Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Zechariah sees an angel with a measuring line, to measure Jerusalem which is to be rebuilt by Nehemiah and Zerubbabel; and since from the small cord, being rolled up, Zechariah conjectured and feared that the new Jerusalem would be small, he soon hears another angel promising that it would be inhabited without a wall because of the abundance of men and cattle, and that the Lord would be a wall of fire around it, and glory in its midst. Therefore he invites the Jews, who out of fear of the Chaldeans and other hostile nations were afraid to return from Babylon, to return boldly to Jerusalem; for God would restore it with the temple, and would dwell in it, and therefore would bring it about that neither the Chaldeans, nor the Samaritans, nor other neighboring nations would either impede the building or disturb the peace of the Jews.
Note that these things are to be understood literally of Jerusalem, the city of the Jews: for about it he has spoken thus far, and the thread of the discourse and the plain words of the text demand this. Allegorically, however, and rather, they are to be understood of the Church, which is the true Jerusalem of God, and which arose in it and succeeded it, of which the Apostle speaks in Galatians 4:26. And because the Holy Spirit especially had regard to the Church, He here inserts certain more sublime things, which fit Jerusalem slightly but plainly and fully suit the Church. For the Prophets are accustomed to rise and soar to it on the occasion of some type being presented. Such as in verse 8: After glory He sent me to the nations. They shall be a prey to those who served them. He who touches you, touches the pupil of my eye. Praise and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in your midst. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, etc. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Haymo, Lyranus, Vatablus, and others throughout, except Ribera and a few others, who judge that all these things are to be taken not in an allegorical but in a literal sense, not of Jerusalem, but of the Church of Christ, and this because of the words of the text which I cited a little earlier. But those words are not compelling, as I shall show in their explanation. See Canons IV and V, which I prefixed to the Major Prophets.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 2:1-17
1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold a man, and in his hand a measuring line. 2. And I said: Where are you going? And he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is its breadth, and how great its length. 3. And behold the angel who spoke in me went forth, and another angel went forth to meet him. 4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle in its midst. 5. And I will be to it, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about: and I will be in glory in its midst.
6. O, O flee from the land of the north, says the Lord: for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. 7. O Zion, flee, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8. For thus says the Lord of hosts: After glory He sent me to the nations that have plundered you: for he who touches you, touches the pupil of my eye. 9. For behold I lift my hand over them, and they shall be a prey to those who served them: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me. 10. Praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for behold I come, and I will dwell in your midst, says the Lord. 11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day: and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts sent me to you. 12. And the Lord shall possess Judah as His portion in the sanctified land: and He shall choose Jerusalem again. 13. Let all flesh be silent before the face of the Lord: for He has risen up from His holy dwelling place.
Verse 1: And I Lifted Up
1. AND I LIFTED UP. — That these things pertain to the preceding vision and to the consolatory words about the restoration of Jerusalem, chapter 1, verse 13, and therefore were seen by Zechariah at the same time, namely on the same night and in the same vision, Theodoret probably judges. For this appears to be a continuation of the preceding vision. For by all these symbols God promises the Jews the restoration of the city and temple, and incites and impels them to it. Hence Zechariah sees here the same angels whom he saw in the preceding chapter. AND BEHOLD A MAN, — that is, an angel in the form of a man: for he had put on the form of a man in an airy body formed and assumed by himself.
And in his hand a measuring line, — with which architects are accustomed to measure the length and breadth of buildings; and by cords fixed in the ground and stretched out on each side, they build so that there may be a just symmetry and proportion of all parts. By this cord, therefore, he signifies that he will shortly rebuild Jerusalem. This angel seems to have been the same one who in chapter 1:8 was seen by Zechariah standing among the myrtles, namely St. Michael: for he was the guardian and protector of the Synagogue, as he now is of the Church; hence the care of restoring Jerusalem and the temple pertained to him. Ezekiel saw a similar man in chapter 40:3, who was measuring with a cord and a reed the temple to be rebuilt by Zerubbabel. So St. John in Apocalypse 21:15 saw an angel measuring the heavenly Jerusalem with a reed.
Verse 2: And I said (I Zechariah, to the man having the measuring lin...
2. And I said (I Zechariah, to the man having the measuring line, that is, to St. Michael): WHERE ARE YOU GOING? (what do you intend to do or measure with your line)? AND HE SAID (Michael answered) TO ME: TO MEASURE JERUSALEM (that is, the area on which Jerusalem is to be rebuilt. For Jerusalem no longer existed, having been destroyed by the Chaldeans about 70 years before. Hence he adds): AND TO SEE HOW GREAT IS (that is, will be, or ought to be) ITS BREADTH. Tropologically, this measuring line signifies the dimensions of the cross of Christ, as well as of charity, humility, and the other virtues, according to which the spiritual house, that is, the building of perfection, is to be built, about which the Apostle says in Ephesians 3:18: "That you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth." See what was said there.
Verse 3: And Behold The Angel Who Spoke In Me
3. AND BEHOLD THE ANGEL WHO SPOKE IN ME. — This was the angel proper to Zechariah, who suggested these oracles to him and showed him the visions, and therefore was different from Michael, as I said in chapter 1:13. Wherefore St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Hugo, Lyranus, and others throughout count three angels here: the first, with the measuring line as a measurer, who was St. Michael; the second, the prophetic angel of Zechariah; the third, "who went forth to meet him," that is, the second, so that through him he might teach Zechariah how great Jerusalem would be; many think this third one was St. Gabriel; for he was the guardian of the people of God, as is clear from Daniel 9:21, and chapter 10:5, where Daniel similarly saw three angels like, indeed almost the same as, these of Zechariah, and announcing nearly the same things.
4. And he said to him (that is, the third angel said to the second, who was the guardian of Zechariah): RUN, SPEAK TO THIS YOUNG MAN, SAYING: JERUSALEM SHALL BE INHABITED WITHOUT WALLS, — that is to say, Tell Zechariah, called a young man not by age, as Ribera and Emmanuel would have it (for he was of advanced age, say St. Epiphanius, Dorotheus, Isidorus, and indeed even the Roman Martyrology),
but by condition and status; because he was a young man, that is, a client and disciple of his guardian angel. For men in relation to angels are like children, says St. Jerome. Again, young man means servant. For Zechariah was a servant of the angel, since through him the angel of God announced to the Jews the decree concerning the restoration of Jerusalem. So in Luke 1:69, David is called a servant, that is, a minister of God: "He raised up, he says, a horn of salvation for us in the house of David His servant." Likewise Jacob, in the same passage verse 14: "He took up, he says, Israel His servant." In Acts 4:27, Jesus is called servant, that is, minister of God. So in Genesis 24:52, Abraham's servant, though an old man, is called his boy. It is a catachresis: for boys are accustomed to serve men and elders. The meaning therefore is: O angel, tell your client Zechariah: You, seeing the first angel, namely Michael with the line, thought that Jerusalem to be rebuilt would be small, as if to be encompassed by his small measuring cord; but know that you are mistaken: for I predict and promise you and yours that Jerusalem will be so great, and so full of citizens, that its walls will not be able to contain them. For the cord which you see, though it appears small because it is thin and wound into a ball; nevertheless if it is unrolled, as will happen in the measuring, it will encompass an enormous area, which will hold an enormous city; and the city itself, though enormous, will not hold its inhabitants, so great will be their multitude; therefore they will be forced to dwell in suburbs and villages near the city. From this passage St. Gregory, Homily 34 on the Gospels, teaches that greater angels send lesser ones: "For when," he says, "an angel says to an angel: Run, and speak to this young man, there is no doubt that one sends another. Those that are sent are the lesser, those that send are the greater." From this also the Scholastics derived what they teach about the speech of angels.
WITHOUT WALLS. — In Hebrew perazot, that is, villages; meaning, after the manner of villages without walls shall Jerusalem be inhabited: because so great will be the number of citizens that the city cannot contain them. Therefore they will build suburbs and villages adjoining the city, and through them will spread out and extend over a very great distance. Hence some explain "without walls" as meaning outside the wall. For so it is said in Joshua chapter 17:5: "The portions of Manasseh fell apart from the land of Gilead," that is, besides and outside the land of Gilead. He does not therefore deny that Jerusalem is to be surrounded with a wall, as some would have it, who accordingly want this to be understood literally of the Church. Nor does he correct Michael wanting to measure Jerusalem with a line, as others explain it, as if to say: Do not measure it, for it is not to be measured with a cord, since it is to be built without walls and extended in every direction. For what angel would correct Michael, the prince of all the angels? But the sense is: Although Jerusalem will immediately be surrounded with a wall because of fear of the neighboring nations, as is clear from Nehemiah 4:17; yet so great a throng of people will flock there that many citizens will be forced to live outside the walls in suburban lanes and villages. And so it came about in fact: for they dwelt in Bezeta, that is, in the new city, until King Agrippa began to surround these suburbs with a wall, as Josephus testifies, Book VI of the War, chapter 6.
Second, "it shall be inhabited" can be taken δυνητικῶς (in a potential sense), to signify ability rather than act, meaning: So safe and secure will Jerusalem be through the help and protection of God dwelling in it, that it could be inhabited without a wall. For a thing is said to be done which is apt to be done; and a person is said to do that which he has the power to do. So Job says, chapter 9:6: "Who moves," that is, who can move, "the earth from its place. Who commands the sun and it does not rise," that is, who can command the sun not to rise. Third, the Hebrew perazot, that is, villages, the Septuagint translates as "fruitful": for such villages tend to be. Hence they render it thus: Jerusalem shall be fruitfully inhabited by a multitude of men and cattle that are in its midst, meaning: Jerusalem will be rich, fertile, and opulent: for it will produce and nourish an innumerable throng of cattle as well as men. So the Hebrews, St. Cyril, Theodoret, and others take these things literally of the city of Jerusalem. For by this phrase he signifies the extent and populousness, as well as the security and peace of Jerusalem. For when there is fear of war, no rich man dares to live in villages, but retreats to walled cities.
Mystically, this is more true of the Church, which is inhabited without a wall: because it is spread throughout the whole world. For to it from every quarter has flowed an innumerable multitude of the faithful, both of men, that is, the just, and of cattle, that is, the carnal, who like cattle gape at the earth. So says St. Augustine, Sermon 131 On the Seasons, and Remigius, Albertus, Lyranus, Vatablus, and Arias here. Again, the Church, as well as the holy soul, is perazot, that is, a village, because of its pleasantness, freedom, and fruitfulness. For it abounds in spiritual wheat, wine, oil, fruits, cattle and animals of every kind, fields, vineyards, gardens, trees, fountains, etc. What wonder? This is the estate of God, raised up, increased, and adorned by His hands. Thus Jeremiah chapter 31:38 and Isaiah chapter 49:20 symbolically depict this same expansion of the Church through the enlargement of Jerusalem: "The place is too narrow for me, make room for me that I may dwell." Indeed, St. Jerome in his commentary on Jonah asserts that the old Jerusalem almost always in Sacred Scripture represents the new; for everywhere this was laid upon it as a burden, that it should prefigure and represent the Church of Christ in itself, as its image and type, indeed its mother. Therefore in the Liturgy of St. James, Jerusalem is called the Mother of Churches; just as in Romans 11:18, the ancient Patriarchs are called the root of the Church, which bears the faithful from among the nations. So St. Augustine in the Preface to Psalm 126 says that Solomon bears the figure of Christ, so that in those things which Scripture records of his kingdom, it is not so much the person of Solomon as he himself in the character of Christ; and therefore both must be understood: because the thing figured cannot be perceived without that which it figures. Thus here the foundation or basis of the letter is the restoration of the earthly Jerusalem, upon which is typically built the edifice of the Christian Church. So Fernandius, Vision XXX.
Anagogically, Jerusalem and the heavenly paradise is surrounded by the fire of purgatory, through which all must, as it were, pass to enter heaven, so that they may be tested whether they have any impurity; and if they have any, they may be purged, according to 1 Corinthians 3:13: "The fire shall test what sort of work each one has done, etc., if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." On this basis Origen, St. Basil, Lactantius, St. Ambrose, and Rupert, from this passage and similar ones, held the opinion that before heaven in the upper atmosphere there are great fires through which all those going to heaven must pass and be purified, even St. Peter and St. Paul; about which opinion, what is to be thought, I discussed at 1 Corinthians 3:12. Finally, Christ the Judge and the saints on the day of judgment will be surrounded by the fire of the world's conflagration, which will then roll the impious and the damned into hell, about which Psalm 49:2: "Fire shall burn in His sight, and round about Him a mighty tempest."
AND I WILL BE IN GLORY IN ITS MIDST. — In Hebrew lecabod, that is, for glory; the Septuagint, unto glory, for glory, in place of glory; the Chaldean, I will gloriously place my majesty in its midst. Now this glory can be taken in two ways: first, passively, meaning: I will be in glory, that is, I will be glorified and worshipped in Jerusalem through the worship of latria: so St. Jerome, Lyranus, and Dionysius. Second, and better, actively, meaning: I will glorify Jerusalem, I will bring glory to it: so Cyril, Theodoret, Haymo, Vatablus and Ribera, Sanchez, and others. For God dwelling in Jerusalem through His worship, law, oracles, miracles, protection, and guardianship, made it celebrated and glorious among all nations, as Josephus testifies, Book XII of the Antiquities, chapter 26. God therefore was the glory of Jerusalem, according to Jeremiah 2:11: "But my people has changed its glory," that is, its glorious God, "for an idol." Hence Psalm 86:9: "Glorious things are said of you, O city of God." And Psalm 47:1: "Great is the Lord and exceedingly praiseworthy in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Mount Zion is founded for the joy of the whole earth, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King." So Theodoret.
Second, some, as a Castro, take the glory of Jerusalem to mean the Ark of the Covenant; for because of it, when it was captured by the Philistines, the daughter-in-law of Eli, being pregnant and bringing forth her child prematurely from grief, called the boy Ichabod, saying: "The glory has departed from Israel, because the ark of God has been taken," 1 Samuel 4:21, so that the meaning would be: I, the God of Jerusalem, will be a fiery wall on the outside, but on the inside, in its midst, I will be to it as the ark. For just as all ran to the ark to worship and invoke God sitting above it on the mercy seat, and from there God governed the city: so He promises here that He will be in the midst of Jerusalem in place of the ark (which before the captivity Jeremiah had carried out from Jerusalem and hidden, as is said in 2 Maccabees 2:5) and as a soul, to animate, cherish, govern, and rule all the citizens and inhabitants from there. Moreover, God was at other times the glory of Jerusalem, but most of all when, having assumed flesh, He visibly appeared in it, taught, worked miracles, and established His Church. So Vatablus.
Wherefore allegorically, and rather tropologically, God through Christ is the glory of the Church. For how great is its glory, that its head is Christ, that is, the incarnate Word, God made man? How great is its glory: the heavenly life of Christ, His teaching, the Gospel, the sacraments, the grace which He continually pours into each of the faithful as His members, by which He leads them to eternal happiness and glory? Isaiah graphically depicts this glory of the Church under the type of Jerusalem, chapter 60:1: "Arise, he says, be enlightened, O Jerusalem, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold darkness shall cover the earth, and a mist the peoples: but upon you the Lord shall arise, and His glory shall be seen upon you. And the nations shall walk in your light, and kings in the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes round about, and see: all these are gathered together, they come to you," etc. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Albertus, and Remigius explain this passage of the Church.
Wherefore allegorically and tropologically, the fiery wall of the Church, and of any individual faithful, is first, the guardian angels. For about them the Psalmist says, and from him St. Paul in Hebrews 1:7: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." Thus the holy angels in the form of horses and chariots of fire defended Elisha against the army of the Syrians, 4 Kings 6:18. Thus they carried Elijah in a chariot of fire, which the demons dared not approach, up to heaven, 4 Kings 2:41. Second, the Holy Spirit, who descended upon the Apostles and the Church in the form of fire at Pentecost, whom Christ had already promised beforehand saying: "I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and what do I desire but that it be kindled?" Luke 12:49. As a symbol of this, the same Holy Spirit through an angel led the Hebrews out of Egypt and through the desert to the promised land in the form of a pillar of fire and cloud, which went before the camp and was the guide of the journey, and at the same time surrounded and protected them from enemies, about which Wisdom 10:17: "It was a shelter for them by day, and the light of stars by night." Burning and girded with this fire of charity, St. Lawrence laughed at Valerian and his fires and gridirons.
Verse 5: And I Will Be To It, Says The Lord, A Wall Of Fire Round About
5. AND I WILL BE TO IT, SAYS THE LORD, A WALL OF FIRE ROUND ABOUT. — The Chaldean: My Word will be to it, says the Lord, like a fiery wall surrounding it all around. It is a rhetorical anticipation: for he meets a tacit objection and forestalls it, meaning: Do not wonder, O Zechariah, that I said Jerusalem would be inhabited without a wall, nor fear on that account that an easy approach to it will lie open to enemies: for behold I promise that I Myself, your God, will be to it as a wall, and not one of stone but of fire, meaning: I, like a fiery wall, will encircle and protect Jerusalem, and by my mere appearance will put enemies to flight and gladden the citizens. He alludes to the flaming sword with which the Cherubim guarded paradise, Genesis 3:24, which not a few explain as a fiery wall, with Lactantius, Book II of the Institutes, chapter 13. For the paradise of God was formerly Jerusalem, and now is the Church. Again he alludes to Psalm 24:2: "Mountains are round about it, and the Lord is round about His people." And to Isaiah 26:1: "The Savior shall be set as wall and bulwark in it." So Theodoret explains, meaning: "By my kindness I will be to it a wall that cannot be crossed or scaled. For he called it a wall of fire. For just as a great pyre cannot be leaped over, so he who is guarded by the grace of God cannot be conquered." Because, as Rupert says, since it is written: "As wax melts before the fire, so let sinners perish before the face of God," who will there fear the enemy? Who will be anxious about a foe? For "God our protector is a consuming fire," as Paul says from Moses in Hebrews 12:29.
the glory of Jerusalem, but most of all when, having assumed flesh, He visibly appeared in it, taught, worked miracles, and established His Church. So Vatablus. Wherefore allegorically, and rather tropologically, the fiery wall of the Church, and of any individual faithful, is third, Christ Himself and God, who in Hebrews 12:29 is called a consuming fire; inasmuch as by His majesty and power He guards and protects all the faithful, and destroys their enemies with dispersion and ruin. So Theodoret.
Verse 6: O, O, Flee From The Land Of The North
6. O, O, FLEE FROM THE LAND OF THE NORTH. — In Hebrew hoi hoi, that is, "Hey, hey!" which is an adverb of urging and inciting to swift and hasty flight, and therefore is doubled, indeed tripled by the Prophet, to strike a great terror of a great disaster, and to add great incentives for the Jews to flee from it, meaning: O Jews, who are children of Jerusalem and Zion, flee from Babylon, which lies to the north of you, into which you were thrust as into a prison for seventy years, and from there further into Assyria, Media, and Persia: and so you have been scattered to the four quarters of the world: flee, I say, to your fatherland, return to Jerusalem the city of God, as to a place of refuge. For many Jews had established their residence in Babylon, as if they would remain there forever, and there they had their families, merchandise, and wealth, according to the counsel of Jeremiah, chapter 29:5, as is evident from Joakim the husband of Susanna, Daniel 13:4. Hence with difficulty and not without loss of their goods could they transfer themselves and their families to Jerusalem, especially because they feared that the Samaritans and other nations would again plunder Jerusalem, as the Chaldeans had done seventy years before. These, therefore, he rouses and encourages to flight and return, promising that the help and protection of God would be present at Jerusalem, lest any enemies dare to invade it. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, and Hugo.
Moreover, the Prophet so seriously and earnestly exhorts the Jews to flee from Babylon: both lest they and their children adopt Babylonian customs and superstitions, but rather, returning to Jerusalem, may worship God there piously and holily: and especially because a new destruction was impending over Babylon, lest it engulf them. For Babylon, having been captured by Cyrus, after he was slain and his royal line was extinguished in his son Cambyses, began to raise its neck and aspire to its former kingdom and monarchy: hence it shook off the yoke of the Persians. Therefore Darius Hystaspes besieged it again, and finally captured it; and this in the fourth year of his reign, that is, two years after this oracle of Zechariah concerning it (for this was issued in the second year of Darius, as is clear from chapter 1:1), as our Gordonus judges in his Chronology.
The event is narrated by Justin at the end of Book I; Herodotus at the end of Book III, and from them Torniellus at year of the world 3532. The Babylonians, says Herodotus, rebelling against Darius, when besieged by him, laughed at him, because they were equipped with everything for resistance, declaring that he would then capture Babylon when a mule gave birth. In vain, therefore, though employing every art and force, did Darius attack the city for twenty months, at the end of which the mule of Zopyrus, a prince of Darius, gave birth. Zopyrus took this as an omen, as if the time for capturing Babylon had now arrived. And so, cutting off his own nose and ears and horribly wounding and mutilating himself, he fled to the Babylonians, pretending that he had been so ignominiously treated by Darius because he had advised him to lift the siege; therefore he would reveal Darius's secrets to them, and would be their leader in battles against him. The Babylonians believed him: and so, having been made by them commander of the war, and having received the keys of the city, he secretly admitted the soldiers of Darius into the city, and thus handed the city over to Darius, who demolished all its walls and gates, neither of which Cyrus had done; he also crucified three thousand of the Babylonian nobles. About Zopyrus, this was the tribute of Darius: "I would rather that Zopyrus were not mutilated than that twenty Babylons be acquired for me through his calamity: one Zopyrus is worth more to me than twenty Babylons." In a similar way Jeremiah, as the destruction of Babylon by Cyrus was approaching, warns the Jews to flee from it, chapter 51:6: "Flee, he says, from the midst of Babylon, and let each one save his own soul: do not be silent about its iniquity, for it is the time of vengeance from the Lord, He Himself will repay it." So Tobit, as the destruction of Nineveh was imminent, warns his son to withdraw from it, chapter 14:12: "Direct your steps, he says, so that you may leave here: for I see that its iniquity will bring it to an end."
Tropologically, Babylon, that is, confusion, namely of vices, errors, and miseries, is the world, meaning: Flee from the world and from the power of the devil to Jerusalem, that is, to the Church, which is the mother and teacher of truth, holiness, and happiness: so Lyranus and Vatablus. Again, flee to the state of Religious life, to monastic cloisters as to a place of refuge. Hear St. Bernard, Sermon 30 On Conversion to Clerics: "Why should chastity not be imperiled amid delights, humility amid riches, piety amid business, truth amid much talking, charity in this wicked world? Flee from the midst of Babylon, flee and save your souls. Hasten to the cities of refuge, where you can both do penance for the past, and obtain grace in the present, and confidently await future glory."
The same, Epistle 103: "Woe, he says, woe is a vapor, appearing for a little while," — to lack these things and lead a quiet, cheerful, lovable, and holy life, to cultivate and frequent such persons, he resolved, and finally burst out in these words: "Why, I ask, do we labor in this world without hope of future goods? What can the world ultimately offer us? If we desire to rejoice, although it is better to weep well than to rejoice badly, how much better still do those rejoice whose conscience is at peace in God, who fear nothing except sin, who do nothing except by God's prescription? They are not wearied by public business, they are not compelled either to weep miserably over losses of family property or to fear them shamefully; nor, when they have left behind their own things, do they plot against others' goods. They live among themselves peaceful, sober, gentle, humble, and harmonious. There is no thought of lust, but rather great care and constant guardianship of chastity. Let us imitate such praiseworthy men, let us seize upon this constancy of living well, let us cast off our former ways, and change our labors. Before, we strove to appear more noble among noble friends; let us now strive to become poorer among the poor servants of God." This he said, and immediately carried it out in deed, while all of Carthage marveled and celebrated his action, with many also imitating him, so much so that their number filled the monasteries. See St. Ambrose, Book On Flight from the World.
and to experience its cares, burdens, and vexations mixed with deceptive joys, and when he saw that religious life — that which closes the entrance to eternal happiness. How long will you prefer hay to such great glory, hay which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven? I mean the flesh and its glory. For all flesh is hay, and all its glory as the flower of hay. If you are wise, if you have a heart, if the light of your eyes is with you, cease now to pursue those things which it is miserable even to attain. Is it not better to spurn them with honor than to lose them with grief? Is it not wiser to yield them to the love of Christ than to death? There is a robber lying in ambush, from whose hands you can rescue neither yourself nor your possessions. Nor can provision be made, because as a thief in the night, so will he come. You brought nothing into the world, without doubt you will carry nothing away. You shall sleep your sleep, and find nothing in your hands." He mourns, rightly mourns, St. Augustine, Book II of the Confessions, chapter 4, that his youth was spent in those streets of Babylon, since when he heard his peers boasting of their vices and glorying all the more as they were more shameful, he himself was stimulated not only to do the same things, but even to invent things he had not done, lest he seem more despicable for being more innocent, and lest he be held more worthless for being more chaste. For it is an exceedingly contagious thing to have bad companions, when it is said: "Come, let us do it, and one is ashamed not to be shameless." Oh, if only it were possible to ascend to a high watchtower with St. Cyprian, Book II, Epistle 2, and from there survey Babylon, that is, the world — the various pursuits, cares, businesses, conversations, running about, labors, traffickings, anxieties, vexations, crimes, miseries, disasters, and slaughter of worldly people — surely we would exclaim: O how great is the emptiness in things! O what a sea of miseries is Babylon! O how insane are those who choose to be tossed about and drowned in it! O, O wretched and blind mortals, flee from the midst of Babylon, flee this flood of evils. Look at even one city, or one house, or one family — how many dissensions, curses, and blasphemies you will see in it, how many obscenities and shameful images, books, words, and works; how many labors from morning to evening, how many anxieties, how many vexations, how many misfortunes! You will see this one afflicted with fever, that one with kidney stones, a third with asthma, a fourth with colic, a fifth with pleurisy, a sixth with poverty, etc., a seventh with robbery, barrenness, shipwreck, etc. If you look into their souls, you will see them far more sick and wretched, so that with Hosea chapter 4 you may exclaim: "There is no truth, and there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. Cursing, and lying, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood has touched blood."
St. Fulgentius, afterwards bishop of Ruspe, was contemplating these things, who, as his Life relates, though he was born of a senatorial family and was considered most fortunate in learning, wealth, high office, clientele, and flourishing age, began to weigh the brevity and emptiness of this worldly happiness,
FOR I HAVE SCATTERED YOU TO THE FOUR WINDS OF HEAVEN. — First, some explain it thus, meaning: Flee from Babylon to Judea, because there I will expand and scatter you to the four quarters of the world. For I will give you Philistia, which is to the west; Moab, which is to the east; Edom, which is to the south; Samaria, which is to the north. Second, others better explain it, meaning: Flee from Babylon, because there you are not united but scattered to the four quarters of the world, through which you wander: return therefore to Judea, so that there you may coalesce into one people and commonwealth as before. Third, Sanchez, meaning: I invite only you, O Jews, who dwell in Babylon: for I am not speaking to those dispersed in other lands, since these are scattered to the four winds and cannot be recalled. Hence in fact only those who remained in Babylon returned, but not those who wandered dispersed in other regions.
Verse 7: O Zion, Flee
7. O ZION, FLEE. — "Zion," that is, Zionites, namely the Jews originating from Zion and Jerusalem. For "flee" in Hebrew is himmaleti, that is, snatch yourself away, free yourself, save yourself; the Chaldean, escape; Pagninus, rescue yourself; the Tigurine, save yourself; the Septuagint, save yourselves (by fleeing) to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. Behold, all these words signify the imminent destruction of Babylon by Darius: for it is from this that Zechariah here warns the Jews to snatch themselves away. YOU WHO DWELL WITH THE DAUGHTER OF BABYLON, — you who dwell in Babylon; for the daughter of Babylon is the same as daughter Babylon, that is, Babylon itself, beautiful and fair like a daughter.
Verse 8: For Thus Says The Lord
8. FOR THUS SAYS THE LORD. — Sanchez refers these words to the preceding, meaning: Flee from Babylon, because the Lord commands this. But all other interpreters refer them to what follows, and therefore the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin codices begin the eighth verse from here.
AFTER GLORY HE SENT ME TO THE NATIONS. — Meaning: After I shall have gloriously restored Jerusalem through Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, etc., I, the angel, namely Gabriel, am sent to the nations that afflicted you, O Jews, and that aided the Chaldeans in the devastation of Judea, and plundered its fugitives, so that I may punish them and subject them to you, namely the Edomites, Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, etc. So the Chaldean, Hugo, Mariana, and others. The same was predicted by Obadiah at the end of his prophecy, and by Zephaniah in chapters 1 and 2. For these are the words not of Zechariah, as a Castro would have it, as if he were sent by God to the nations to preach destruction to them; but of the third angel, who began to speak to Zechariah in verse 1, and extends his discourse to this point. For the connection of the text and the 70 (Septuagint) require this because. Arias takes the nations to mean the Persians, as if this angel predicts the destruction of the Persians by the Greeks and Alexander the Great. But the Persians, such as Darius and Cyrus, did not plunder but enriched the Jews.
Third, others take the glory to be that of which he spoke in verse 5: "I will be in glory in its midst," meaning: After the glory which God by His presence will bestow on you, O Jews, in the new Jerusalem and temple, He will send me Gabriel to the nations, to subject them to you, which will be your new glory; and with much greater glory for you He will send my antitype Christ, who is the power and strength of the Father, so that He may subject to His Church, which He Himself will begin and found among you, the nations formerly hostile to you, and thus from Jews and Gentiles may make one flock, of which He Himself shall be the shepherd, meaning: After the glory of Jerusalem and of the Jews, there will succeed through Christ the glory of the Church and of the Christian nations. This third interpretation of glory seems more genuine and connected with the letter; for it looks back to the glory that preceded, which He promised in verse 5. So Albertus, Hugo, Arias, and Sanchez: indeed also the Chaldean, for he translates thus: after the glory which He said He would bring to you (for example), He sent me to the peoples who plunder you. Wrongly does R. David translate it: afterwards (that is, after all these prophecies), He sent me in glory to the nations, meaning: After I Zechariah have prophesied to the Jews, God for the sake of greater glory sent me to prophesy to the nations: for in Hebrew it is achar cabod, that is, after glory He sent me to the nations.
The exposition just given appears to be the literal one, against which the only objection is what preceded: "Thus says the Lord of hosts;" to which is immediately added: "After glory He sent me to the nations," where the pronoun "me" seems to refer to the one who preceded, namely the Lord of hosts. But it can be answered that this is a Hebraism, which in Latin you might soften and explain thus, meaning: Thus says the Lord of hosts, that after the glory of Jerusalem He will send me Gabriel to the nations, so that I may vigorously subject them to it. Let us grant, then, that this is what the surface of the letter intends, which in passing seems to touch upon the victories of the Jews; but it cannot be denied that the principal sense is about Christ, to whom the Prophet soars, and therefore uses this phrase. Christ therefore is the Lord of hosts, that is, God, whom after glory the Father sent to the nations. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Remigius, Theodoret, Lyranus, Vatablus, Clarius, Ribera, and others. Hence the orthodox doctors rightly prove from this passage against the Arians that the Son of God is true God, and therefore the mystery of the Most Holy Trinity. For here Zechariah asserts one Lord of hosts who is sent, namely the Son; and another who sends, namely the Father. Hence also in verse 10, the Lord sent to Zion says: I will dwell in your midst, where the Chaldean clearly translates: I will place my divinity in your midst. Now St. Jerome understands the glory as that by which the Son of God was preeminent in heaven — after the glory, he says, of the divine Majesty, meaning: See the condescension of our God; behold the Word of God, after the glory which He had from eternity in the divine nature, deigned to assume the sackcloth of our mortality, so that in it He might be sent to the nations and redeem them by His death. For ignominies after glory, labors after rest, sorrows after happiness, are wont to be more bitter. See Rupert.
Eusebius, however, Book VI of the Demonstration, chapter 16, Emmanuel, and others take the glory to mean the glory of Christ's humanity, meaning: After I, Christ as man, showed my glory by so many and such great miracles wrought by me, likewise by so many appearances by which I showed myself alive after the resurrection from the dead; finally after the ascension the Father sent me to the nations, so that through the preaching of the Apostles I might gather the faithful, especially those who would be and remain holy, and therefore be chosen for eternal life. For this is properly the glory of Christ, about which John 7:39: "The Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified." Where note the canon of St. Augustine, Book III of Christian Doctrine, chapter 31: "What things are said in Scripture of the Head," that is, of Christ, "understand of His body," that is, the Church, namely the Apostles and the faithful, and vice versa. Thus Christ is here said to be sent to the nations, not in Himself, but in His Apostles, whom He destined for the nations. For Christ in His Apostles, as it were in horses, traversed the whole world, according to Psalm 67:5: "Make way for Him who ascends above the west (that is, to the western regions of the world), the Lord is His name."
FOR HE WHO TOUCHES YOU, TOUCHES THE PUPIL OF MY EYE. — The Hebrew, the Chaldean, the Septuagint, and St. Jerome in his Commentary have "of His eye" or "of one's own eye," so as to speak of God in the third person, and to look back to what he said of Him: "He sent me to the nations." For to this properly corresponds in the same person: "He who touches you, touches the pupil of His eye," that is, of God. Our translator, however, rendered it in the same sense but in the first person, "of my eye," because he took these words as God speaking of Himself
in the first person, and especially because he looks to the principal sense, which is about Christ, meaning: Thus says the Lord, namely the Son of God: after the glory of the Jews, that is, after the Church which I gathered from the Jews, the Father sent me to the nations, so that I might subject and unite them to it: for you, O my earliest faithful and, as it were, firstborn, I so love, protect, and guard, that I will take upon myself the nations formerly hostile to you; or if they remain rebellious, I will destroy them. For he who touches you, touches the pupil of my eye; for nothing is more delicate, more precious, more valuable than the pupil, and therefore nothing is guarded with greater care: for if the pupil is injured, the eye is injured and blinded, which is the light of life and the guide of every path and action of a person, so that a person who is blinded leads a most miserable life in darkness, and is like a dead person. Hence the pupil in Hebrew is called bath, that is, daughter, because it is precious, dear, an object of care and affection, and is guarded like an only daughter; and because it is, as it were, the daughter of the eye. Therefore in the pupil there is a human image, of a daughter or son. Hence the Hebrews also call it by another word iscon, that is, a little man; because he appears in the pupil. He alludes to Deuteronomy 32:10: "He guarded him as the pupil of his eye." So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Lyranus, and others. Otherwise St. Cyril and Vatablus, meaning: He who touches you, touches the pupil of his own eye, that is, he most gravely injures himself: because he brings upon himself the most fierce wrath and vengeance of God your avenger.
FOR BEHOLD I LIFT MY HAND OVER THEM, — that is, over the neighboring and hostile nations, to strike them and give them to you as spoil and subject them to you. Thus He subjected to them the Ammonites, Moabites, Philistines, Samaritans, and Edomites at various times, and especially through Judah and the Maccabees. For the Jews hearing these oracles of Zechariah were soon to see this, and from the real fulfillment of these things were to know that he was a true prophet, and had received these things from God, as he himself affirms. So Albertus, Hugo, Lyranus, and Arias. Mystically, these things are more truly fulfilled in Christ, who through the Apostles born in Judea subjected all nations. Where note that the conversion of the nations is called plundering and spoil, because the Apostles plundered them from the devil, the flesh, and the world, to which they had voluntarily subjected themselves and willingly served, and subjected them to Christ. Hence Isaiah chapter 8:3 predicted that the name of Christ would be: "Make haste to take away spoils, hasten to plunder." And chapter 9:3, of the Apostles who would convert the world, he says: "They shall rejoice before you as those who rejoice at the harvest, as victors exult when they have captured the spoil, when they divide the plunder."
Note the phrase "I lift my hand," namely, as a standard-bearer, indeed as a leader and commander, raising his hand in the ancient manner, I raise the signal for battle and lead the army against the enemies. So it is said in Psalm 73:3: "Lift up your hands against their insolences forever," meaning: Raise your standard, send your army against your enemies, pursue them in war until you finish off and cut down every last one. For, as it follows: "Those who hate you have boasted; they have set up their signs as signs," etc.; and Isaiah chapter 7:11: "And the Lord will raise up the enemies of Rezin against him." And Psalm 105:26: "He lifted up His hand against them, to strike them down in the desert." Again, Isaiah chapter 49:22: "I will lift up my hand to the nations, and I will raise my standard to the peoples." Moreover, the sign and banner of Christ is the cross. Therefore, when you have seen the cross raised and Christ bloody upon it, sharpen your courage for fighting, and conceive a sure hope of victory through Christ.
Verse 10: Praise
10. PRAISE. — He rouses the Synagogue returning from Babylon to Jerusalem, to thanksgiving and jubilation, because it will experience the presence, help, and glory of God dwelling in it, to such a degree that the nations will see and confess the same, and therefore will bring their offerings and gifts to God in His temple; and not a few will be converted to Judaism and become proselytes, according to Psalm 67:30: "From your temple in Jerusalem kings shall offer you gifts." Thus Seleucus king of Asia and other princes sent enormous gifts to it, as is clear from 2 Maccabees 3:2 and 3. So Remigius, Haymo, and Dionysius. Mystically, he much more rouses the Jews and all the first faithful in the time of Christ, to rejoice and give thanks to God, because they see the Messiah, that is, God incarnate, visibly dwelling in their midst, and there founding the Church, to which He will soon through the Apostles unite all the nations. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Lyranus, Vatablus, Arias, and others.
Verse 11: And The Lord Shall Possess Judah As His Portion In The Sanctified Land
11. AND THE LORD SHALL POSSESS JUDAH AS HIS PORTION IN THE SANCTIFIED LAND. — Literally, meaning: When God brings back from Babylon the tribe of Judah (under which understand also the tribe of Benjamin, inasmuch as it had coalesced with Judah into one commonwealth and Church), then He will place it again as His portion, that is, His hereditary share, in the holy land, namely in Judea, which is holy, both because of the temple and the holy worship of God in it; and because the holy Patriarchs and Prophets lived in it, so that there again it may be His special possession, as it was in the time of Moses, who said Deuteronomy 32:9: "The portion of the Lord is His people: Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance." Mystically, Christ chose and possessed His portion, that is, the Apostles and other first faithful, from whom He formed His Church, in the holy land, namely Judea; for He more than all the Patriarchs and Prophets sanctified and consecrated it by His birth and life. So St. Jerome, Cyril, and others already cited.
Verse 13: Let All Flesh Be Silent
13. LET ALL FLESH BE SILENT. — This is an epiphonema (a concluding exclamation). For the Prophet, marveling at this beneficence of God toward His people, both the literal one under Nehemiah and the Maccabees, and rather the mystical and spiritual one under Christ, bursts out in profound reverence and doxology of God; and proclaims that all should acknowledge, admire, revere, worship, and celebrate it with trembling, reverence, humility, and gratitude: "For, he says, He has risen up from His holy dwelling
His;" the Septuagint, because He arose from His holy clouds. He speaks poetically, meaning: God "arose," in Hebrew neor, that is, He was roused as if from sleep, meaning: God seemed to sleep when He neglected us and left us in captivity for seventy years, and again when He left the world in the power of the devil for four thousand years: but now, seeing its monstrous destructions, as if shaking off sleep, He takes up His strength and might, and rises for vengeance, to free His people and dwell with them. And especially in the allegorical sense He will shake off sleep and arise when Christ, the mighty avenger, will descend from the clouds, indeed from heaven, into Judea, when He is incarnated there, so that He may dwell with the Jews to whom He was promised, and vindicate and save them from the tyranny of the devil, sin, and death. So St. Cyril, Theodoret, and others. Hence formerly when the priest proceeded to the altar to offer sacrifice, the deacon went before proclaiming: "Let all human and mortal flesh be silent, and stand with fear and trembling," as is found in the liturgy of St. James, near the beginning. See what was said at Habakkuk 2:20.
Tropologically, Arias says: Let all flesh be silent, he says, which is the fount and source of all evil thoughts and desires, and let the goad of its raging be stilled and restrained by the force and efficacy of the grace of Christ, which drains the entire fountain of vices.
Anagogically, let all flesh be silent before the face of Christ coming to judgment, because He has risen from heaven and descended into the valley of Jehoshaphat, to judge there the living and the dead, who ever existed, exist, or will exist in the world. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Lyranus, and Vatablus. For so great will then be the majesty of Christ, so great His wrath against the wicked, that they will not be able to bear the sight of His face, but will cry to the mountains and rocks: "Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him who sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb," Apocalypse 6:17. Then that paradox will be true: "A time will come when the damned will not want to leave hell, and the blessed will want to leave heaven;" namely this time is the day of judgment. For on that day the damned will wish to remain in hell, lest they be forced to come to judgment; partly lest they undergo the public disgrace of damnation before the whole world in the valley of Jehoshaphat; partly lest they see the angry and lightning-like face of Christ the Judge: partly lest they be forced to take up their bodies and be tormented in them, since now only their soul is tormented. But the blessed on the day of judgment will wish to leave heaven, both to hear the most happy sentence: "Come, blessed of my Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;" both so that their innocence, virtue, and glory may become known to the whole world, which formerly despised them; and so that they may take up their body and be glorified in it, and triumphantly accompanying Christ as He gloriously ascends into heaven, may enjoy the sight of Him forever. For the glory of the body will be, as it were, a second robe and crown of blessedness, which therefore the blessed souls ardently desire, as is clear from Apocalypse 6:10 and 11.