Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He explains the parable of the flame raging through the forest, which He proposed at the end of the preceding chapter, saying: The sword tripled, sharpened and polished against Jerusalem: go wherever the desire of your face inclines. Secondly, in verse 19, he predicts that Nebuchadnezzar, mixing arrows at a crossroads, will take from them an omen whether he should invade Jerusalem or the Ammonites; and the omen will fall against Jerusalem, and thus the king will proceed against it: wherefore he exclaims against it, saying: Iniquity, Iniquity, Iniquity I will set upon it. Finally, in verse 28, he threatens the same devastation to the Ammonites, and in verse 30, to the Chaldeans through Cyrus and the Persians.
Vulgate Text: Ezekiel 21:1-32
1. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 2. Son of man, set your face toward Jerusalem, and drop your word toward the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel: 3. and you shall say to the land of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath, and I will slay in you the just and the wicked. 4. And because I have slain in you the just and the wicked, therefore My sword shall go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north: 5. That all flesh may know that I the Lord have drawn My sword from its sheath, irrevocably. 6. And you, son of man, groan with the breaking of your loins, and in bitterness groan before them. 7. And when they say to you: Why do you groan? you shall say: Because of the report, for it comes, and every heart shall melt, and all hands shall be weakened, and every spirit shall faint, and water shall flow down all knees: behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord God. 8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9. Son of man, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God: Say: A sword, a sword is sharpened and polished. 10. It is sharpened to slay victims; it is polished to gleam: you who move the scepter of my son, you have cut down every tree. 11. And I have given it to be polished, that it may be grasped in the hand: this sword is sharpened and polished, that it may be in the hand of the slayer. 12. Cry out and wail, son of man, for it has come upon my people, upon all the princes of Israel who had fled: they are delivered to the sword with my people; therefore strike upon your thigh. 13. For it has been tested: and this, when it shall have overthrown the scepter, and it shall be no more, says the Lord God. 14. You therefore, son of man, prophesy, and strike hand against hand, and let the sword be doubled and tripled, the sword of the slain: this is the sword of the great slaughter, which makes them stupefied, 15. and causes the heart to melt, and multiplies ruins. At all their gates I have set the terror of the sharp sword, polished to gleam, wrapped for slaughter. 16. Be sharpened, go to the right or to the left, wherever the desire of your face inclines. 17. And I too will clap My hand against hand, and will satisfy My indignation; I the Lord have spoken. 18. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 19. And you, son of man, set before yourself two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come: both shall go out from one land: and he will take a sign by hand, at the head of the way to the city he will cast lots. 20. You shall mark a way for the sword to come to Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and to Judah in the most fortified Jerusalem. 21. For the king of Babylon stood at the crossroads, at the head of two ways, seeking divination, mixing arrows: he consulted the idols, he inspected the entrails. 22. At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth for slaughter, to raise the voice in war cry, to set battering rams against the gates, to heap up a siege mound, to build fortifications. 23. And it will seem to them as though he consulted the oracle in vain, and imitated the leisure of sabbaths: but he will call to mind their iniquity to seize them. 24. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have caused your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, and your sins appear in all your doings: because, I say, you have been brought to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand. 25. And you, profane, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end: 26. Thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban, take off the crown: is not this she who raised up the lowly and brought low the exalted? 27. Iniquity, iniquity, iniquity I will make it: and this has not been done until he comes whose right it is to judge, and I will give it to him. 28. And you, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God to the children of Ammon, and concerning their reproach, and you shall say: A sword, a sword, unsheathe yourself to slay, polish yourself to destroy and to gleam, 29. while they see vain things for you, and divine lies: to lay you upon the necks of the wounded wicked, whose day has come in the time of the iniquity of the end. 30. Return to your sheath, in the place where you were created, in the land of your birth I will judge you, 31. and I will pour out My indignation upon you: in the fire of My fury I will blow upon you, and I will deliver you into the hands of foolish men, who fashion destruction. 32. You shall be fuel for the fire, your blood shall be in the midst of the land, you shall be given over to oblivion: for I the Lord have spoken.
Verse 2: Drop your Word Toward the Sanctuaries
2. DROP YOUR WORD TOWARD THE SANCTUARIES. — Prophesy against the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, which are, as it were, two sanctuaries, that is, holy temples. Also against the court and porticoes, which are the place and temple of the people, in which Christ and the Apostles preached. Here he clearly explains the preceding parable, which he proposed at the end of the preceding chapter. So St. Jerome.
Verse 3: Behold, I Am Against You
3. BEHOLD, I AM AGAINST YOU — namely, I turn My face and send My fury. So the Chaldean. It is an aposiopesis, signifying that God is utterly indignant.
I WILL DRAW (bring forth, unsheathe) MY SWORD FROM ITS SHEATH. — The sheath, says Theodoret, is God's longsuffering; the sword is God's vengeance and punishment, which He exercised through the Chaldeans. Secondly and more truly, the sword is Nebuchadnezzar, as is explained in verses 19 and 30. The sheath is his homeland, namely Babylon, as is clear from verse 30, as if to say: I will bring Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans out of Chaldea against you, O Jerusalem!
and the Chaldeans out of Chaldea against you, O Jerusalem! So Maldonatus. What therefore he called fire parabolically in chapter xx, 47, here he properly calls the sword.
I WILL SLAY IN YOU THE JUST AND THE WICKED. — You will ask by what justice God slays the just? The Septuagint, to avoid this, translate: I will destroy from you the unjust and the wicked; the Chaldean: I will cause your just to migrate from you, that I may destroy your sinners. But the Hebrew has it as our Translator renders: "I will slay" therefore "in you the just," namely, one who considers himself just, when he is truly unjust and guilty. It is a catachresis. Moreover, God permits the innocent and the guilty to be involved in a common disaster and destruction (such as that of Jerusalem), but He does not do this in a particular calamity, as He said in chapter xviii, 4. And thus reconcile these two passages with each other.
Verse 4: And Because
4. AND BECAUSE (as if to say: If I thus punish My own nation, namely the Jews, how much more will I punish foreign nations, which rejoiced at the destruction of the Jews and aided it, Zechariah i, 14, namely Ammon, Moab, and the other nations that dwell) FROM SOUTH TO NORTH? — that is, from Jerusalem to Chaldea. But since he speaks here only of the Jews, and will treat of Ammon in verses 28 and 30, you may better explain it thus, as if to say: "I have slain," that is, I have decreed to slay, "the just and the wicked;" therefore in fact and in reality "My sword shall go forth from its sheath against all flesh from south to north," so that it may rage through all of Judea, to slaughter all the Jews dwelling from Dan to Beersheba. For Dan was the northern boundary of Judea; Beersheba, the southern. These correspond to the parable of the preceding chapter, verse 47.
Verse 5: Irrevocable
5. IRREVOCABLE — which no one will be able to call back or hinder, namely, until it has accomplished My will and completed just vengeance.
Verse 6: Groan with
6. GROAN WITH (that is, because of) THE BREAKING OF YOUR LOINS. — That is, groan as those whose loins are broken, such as women in labor; or, as if to say: Groan vehemently, so that from your sighs and groans your loins will seem to be broken and ruptured. So St. Jerome and Maldonatus. IN BITTERNESS — namely, of soul, that is, bitterly; the Septuagint: in sorrows. Note that this command was effective. Whence Ezekiel was seized with acute pain in his loins, and from it gave forth deep groans. Behold how hard are the things that prophets undergo to move the people, namely: "If you wish me to weep, you yourself must first weep."
Verse 7: Because of the Report
7. BECAUSE OF THE REPORT (that is, on account of the thing heard): FOR IT COMES — as if to say: Groan, because the thing heard, namely the calamity which I have heard from God, is now at hand and comes upon the Jews, and hangs over and threatens their heads. The Septuagint translate: because of the tidings; Vatablus: because of the rumor, namely of the approaching enemy. EVERY HEART SHALL MELT (that is, shall fail with fear and, as it were, dissolve); EVERY SPIRIT SHALL FAINT (the Chaldean: shall be darkened; the Septuagint: shall be tested) — that is, the soul and the soul's strength and vigor. Courage will desert their bodies, strength will desert their courage, says Prado. WATER SHALL FLOW — that is, watery sweat, or rather, as St. Jerome says, urine. "For it is natural," he says, "that when fear compels, the bladder is loosened, and fluid flows against a man's will." See Canon LV. Here we have a hypotyposis, that is, a vivid description of immense fear and terror.
Verse 9: A Sword, a Sword
9. A SWORD, A SWORD (this repetition signifies that a terrible and twofold, that is manifold, sword threatens the Jews, meaning that a great and massive slaughter will soon befall them) IS SHARPENED AND POLISHED — that is, burnished. It is a periphrasis for an imminent and fierce battle: for in battle soldiers customarily sharpen and polish their swords. Mystically, the sword of God's wrath and the avenger and executor is the devil, says St. Jerome. Thus against Ammon he cries out, verse 28: "A sword, a sword, unsheathe yourself to slay: polish yourself to destroy and to gleam." Likewise against the Philistines Jeremiah exclaims, chapter xlvii, 6: "O sword of the Lord! how long will you not be quiet? Enter into your sheath, cool yourself, and be still. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord has given it a charge against Ashkelon, etc., and there appointed it?" Thus elsewhere Jeremiah often echoes Ezekiel like chorus answering chorus, so that what Ezekiel prophesied in Babylon, Jeremiah would often resound and respond to in Jerusalem with the same words, as in antiphon and antistrophe.
God often showed and threatened such a sword to nations because of their sins. Thus through a comet having the form of a sword, hovering over Jerusalem for an entire year, He threatened the same city with destruction by Titus, as Josephus testifies, Book VI of the War, chapter xii. Thus in the year of Christ 337, in which Constantine the Great died, a comet of unusual magnitude shone for a long time before his death, a portent of his death and of the calamities which the Arians inflicted on the Church under his son Constantius, as Eutropius testifies in Book X. Thus in the year of Christ 444, which was the 5th year of Pope Leo I and the 37th of the Emperor Theodosius the Younger, a comet was seen to burn for the greater part of the year, threatening and portending the incursions of the Huns into the Roman Empire, which they began to make this year into Illyricum, says Marcellinus in the Chronicle.
Thus in the year of Christ 632, which was the 23rd of the Emperor Heraclius, a comet appeared at midday in the form of a sword, threatening Christians, especially the Palestinians, on account of their sins, with the incursions of the Saracens, namely Abu Bakr the successor of Muhammad, which occurred in the same year. So Theophanes and from him Baronius. Thus in the year of Christ 679, a comet appeared for three months, threatening a severe famine and plague, which followed three years later, especially in England, as Bede reports in Book IV of his History, chapter xiii. Thus in the year of Christ 837, the Emperor Louis, son of Charlemagne, seeing a comet at Aachen, which after 25 days finally deposited at the feet of Auriga in the head of Taurus its fiery globe and the length of its rays, perceived that his death and a change of reign were portended. And when mathematicians tried to divert him from this interpretation, citing that passage of Jeremiah chapter x: "Do not fear the signs of heaven, which the nations fear," he, using his customary magnanimity and prudence, said: We ought to fear no other than Him who is the creator of ourselves and of this star. But we cannot sufficiently praise and imitate His clemency, who deigns to warn our inertia with such signs, since we are sinners and impenitent. Since therefore this portent touches both me and all in common, let us all hasten to better things as far as we can and know, lest perchance, while He extends mercy and our impenitence hinders it, we be found unworthy of that mercy. Wherefore he himself distributed most generous alms, and had solemn Masses celebrated wherever he could, not so much fearing for himself as looking out for the Church entrusted to him; and soon, crowning his son Charles as king, he prepared himself for death, which came in the year of the Lord 840. So relates the author of his Life and an eyewitness of these events.
Thus in the year of Christ 729, two comets appeared around the sun, causing great terror in those who beheld them. One indeed preceded the rising sun, the other in the evening followed the setting sun, as if portending a dreadful catastrophe for both East and West at once. They bore the appearance of fire toward the north, as if to kindle an ascent. At that time the most grievous plague of the Saracens devastated Gaul with wretched slaughter, says Bede in Book V of his History, chapter xxiv. These were therefore like two tongues of fire, which foretold massacres of wretched Christians, plundering of sacred temples, conflagrations and sacrileges, slayings of priests, violations of virgins consecrated to God, etc., says Baronius.
Thus in the year of Christ 1110, a comet appearing portended the fierce war and harsh bondage which the Emperor Henry IV inflicted on the Roman Church, arriving in Italy in the same year. So Peter the Deacon, Chronicle of Cassino, Book IV, chapter xxxvii.
despise, reject every tree. Now the Hebrew has it, as Vatablus and others translate: How shall we rejoice (namely, about this sword) which destroys and casts off the tribe of my son, and every tree? As if to say: There is no cause for rejoicing here, as though this sword were to be drawn against enemies, since it will rage more against the tribe of my son, namely Judah, than against the other nations. But our reading is truer and more fitting. Our Translator seems to have read, instead of o nasis, that is, how shall we rejoice, mansi, that is, removing, moving: for in both words the Hebrew letters are similar and close to each other. So Maldonatus, Prado, and others. Finally the Chaldean translates: To slay slaughter it has been drawn, to execute vengeance it has been sharpened: because the tribes of Judah and Benjamin rejoiced over the tribes of Israel when they migrated, because they had served idols, and they themselves turned to go astray after wooden images.
Verse 11: I Have Given it to be Polished
11. I HAVE GIVEN IT TO BE POLISHED — as if to say: I have sharpened and polished this sword, namely the forces and arms of the Chaldeans, so that it may better cut, penetrate, and slay while it is held in the hand, namely of the enemy Chaldeans. So Vatablus. Or, as Prado says, so that it may be held in the hand, namely of God, who acts as leader in the Babylonian army.
Verse 12: This Has Been Done Against my People
12. THIS HAS BEEN DONE AGAINST MY PEOPLE ("this has been done," that it may be wielded; or rather "this has been done," that is, it will be done and wielded against my people, and against all the leaders) WHO HAD FLED — that is, who will flee, namely against Zedekiah and his princes, who while fleeing from the Chaldeans will be captured and killed, Jeremiah lii, 10. Others explain it of Johanan and other leaders who fled to Egypt after the murder of Gedaliah. For these were slain there by the Chaldeans, Jeremiah xliii. STRIKE UPON YOUR THIGH — that is, in the manner of those who are stunned and deeply grieving, strike your thigh. A similar passage is Jeremiah xxxi, 19.
Verse 13: For it Has Been Tested
13. FOR IT HAS BEEN TESTED — namely, the sword has proven itself good, polished and fit to cut and slay; the Septuagint: because it has been justified, that is, judged fit for its purpose; Aquila: because it has searched out, that is, even if someone has hidden himself, this sword of God will nevertheless find him. For it is, like God, hundred-eyed, like Argus.
Verse 10: To Slay Victims
10. TO SLAY VICTIMS — because God is honored and appeased by the slaying of the wicked as if by victims, Joshua vii, 25; Isaiah xxxiv, 6. Again, the word "victims" signifies that there will be an immense slaughter, so that men will be butchered like cattle. Hence in Hebrew it is: to slaughter a slaughter, or to sacrifice victims. For this doubling of the same word contains a great amplification. A similar phrase is in Jeremiah xlvi, 10. TO GLEAM — that is, by its gleaming to strike terror into the Jews. YOU WHO MOVE THE SCEPTER OF MY SON, HAVE CUT DOWN EVERY TREE — as if to say: O sword of the Chaldeans, "you who" in your place "move," that is, destroy the rod and "scepter," that is, the kingdom, "of my son," namely Israel, "have cut down," that is, will even more easily cut down, "every tree," that is, every other people and nation. Hence the Septuagint translate: Slay, despise, reject every tree.
AND THIS, WHEN IT SHALL HAVE OVERTHROWN THE SCEPTER (that is, the kingdom of Judah), AND IT SHALL BE NO MORE — that is, so that it ceases to exist, as if to say: This sword has proven itself, since it cut down so powerful a scepter as that of Judah, showing that it is fit to cut down other nations as well. The Septuagint: And what if even the tribe of Judah be rejected? R. David and the Hebrews translate differently, namely: And what if it should even reject the scepter? that is, pass it over, not kill it, but spare it; "it shall not be," namely, proven, that is, it would have been polished and sharpened in vain. But to reject is not to spare.
Verse 14: Strike Hand Against Hand
14. STRIKE HAND AGAINST HAND — in admiration, astonishment, and grief clap your hands once, twice, and thrice, because the sword of the Chaldeans will come a second and third time to slay the Jews: namely, first, under Jehoiakim; second, under Jehoiachin; third, under Zedekiah. So St. Jerome. This sword, therefore, tripled, "is of a great slaughter," especially the future one under Zedekiah when Jerusalem was taken.
The Hebrews translate: of the great slain, that is, of those who are great and slain, meaning that it will slay many nobles. WHICH MAKES THEM STUPEFIED. — The Hebrew: Which penetrates them, so that, with blood shed, they become rigid and stupefied. For the Hebrew word chader means an inner chamber, as if to say: Even if you flee to Egypt, or to forests and caves, this sword will pursue you, even into the innermost chambers. Hence Vatablus translates: The sword that will range through bedchambers, in order to slay citizens hiding in them. Others translate: The sword that has hitherto been concealed. But St. Jerome, the Septuagint, and the Chaldean, translating: Which will cause them to be stupefied or to tremble, instead of chader read, by metathesis, charad, that is, to tremble, to be struck, to be stupefied.
Verse 15: And Causes the Heart to Melt, and Multiplies Ruins
15. AND CAUSES THE HEART TO MELT, AND MULTIPLIES RUINS — that is, it will multiply corpses by killing many. AT ALL THEIR GATES I HAVE SET TERROR — that is, many will seek an opportunity for flight at the gates, but will fall upon the enemy, who will strike and slay them. So the Scholiast. POLISHED TO GLEAM. — The Septuagint: Like lightning passing through. For thus read the Complutensian and Theodoret, although the Roman text reads: Made well for gleaming; for the Hebrew barac means both lightning and gleaming. Thus the two Scipios are called twin thunderbolts of war. Thus Apelles painted Alexander as lightning, suddenly pervading and flashing across the world, but quickly disappearing. Thus this epitaph was given to the Emperor Louis, son of Charlemagne, who died in the year of Christ 840, as the author of his Life reports: Thunderbolt of the empire, noble summit of the Franks, Removed from the world, he is laid in this tomb.
THE SWORD WRAPPED FOR SLAUGHTER. — "Wrapped," that is, enveloped, cloaked, as if to say: Just as an executioner about to cut off a condemned man's head sharpens and whets the sword, and wraps and covers the polished blade lest it be stained — not in a sheath, but so that he may have it at hand and, unknown to the condemned, suddenly cut off his head, under a cloak or garment — so this sword of God is wrapped, that is, covered with a cloak, as if ready for sudden slaughter. Hence Prado: "Wrapped," he says, that is, suddenly drawn from the covering under which it lay hidden, for slaughter. The same author also translates the Hebrew meutta differently, namely as swooping down for slaughter, like a bird of prey which, with wings spread, overwhelms its prey by covering it. Otherwise Maldonatus: "Wrapped," he says, that is, girded on a soldier with a belt; for the sword is wound and wrapped with straps when a soldier girds it on. Otherwise also Vatablus.
Verse 16: Sharpen Yourself, Go to the Right or to the Left
16. SHARPEN YOURSELF, GO TO THE RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT. — Vatablus and R. David; but with exultation and mockery, and indignation, which I will fulfill against My enemies. Hence St. Jerome: "The Lord," he says, "exults as if encouraging the raging sword;" and the Chaldean translates: I will bring vengeance upon vengeance. The sense is, as if to say: You, O Jerusalem! clap your hands; I too will clap with the same hands, but you in grief, I in joy, mocking you as My enemy. Thus clapping is the gesture of one who exults and mocks, Psalm xlvi, 1; Lamentations ii, 15; 2 Kings xi, 12, and elsewhere.
Verse 19: Set Before Yourself Two Ways
19. SET BEFORE YOURSELF TWO WAYS — depict for yourself a road from Chaldea divided into two parts or paths, one of which leads to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbah, that is Philadelphia, so that you may represent to yourself and the people the deliberation and route of Nebuchadnezzar: namely, that when he comes, "at the head of the way," that is, at the crossroads where two roads leading to the two cities meet, then he will take a sign by hand, which way to enter and which city to attack, and after performing the divination, he will take the road toward Jerusalem. The Prophet is here commanded to depict all this on a tablet or brick or board, and actually represent it to the people — namely, the following narrative about the omen that Nebuchadnezzar took while he was deliberating whether to invade the Jews or the Ammonites. Similarly he was commanded in chapter iv to depict the siege of the city on a brick. THAT THE SWORD MAY COME — that is, by which (namely, ways, as preceded) the army of the Chaldeans can come. HE WILL CAST LOTS — he will form a conjecture from the casting of lots and the omen that follows.
Verse 20: You Shall Mark a Way
20. YOU SHALL MARK A WAY — that is, you shall describe one road by which the army of the Chaldeans can come to Rabbah, the capital of Ammon; the other by which it can come to Jerusalem.
Verse 21: He Stood
21. HE STOOD — that is, Nebuchadnezzar will stand taking an omen. MIXING ARROWS — namely, inscribing on one arrow the name Rabbah, on another the name Jerusalem, then mixing them in a quiver, and with eyes closed drawing one out, he would learn by lot that he must go where that arrow's inscription directed; but since God willed to punish Jerusalem through him and directed his hand, he drew out the one inscribed with Jerusalem; therefore he proceeded against it. So St. Jerome.
It can be translated from the Hebrew as: casting arrows, namely, shooting two or three arrows mingled together straight up into the air, to see whether they would fall to the right toward Jerusalem or to the left toward Rabbah, and he would proceed in whichever direction they fell. So the Chaldean and Polychronius; and this seems more suited for taking an omen of the way. The Hebrew kilkal means he made the arrows light or swift, namely by casting them into the air. Hence the Syriac translates: he shot an arrow; both Arabic versions: he cast an arrow. Thirdly, Vatablus translates: he polished the arrows, that is, the iron of the arrows, so that it would gleam, and in that gleam the diviners might discern which way to go, just as they are accustomed to gaze into the shining nail of the thumb and divine from it. So also R. David and R. Solomon. They therefore hold that what is signified here is a kind of catoptromantic divination, by which augurs inspected the future in a gleaming point, as in a crystal or fingernail. But since this is an invention of more recent commentators, it is better to follow the version and explanation of St. Jerome and the Septuagint. So Delrio, Book IV of Magical Disquisitions, chapter ii, Question VII, section III.
The Septuagint translate: To make the rod boil up. The Greeks call this belomancy or rhabdomancy, that is, divination by arrows or by rods. The Hebrews imitated this superstition of the Chaldeans, as St. Jerome, Cyril, and Theophylact teach, on that passage of Hosea iv: "My people consulted their wood, and their staff announced to them," namely, future things. Moreover, that among the ancients there were various methods of divining by rods or staves thrown into the air, Coelius Rhodiginus teaches in Book VII of Ancient Readings, chapter xxix. The king here seeks the omen by arrows, not by books or other means, both because he was seeking an oracle about war, in which men customarily fought with arrows, and because this oracle he sought from heaven, from the gods, toward whom he cast the arrow into the air. Thus the arrow of Abaris is symbolically the mind contemplating and flying toward God and divine things, says Blessed Gregory of Nazianzus, and from him Nicolas Caussin in Book XII of Parallel Histories, chapter xlix. For they relate, or rather fable, that Abaris the Scythian hurled an arrow with such force that it flew from Greece all the way to Scythia, which Blessed Gregory of Nazianzus explains and offers as a type of the mind, which, supported on the wings of contemplation, is borne to heaven with immense speed: and just as the arrow of Abaris sought its homeland, so the mind of the blessed seeks the abode of the Blessed.
Note: Among the ancients, especially the pagans, these lots and omens were very commonly used. The Emperor Julian (as Ammianus Marcellinus writes in Book xxxii), when a Babylonian horse fell and in its fall with its ornaments crashed to the ground, from this conjectured that Babylon would be subjected to his dominion. Caesar, having made a landing on the African shore, happened to trip and fell headlong into the sand. Some took this fall as an ill omen; but he himself, to encourage his men from the disheartening event, grasping the sand with both hands, cried out in a loud voice: "I hold you, Africa!" So Dio, Book xlii. A similar omen of empire was received by William the Norman when invading England. For as soon as he had left the ship, having slightly stumbled, he planted his foot firmly in the sand. Seeing this, a soldier, exulting and eager with joy, said: "Already, duke, with firm foot you hold England." The witness is Polydore, Book VIII of the English History.
When Caesar had dreamed that he was foully coupled with his mother at night, the augurs affirmed that this foretold his power and dominion over the republic. Whence it is clear that they were accustomed to interpret these portents to please men and according to their own judgment, not from any firm reasoning. More truly and more divinely, St. Gregory received an omen by God's inspiration about the conversion of England, as John the Deacon relates in Book I of his Life, chapters xxi, xxiii, and xxiv. For when he saw beautiful and fair boys, but pagans, for sale in the Roman marketplace, groaning that they were the sons of pagans, he asked by what name they were called. "The merchant answered: They are called Angli (English). And he: Well, he said, Angli, as if angels, because they have angelic faces, and it is fitting that such should be fellow citizens of the angels in heaven. He then asked what name the province itself bore. The merchant answered: Those provincials are called Deiri. And Gregory: Well, he said, Deiri; because they are to be rescued from wrath (de ira) and called to the grace of Christ. He said: What is the name of the king of that province? The merchant answered: He is called Aelle. And Gregory, alluding to the name, said: Well, since the king is called Aelle: for Alleluia ought to be sung in praise of the Creator in those parts." Wherefore he himself asked and obtained from Pope Benedict to be sent to England.
And behold another omen of his: for when he was proceeding to England, resting in a certain place and reading, "a locust landing upon him compelled him to pause briefly from reading, and by consideration of the name taught him that he ought to remain in that place. Then he is reported to have said: Locusta, he said, can be understood as loco sta (stay in place)." Soon afterwards legates arriving from the Pope compelled him to return. For the Roman people had requested, indeed extorted this from the Pope, saying to him: "You have offended Peter, you have destroyed Rome, because you have let Gregory go." For God destined him not for England but to be the teacher and ruler of the whole Church. Wherefore he himself shortly after was made Pope, and soon sent St. Augustine with companions to England, who converted it to the faith of Christ.
Thus St. Eustratius, a noble martyr in Armenia under Diocletian, whose relics I venerated at Rome in the German College, was eager for martyrdom but feared the cruelty of the governor. He therefore took an omen of martyrdom by divine instinct. He ordered his servant to place his belt on the altar and observe whether the priest Auxentius, a holy man, entering to pray, would take it from the altar or not. If he took it, he had no doubt that the outcome of martyrdom would be favorable; if not, that he should hide himself and not rush into martyrdom. It happened, therefore, that Auxentius took the belt, and understanding this, Eustratius leapt up joyfully, and commending himself to the prayers of the martyrs bound in prison, he presented himself to the prefect Lysias, and with wonderful freedom professing himself a Christian, he bravely underwent the glorious contest of martyrdom. So his Life has it, on December 13.
HE CONSULTED THE IDOLS, HE INSPECTED THE ENTRAILS. — The king therefore sought a threefold divination: first, from the lot and omen of arrows, about which I have already spoken; second, by seeking an oracle from Bel, Nebo, and his other idols; third, by consulting the entrails. Entrails properly refer to the heart and lungs, from the word exstando (standing out), because they are located in the upper part; also the spleen, liver, and stomach, because they are situated above the lower intestines. Entrails are so called, says Festus, because those parts which most stand out and project are offered to the gods. Through these the pagans divined, by examining the heart, liver, stomach, etc. of the victim, and their position and arrangement: hence they called such divinations extispicia (inspection of entrails), from inspecting the entrails; and the diviner was called an Extispex (entrails-inspector). So Cicero, Book II On Divination.
Verse 22: At his Right Hand Was the Divination
22. AT HIS RIGHT HAND WAS THE DIVINATION. — Through the lots of arrows already described, perhaps also through the responses of idols and soothsayers, he understood that he must take the road toward Jerusalem. For Nebuchadnezzar was afraid to go there, says St. Jerome, remembering that 185 thousand Assyrians had been slain there by an Angel in one night, and knowing that the city was very strongly fortified. TO SET BATTERING RAMS — namely, military engines with which to batter the gates and walls of Jerusalem. TO OPEN THE MOUTH FOR SLAUGHTER — to exhort and rouse his soldiers by word of mouth to slaughter. IN WAR CRY — the Septuagint: in the blast of the trumpet.
Verse 23: And it Will Seem to Them as Though he Consulted the Oracle in Vain
23. AND IT WILL SEEM TO THEM AS THOUGH HE CONSULTED THE ORACLE IN VAIN — as if to say: To the Jews it will seem that Nebuchadnezzar comes in vain from his divination against Jerusalem. For they themselves think it is impregnable; but they do not know that it was not the idols, but God who directed the lots so that the king would choose Jerusalem to conquer, and therefore by God's nod and help he will certainly conquer it. AND IMITATING THE LEISURE OF SABBATHS — that is, as St. Jerome says, to the Jews Nebuchadnezzar will seem to keep the leisure of sabbaths, that is, to play around and accomplish nothing with all his military equipment. The Septuagint translate the Hebrew word for word: it will seem to them that he is counting weeks upon weeks. Otherwise Vatablus and Kimchi translate: swearing oaths to them, as if to say: The Jews will not believe the Chaldeans are coming, because they have ratified a covenant with them by oath. Otherwise R. Solomon and the Chaldean translate: seven times seven, that is, 49 times, the Chaldean cast lots, and each time it came out against Jerusalem; for the Hebrew scheba, first, means seven; second, the seventh day, namely the sabbath; third, a week; fourth, an oath. For the ancients swore by the number seven, as I showed in Genesis xxi, 23. Hence again others translate: Oaths of oaths to them, that is, because they themselves, namely the Jews, trust in the pacts and oaths by which God promised to protect the city and temple, hence they live securely, thinking the city impregnable since it is protected by God's help.
BUT HE HIMSELF (namely Nebuchadnezzar) WILL REMEMBER THE INIQUITY — of the Jews, and especially the treachery and perjury of Zedekiah, rebelling against the faith given to the Chaldeans, as if to say: As soon as the lot fell against Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed: This is the just judgment of God, and the treacherous Zedekiah will be punished.
Verse 24: Because You Have Been Brought to Remembrance
24. BECAUSE YOU HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO REMEMBRANCE — you have recalled, published, boasted of your iniquities (so that even the enemy hears them and detests them), it is just that I deliver you to them. Note that public calamities are not sent except for public sins, especially when the wicked proclaim and boast of them: for then they cry out to heaven and provoke vengeance from there. YOU SHALL BE TAKEN BY HAND (namely, of the Chaldeans). — So the Chaldean.
Verse 25: But You, Profane One
25. BUT YOU, PROFANE ONE — in Hebrew chalal, that is, polluted; the Chaldean: you who are worthy of death; Vatablus: condemned to slaughter. He speaks to the treacherous Zedekiah. WHOSE DAY HAS COME (namely, of vengeance) IN THE TIME OF INIQUITY — at the time when you wickedly violated the oath, "appointed" by God. It could be translated: in the time of iniquity appointed, that is, consummated, namely when, your wickedness having reached its summit, the end and consummation of you and your kingdom are at hand. Hence others translate and explain: in the time of the iniquity of the end, that is, in the time when your iniquity must be ended by destruction; or, in the time when your iniquity will bring you the end of your kingdom. So R. David.
Verse 26: Remove the Turban, Take Off the Crown
26. REMOVE THE TURBAN, TAKE OFF THE CROWN — that is, as Theodoret and the Chaldean say: take away Seraiah the high priest and strip him of his pontifical turban and priesthood; take also the royal crown from the head of Zedekiah. But since he speaks to only one person, namely the prince, that is, the king, it is better to understand it so that the turban and crown are the same thing, namely a white band with which they wound the head. For this was formerly the crown of kings (and hence it is called a diadem from diadein, that is, from binding around), just as in ancient coins emperors are seen with their heads bound and crowned with a band. And this is what the Hebrew mitsnephet means: for tsanaph means to wrap around. Thus Plutarch, in his Life of Lucullus, relates that the wife of Mithridates hanged herself with her own diadem wrapped around her. And Justin, Book xv, relates that Alexander bound the wound of Lysimachus with his own diadem, which was an omen that he would become king. Dio, in his Life of Pompey, relates that Tigranes cast his white headband before Pompey's feet, as if subjecting to him the royal insignia and kingdom. So Maldonatus and Prado, who also adds: Or indeed by turban he means the cap, and by crown the band wrapped around the said cap.
IS NOT THIS SHE WHO RAISED UP THE LOWLY? — The royal crown raised up the lowly Jehoiachin to the royal throne. For Evil-merodach, seeing Jehoiachin humbled, restored to him his royal attire and crown; or rather, as if to say: This crown of Zedekiah, when he was lowly, raised him to the kingdom and glory; now it will cast him down and humble him for his pride. For this crown loves and follows the humble; but it hates and flees the proud. For honor and exaltation follow those who flee them, and flee those who pursue and seek them. Thus Chilon, or as others prefer, Aesop, when asked what Jupiter was doing, answered: "He casts down the exalted, and exalts the cast down." Otherwise St. Jerome: This, he says, is the turban and crown which has done nothing justly: for it "raised up the humble," that is, him who ought to have been humbled (namely Zedekiah); and "brought low the exalted," that is, him who ought to have been exalted, for example Jehoiachin. Otherwise Hector Pintus, as if to say: This is the royal power of Zedekiah, by which he perverted justice, namely by raising up the lowly and base whom he should have rejected, and by humbling the exalted and eminent whom he should have raised up.
Verse 27: Iniquity, Iniquity, Iniquity I Will Make it
27. INIQUITY, INIQUITY, INIQUITY I WILL MAKE IT. — In Hebrew avva, that is, perversity, crookedness, obliquity I will set upon it, namely, the royal crown of Zedekiah and Judea, as if to say: I will cause the turban or tiara of Zedekiah, which formerly was straight in the manner of kings, to be bent, and this gradually and in a threefold manner — namely, first by Nebuchadnezzar; second by Antiochus and the Greeks; third and fully by Titus and the Romans. More simply and plainly, iniquity can be taken both properly for guilt and figuratively for the punishment of iniquity, as if to say: I will set forth and show to all his manifold iniquities, by the very act of punishing him through the Chaldeans, casting him down, bending him to the ground. For by the threefold iniquity he signifies total iniquity: also great and manifold. For the number three is the symbol of multitude and universality. For three is everything, namely beginning, middle, and end, says Aristotle; for it is not of one, nor of two, but of three that it is first said that they are all.
This interpretation is favored by the Syriac, which translates: And this also into iniquity and fraud (oppression) I will set it; and the Arabic Antiochene: And this also iniquity and ignorance has made it; and the Arabic Alexandrian: And make this one into iniquity and deceit. AND THIS HAS NOT BEEN DONE (as if to say: This will not happen, namely, the crown of the Jewish kingdom will not be completely bent and cast down) UNTIL HE COMES WHOSE RIGHT IT IS TO JUDGE — that is, the right to this kingdom. This is not Nebuchadnezzar, as Lyranus and Pintus hold; nor Zerubbabel, as Polychronius; but Christ, to whom the Father has given all judgment, John v, 22. Because those who were kings of the Jews after Zedekiah, from the Maccabees — such as Alexander, Aristobulus, and Hyrcanus — obtained the kingdom not so much by hereditary right as by force, says St. Jerome. Hence others translate: I will bend, bend that punishment, namely the crown of Judea, that is, I will make it fit no one's head, until Christ comes, to whom it is owed and for whom it has been reserved.
Verse 28: To the Children of Ammon
28. TO THE CHILDREN OF AMMON. — Here the Prophet passes from the Jews to the Ammonites, and threatens them with a similar destruction; because they mocked their kinsmen and neighbors the Jews when they were being devastated by the Chaldeans, and invaded their possessions, Jeremiah xlix, 1. CONCERNING THEIR REPROACH — by which the Ammonites taunted the Jews and their God as weak, because Nebuchadnezzar, in verse 21, had turned aside to them, as if not daring to invade the Ammonites. The same is predicted by Zephaniah, chapter ii, 8. A SWORD, A SWORD, UNSHEATHE YOURSELF TO SLAY, POLISH YOURSELF. — Correct with the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans: unsheathe, polish, in the vocative, as if to say: O sword of the Chaldeans! you are already unsheathed and polished, so that after Jerusalem you may rage against the Ammonites. In Hebrew it is: O sword, O sword, open! That is, you who are already opened, unsheathed, and drawn, so that you may gleam and slay the Ammonites.
POLISH YOURSELF TO DESTROY AND TO GLEAM. — Leo the Hebrew translates: Polished to consume, and in this you gleam; Vatablus: It is polished to endure, and for the gleaming; that is, he says: It is polished to suffice for slaying many, and to terrify with its gleaming (as with lightning: for the Hebrew barac means both lightning and gleaming) those who are to perish; the Septuagint: Unsheathed for consumption, arise to gleam; others: wiped clean to seize, so that you may seize and hold the slaughter and carnage of many. So Pineda from the Complutensians, Book V On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter v. All these come to the same thing. For the Hebrew huchil descends from the root cel, which means to be able, to suffice, to sustain, to consummate, to encompass all. For the noun col is the same as all. It therefore signifies a universal slaughter and killing of all. Furthermore the Syriac translates: A sword, a sword, which is prepared (fitted) for slaughter, and sharpened, and gleaming; the Arabic Antiochene: And say, a sword, a sword drawn out, is prepared for slaughter; the Arabic Alexandrian: O sword prepared for slaughter, which is polished, which gleams, rule over their vain and false visions.
Verse 29: While They See Vain Things for You, and Divine Lies
29. WHILE THEY SEE VAIN THINGS FOR YOU, AND DIVINE LIES — as if to say: This sword is prepared for you, O Ammon, while your false prophets mendaciously promise you immunity from it and security: just as before it was prepared and polished against the Jews, when they themselves, trusting in false prophets, did not believe it would come against them. Note: These words are inserted as if in a parenthesis. Hence follows: THAT YOU MIGHT BE LAID (namely, O sword!) UPON THE NECKS OF THE WOUNDED WICKED — namely the Ammonites, just as before you were laid upon the necks of the Jews. IN THE TIME OF INIQUITY. — See what was said at verse 25.
Verse 30: Return to your Sheath
30. RETURN TO YOUR SHEATH (namely, O Chaldean, who are the avenging sword of the Lord! having accomplished the vengeance, return to Chaldea: there) I WILL JUDGE YOU. — That is, I will punish your tyranny and other crimes, just as through you I punished other nations. For Cyrus overthrew Babylon. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. For here the Prophet passes from Ammon to the Chaldeans, threatening them with a similar destruction through Cyrus.
Verse 31: In the Fire of my Fury I Will Blow Upon You
31. IN THE FIRE OF MY FURY I WILL BLOW UPON YOU. — O sword! I will deliver you to a furnace, as it were kindled and fed by blowing, that you may be consumed. So St. Jerome. Hence some translate: The fire of My fury I will blow upon you, that is, My fury, as if by blowing, I will kindle more and more against you.
AND I WILL DELIVER YOU INTO THE HANDS OF FOOLISH MEN (enemies). — The Hebrew baarim can be translated, with the Septuagint and Vatablus, as barbarians, who have no regard for person, age, or sex; or, as Prado says, of burning men, namely those who, as if in the fire of their fury, fashion your destruction, as follows. It signifies the assault and fury of the Persians against the Babylonians. So Polychronius. Again, that they were accustomed to wars, skilled in slaughtering and butchering, and practiced and trained in perpetrating massacres.
Verse 32: You Shall be Fuel for the Fire
32. YOU SHALL BE FUEL FOR THE FIRE — you shall be burned by fire. YOUR BLOOD SHALL BE IN THE MIDST OF THE LAND — your blood shall be absorbed and consumed by the earth, so that no one may avenge your slaughter. For that this phrase means this is clear from Job xvi, 18, where it says: "Earth, do not cover my blood," as if to say: Let me not die unavenged. For when blood is seen, it brings to mind the slaughter committed and demands vengeance. Secondly and better, as if to say: You will be slain not in hiding and secretly, but openly and publicly. Thirdly, and best, as if to say: None of your friends will collect your blood and body to bury it, but you will rot in your own blood. Hence follows: "You shall be given over to oblivion," that is, you will lack a tomb: for a tomb preserves the memory of the dead. So Prado, as if to say: There will be no more memory of you. This disaster will extinguish your name and fame with your life, and bury it in eternal silence.
Morally, note here how severely tyrants are punished, and those who cooperate with them and devise new arts and methods of oppressing, tormenting, and killing others — even though God sometimes uses them to chastise others. Illustrious is the example of Perillus, an Athenian craftsman, who, to please the cruel tyrant Phalaris, gave him a bronze bull in which men enclosed inside would be tortured with fire placed beneath, and would bellow like oxen, thus delighting the tyrant's ears. For by the command of Phalaris the craftsman himself was the first to be enclosed in the bull he had fashioned, and gave him the first demonstration of his art. Of whom Ovid says: And Phalaris roasted the limbs of cruel Perillus In the bull! The wretched author inaugurated his own work.
Such was also the fate of Thrasius with Busiris, which Ovid describes in the Ibis: It is said that Egypt lacked rains to help its fields, And was dry for nine years: When Thrasius approached Busiris and showed that Jupiter Could be appeased by pouring a stranger's blood. Busiris said to him: You shall be Jupiter's first victim, And you, stranger, shall give water to Egypt. Both were just (Busiris and Phalaris); for no law is more just Than that the authors of death should perish by their own art.