFORE I ALSO GAVE THEM PRECEPTS THAT WERE NOT GOOD -- that is, not perfect, as I gave in the Gospel, says St. Ambrose, Book III, Epistle to Clementian, and Cyril, Book VII Against Julian. So also Gregory, XXVIII Morals, chapter XVII (in another edition IX): "For evil things," he says, "cease to seem evil by comparison with worse things; and good things seem not good by comparison with better things. For just as it is said to Judea, who sinned worse, about Sodom and Gomorrah: 'You have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have committed': so when the better precepts of the New Testament follow, the good precepts given to the unlearned are said to be not good." Again St. Clement, Book VI of the Apostolic Constitutions, chapter XXI: "To those," he says, "who refused to see or hear -- not because they were deprived of the faculty of their mental powers, but because their perversity and malice was excessive -- to them, I say, I gave precepts that were not good, and ordinances in which they would not live by them: not good, I say, with respect to their disposition (for the cauterizing iron, the scalpel, and medicines are unfriendly to the sick); but they were not observed because of their contempt for obedience: from which it follows that, not being observed, they bring them death."
Second, Theodoret, Apollinaris and Justin, Against Trypho: "I gave them precepts," namely ceremonial ones, "not good," that is, useless,
they say, because I did not willingly institute the laws of sacrifices, as if I delighted in victims of flesh; but on account of the people's proneness to idolatry, so that I might turn them away from it.
Third, "not good," that is, not pleasant, sweet, or easy; but heavy and difficult.
Fourth and better, "I gave," that is, I permitted to be given to them, "precepts" of the Gentiles and idolaters concerning the rite of worshipping idols, meaning: I permitted them to follow their inclinations, by which they were carried toward idols; I permitted them to follow their depraved desires, so that I might punish them. So the Chaldean, St. Jerome and Maldonatus.
Fifth and best: the word "therefore" signifies the punishment following and inflicted on account of a prior fault, meaning: Because the Jews rejected My gentle law, I permitted them to be subjected to enemies and tyrants who would impose tyrannical and intolerable precepts upon them, under which they could scarcely draw breath, scarcely live. For this is what He adds: "In which they will not live," that is, in which they will die. It is a litotes. He contrasts this with His own precepts, of which He said in verse 11: "Which if a man does, he shall live by them," meaning: They refused to live in My precepts; therefore they will die and be killed under foreign and tyrannical ones. So the Hebrews and from them Prado. Note the meiosis: "not good," that is, bad, indeed the worst, most burdensome and most difficult. For "good" is the name for things that are sweet and pleasant, as Psalm CXXXII, 1: "Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together!" Conversely in Matthew VI it is said: "Sufficient for the day is its malice," that is, its trouble and affliction.
Moreover, these enemies and tyrants were not the kings and princes of Edom, Ammon, or other nations (for the Jews were not subject to or served any of these in the desert, which is the subject here, as is clear from verses 13 and 23), but their gods, or rather demons, whom the Hebrews, worshipping in the desert, subjected themselves to their harsh and deadly rites and laws. He particularly notes the laws and precepts of worshipping Moloch through the slaughter of sons and daughters. For these were "precepts not good," but the worst, and most maleficent and lethal; "in which they will not live," because through them their offspring and posterity were killed, and their name and family were cut off and perished. Hence the Arabic Antiochene translates: Nor did I give them precepts that were not polluted. Hence there follows:
Verse 26: I Defiled Them in their Own Gifts
26. I DEFILED THEM IN THEIR OWN GIFTS (that is, because they rejected My sabbaths, rites, and their best, most holy, easiest and most pleasant sacrifices, I permitted them to be defiled in their gifts, that is, their offerings, so that they offered) EVERYTHING THAT OPENS THE WOMB -- that is, their firstborn, to expiate their sins, as a sacrifice to Saturn and Moloch. That this is the meaning is clear from verse 31. For in their greatest calamity they sacrificed children as the most pleasing victim to the gods, to appease them, as Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia, and the king of Moab his firstborn son, I Kings III, last verse. Moreover, that the Jews in the desert (which is the subject here) worshipped not only the golden calf, but also Saturn, Moloch and other gods, is clear from Acts chapter VII, 43. See what I said about Moloch and his rite of worship at Leviticus XVIII, 21. Therefore God here signifies that, as punishment for their prior idolatry and other crimes, He permitted the Jews to fall into such foul, infamous and sacrilegious sacrifices, indeed parricides, namely, to slaughter and sacrifice their own sons to Moloch. He does the same even now with witches and sorcerers, who, departing from God to the devil, are compelled to worship him and sacrifice infants to him, and are also beaten and treated by him as slaves. Similarly, philosophers who acknowledge God but do not worship Him, He permitted to fall into infamous and monstrous lusts, as well as religions and sects, Romans I, 21 et seq.
IN THEIR GIFTS. -- The Septuagint reads: en dogmasin, that is, in doctrines; but it should be corrected to en domasin, that is, in offerings. Theodoret however has from Aquila: in doctrines, by which namely they taught that these gifts must be given to their god.
FOR THEIR SINS -- to be expiated: or rather, as Maldonatus says, meaning: So that they, burning their own sons with their own hands, might punish their own sins, and be executioners to themselves, namely to their own sons and heirs. Hence the Septuagint translates: That I might destroy them, namely their offspring.
Verse 28: There They Offered the Provocation of their Offering
28. THERE THEY OFFERED THE PROVOCATION OF THEIR OFFERING -- that is, their offering which provoked God: because namely it was offered to idols in injury and contempt of God. This is the third degree, or the apex of the gradation, of which I spoke at verse 8. For here He reproaches the Jews with their greatest sins, committed in Canaan, after so many and such great benefits of God received there.
Verse 29: What is the High Place?
29. WHAT IS THE HIGH PLACE? (namely the altar of idols, meaning: What religion? What benefit is there in the high place, to which you frequently go?) AND IT WAS CALLED (that is, so that to this day it is called by the Gentiles and idolaters from its elevation) HIGH PLACE -- as if it were a most noble and most famous place. So Theodoret, Apollinaris and others, meaning: My altar in Leviticus I called an altar: you call yours a high place, which name, like the thing itself, namely the idolatry practiced there, was invented not by Me, but by the demon and the idolaters. Therefore let the name of the High Place warn and teach you that you are servants and worshippers not of Me, but of the demon and of idols. So Maldonatus.
Verse 30: You Defile Yourselves
30. YOU DEFILE YOURSELVES -- not you who are asking Me here as captives in Babylon, but your brothers who are in Jerusalem, for whose imminent destruction you are asking and consulting God. So Apollinaris, Theodoret and others.
Verse 32: Nor Shall the Thought of your Mind Come to Pass, When You Say: We...
32. NOR SHALL THE THOUGHT OF YOUR MIND COME TO PASS, WHEN YOU SAY: WE WILL BE LIKE THE NATIONS. -- Not so that we may worship (for we already do that), but so that we may worship with impunity
idols. For they saw that the nations who worshipped idols were not punished by God, and saw them prosper, enjoy peace, and abound in goods, and they attributed this to their idols: but that they themselves were neglected by their God, indeed afflicted and punished; hence they also say: Let us abandon our God, who is not beneficent to us but maleficent, so that, freed from His so many and so difficult laws, we may live licentiously at our pleasure and worship idols with the nations, which bestow riches and all good things on their followers. To this God aptly responds and threatens, saying: "With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with poured-out fury I will reign over you," meaning: You shall not shake off My yoke, but I will rule and smite you with an iron rod.
Verse 34: I Will Bring You Out from the Peoples
34. I WILL BRING YOU OUT FROM THE PEOPLES -- Ammon, Moab, the Tyrians, the Egyptians, among whom, fleeing the Chaldeans, you are scattered, meaning: I will drag you back from your flight and hand you over to the Chaldeans, and thus in fury I will reign over you. So the Scholiast. St. Jerome interprets differently, meaning: I will bring you out of the Babylonian captivity, and with fury poured out not upon you but upon the Chaldeans, I will rescue you from them, so that I may reign over you.
Verse 35: And I Will Bring You Into the Desert of Peoples
35. AND I WILL BRING YOU INTO THE DESERT OF PEOPLES -- that is, into nations abandoned by God, says Theodoret. But "desert of peoples" does not mean a desert among peoples, but a desert devoid of people, namely a desert where there is no people. So in Romans I, 4, it is said: "From the resurrection of the dead," that is, from resurrection from the dead, meaning: Just as I once brought your fathers, redeemed from Egypt, into the desert of Arabia, that is, I gave them liberty and made them a self-governing state: so I will give liberty to you, brought out from Babylon after just punishment, and will lead you through the desert that lies between Judea and Chaldea, and from there back to your homeland, both through Cyrus and especially through his antitype, Christ the Lord. Note: The desert is a sign of liberty; as a city and fortress is of subjection and servitude. So Prado, Maldonatus and others. So St. Jerome to Rusticus: "For me," he says, "a town is a prison; the wilderness is a paradise."
AND I WILL ENTER INTO JUDGMENT WITH YOU THERE FACE TO FACE. -- "I will enter into judgment," that is, I will punish, says Theodoret. Better, St. Jerome: "I will enter into judgment," that is, I will contend in judgment with you, "face to face," that is, not from authority but openly, as an equal with an equal, from the fairness of the case, meaning: Just as once in Arabia, when your fathers murmured against Me, I openly showed by so many benefits and signs that they were breakers of the covenant, while I was faithful in My promises: so, when I bring you out of Babylon, I will in reality openly show My justice, so that you may see that you were justly condemned by Me to captivity for your sins, and are now mercifully brought out of it by Me. Maldonatus interprets differently: "face to face," he says, means alone with you alone, without witnesses, lest the nations see the punishments I am about to inflict upon you and rejoice.
Note that this prophecy is not exhausted in the dissolution of the Babylonian captivity by Cyrus; but in the dissolution of the captivity of Satan and of sin by Christ, of which the former was a type. Here observe: The redemption by Christ is signified by a twofold name, namely, slaughter and salvation; vengeance and redemption; indignation and peace; blood and safety. Hence by Isaiah, chapter LIX, 17, and chapter LXIII, and elsewhere, Christ is introduced as a fully-armed captain who charges the enemies with divine fury, tramples and slaughters them; namely, He tramples the impious in order to make them pious: therefore the same persons are both slaughtered and redeemed; enemies and friends; but according to their changed affections and character, they are other and different persons. The type of this was Cyrus. For just as Cyrus in Babylon killed the Chaldeans and saved the Jews: so Christ in the same man kills sin and the sinner, and raises and vivifies virtue and the virtuous, when He kills, for example, Peter the drunkard, the unchaste, the impious, and in his place raises up Peter the sober, the chaste, the pious, etc. For Cyrus bears the type of Christ; the Chaldeans, of sin and the sinner; the Jews, of virtue, of the faithful and the just. See Canon XLVI.
Thus says St. Augustine, Homily 9 on the First Epistle of St. John: "O that You would slay them (the impious) with the two-edged sword, and they would no longer be enemies of it (of the Word of God): for thus I love that they be slain to themselves, that they may live for You." So also Prado.
So what He says here: "With a strong hand and fury" -- understand: against vices -- "I will reign over you," as over men now stripped and freed from the devil and vices, and raised to new life, and living for God and heaven: "and I will enter into judgment there face to face," because, when Christ, taking upon Himself our guilt, was publicly judged and condemned before Pilate, and satisfied for our guilt, we, together with Him who was judged and condemned, publicly, with the adversary devil watching and having nothing to demand from us, were redeemed, absolved and freed: just as openly, in broad daylight, not by night, the Hebrews went forth fearlessly, freed and redeemed from Egypt, Exodus XIV, 8. This therefore is the judgment of Christ and of us, by which
by your choicest offerings you will be pleasing to Me, like the most fragrant incense and of the sweetest odor: for He calls this the odor of sweetness, in Hebrew, of rest, a phrase I discussed at Genesis VIII, 21. So the Apostle says: "That the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Spirit," Romans XV, 16.
Verse 41: I Will be Sanctified
41. I WILL BE SANCTIFIED. -- That is, I will be worshipped as holy, or praised and glorified by the nations as the holy, powerful, beneficent, faithful leader of Israel, in liberating you, just as formerly from Egypt, so now from Babylon, and especially in lifting you up from the servitude of the devil and sanctifying you. Or, "in you" taken passively, that is, in your holiness, piety and religion, "I will be sanctified."
Verse 37: And I Will Make You Pass Under my Scepter
37. AND I WILL MAKE YOU PASS UNDER MY SCEPTER. -- In Hebrew: I will make you pass under the rod, namely, like a shepherd counting his sheep one by one and caring for each. Hence, at Christ's birth, the whole world was enrolled, so that Christ might write them in the book of eternal life, as St. Gregory says, Homily 8 on the Gospels.
AND I WILL BRING YOU INTO THE BONDS OF THE COVENANT -- that is, as the Hebrew reads, into the bond of the covenant, meaning: I will enter into a new covenant and pact with you, and thereby bind you to Myself both through Ezra, and more especially through Christ.
Verse 38: And I Will Separate from You the Transgressors
38. AND I WILL SEPARATE FROM YOU THE TRANSGRESSORS. -- Just as I once killed the rebellious Jews whom I brought out of Egypt in the desert, so that they would not enter the promised land of Canaan: so, not so much under Ezra -- under whom indeed all were not so much brought out as brought back to Jerusalem -- but under Christ I will expel and scatter the unbelieving Jews from their land through Titus throughout the whole world, so that they may never return to it.
Verse 39: Go, Walk After your Idols
39. GO, WALK AFTER YOUR IDOLS -- and do not offer gifts to Me and My temple, because you are unworthy of My dominion, and you profane My holy name, when you compare Me with Baal and worship both, and pretend to offer to Me what you offer to idols, and you who are worshippers of idols say that you are Mine, or at least wish to worship and honor Me together with idols. So Aquila, the Chaldean, the Septuagint and the Hebrews. Hence Symmachus also translates: Go and serve your idols, since you do not listen to Me.
Verse 40: ON MY HOLY MOUNTAIN, etc.
40. ON MY HOLY MOUNTAIN, etc., THERE ALL THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL SHALL SERVE ME -- meaning: Do not think that I need your worship; I have others, namely those who will return from Babylon to Jerusalem and serve Me there. Second and better: I have spiritual Israelites, namely Christians, who on the mountain, that is, in the Church, which will begin on Mount Zion, will serve Me. Similar is Malachi I, 10 and 11. So Maldonatus, Prado and others.
IN THE LAND -- the holy land, namely, or the promised land, that is, the Church, which the old holy land prefigured.
IN WHICH THEY SHALL PLEASE ME. -- The Hebrew reads: There I will meet them, namely, as in the embrace of a bride.
THE BEGINNING. -- The Septuagint reads: the firstfruits of your tithes. In Hebrew massotechem, that is, of your burdens and of your obligation, whether it be from tithes, or from the census by which each person was bound by the law of Exodus XXX, 12 to give half a shekel to God; or from a vow, or any other source of obligation.
WITH ALL YOUR HOLY OFFERINGS. -- That is, in all the feasts which you will sanctify to Me: or rather, in all your holy sacrifices,
through Christ absolved from our sins; but the demon was condemned, and stripped of his power over men, concerning which Christ says: "Now is the judgment of this world, now the prince of this world shall be cast out." And again: "He (the Paraclete) will convict the world of sin, of justice, and of judgment, etc. Of judgment, because the prince of this world has already been judged," John XVI, 11.
Verse 43: And You Shall be Displeased with Yourselves
43. AND YOU SHALL BE DISPLEASED WITH YOURSELVES. -- The Septuagint: And you will strike your own faces, namely, as if indignant at yourselves for having offended so beneficent a God. Symmachus: And you will seem small to yourselves, that is, you will abase and humble yourselves. For the first utterance of Christ and the Apostles was: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand," Matthew chapter III, 2.
Note that all these things can be understood of the return from Babylon through Ezra; but better of the redemption of mankind through Christ: for they fully apply to the latter, even though they touch upon the former. See Canon V.
Verse 46: Set
46. SET. -- These words pertain to the subject matter of the following chapter. Hence St. Jerome and some others begin chapter XXI here, because it is of the same subject. Note: "Set your face," that is, with face set firm, prophesy freely and fearlessly. See chapter IV, 3.
TOWARD THE SOUTH, AND DROP YOUR WORD TOWARD THE SOUTHWEST, AND PROPHESY AGAINST THE FOREST OF THE SOUTHERN FIELD -- that is, against Jerusalem, as is clear from the next chapter, verse 2. For Ezekiel was in Babylon: and Jerusalem is partly to the south, partly to the west with respect to Babylon, which properly means it faces the southwest. Hence he calls the land of Israel the forest of the southern field, because it is mountainous and wooded, and lies south of Babylon. So Polychronius. Although Theodoret takes this forest to mean Jerusalem, which, he says, is called a forest on account of the barrenness of its fruits, the hardness, confusion of minds, and because it was a receptacle of fierce men. Isaiah uses the same phrase in chapter XXI, 18, and Jeremiah in chapter XXI, 14.
DROP. -- That is, as the Chaldean paraphrases, prophesy. For speech is similar to rain, inasmuch as from the mouth of speakers it gently slides like a droplet into the ears of listeners. See also another reason, which I gave in Canon XLVIII.
Verse 47: I Will Burn in You Every Green Tree and Every Dry Tree
47. I WILL BURN IN YOU EVERY GREEN TREE AND EVERY DRY TREE -- that is, absolutely every tree, with none excepted. For every tree is either green or dry. He persists in the metaphor of the forest: for a forest abounds in trees, and at the same time he hints at the future burning of the city. The meaning is: I will hand over all princes and subjects, old and young, rich and poor, to the fire, that is, to the devastation of the Chaldeans.
Second, better, St. Jerome: "He calls the green wood," he says, "the just, and the dry the sinners," as if to say: I will kill all in you, the holy as well as the sinners. The holy, so that by dying they may escape the evils of captivity; the sinners, so that they may be handed over to eternal punishments. For thus in the next chapter, verse 3, explaining the parable, He says: "I will kill in you the just and the wicked." Christ alludes to this in Luke XXIII, 31: "If they do these things in the green wood, what will happen in the dry?"
THE FLAME OF THE KINDLING. -- That is, the kindled flame will not be extinguished as before, but I will burn and overthrow the entire nation and city. In Hebrew it reads: flame of flame, that is, a continuous and very great flame, so that one flame continually succeeds another. By the flame he means the sword, as is clear from the next chapter, verse 3, and any kind of punishment, as I said in Canon XXVI.
EVERY FACE SHALL BE SCORCHED IN IT FROM SOUTH TO NORTH. -- Vatablus and Rabbi David translate: Their faces will burn, meaning: From shame and disgrace all the faces of the captives, along the entire road of their journey from Jerusalem to Babylon, will seem to burn and be scorched. Second, "every face," that is, whatever is beautiful and noteworthy in all of Judea, both in the parts facing south and those facing north, will be burned by the Chaldeans. So Prado. Third, Maldonatus, as if to say: All the faces of men will be so wasted and pale from hunger and fear that they will seem to have been burned, as Isaiah says, chapter XIII, 8.
Verse 49: Does This Man Speak in Parables?
49. DOES THIS MAN SPEAK IN PARABLES? -- that is, so obscurely that he is not understood: or, meaning: They say that my speech is not prophecy, but a parable, composed for the display of cleverness. So Theodoret. Hence immediately in the next chapter, the Lord commands him to speak the same things more plainly. Maldonatus interprets differently, meaning: They say I am raving, and therefore speaking in parables which are neither understood nor hold together.