Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Zechariah sees a seven-branched, or rather eight-branched lampstand, at whose sides were two olive trees, one on the right and the other on the left; and he understands this to signify that by God's care and providence the construction of the temple, already begun, will be completed and brought to its summit. For God wills this, and no power of the Persians or of men can resist Him. Consequently, the two olives are Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince, who stand before God so that they may rebuild the lampstand, that is the temple, and govern the people in matters both sacred and civil and political. This is the literal sense, as is clear from the fact that continually in verses 6, 7, 9, and 10, the discourse is directed to Zerubbabel, the leader of the Jews at that time. Then from verse 9, where the angel expressly explains these portents thus, saying: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it. Therefore He intends literally by this vision to encourage Zerubbabel to complete the construction of the temple which he had begun, and about whose completion he was losing confidence. Moreover, this entire chapter is directed to Zerubbabel: for just as in the preceding chapter He urged Joshua the high priest, so in this chapter He urges Zerubbabel, the prince of the people, to vigorously pursue and complete the temple construction already begun. For on these two heads the entire body of the people depends, namely the Church on the pontiff, the commonwealth on the prince. Allegorically, however, and principally, by the rebuilding of the temple is foreshadowed the Church to be built from both Jews and, even more, from Gentiles by Christ. For He is the mystical Zerubbabel, whom no one among princes nor among Jews will be able to resist. For even though the Jews will reject Him, the Gentiles will eagerly embrace Him, and the Jews themselves at the end of the world will be converted to Him through the preaching of Elijah and Enoch. For these are the two olive trees that stand before the ruler of the earth, to perfect His Church, and to nourish, illuminate, and govern with the oil of doctrine, grace, and their example, as St. John explains in Apocalypse XI, 4. Indeed Ribera and others hold this to be the literal sense; but from what has been said, it is clear that it is the mystical sense.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 4:1-14
1. And the angel who was speaking to me returned, and roused me like a man who is roused from his sleep. 2. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see, and behold a lampstand all of gold, and its lamp upon the top of it, and its seven lights upon it, and seven channels for the lights which were on the top of it. 3. And two olive trees upon it; one on the
right of the lamp, and one on its left. 4. And I answered and said to the angel who was speaking to me, saying: What are these, my lord? 5. And the angel who was speaking to me answered, and said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, my lord. 6. And he answered, and said to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by an army, nor by strength, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7. Who are you, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? You shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the chief cornerstone, and shall level grace with the grace thereof. 8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10. For who has despised the day of small things? And they shall rejoice, and shall see the tin stone in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. 11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on its left? 12. And I answered a second time, and said to him: What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden spouts, in which are the golden channels? 13. And he said to me, saying: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, my lord. 14. And he said: These are the two sons of oil, who stand before the Lord of the whole earth.
Verse 1: And The Angel Returned
Verse 1. AND THE ANGEL RETURNED, namely Michael, as I said at chapter III, 3, who after the vision shown to me in chapter III had departed from me, returning to heaven to God, to attend upon Him as is customary, as the prince of the heavenly host. For there, having received from God a new vision and revelation to be communicated to me, he returned to me, who, pondering and marveling at the vision I had seen in the preceding chapter, was stuck as if stupefied and dazed. Hence Michael roused me from this stupor as from sleep, so that I might wake up and attend to this new vision of the lampstand which he was showing me. So say Lyranus, Vatablus, and others.
St. Jerome, Theodoret, and Remigius think differently; for they hold that the angel did not depart from Zechariah after the vision of chapter III, but is said to have returned because he presented a new vision to him and roused him to see it. But the former explanation is plainer and more genuine: for if Michael returned, then he had gone away.
HE ROUSED ME -- both from the stupor of the vision of chapter III, as I have just said, and from the dullness of the human mind; for its power, bound to the body and weighed down by it, becomes dulled and as it were drowsy, so that it is less sharp and vigilant for spiritual and divine things. Therefore the angel rouses the depressed and sluggish mind of Zechariah, to lift it up to divine things and make it attentive, because this prophecy is enigmatic, obscure, and difficult, meaning: Michael, by rousing me, sharpened my mind and made it more attentive to the heavenly hieroglyphics and symbols which he was about to show me.
Verse 2: The Golden Lampstand. H
Verse 2. THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND. He alludes to the lampstand which Moses made by God's command, Exodus XXV, 31. Hence that one, just like this one of Zechariah, had seven branches and lamps; yet it was not in all respects identical with it, as Lyranus holds. For the Mosaic one did not have seven channels, two spouts, and as many olive trees, which this one of Zechariah had. The lampstand by synecdoche signifies and represents the temple to be restored by Zerubbabel. For it was one of the three principal vessels of the temple, which illuminated the entire tabernacle with its light. Moreover, a lampstand is not normally brought into the temple except when it is finished. Therefore this construction of the lampstand signifies and presupposes that the construction of the temple will be completed, says Lyranus. Hence mystically the lampstand, like the temple, represents the Church, which is golden with charity and heavenly doctrine. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Remigius, Rupert, and others. Hence St. John, Apocalypse I, 13, saw "in the midst of seven lampstands one like the Son of Man," that is, Christ. And in verse 20, he hears the explanation of them from the angel saying: "The seven lampstands are the seven Churches" of Asia, namely Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, as is clear there in chapters II and III. See what I have said there. For St. John clearly alludes in that passage to this lampstand of Zechariah. But I shall say more about the meaning of the lampstand at verse 6.
THE LAMP UPON THE TOP. For "lamp" in Hebrew is gulla, that is, a concave and spherical vessel for holding oil, which you may also rightly call in Latin a gula [throat]. For just as the gula or throat receives food to transmit to the stomach, so this vessel received oil to transmit to the seven lamps. Hence Pagninus and Vatablus translate it as "lentil-shaped vessel"; the Zurich Bible as "round disk"; for gulla, from the root galal, meaning to roll, signif-
-ies a round and rollable vessel like a globe, or oval like a lentil. Our translator calls it a lamp, because in many places lamps have the shape of a lentil and are round, that is, spherical or oval. This lamp therefore was a hollow, swelling sphere, such as we see projecting upward in churches before the Blessed Sacrament. Moreover, this sat on the top, that is at the summit of the shaft or stem of the lampstand, like a bowl for receiving oil to be distributed to the seven lamps surrounding it on both sides. This lamp was therefore a bowl of oil, or a spherical oil vessel; hence two olive trees were also seen on either side, as symbols and indicators of the oil with which the lamp was full. Some add, such as Fernandius in vision XXXII, section 1, Ribera, Sanchez, and others, that it was a real burning and shining lamp, but a larger one, which was surrounded by seven smaller lamps also burning -- which is very probable, for this is more elegant. And so we see in the Roman basilicas of St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Cecilia, and others, a huge silver lamp surrounded by many smaller ones, hung before the tombs of saints, shining before them as a mark of honor. This lamp therefore seems to have been similar to those -- namely, large, round or oval, open at the top, into which was placed a small iron or bronze channel attached to a cork, so that raised by the oil it would float upon it, through which the inserted wick drew oil from the lamp so as to burn continually. It is therefore less likely, as some suppose, that this lamp was like a wide basin placed on the shaft of the lampstand, unless by basin you understand a bowl growing from the shaft itself. From what has been said, it follows that this lampstand in total was not seven-branched but eight-branched; for it was eight-stalked and consequently eight-lighted, since the central shaft was surrounded by seven branches, and on both the shaft and the seven branches a burning lamp rested: there were therefore eight.
AND ITS SEVEN LAMPS UPON IT. "It," namely the top. For he adds: "Seven channels for the lamps which were on the top of it." On the top, therefore, that is, at the summit of the shaft of the lampstand, seven lateral lamps stood out, resting on as many branches. Moreover, these branches sprouted and came out in arcs from both sides of the shaft of the lampstand, or rather from the bottom of the central lamp. Furthermore, these branches, as I shall say shortly, were hollow; hence they are called here "channels," that is, pipes through which the lamps drew oil from the central lamp. Therefore the lamps must have been a little lower than the central lamp, so that oil could flow from it into them. Whether these lamps were arranged in a circle so as to surround the central lamp on all sides and crown it, as it were, as Sanchez, Fernandius, and others hold; or only on its two sides, so that on one side there were three and on the opposite four lamps, as was done in the Mosaic lampstand, Exodus XXV, 31, to which Zechariah here alludes, is not certain. The former arrangement, however, seems more elegant and convenient, because, as I shall say, the seven channels through which the seven lamps drew oil from the central lamp could conveniently all have been arranged on two sides, but they are much more conveniently arranged in a circle around the central lamp.
SEVEN CHANNELS. So our translator, St. Jerome in his Commentary, and the Septuagint. You will object: The Hebrew, the Chaldean, Pagninus, Vatablus, and other more recent translators read "seven and seven"; therefore there were fourteen channels. Some respond that the Hebrew text is corrupt, and that instead of "seven and seven" one should read only "seven" once. For thus the Septuagint and St. Jerome read. Secondly, Sanchez answers differently, namely that it is an anadiplosis, meaning: Seven -- seven, I say -- were the channels for the lamps. This explanation is plausible and resolves all contradictions. Thirdly, Christopher a Castro answers that there were seven if you consider the source and openings, but fourteen if you count the little channels themselves. For the channels are called here small pipes, or tubes and passages, through which oil flowed from the central lamp into the smaller lamps, say Clarius and Vatablus. Now these tubes were fourteen, which came out from the lamp through seven openings. The lamp therefore had only seven openings, but each opening had two tubes, one of which extended to one lamp, the other to the neighboring one; each opening therefore supplied oil to two lamps through two tubes coming out from it. And because the openings were seven, hence our translator and the Septuagint count seven channels; but because the tubes were fourteen, hence the Hebrew, the Chaldean, and the more recent translators count fourteen channels. But these claims are made without elegance and without basis, especially because channels properly refers to the pipes themselves, not to the lamps, openings, and orifices. Therefore the second solution seems truer, which is confirmed by the Septuagint and our version.
Moreover, these channels were branches, coming out in arcs from the bottom of the central lamp, and at the top each of them supported its own lamp, and they were hollow so as to be pipes through which oil would be conveyed from the central lamp to the smaller lamps, as Sanchez rightly shows and depicts in a diagram of the lampstand. For this is far more elegant than what others propose, who place seven branches only to support the lamps, and then depict seven channels distinct from the branches, like seven canals through which oil would flow from the central lamp into the smaller lamps. For what purpose would there be such an inelegant multiplication of instruments, when both functions could more elegantly be accomplished by hollow branches? Hence again it is clear that these channels were not vessels separate from the lamps and the lampstand, which we call funnels, such as many in Rome have in their chambers for receiving oil, which they pour from them into the lamp from time to time. For in that case one large funnel would have sufficed for the lampstand and its seven lamps, and seven channels would have been superfluous. Furthermore, in that case the channels would have been
separate from the lampstand both as vessels and in location; but it is clear that they were joined to it. For this whole vessel of the lampstand was one piece, but seven-branched, because it was divided into seven lamps, and consequently into seven channels, that is, branches or pipes, which conveyed oil into the lamps. Less correctly, Rabbi Solomon and Arias explain "seven and seven" thus, meaning that each lamp had seven channels; for in that case the total number of channels would have been forty-nine. Surely so many were neither needed, nor was there room for them in so few and small lamps.
Mystically, the "seven channels" are the seven sacraments, which are vessels of grace -- not as if grace were actually and locally contained in them, as oil is contained in a vessel, but causally, because they contain and produce grace in themselves as instrumental causes. In Hebrew it is "seven and seven," to represent both the seven sacraments and the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; but more on this below. The seven channels, says St. Jerome, are the seven sacraments, through which the Church receives the oil of God's mercy and of all virtues, and by it is nourished and preserved. Hence also in Confirmation, Holy Orders, and Extreme Unction, oil is the matter of the sacrament, because while the oil anoints externally, the soul within is enriched with grace, and is made illustrious so as to shine before the world, and is made strong, so that like an athlete it may generously fight against the flesh, the world, and the devil.
Verse 3: And Two Olive Trees Upon It
Verse 3. AND TWO OLIVE TREES UPON IT. "Upon," meaning beside; for one was on the right and the other on the left of the lampstand, as follows. By "olives" are understood not the bare fruits, which are properly called olives, but the trees themselves, that is, olive trees, or at least their branches. For in Hebrew, zetim means both the olive tree and the olive fruit; and "oliva" in Latin is sometimes taken for the tree, that is, for the olive tree. This is clear from verse 12: "What are the two olive branches?" -- branches, that is, boughs. For these boughs were laden with olives; and the boughs came from the tree, namely the olive tree. Therefore some less correctly suppose that these olives were carved on the lampstand or lamp. For just as, they say, a grape or vine is carved on wine jars, and fish on water vessels, so on this oil lamp olives were carved to signify that there was oil in it. But that these olives were separate from the lamp will be clear from verse 12.
This then was the idea of this whole apparition. First, Michael showed Zechariah a great golden lampstand, on whose top rested a spherical vessel like a large lamp, for holding oil and at the same time for shining as brightly as possible. Second, this lamp was surrounded by seven other smaller lamps, or lights, which came out all around through as many branches arching from the very bottom of the central lamp. Third, these branches were hollow like channels or pipes; for through them oil was conveyed from the central lamp to the smaller lamps resting on the branches--
--hence these branches are here called "channels," namely of oil. Fourth, there were two olive trees, or two branches full of olives, one on the right and the other on the left of the lamp and the lampstand, as it were flanking and adorning it. For olive trees are the symbol, cause, and parent of the oil which is in the lamp. Some add that from the olives oil dripped into two spouts, that is, two curved little channels extending to the lamp, which continually filled it with oil, so that it could abundantly supply it to the seven lamps. So say Fernandius in vision XXXII, section 1, a Castro, Vatablus, and others. But this seems less fitting, and therefore less true, as I shall show at verse 12.
Verse 5: Do You Not Know
Verse 5. DO YOU NOT KNOW? Michael pretends to be surprised that Zechariah does not grasp these symbols, being a Prophet, meaning: Are you then a prophet and you do not know these things? especially since they pertain to the subject of your prophecy. For they represent the construction of the temple, about which you continually prophesy. So Christ said to Nicodemus: "You are a teacher in Israel and you do not know these things?" John III, 10. By which phrase and gesture He does not so much rebuke his ignorance as sharpen his eagerness to learn, and arouses him to attention to His teaching about baptism and spiritual regeneration.
Verse 6: This Is The Word Of The Lord To Zerubbabel. J
Verse 6. THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD TO ZERUBBABEL. Just as in the preceding chapter He urged Joshua the high priest to the construction of the temple, so here He urges and encourages Zerubbabel the prince to the same, promising him that by God's help he will successfully complete it. For just as Joshua was the head of the Church and of sacred affairs, so Zerubbabel was the head of the political commonwealth and of civil affairs. For on both this head and prince depended the construction of the material temple, just as on both depends much more the spiritual construction, namely true faith, religion, justice, holiness, order, and the beauty of the whole commonwealth.
NOT BY AN ARMY, NOR BY STRENGTH, BUT BY MY SPIRIT, SAYS THE LORD. Here Michael explains the symbol of the lampstand, but so concisely and obscurely that an Oedipus is needed to interpret it. First, Remigius, Albert, and Haymo suppose that by the construction of the lampstand is represented the liberation from the Babylonian captivity, meaning: This liberation will not come about by force of arms and soldiers, but by My Spirit, by My providence, by My counsel, and by My power. But the Babylonian captivity had long since been ended by Cyrus, and the Jews had already returned to Jerusalem and were engaged in the construction of the temple. But a Prophet does not prophesy about past things, but about future things.
Second, the Hebrews suppose that by the construction of the lampstand is signified the restoration of the commonwealth by Zerubbabel, who was to restore the Mosaic law in it. For in the Hebrew commonwealth the lampstand was the law given through Moses. But this lampstand is mystical, not literal. Third, Lyranus and Hugh explain it thus, meaning: You, O Zerubbabel, will restore this lampstand, that is, this temple, not by your own strength and might, but by the Spirit of God, who will suggest this, inspire it, and persuade Darius Hystaspes, king of Persia, to permit it to be restored, and indeed to see to it. For it is clear that this is what actually happened, from 1 Ezra VI. This sense is fitting, but partial, not complete.
Fourth, Clarius, and following him a Castro, hold that the lampstand signifies prophecy, namely the Spirit of God, who is offered through the word, or the oracle and speech of God in the mind of the Prophet; the oil is the grace of the Holy Spirit, the channels are the Prophets taught by God, through whom the word of God is conveyed to others; the seven lamps are the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, the lampstand was constructed, burned, and received oil from the olive trees without human ministry, to signify that prophecy is the work of God, not of man. But this interpretation seems remote and less adequate.
Fifth, therefore, and genuinely, this lampstand represents God, says Mariana, and the providence of God, which He exercises through seven lamps as through eyes, that is, through seven primary angels, as we shall hear at verse 10, especially regarding the construction of the temple to be restored by Zerubbabel. The lampstand therefore is God's providence insofar as it extends to the lamps, that is, to the angels and to all created things; the lamp is the divinity itself in itself, namely God's mind and most luminous eye; the channels are the various reasons, modes, and differences of divine providence, by which through angels He rules and governs this creature in this way, that one in that way, another in another way suitable to it. Again, they are the various graces, gifts, and talents which God distributes and imparts to various persons as He pleases. For the lampstand, because it is a bearer of light, bears the type of wisdom, vigilance, and providence, as I said at Exodus XXV, 31.
Pierius adds, in Hieroglyphics XLVI, that it is a symbol of divine life, generation, purity of soul, love, fame and glory, and finally of divinity itself, because it bears fire, which is a hieroglyphic of God. The two olive trees are Joshua and Zerubbabel, or the priesthood and the kingdom, about which more shortly. Moreover, the lamp of the lampstand was full of oil from itself, continually lasting and always burning, as if it had been produced from asbestos stone, which is not consumed by fire. It was therefore an inextinguishable light, signifying the unfailing, eternal, and ever-vigilant wisdom and providence of God.
Thus Callimachus, who was called "the faultfinder of his own art" because of his fastidious diligence in polishing his works, made a golden lamp for Minerva which burned for an entire year even though no oil was added; Pausanias testifies to this in his Attica. Likewise in Rome and elsewhere, in ancient tombs, lamps have been found burning continually without fresh fuel, made with wondrous material and skill, lit many hundreds of years ago, which were extinguished as soon as they came in contact with air. Pliny also writes in book IX, chapter 27, that there is a fish in the sea which, with its fiery tongue extended through its mouth, shines on calm nights, and is therefore called the "lamp-fish." So the angels, and the apostles and apostolic men, shining continually with their doctrine and life, and endowed with fiery tongues, illuminate the sea of this age: "They bring a new sun and new stars." Finally, Nicephorus, book XIV, History, chapter III, writes that the Emperor Theodosius the Younger worked at the Sacred Scriptures by night, the lamp lighting itself spontaneously and pouring out oil by wondrous art, so as not to burden any servant with that labor.
Hence second, this lampstand represents the temple itself to be restored, as part for the whole, by synecdoche. That this is so, Michael clearly teaches in verse 9, saying: "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house (of God, namely the temple), and his hands shall complete it." Consequently, the lampstand represents that with the temple and through the temple the entire Church and commonwealth of the Jews is to be restored to its former splendor, according to what He promised in chapter II, 5: "I will be the glory in the midst of it." For at its destruction and captivity, Jeremiah had mourned and sorrowfully sung that passage in Lamentations IV, 1: "How is the gold become dim! The finest color is changed! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered!" But now Zechariah saw this lampstand, restored or rather to be restored by Zerubbabel, golden and shining with eight lights. Wherefore Titus, when he devastated Jerusalem, to signify that he had stripped the Jews of all their glory, took away their lampstand and carried it to Rome in triumph; hence even now in the triumphal arch of Titus in Rome we see that very lampstand vividly carved.
Hence also modern Jews celebrate their Sabbaths and feasts with lamps, as I have seen in their synagogues, which custom is attested as ancient by Persius in Satire V: "The days of Herod have come, and the lamps arranged on the greased windowsill belch forth a thick mist, carrying violets." The same is clear from the 70th Canon of the Apostles, which states: "If any Christian brings oil to the sacred rites of the pagans, or to the synagogue of the Jews on their feast days, or lights lamps there, let him be expelled from the community." Hence also Christ describes the feasts and wedding banquets of the heavenly Jerusalem and temple by lamps and torches, Matthew XXV, 1.
Moreover, there are seven lamps because there were as many in the lampstand of Moses, to which allusion is made here and which is here represented, and because the number seven, which is the number of multitude and fullness, signifies that the splendor and glory of the temple and the commonwealth after the captivity will be great and outstanding. The lamp in its midst is God, who supplies to all the lamps, that is, to all parts of the temple, oil, that is, vigor and splendor; or more fittingly for this second interpretation, the lamp is the Holy of Holies: for just as in the lampstand the brilliance of the central lamp was prominent, and it nourished the brilliance of the seven lamps surrounding it by supplying oil to them, so in the temple the majesty and splendor of the Holy of Holies was prominent, which communicated its reverence and holiness to the Holy Place, the court, and the other parts of the temple. The two olive trees are Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince. For these, standing by the primary lampstand, that is, the Lord God, as is said in the last verse, at His nod and direction built and completed the material and secondary lampstand, that is, the temple, and won for it beauty and glory, and they accomplished this not by their own resources, might, or strength -- since the Samaritans and other enemies were powerfully obstructing the construction -- but by the power and spirit of God. And this is what Michael signifies when he says: "Not by an army, nor by strength, but by My Spirit" -- supply: this work will be completed, and the construction of the temple will be so great and magnificent, as he explains at verse 9. For the Spirit both urges the Prophets, namely me Zechariah and Haggai, to press on with this construction, and likewise will cooperate with it, and by His wisdom, help, and protection will so direct, aid, and advance it that neither Sanballat nor any other enemy will be able to hinder it, but it will be finished shortly and brought to completion. For He will encourage Zerubbabel and the people to build vigorously, and will govern and prosper all their plans and works.
Symbolically, Theodoret says: "The golden lampstand is a type of divine providence, which governs heavenly and earthly things. The seven lamps, equal in number to the seven days of the week, demonstrate the constancy and perpetuity of divine care (governance). The seven channels of the lamps show the immense mercy of God. Thus by the lamp He indicates the grace illuminating all things. And the two olive trees springing up on either side, adorned with divine grace. The two branches reaching up to the lamps are Joshua and Zerubbabel: the former from the priestly tribe, the latter from the royal." This interpretation is more general, but not unfitting. For in a similar way the seven-branched lampstand of Moses was, symbolically and physically, an image of the celestial sphere with its seven lights, that is, of the seven planets. For the tabernacle bore the type of the world, and the Holy of Holies that of the empyrean heaven, in which God, the glorious charioteer and ruler of the world, resides, as I said from Josephus and Philo at Exodus XXV, 31. Moreover, Zechariah saw this lampstand outside the temple, by which is signified that the Church will not be of the temple, that is, of the Jews, but of the Gentiles. Christ therefore in this age illuminates
the Church, the lamps burn among the Gentiles, the Jews remain in darkness, but at the end of the world they will be illuminated through the two olive trees, that is, Elijah and Enoch. Allegorically and more properly, this lampstand represents first Christ, who illuminates and sends seven angels to govern the Church through them. Hence it is said of Him in Song of Songs I: "Your name is oil poured out." Hence second, the lampstand represents the Church of Christ; the lamp represents the Pope and the Roman Church, which is as it were the Holy of Holies; whence she, like a mother, instills into the seven lamps, that is, all the other Churches scattered throughout the world, oil, that is, power, vigor, doctrine, and grace, through seven channels, that is, the seven sacraments, and through the seven orders. For all power of order and jurisdiction (and consequently all sacraments) is derived from the Pope of the Roman Church, as from a lamp, to all the bishops, priests, and Churches of the world. The two olive trees are St. Peter and St. Paul, who built and founded the lamp, that is, the Roman Church, and poured into it all doctrine and grace along with their blood, and even now from heaven distill it through prayers and intercessions. But they do this not by their own power, but in the spirit of Christ, from whom they obtain all their strength, force, and vigor. For Christ is the primary lamp, full in Himself of the oil of grace, says St. Jerome, Vatablus, Fernandius, and others. For Christ is the light of the world, John VIII, 12, and like the sun illuminating the world, John I, 9; and therefore He pours oil, that is, grace, into the seven lamps, that is, into all the Churches. For of His fullness we have all received.
Consequently, by the lamp you may fittingly understand the bath of Christ's Passion, which the Church contains and possesses, whose oil is His blood and merits, which through the seven channels, that is, the sacraments, are conveyed into the seven lamps, that is, all the particular Churches. The two spouts signify the two natures of Christ. The two olive trees represent Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel, each of whom was a type of Christ and foreshadowed His twofold power, namely the pontificate and the principate. Joshua therefore is Christ the Pontiff; Zerubbabel is the same Christ as legislator and prince. Because Christ is the Pontiff and prince of the Church, He continually pours into it oil, that is, the power of meriting and making satisfaction. For that the blood of Christ had and has both these powers comes from the hypostatic union with the Word, which made Christ both Pontiff and Prince.
Moreover, I reviewed the analogies between the lampstand and the Church at Apocalypse I, 20. Here pertains the exposition of Rupert: Zerubbabel, he says, is Christ descended from Zerubbabel, who put on humanity, which is gold, conceived not from the seed of man but by the power of the Holy Spirit, and born of a virgin; just as this lampstand was made not by man but by God alone. Christ therefore is the lampstand illuminating the temple of the Church. This is entirely golden, because after the Resurrection Christ became entirely glorious, whereas before it He was glorious only in His head, that is, in His divinity. In Him was the seven-headed lamp, that is, the sevenfold grace, namely the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, by whose power and spirit He fought against and conquered spiritual enemies.
Tropologically, the lamp of the lampstand, that is, of the Church, is the Blessed Virgin, says Anastasius of Nicaea, Question LIII on Scripture, because she bore the immaterial light, God incarnate; and because through Christ she supplies and instills to the seven lamps, that is, to the apostles and the other saints, the oil of doctrine and grace. For that lamps are illustrious saints is clear from Christ's words about John the Baptist, John V, 33: "He was a burning and shining lamp." See what I said at Exodus XXV, 31. So say St. Cyril and St. Epiphanius, homily On the Praise of the Blessed Mary.
But concerning this entire vision, hear Anastasius, bishop of Nicaea, Question LIII on Sacred Scripture: "What, he says, is the lampstand? Holy Mary. But why a lampstand? Because she bore the immaterial light, God incarnate. But why all of gold? Because after giving birth she remained a virgin. What are the seven lamps? The seven laws: for the law is a light, Proverbs VI, 23. The first is the light of nature. The second, the law through sight. For the God whom the law proclaims, sight proves through created things. For from the greatness and beauty of created things, their Creator is discerned. The third, the law of paradise," forbidding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. "The fourth, which in the time of Noah was in the rainbow. The fifth, which in the time of Abraham was through circumcision. The sixth, the law of the letter," namely the law of Moses written by God on tablets of stone. "The seventh, the law of grace. What are the seven channels? The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, which Isaiah enumerates in chapter XI. What are the two olive trees? The two Testaments. For just as the olive tree has an ever-green leaf, so also the two testaments have perpetual and never-ceasing testimonies about Christ." So says Anastasius.
Moreover, all the saints have their light not from themselves but from Christ through the Blessed Virgin. For she bore Him and gave and gives Him to us. Hence St. Augustine, explaining the words of Christ in John XII, 36: "Believe in the light, that you may become children of light," says thus: "Let them therefore be lamps under the lamp, if they wish to be illuminated, since they do not have light from themselves but from Him who is light from Himself and not from another. For thus they have their light secure by adhering to Him who cannot fail and always suffices for others." The same author, in Treatise 54 on John: "All the saints, he says, are lights; but by believing they are illuminated by Him, from whom if anyone withdraws, he will be darkened. But that light by which they are illuminated cannot withdraw from itself, because it is absolutely unchangeable, and therefore there are no shadows in it, nor can there be." So our Emmanuel says: The lampstand is the Church, the lamp is Christ, the lamps are all the just, the seven channels are the seven sacraments, by which the oil of grace is poured upon the just, so that they may shine.
Morally, note this axiom of God which through Zechariah He here establishes regarding the material temple, namely: "Not by an army, nor by strength, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts" -- supply: this great temple construction will be completed. The same holds much more in the spiritual construction both of the Church and of any holy soul. For that the Apostles erected Churches everywhere throughout the world and gathered all nations to them was the work not of human strength but of the divine Spirit. Likewise, that today Churches are built among the Japanese, Chinese, Brazilians, Mexicans, etc., and that the same are restored among heretics in Bohemia, Moravia, Hungary, and Germany, was accomplished not so much by armies as by the power of the Spirit of God. In the same way, that St. Paul, St. Magdalene, St. Mary of Egypt, and St. Pelagia, who were the dens and caves of the devil, are transformed into temples of God, is the power not of man but of the Holy Spirit, who penetrates hearts and changes minds. He is the same one who today converts sinners and raises and inflames the just to outstanding holiness. Moreover, the Holy Spirit does this not by the strength of violence, but gradually and gently, gliding into the soul like a gentle breeze through heavenly illuminations sent to the intellect, and similar affections and impulses bestowed on the will. For God's providence through this Spirit so governs the world that it reaches from end to end mightily, and disposes all things sweetly.
As a symbol of this, God appeared to Elijah, who seemed to himself to be zealous and was wishing that the impious Jezebel and the Baal-worshippers would be destroyed by fire and lightning. He appeared, I say, not in fire, wind, or thunder, but in a spirit and the whisper of a gentle breeze. Hear the Scripture, 3 Kings XIX, 11: "Go forth (O Elijah) and stand on the mountain before the Lord: and behold the Lord passes by, and a great and mighty wind (spirit) overturning mountains and crushing rocks before the Lord: the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake: the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, fire; the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire, the whisper of a gentle breeze; and there was the Lord." Such was, and is, the Spirit of Christ, who therefore when St. John and St. James asked to hurl lightning from heaven upon the Samaritans, because they had dishonored Christ, rebuked them, and taught them the Spirit of meekness, saying: "You do not know of what spirit you are. The Son of Man did not come to destroy souls but to save them," Luke IX, 55.
Whoever therefore attempts to convert himself or others from sin, or to lead them to outstanding perfection, let him know that he cannot do this by his own powers, but by God's. Therefore, distrusting himself and trusting in the Holy Spirit, let him humbly and ardently invoke Him, and frequently cry out: "Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of Your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of Your love. Water what is dry, Heal what is wounded, Bend what is rigid, Warm what is cold.
Guide what has strayed. Give to Your faithful, To those who trust in You, The sacred sevenfold gift," namely the number of gifts of the Holy Spirit: "Give the reward of virtue, Give a blessed death, Give everlasting joy. Amen."
Verse 7: Who Are You, O Great Mountain, Before Zerubbabel
7. WHO ARE YOU, O GREAT MOUNTAIN, BEFORE ZERUBBABEL? You will ask: who is this mountain? I answer: all the great rivals and powerful adversaries of the Jews, who wished, or certainly could easily, prevent the construction of the temple. Hence first, the Hebrews, and from among them St. Jerome, Remigius, Lyranus, and Emmanuel understand it of the devil, who was Satan, that is, the adversary of Joshua and Zerubbabel in the construction of the temple and the restoration of the Hebrew commonwealth, as is clear from chapter III, 1. Second, Mariana understands Sanballat and the Samaritans, who opposed Zerubbabel in the restoration of the city and temple. Third, the Chaldean, Theodoret, and Clarius understand the kings and monarchs of Persia, especially Cambyses and the Magi, who had up to this point almost entirely prevented the restoration of the temple, and could henceforth continue to prevent it, especially when persuaded by wicked counselors whom the Samaritans and other enemies of the Jews were corrupting with gifts. Hence the Chaldean translates: What are you that you should be reckoned a foolish kingdom before Zerubbabel? Are you not like a valley? -- meaning: What are the monarchs of Persia, who seem to be lofty mountains, that they should oppose you, O Zerubbabel, in the construction of the temple? Behold, I will bring them down to a plain, that is, I will humble them before you. I will bring them down as into a valley before you, both because I will cause you to stand out and surpass them in this work like a lofty mountain, and because I will bend and soften their hearts so that they like valleys may provide you easy access and passage, assent to your wishes, as it were submit to you, and permit the temple to be restored. "For the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord; He inclines it wherever He wills," Proverbs XXI, 1. He uses the similitude of a mountain because mountains usually obstruct the construction of a temple (which is what is discussed here) and of houses; hence so that they may not obstruct it, or intercept its view and perspective, they are normally leveled.
Allegorically, the great mountains were both the demons and the leaders of the Jews, as well as the pagan emperors and kings, who opposed the true Zerubbabel, that is, Christ, and Christianity in the construction of the temple, that is, of the Church. But Christ laid them low and subjected them to Himself, wonderfully changing their hearts by His powerful grace, according to what Isaiah sang of Him in chapter XL, 4: "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed" -- that is, the glorious power that makes mountains equal to valleys, the powerful to the lowly, the proud to the humble.
Tropologically, so God levels for pious kings and any faithful persons the difficulties which were in reality very great, or seemed so to the faint-hearted, for the purpose of uprooting heresy or deep-rooted vices, so that they themselves marvel that those difficulties are suddenly brought down to a plain, as it were, melting away and vanishing. Hope in God, therefore, levels all mountains, so that the one who hopes may sing with Habakkuk III, 19: "The Lord God is my strength: and He will make my feet like the feet of deer. And He will lead me, the victor, upon my heights, singing in psalms." Thus of the bridegroom, that is, Christ, to whom in the Incarnation and the conversion of the world so many mountains of difficulty were opposed, it is said in Song of Songs II, 8: "Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills," that is, overcoming all obstacles and difficulties. Hence Symmachus translates: Ascending against the mountains, springing against the hills. So David, by the power of God, overthrew the mountain and that tower of flesh, says St. Chrysostom, namely the giant Goliath.
YOU SHALL BECOME A PLAIN -- that is, I will bring you down to a plain, O great mountain, or: descend to a plain and be leveled, according to the sense already assigned.
AND HE SHALL BRING FORTH THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE: In Hebrew, "the stone of the head," that is, the foundational and first and lowest stone in the foundation. But because this had already been laid in the temple construction, since it had been started, hence our translator better renders it "the chief stone," which is the one that, when the building is completed, stands out and projects at the summit, standing apart from the order of the others. Hence, explaining this stone, he adds: "His hands (Zerubbabel's) shall complete it," namely the house of God. This stone of the summit, therefore, signified Zerubbabel, who, just as he had begun the temple, was to bring it to its summit. So say Lyranus, Clarius, Dionysius, and others. For he contrasts this stone with the great mountain spoken of in verse 7, meaning: Zerubbabel will become the chief and lofty stone, which will be raised into a mountain, when he places the capstone on the temple, and in it the chief and highest stone. Hence Theodoret explains it thus, meaning: "Even if you try a thousand times with the greatest fury to hinder Zerubbabel, I will show that your hopes are vain; for I have filled him with all grace and heaped him with overflowing goods, and established him firm as a stone. But for you I will prepare destruction, so that what human powers lack may be supplied and compensated by divine benevolence."
The Septuagint, instead of "the chief stone," translate "the stone of inheritance," which designates to each his own inheritance and separates it from another's, such as a title-stone or boundary-stone. The Septuagint seem to have read, instead of roscha, meaning "of the head," rescet, meaning "of inheritance"; for rescet is an infinitive, which often serves in place of a noun, from the root iarase, meaning "he inherited." It is called "of inheritance" because God chose the temple as His house and inheritance, Psalm LXXVIII, 1: "O God, the nations have come into Your inheritance."
Allegorically and more properly, the chief stone of the Church is Christ, who grew into a mountain, Daniel II, 35, when the construction of the Church which He began, He brought through the Apostles to its summit. Hence the Chaldean translates: The Messiah shall emerge, whose name was spoken from eternity, who shall obtain dominion over all kingdoms. So say St. Jerome, Cyril, Haymo, Rupert, Hugh, and Vatablus. Just as therefore Zechariah in chapter III, 9, promised this stone, namely Christ, to Joshua the high priest, so here he promises the same to Zerubbabel the prince. But there He described it so ornately that it could only apply to Christ; here, however, he proposes it plainly and simply, so that literally it can designate Zerubbabel, but allegorically and principally Christ. For the Prophets leap and spring back from the type to the antitype, namely from Joshua and Zerubbabel to Christ. For these flights and sudden returns, leaps and rebounds, the breadth, height, and speed of the prophetic light permits, indeed demands.
AND HE SHALL LEVEL GRACE WITH THE GRACE THEREOF. "Thereof," namely of the stone; for in Hebrew it is la, meaning "its" or "to it" in the feminine. Hence it refers to eben, that is, to the stone; for eben in Hebrew is feminine. For "shall level," in Hebrew it is tesquot, which the Rabbis, and following them the more recent translators such as Pagninus, Vatablus, Arias, and the Zurich Bible, translate as "acclamations," from the root tsabak, meaning to cry out, to acclaim. Hence they translate: And he shall bring forth the chief stone with shouts (acclaiming: Grace, grace to it, so Pagninus); or, there shall be applause and congratulations for it. So the Zurich Bible, meaning: When the temple is completed and the last capstone is placed at its summit, the people will acclaim: Grace, grace to that stone and to the whole temple! That is, may all good fortune and happiness attend this building; may God show and preserve His grace, favor, renown, and glory in this His house. This is said literally of the temple of Zerubbabel, allegorically and more properly of the Church erected by Christ. Hence Vatablus and others consider this to have been fulfilled on Palm Sunday, when the crowds acclaimed Christ as the Messiah: "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest!" just as at His birth the angels acclaimed: "Glory to God in the highest." This sense is fitting, and the Hebrew text strongly supports it.
Better, the Septuagint and our translator derive tescuot from scava, meaning to make equal; for although in tesquot there is the letter aleph, and in scava the letter he, yet since these two letters are the primary gutturals, they are often interchanged. Now the sense is, first, meaning: The grace of Darius Hystaspes will equal the grace of Cyrus, for both gave permission to rebuild the temple, but Darius additionally provided the necessary funds. So says Lyranus. Second, meaning: This temple of Zerubbabel in its splendor and glory will equal Solomon's temple, indeed surpass it, not in gold and magnificence, but in the power of the Messiah who will dwell in it, as Haggai predicted in chapter II, 8; for each temple was a grace and gift of God. So says Sanchez. Third and most fittingly, meaning: The grace of the completed temple will equal the grace of the same temple when begun, indeed surpass it. For it is a greater gift to complete a thing than to begin it, according to the saying: "Better is the end of a speech than its beginning," Ecclesiastes VII, 9. That this is the sense is clear, because thus the angel explains when he adds: "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it." Now you may correctly adapt the words thus: "And he shall level grace with the grace thereof," or, as the Hebrew has it, "to it," namely to the chief stone, for example of the summit, meaning: In the capstone God will make the grace of the temple's completion equal to the grace of its beginning, or He will cause the topmost stone to correspond fittingly to the lowest, that is, the summit to the foundation; because He will bring it about that the beauty, proportion, firmness, and grace of the summit will be as great as that of the foundation. Moreover, both these stones were placed by Zerubbabel; hence he represents them, as if to say: Zerubbabel will place the capstone on the temple with as much grace as he placed the first stone in the foundation, that is, he will complete the temple with as much grace as he began it.
St. Jerome, Haymo, and Rupert add a fourth interpretation, meaning: The grace and benefits which God will bestow on Zerubbabel and the Jews returning from Babylon will equal the grace and benefits which God once bestowed on their fathers in the time of David, Solomon, etc. Finally, the sense will be complete if you take the Hebrew tesquot in both meanings and join the first interpretation to the second, meaning: When the last stone is placed at the summit of the temple and it is completed, all will congratulate, and with applause and jubilation they will acclaim, saying: The grace and happiness of the completed temple equally corresponds to the grace and happiness with which it was begun. So says a Castro.
Allegorically, God made the grace of Christ equal to the grace of Moses, indeed that far surpasses this: for Christ fulfilled all the figures of the law and all the prophecies of the Prophets. For "the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ," says St. John in chapter I, 17. Hence immediately before, alluding to these words of Zechariah, he premised: "Of His (Christ's) fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." Which various authors explain variously, and all fittingly. First, meaning: We received the Evangelical law of Christ in place of the old law of Moses; for each was a grace, because given freely. So say St. Cyril, Chrysostom, Leontius, Theophylactus, Euthymius, Jansenius, and Ribera on chapter I of St. John. Second, meaning: We received the grace of eternal life, that is, glory, in return for the grace of this life. So says St. Augustine in the same place. Third, meaning: For the grace of Christ we received a vicarious and similar grace, or, in Christ's grace as in the head, we all as members have obtained grace, and through Him have been made pleasing to God. So say St. Chrysostom, Cyril, Theophylactus, Zacharias Chrysopolitanus, and Toletus in the same place. Or more forcefully, explaining the Greek anti, that is "for," by "on account of," as it is often explained, meaning: On account of the grace of Christ, as its fountain and origin (being the meritorious cause), we have all received grace, namely our own grace through and on account of the grace of Christ. This sense seems the genuine one, for it explains what
preceded; "Of His fullness we have all received," namely grace from grace. Fourth, "grace for grace," that is, this person receives one grace, another receives a different one in its place, meaning: We have all indeed received grace from Christ, but this person his own, another person another, namely each one a grace suitable to his office and vocation. For he who is called by God to the apostolate receives a grace suitable to the apostolate; he who is called to teaching receives the grace of teaching; he who is called to martyrdom, the grace of suffering; he who is called to the office of Martha, the grace of action; he who is called to that of Magdalene, the grace of contemplation, etc.
Verse 9: The Hands Of Zerubbabel. H
Verse 9. THE HANDS OF ZERUBBABEL. Hence it is clear that literally the Prophet is speaking not of the construction of the Church which Christ will build, but of the construction of the temple. For the plain sense which the words demand is this: Just as Zerubbabel laid the first foundations of the temple under Cyrus, 1 Ezra III, 8, or at least restored and completed them in the second year of Darius Hystaspes, as Haggai said in chapter I, 12, and Ezra in book I, chapter IX, so he himself will complete the construction and bring the temple to its summit, and then you will know, O Jews, that I, Zechariah, who foretell these things, was a true prophet sent by God, because then you will see these oracles and promises of mine fulfilled in reality. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Lyranus, Arias, Vatablus, and others generally.
Allegorically, meaning: Just as Zerubbabel by himself began and completed the house of God, so he himself through Christ, who would be born from him, will build the Church, and will entirely complete and bring it to perfection through the Apostles and other followers, and especially through Elijah and Enoch at the end of the world.
Tropologically, "hands," that is, the works and examples of princes, establish the state of the commonwealth, not the mouth, that is, edicts and threats. "For the life of a prince is a standard of judgment, and a perpetual one; to this we are directed, to this we conform," says Pliny in his Panegyric to the Emperor Trajan. And Ovid in book VI of the Fasti: "Thus is censure conducted, and thus are examples set, When the judge himself does what he admonishes others to do." Noteworthy is the instruction of St. Augustine in Letter 64 to Bishop Aurelius, that deep-rooted vices of the people should be removed more by example than by severe punishment. "Feasting and drunkenness," he says, "are so thought to be permitted and lawful that they are celebrated in honor even of the blessed martyrs, not only on solemn days (which anyone who does not look at these things with carnal eyes must see as something to mourn), but even daily." And shortly after: "These things, therefore, are not to be removed harshly, as I judge, nor rigidly, nor in an imperious manner, but rather by teaching than commanding, more by admonishing than threatening. For thus one must deal with the multitude. Severity, however, is to be exercised against the sins of the few. And if we threaten anything, let it be done with sorrow, threatening from the Scriptures the future punishment, so that not we ourselves in our own power, but God in our words may be feared. Thus the spiritual will be moved first, or those closest to the spiritual, by whose authority and indeed most gentle but most urgent admonitions the rest of the multitude may be corrected." For this reason Jesus first began to do, then to teach. For, as St. Jerome says in Letter 46 to Principia: "Even distinguished teaching is put to shame when one's own conscience condemns it. In vain does his tongue preach poverty and teach almsgiving, who swells with the riches of Croesus; covered with a cheap cloak, he fights against the moths of silken garments."
Verse 10: For Who Has Despised The Day Of Small Things
Verse 10. FOR WHO HAS DESPISED THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS? No natural days are small, for all are equally great, namely of 24 hours. Yet some are called great, others small, by metonymy: great, in which great things are done or happen; small, in which small things. Thus Hosea I, 11 calls "the great day of Jezreel" the day of the Incarnation and Redemption of Christ, on which He would gather Jezreel, that is, the seed of God, namely the faithful people from both the Gentiles and the Jews, into His Church. See what I said there. Conversely, the days on which the foundations of the temple had begun to be laid are called small in this passage, because of the meager beginnings of the temple, which were so slight that those who had seen the magnificence of Solomon's temple wept, as if despairing that the temple could be restored and brought to its summit and former magnificence. This is clear from Haggai, who was a contemporary and helper of Zechariah in pressing the temple construction, and therefore is his interpreter and, so to speak, paraphraser. For Haggai in chapter II, 4 says: "Who is left among you who saw this house in its first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?" Wherefore, consoling and encouraging them, he promises in verse 10, saying: "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former." This is secondly clear from the Hebrew text, which literally says: Who has despised the day of ketannot, that is, "of small things," namely of the small beginnings and foundations of the temple.
Second, the small days can be taken as few; for this latter temple was completed in a short time. For it began to be built in the second year of Darius and was completed in the sixth year of the same. Hence Rupert explains thus: Who would despise this short time? Indeed, who would not take such speed in so brief a time, in which the temple was completed, as proof and evidence that the Lord has sent me to you, and that He Himself is the author and completer of this speed as well as of the construction? So Jacob, when asked by Pharaoh how old he was, replied: "The days of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years, few and evil," that is, few and wretched, Genesis XLVII, 9.
Third, Theodoret explains it thus, as if saying: I looked down on Jerusalem for many days, and condemned it to 70 years of desolation and captivity; in the same way it is now very easy for Me in a few days to restore it and bring it back to its former glory.
Fourth, Ribera takes the small days as the reign of Antichrist; for he will reign and oppress the Church for a few days, namely for three and a half years, so that the meaning is: In the time of Antichrist, the faithful, seeing him destroy the Church and the Jews receive him as the Messiah, will think that all is lost for their salvation. For they will see that God, who once worked great things for them, now works only small things for them, and seems to neglect and despise them. But this sense is not literal but mystical.
Allegorically, the small days are called the few and humble days of Christ, says Emmanuel. For just as Zerubbabel began the construction of the temple from small foundations, so also Christ began the construction of the Church. For He was born as an infant in a stable from a poor mother. Who seeing Him would not have despised Him? Who would have believed that that infant would grow into so great a Church embracing the whole world? Again He was small, that is, lowly, because He practiced carpentry and remained hidden until His thirtieth year; then for only a few days, namely three years, He preached, and had few and uneducated disciples and apostles. Hence the Jews and scribes despised Him, saying, Mark VI, 3: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James," etc.? Hence Isaiah says of Him in chapter LIII, 2: "He shall grow up as a tender plant before Him, and as a root out of dry ground." Moreover, these small days and their great increase He will show again at the end of the world, when through Elijah and Enoch, who will preach for only 1260 days, as is clear from Apocalypse XI, 3, that is, three and a half years, He will convert the Jews and overthrow Antichrist with his followers, and put the final hand and capstone on His Church.
Morally, learn here from Zerubbabel, and even more from Christ, that great things take their beginning from small origins, and that God begins great things from small ones, to show His power and magnificence, according to Job VIII, 6: "If you walk purely and uprightly, He will immediately awake for you, and make the dwelling of your righteousness peaceful, to such a degree that, if your beginnings were small, your latter end shall greatly increase." Thus "the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. And he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she-asses," Job XLII, 12. Pliny glimpsed this dimly in book XV, chapter XIV, when he says: "Nothing is so small that it cannot produce glory and utility." And a Poet says: "No part is cheaper than the elk's hoof, nor more worthy: Therefore great favor is given even to small things." Pittacus, one of the seven sages, when the Mytileneans wanted to give him many thousands of acres of land as a gift, said: "Do not (I beg you) give me what many would envy, and even more would covet. Therefore from these I want no more than a hundred acres, which may indicate both my fairness of mind and your goodwill. For small gifts are divine; wealthy ones are not customarily one's own." So says Aemilius Probus in his book On Illustrious Men, in his life of Thrasybulus.
Giordano Bruno wrote a small work On the Threefold Minimum, where in book I, chapter II, he mathematically demonstrates that the minimum is the foundation and substance of all numbers, magnitudes, elements, and bodies. And he gives these paradoxes, or rather axioms, about the minimum: "The minimum is the substance of things; because all the greatest things exist from the minimum, in the minimum, toward the minimum, and through the minimum. The maximum is nothing other than the minimum repeated and multiplied," just as number is nothing other than unity multiplied. "Take away the minimum from everywhere, and everywhere there will be nothing. From the monad every number begins and grows, and in the monad it ends. Remove the monad from everywhere, and nowhere will there be number, nothing numerable, no one to number. Thus the monad is the essence of number, the point of the line, the moment of time, the atom of body and of composite things. Birth is the expansion of the monad, and the life of the center is the consistency of the sphere; death is contraction to the center. From the minimum every magnitude begins and grows, and again to the minimum it is reduced and ends." Therefore let him who strives for great things begin from small ones. St. Augustine says beautifully in Sermon 10 On the Words of the Lord: "Do you wish to be great? Begin from the least. Do you plan to build a great structure of height? First think about the foundation of humility. And the greater the mass of building that one wishes to place on top, the deeper must the foundation be dug for the greater the building will be."
To this purpose is the notable instruction of Fr. Cornelius Vishavaeus, a religious man, which our Fr. Sachinus reports from the diary of Fr. Ledesma in volume II of the History of the Society, book III, year 1539, number 56: "For the commendation of holy humility, he said, he used to say that God delights in making things from nothing, because that manner of working is proper to His infinite power, and more clearly manifests it. Therefore, just as He created this universe and its most beautiful form from nothing, so in the souls of men He produces the world and adornment of virtues from nothing, that is, from humility, by which each person professes his own nothingness. The proud are subject to infinite temptations, because God permits this so that they may learn to distrust themselves. For God does the same as a magnanimous king who, as long as he sees a self-confident enemy, does not cease to attack; but to the one who is prostrate, falling, and surrendering, he graciously pardons." Do you wish then to be great? Be small. Do you ask something from God? Annihilate yourself before Him. So Blessed Teresa: When I am about to receive some singular grace from God, she said, I usually first annihilate myself, that is, reduce myself to my own nothingness, so that I seem to myself to be nothing and to be able to do nothing, as Fr. Francis Ribera reports in her Life.
St. Francis gave an illustrious example and mirror of this, who, lowly and humble, accomplished so much, indeed founded so many and such great Orders of men and women that they far surpass all others in number. Hence this was his humble prayer: "Lord, guard Your gift in me, for I am its thief, while I steal its glory from You and ascribe it to myself." So says St. Bonaventure in his Life. Thus God raised Joseph from prison to the princedom of Egypt; called Gideon from the threshing floor to the leadership of Israel; elevated David from the sheep and Saul from the donkeys to the kingdom. Thus from fishing and nets He called St. Peter, James, John, etc., to the apostolate. I reviewed more examples of those who were advanced from the lowest to the highest summit of power at Genesis XXXVIII, at the end of the chapter. Therefore let him who sees the meager beginnings of his teaching, sermons, and labors, few listeners, and slender fruit, not lose heart. For: "A weak beginning will be followed by better fortune." Indeed, from this let him conjecture that he will one day gather a great harvest, if he persists and perseveres in the work. For this is God's way: to lead us through lowly things to exalted ones. Everyone experiences this in himself.
The Annals of Spain report, and from them Ambrose Morales, book IX, chapter VII, and our Ribadeneira in the Life of St. James, that in Spain he converted only nine inhabitants to Christ. Grieving over this and giving himself to prayer at Zaragoza, the Blessed Virgin appeared to him, standing on a pillar (she was still living at the time, but in the East), attended by a choir of angels singing most sweetly, consoling him and saying: "In this place you will build a church and dedicate it in my name; for this part of Spain will be most devoted to me, and from now on I take it under my protection." The Apostle obeyed and built a chapel, which is still called Our Lady of the Pillar. And from those nine disciples of his followed the conversion of all Spain, and that flower, beauty, and strength of religion, so that the kings of Spain are rightly called "Catholic."
Finally, for this reason God formed with small bodies the outstanding men whom He destined for great things, so that by that smallness He might always remind them of humility. St. Chrysostom was of small build and stature; his large head was supported by his shoulders; he was extremely thin and utterly wasted, with a very pale face, sunken eyes receding inward. In the rest of his body and facial features he bore a somewhat sad expression, with a thin but broad and large forehead furrowed with wrinkles on all sides, large ears, and a small chin. He lived 63 years, six of them as bishop. So says our Raderus from the Greek Menaia in the Garden of Saints, January 30th. In the same place from the same source he writes of St. Gregory of Nazianzus: "That Gregory the Theologian was of medium stature, more pleasantly short, somewhat pale, with a flat nose, straight eyebrows, a calm and modest face; one of his eyes, the right one I mean, was sadder, which a scar at the corner also contracted; with a becoming baldness of the head. Of him it may justly be said: If a statue in human form were to be fashioned from all and each of the virtues combined, such a one shone forth in this outstanding Gregory, who surpassed even the most praised men by the splendor of his life. He lived past his eightieth year, twelve of them as bishop." St. Paul was small both in name and in reality: "He is three cubits tall," says St. Chrysostom, "and transcends the heavens." Our Ribadeneira writes in his Life that St. Jerome was small in body -- and hence perhaps his such sharpness of mind! St. Constantius the Sacristan took from his small body a lesson in humility, and was of such illustrious virtue that he even worked miracles and fed a lamp burning in the church with water as if it were oil, as St. Gregory narrates in book I of the Dialogues, chapter V. St. Antoninus, archbishop of Florence, was so tiny that although his name was Antonius, he was called by the diminutive Antoninus; yet he was a prodigy of memory, as well as of learning and holiness. For when he was only thirteen years old, he knew the entire Canon Law by heart. St. Cecilia and St. Agnes were small, as grave men, themselves eyewitnesses, assured me they had clearly ascertained from their small relics and bones recently discovered. But how great was the spirit in them, how great the virtue!
Symbolically, St. Jerome, whom Remigius, Haymo, and Dionysius follow, explains it thus: "'Who,' he says, means the same as 'rare,' meaning: Rare is the one who despises the small days of this age, and considers royal power to be nothing. When we see the powerful of the world shining with gold, glittering with purple and gems, surrounded by armies, let us say to ourselves: Who, do you think, despises small days? Those, therefore, who have despised small days, because they despise royal grandeur, will rejoice and will see the help of the Savior, who is promised from the stock of Zerubbabel, and is called a stone because of His strength. This, however, refers to royal power, to admonish Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and the people of God, in no way to fear their adversaries who try to prevent them, but to listen to the Lord encouraging them," meaning: Do not fear, O Zerubbabel, the Samaritans, Sanballat, or even the monarchs of Persia, who can or even wish to prevent the construction of the temple. For they are all small and weak, and reign for a short time, if compared with the omnipotent and eternal God. Thus the Psalmist says in Psalm XLVIII, 17: "Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, and when the glory of his house is multiplied. For when he--
--dies, he shall take nothing away, nor shall his glory descend with him." And Psalm XXXVI, 33: "I saw the wicked highly exalted and lifted up like the cedars of Lebanon. And I passed by, and behold he was not; and I sought him, and his place was not found." And Job XXIV, 24: "They are exalted for a little while, and shall not stand, etc., and shall be crushed like the tops of the ears of grain."
AND THEY SHALL REJOICE -- meaning: Do not, O Jews, despise the small days in which the small foundations of the temple are laid; for you will soon rejoice when you see the tin stone in the hand of Zerubbabel, with which he will build walls upon them according to the plumb line, and extend them into a great structure, upon which he will finally place the capstone. So say the Chaldean and others.
THE TIN STONE. The Chaldean translates: the stone of the plumb line; for a stone of tin or lead, because of its weight and gravity, is usually attached to a plumb line to stretch its cord straight for measuring the areas of a building, so that each of its walls on either side may be equally distant from the center of the earth, lest if one inclines more toward it, it may fall and drag the other into ruin with it, as I said at chapter I, 16. The sense therefore is, meaning: There will be great rejoicing when Zerubbabel builds and completes the temple according to the plumb line, according to what he said in chapter I, 16: "And the plumb line shall be stretched over Jerusalem." This will happen very soon, because Zerubbabel has the plumb line in his hand, as if already preparing to proceed with the construction and to measure it, so that according to the measurement he may immediately erect the walls. For "tin" in Hebrew is bedil, meaning "of separation," by which Arias understands a separated and distinguished stone, which is usually placed at the summit. But the Septuagint, the Chaldean, our translator, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others translate it as "the tin stone" or "the stone of the plumb line"; for tin is called in Hebrew bedil because in the furnace it is separated by the force of fire and flows first from the silver, as I shall presently say from Pliny.
Allegorically, the tin stone is Christ, says St. Jerome, who is in the hand, that is, in the power, of Zerubbabel, because He is his son and descended from him, and this first "because He is the wall and the strength and the might of believers. For just as tin defends other metals from fire, and since bronze and iron are by nature very hard, if they are without tin they are burned and consumed, so all the strength of angels and men, if it does not have the help of the Savior, proves weak and fragile." Second, "this stone is written habbedil, that is, of tin, that is, separating and distinguishing (for the root badal means to separate and to distinguish), so that just as tin in the fire dissociates metals that are mixed and adulterated with each other, so the Lord, the true Assayer, may separate the bronze and lead of vices from the gold and silver of good works, so that pure gold and silver may remain. In other words, this Separator is described in the Gospel: whose winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will purge His threshing floor, and will separate the chaff from the wheat," Luke III. So far St. Jerome. Thus Christ will separate the just and the elect from the reprobate, as sheep from goats on the day of judgment, Matthew XXV. Thus tropologically, God mingles Himself with His faithful in the fire of tribulation like tin, lest they be consumed by the fire, but only purified, and may say with St. Job, chapter XXIII, 10: "He has tested me like gold that passes through fire." And with the Psalmist: "We have passed through fire and water, and You have brought us out into refreshment."
Third, Arias and Ribera say: Christ is the tin stone because He was rejected and cast out by the Jews, as tin is separated from silver; but by God He was made the head of the corner. But this tin stone is not a foundation stone, nor part of the building, but its plumb line and standard.
Fourth, therefore, more fittingly, this stone in the hand of Zerubbabel, that is, of Christ, is His law, Gospel, and doctrine, which He expressed in word and even more in life. For this is the plumb line, rule, and standard of all virtue and perfection; hence according to it we must build up the structure of holiness in the soul, and the more closely we approach it, the more perfect the structure will be; but the more we depart from it, the farther we are removed from holiness.
Fifth, Nicetas in Oration 44 of Nazianzen brings three analogies of tin. The first is: "They say, he writes, that tin is a mixture and blend of bronze and lead; for which reason it is neither entirely lacking in hardness, nor on the other hand does it reject all softness. In a similar way, Emmanuel is composed of the most firm and unbreakable divinity, and of soft and, so to speak, passion-susceptible humanity." The second: "Tin or lead is necessarily employed for purifying another material that requires fire, and especially by those who make something from silver. Therefore Christ is compared to tin or lead, inasmuch as He melts and purges spiritual filth." That this is true of lead, not of tin, many excellent goldsmiths in Rome whom I consulted on this matter affirmed; for gold and silver are purged by lead, not tin -- indeed, if any tin is present, the purging is very difficult. The third: "Tin connects things that are pulled apart from each other, inasmuch as it has the power of binding. And something similar Christ accomplished in us, since it is the Word that creates two peoples into one man and, as it were, fuses them together. These first two analogies are found almost word for word here in Cyril, from whom Nicetas took them. Cyril adds: Lead, he says, breaks the diamond, which no material can conquer; so Christ, supremely powerful and good, breaks Satan as a diamond, of whom it is written: 'His heart is hardened like a stone.' So he says. But goldsmiths and smelters consistently deny that lead breaks diamond. Note here that Cyril and Nicetas take tin and lead as a metal of the same nature and condition; for tin seems to be the nobler lead, and lead seems to be
the inferior tin; hence even now those who sell tin plates sometimes adulterate them with lead, and sell leaden ones for tin. Moreover, from these properties of tin, let Zerubbabels, that is, princes, judges, stewards, and inspectors, learn what they ought to be. To which add what Pliny writes in book XXXIV, chapter XVII: "Tin, he says, when applied to bronze vessels, makes the taste more pleasant, suppresses the poison of verdigris, and remarkably does not increase the weight." For these reasons most nations eat their meals from tin plates and vessels. So let a prince be of tin to his subjects, that is, pleasing and agreeable, so as to remove the poison of crimes, and not increase the burden of taxes, nor strive to enrich the treasury from the goods of the condemned.
Symbolically, Quintus Julius Hilarion in his Chronology, which exists in volume III of the Library of the Holy Fathers, teaches that the globe which is depicted in the hands of emperors with a cross fixed on it, by which is signified dominion over the world, was foreshadowed by this "tin stone which Zerubbabel, the leader of the people of Israel, carried in his hand." This means, says Hilarion, "the people," as if this globe represents the people of the world gathered together under one emperor. But this tin stone was not so much a globe as a plumb line, as I have already said.
Anagogically, Rupert says: The tin stone is the humanity of Christ, which before the Passion was despised and rejected by the Jews like tin, but after it through the Resurrection became silver, indeed golden, that is, august and glorious. This meaning is supported by what Pliny writes in book XXXIV, chapter XVI, that often from the same vein there comes forth first tin, then silver, third lead: "The first liquid, he says, that flows in the furnaces is called tin; the second, silver; what remains in the furnaces is galena, which is a third portion added to the vein. This, when smelted again, yields black lead, the other two portions having been removed."
THESE SEVEN EYES. You will ask FIRST, who and where are these eyes? Ribera and some others suppose them to have been in the tin stone, which was just mentioned. For similarly in chapter III, 9, the Prophet saw eyes in the stone before Joshua, just as here he saw them in the stone which Zerubbabel held in his hand. Hence one might suspect that the tin stone was not a lead or tin weight for a plumb line to measure the building -- for in such a small object seven eyes could not be placed -- but was an illustrious and shining stone, on which would be inscribed the title, the builder, the year, day, and month of the completed construction (as in some palaces we see such things and similar ones engraved on lead or tin plates), and therefore is called in Hebrew bedil, that is, "separated from the rest," as distinguished, as Arias supposed. Or certainly one might say that these eyes were in the stone, not the tin one, but the chief stone of verse 7, because they run about everywhere to ensure that the Church is solidified and grows in this stone. Nevertheless, it seems more true that these eyes were in the lampstand, namely that they were the openings of the seven branches of the lampstand, standing out at their tops, which had the appearance of eyes, and which through the seven lamps shining upon them and as it were implanted in them, seemed like eyes to see and to illuminate and make visible the things nearby.
This is proved first because the entire vision of this chapter concerns the lampstand and its parts; therefore these eyes belong to the lampstand, not to the stone, especially because Zechariah saw no stone here, but only heard one promised, that it would be in the hand of Zerubbabel when he was going to restore the construction of the temple. Second, because the angel had not yet explained the lamps and channels, and indeed the lampstand itself. Here therefore he explains them, saying that they are the seven eyes "which run throughout the whole earth," and consequently by this very fact simultaneously explains the lampstand itself, namely that it represents God and Christ, that is, the divine providence surveying, directing, and governing all things, which was to provide for and care for the construction of the temple through these seven lamps, bright as eyes, that is, angels. Hence the Syriac and Arabic translate: These are the seven eyes of the Lord, which gaze upon the whole earth.
Third, because Zechariah, as if now understanding the mystery of the lampstand and the lamps, adds and asks about the olive trees, which alone remained to be explained, saying: "What are the two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?" meaning: I have already heard from you what the lamps signify, and consequently the lampstand itself; it remains for you to explain what the two olive trees, placed on either side of the lampstand, portend.
Fourth, because in these words, "these seven eyes," etc., a new sentence begins; therefore these eyes are not of the stone, which was discussed long before in verse 7, but of the lampstand, whose concept is described throughout the whole chapter. Hence the pronoun "these" seems to point to the eyes that were in the channels, namely at the top openings of the branches and the lamps. For it was these, not others, that Zechariah was seeing and could point to.
Fifth, because St. John, alluding to this, saw the seven primary angels represented first by seven torches, Apocalypse IV, 5: "Seven torches, he says, burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God;" then by the seven eyes of the Lamb, "which are the seven spirits of God sent into all the earth," Apocalypse V, 6. For St. John seems to have received both these symbols from Zechariah in this passage and in chapter III, 9. For no other Prophet mentions them. Again, Apocalypse I, 16, it is said that Christ "had in His right hand seven stars," which he explains in verse 20: "The seven stars, he says, are the angels of the seven Churches." Just as therefore in that passage angels are compared to stars, so here they are compared to lamps, as to eyes; for stars are, as it were, lamps and eyes of heaven.
What the seven eyes, that is, lamps, signify. I answer: they signify the seven primary angels, who are the ministers and executors of divine providence, whose symbol is the lampstand, which they surround and continually gaze upon. Hence they are called eyes, as being ever-watchful, as I said at chapter III, 9, and lamps or torches -- both because they draw their light, that is, their knowledge, vigilance, and perspicacity from the lamp, that is, from God and Christ; and because they illuminate the Church and the faithful with the light of divine knowledge, and inflame them with heavenly love. For this reason, "these seven eyes, that is, these seven angels signified by the seven eyes, will run throughout the whole earth." See what I said at Apocalypse IV, 5. "For the eye is the guardian and protector of justice and of the body," says Diodorus in book III of his History. Hence the lion, who is the king of animals, always keeps watch with his eyes. Hence when he sleeps, he does not close them but keeps them open. Thus St. Epiphanius in his Physiologus, speaking of the lion cub: "When he sleeps, his eyes stay awake, so that he can sense a hunter from seven stadia away." From the meaning of these seven eyes, that is, lamps, we learn what the lampstand itself signifies, namely God, and God's omniscience and providence. For from it alone the seven lamps, that is, the angels, draw their light. Since therefore from Zechariah it is established that the lamps are angels, consequently it is established that the lamp is God, and the providence of God; for the angels are His ministers, who, sent by Him, run throughout the whole earth, as Zechariah says.
Wherefore St. Bernard, in the Lamentations of the Blessed Virgin Mary, speaking of God and the Son of God, says: "O unfading beauty of God Most High, and purest brightness of the eternal light! Life that gives life to all life; light that illuminates every light, and preserves it in eternal splendor. A thousand thousands of flashing lights before the throne of Your divinity from the first dawn of day." For since "our God is a consuming fire," as the Apostle says from Moses, Hebrews XII, 29 -- for He is fiery and most ardent charity, of which Song of Songs VIII, 6 says: "Love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell; its lamps are lamps of fire and of flames" -- hence rightly lamps, fire, lightning, and stars are borne before Him, which are symbols of the angels standing before God and ministering to Him, according to Psalm CII, 4, and Hebrews I, 7: "Who makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire." For all these things are sparks and signs of the uncreated and immeasurable fire, that is, of the divinity.
Wherefore torches and tapers are borne before the Most Holy Eucharist as before God, and lamps burn perpetually before its tabernacles. Vigilantius the heresiarch once condemned and mocked the custom of lighting lamps by day in churches; against whom St. Jerome justly says in his book Against Vigilantius: "You, though your name means 'Watchful,' sleep, and sleeping you write, and you present to me an apocryphal book, which under the name of Ezra is read by people like you, where it is written that after death no one may dare to pray for others -- a book which I have never read. For what need is there to take in hand what the Church does not accept?" Hence again, concerning the stars (which the philosophers of old supposed to be fires animated by the souls of intelligences, that is, of angels), as shining before God Most High, the Poet sings: "You eternal fires, and inviolable divine power, I call upon you as witness." And concerning lightning as the heralds of God, Job XXXVI, 35 writes: "Will You send forth lightning, and will they go and return and say to You: 'Here we are'?" Finally, concerning the four Cherubim, the attendants of the divine chariot, Ezekiel says in chapter I, 14: "They went and returned in the likeness of flashing lightning."
For this reason, lamps or torches used to shine before kings of old, who are a kind of earthly gods, especially among the Persians, Ethiopians, Chaldeans, and Assyrians, as I showed at Jeremiah I, 13. Thus Suetonius says of Julius Caesar in his Life, chapter XXXVII: "He ascended the Capitol by torchlight, with forty elephants carrying torches on the right and left." And Herodian, book I, concerning Martia: "Besides fire, all honors were given to her as to an Augusta." And of Heliogabalus: "The people running about with torches on both sides." And of Gordian: "Fire was carried before him according to custom." And of Constantine the Great, when he was establishing the faith and law of Christ in Rome by public edict, Baronius writes from the Acts of St. Sylvester, in the year of Christ 324: "As the Augustus returned to the palace, the whole city was filled with candles and lamps and attended (or, as others read, accompanied) it." Likewise fire was carried before all other Roman and Constantinopolitan emperors of old. Indeed a lamp-bearer preceded the patriarchs, carrying a lamp before the very leaders of the Church in liturgies and processions. Balsamon notes that the torches carried before the emperor were adorned with a double golden crown, while those of the empress and patriarch had only a single one. This rite demonstrated that kings are conspicuous for the splendor of dignity, wisdom, and providence, and that like fire they pervade all things and impart vital spirit to their people. So says Nicholas Caussin, book I of Historical Parallels, chapter XXI. For fire is wisdom, in which there is both splendor and heat: with the latter it kindles, with the former it illuminates. Therefore the lamp and flame are the symbol of providence. Hence the Poet says: "Lest by chance you stumble in the darkness, let the flame of God's provident care point out the way for you."
Hence also in emblems, vigilance is depicted as a matron, holding a book in her right hand and a rod with a lit lamp in her left; a crane stands beside her, holding a stone with one foot raised.
Verse 11: And I Answered
Verse 11. AND I ANSWERED -- meaning: To the angel's words by which he had explained the lampstand and its eyes, that is, lamps, in the preceding verses, I added another -- not an answer (for the angel had not asked me anything), but a question: what the two olive trees flanking the lampstand on both sides might mean; for this alone from the lampstand remained to be explained. Thus "to answer" is often taken elsewhere for "to begin to speak" and "to start a discourse," as in Matthew XI, 25: "At that time Jesus answered and said: I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth." Moreover, the "two olive trees" are the "two olive branches" discussed in verse 12.
Verse 12: And I Answered
Verse 12. AND I ANSWERED (that is, asked) A SECOND TIME. When the angel was silent and delayed answering the question of Zechariah who was asking: "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?" -- and this in order to sharpen in him the desire of asking and of knowing these symbols -- Zechariah, made more eager to understand them by the angel's silence, repeats the question, but in other words and with another circumlocution which more fully describes and expresses the matter asked about: "What, he says, are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden spouts?" namely those which are on the right of the lampstand and on its left, as he said in the former question.
THE TWO OLIVE BRANCHES. He calls them "ears of grain" [spicae], meaning trees, or, as the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic say, branches, which were full of olives, just as ears of grain are full of kernels. For small olives, such as we have in Rome, are like grains; hence olive trees, especially young and slender ones, look like ears of grain. It is a catachresis or metaphor, says St. Jerome, "because the trees are straight like ears of grain; and just as ears of grain are covered with awns, so these are covered with a kind of rampart of branches and leaves, and rise upward." So also Vatablus says that he compares the olive berries to grains, and the branch to a stalk. Hence it is clear that these olive trees were not carved on the lampstand, as some suppose; but were trees, or branches full of olives, standing beside the lampstand. For they signify Joshua and Zerubbabel, who likewise stand before the ruler of the earth, to carry out His commands regarding the temple construction, as the angel explains.
WHICH ARE BESIDE THE TWO GOLDEN SPOUTS. So also the Syriac and Arabic. You will ask: what are these spouts? First, Ribera holds that the two spouts were two hooks from which the channels were suspended, that is, the vessels by which oil was poured into the lamps, and that they signify the two natures of Christ, divine and human, which by their power sustain the seven channels of grace, that is, the seven sacraments, to which they give all their oil, that is, all the power and force of justification. But this is mystical, not literal. Moreover, these channels were not funnels separate from the lampstand, but were the seven hollow branches of the lampstand themselves, on which as many lamps rested, as I said at verse 2.
Second, a Castro and others hold that these spouts were curved pipes, into which oil would drip from the olive trees overhanging above, so that through them it would flow into the central lamp, and from it into the smaller lamps, to maintain their perpetual light. They prove this first from the Hebrew text, which literally says: What are the two olive branches which are in the hand of two golden pipes, pouring out from them (the olives) gold, that is, oil yellow as gold? So say Rabbi Abraham, Rabbi David, Pagninus, Vatablus, and Arias. For "spouts" in Hebrew is santerot, which Arias translates with the Latin word close to the Hebrew as "canthari" [cups]; Vatablus as "ampullae" [flasks]; the Chaldean as "lecythi" [oil jars]; for in these oil is usually received. For the Chaldean has: What are the two olive branches which are beside two golden oil jars, from which oil is poured into golden lamps? And the Septuagint: What are the two olive branches which are in the hands of two golden nozzles, which pour and draw back the golden channels? Second, because the Hebrew merikim, meaning "pouring out gold," that is, oil, since it is masculine, should be referred to scibbale, meaning "branches" [ears], not to the feminine santerot, meaning "spouts." Therefore from the olive branches oil flowed into the spouts, and from them was poured into the lamp. But against this stands first that oil does not drip from olives unless they are beaten or pressed in a press; then the crushed or pressed oil is usually transferred from the press into vessels, so that the sediment may settle and it may be purified, and thus finally the purified oil is poured through funnels into lamps. But here no mention is made of a press or of any other vessels. Second, this lamp was full of oil from itself; therefore it did not receive oil from the olive trees. For it represents God, who is full from Himself of all knowledge and grace, which He does not draw from angels and men, but He Himself imparts to all.
I say therefore that these two spouts were the two tops of two branches of the lampstand, on which two lamps rested, one of which was on the right and the other on the left of the lampstand. Hence Marinus and others translate the Hebrew santerot, meaning "spouts," as channels or pipes, such as the branches are. These branches are called spouts because they were curved like the beaks of birds. The Septuagint translate mykteres, meaning "nostrils," because they were raised upward like the nozzle of a still. For the still-pyramid, in which water is distilled -- for example, rose water, oil, wine, etc. -- which is commonly called a lambic or capello, has its own nozzle, that is, a curved little channel through which the distilled water flows down into the vessel beneath. That this is the case is clear from the fact that Zechariah here says the same thing as he said shortly before, but in different words and with a different circumlocution; for he is speaking about the same two olive trees. By the two spouts, therefore, he signifies the two sides, namely the right and left of the lampstand, as I said just before; for there these spouts and branches stood. Of the seven branches and spouts, therefore, he names only two, situated on the right and left of the lampstand, to indicate both sides by them, and by this he signifies the position of the two olive branches, or olive trees, namely that one of them was placed on the right of the lampstand, beside its right branch, and the other on the left, beside its left branch.
Moreover, in Hebrew it is: "which are in the hand," that is, beside, namely at the side of the two spouts. Wherefore both the Chaldean and our translator clearly and faithfully translate: "which are beside the two spouts." Therefore these olive trees were not inserted into the spouts to drip oil into them, as the authors of the second interpretation imagine; but they were beside the spouts, so that they rose to the height of the spouts. There follows: IN WHICH (SPOUTS) ARE THE GOLDEN CHANNELS. "Channels," or infusoria, as he called them in verse 2, were the pipes or conduits of the branches, through which oil flowed from the central lamp into the lamps that were on the spouts. Therefore these channels, or pipes, were in the spouts, because they were contiguous to the spouts, or rather continuous with them, yet worked on a lathe so artfully that they seemed to be inserted into them, just as in turned lampstands we see one branch connected to another so that it seems inserted into it, even though in reality it is often not inserted but drawn out and continuous by hammering. In Hebrew it is merikim mealehem zahab, meaning: outlets coming out of them (supply: the spouts) of gold. Hence the Alexandrian Arabic translates: They came forth beyond the covering of gold. He calls them "outlets," meaning the aforesaid channels, namely the hollow pipes of the branches, which emptied out and drew oil from the central lamp and poured it into the spouts and the lamps resting on them. For the word merikim can be taken as a noun, meaning "outlets," that is, funnels or channels already mentioned. But the more recent translators take merikim adjectivally, and translate: "pouring out gold from above themselves"; the Syriac: "pouring gold," that is, yellowish and golden oil. But in that case merikim refers not to scibbale, that is, olive branches, as if those were dripping oil which the spouts drew and emptied out from them, as they claim, but to santerot, that is, spouts, which from above themselves, that is, from the higher lamp, sucked and emptied out oil to be given to the lamps, as I have already said. For although santerot is feminine and merikim is masculine, yet it agrees with it, because in Hebrew there is frequent exchange of gender, as well as number, so that a masculine adjective is given to a feminine noun and vice versa, as here santerot with merikim, and santerot with scene, meaning "two" -- for the feminine scette should have been used.
Verse 13: Do You Not Know
Verse 13. DO YOU NOT KNOW? The angel requires from Zechariah a humble confession of ignorance, so that by it he may merit and dispose himself to receive God's revelation and the interpretation of the mystery. For humility, and humble confession and questioning, is the fitting path to knowledge, especially divine knowledge.
Verse 14: These Are The Two Sons Of Oil. S
Verse 14. THESE ARE THE TWO SONS OF OIL. Some add "of splendor," that is, splendid; but "of splendor" is lacking in the Roman Bible. Now "sons of oil," that is, anointed with oil, or of Christ the Lord, signifies Joshua the son of Josedec, who was anointed, that is, consecrated as high priest; and Zerubbabel, who was anointed, that is, appointed as prince of the people, meaning: These two trees, or branches full of olives for producing oil, signify the two supreme magistrates, namely the prince and the pontiff -- for these are usually anointed with holy oil (even if perhaps in fact these two were not anointed, since they were appointed in Babylon and in exile) -- namely Joshua and Zerubbabel, who as ministers stand before God the ruler of the whole earth, whom this lampstand represents, to carry out His decrees and to build for Him the antitype of the lampstand, that is, the temple, and to govern the people in matters both divine and political, according to Psalm CXXVIII, 3: "Your children like young olive trees around your table." For in the same way, Joshua and Zerubbabel here, like young olive trees, stand before God, as before their parent represented by the lampstand, both to honor Him and minister to Him, and in turn to be illuminated and directed by Him. By this is signified that God and Christ by a special providence govern these two magistrates, namely pontiffs and kings or princes. So say the Hebrews, Theodoret, Lyranus, Vatablus, Clarius, Mariana, and others. Hence the Chaldean translates: These are the two sons of princes, and therefore princes. For Joshua was the son of Josedec the high priest; Zerubbabel was the son of Salathiel, the son of Jechoniah, king of Judah.
Second, Aquila and Theodotion translate: These are the two sons of splendor, or of brightness, that is, splendid, bright, and illustrious both by birth, by their principate, and by their character and deeds. Thus also our translation can be understood. For "son of oil" can mean light, which from oil, as a son, is born, nourished, and sustained. "Sons of oil" therefore is the same as luminous, splendid, and famous.
Third, the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Antiochene Arabic translate: These are the two sons of fatness. For in oil there is first, brightness; second, the nourishment of light and fire; third, fatness, meaning: These two will be fat and fertile, and will bring much fruit both to the Church and to the commonwealth, especially through the construction of the temple, by which they will establish both the religion of the Church and the majesty of the commonwealth, as well as just and pious governance, both sacred and civil and political. Zechariah alludes to the two Cherubim which Solomon made from olive wood, as sons of the olive and of oil, 3 Kings VI, 31. For just as those supported the mercy seat and the ark, so Joshua and Zerubbabel, that is, the pontiff and the prince, sustain the Church and the commonwealth. Hence the Alexandrian Arabic translates: These are the sons of mercy; for this is the virtue of princes, and its symbol is oil. Sirach XLIV, 10 alludes to this: "These were men of mercy, whose acts of piety did not fail."
Morally, let kings and princes learn here that they, as well as pontiffs, stand as ministers before God the ruler of the earth, to restore and promote His temple, worship, justice, and every virtue among the people. Wherefore Constantine the Great used to say that "kings outside the doors of the Church are bishops." For they must strive that their subjects worship God piously, as if they were their bishops. For pontiffs and kings are like two Cherubim, full of oil, who stand before God residing upon the ark of the Church, to propagate His glory. Let them therefore be attendants of God, as sons of oil. Oil nourishes, gives light, and soothes; it is food, light, and medicine. Let them provide these three things to their subjects, and especially the compassion of mercy, which oil represents. Again, the olive signifies that it is the prince's duty, through clemency, gentleness, and peace -- whose symbol is the olive -- to procure an abundance of goods; for peace produces this, while war consumes goods and resources, according to Psalm CXXI, 7: "Let peace be in your strength, and abundance in your towers."
Wherefore on the coins of Augustus Caesar, Peace is depicted as a matron holding in her left hand a cornucopia full of fruits, flowers, and leaves, with an olive branch; and in her right hand a torch, with which she kindles and burns a pile of weapons. The same figure in Pausanias is depicted as a beautiful maiden, wearing on her head a crown of olives, holding in her right hand an image of Plutus (who was among the pagans the lord and god of riches), and in her left a bundle of grain ears full of wheat kernels. A similar image appears on the coins of Trajan; for Peace is depicted as a maiden, holding an olive branch in her right hand and a horn of plenty in her left.
Allegorically, the "two sons of oil" standing by the lampstand, that is, by Christ and the Church, are Moses and Elijah, who stood by Christ as witnesses at the Transfiguration, says Remigius. So also Tertullian in book IV Against Marcion, chapter XXII, holds that these two olive trees are Moses and Elijah, in whose midst Christ was transfigured on Mount Tabor. "In the midst, he says, of two living beings You shall be known -- Moses and Elijah. About whom also Zechariah saw in the figure of two olive trees and two little olive branches. For these are they of whom it was said: Those two sons of richness stand before the Lord of the whole earth." More properly, these two are St. Peter and St. Paul, of whom the former was the Apostle of the Jews and the latter of the Gentiles, who shone before both peoples with the splendor of doctrine and life so that they brought them under subjection to Christ. Again, at the end of the world, the two sons of oil for Christ will be Elijah and Enoch, "of whom the one pleased God in uncircumcision, the other in circumcision, and was taken up to heaven with his body," says St. Jerome. For what Joshua and Zerubbabel did in calling back the people from Babylon to Jerusalem and the temple, Elijah and Enoch will do the same in the final ruin of the age, to call back both Jews and Gentiles from Antichrist to Christ, and thus to perfect and complete the structure of the Church Militant and the number of the elect. That this is so is clear from Apocalypse XI, 4, where John says of Elijah and Enoch: "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Lord of the earth." Where he clearly alludes to this passage of Zechariah, not in the literal sense, as some with Ribera and Emmanuel would have it, but in the allegorical. See what I said there, where I also showed tropologically that oil and the olive are symbols of the saints, for five analogies.
A Poet vigorously expresses the threefold virtue of a distinguished man and leader with a threefold crown: "A crown worthy of a leader from laurel, oak, and olive Befits the prudent, the brave, and the peacemaker." For the laurel, sacred to Apollo, denotes prudence; the oak, sacred to Jupiter, fortitude and constancy of soul; the olive, sacred to Pallas, the pursuit of peace.
Symbolically: "Some of our authors, says St. Jerome, interpret the two olive trees as the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the middle lamp as God the Father; but I do not know how they can without blasphemy place one on the right and the other on the left. They also explain the branches or ears of olives as the Incarnation of the Savior, and the likeness of the dove as the Holy Spirit, because we cannot see the whole olive trees, but only a certain part, and, so to speak, little branches of the Incarnation of Christ and of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit have been shown to us. Others understand the two as the Testaments -- on the right the Gospel, on the left the Law -- because in the one the sense is spiritual, in the other corporeal, and because we can explain neither the whole Gospel nor the whole Law; and now we know in part and prophesy in part, and cannot yet understand what is perfect. There are those who interpret the two olive branches, or two ears, and the sons of fatness or splendor, as the priesthood and the law, which provide joy to the whole earth." So far St. Jerome. Finally, Ribera takes the two olive trees as the two natures of Christ, namely the divine and the human; Arias as the two dignities of Christ, namely the royal and the priestly,
by which He Himself ministers the oil of grace to the lampstand, that is, to the Church, and makes it both a royal priesthood and a priestly kingdom, so that in it there may be a holy nation worthy of God; and therefore He is called Christ, that is, anointed with the oil of grace, both of the hypostatic union and of all the charisms, which He as the head distills upon each of the faithful. But these interpretations correspond less fittingly both to the literal idea and meaning, and to the allegory of the lampstand and olive trees explained above.