Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Micah predicted in the preceding chapter, last verse, that Mount Zion and the temple would be laid waste by the Chaldeans; now, as is customary, joining joyful things to sad ones to console his people, he teaches that the same will be restored, indeed raised above all mountains through Christ, because namely in Zion Christ will begin His divine and heavenly Church, to which as to a lofty citadel and watchtower all nations will flock together in throngs from the whole world, because from Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. Moreover, he foretells that in the Church there will be no war, but the highest peace. And the Lord, he says, shall reign on Mount Zion, from this time now and forever: And the first dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Hence secondly, in verse 10, he consoles the Jews, who were about to go as captives to Babylon, that they would shortly be freed from there by God, who would crush their enemies the Chaldeans, and restore to Zion its former strength.
Note: Micah seems to have borrowed the earlier and greater part of this chapter from Isaiah chapter II, where almost the same things are found word for word. For Isaiah appears to have predicted the same thing easily forty years before Micah. We gather this from the fact that Isaiah seems to have composed the first five chapters under King Uzziah. For chapter 6 begins thus: In the year that King Uzziah died. Since therefore he had the vision of the sixth chapter in the last year of Uzziah, he seems to have received from God the visions of the preceding five chapters under the earlier years of the same king; but Micah prophesied these things under Hezekiah, who was the great-grandson of Uzziah, as I said at the last verse of the preceding chapter. For between Uzziah and Hezekiah came Jotham, who reigned sixteen years, and Ahaz, who reigned the same number. Add some years of Uzziah and Hezekiah (for Micah uttered this prophecy after the destruction of Samaria, which occurred in the sixth year of Hezekiah), and you will have 40 years and more by which Isaiah received and published this oracle of his, chapter 2, before this one of Micah. Because therefore I have explained these things in Isaiah chapter II, I will not repeat them here, but will briefly run through this chapter. Let the reader consult what I have noted on Isaiah.
Vulgate Text: Micheas 4:1-13
1. And it shall come to pass: In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills: and peoples shall flow unto it. 2. And many nations shall hasten, and shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for from Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3. And He shall judge among many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into hoes: nation shall not take up sword against nation: and they shall no more learn to make war. 4. And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it. 5. For all peoples will walk every one in the name of his god: but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. 6. In that day, says the Lord, I will gather her that halts: and her that I had cast out, I will collect, and her that I had afflicted: 7. and I will make her that halted a remnant: and her that had been afflicted, a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from this time now and forever. 8. And you, O tower of the flock, the cloudy daughter of Zion, unto you shall it come: and the first dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. 9. Now why are you drawn together with grief? Is there no king in you, or has your counselor perished, that pain has seized you as a woman in labor? 10. Be in pain, and labor, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now
you shall go forth out of the city, and you shall dwell in the country, and you shall come even to Babylon: there you shall be delivered, there the Lord shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 11. And now many nations are gathered together against you, that say: Let her be stoned; and let our eye gaze upon Zion. 12. But they have not known the thoughts of the Lord, and have not understood His counsel: that He has gathered them together as the hay of the floor. 13. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make your horn iron, and your hoofs I will make brass: and you shall beat in pieces many peoples, and shall immolate to the Lord their spoils, and their strength to the Lord of the whole earth.
Verse 1
1. AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS: IN THE LAST OF DAYS. — I said at Isaiah II, from the common opinion of the Fathers, that the time of the Messiah is called "the last," in Hebrew acharith, that is, the following, the later, the consequent, the succeeding: because no other law, no other Church, no other religion, sacrifices and sacraments will succeed it, just as it succeeds the old law and the Synagogue, the Mosaic sacraments and sacrifices; these succeeded the law and state of nature. Again, the same time of the Messiah is the last for Zion and the Jews, because it began at their destruction, when they were utterly cut off and overthrown by Titus and the Romans: which destruction will last until the end of the world, as Daniel predicted in chapter 9, last verse. Therefore the Jews wrongly expect from this passage their Messiah, who at the end of the world, like another Solomon, will restore to them Jerusalem, the temple, and the former kingdom.
Likewise wrongly, some Catholics cited by Theodoret think these things were fulfilled in the return of the Jews from Babylon. Others think they were fulfilled under the pious King Hezekiah, who restored and increased the worship of God in Zion, sending messengers through all Judea, who would say: "Come to the sanctuary of the Lord, which He has prepared forever," 2 Chronicles 30:8. For what is said here is far too grand to fit Hezekiah, Cyrus, Ezra, etc. Moreover, Hezekiah sent those messengers in the first year of his reign, as is clear from 2 Chronicles chapter 29, and from Josephus, book IX of the Antiquities, chapter 3. But Micah predicted these things after the sixth year of Hezekiah, as I said at the last verse of the preceding chapter; and he does not predict what had already happened, but what was still future. It is therefore a matter of faith that this passage is to be understood literally of the time of Christ, and of the Church and the law of the Gospel. For so all the Fathers interpret it, whom I cited at Isaiah II, and Christophorus a Castro cites here at length.
restoration through Christ. This sense agrees with the former, and amounts to the same thing.
PREPARED. — In Hebrew nachon, that is, first, founded, established, made solid, so that no force, indeed not even the gates of hell can overthrow it; second, nachon, that is, true and certain; because the Church teaches nothing false, but is the pillar and ground of truth, 1 Timothy 3:15; third, nachon, that is, right, erect, having nothing crooked or twisted: for the Church teaches the straight way of virtue and salvation, and directs the mind straight upward to heaven, to God; fourth, nachon, that is, prepared, disposed, ordered; because in the Church all things are rightly and properly ordered, and through the Church Militant the faithful are prepared and ordered for the Church Triumphant, namely from grace to glory, from earth to heaven, from merit to reward. Finally, nachon means the same as whole, perfect, directed, ordered, and therefore proceeding prosperously, happy and fortunate.
On the top of mountains — that is to say, this mountain, namely the Church of Christ, will transcend all laws, schools, doctrines, institutions, religions, synagogues of the Jews and of the philosophers, which among men seemed to tower like mountains, and indeed will surpass, nay trample upon and subject to itself whatever is lofty and sublime under the sun. This mountain denotes that the doctrine and life of Christ and the Church are arduous and heavenly.
AND PEOPLES SHALL FLOW UNTO IT — in throngs like a river. Whence Justin against Trypho reads: And peoples will place a river in it, that is to say, all nations will hasten to the Church, with steps not of the body but of the mind and spirit. It is a miracle if waters ascend from a valley and flow uphill to a mountain: so it is a miracle that earthly nations ascend into the Church, whose doctrine and life are mountainous, steep and heavenly; namely the powerful and lofty grace of Christ accomplishes this, as being sent down from heaven. Just as therefore waters drawn from springs through channels into a valley, in the valley leap up and ascend almost to the height of their source; so these waters of heavenly grace, poured into valleys, that is, into the hearts of men, cause them to leap up with them into heaven, and to enter upon and embrace the heavenly life. Here belongs that saying of Euripides in the Medea: "Upward are borne the springs of the sacred rivers."
THE MOUNTAIN OF THE HOUSE OF THE LORD SHALL BE — that is, the house of the Lord built upon a mountain, which is none other than the Church of Christ, begun and founded on Mount Zion. It is a hypallage; for so the mountain of the temple is called the temple of Mount Zion, Isaiah 30:29: "He who goes," he says, "with a flute, to enter the mountain," that is, the temple, "of the Lord, to the strong One of Israel." Similar expressions are found in Psalm 47:2; Psalm 73:2, and elsewhere. Secondly, properly, "the mountain of the house of the Lord" is Mount Zion itself, on which, as Solomon once built the physical temple, so Christ began and built His spiritual antitype, namely the Church. For the Prophet promises the restoration of the mountain and temple overthrown by the Chaldeans, and
Verse 2
2. AND THEY SHALL SAY: COME, LET US GO UP TO THE MOUNTAIN of the Lord (that is to say, the nations, having seen and heard the miracles, innocence, holiness, and heavenly doctrine of the Apostles and the faithful, will exhort one another saying: Come, let us ascend to the Church, let us be enrolled in it; for it is the mountain, and the Zion and temple of God, there He) WILL TEACH US OF HIS WAYS (that is, His ways; it is a Hebraism), AND WE WILL GO (that is, we will walk with steps of the mind, not of the body) IN HIS PATHS — that is to say, God will teach us in the Church His will and His laws; and will give grace that we may fulfill them in will and deed: for this is to go or walk in the ways and paths of God. Whence the Septuagint, as quoted by St. Jerome, translates: He will show us His way; St. Justin against Trypho: They will enlighten us, namely the nations and many peoples.
For from Zion the law shall go forth — namely the law of grace and of the Gospel of Christ: for the Apostles, having received the Holy Spirit in Zion on the day of Pentecost, went forth from there into various provinces and preached the law of Christ to all nations. These words can be taken either as those of the nations mutually exhorting one another to the Church, that is to say: Let us ascend to Zion, that is, to the Church born in Zion; because from there the law of grace and salvation comes and will come forth; or as those of the prophet Micah, that is to say: Therefore all nations will flow to Zion, because they will see that there is no other true law and faith than that which comes forth from Zion, which namely is announced by the Apostles coming forth from Zion, as I, Micah, predict and affirm. So Lyranus and Arias.
Verse 3
3. And He shall judge — namely the word of the Lord, or rather (which however amounts to the same thing) the God of Jacob Himself, of whom verse 2 speaks, through His word and Gospel, that is to say: God through the Gospel will reconcile peoples previously at variance with one another, will pass judgment for them, will settle all disputes, so that, setting aside hatreds and dissensions, all may conspire, dwell, and live together in the same Church, in one spirit of faith and charity, harmoniously and joyfully as brothers. Secondly, Vatablus takes it differently, that is to say: "He shall judge," namely the mountain of the house of the Lord, that is, the Church, that is to say: Whenever some doubt in faith or difficulty in religion shall arise, the Church will resolve and settle it; since, being guided by the Holy Spirit, it cannot err. Thirdly, a Castro says: "He shall judge," that is, the word and Gospel of God will exercise judgment among the many opinions that all peoples have concerning how to lead a good and blessed life; namely by condemning and rejecting the false and foolish ones, such as those about pursuing avarice, glory, ambition, revenge, pleasures and pomps of this life; and by bringing forth, approving, and teaching the true ones about modesty, humility, concord, mutual charity, peace, poverty and the like, and instilling them into the minds of men.
Even afar off — that is to say, He will judge peoples dispersed far and wide throughout the whole world; and, as the Tigurina renders it, those dwelling far away; differently the Chaldean: unto a distant time, namely, forever.
AND THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOUGHSHARES — that is to say, God through Christ and the Apostles will judge and settle all disputes, and will introduce a law of peace, concord, and love; and so, as far as lies in His power, by the force of His grace and Gospel, will take away all dissensions and wars, so that the nations may lay down their arms of war, nay change them into instruments of peace; namely into ploughs and hoes with which in peace the earth is cultivated. And to foreshadow this by His birth, Christ was born under Augustus Caesar, when, all tyrants having been subdued or slain, under him as sole monarch, with the temple of Janus closed, the world enjoyed full peace. So St. Cyril, Clarius, Arias, and others. See what was said at Isaiah chapter 2:4; and Joel chapter 3:10.
Verse 4
4. EVERY MAN SHALL SIT UNDER HIS VINE, AND UNDER HIS FIG TREE. — It is a Hebrew phrase, parabolically signifying the most quiet security that the law of Christ has brought, as being a law of charity, concord and peace; so that the faithful can dwell securely and pleasantly without fear of an enemy in their homes and estates, and enjoy their goods, their figs and their grapes; as if sitting under a tree at leisure, catching the figs and fruits as they fall into their mouths.
Verse 5
5. FOR ALL PEOPLES WILL WALK, EVERY ONE IN THE NAME OF HIS GOD: BUT WE WILL WALK IN THE NAME OF THE LORD FOREVER AND EVER — that is to say, although the other unfaithful peoples worship their gods, different peoples worshipping different ones; nevertheless the faithful and Christians, such as I Micah am, and those like me, will unanimously and constantly worship one true God and Lord, will serve Him alone with all our heart and mind; trusting in Him who alone can save, we will live securely in peace, without fear even of enemies, and forever, and beyond, that is, for all eternity absolutely. It is a hyperbole; for since eternity, being immense, surpasses all human conception, he adds "and beyond," that is to say: This peace will endure through all ages, through all the eternity that we can conceive in our mind; and beyond, if there is anything beyond; just as in reality, beyond our conception of eternity, immense ages remain. For we conceive eternity as very many thousands and millions of years; but after those, eternity remains. Note the word "we": for Micah, although a Jew, and a son of the Old Testament, nevertheless by his foresight, faith, hope, spirit and desire joins himself to the sons of the New Testament and to Christians, as his brothers, begotten of the same parent Christ, and of the faith and grace of Christ; although he was not going to see Christ and Christians, nor live in their time. For the saints of the Old Testament, on account of their faith in Christ to come, belonged to the New Testament; because from Him, namely from Christ, future in the foreknowledge and predestination of God, they drew all their grace and justice, as St. Augustine learnedly teaches in book III Against Two Epistles of the Pelagians, chapter 4: "These (Christians who keep the law from servile fear)," he says, "belong to the Old Testament, which begets into bondage; because carnal fear and desire make them slaves, not evangelical faith, hope and charity which make them free; but those placed under grace, whom the spirit gives life, and who by that faith which works through love do these things, in hope of goods not temporal but eternal, especially believing in the Mediator, through whom they do not doubt that the spirit of grace is supplied to them, that they may do these good things and that they can be forgiven when they sin. These belong to the New Testament, sons of the promise and regenerated by God the Father and the free mother. Of this kind were all the righteous of old, and Moses himself, the minister of the Old Testament but heir of the New; because by the same one faith by which we live, they too lived; believing in the incarnation, passion and resurrection of Christ as future, which we believe as accomplished."
Verse 6
6. In that day — namely, of the Messiah, of the Church, of the Gospel, of grace and of the New Testament. For He has been speaking of that day from the beginning of this chapter until now. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Rupert, Hugh, Lyranus, Vatablus, and others generally.
I WILL GATHER HER THAT HALTS: AND HER THAT I HAD CAST OUT, I WILL COLLECT. — Theodoret by "her that halts" and "her that was cast out" understands the Gentile world, that is to say: Through Christ I will gather the Gentile people, hitherto neglected by God, cast out, and limping in faith and religion; because at one time by the instinct of nature it worshipped one God, the creator of heaven and earth, at another time by vain superstition and the tradition of ancestors it worshipped idols. But the Prophet dealt with the calling of the Gentiles in verse 2. Here therefore he consoles his own people, and treats of the calling of the Synagogue and the Jews, whose king Christ was constituted, beginning to reign on Mount Zion. I say therefore that "her that halts" and "her that was cast out" here refers to the Synagogue of the Jews, both because she limped in faith, now worshipping God, now idols, according to the saying of Elijah to her children: "How long do you halt between two sides? If the Lord is God, follow Him: but if Baal, then follow him," 3 Kings 18:21: for Micah alludes to this; and because she limped from the weariness of the journey, going into captivity now Babylonian, now Persian, now Greek under Antiochus. Whence she is called cast out, dispersed and wandering among all nations: so Vatablus. "Halting" therefore by metalepsis means the same as wearied, grieving, wretched, afflicted. Whence, explaining further, he adds: "And her that I had afflicted, I will console:" so the Chaldean; for he translates: I will gather those who have been carried away, and the dispersed I will collect, and those to whom I did evil because of the sins of my people. This prophecy therefore began to be fulfilled in the time of Christ, who gathered from among the Jews the Apostles and the first faithful into His Church; and it is more perfectly fulfilled day by day, as in various places more Jews are gathered into the Church; and it will be most perfectly fulfilled at the end of the world, when all Israel will be saved, as St. Justin understood in his Dialogue against Trypho.
converted to Christ, and having become faithful, may be fruitful, and produce many children for God, and a great offspring. Whence, explaining further, he adds:
AND HER THAT HAD LABORED (going into captivity and dispersion, that is, as the Tigurina renders it, driven far away), INTO A STRONG NATION — both in number and in strength. Such were the Apostolic men born of Jews, and other similar apostolic men, teachers and tamers of the world. So Vatablus, Arias, and others. Hence follows:
AND THE LORD (Christ) SHALL REIGN OVER THEM ON MOUNT ZION — namely in the Church, which began in Zion; the Church, I say, both Militant and Triumphant, "from this time now and forever." Hear St. Jerome: "Into a strong nation, namely the Christian name, which neither sword, nor fire, nor torments will overcome. See the faith and suffering of the martyrs, and you will not doubt about the strong nation."
Verse 8
8. AND YOU, O TOWER OF THE FLOCK, CLOUDY DAUGHTER OF ZION, UNTO YOU SHALL IT COME: AND THE FIRST DOMINION SHALL COME. — Note first: "Tower of the flock" in Scripture is the name of the place where Jacob fed his flocks, Genesis 31:21; for we do not read of any other place called by this name in Scripture, or in Josephus, or among the chorographers of the Holy Land. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Rupert, Lyranus, and others generally. Hear Adrichomius from among them in his Description of the Holy Land: "The tower of the flock, in Hebrew ader or eder, is a field very rich in pastures and full of large olive trees; it is about a thousand paces from Bethlehem, where Jacob the patriarch pitched his tent and fed his flocks; and there, while he dwelt, Reuben violated his father's bed. And in this very place the shepherds, as the prophet Micah had predicted, keeping watch over their flock by night, saw and heard the angels singing: Glory to God in the highest. Where afterwards a church of the Holy Angels was erected by Blessed Helena. And indeed a chapel was erected here in memory of so great an event in the middle of the field." Haymo, Remigius, and Bede, in the book On the Holy Places, chapter 8, add that these shepherds were three in number.
Therefore, although the Jews, as St. Jerome attests in the Hebrew Traditions on Genesis chapter 35, think the tower of the flock was in Jerusalem, in the place where the temple was afterwards built; nevertheless St. Jerome himself in the same place, and in the Epitaph of St. Paula, and in the Hebrew Places and elsewhere, and generally the interpreters and chorographers teach that the tower of the flock was near Bethlehem, and that there the angels announced to the shepherds feeding their flock the birth of Christ. It was called "of the flock," says St. Jerome in the Traditions on Genesis chapter 35, "either because the flock of angels sang at the birth of the Lord, or because Jacob fed his cattle there, giving the name to the place; or, what is truer, by a certain prophecy the future mystery was already being shown;" namely that an angel would there announce to the shepherds feeding their flock the nativity of Christ. Literally this tower was called "of the flock," before Jacob, as it seems; because shepherds near it, as being
Verse 7
7. AND I WILL MAKE HER THAT HALTED A REMNANT — that is, into posterity, that is to say: I will cause the Synagogue
a common pasture, were accustomed to feed their flocks, and at night to withdraw with their flocks for shelter to the folds that were in the tower, or near the tower, as P. Salmeron and Barradius noted on Luke chapter 2.
Secondly, for "cloudy" the Hebrew is Ophel, which was a lofty tower in Zion, near the court of the temple, which Adrichomius thus describes from Josephus: "Ophel, which Josephus calls Ophla, was a tower of enormous height, as if thrusting its head into the clouds; and a fortified citadel girt with a strong wall, near the temple; but outside the wall that enclosed the dwelling of the priests. In its wall King Jonathan built much, and Manasseh repaired the walls of the city that far. In it the Nethinim dwelt. Into it Menahem the tyrant, fleeing, was captured and slain. At last the soldiers of Titus burned it down."
From its height it was called Ophel, that is, darkness, mist, cloud; because it raised its head up to the clouds, and in gazing at its summit the eyes grew dim. So St. Jerome, on Isaiah 32:14.
Therefore some are less correct in thinking the cloudy tower means the tower of Psephina, which was octagonal, erected upon a lofty rock, seventy cubits high, between the northern and western wall of the city, from which in clear weather Arabia, the sea, and the borders of Canaan could be seen, which Titus stormed, as Josephus attests in book VI of the War, chapters 2, 5, and 6; for in the Hebrew here it is not Psephina but Ophel. Finally, for Ophel the Septuagint translates auchmodous, which can be rendered in four ways: first, dark and shady; second, squalid: these two St. Jerome gives; third, arid; fourth, thirsting or parched: for what is arid is equally squalid, parched and dark.
Symbolically, Ophel signifies the loftiness and the darkness in which God dwells; for Zion, that is, the Church, and the faithful soul, strives to approach and raise itself to this. For God "dwells in unapproachable light," 1 Timothy 6:16. St. Dionysius says splendidly, in epistle 5 to Dorotheus: "The divine darkness," he says, "is unapproachable, in which God is said to dwell; it is invisible, on account of the surpassing brightness; and unapproachable, on account of the immense abundance of light."
You ask, if the tower of Eder was outside Jerusalem near Bethlehem, but Ophel was in Jerusalem, how can one and the same tower be called here both "of the flock" and "cloudy" or Ophel? I answer: metaphorically and metonymically Zion or Jerusalem is here called the tower of the flock. For that it is Zion that is so called here is clear, first, from the fact that in naming it he adds, daughter of Zion: for so it should be read in the nominative "daughter," not in the genitive "of the daughter," with the Romans, Symmachus (who clearly translates, she herself is the daughter of Zion) and the Septuagint; second, because Ophel was in Jerusalem: and this tower of the flock was the tower of Ophel, as Micah says; third, because in Zion there was a gate (and consequently a tower erected above the gate as was customary), which was called "of the flock," through which the flocks of sheep to be offered in the temple were led from the tower of Eder or of the flock, where they grazed, into Zion and the temple. Whence, near the Gate of the Flock, there was a cattle market, and the Sheep Pool, in which the sick were healed, John 5:2. It was called Probatica (Sheep Pool), from the Greek apo ton probaton, that is, from the sheep. Probatica therefore means the same as cattle-related or sheep-related, because the sheep to be sacrificed daily morning and evening in the temple were gathered there, and were washed in it. Finally, that Zion and Jerusalem are the subject here is clear from what follows. Jerusalem therefore is called the tower of the flock, both because it was near Bethlehem and the tower of the flock, and governed it as its metropolis; and because it was situated in a high place on mountains, and the flock, that is, the multitude of Jews, flowed to it for the temple; and properly because in Zion there was a gate and tower of the Flock, facing the tower of Eder or of the Flock, through which sheep from Eder were brought into Zion and the temple. The same is called cloudy, on account of the height of the tower of Ophel and similar ones, which at their summit customarily gathered clouds and mists, and to those looking from the ground, with eyes growing dim from the excessive height, appeared cloudy. Whence Vilalpando probably conjectures, tome III, part book III, chapter 7, that the tower of the Flock here precisely means the gate of the Flock; for a gate is called a tower because it was high and fortified, so as to appear to be a citadel or tower. This gate is called daughter of Zion because it was subject to the temple built on Mount Zion. It is called "of the flock" both because through it flocks to be offered were led into the temple, and because before this gate was the valley of Josaphat extending to the Mount of Olives, which, as being very rich in pastures, Jacob the patriarch chose for feeding his cattle. This gate, according to Josephus, book VI of the War, chapter 6, is called Genat, which Solomon adorned with most magnificent buildings and fortifications. So Vilalpando, and this seems to have been the intention of the Jews cited a little earlier, whom Emmanuel, Mariana, and others follow.
You ask, secondly, what is the sense of this passage, and when was dominion, or, as the Tigurina translates, authority, kingdom and empire given to the tower of the Flock, that is, Jerusalem? First, Theodoret explains it thus, that is to say: Nebuchadnezzar will come to you, O tower, that is, O temple, which in the vineyard, that is, in the city of Jerusalem, which on account of its sins is dark and cloudy, towers like a turret, to lay you low and burn you. But this is a sad and grievous thing, not a joyful and festive oracle, such as Micah delivers here.
Secondly, St. Jerome understands it of Cyrus and the return from Babylon, that is to say: Cyrus will come, who will free you, O Jerusalem, that is, you Jews, from Babylon through Zerubbabel, and send you back to your homeland. But although the Prophet alludes to this, as is clear from verse 10, nevertheless he looks to something higher and greater.
I say therefore that the tower of the Flock and Ophel, or Jerusalem and Zion, is the Church of Christ, which began in Zion, into which the flock of the faithful is gathered, as into the tower of Ophel, that is, into a high and forti-
His decree," Psalm 2:6. So Clarius, Vatablus, Arias, Ribera, a Castro, and others. To this view incline St. Jerome and Lyranus, who by the tower of the flock of the daughter of Zion (as they read it) understand the temple, to which the flock, that is the people of the Lord, flowed together; and in which flocks of sheep were slaughtered for God. This is called Ophel, that is, cloudy, because it reached up to the clouds by its height, or because it continually exhaled the smoke of victims like a cloud; or because it was full of shadows and figures as if of clouds, that is to say: O cloudy tower of the daughter of Zion, that is, O temple of Jerusalem, unto you He shall come; He shall come, I say, the first dominion, that is, that first and ancestral empire of David; not in shadow, but in truth: for Christ the triumphant one shall enter into you, who is the greatest of kings, of whom King David was only a shadow and type.
He looks to the solemn entry of Christ into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, when, riding on a donkey with pomp and triumph, He entered the city and the temple as the Messiah, and was inaugurated with the crowd acclaiming: "Hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord: blessed is the kingdom that comes of our father David," Mark 11:10. For Christ through the Gate of the Flock (which is here called a tower on account of its height, says Vilalpando above) as a paschal lamb about to be immolated at the Passover, was carried into the city, as can be gathered from Luke chapter 19:37, when he says: "And when He was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives," etc. Therefore from the Mount of Olives through the valley of Josaphat He came to the Gate of the Flock, and through it entered the city. And this is what Micah seems to signify here, says Vilalpando. The same thing is clearly signified by the Chaldean version, which paraphrastically takes the tower of the Flock to mean Christ, who in the Church towers among the faithful like a tower; for pastor and flock, king and kingdom, Christ and the Church are correlative and inseparable. So therefore, joining both, it translates: But you, O Messiah, or Christ of Israel, who are hidden on account of the sins of the congregation of Zion, to you the kingdom shall come, and the ancient dominion shall come to the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.
For Christ is the tower, because He is the Word of the Father, of whom it is said in Wisdom 18:16: "He reached unto heaven, while standing upon the earth." For He was truly God as well as man, joining in Himself divinity to humanity, and heaven to earth, angels to men. Hence He is also called cloudy, that is, hidden in the manger, in flesh and on the cross: for God "made darkness His hiding place," Psalm 17:12. Therefore He was unknown to the Jews. He was "the tower of the flock," because just as a tower protects a city, its citizens and its sheep; so Christ protects and guards Christians. He, finally, established His kingdom in Jerusalem, that is, in His Church. Whence the Syriac and Arabic translate: But you, O tower (Arabic: citadel), O shepherd of the cloudy daughter of Zion, your time has come.
Finally, Haymo, Remigius, Bede on Luke 2, Baronius at the year 1 of Christ, and others think that Micah here alludes to the shepherds of Eder, to whom the angel first announced the birth of Christ: for this reason he names the tower of Eder, that is, of the Flock and Shepherds. Whence, clearly explaining this in the following chapter, verse 2, he says: "And you, Bethlehem (near which was the tower of Eder) Ephrathah, you are little among the thousands of Judah: from you shall come forth to Me He who is to be ruler in Israel," etc. Therefore they give this meaning to the passage, that is to say: You, O rustic, lowly and pastoral tower of Eder, lift up your head, rejoice and exult; because to you first will come a heavenly messenger, namely the angel announcing the birth of Christ the King, whose first dominion and kingdom will begin in Jerusalem, and from there will be spread throughout the whole world. Wherefore you will now be a tower not only of the Flock, but also of Ophel, that is, of lofty darkness: because upon you from the high summit of Olympus will descend a multitude of spirits and heavenly musicians, singing together: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."
Tropologically, he calls the Church the tower of the Flock, to signify that the bishops of the Church, the vicars of Christ, ought not to lord it over the clergy as kings, but as shepherds to feed the flock of the Lord. This is what St. Peter, the first and supreme bishop of the Church appointed by Christ, says and decrees: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, exercising oversight not by compulsion but willingly, according to God: not for shameful gain, but eagerly: not as domineering over the clergy, but being examples to the flock from the heart. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, you will receive the unfading crown of glory," 1 Peter 5:2.
The sense of this passage therefore is, that is to say: I said in verse 7 that the Lord will reign over them (the faithful Jews) on Mount Zion forever; because you, O Zion, who are the tower of the Flock and Ophel, that is, a lofty citadel, invincible and impregnable, will receive this kingdom: "Unto you it shall come, and the first dominion shall come," that is to say: There shall come, come, I say, to you the ancient and ancestral dominion, and the kingdom that you had under David and Solomon, namely "the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem," that is, the kingdom of Jerusalem: for just as David reigned gloriously and powerfully in Zion, so there likewise Christ, the Son of David and heir, will take up the same kingdom: but not a temporal one, rather a spiritual one; and there He will begin the kingdom of His Church, which He will then extend and spread through the Apostles to the whole world, according to what Gabriel promised His mother when she conceived Him: "The Lord will give Him the throne of David His father, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob forever," Luke 1:32. And King David in the type and person of Christ: "But I have been appointed king by Him over Zion, His holy mountain, proclaiming
the tower of Eder, that is, of the Flock and of the Shepherds. Whence, clearly explaining this in the following chapter, verse 2, he says: "And you, Bethlehem (near which was the tower of Eder) Ephrathah, you are little among the thousands of Judah: from you shall come forth to Me He who is to be ruler in Israel," etc. Therefore they give this meaning to the passage, that is to say: You, O rustic, lowly and pastoral tower of Eder, lift up your head, rejoice and exult; because to you first will come a heavenly messenger, namely the angel announcing the birth of Christ the King, whose first dominion and kingdom will begin in Jerusalem, and from there will be spread throughout the whole world. Wherefore you will now be a tower not only of the Flock, but also of Ophel, that is, of lofty darkness: because upon you from the high summit of heaven will descend a multitude of spirits and heavenly musicians, singing together: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will."
Tropologically, the daughter of Zion is the soul that contemplates heavenly and divine things: for Zion in Hebrew signifies a watchtower. Whence in it there is a tower, that is, prudence and providence, as well as strength and protection, by which it governs, directs, guards, and strengthens its flock, that is, all the soul's powers, senses and actions, and all the bodily movements. In it there is Ophel, that is, darkness, namely of prayer and contemplation, by which, with Moses in Exodus 19:9, it enters the darkness in which God dwells; and there converses with Him, as we read St. Bernard was accustomed to do in his Life. Again it is Ophel, that is, auchmodous, as the Septuagint translates, that is, first, arid, because it dries up the corrupt humors of concupiscence through fasting and mortifications; second, squalid, through mourning and penance, on account of the exile in which it lives; third, thirsting, namely for God, and for the water of grace springing up into eternal life. The Complutensian reads auchmodous in the genitive, that is, of the dark, arid, squalid and thirsting, so that it refers to the flock. According to this version these four things, in a similar sense to what has already been said about the soul, can easily be applied to its powers, senses, and movements (for these are its flock). To this comes the first dominion, namely the first kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem; for the first and greatest kingdom of the soul is that by which, with Christ the King reigning in it and governing it, it likewise receives a kingdom from Christ and becomes a queen: for it reigns and rules with equal right, first over itself and its powers and movements; then over external things, all of which it subjects to itself; and thirdly, over neighbors, whose care is committed to it. For while devoted to God and to itself, first piously and holily governing itself and its actions, it easily learns to preside over and command all others; and so it becomes Jerusalem, that is, the vision and possession of peace: for it enjoys continual peace and serenity of conscience. Hence that philosopher, though a pagan, said: "You will be a king if you rule yourself. You will be a king if you command your desires and passions. You will be a king if you govern anger, gluttony, and lust." Alexander the Great ruled others but did not know how to rule himself; anger and desire ruled him: whence he was not a king, but a slave of anger and a bondsman of ambition. But truly
that famous beggar in Tauler said that he was a king, because he desired nothing in this world, and because he conformed his will to the will of God in all things, and therefore, having dominion over himself and all things, he enjoyed perpetual peace and joy of soul. I have related the story at length at Romans 12:1.
Anagogically, some, says St. Jerome, take these things of the heavenly Jerusalem, which, since it is "the mother of the saints, remains as it were squalid like Ophel as long as its children are not brought back to it, so that there is no king and counselor in it; and sorrows seize it as a woman in labor, because it has given birth in vain, seeing so many of its children slain."
Verse 9
9. NOW WHY ARE YOU DRAWN TOGETHER WITH GRIEF — the Hebrew more forcefully: Now why do you cry out with a great cry? that is, why do you wail and weep with a mighty voice? He returns to Zion, that is, to the Jews of his time. Whence the word "now" signifies the present time, and is at the same time a mark of inference, equivalent to "therefore." Thus "now" means the same as "now therefore," that is to say: Now therefore, O Zion, why do you grieve over the impending captivity, when you await so happy and august a kingdom of Christ? For granted that you go for a short time to Babylon, granted that you are deprived of Zedekiah your king and your princes and counselors; yet from there I will shortly bring you back, and I will cause that your most powerful king and at the same time your most wise counselor will soon be Christ Himself, the King of kings and Lord of lords; He will free you from all captivity, all grief, all affliction; He will console you, enrich you, honor you, so that you need fear nothing henceforth, and can hope for or desire nothing more.
Allegorically, these and the following things up to the end of the chapter can be applied to the primitive Church (for the Synagogue of the Jews was a type of it) afflicted at first and afterwards by tyrants, and nearly crushed: indeed Rupert, Albert, Lyranus, and Vatablus understand them literally of the Church, that is to say: After the coming of Christ, Christians will be afflicted, whence they will have cause for groaning; but nevertheless let them take courage, because they will not be deprived of divine help: for Christ will be at hand as their king, and the Holy Spirit as their counselor.
Otherwise, indeed contrarily, St. Jerome and Theodoret take these words, that is to say: For what reason, O Zion, do you grieve? Surely on account of the impending captivity. But whence will it befall you? Is it because you are deprived of a king and counselors? Yet you have Hezekiah, Josiah, Zedekiah, and other kings, and their princes and counselors. Learn therefore that this evil befalls you not from elsewhere, but through your own fault, your own vice: because, namely, by your idols and crimes you have provoked against yourself the wrath and vengeance of God. But this is sarcasm and hostile mockery rather than fatherly consolation, which the Prophet throughout this whole chapter suggests and presses upon Zion.
Tropologically, St. Ambrose says here: "Why, he says, have the pains of a woman in labor seized you, so that you might bring forth iniquities and give birth to injustices? For there is no greater pain than that which from sin
wounds the conscience with its blade: nor is there any heavier burden than the load of sins and the weight of crimes. It presses down the soul, bends it to the earth, so that it cannot raise itself. Heavy, my son, exceedingly heavy are the weights of offenses. Finally, that woman in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, who was bent over, presenting the image of a struggling soul, could only be raised up by Christ."
Verse 10
10. BE IN PAIN, AND LABOR, O DAUGHTER OF ZION. — To labor (satagere) is to be anxious, to be anxiously tormented by the difficulty of accomplishing or escaping something. For "labor" the Hebrew is gochi, which is variously translated; the Septuagint: Be in pain and act manfully; the Chaldean: Be in pain and tremble; Pagninus: Be in pain and groan; the Tigurina: Be in pain and utter a groan, that is to say: O Zion, I permit you to grieve and groan, and in fact you will grieve and groan: for you will have just cause and reason for grief and groaning, namely the destruction and the Babylonian captivity.
FOR NOW YOU SHALL GO FORTH OUT OF THE CITY (out of Jerusalem), AND YOU SHALL DWELL IN THE REGION (the Hebrew and Chaldean say, in the field; the Septuagint, in the plain, that is to say: Not in the city under a roof, but in the field under the open sky, like a fugitive and captive you will live), and you shall come even to Babylon (but come, take courage, hope for better things: for after a short time, namely after 70 years): THERE YOU SHALL BE DELIVERED, THERE THE LORD SHALL REDEEM YOU. — First, in a beginning way through Cyrus and Zerubbabel; second, fully through Christ. Hear St. Cyril according to the Septuagint: "Be in pain therefore, and act manfully, O daughter of Zion, he says: O good daughter, be patient under sorrows, endure hardships, draw near to the birth. But He does not leave her utterly destitute of consolation: for He adds that she will be recalled to her homeland." So Aeneas consoles his shipwrecked companions with hope of a better lot, Aeneid I: Through various hazards, through so many perils of things, We press on to Latium, where the fates show us Quiet abodes: there it is right for the kingdom of Troy to rise again: Endure, and preserve yourselves for better times.
Tropologically, St. Jerome says: "He understands the soul, driven from the Church on account of sin, and handed over to the enemy and avenger for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved, as going out from the city which the rushing of the spirit gladdens, as dwelling not on the mountain where it formerly was, but in the plain in which the army of the Assyrians roams, and as being in the confusion of its vices, and after having worn fetters, and turned the mill, and made the flour of Babylon, as coming to itself and saying: How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough, and I perish here with hunger; and afterwards, returning to the father's house, being received by the most merciful father, and redeemed from the hand of the most harsh master."
Verse 11
11. AND NOW MANY NATIONS ARE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST YOU. (The word "now" again signifies another and nearer calamity for Jerusalem, that is to say: I have said, O Zion, that you will go to Babylon; but before you go there, another disaster threatens you from Sennacherib, who will gather many nations against you, namely 185 thousand) WHO
(SAY): LET HER BE STONED (that is, overwhelmed with stones), AND LET OUR EYE GAZE UPON ZION — that is, let our eye look with delight upon the ruin of Zion, and feed upon it, and mock and deride it: for we are accustomed to gaze at and fix our eyes upon things we love, but to look away and avert our eyes from things we hate or despise. Whence the common saying: "Where the eye is, there is love; where the hand is, there is pain." Hence "to gaze upon" is sometimes taken for "to delight in," as in Psalm 65:18: "If I regarded iniquity in my heart." So St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, and others.
Note: For "let her be stoned" the Hebrew is techenoph, which the Septuagint translates as "we will insult"; or, as St. Jerome reads, "let us insult"; others, "let us insult and rejoice"; the Chaldean, "she has acted impiously"; Pagninus, "she has sinned"; the Tigurina, "she was a hypocrite," feigning herself pious when she was impious; chaste when she was unchaste; God-fearing when she was idolatrous. Arias, "she will practice superstition," that is, as superstitious and a worshipper of new gods she will be punished, purified, and stoned. Properly you would translate techenoph: "She is impious, and let her be punished as impious." Techenoph alludes by metathesis to akan tinaph, that is, "she is an adulteress, and let her be punished and stoned as an adulteress": for stoning was the punishment for adultery among the Jews, that is to say: Zion, having abandoned God her spouse, worshipped idols, and committed fornication and adultery with them: therefore let us overwhelm her with stones as an adulteress, let us demolish her and reduce her to a heap of stones, and bury her in it.
Allegorically, Nero, Decius, and other tyrants said of the Church of Christ: "Let her be stoned," that is, let her perish and be destroyed; but in reality, with God protecting her, they could not accomplish it. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Rupert, Hugh, and others. Heretics still say the same about the Church even now. The same about holy Religious Orders, monasteries, colleges, and indeed about religious and zealous men say the same people, nay even perverse Catholics: Let such a house of Religious be stoned, let the Dominicans, Franciscans, Jesuits be expelled and stoned; but, with God protecting and consoling them, what follows comes to pass: "He gathered them together as the hay of the floor. Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron," etc.
Verse 12
12. BUT THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN THE THOUGHTS OF THE LORD — by which He has determined to prove, purge, and glorify Zion by these persecutions; not to destroy and overthrow her: but to cut down and scatter her persecutors, namely the camp of Sennacherib.
FOR HE HAS GATHERED THEM TOGETHER AS THE HAY OF THE FLOOR — that is to say, He gathered them in Judea, as sheaves of grain on a threshing floor, so that there they might be threshed by the angel and by the Jews, that is, cut down, trampled, and despoiled. For the angel struck down 185 thousand from the camp of Sennacherib. Note that "hay" here does not mean the grass of meadows that has been mowed and dried, which is properly called hay; but is taken for grain in the ear, namely for sheaves of wheat: for this alone is threshed on the floor, as he adds concerning this hay, saying: "Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion." Whence the Septuagint
translate: As sheaves of the floor; the Chaldean, Pagninus, and the Tigurina translate: As sheaves for the threshing floor, that they may be threshed upon it, and their grains shaken out, to be stored in granaries. For this is what the Hebrew word amir signifies.
Verse 13
13. ARISE, AND THRESH, O DAUGHTER OF ZION: FOR I WILL MAKE YOUR HORN IRON, AND YOUR HOOFS I WILL MAKE BRASS: AND YOU SHALL BEAT IN PIECES MANY PEOPLES. — Note: In Palestine, as also in Italy, the Canary Islands, and many other provinces, sheaves and harvests are threshed not with wooden flails, as is done in Germany; but with the hoofs of oxen, or with toothed sledges, which they drive around over the grain; and so by trampling they grind it, and press the grains out of the husks. Similarly, victors would sometimes drive similar sledges over prostrate enemies, and as it were thresh them; as David did to the Ammonites, 2 Samuel 12:31. Therefore God says that He will restore to Zion "a horn" and "brazen hoofs," that is, courage, strength, and might, so that she may trample, crush, and thresh her enemies. This was done first under Hezekiah, when, after the Assyrians were struck down by the angel, the Jews invaded, occupied, and despoiled their camp; second, under Judas, Jonathan, Simon, and Hyrcanus the Maccabees, who were like horns with which Judas winnowed all the neighboring nations, as is clear from the books of Maccabees, so that in them was fulfilled Deuteronomy 33:17: "His horns are the horns of the rhinoceros: with them he shall winnow the nations unto the ends of the earth." For Dionysius, Ribera, and others refer these things to the glorious wars and victories of the Maccabees. Mystically this was plainly fulfilled in Christ and His spiritual Zion, that is, the Church, which by the power of its preaching subjected all nations to itself, and crushed their idols and profane temples. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupert, Albert, Lyranus, Clarius, and others.
AND YOU SHALL IMMOLATE TO THE LORD THEIR SPOILS — that is to say, you shall sacrifice to the Lord the oxen and other victims that you have seized as victor from the enemies. Josephus teaches that Hezekiah and the Jews did this from the spoils of the Assyrians, in book X of the Antiquities, chapter 3. That the Maccabees did the same is clear from their deeds. The Church of Christ has done and does the same in all ages. For "you shall immolate" the Hebrew is vehacharamti (the Vulgate and the Septuagint seem to have read vehacharamta; for they translate in the second person, "and you shall immolate," but the sense amounts to the same; for God slew these victims through the Jews), that is, I will make cherem, that is, anathema, that is, I will anathematize, cut off, and consume their spoils for the Lord, that is, for Myself, that is to say: I will devote your enemies with their wealth to Myself and to My vengeance: as My own victims I will consign them to death, I will make them anathema, partly through the destroying angel, partly through your citizens, O Zion, especially the Maccabees, as I did to Jericho, Joshua 6:46, and to the Canaanites, Numbers chapter 21:2. See what I said there about the vow of cherem, or anathema.
Note: For "their spoils" the Hebrew is bitsam, which the Septuagint translates as their multitude; the Chaldean, their possessions; Symmachus, their gain; Theodotion, their gifts or offerings; the Tigurina, their wealth; Pagninus, their desire, that is, their desirable wealth; the Vulgate, their spoils, which namely the Assyrians had plundered from Judea, and you in turn snatched from them, as just and recovered spoils of a just war.
AND THEIR STRENGTH. — In Hebrew chelam, that is, their substance and wealth: for these are the power and strength of the rich, according to Proverbs 18:11: "The substance of a rich man is the city of his strength, and like a strong wall surrounding him." These in turn are the sinew of war, as Cicero says. Others by "strength" understand soldiers and arms: for the Jews, as well as Christians and pagans, were accustomed to hang up to God the arms of enemies captured in war, so as to attribute the victory received to Him: as David hung up in the temple the sword with which he slew Goliath, 1 Samuel 21:9. That the pagans did the same Virgil teaches in Aeneid VII: And moreover many arms hang on the sacred doorposts, Captured chariots, curved axes, And crests of helmets, and mighty bars of gates, And javelins and shields and beaks torn from ships.
This is what Isaiah predicted in chapter 60:5: "The strength of the nations shall come to you," and verse 11: "That the strength of the nations may be brought to you, and their kings led in."
Tropologically, we are taught here that every victory over enemies both bodily and spiritual must be ascribed to God as its author; as Moses and Joshua did, after defeating Amalek, erecting an altar with this title: "The Lord is my exaltation," Exodus 17:15; and therefore all our desires and desirable things must be slain and offered to Him.
And you shall immolate to the Lord their spoils — that is to say, I will devote your enemies with their wealth to Myself and to My vengeance: as My own victims I will consign them to death, I will make them anathema, partly through the destroying angel, partly through your citizens, O Zion, especially the Maccabees, as I did to Jericho, Joshua 6:46, and to the Canaanites, Numbers chapter 21:2. See what I said there about the vow of cherem, or anathema.