Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Just as in chapter III He encouraged Jesus the high priest, and in chapter IV Zerubbabel the prince, to the building of the temple; so here He consoles and encourages the people who had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, not to fear the Chaldeans, Persians, Samaritans, and other enemies; because God had already expiated their sins through the captivity of seventy years, during which the repentant and penitent people turned to God; who therefore transferred the curse from them to the houses and dwellings of the wicked. Hence, secondly, in verse 5, he sees a measuring jar in which a woman sits, namely impiety, sealed with a talent of lead, and carried by two winged women to Babylon, so that it may be established and remain there, and not return to Judea. This impiety denotes idolatry, which the Jews left behind in Babylon: for after their return from it they never again worshipped idols. God therefore signifies that He will henceforth remove idolatry from the Jews, so that it may remain as if bound in Babylon, and its punishment and vengeance may be transferred from the Jews to the Babylonians: by which He tacitly warns the Jews who had remained in Babylon to flee from it, as being impious and soon to be devastated again by Darius Hystaspis; and therefore that there is nothing to fear any longer in Jerusalem, especially from the Persians or Chaldeans, to whom they had recently been given as prey on account of idolatry; but that, as children already corrected by the chastisement of God the Father, they ought to serve Him joyfully and eagerly, knowing that God would be their protector and would not permit any enemy to harass them or hinder the building of the temple. What this jar signifies allegorically I shall explain at verse 6.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 5:1-11
1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold a flying scroll. 2. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying scroll: its length is twenty cubits, and its width is ten cubits. 3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land: for every thief shall be judged as it is written there; and every one who swears shall likewise be judged from this. 4. I will bring it forth, says the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him who swears falsely in My name; and it shall dwell in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, both its timber and its stones. 5. And the angel who spoke in me came forth, and said to me: Lift up your eyes and see what this is that goes forth. 6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a measuring jar going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the land. 7. And behold a talent of lead was being carried, and behold one woman sitting in the midst of the jar. 8. And he said: This is impiety. And he cast her into the midst of the jar, and he cast the mass of lead upon its mouth. 9. And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold two women going forth, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite; and they lifted up the jar between the earth and heaven. 10. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where do these carry the jar? 11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar, and it may be established and set there upon its base.
Verse 2: Its Length Is Twenty Cubits, And Its Width Ten Cubits
2. ITS LENGTH IS TWENTY CUBITS, AND ITS WIDTH TEN CUBITS. — Why? The Rabbis, Lyranus, and Pineda on Job XXIV, 5 answer first that this scroll went forth from the place of the temple, whose ancient gate was twenty cubits long and ten wide. Likewise the front part of the Mosaic tabernacle, which was called the Holy Place, was twenty cubits long and ten wide, as I said at Exodus XXVI, at the beginning, to signify that judgment begins from the house of God, to punish the priests who sin all the more grievously, the more closely they were united to God; then it would fly through the whole earth, to strike all the wicked. This exposition seems fitting, especially if you add to it the fourth, which I shall presently subjoin.
Secondly, St. Jerome says: These measures signify that joyful things are here mingled with sad. For God tempers vengeance with mercy: whence He pours upon sinners glykypikrin, that is, bittersweet. For the number ten signifies prosperous things, because the name of the Savior Jesus begins with iota, which is the sign of the number ten; while twenty, its opposite, signifies adversities. This is mystical, not literal.
Thirdly, St. Chrysostom in the passage cited, Mariana, and Fernandius think that by these measures the enormity and multitude of crimes are signified. This exposition is more general.
Fourthly, more genuinely and closely to the letter, Theodoret, Lyranus, and Vatablus think that by this measure the whole of Judea is denoted (upon which, being everywhere contaminated with plundering and oppression of the poor, this scroll of punishments was flying), as being more than double in length than in width. For, as St. Jerome says in Epistle 129, to Dardanus: From Dan to Beersheba, which is its length, it stretches scarcely 160 miles in length. Its width, from Joppa to Bethlehem, is 46 miles. Thus in physical things, as in houses and buildings, the just proportion is that the length be double the width.
Mystically, the number ten signifies the perfection of a thing: the width of ten cubits therefore signifies the breadth of punishment to be extended to many, namely all the wicked; while the length, which is double, signifies the long duration of the punishment, namely perpetual in this life, and eternal in the next. So Rupert, Ribera, and others.
Verse 3: This Is The Curse
3. THIS IS THE CURSE — that is, condemnation, punishment, and every kind of evil. So Theodoret, meaning: This scroll contains the sentence of condemnation and the punishments of the impious. For they are called cursed: whence they shall hear from Christ the Judge this thunderbolt: 'Depart from Me, you cursed,' Matthew XXV; for to curse on God's part, being efficacious, is to do evil; just as to bless is to do good. As therefore a blessing is a benefit, so a curse is an injury and punishment. Burgensis takes the curse as the Talmud of the Jews, which is said to fly because it has no foundation; and is a 'curse' because its teaching is execrable, he says. This is accommodated, not literal. Fernandius and others take the curse as the flood of evils which the Jews now suffer throughout the whole world on account of the slaying of Christ. But this is mystical.
Which goes forth — from the temple, as the Rabbis wish; or certainly from heaven and the tribunal of God, as St. Chrysostom says in Homily 27 to the People, it goes forth toward the temple and Jerusalem: the curse going forth is a public punishment, which before lay hidden, as it were, in heaven and the ark of God. Whence it follows: 'I will bring it forth into the open.'
Over the face of all the land. — Namely, the land to which this discourse refers, that is, Judea. For it is against this land that the Prophet levels his threats, and these alone swore by the true God, as follows; while the Gentiles swore by idols. So St. Cyril, Rupert, Ribera, Hugh, Arias, Sanchez, and others, although Theodoret, Lyranus, and Vatablus take 'all the earth' as it sounds, and think this scroll flew from Judea, or the temple, through the whole world, meaning: The whole world is full of crimes, and therefore the wrath and thunderbolt of God hangs over all of it. Thus the heavenly curse devoured and consumed the whole earth at the time of the flood, from which Noah alone with his family escaped through the ark. Thus the same will devour and consume the same earth on the day of judgment, through the fire of the conflagration of the world. Thus the curse of God fell upon Asia, Greece, and the whole East through the Turkish yoke; upon England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, and Germany through the factions and seditions of the heretics.
For every thief — God levels this cursed thunderbolt against the Jews on account of thefts and perjuries, under which all crimes are understood; namely, under theft every fraud and injury committed against one's neighbor, contrary to the second table of the Decalogue; under perjury every impiety committed against God, contrary to the first table. So St. Jerome and Theodoret. He names these two, however, because they were then perpetrated more frequently and shamelessly: for the Jews, impoverished in Babylon, had learned by necessity to steal, and, to conceal their theft, to commit perjury. For the poor often have thieving hands, and hence a perjured tongue. Hosea also censures these same things in them, chapter IV, 2: 'Cursing,' he says, 'and murder, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood has touched blood.' So St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, and Lyranus. St. Cyril adds: 'Ezra,' he says, 'adjured the princes, priests, and people to put away their foreign wives; and they swore. It was therefore necessary to propose the curse and the impending punishment, so that they would keep their oath. Moreover, since after the temple was built a great quantity of money had been collected, which partly Darius had given and partly the people had offered, it is probable that those who were placed over this administration had diverted some of the funds consecrated to God: therefore he proposes the curse against thieves as well, lest they turn the sacred monies to private uses.'
As it is written there (in the flying scroll) (Hebrew mizze camohu, that is, from it as it itself contains), HE SHALL BE JUDGED, etc. — Differently Pagninus, Arias, and Vatablus; for they translate: Because every thief, as it is written on one side, has been cut off, and every one who swears, as it is written on the other side, has likewise been cut off. They think therefore that this book was written on both sides, front and back; and consequently that the curse was repeated, or that both sins, namely theft and perjury, were repeated, as Stunica holds here; or else that theft was written on one side and perjury on the other, as Pagninus holds, to signify that the wicked are to be condemned by God's twofold and certain sentence. Thus Ezekiel chapter II, 9 saw a book written inside and outside, or on the back, that is, an opisthograph.
HE SHALL BE JUDGED — that is, he shall be condemned and punished. In Hebrew nicka, that is, he shall be cut off; the Chaldean, he shall be struck; the Septuagint: Every thief shall from this be punished unto death, and every perjurer shall from this be tormented; so that the person himself remains like a perpetual living scroll of punishments. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Remigius, Hugh, and Lyranus. Therefore the Zurich Bible wrongly translates the opposite: Because everyone who steals from it, as it is, is acquitted; and whoever commits perjury from it, as it is, is acquitted. And the Syriac: Because everyone who steals, from it, as it conquers (is justified), and everyone who swears, from it, as it conquers (is justified). Meaning: Through this scroll it is signified that the Jews are acquitted of their former thefts and perjuries, because they have paid for and expiated them by the punishment of the Babylonian captivity. Wrongly, I say: for the contrary is said here, and it follows: 'It shall dwell in the midst of his house, and shall consume it.' But the Hebrew nicka, although it can mean to be innocent, and to be declared so, or acquitted, also means to cut down, to declare guilty and to punish; for it has contrary significations. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translates: Because everyone who steals, from it to death (is condemned) and from it they convict: everyone who swears from it, and as it is overcome, that is, convicted. And the Arabic of Alexandria: Because every thief shall pay the penalty, and shall atone for this (what he steals) or by this (namely, to be punished by the sickle) unto his death, and everyone who swears falsely shall pay the penalty unto death.
Every one who swears — falsely, that is, commits perjury. So the Chaldean, the Zurich Bible, Vatablus, and others. Nevertheless St. Chrysostom, in his address to the People, inveighing against the habit of swearing, takes this as referring to any oath, because whoever swears often easily commits perjury. That perjury is the subject here is clear from verse 4: 'To the house of him who swears in My name falsely.' Famous is the saying of Pericles, who, when a friend asked him to commit perjury falsely for his case and cause, answered: 'I must oblige my friends, but only up to the altars,' meaning, I should not commit perjury or do anything dishonorable for a friend's sake, by which I would violate and offend the reverence due to the divine. For in ancient times those who swore would touch the altar with their hand. See Gellius book I, chapter III.
Verse 4: I Will Bring It Forth
4. I WILL BRING IT FORTH — into the light, into the theater of the world, so that it may be visible to all, so that you may seem to bear the title of your punishment on your forehead, namely: these are thieves
and perjurers. Rupert, Arias, and Vatablus think this was accomplished through Antiochus Epiphanes, who wonderfully afflicted the Jews in the time of the Maccabees. But already at the time when Zechariah uttered these threats, it is credible that God had done the same thing, privately consuming the houses of the impious.
AND IT SHALL DWELL IN THE MIDST OF HIS HOUSE, AND SHALL CONSUME IT. — For houses in which an enormous crime has been committed, such as rebellion against a prince, are wont to be destroyed and razed to their foundations, as we saw done at Brussels at the beginning of the Belgian revolts. Thus God blasted and consumed Sodom and the Pentapolis with heavenly fire. Thus here the curse of God invades the houses of thieves and perjurers and destroys them, since they consist entirely of the plunder and thefts from the poor; of the Jews, I say, as I said at verse 3. For it is against them that these threats of the Prophet are directed, and they alone swore by the name of the true God. Therefore it seems less true and fitting what some think, that these threats are directed against the nations, as if the curse which afflicted the Jews in the Babylonian captivity, being now expiated by them, were to be transferred to the nations, for example, to the Babylonians, as is said in the last verse. For they had not so expiated it that much did not still remain to be expiated, especially since they had learned and contracted new crimes either in Babylon or after their return from the neighboring nations. Therefore, although Haggai, Malachi, and Zechariah console the faithful and pious returning from Babylon, they equally sharply censure the impious, who by so great a chastisement of captivity have been made not better, but worse, as is clear from chapter I, 3; Malachi II, 10, and chapter III, 8; Haggai I, 5.
You will say: If the curse dwells in the house, how does it consume the house down to its stones and timbers? I answer that the punishments which God sends upon the houses of thieves, perjurers, and similar criminals weigh upon them like a certain mass, which gradually, like a millstone, grinds and crushes them by a secret and wondrous means, down to the last timbers and stones, until it reduces them to nothing. Thus in this age we have seen and see powerful families, which through plunder or ill-gotten goods had risen to splendor, ground to dust by the just judgment and vengeance of God pressing upon them, and either annihilated or reduced to a miserable condition; so that those who see them are astonished how such great riches vanished gradually without anyone noticing. St. Chrysostom notes in Homily 15 to the People that God thus punishes those who swear as an example to others: 'For what reason,' he says, 'does He destroy the stones and timber of the one who swears? So that the ruin may serve as correction for others. For after the dead swearer must be buried in the earth, the house dissolved, and the ruin made, it will be a warning by its very sight to all passersby who see it, that they not dare to do the same, lest they suffer the same, and it will be a continual accuser of the dead man's crime.'
The Prophet speaks of the curse inflicted upon the Jews who were thieves, perjurers, and criminals of his age: but equally, indeed all the more, he also understands it as referring to that
which afterward, on account of the slaying of Christ, fell upon them. For this was the greatest of all, which utterly overturned and consumed Jerusalem together with the temple, the kingdom, and the commonwealth, to such an extent that the old and glorious Jerusalem now seems never to have existed, as Christ had threatened it, saying in Luke XIX, 44: 'They shall dash you to the ground, and they shall not leave in you a stone upon a stone.' This curse also for 1600 years continually dwells in the entire offspring and nation of the Jews, and makes it so that the Jews are throughout the whole world wanderers, exiles, despised, wretched, enslaved, hated, ignorant, hardened, and blinded, without law, without king, without Church, without commonwealth, without temple, without priesthood, without prophecy, without God. They attempted, with the permission, indeed the instigation of Julian the Apostate, out of hatred for Christians, to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem; but fire coming forth from the foundations consumed the builders along with the building, as St. Chrysostom testifies in his oration Against the Jews.
Verse 6: The Jar
6. THE JAR — in Hebrew epha, is a measure (as the Syriac and both Arabic versions translate) holding three modii of grain, the tenth part of an ephah or cor: for a cor held 30 modii. Now since the ephah was the common measure of the Hebrews, in this passage, and often elsewhere, it is taken for a measure in general. Hence our Translator learnedly translates it as amphora (jar), both because this was likewise a common measure among the Latins, and because it corresponded equally to the ephah, or three-modius measure for dry goods. Hear Budaeus in book V of De Asse: 'I have found that an amphora is an eighth part of that vessel which we call a modius of wine. A modius of wine holds thirty-six of our sextarii: and a sextarius holds eight of those which we call pints. In dry measures, however, for an amphora we have a quarter of a sextarius, that is, three bushels, for which we have a three-modius vessel, a half medimnus.'
The jar, therefore, or ephah, signifies the measure of the sins of the Jews, decreed and predetermined by God for their punishment and destruction, which being gradually filled up, the Jews were punished and destroyed. For God, seeing the sins of a nation or of any person, does not immediately leap to vengeance, but patiently endures them; and therefore He prescribes for each nation or person a certain measure of sins, so that before it is fully filled, He does not punish, but as soon as it has been filled, then He chastises and avenges all at once and severely, according to that word of Christ in Matthew XXIII, 32: 'And you, fill up the measure of your fathers.' And Genesis XV, 16: 'The iniquities of the Amorites are not yet complete.' See what I said there. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Rupert, Albert, Hugh, Lyranus, and others generally. He uses the symbol of the jar, or ephah and modius, because in these measures the Jews committed the fraud and theft spoken of in verse 3. Whence the Chaldean translates: These are the peoples who received and gave with a false measure. And presently: Therefore they were condemned and carried into exile, because they received and gave with a false measure.
You will ask, when was this jar, that is, the measure of sins, filled up by the Jews, and punished by God, and avenged with the ultimate destruction of the nation? I answer first, this measure was filled up by them in the time of Zedekiah, and punished by God through Nebuchadnezzar by the Babylonian captivity of 70 years. So the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Theodoret, Vatablus, and others. And it is this that seems to be properly treated here. For this jar was transferred to the land of Shinar, that is, to Babylon, as is said in the last verse. Moreover, this jar signifies the measure full both of guilt (whence impiety sits in it) and of punishment. Of guilt, namely, because it had already grown in Judea through idolatry and other crimes to the summit of impiety: therefore it signifies that this guilt was to be swept out of it, as being the holy land, by the wicked Jews being led away to Babylon, for Babylon was the seat of idolatry and impiety. Of punishment, namely, because it had already been punished in Babylon by the captivity of 70 years, and would be punished there again if they remained in it, both by the usual exile and by the universal destruction by Darius Hystaspis. For Darius captured and devastated Babylon and its inhabitants, both natives and foreigners, namely the Jews who had remained in it, as I said at chapter II, 7.
For this vision of Zechariah is properly directed to the Jews, not only those living in Jerusalem, but also to those who had remained in Babylon after the freedom to return was given by Cyrus, and had not wished to return to Jerusalem, because they had already established homes and families, having purchased houses and fields in Babylon. The Prophet attempts to recall these to their homeland, both lest they become accustomed to the ways and idolatry of the Babylonians, and that they might escape the destruction impending upon Babylon through Darius. This is what he said in chapter II, 7: 'O Zion, flee, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon,' as I explained there. Zechariah therefore saw the jar, or measure in which impiety sat, being transferred from Judea to Babylon: by which he signifies that the impiety of Judea and the impious Jews were transferred to Babylon, and therefore that Judea was now purged and clean of impiety, while Babylon was the seat and sewer of impiety: and therefore that impiety would remain in Babylon and no longer return to Judea. Henceforth idolatry was not seen in Judea, because the Jews left it along with its jar, that is, its punishment, in Babylon, when, its measure having been paid off over seventy years, they returned to Jerusalem expiated and free. For then, free from guilt and punishment, they deposited its modius, jar, and measure in Babylon: by which he tacitly admonishes the Jews living in Babylon to leave it as a sewer of crimes and return to holy Jerusalem. Secondly, by the same symbol he signifies through this jar, that is, the heap of impiety which had accumulated in Babylon from the impiety of the Jews, and which was daily increasing from their crimes and those of the Babylonians, that the measure of Babylon's sins would soon be filled again, so that once it was completed, it would be destroyed with all its
inhabitants by Darius Hystaspis. For the jar resting upon Babylon signifies the punishment and destruction impending over Babylon, on account of the impiety residing in the jar and transferred with the jar to Babylon, so Sanchez says; by which reasoning he again warns the remaining Jews in Babylon to depart from it, lest they be involved in its disaster. For this entire chapter, as John Mariana rightly observes, is directed to the Jews living not so much in Judea as in Babylon, to show them their unhappiness, impiety, and danger, and thereby to invite them to return to Jerusalem and the temple. Consequently and conversely, it signifies the happiness, piety, and security of the Jews living in Judea, since, with impiety now exported to Babylon, they dwell in a pure and holy land, and there devote themselves piously and peacefully to the building of the temple and the worship of God. For all these things aim at inciting the people to restore, complete, and adorn the temple in Jerusalem, so as to worship God in it piously and holily, and to obey and serve Him. Therefore properly this jar, in which impiety sits, transferred to Babylon, signifies that idolatry, both as to its guilt and as to its punishment, was transferred from Judea to Babylon, and there established its seat.
Secondly, this jar and measure of the sins of Judea, emptied and purged through the destruction and captivity by the Chaldeans, began to be filled again by the Jews after their return from Babylon. Hence Arias takes the jar as the public fraud that was then rampant among the people, the thefts and perjuries of which verse 3 speaks. This jar was gradually filled again over 360 years; whence after those years it was again emptied and purged through Antiochus Epiphanes in the time of the Maccabees, who severely afflicted the Jews. But it was fully and completely filled through the murder, indeed the deicide, by which they killed Christ the Lord, according to that word of Christ in Matthew XXIII, 32: 'And you, fill up the measure of your fathers,' that is, by killing Me, your God and Messiah, so that with the measure of your crimes completed, your executioners Titus and the Romans may come, who will punish you with the ultimate and eternal destruction, so that in the land of Shinar, that is, the whole world, says Sanchez, you may wander as vagabonds and fugitives in exile, until you worship and adore the Antichrist truly and properly in Shinar, that is, in Babylon, as the stable and firm seat of his kingdom. So Rupert, Emmanuel, Ribera, Fernandius, and others.
The former sense is more proximate, and therefore literal; the latter more remote, and resting upon the former as upon a type, and therefore partly literal, partly allegorical. Note here that this jar is partly an enigma of a past event, namely the Babylonian captivity; partly an oracle of a future event, and indeed a threefold one: first, of the imminent destruction of Babylon, to be inflicted by Darius Hystaspis; secondly, of the impiety to be established there through the Antichrist; thirdly, of the destruction and exile of the Jews through Titus and the Romans on account of the slaying of
THIS IS THE EYE. — The word 'eye' here can be taken in two ways. First, actively, as signifying God's providence, meaning: This jar signifies the ever-watchful eye of God, which looks around and surveys the whole earth, and assigns punishments to each according to the measure of their crimes. For just as the sun is the eye of the world, so much more is God's providence the sun and eye of the universe; on which I said more at chapter II, 10, and Jeremiah chapter I, 11.
Secondly and better, passively and objectively, the eye, that is, the object of the eye, namely the thing seen upon which all cast their eyes, meaning: The eye, that is, the gaze of all the Jews, is directed toward this jar; their eyes look upon nothing else but the jar, namely to fill it with their sins; so unbridled do they rush into crimes that they seem to look upon and direct their eyes toward nothing but crimes, according to that word of Genesis VI, 5: 'God seeing that every thought of the heart was intent on evil at all times.' And Jeremiah XXII, 17: 'But your eyes and heart are set on avarice, and on shedding innocent blood, and on calumny,' etc. For that common saying is true: 'Where the hand is, there is pain; where the eye is, there is love; where the mind is, there is the heart.' And that of the Poet: 'Love is born in mortals from seeing.' For just as the sun through a polished mirror ignites tinder, so a beautiful thing admitted through the eyes into the soul sets it ablaze. In this way love kindles a fire in the heart through the eyes. So Theodoret, Arias, Ribera, Castro, and others. Whence the Septuagint, instead of enam, that is 'their eye,' reading by diaeresis avonam, translate: This is their iniquity in all the land.
Again, the jar, that is, the measure of punishment owed to the iniquity of the Jews and to be inflicted upon them, will be an eye, that is, conspicuous to the whole earth. For a public crime must be avenged with a public punishment, so that, just as they themselves constantly directed their eyes toward the jar of guilt, so all others may direct their eyes toward the jar and the immense measure of punishment, measured out to match their guilt. Whence the Chaldean translates: Behold, they become manifest before all the inhabitants of the earth. For all shall see the enormous torments, just as they saw their enormous crimes. And St. Jerome says: 'The eye is the display of sins, so that those whose vices lay hidden when scattered might be gathered into one and laid open to the eyes of all, and Israel might go forth from its place, and be shown to all nations what it had been in its own land.' Thus the Jews are the eye of the whole earth: for all look upon them as the children of those who killed Christ, who bear the guilt and punishment of their fathers, and display the magnitude of their crime in their desolation everywhere, says Rupert. Thus tropologically, God brings sins committed in darkness and hidden places into the light, and makes them the eye of the whole world, when He punishes them with public infamy, or with public disaster and punishment.
Verse 7: A Talent Of Lead
7. A TALENT OF LEAD. — In Hebrew kicker, that is, a ball, or rather a round mass of lead, a bar or mass of lead, as the Translator renders it at verse 5. Whence St. Jerome says: 'The mass was borne like a stone, either by its own momentum, or by the Lord's command; or it was carried by another whose name is not mentioned.' The talent of lead denotes the gravity of guilt, and consequently of punishment, which weighs down and oppresses sinners so that they cannot raise themselves up or free themselves from it; whence it blocks the mouth of the jar, so that the impiety enclosed within may remain sealed forever; on which more presently. So St. Jerome, Haymo, Remigius, Rupert, and Lyranus. Properly, the talent of lead denotes the heavy and rigid sentence of God, which measured out to the Jews the punishment proportionate to their guilt, as a jar fitted to their impiety, and as it were sealed and closed it, so that nothing could escape from it until the full measure of punishment was paid, that is, until the 70 years of captivity in Babylon were completed. Ribera adds that the talent of lead by which the jar was entirely closed signifies the long duration of the punishment and exile, as well as the blinding of the Jews, namely that it would last until the end of the world; moreover, the jar is carried to the land of Shinar because their blindness and punishment will last until they worship and adore the Antichrist in Babylon.
AND BEHOLD ONE WOMAN SITTING IN THE MIDST OF THE JAR. —
The angel, says St. Jerome, who spoke in the Prophet, and going forth from him showed him all things, seized the woman who was called impiety, and cast her headlong into the midst of the jar, she who previously was moving about freely and, sitting upon the jar, was visible to all. Here therefore the angel showed Zechariah the woman sitting in the midst of the jar, that is, at the rim or opening of the jar, namely 'upon the jar,' as St. Jerome explains; so that she projected above it to the waist, while her feet hung down either outside or inside the jar. For shortly after, in verse 8, the angel cast her, sitting thus with her head and breast projecting above the jar, into the midst of the jar, and there submerged her and sealed it with a talent of lead. By this is signified that impiety at first went unpunished, but as the measure of sins increased it gradually filled the jar, that is, the measure of sins appointed by God for vengeance, though she could still speak and move freely, until, their measure being fully complete, she was entirely enclosed in the jar by the angel. By this is represented their consummated impiety, and the measure of sins predetermined by God being entirely completed, so that in reality she was to be snatched away to prison and exile, namely to the land of Shinar, by two women winged like kites.
Moreover, impiety is depicted as a woman because, as St. Cyril and Theodoret say, a woman is equally the subject and symbol of weakness and concupiscence, which is the mother and source of all sin and impiety. Hence Eusebius in book II of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter II, calls pleasure a hydra with many heads, because in it are the beginnings and heads of all crimes. And Cyril of Alexandria in the Stromata calls the same the metropolis of all vices. Therefore the philosopher Aristippus, seeing a woman who was small but beautiful, said: 'A small thing indeed is beautiful, but a great evil.' So Antonius in the Melissa, sermon On the Valiant Woman. Diogenes, seeing garrulous women conversing with one another, said: 'The asp borrows venom from the viper.' So the same in the Melissa, part II, sermon 54. Democritus, asked why, being a large man, he had married a small wife, said: 'In choosing an evil, I chose the least.' (Blessed Thomas More gave the same answer.) So the same, sermon On the Bad Woman. The common proverb says: 'Fire, sea, woman: three evils.' The philosopher Secundus, in Maximus, sermon 9, when asked 'what is a bad woman?' answered: 'A man's shipwreck, a household storm, an impediment to rest, a captivity of life, a daily loss, a voluntary battle, a costly war, a beast at the table, an assured anxiety, a lioness embracing, a dressed-up Scylla, a malicious animal, a necessary evil.' For which reason he said: 'If the world were without woman, our life would not be without the gods.' St. Gregory Thaumaturgus, writing on Ecclesiastes, says: 'I have found woman to be a certain soft
soft ground. (Others say: Woman is the same as soft air.) For her heart encloses passersby like a net. If she touches with her hand alone, she holds fast; if she embraces, she drags with chains.' St. Cyprian in the book On the Singularity of Clerics says: 'From coals sparks fly out, from iron rust is nourished, asps hiss diseases, and woman pours forth the pestilence of concupiscence, which Solomon thus compares, saying: From a garment comes the moth, and from woman the iniquity of a man.' Socrates used to say: 'A beautiful and attractive woman is a temple built over a sewer.' So Laertius in the Life of Socrates. He also said that he had encountered three evils: grammar, poverty, and a pernicious wife; of which the first two he had escaped, but the third not at all, because his Xanthippe continually tormented him. Finally, St. Jerome writes to Nepotian: 'Let the feet of women rarely or never wear out the threshold of your little dwelling. See that you do not remain under the same roof; do not trust in your past chastity; you cannot be stronger than Samson, holier than David, or wiser than Solomon. Remember always that a woman expelled the colonist of paradise from his possession.'
For this reason, therefore, impiety is here represented under the figure of a woman. In a similar manner, iniquity in the Emblems of Cesare Ripa, page 579, is depicted as a woman clothed in fire and flames, who flees at a rapid run. For iniquity torments and burns the perverse soul, just as fire burns dry wood; she flees because, being conscious of her guilt, she is full of terrors and fears all that is safe; indeed, she is terrified even by shadows. The same author depicts impiety on page 1367 as an ugly woman with veiled eyes, ass's ears, holding a rooster in her right hand and a branch of thorny bramble or a hippopotamus in her left. For the rooster is wild and savage, such that it violates even its mother and attacks its father; and the hippopotamus, or river horse, common in the Nile, according to Pliny book VIII, number 25, is impious because it defiles its mother and kills its father. So the sinner is impious toward God the Father and toward Mother Church, and attacks them as a rebel and enemy, especially if he is an idolater or heretic.
The same author depicts sin on page 132, part II, as a blind, naked, black youth, walking through pathless places and precipices, girded with a serpent, with a worm at his left side gnawing at his heart. This is the worm, or remorse of conscience: the serpent is the devil, who deceives the sinner with the false appearance of seeming good, just as he originally deceived our mother Eve with the appearance of the fruit and the hope of omniscience, Genesis III, 1.
Tropologically, this woman is pleasure. For this is the cause and mother of all impiety and sin. So St. Cyril and Theodoret. Wisely Maximus, sermon 171, from St. Chrysostom: 'Pleasure,' he says, 'is like a dog; if you chase it, it flees; if you feed it, it stays.'
Symbolically, this woman, namely impiety, is said to sit for three reasons. For she sits, firstly, as one accustomed and attached to her lusts and vices.
Whence in Psalm XLIX, 20, it is said of the slanderer accustomed to cursing: 'Sitting, you spoke against your brother,' not standing, as if in passing and on the way; but sitting, as if deliberately, from habit, from custom; secondly, as if sad and condemned to the jar, that is, to prison and just punishment; thirdly, as if idle and lazy. For sloth in the Emblems of Cesare Ripa, page 8, is depicted as an ugly old woman, poorly dressed, sitting, her head leaning on her left hand resting on her knees, from which hangs a piece of paper with this motto: 'The idle one is numb,' her right hand holding a torpedo fish. Splendidly St. Bernard, in his Epistles, rebuking sloth, says: 'O imprudent man, thousands of thousands minister to Him, and ten times a hundred thousand stand before Him, and you presume to sit?' Tropologically, he who sits in the jar, that is, he who has peace in his sins, says Sanchez, is close to lying down, that is, to having a spirit of torpor and sleep, so that he neither sees the light nor feels the blow, and, weighed down by the leaden talent of his own hardness, is snatched by the wings of kites to the land of Shinar, where for his punishment a stable and eternal house is built.
8. This is impiety — namely the impious Synagogue. This is the title, or inscription of the woman, just as in comedies titles are affixed to masked actors, for example: This is David, this is Uriah, this is Bathsheba, so that the spectators may know which role each one plays. Similarly, in the trials and punishments of criminals, a title is customarily affixed indicating the cause of the punishment, as Pilate affixed this title to the crucified Christ: 'This is Jesus of Nazareth, king of the Jews,' meaning: This Jesus is condemned to death because He wished to be king of the Jews, because He sought the kingdom of Judea. To this St. John alludes in Revelation XVII, 5, when he affixes to that famous harlot, that is, to the typical Babylon, her title, saying: 'And on her forehead a name was written: Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of the fornications and abominations of the earth.'
Now impiety is here taken in any sense, namely, the entire multitude and mass of sins; but especially a twofold one. The first is idolatry, on account of which the Jews were condemned to the Babylonian captivity; so St. Jerome, Hugh, and Lyranus. The second is the killing of Christ, on account of which they are now condemned to perpetual exile. So Ribera, Sanchez, Fernandius, and others. For this was properly called impiety, and was the supreme impiety.
St. Chrysostom notes in Treatise I On Praying to God that every mortal sin is indeed the death of the soul, because it expels God from it, who is its life; but properly impiety is called the death of the soul, because piety, that is, the worship of God and a life worthy of that worship, is properly the life of the soul, which impiety takes away; and therefore impiety is properly its death. Hence in Hebrew it is harisca, meaning: That impiety, that crime, namely the notable and enormous one.
AND HE CAST HER INTO THE MIDST OF THE JAR. — So that the head and entire body of the woman was contained within the jar, as I said shortly before. By this phrase it is signified that the measure of sins had been completed, and therefore God's vengeance was at hand for the Jews. Moreover, the Jews filled up this measure of theirs, firstly, in the time of Zedekiah, when he violated the oath he had given to the Chaldeans that he would be subject to them, and perjured himself by rebelling against them, IV Kings XXV, 6. Whence he was soon destroyed along with the kingdom by those same Chaldeans. Secondly, when they killed Christ; whence they were soon destroyed by Titus and the Romans. So Ribera, Sanchez, Fernandius, and others.
AND HE CAST THE MASS OF LEAD UPON ITS MOUTH. — 'Its' refers either to the woman, as Theodoret and Vatablus wish, or rather and more fully to the jar; for he blocked the mouth of the jar, and consequently the mouth of the woman and the entire woman, who, having been thrown into the jar, was enclosed by it. So St. Jerome, the Hebrews, Albert, Remigius, Ribera, and others. By this mass of lead is signified the completed measure of sins, and therefore that the woman, that is, the impious Synagogue, is condemned to certain and irrevocable punishment, whose gravity and perpetuity are signified by lead, say St. Jerome, Rupert, and Remigius, so that she is thrust down and submerged into perpetual silence, prison, darkness, and the abyss. Hear St. Jerome: 'She is pressed down by the angel, so that she who previously rejoiced in crime may be silenced by eternal silence; or, according to Theodotion, the woman herself cast herself down and hid in the midst of the jar, and drew over herself the most heavy weight of lead, so that her mouth would be stopped and she could no longer boast;' and so she would be deported to Shinar, that is, to Babylon. For although the Jews were freed and went out of it through Cyrus, they did not go out until the jar had been emptied, that is, until the measure of seventy years of punishment and captivity appointed for them by God had been completed, as it were measured out to match their guilt. Again, impiety did not go out from it, because the idolatry of the Jews remained in Babylon and did not return to Jerusalem; for they, chastised by this captivity, no longer worshipped idols. So too Isidore of Pelusium, book III, epistle 33, takes the talent of lead as the weight of sin which drags down and depresses the sinner to the depths of hell: 'The measure (jar),' he says, 'signifies the end of divine gentleness and patience, and the beginning of punishment.' Arias adds that this woman was forced to receive the lead in her mouth and swallow it, or that molten lead was poured into her mouth, and this as a punishment for her frauds and thefts, of which verse 3 speaks, just as today counterfeiters and coin-clippers are thrown into a cauldron of boiling oil and are forced to drink it. Arias proves this from the traditions of the Hebrews in the section entitled: On the
Sanhedrin, or On the Magistrates, where it is said that Jews convicted of idolatry or violation of religion were accustomed to have molten lead poured into their mouths, and by it they were killed and burned. But in this passage only the mouth of the jar was sealed with lead, and the woman sitting in the jar did not drink it; but in hell the damned drink sulfur, pitch, and molten lead.
Tropologically, the impiety in the dark jar sealed with lead is the blindness of the Jews; the mass of lead is obstinacy, which we see in its highest degree in them today. Again, the leaden mass of impiety is the habit of sinning. For this so weighs down the sinner that it plunges him into the abyss of wickedness, from which he cannot raise himself up or rise, unless by miracle and the miraculous hand and grace of Almighty God he is lifted up and drawn out.
Anagogically, the talent of lead signifies the gravity and perpetuity both of the guilt and of the punishment of the damned in Shinar, that is, in hell, and their obstinacy in evil. For there impiety, together with all the impious, as if with mouth sealed, will be condemned to an eternal prison, silence, and torment, and will be packed tight as in a jar. Whence St. John in Revelation XX, 1 saw 'an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, etc., and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and closed it and sealed it over him. There therefore all iniquity shall stop its mouth,' Psalm CVI, 42.
Verse 9: And Behold Two Women
9. AND BEHOLD TWO WOMEN. — You will ask, who are these? St. Jerome with his followers, Remigius, Rupert, Albert, Hugh, and others, takes them as Israel and Judah, or Samaria and Jerusalem, namely the ten tribes and the remaining two; whom Ezekiel likewise in chapter XXIII, 4, compares to two harlot women, Oholah and Oholibah. But the subject here is not Samaria and Israel, for these had long since been carried away, not to Shinar, that is, to Babylon, but to Assyria. If anyone wishes to take this jar as the measure of the impiety and punishment of both Israel and Judah, he should rather say that these two women were Shalmaneser and Nebuchadnezzar. For the former carried Israel into Assyria, the latter Judah into Babylon. Others, such as Lyranus, Vatablus, Dionysius, and Fernandius, take them as the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin; for these carried the jar, that is, the measure of their guilt and punishment, to Babylon, where it remained as if to last forever. But these women were like lictors, or executioners; and Israel was not its own lictor or executioner.
Thirdly, Theodoret and the Hebrews according to St. Jerome take them as the Persians and the Medes, or Cyrus and Darius, who so devastated Babylon that the jar, that is, the punishment of impiety, seems to last perpetually in it and to have established its seat there; whereas in Jerusalem it lasted for only a few, namely seventy, years. This exposition nearly touches the matter, but only half-fully and in part.
I say therefore that by the two women are meant two chief demons, or rather Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan who devastated Jerusalem, and transferred the impious Jews to Babylon. For these were winged kites, that is, the swiftest, strongest, and most rapacious cattle-rustlers and plunderers of the Jews, who carried them off to Babylon. Whence the Chaldean translates it as swift and nimble peoples, such as the Chaldeans were. Such were Titus and Vespasian, or Titus and Hadrian, for the Jews after the death of Christ.
Tropologically, some take them as the two more notable sins of the Jews which drove them into exile in Shinar. For the penalty follows the head; and guilt is like a lictor who drives and pushes the sinner to the gallows. What these sins are is not certain. One might surmise they are theft and perjury, which he named in verse 3. For this vision of the jar seems to coincide with that of the flying scroll, and to refer to the same thing. Ribera holds them to be the blindness and obstinacy of the Jews, which, driven by a diabolical spirit, as if with the wings of kites, carry this jar with the woman to Babylon. But these two are contained in the woman, for the woman is impiety; and the greatest impiety is obstinacy and a will stubbornly fixed in evil.
Symbolically, the two women on God's part can be taken as divine holiness and justice; for these demanded punishments from the impious Jews, and cast them out of Jerusalem and the Holy Land into impious and impure Babylon. Hence they have wings of chasida, that is, a kite, or as more recent translators render it, a stork: chasida, from the root chesed, that is, piety, signifies a pious bird, namely the stork. For the stork is devoted to its parents, whom it warms when they grow old and carries on its wings, so that it may fly with them to its nest. Again, by antiphrasis, chasida signifies a kite, because it is impious, savage, and rapacious; the Septuagint translates it as a hoopoe. Now divine justice raged against the Jews like a kite; holiness protected the temple and piety like a stork, and therefore cast the impious Jews out of it into Babylon.
Wind was in their wings. — 'Spirit' here means wind, meaning: By a most rapid and powerful wind they were borne and driven, and along with themselves they drove the jar to the land of Shinar. This signifies the speed and might of Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuzaradan in devastating, plundering, and carrying off the Jews. So Theodoret, Haymo, Vatablus, and Arias.
Symbolically, St. Jerome takes the evil spirit as the devil, meaning: These women were driven by a diabolical spirit, so that they seemed to have the devil in their wings, and by him, as if by furies, to be driven and snatched to Babylon.
THEY LIFTED UP THE JAR BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH — meaning: Not by running, not with horses, not with a chariot, but by flight, that is, most swiftly they transferred the jar. For whoever flies suspends himself in the air between heaven and earth. He alludes to kites flying and nesting in the tops of trees.
Symbolically it is signified that neither heaven receives the Jews, as being impious and hateful to God; nor the earth, since they are everywhere hated by men, and therefore are wanderers, exiles, and fugitives, as Rupert says: 'Neither does their own land contain them, nor will heaven admit them. And just as their standard-bearer Judas the traitor perished, suspended between heaven and earth, hated, as someone says, by both heaven and earth; so too this people, excluded from the earthly Jerusalem and made unworthy of the heavenly one, hangs as it were between heaven and earth,' according to that saying of the Satirist: 'If you cannot stand in the heavens (or on earth), wherever you wish.' And Fernandius in vision XXXIV, section V: 'The Jews,' he says, 'are tossed about by all nations like a ball in a game.'
Verse 11: That A House May Be Built For It In The Land Of Shinar
11. THAT A HOUSE MAY BE BUILT FOR IT IN THE LAND OF SHINAR. — That is, in Babylon, as the Septuagint translates, for Babylon is in the land of Shinar, as is clear from Genesis XI, 2. It is called Shinar, as it were scenaar, that is, 'which shook out,' namely the teeth and tongue of the builders of the tower of Babel; for there God confused the one language of all peoples, by which all spoke Hebrew, and thus as it were shook out their tongue and teeth. Again, He shook out the builders themselves from Shinar, and dispersed them throughout the whole world. Zechariah signifies that the impious Jews were carried away by the Chaldeans into the Babylonian captivity, and there remained for many years, namely 70, as St. Jerome, the Rabbis, Albert, Vatablus, and Stunica say. But after that, they were to be carried away by Antiochus Epiphanes, and fully and completely by Titus, into a captivity and universal exile, in which the whole world would be their Shinar, that is, the land of shaking out, namely the prison and exile of their impiety and unbelief. For since the disaster and captivity of Shinar, or Babylon, was atrocious, hence by catachresis, any grave calamity, prison, and exile was called Shinar, or Babylon, by the Jews. So Arias and Sanchez. Finally, many think it is signified here that the Antichrist will begin his kingdom in Babylon, and will there erect the seat of impiety as well as of tyranny, and the Jews will receive and worship him there as their Messiah, as Christ says in John V, 43, until they are converted to Christ by Elijah and Enoch through miracles and burning zeal. So Ribera, Emmanuel, and Francisco Suarez, III part., Question LIX, disputation LIV, article 6, section V, and many others. Indeed even the author of the work On the Antichrist attributed to St. Augustine, and St. Jerome on Daniel chapter XI, and Anselm in the Elucidarium, assert that the Antichrist will be born in Babylon. For this reason St. John in Revelation XVI, 12 saw kings with great forces coming from the Euphrates, that is, from Babylonia which borders the Euphrates, to the Antichrist: 'And the sixth angel,' he says, 'dried up the Euphrates, etc., so that
the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun.' And chapter IX, 14: 'Loose,' he says, 'the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates, etc., that they might kill a third of mankind. And the number of the cavalry army was twenty thousand times ten thousand.' Added to this is the fact that a type of the Antichrist was Nebuchadnezzar, who devastated the Jews and carried them off to Babylon, and who had himself worshipped in a golden statue which he erected, Daniel III, 5, as the Antichrist will also do, according to that word of Jeremiah I, 14: 'From the North evil shall spread over all the inhabitants of the land,' namely from Babylon which lay to the north of Judea. Now the meaning of this passage is what I assigned at verse 6. For this jar containing impiety, placed and established in Babylon, signifies both the guilt and the punishment of impiety established in Babylon, so that when impiety shall have stood in it through the measure of both sins and time defined by God, it may be punished and chastised: first by Cyrus, secondly by Darius, thirdly by Christ, who will destroy Babylon and the Babylonians who follow the Antichrist at the end of the world.
Note: When he says 'that a house may be built,' etc., he alludes to idols and idolatry, which is especially understood here by the name of impiety. For the Jews, following common practice, used to build houses and temples for idols, and placed and elevated them on a base, so that they might be seen and worshipped by all from on high. Now the house of idolatry and crimes was Babylon, as is clear from Jeremiah chapters L and LI; whence by catachresis, impious and pagan Rome, bloodied, indeed drunk with the blood of the faithful and martyrs, is called Babylon by St. John in Revelation XVII and XVIII. In Babylon, therefore, the impiety of the Jews, together with its punishment and captivity, was placed upon a base, because, like a statue erected upon a column, it was set up to be seen by all, even from far away. Therefore properly and genuinely this jar of impiety transferred from Judea to Babylon signifies that idolatry, together with the idolatrous and impious Jews, was transferred by the Chaldeans from Judea to Babylon, so that Judea, now purged of it, is holy and worthy that a temple be restored to God in it, in which He Himself, as before, may dwell and be worshipped. By this reasoning the Prophet consoles, and at the same time urges Jesus, Zerubbabel, and the people, to remain in Jerusalem after their return; and if any have remained in Babylon, to return from there to Judea and build a temple there to God, in which they may venerate and worship Him holily. For Jerusalem is now the city of piety and of the worship of the true God, and therefore an asylum of both impunity and security; while Babylon is the city of idolatry and impiety, as it was from the beginning under the tyrant Nimrod, Genesis X, 10; and therefore is devoted to punishment and destruction, just as today Mecca in Arabia is the city of Mohammedanism, and Geneva is the metropolis of Calvinism. The Jews, therefore, transferred from Jerusalem in the jar, as it were, to Babylon, exported impiety, that is, idolatry, with them, so that it no longer returned to Jerusalem, says Lyranus, Dionysius, and Cas-
Shinar, so that they may become an orthodox and holy land, as they once were, when our fathers praised You in it.
tro. In Babylon, therefore, they deposited their jar, that is, their guilt and punishment, when in the seventieth year, having measured out, unrolled, and paid off the measure, coming out of their jar as it were, they returned pure and free to Jerusalem and the holy land, leaving the jar, that is, idolatry and its punishment, to Babylon and the Babylonians, whom consequently first Cyrus, then Darius Hystaspis devastated.
Allegorically, it is signified that the measure of the impiety of the Jews is to be completed through the murder of Christ, on account of which impiety itself, together with the impious Jews, is to be expelled from Jerusalem by the Romans into Shinar, that is, into exile throughout the whole world, until in Shinar it subjects itself to the Antichrist, and together with him is punished and thrust into hell. For there will be the eternal seat of impiety, and there will be fully accomplished the words: 'That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar,' that is, of shaking out, 'and it may be established and set there upon its base.' For which the Syriac translates more clearly: That they may build for it a house in the land of Babylon, and establish it, and make it dwell (reside) there upon its foundation (dwelling); and the Arabic of Alexandria: A house has already been built for it in Babylon, and it has been prepared for it, and it will dwell in the house prepared for it; and the Arabic of Antioch: That they may build for it a house in the land of Babylon, and establish it, and set it in its equality, rendering equal punishments to each according to their deserts. For then, says Fernandius in vision XXXIV, section V, the impiety of the Jews will be exalted, and will be placed as it were upon a base, like an idol in a temple, to be held more glorious and honorable by all the followers of the Antichrist. Whence their type was the builders who built the tower of Babel in Shinar, to exalt their impiety against God. For thus the Jews too will exalt the idol of their impiety, as it were upon a base, under the Antichrist, but their designs will come to nothing, just as those of the impious tower builders. For the Antichrist too will be killed by Christ, and the exalted impiety will fall; but by the great mercy of God it will come to pass that, once the Antichrist is slain, they will repent of their impiety and be converted to Christ. For the despised benefits of God sharpen first God's wrath, then His mercy.
Tropologically, impiety is swept out of Jerusalem, that is, out of the Church, when schismatics and heretics are expelled from it and depart, to set up the idol of their heresy in Babylon, that is, in their Satanic church, from which they will be hurled into the eternal Babylon, that is, confusion, and Shinar, that is, the gnashing of teeth, namely into hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; where there is no order, but everlasting horror dwells. Therefore let the faithful who are wise flee this Babylon as a plague, and fix their seat in the Church; there let them build for God the temple of the perfection of virtues, until they are transferred to Jerusalem and the heavenly temple, to eternal life and glory. Would that, O Lord, You would bring forth impiety (heresy) from England, Scotland, Germany, Bohemia, etc., and transfer it to
Again, the jar is the measure of each person's sins, whether of an individual or of a people, and when it is filled, God's vengeance springs forth to punish. Let each one, therefore, take care not to fill this jar, but if he has thrown any crimes into it, let him quickly empty and drain it through repentance. Moreover, the jar is filled when impiety rages with impunity and publicly, as happens during Carnivals, when all eyes are directed toward it. Then, therefore, the wrath and vengeance of God are most to be feared. For this reason, holy men, in order to avert it from themselves and from the commonwealth, at that time all the more devote themselves to prayers and pious works, to stay God's anger and empty the jar, the more the impious indulge their lusts and burn to fill it; lest, like the Sodomites, they be blasted by heavenly fire, or, like the Jews, be sent away to the land of Shinar, that is, of shaking out, namely to a present exile and to eternal damnation in hell. Especially when God gives signs of His wrath and of impending vengeance through famine, plague, and public slaughters and disasters. For then His flying sickle and emerging jar appear, which the heralds should announce and threaten to the whole people, so that they may strive to avoid it and placate God's indignation; just as Aaron did in the sedition and punishment of Korah, at the command of Moses, who said: 'Take the censer, and having taken fire from the altar, cast incense upon it, going quickly to the people, to pray for them; for wrath has already gone forth from the Lord, and the plague is raging. When Aaron had done this and had run to the midst of the multitude, which the conflagration was already devastating, he offered incense, and standing between the dead and the living, he prayed for the people, and the plague ceased.'
Symbolically, St. Gregory in book XIV of the Moralia, chapter XXVI, takes the jar as avarice, upon which the eyes of all worldly people gaze; so that, while they are blind to everything else, they seem to have eyes only for looking at jars and measures for buying and selling, and the other instruments of gain. Two women, namely pride and vainglory, lift this up on high. Hear St. Gregory himself explaining this whole symbol of the jar morally: 'God, wishing to show the Prophet the human race, from what sin it was most widely spreading, designated the gaping mouth of avarice through the image of a jar. For avarice is like a jar that holds the mouth of the heart open wide. And he said: This is their eye in all the land. We see many people of dull understanding, and yet we see them astute in evil deeds, the Prophet also attesting when he says: They are wise in doing evil, but they do not know how to do good. These, therefore, are torpid in their senses, but in the things they desire, they are aroused by the goads of avarice; and those who are blind to seeing good things become vigilant, when prizes are offered, for doing evil. Whence rightly of this
the same avarice is said: This is their eye in all the land. Behold, a talent of lead was being carried. What is the talent of lead, if not the weight of sin arising from that same avarice? And behold one woman sitting in the midst of the jar. Lest perhaps we should doubt who this woman was, the angel immediately made it known. For there it immediately follows: And he said: This is impiety. And he cast her into the midst of the jar. Impiety is cast into the midst of the jar, because, of course, impiety is always contained in avarice. And he cast a mass of lead upon its mouth. A mass of lead is placed upon the woman's mouth, because the impiety of avarice is weighed down by the burden of its own sin. For if it did not covet the things below, it would by no means be impious toward God and neighbor. And I lifted up my eyes and saw: and behold two women going forth, and wind was in their wings. What else do we understand by these two women, except two principal vices, namely pride and vainglory? which are without any doubt joined to impiety. And they are said to have their own spirit in their wings, because in their actions they serve the will of Satan. For the Prophet calls him a spirit, of whom Solomon says: If the spirit of one who has power ascends over you, do not leave your place. And of whom the Lord says in the Gospel: When an unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he walks through dry and waterless places. Wind is in their wings, because pride and vainglory, through everything they do, serve the will of Satan.' Then he continues the rest of the jar's symbolism tropologically: 'And they had wings like the wings of a kite. The kite always by nature plots against chicks. These women, therefore, have wings like the wings of a kite, because their actions are without doubt similar to those of the devil, who always plots against the life of the little ones. And they lifted up the jar between heaven and earth. Pride and vainglory have this characteristic, that they exalt the one whom they have infected, in his own thought, above other men, and now through the pursuit of things, now through the desire for offices, once they have captured him, they raise him, as it were, to the heights of honor.
But he who is between heaven and earth abandons the lower things and by no means reaches the higher. These women, therefore, lift the jar between heaven and earth, because pride and vainglory so elevate the mind, captured by the avarice for honor, that, despising all their neighbors, they seem to abandon the lower things and seek the lofty things in their boasting. But such people, while they are proud, surpass in their minds those with whom they are, yet are by no means joined to the citizens above. The jar, therefore, is said to be lifted between earth and heaven: because all the avaricious, through pride and vainglory, both despise the neighbors beside them and by no means grasp the higher things that are above them. Therefore they are carried between earth and heaven, because they neither maintain equality of brotherhood with those below through charity, nor are they able to reach the heights by exalting themselves. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where do these carry the jar? And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar. A house is built in the land of Shinar for this same jar: for Shinar is said to mean their stench. And just as a good fragrance comes from virtue, as Paul attests when he says: He manifests the fragrance of His knowledge through us in every place, for we are the good fragrance of Christ to God, so conversely, stench comes from vice. For the root of all evils is covetousness, and since every evil is generated through avarice, it is fitting that the house of avarice be built in stench. It should also be known that Shinar is a very wide valley, in which a tower began to be built by the proud, which was destroyed when the diversity of languages came about: which tower was called Babylon, for the very confusion of minds and languages. And not without reason is the jar of avarice placed there where Babylon, that is, confusion, is built: because since it is certain that all evils arise through avarice and impiety, rightly are this same avarice and impiety said to dwell in confusion.' What St. Gregory said about avarice may with equal right be attributed to lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, and any other vice. For the jar of wine is gluttony; of gall, anger; of torpor, sloth, etc.