Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God consoles His people returning from Babylon, poor and afflicted, by promising first that He will subdue their neighboring enemies — the Syrians, Tyrians, and Philistines — and subject them. Second, at verse 9, that He will send Christ the Savior, who, meek and humble, sitting upon a donkey as a king, Messiah, and triumphant conqueror, will enter Jerusalem, and removing wars and bringing peace, will rule from sea to sea, indeed even to the pit of hell, from which He will lead out His captives, namely the Patriarchs from limbo. For this reason He will send the Apostles throughout the whole world, so that, like strong bows and swords and like flashing javelins, they may subdue it for Him, especially because He will feed and strengthen them, as well as the faithful, with the Holy Eucharist, which will be the wheat of the elect and the wine that makes virgins flourish.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 9:1-17
1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach, and of Damascus its resting place: for the Lord's is the eye of man, and of all the tribes of Israel. 2. Hamath also in its borders, and Tyre, and Sidon: for they have assumed wisdom greatly to themselves. 3. And Tyre built her fortification, and heaped up silver like dirt, and gold like the mud of the streets. 4. Behold,
The Lord shall possess her, and He shall strike her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with fire. 5. Ashkelon shall see and shall fear; and Gaza, and shall grieve exceedingly; and Ekron, because her hope is confounded; and the king shall perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall not be inhabited. 6. And a separator shall sit in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines. 7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth, and even he shall be left to our God, and he shall be as a leader in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite. 8. And I will surround My house with those who serve Me, going and returning, and no oppressor shall pass over them anymore; for now I have seen with My own eyes. 9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout for joy, O daughter of Jerusalem: Behold your King comes to you, just and a savior; He Himself poor, and riding upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey. 10. And I will destroy the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be broken; and He shall speak peace to the nations, and His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. 11. You also, by the blood of Your covenant, have sent forth Your captives out of the pit, in which there is no water. 12. Return to the stronghold, you captives of hope; today also I declare that I will restore double to you. 13. For I have bent Judah for Myself as a bow, I have filled Ephraim; and I will raise up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and I will make you like the sword of the mighty. 14. And the Lord God shall appear over them; and His arrow shall go forth like lightning; and the Lord God shall sound the trumpet, and shall go in the whirlwind of the south. 15. The Lord of hosts shall protect them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and drinking, they shall be inebriated as with wine, and shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the altar. 16. And the Lord their God shall save them in that day, as the flock of His people; for holy stones shall be lifted up over His land. 17. For what is His goodness, and what is His beauty, but the wheat of the elect, and the wine that makes virgins flourish?
Verse 1: The Burden of the Word of the Lord
1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach and of Damascus. — You ask, what is this burden? I answer: the burden is a burdensome and threatening prophecy, as I said on Isaiah 13:1, by which destruction or ruin is threatened against some nation, as here it is threatened against the Syrians, Tyrians, and Philistines — which was actually carried out, partly through Alexander the Great. For he, as Curtius testifies in Books 3 and 4 of The Deeds of Alexander, and Plutarch in his Life, took Damascus with the treasury of Darius, Palestine, Syria, Cyprus, and all of Phoenicia, and indeed devastated and burned Tyre after a siege of seven months, and crucified two thousand citizens; and partly through the Maccabees, who subdued the Syrians and Philistines and compelled them to circumcision and Judaism, as is clear from 1 Maccabees chapter 11, verse 59, where it is said that Antiochus "appointed Simon as leader from the borders of Tyre to the borders of Egypt. And Jonathan went out and traveled through (as victor and ruler) the cities beyond the river; and the whole army of Syria gathered to him in support, and he came to Ashkelon, and they met him honorably from the city." Soon after, succeeding and plundering Gaza, "he traveled through the region as far as Damascus." So St. Cyril, Albert, Hugh, Lyra, and a Castro. For this is properly called the burden, which God here imposes on the Syrians, Tyrians, and Philistines. But because this dominion of the Maccabees was not full and lasting, but small and of short duration, nor through them was the whole nation of Syrians, Tyrians, and Philistines converted to God and Judaism, hence the Prophet, mingling here the type with the antitype, flies to Christ, who through the Apostles fully converted these and other nations, and subjected them to God and to Himself through the Gospel. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Haymo, Clarius, Vatablus, Arias, Ribera, a Castro, and others.
You will say: This conversion of the nations to Christ, which is justice and salvation, was not a burden but an immense grace and gift. I answer: this joyful prophecy is called a burden. First, because it was sad and troublesome to the pagan world itself and to the Gentiles themselves before their conversion, inasmuch as they were enemies of the faith and resisted it even to the deaths and martyrdoms of many. Hence the Apostles attacked them armed with bows, swords, and flashing javelins — but mystical and spiritual ones, as we shall hear at verse 13 — and slew them, in that they killed unbelief, lust, drunkenness, and every impiety in them, and from unbelievers made believers, from the unchaste made the chaste, from drunkards made the sober, from the impious made the pious. So St. Jerome. Arias adds that the Evangelical law which the Apostles imposed on the converted nations is a burden, and one heavy in itself — for such is the mortification of passions, the restraining of desires, abstinence, forgiveness of injuries, love of enemies, contempt of the world, etc.; but one which through the grace of Christ becomes light, according to what He Himself promised, Matthew 11:29: "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble of heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is sweet, and My burden is light." Note here: The Prophets, when about to prophesy concerning Christ, are accustomed not to pass to Him abruptly, but gradually — namely, through the events and histories of their own age, which are a type of Christ — to ascend to Christ as if by steps, and therefore as they gradually ascend to Him they mingle those events with Him, and speak of both simultaneously in the same discourse, touching upon those events in passing as a type, but dwelling on Christ as the goal. So Zechariah does here, especially because he began to do so in the preceding chapter, last verse. Furthermore, the Prophets do this to show the agreement and connection of the things of the Old Law with the things of the New Law — namely, that all things happened to the ancients in figure, as the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 10:11 — and that the end of the Law and the Prophets is Christ, inasmuch as all foreshadowed Him, and all things terminate and end in Him as in their goal. Hence St. Jerome says: "This whole vision, or the weight and burden of the word of the Lord, as Aquila has translated it, pertains to the calling of the nations and the building of the Church." For from the construction of the temple the Prophet rises to this, and ends in the Church as in the antitype.
Hadrach — is the name of a place near Damascus; but which and where it is, is uncertain, especially because interpreters vary remarkably about it. It is probable, based on what Adrichomius writes in his Description of the Holy Land, page 75, drawing from St. Jerome, Ptolemy, William of Tyre, and others: "Adrach, he says, or Hadrach, otherwise called Adra, Adraon, and Adratum, is a town of Coele-Syria, 25 miles distant from Bostra, from which also the adjacent region is called the land of Adrach, about which Zechariah prophesied. After the times of Christ, this city was honored with an episcopal see and was under the archbishop of Bostra. And at the time when the Western Christians held power in Palestine, it was also commonly called the city of Bernard de Scampis."
Therefore the Rabbis wrongly take Hadrach as the Messiah, on the grounds that He would be chad, that is, sharp toward the Gentiles, and rach, that is, soft and gentle toward the Jews. Likewise, it is incorrectly read as Sedrach in the Septuagint instead of Hadrach.
Mystically, St. Jerome says: The word of the Lord is Hadrach, that is chad, meaning harsh toward sinners, and rach, meaning soft and merciful toward the just. Again, Hadrach is Judea, upon which the Lord exercised both His severity and His mercy — severity toward those who refused to believe, mercy toward those who with the Apostles returned to God through Christ. Damascus represents the Gentiles: in these is the rest of the Lord. For Damascus in Hebrew means the same as "drinking blood" or "blood of sackcloth," so that the first interpretation signifies a bloody people, the second, repentance joined to its cruelty. Hence follows: "For the Lord's is the eye," etc. So St. Jerome. Hence the Arabic also renders: The revelation of the Lord in the land of Sedrach, and His victims shall be in Damascus.
And of Damascus its resting place. — The pronoun "its" refers to the burden of the Lord that preceded, as if to say: Hadrach and Damascus will be the resting place of the burden which I here recount and prophesy; or, it will weigh upon Hadrach and Damascus, and in them this burden and weight of calamities will rest. So Albert, Arias, and Clarius. Therefore Lyra wrongly refers "its" to Syria, as if to say: Syria's rest is in Damascus, for in it, as in its most powerful and unconquered capital, it securely reposes. For no mention of Syria is made here.
Mystically, "its" can be referred to "the Lord" which preceded, as if to say: The Lord's rest will be Damascus, when in it He will be known and worshiped. The Lord through the Gospel will rest in Damascus, which was accomplished through St. Paul and the other Apostles. For St. Paul, going to Damascus, was struck from heaven and converted to Christ, and soon began to preach Christ in the Synagogue of Damascus, Acts 9. Hence the Chaldean translates: Damascus shall be converted so as to be part of the land of His majesty, according to 1 Peter 4:14: "Because that which is of the honor, glory, and power of God, and the spirit that is His rests upon you." Hence also the Septuagint translates: In Damascus is His sacrifice. For Damascus was a most noble, most ancient, and most wealthy city, the capital of Syria, six days' journey from Jerusalem, in which those famous silk cloths, commonly called Damascene, were made; and therefore its conversion to Christ and the Church was illustrious and glorious, and in the first place it was ennobled by the miraculous conversion of St. Paul, as I have already said, and later by the birth of Blessed John of Damascus.
The Lord's is the eye. — The eye of the Lord here can be taken in two ways, namely actively and passively — that is, seeing and seen. First, St. Jerome and Theodoret explain it of the active eye thus, as if to say: The Lord's eye sees, cares for, and governs all men, as well as the tribes of Israel, namely so that He may punish the wicked and protect and guard the pious. Hence the Septuagint translates: Because the Lord looks upon men, and all the tribes of Israel; and the Chaldean: Before the Lord the works of the sons of men are manifest, and He takes pleasure in all the tribes of Israel; and the Syriac: Men are manifest to the Lord, and all the tribes of Israel; and the Arabic: The Lord has beheld all men, and all the tribes of Israel.
Second, Albert, Hugh, and Lyra explain it passively thus, as if to say: The Lord's is — that is, toward the Lord looks the eye of man; or it is the Lord's to turn the eye of man to Himself. Therefore Arias translates: The Lord is the eye of man. It is metonymy: for the faculty is put for the object — namely, the eye for the thing seen which the eye sees and regards, which here is the Lord. Hence others more clearly translate from the Hebrew: Toward the Lord is the eye of man, as if to say: The Lord God is the object toward which the eye and mind of every man is directed and gazes, how much more so the tribes of Israel who petition and beseech God to punish the Damascenes and Philistines, who continually afflict Israel! Therefore God, hearing Israel, will chastise them, indeed will subject them to Israel, and therefore will impose this burden upon them, which through me, Zechariah, He here foretells — as if to say: The reward of Israel's hope in God will be dominion over neighboring cities and nations. This is what the Psalmist says in Psalm 123:2: "As the eyes of a handmaid are on the hands of her mistress, so our eyes are toward the Lord our God, until He have mercy on us." For God is the monarch who can change kingdoms, and remove kings and tyrants from their place.
Mystically, Christ is the active eye, who looks upon and cares for the salvation of all nations, as well as the tribes of Israel. Hence He sent the Apostles to all, that they might convert and save them. And the passive eye, because toward Him as Savior the eyes of all men look, hoping from Him grace and every good. Therefore Jacob said of Him, Genesis 49:10: "He shall be the expectation of the nations." And verse 18: "I will wait for Your salvation (that is, Your Savior, namely Christ), O Lord." And Haggai 2:8: "The desired of all nations shall come"; in Hebrew: The desire of all nations shall come — desire, that is, the most desired.
Verse 2: Hamath Also in its Borders, and Tyre and
2. Hamath also in its borders, and Tyre and Sidon. — So reads the Roman Bible. First, St. Jerome refers "its" to Damascus, as if to say: Hamath also, situated on the borders of Damascus, receives its burden, as well as Tyre and Sidon. Now Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon were on the borders of Damascus, not so much by geographical location and distance as by partnership in punishment — just as in Galatians 4:25, Mount Zion is said to be joined to Mount Sinai, not by location but by type and signification. More plainly, you may refer "its" to the burden of the Lord, as if to say: The Lord's burden, resting upon Damascus, will also extend to Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon, so that these cities are contained within the limits and boundaries of this burden of the Lord. For God will subject all these cities to Himself and to His burden and punishment, so that He may sit in them as ruler, judge, and avenger of crimes. So Albert, Hugh, and others. Hamath is either Antioch or Epiphania, which many think is Alepia, commonly called Aleppo. See what was said on Amos 6:2.
Mystically, as if to say: God and Christ will subject to Themselves through the Apostles Hamath, Tyre, and Sidon, and will impose upon them the burden of the Evangelical law, so that it may rest in them as well as in Damascus. Hence the Chaldean translates: Hamath also shall be converted, so as to be part of the land of the house of His majesty, and Tyre, and Sidon. So St. Jerome and Theodoret.
For they have assumed wisdom greatly to themselves. — So also the Septuagint translates in the plural. Now they translate
in the singular, because she was very wise, namely Tyre. Now, "for" is used in place of "although," as if to say: Although Tyre and Sidon and all the Phoenicians glory in their wisdom — that they were indeed the first to invent and teach letters — yet these very ones will yield to the wiser God, when He subdues them through Alexander, and then through the Maccabees; and to Christ, when He brings them to His faith and Church through the Apostles. For "for" or "because" is used for "although," as in Exodus 13:47: "He did not lead them through the way of the land of the Philistines, because" — that is, although — "it was near." Psalm 78:19: "Can God prepare a table in the desert, since" — that is, although — "He struck the rock, and waters flowed?" Second and more forcefully, take "for" properly as causal, as if to say: Because the Tyrians and Sidonians arrogated wisdom to themselves, as if through it they were unconquerable, therefore God will show their foolishness, and by His wisdom will defeat and subdue them — both through Alexander and the Maccabees, and through Christ and the Apostles — according to the Apostle's words, 1 Corinthians 1:21: "For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe." And verse 25: "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men."
Furthermore, that the Phoenicians, and Tyre in particular, were accustomed to boast of their wisdom, is clear from the fact that they boasted of having invented letters. Hence Lucan in Book 3 of the Pharsalia: The Phoenicians first, if fame is to be believed, dared To mark the lasting voice with crude figures. And from Ezekiel 28:3: "Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you. By your wisdom and prudence you have made yourself strong, and have acquired gold." Hence Zechariah adds concerning him:
Verse 3: And Tyre Built her Fortification
3. And Tyre built her fortification. — In the Hebrew there is an elegant wordplay between tsor and matsor, as if to say: Tyre built Tyre — that is, rock built rock, fortress built fortress, fortification built fortification. For Tyre is called in Hebrew tsor (whence the Syriac Tor and the Latin Tyrus), meaning rock, because she was built upon a rock — or rather upon a crag in the middle of the sea — and was most strongly fortified, and like an impregnable citadel. This was her human wisdom, by which she placed her house upon the inaccessible rock of the sea, and therefore laughed at the forces and powers of all kings. But God cast down this her wisdom and pride when He took and devastated her through Alexander the Great.
And heaped up silver like dirt. — Again in the Hebrew there is a wordplay between tibtsar and aphar, as if to say: She heaped up for herself silver like heaps of sand, she plastered herself with silver as with mud, she pulverized silver like dust — meaning: Tyre by her merchandise and ships gathered so much wealth that gold and silver in her were considered no more valuable than dust and mud of the streets, on account of their immense abundance. Therefore with this gold of hers she hired very many soldiers, trusting in whom she feared no enemy.
Verse 4: Behold, the Lord Shall Possess her
4. Behold, the Lord shall possess her. — In Hebrew ioriscenna, which has a contrary meaning. Hence first, it can be translated: The Lord shall inherit, or possess her by inheritance. So our Vulgate and the Septuagint. Second: The Lord shall cast out or expel her from her inheritance. So the Chaldean and Vatablus — because He expelled her inhabitants from their city, citadel, wealth, glory, liberty, and life. This was accomplished first through Alexander the Great, who attacked Tyre after a seven-month siege with immense labor and courage, by land with earthen mounds and by sea with two hundred triremes, as Plutarch narrates in his Life, who also adds portents foretelling Tyre's destruction: namely first, Hercules was seen by Alexander in a dream, stretching his hands to him from the wall and inviting him to enter the city. Second, he says, Apollo was seen in dreams by many of the Tyrians, saying that he was going over to Alexander, for the things being done in the city were not to his liking; therefore the Tyrians bound the statue of Apollo, as if a deserter, with chains and nailed it to its base. Third, a Satyr appeared to Alexander in a vision, playing with him, and when he tried to catch it, it kept eluding him; at last, after many entreaties and chasing about, it came into his hands. The seers, interpreting this, said: Tyre is yours. For the word Satyrus in Greek, when divided, means sa, that is "yours," and Tyros, that is "Tyre." Then Tyre was subdued by the Maccabees; for in the time of Christ, Tyre, the Sidonians, and the Palestinians obeyed, or were joined and associated with the Jews and their ruler or governor, as Ezekiel predicted in chapter 28:25; and this is sufficiently gathered from Acts 12:20, and from the fact that Christ, who personally preached only to the Jews, to whom He was promised, also preached to the Tyrians and Sidonians, as is clear from Matthew 15:21 and Mark 7:24. Indeed God arranged this through the descendants of the Maccabees, so that in this way the way might be prepared for Christ, who was to preach in Tyre and Sidon. So Albert, Hugh, Lyra, a Castro, and others. Furthermore, Josephus son of Gorion, Book 4, chapter 7, writes that Aristobulus, the great-grandson of Judas Maccabeus, being descended from his brother Simon, conquered Tyre. Hence
as well as in Damascus. Hence the Chaldean translates: Hamath also shall be converted, so as to be part of the land of the house of His majesty, and Tyre, and Sidon. So St. Jerome and Theodoret.
Mystically, there is signified here the overthrow of idolatry in Tyre and her conversion to Christ. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Rupert, Vatablus, Ribera, and others. Note here that the Prophet teaches there were three things in Tyre that made her unconquerable and that most strongly resisted the Gospel of Christ — namely, wisdom, wealth, and strength, since she was entirely surrounded by the sea — and yet she was to be conquered by God, both through Alexander and even more through Christ and the Apostles by the sword of the word of God, cutting away her errors and vices. Hence, continuing the metaphor, he says she is to be devoured by fire — namely, the fire of charity and of the Holy Spirit, which Christ came to cast upon the earth and vehemently wished to be kindled, Luke 12:49. So St. Jerome. Moreover, how ardent was the love and faith of the Tyrians for Christ is clear from the many martyrs who there under Diocletian, together with their bishop Tyrannion, were thrown to lions, bears, bulls, and leopards; and when the wild beasts did not dare to touch the saints, with joyful and cheerful faces, hands and eyes raised to heaven, their minds entirely fixed on God, they were cruelly slaughtered by the executioners, as the eyewitness Eusebius of Caesarea narrates, History Book 8, chapters 7 and 14 (alias 25). Similar is what Theodoret narrates in History Book 3, chapter 6 — namely, that Cyril the deacon of Heliopolis in Phoenicia, because he had broken idols, had his belly cut open by the Gentiles under Julian the Apostate, who furthermore devoured his liver like wild beasts, but soon felt the vengeance of God.
He shall strike her strength in the sea. — For Tyre, situated in the heart of the sea, as Ezekiel says in chapter 28:2, was its mistress and queen; but Nebuchadnezzar, and then Alexander, besieging her in order to conquer her more effectively, gathered and transported great masses of rocks, trees, and earthworks, and cast them into the narrow strait, filled the channel of the sea and dried it up, and thus joined her to the mainland from the east — and from an island made her a peninsula, as she still appears today. So Curtius, Book 4, after the beginning; and Pliny, Book 5, chapter 19; St. Jerome and others. See what was said on Isaiah 23:1. The Chaldean translates: He shall cast her riches into the sea. In Hebrew, chel means both strength and riches.
Verse 5: Because her Hope is Confounded
5. Because her hope is confounded — the hope which Ekron had in Tyre, namely that Tyre would bring her help, as a neighboring ally. For this hope will perish when Tyre perishes. Mystically, the hope of the Philistines will perish — that is, of the Gentiles — by which they hoped that by their wisdom and strength they would protect their idols and paganism against Christ and Christianity. For this hope will fall when they see them turned away by the Apostles.
And the king shall perish from Gaza. — "King," that is, a petty ruler, namely a prince. For formerly the princes of cities were called kings. This ruler was Betis, appointed governor of Gaza by Darius, the last king of Persia, whom Alexander, having conquered Gaza after a two-month siege, caused to be dragged around the city, says Curtius in Book 4. So Albert and Hugh. Plutarch adds in his Life of Alexander an omen given to him of the capture of Gaza: "And while he was besieging Gaza, the greatest city of Syria, a clod of earth fell upon his shoulder from a bird flying overhead. The bird, settling on one of the siege engines, was suddenly entangled in the leather thongs that were used to turn the ropes. This portent had a fulfillment corresponding to Aristander's prediction. For Alexander received a wound in his shoulder, and took the city." Then Simon, the brother of Judas Maccabeus, conquered Gaza and purged it of idols, 1 Maccabees 13:43. Again, Alexander Jannaeus, Simon's grandson, after a year-long siege captured and destroyed Gaza, since the citizens had previously partly set fire to their own houses, and partly, with a Saguntine fury, killed their wives and children with their own hands, lest they be dragged off to servitude and insult, as Josephus narrates in Antiquities Book 13, chapter 21.
Mystically, the king shall perish from Gaza — that is, the unfaithful king, and as St. Jerome says, the devil — because Christ alone shall reign in it through His faithful. Properly speaking, the king — that is, the god or idol — of Gaza was Marnas; hence there was the famous Marneion — that is, the temple of Marnas — which St. Porphyry, the bishop of the city, with the consent of the Emperor Arcadius, in the year of Christ 401, burned down, having been warned by the miraculous voice of a seven-year-old boy, who, though he was a Syrian and did not know Greek, nevertheless, prompted by God in the Greek language, publicly spoke forth and declared: "Burn the temple
Note here that the Prophet teaches there were three things in Tyre that made her unconquerable and that most strongly resisted the Gospel of Christ — namely, wisdom, wealth, and strength, since she was entirely surrounded by the sea — and yet she was to be conquered by God, both through Alexander and even more through Christ and the Apostles by the sword of the word of God, cutting away her errors and vices. Hence, continuing the metaphor, he says she is to be devoured by fire — namely, the fire of charity and of the Holy Spirit, which Christ came to cast upon the earth and vehemently wished to be kindled, Luke 12:49. So St. Jerome. Moreover, how ardent was the love and faith of the Tyrians for Christ is clear from the many martyrs who there under Diocletian, together with their bishop Tyrannion, were thrown to lions, bears, bulls, and leopards; and when the wild beasts did not dare to touch the saints, with joyful and cheerful faces, hands and eyes raised to heaven, their minds entirely fixed on God, they were cruelly slaughtered by the executioners, as the eyewitness Eusebius of Caesarea narrates in History Book 8, chapters 7 and 14 (alias 25). Similar is what Theodoret narrates in History Book 3, chapter 6 — namely, that Cyril the deacon of Heliopolis in Phoenicia, because he had broken idols, had his belly cut open by the Gentiles under Julian the Apostate, who furthermore devoured his liver like wild beasts, but soon felt the vengeance of God.
subdued them. For he is considered by many to have been illegitimate, because his mother Olympias bore him not from Philip her husband — as she herself confessed (whence she was also virtually repudiated by Philip) — but from the magician Nectanebus, who by night pretended to be Jupiter. For this reason Alexander wished to be believed and regarded as the son of Jupiter Ammon. Second, mamzer signifies foreigners and outsiders who were not descended from the native Philistines of Ashdod, whom therefore the Philistines called mamzerim, that is, aliens, bastards — just as the Jews did, as is clear from John 8:41: "We were not born of fornication" — as the Hagarenes were, born of Hagar, an alien and concubine — "because we are born of Sarah the wife of Abraham, and therefore, like him, we have and worship one Father, God." Hence the Septuagint translates: Foreigners shall dwell in Ashdod — namely Greeks under Alexander, and later Jews under the Maccabees — as if to say: Ashkelon shall remain deserted and shall not be inhabited; but Ashdod shall indeed be inhabited, but by outsiders. Therefore the Chaldean translates: The house of Israel shall dwell in Ashdod, who were in it like strangers who have no father. Furthermore, that the Jews were scattered throughout Ashdod and Philistia before the times of Christ is clear from Acts 8:40. Pagninus translates somewhat differently: The Philistine, he says, shall dwell in Ashdod as a stranger; because he will not be his own master, as he was before, but under the yoke and power of the Maccabees and Jews. Finally, after Judas Maccabeus was killed near Ashdod by Bacchides, the general of Demetrius, shortly afterward Jonathan, Judas's brother, occupied and burned Ashdod, as well as the cities neighboring it; by which assault the temple of Dagon, who was the god of Ashdod, and all who had fled into it
that is within, even to the ground; for many terrible things have been done in it, and especially human sacrifices; and after it has been burned, when the place has been purified, establish there a holy church. For I testify before God that it cannot be done otherwise. For it is not I who speak, but Christ who is in me." Marveling at this same thing and glorifying God, St. Jerome writes in his Book 7 on Isaiah: "We see this fulfilled in our own times: the Serapeum (the shrine of Serapis) at Alexandria and the temple of Marnas at Gaza have risen as churches of the Lord." St. Chrysostom greatly aided this cause, who diligently prevailed upon the Emperor Arcadius that whatever idols remained in Phoenicia should be completely removed, as Theodoret testifies in History Book 5, chapter 29. Thus it came about that the people of Gaza, previously most devoted to Marnas, when he was removed, were converted to Christ — to which they were greatly spurred by the holiness and miracles of Bishop St. Porphyry, as Baronius recounts from his Acts written by Marcus the Deacon of Gaza, in the year of Christ 398 and 401.
Ashkelon shall not be inhabited — as if to say: Ashkelon shall be completely desolated, so much so that there shall be pastures for the flocks of the Jews, as Zephaniah predicted in chapter 2:4 and 6. Jonathan the brother of Judas Maccabeus captured Ashkelon, as well as Ekron and Ashdod, which he also burned with eight thousand inhabitants, as is clear from 1 Maccabees 10:84 ff. Afterward, however, it was rebuilt; for Herod the infant-slayer is said to have been born there, and hence was surnamed the Ascalonite. And even today, still retaining its ancient strength, it is a most powerful stronghold of the Saracens. When Saladin had demolished its walls, Richard the king of England restored them, says Adrichomius from William of Tyre in his Description of the Holy Land, under Ashkelon.
Mystically, as if to say: Ashkelon, converted to Christ, shall not be inhabited by pagans and unbelievers, by whom it was formerly inhabited, but by Christians. Hence different people will appear to be citizens, and it will be a different city, according to the words of the Poet: O ancient house, how unlike is the master by whom you are ruled! For how hostile the unbelieving Ascalonites formerly were to Christians can be conjectured from what Theodoret writes in History Book 3, chapter 7, when Julian the Apostate had given them free rein in the year of the Lord 362: "At Ashkelon and Gaza, they cut open the bellies of priests and virgins consecrated to God, then stuff them with barley, and finally throw them to the pigs to be devoured."
Verse 6: And a Separator Shall Sit in Ashdod
6. And a separator shall sit in Ashdod. — In Hebrew it is mamzer, that is, a separator, a foreigner (from the root zur, meaning he departed, was foreign or alien), and hence a bastard, as Vatablus translates — one who, being born outside of marriage from a foreign father, seems to divide and separate it. Now first, Albert, Hugh, and Lyra think Alexander the Great is indicated here, who subdued Ashdod and the rest of the Philistines.
and I will gather them. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Albert, Hugh, and Lyra. Hence the Septuagint translates: I will take away their blood from their mouth — for Scripture by enallage now speaks of the Ashdodites in the singular, because they were one and a single people, hence the Hebrew and our Vulgate have "his"; now in the plural, because in the people there were many individuals and leaders, hence the Septuagint translates "their." For it is less probable, as Lyra thinks, that "his" refers to the separator or mamzer, whom he takes as Alexander the Great, as if to say: I will take away the threats from Alexander's mouth — namely, those by which he boasted he would destroy the Jews because they had favored his enemy Darius; for I will cause him to become a suppliant before Jaddua the high priest, and consequently well-disposed toward the Jews. For the passage here is not about Judea but about Ashdod.
Second, "blood" here can be taken as referring to sacrificial victims, which they offered to their god Dagon, and from which they then ate and feasted, as if to say: I will take away these sacrilegious rites and sacrifices from Ashdod, and will introduce into it My own rites — first Jewish through the Maccabees, then Christian through Philip and the Apostles. So Arias and the Chaldean. And He says: I will destroy those who eat blood. This explanation is supported by what follows: And his abominations from between his teeth. For in Scripture, "abominations" is the term for idols and idol-offerings, or victims sacrificed to idols. Hence there also follows:
Verse 7: And I Will Take Away his Blood from
7. And I will take away his blood from his mouth. — "Blood" here is taken in two senses. First, for threats of bloodshed and slaughter, as if to say: I will take away and restrain the threats by which the Ashdodites threatened that they would shed, or boasted that they had shed, the blood of the Jews and the faithful people; because I will subject them to the Jews
And even he shall be left to our God. — "He," namely Alexander the Great, shall become devoted to God and to His high priest Jaddua, says Lyra. But "he," as I have said, refers to the people of Ashdod, as if to say: The people of Ashdod, subdued by Jonathan and the Maccabees, will abandon their idols and be joined to the Jews, and will worship their true God. For the Maccabees were most concerned about this, as priests and princes full of zeal for the divine honor — that they should propagate not only the borders but also the religion of their nation, and the worship of God, among the Philistines and other peoples they had conquered. Indeed, the people of Ashdod "shall be as a leader" (the Septuagint has chiliarch) in Judah — one who offers himself as not merely a companion but a leader to others in the true faith and religion, and accordingly defends the Jews against their enemies as a leader, and is therefore honored and celebrated in Judah as a leader.
And Ekron as a Jebusite — as if to say: Just as formerly the Jebusites dwelt in Jerusalem and remained there with the Jews, so likewise the Ekronites will be associated with the Jews and will dwell in Jerusalem, and conversely the Jews will live peacefully in Ekron. Hence the Chaldean translates: And the proselytes who remain among them shall also be added to the people of our God, and they shall be as princes of the house of Judah. Second and better, as if to say: Just as David subjected the Jebusites, so the Maccabees will subject the Ekronites to themselves. So Albert and Hugh.
Mystically, these things are more truly fulfilled in Christ and the Apostles, who subjected all the Philistines to themselves, to the Gospel, and to the Church, and thus brought it about that the Philistines and Gentiles coalesced and united with the Jews into one faithful people and one Christian Church.
Verse 8: And I Will Surround my House
8. And I will surround My house — namely, the temple — as if to say: The temple which by My command you, O Jews, are now rebuilding, I will surround and protect like a camp. For in Hebrew it is chaniti, that is, I will encamp for My house, or I will set up camp around My house, to defend it — "with those who serve Me, going and returning" — namely, through the Maccabees, who most bravely defended the temple and the holy city in their encampments. Hence the Septuagint translates: I will set up for My house an elevation like a citadel or fortress, so that no one may pass through or return, and no oppressor shall come upon them anymore; and the Zurich Bible: And I will draw a camp around My house against those passing through and returning; and Pagninus: And I will be like a camp for My house, so that it shall not fear from an army, from one passing through and returning. And the Chaldean paraphrases grandly: And I will cause the majesty of My glory to dwell in the house of My sanctuary, and the strength of the arm of My power shall be like a wall of fire round about it, because of those passing through and returning.
These things were fulfilled literally for the temple by the Maccabees. So Theodoret, Hugh, and Lyra. Allegorically, these things are more truly fulfilled in the Church, which is the living temple of the living God, as if to say: I will fortify and defend My Church with the strongest encampments — of Christian princes, such as Constantine, Theodosius, and Charlemagne; of doctors, such as St. Augustine, Jerome, and Chrysostom; and of angels — so that the tax-collector, that is, tyrants, unbelievers, and the devil, may no longer vex and devastate it; because with eyes of mercy I have seen it and looked upon it, according to Psalm 34:8: "The angel of the Lord shall encamp (in Hebrew, chone, that is, shall set up camp) around those who fear Him, and shall deliver them." Note that "with those who serve Me" can be taken in two ways: first, plainly, "for Me," that is, on My behalf; second, "against Me." So the Septuagint, Chaldean, Pagninus, and the Zurich Bible from the Hebrew.
Because now I have seen with My own eyes. — It is a Hebraism, for which in Latin we say: "I have seen with My eyes" — that is, I have plainly, clearly, and certainly seen and beheld, namely the miseries and persecutions which you, O Jews, endure from the neighboring nations in the building of the temple and the city, and therefore, having pity on you, I will protect and defend both you and My house, that is, the temple. So Theodoret, Albert, and Lyra. Otherwise Vatablus says: Now I have seen what I am about to do, and what I here promise concerning the prosperity of the temple and the Church; I have seen, I say, I have foreseen and provided with the eyes of My providence. Otherwise again Arias, who refers these words to what follows and thinks they are the words of Zechariah, as if to say: Behold, I see in the spirit, with the eyes of my mind, Christ coming and entering Jerusalem and the temple with pomp. The first sense, as it is the common one, is the plain and genuine one.
is the connection of this prophecy about Christ with the preceding passages about the building and protection of the temple and the city. Now "greatly" means very much, vehemently — for in Hebrew it is meod, for which our Vulgate sometimes translates "greatly." Hence the Chaldean translates: Rejoice vehemently, O assembly of Zion; shout for joy, O assembly of Jerusalem. So also the Septuagint, the Zurich Bible, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others. For "rejoice," St. John in chapter 12:15 paraphrases: "Do not fear" — as if to say: There is no reason to fear but rather to rejoice, O Jerusalem, as Christ comes; for He is your king and savior, who will defend you from all enemies and deliver you from all evils. Therefore put away all fear, and full of joy, rejoice.
Behold your King. — The Messiah, that is Christ, will come, to subject to Himself the four chariots — that is, the four monarchies — spoken of in chapter 6, and consequently Tyre, Gaza, Ashdod, and all of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria, which He has treated in this chapter. For in the kingdom of Christ all kings and kingdoms come to their end, as Daniel predicted in chapter 2:44, and Zechariah here. Hence He adds: "I will destroy the chariot," etc.
Note: Christ wished to adorn this royal and unusual pomp and entrance into Jerusalem for various reasons. The first reason was to give some indication and specimen of His royal power and magnificence, because the Jews thought, and still think, that their Messiah, like a second Solomon, would come with such display. Therefore Christ presented Himself to them with this appearance and pomp, lest they turn away from and despise Him as a poor man — as they did. Yet He did this in such a way that, by mixing arguments of humility and meekness, He showed that the Messiah's kingdom was more spiritual than temporal; and therefore He wished all these things to be predicted by Zechariah, lest the Jews scorn this king coming without royal pomp. So St. Chrysostom and the Author of the Imperfect Work on Matthew 21, and Eusebius in Demonstration Book 8, chapter 4. The second and accompanying reason was that Christ might set Himself before the Pharisees and scribes in this royal entrance, whom by this deed they could and should recognize as the Messiah, inasmuch as He had been promised and predicted by Zechariah in this passage. Yet He knew they would thereby be all the more exasperated, and would plot the death of the cross against Him; which He resolved to permit, so that He might thus attain the death He so greatly desired, and through it redeem us. So the Author of the Imperfect Work at the place cited.
He Himself poor. — This is the proper meaning of the Hebrew ani; but the Septuagint, whom St. Matthew follows in chapter 21, translate praos, that is, meek. So also the Chaldean. Hence they seem to have read anau; but it amounts to the same thing, for the poor, especially in spirit, are usually humble and meek. Hence both ani and anau are derived from the same root ana, meaning he was afflicted, humbled; and from it oni means the same as affliction, poverty, humility; and anava is the term for humility and meekness. Hence when Christ says: "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," Matthew 5, by "the poor in spirit" St. Augustine, Hilary, Chrysostom, Ambrose, and others commenting on that passage understand the humble, because poverty of spirit is connected with and arises from humility and contempt for wealth and honors.
Riding (in Hebrew rocheb, meaning riding or rather being carried, whether on a horse, or donkey, or camel, or other beast of burden — as Christ here was properly riding a donkey, not a horse; hence our Vulgate correctly translates: "riding") upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey — in Hebrew, the son of she-donkeys, that is, of one of the she-donkeys. For "donkey" in Hebrew is chamor, which means both a male and a female donkey. But that a female donkey rather than a male is meant here is clear from what follows: "and a colt, the foal of a she-donkey"; for foals usually accompany the mother donkey, not the father; they suckle the udders of the mother, not the father. It is clear therefore that Christ sat upon a she-donkey, not a male donkey. For so our version has it here, and St. Matthew 21:5. The same is taught by Remigius, Albert, Hugh here, and St. Chrysostom in Homily 65 on John, Theophylactus, Lyra, Cajetan, and others soon to be cited. Origen notes on Job chapter 1 that in Arabia and Palestine, donkeys are equal to horses in speed of going and returning, and are useful for conducting and carrying on business, and perform the same services that mules and horses perform among us. Hence the sons of princes rode upon donkeys, as is clear from Judges 10:4 and 12:14. See what was said on Exodus 13:13. Now Christ used a she-donkey rather than a male, both because of the mystery I shall soon adduce, and because a male donkey is more sluggish than a female, and worse in the relaxation of work, as Pliny writes in Book 8, chapter 43, where he adds that donkeys are useful for plowing, but especially for the breeding of mules.
You ask: How could Christ simultaneously ride upon a donkey and upon a colt, the foal of a donkey? St. Jerome, Chrysostom, Euthymius, Maldonatus, Abulensis, and Jansenius on Matthew 21 respond that it is a synecdoche: Christ sat upon only one, namely upon the colt, as the other three Evangelists have it. For they read: "Upon a donkey, and upon a colt the foal of a donkey." And, they say, the "and" means "that is" — as if to say: Upon a donkey, that is, upon the colt, the foal of a donkey. Hence it is less probable, as some think, that Christ sat only on the she-donkey. But more plainly and simply, the same Chrysostom, Theophylactus, Lyra, Cajetan, Ribera, and a Castro hold that Christ sat upon both, but successively. For St. Matthew expressly states this in chapter 21:5, and Zechariah here. Hence the crowds placed garments on both, and made Him sit "upon them," as the Roman Bible has it in St. Matthew.
You will say: What need was there for Christ to change His mount in so short a distance and journey? I reply that this was necessary not because of Christ's softness or fatigue, but because of the mystery; for all this pomp served that purpose — though it was easy for Christ to offer some incidental pretext. For the she-donkey under the yoke represents the people of the Jews who bore the yoke of the Old Law; the colt upon which no one had sat represents the untamed and lawless Gentiles, who had submitted their necks to no law. For Christ was about to bring both peoples — of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews — to Himself and to the Church, and then to the heavenly Jerusalem. So St. Justin in his Dialogue Against Trypho, Origen and Cyril on John 12.
Mystically, Christ sits upon the donkey, that is, upon the humble, meek, obedient, patient soul, which resigns itself entirely to Christ as its rider, and says with David: "I have become as a beast before You," Psalm 73 — which therefore, when it has Christ as its guide, exults and dares all things. Hence that abbot in the Lives of the Fathers used to say: "I and the donkey are one."
Tropologically, Drogo, Bishop of Ostia, in the time of St. Bernard, in his treatise On the Sacrament of the Lord's Passion, in volume 2 of the Library of the Holy Fathers, writes: "Do not fear, O daughter of Zion. Fear, he says, belongs to the little ones; you are still a daughter because you fear. Not yet Jerusalem, but daughter of Zion — that is, of a watchtower. Therefore learn to watch; do not fear, because fear disturbs the eye. A cheerful pupil gazes clearly. Faith is the pupil of your eye. Just as the pupil of the eye is most delicate, and unless it is diligently and carefully guarded by the eyelids, it is confused by the touch of the slightest and finest dust — so the keenness of faith, unless it always has a watchful guard, nothing is more quickly disturbed. But do not fear, O daughter of Zion, behold your king comes to you. The sun rises for you, to both guard and illuminate you, and to lead you where there is no dust. He comes to you meek: such as He is, He wishes you to be. Become meek to bear His yoke. And let Him sit upon you, His donkey, and upon the colt, the foal of a beast of burden. And what is this donkey? She who is called flesh and woman and virago, because she was taken from man. And who is her colt? The male, the man. And how is he her colt? Because that which is spiritual is not first, but that which is animal, and then that which is spiritual. First the meek king sits upon the donkey; afterward upon the colt. First the flesh is tamed so that it may be fit for the yoke; then the colt is born and nourished and strengthened, so that it can carry its rider. And why the son of a beast of burden? Because the woman is under the man, and the head of the woman is the man; yet he is the son of a beast of burden, because through the woman comes the man, but in pain she shall bring forth. Let the meek king making peace sit upon both, lest they be at odds with each other. He comes to you meek, and you do not go to Him? Go forth from the land of your flesh, and from the kindred of your mother, and from the house — that is, the memory — of your father." The donkey therefore is the flesh, the colt is the mind and spirit; for this is Adam and the man, but the other is Eve and the woman. Christ sits upon both when He subjects the flesh to the spirit and brings them into harmony.
The third reason was to correspond to the type of the Paschal lamb, for this was brought into the city with solemn pomp on the tenth day of the first month, to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day. So Christ, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, entered Jerusalem on the tenth day — namely on Palm Sunday — to be sacrificed on the fourteenth day. He entered with pomp and with the joyful acclamations of the crowd, because, being certain of victory over death, sin, hell, and the demons, He anticipated the triumph before the battle and entered the combat in triumph.
The fourth reason was tropological — namely, that by this deed He might laugh at and hold up to ridicule the glory of the world, since He knew that on the fifth day after, He was to be crucified by the very same people by whom He was so honored at His entrance, and that those who now cried "Hosanna to the Son of David" — as if to say, Long live our king, the Messiah, David's son and heir — after four days before Pilate's tribunal would cry: "Crucify, crucify Him!" And therefore the city was to be utterly destroyed by Titus and the Romans — for which reason, even in this joyful entrance of His, seeing it and foreseeing its destruction, He wept, as St. Luke records in chapter 19:41.
Again, to teach that His kingdom and glory, and that of His followers, consists in this life in suffering and the cross, and that therefore it should not be shunned but sought after, and should be approached with joyful spirit and solemn pomp. For this reason the martyrs, as followers of Christ, went to their martyrdoms as if to a banquet — indeed to a kingdom and a triumph — rejoicing, clad in white and accompanied by a choir of the faithful.
He shall come to you just and a savior — to justify you and save you. For He is "everlasting justice and the Holy of Holies," sent into the world by God the Father for this purpose: "that transgression may be finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may be abolished," Daniel 9:24. For "savior" in Hebrew is nosça, which is a passive participle from the root jasça, meaning he saved. Hence Vatablus, Pagninus, Clarius, and others translate it passively as "saved" — namely, by Himself — as if to say: Because Christ, just and innocent, was driven to the cross and death, therefore by His own power He was saved and alive again, rising on the third day from death and the tomb. Others better translate nosça as "full of salvation, surrounded with salvation." So from Clarius and a Castro. But I say that nosça here is not a participle but a noun, meaning actively the same as Jeshua, Joshua, and Jesus — that is, savior. For so the Septuagint, St. Jerome, the Zurich Bible, and others translate it; for the letter nun in nosça is heemantica and formative of the noun, just as it is in Naphtali, Nimrod, and other proper names, as well as in common nouns: neeman means the same as "faithful" in the active sense — one who fulfills by deed the pledge given to another; naave means "perverse" in the active sense — one who thinks, does, speaks perverse things, and perverts others.
Verse 9: Rejoice Greatly, O Daughter of Zion
9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion. — Some Jews take this as referring to the victorious entry of Judas Maccabeus into Jerusalem. Theodore of Mopsuestia, Judaizing and Ebionizing, asserted that this king was Zerubbabel returning from Babylon with his people. Both are errors. For it is certain and a matter of faith that these words are to be taken literally of the solemn entry of Christ, as the Messiah promised to the Jews, into Jerusalem, which He made shortly before His death on Palm Sunday. For of Him St. Matthew interprets these words in chapter 21:4, and St. John in chapter 12:15, and all the orthodox — and even the ancient Rabbis in Galatinus, Book 8, chapter 9; indeed even R. Solomon here, who is nevertheless a sworn enemy of Christians. Pope Vigilius himself defined the same in the Council of Rome, where he condemns this error of Theodore under anathema. See what was said in the Prooemium, note 5. Therefore those also err who wish this king to be Alexander the Great, coming honorably to Jerusalem and venerating the high priest Jaddua; for Zechariah, in the manner of the Prophets, ends in Christ. For when he was exhorting his people to the building of the temple and city, and they were rather slow to work because of neighboring enemies and because of poverty and other difficulties confronting them, for this reason he encourages and stimulates them: first, by promising God's help and protection; second, that this temple with God's help would be famous and glorious; third, that the Messiah would come, who would enter this temple with solemn pomp and would adorn it with His presence, teaching, and miracles, as well as His inauguration as king, and there would found and begin His Church, through which He would first call the Jews, then all the nations, to eternal life and glory. This
Verse 10: I Will Destroy the Chariot from Ephraim
10. I will destroy the chariot from Ephraim. — Theodoret and Eusebius in Demonstration Book 8, chapter 4, think this was accomplished through Titus and the Romans. But these subdued only the Jews, not Ephraim — that is, the ten tribes — since they had already been carried off to Assyria by Shalmaneser five hundred years earlier and did not return from there. Add that the discourse here is about the kingdom of Christ, not of Titus. The sense therefore is, as if to say: Christ by His kingdom, law, and grace will take away from Israel and Judah — that is, from faithful Jews as well as Gentiles — chariots, bows, and wars, because He will bring peace to the world. For He will teach and command justice, humility, concord, and fraternal love, by which He will exclude quarrels and wars; and for this purpose He will pour out abundant grace and the Holy Spirit upon the faithful. Isaiah predicted the same in chapter 2:4, and Micah in chapter 3:5. See what was said there. So St. Jerome, Hugh, Arias, and others.
And His dominion shall be from sea to sea — as if to say: Christ shall rule over the whole world, that is, over all the earth and all the sea; for no one can rule over the whole earth unless he also rules the sea. For to many regions there is either no access or a difficult one except by sea, as is clear regarding islands and the Indies of both East and West. So Rupert, Remigius, Hugh, and others. Therefore some interpret this more narrowly, as if to say: Christ shall rule from the Mediterranean Sea to the Ocean, or from the Red Sea to the sea of Palestine. For these two seas were the boundaries of the holy land promised to the Jews, Numbers 23:31; for the Jews scarcely knew other seas. But even if the Prophet alludes to that, he nevertheless intends more and rises higher — namely, to what I have said. For he speaks not only to the Jews of his own age, but also to Christians and to all people who shall live in every age. Zechariah looks back to that oracle of David concerning Christ, Psalm 72:8: "He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." The river is the Euphrates, which was the boundary of Judea toward the east. Here Zechariah says "from the rivers," because he looks to the Tigris, neighboring the Euphrates, and whatever other rivers there may be. As a harbinger and foreshadowing of this ample dominion of Christ, Augustus Caesar, under whom Christ was born, having overcome Antony, Lepidus, and his other enemies or rivals, was by God made lord and monarch of the world. Of whom Virgil, in Book 6 of the Aeneid, thus sings: Beyond the Garamantes and the Indians He shall extend his empire: there lies a land beyond the stars, Beyond the paths of the year and the sun, where Atlas the sky-bearer Turns on his shoulder the axle fitted with burning stars.
Verse 11: You Also (o Christ, King of Zion, of
11. You also (O Christ, king of Zion, of whom verse 9 speaks), by the blood of Your covenant — that is, through the merit and price of Your blood poured out on the cross, which You paid as a ransom for Your captives, and by which You discharged all their debt — namely, every guilt, both original and actual. Now the blood of Christ is called "of the covenant" because by it Christ ratified the new testament and covenant which He made and reconciled between God and men, concerning the eternal inheritance to be given to the faithful as to His children. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril, Remigius, Rupert, Lyra, Vatablus, and others passim. Therefore the Chaldean and the Jews wrongly take this of the blood of victims with which Moses ratified the old covenant between God and the Hebrews, Exodus 24:8, by which they hold that they were freed from the pit — that is, from the captivity of Egypt. For this is irrelevant here, especially since this is a continuous prophecy about the future — namely, about things to be accomplished by the Messiah — not a history of the past. See what was said on 1 Corinthians 11:25 and Hebrews 9:45.
You have sent forth Your captives from the pit. — So also the Septuagint reads, whom Origen follows in Treatise 14 on Matthew, St. Augustine in The City of God Book 18, chapter 35, Theodoret, Cyril here, and all the Greeks, as well as St. Jerome, Remigius, Rupert, and all the rest of the Latins. But the Chaldean and the more recent Rabbis, whom Pagninus, the Zurich Bible, Vatablus, and similar scholars follow, translate very differently; for in the Hebrew text all these words are now feminine — namely, at, that is "you" (feminine); beriteck, that is "of your covenant" (feminine); and for "you sent forth," the Hebrew now has schillachti, that is, "I sent forth." Hence they translate and explain it as words of God, as if to say: You also, O daughter of Zion, rejoice, because you will be saved by the blood of Christ, which He Himself will shed to ratify a new testament and covenant between you and Me; for on His account I have sent forth — that is, I will send forth — your captives from the pit, namely the fathers from limbo, raising them with Christ. But I say that the modern Hebrew text is here corrupted, either by the Jews, to corrupt this oracle about Christ, or rather by copyists. For this corruption little helps the Jews; indeed it amounts to the same as our version and redounds to the great praise of Christ. For instead of at ("you," feminine), one should read, with a point added, atta ("You," O Christ, masculine). Again, instead of beritech ("of your covenant," feminine), one should read beritecha ("of Your covenant," masculine). Finally, instead of schillachti ("I sent forth"), one should read schillachta ("You sent forth"). For so the Septuagint, St. Jerome, and all the ancients cited a little before read it; and the Syriac, which translates "You released"; and both Arabic versions, which translate "You dismissed" or "You will free." And this reading is required by the very connection of the words and the integrity of the sense; for the former reading of the Jews is disjointed and disconnected, since it begins the sense with the first person and immediately passes to the second, and in the second completes the sense it began.
For with what coherence is it said: You also, by the blood of Your covenant, I have sent forth Your captives? Surely it should have been said: I also, by the blood of Your covenant, have sent forth Your captives. But since in the Hebrew it is not ani ("I") but atta ("You"), it follows that instead of schillachti ("I sent forth"), with one dot changed, one should read schillachta ("You sent forth"). For thus the thread of discourse plainly coheres, and the sentence is fittingly and completely expressed by saying: "You also, by the blood of Your covenant, have sent forth Your captives from the pit." And it is an apostrophe of the Prophet to Christ, by which, exulting, he congratulates Him on His victory over His enemies, and the spoils wrested from them, and His triumph. The sense therefore is, as if to say: You, O Christ, as Messiah and triumphant conqueror, will enter Jerusalem, as I said in verse 9; for on the fourth day afterward You will pour out Your blood on the cross, by which You will ratify a new covenant between God and men, and by Your death will triumph over death, sin, the devil, and hell. Therefore, immediately after death, You will descend to the pit — that is, the limbo of the fathers — to make them participants of this Your blood and new covenant, and to assign to them the first fruits of Your passion and redemption, which they have most eagerly hoped for and awaited for many hundreds, indeed thousands of years. For rising on the third day, You will likewise raise them, leading them with You from limbo to earth, and from earth on the fortieth day ascending to heaven — as spoils and captives, yet in a happy captivity — You will lead them forth in triumph. So St. Augustine, Epistle 99, and St. Jerome, Cyril, and others already cited.
Therefore the Chaldean and the Jews wrongly take "the pit" as the Egyptian captivity, or, as Hugh and Calvin think, the Babylonian captivity; for the release from this was not accomplished by the blood of the covenant. Add that both were temporal and had long since passed; but here the discourse concerns the full and perpetual liberty to be brought by Christ to the fathers detained in limbo — for it is a prophecy of things future in Christ's time. Likewise Calvin and Beza wrongly understand "the pit" as heaven. For they do away with the limbo of the fathers and teach that the souls of the saints before Christ's death went to heaven, not to limbo — which is a demonstrated error. For heaven cannot be called a pit; nor are any in heaven bound; nor did Christ lead His own out of heaven. The pit, therefore, is the underworld — namely, limbo. So the Fathers and Doctors by common consent, whom Bellarmine cites in Book 4 On the Soul of Christ, chapter 11. Finally, for "by the blood of Your covenant," the Arabic translates "by the blood of Your commandment," because this testament was entrusted and commanded by the Father to Christ, and by Christ to men — namely, to the faithful and to Christians.
From this passage therefore and similar ones, the Church teaches that Christ, after shedding His blood on the cross — that is, immediately after death — descended to limbo, and remained there for three days until the Lord's Day on which He rose again, and then led the fathers out of limbo with Himself. He calls limbo a pit, because it is in the depths of the earth near its center; and a pit without water, both because physically there is pure dry earth there, and mystically because it lacks all refreshment and consolation. For since water refreshes and restores one who is weary and thirsty in heat and thirst, it is therefore a symbol of refreshment and consolation.
Mystically, St. Augustine in The City of God Book 18, chapter 35, by "the pit" understands the misery and barrenness of human depth and nature lying in sin, from which Christ led men out into the happiness and fruitfulness of grace and glory. Hence Theodoret also by "the pit" understands idolatry, for this was the deepest and greatest pit of crimes, as well as blindness and misery. Clarius and Arias, however, by "the pit" understand the yoke of the Old Law, by which the Jews were held as if bound in a harsh prison, from which Christ freed us. Thus tropologically, Christ leads the sinner out of the pit — that is, out of the state of damnation — when He brings him from sin to grace, and thus, like Lazarus from the tomb, raises and gives him life. St. Augustine says magnificently in Sermon 181 On the Times, chapter 6: "What is weak in God is stronger than men. He was born of a virgin, so that we might be born from the womb of the virgin Church. He was tempted, so that He might free us from temptation. He was seized, so that we might be released. He was bound, so that we might be loosed from the knot of the curse. He was mocked, so that He might free us from the mockeries of demons. He was sold, so that He might redeem us. He was humbled, so that He might exalt us. He was captured, so that He might take us from the captivity of demons. He was stripped, so that the nakedness of the first man, through which death entered, might be covered. He was crowned with thorns, so that He might free us from the thorns of sins — or rather, to show that those who were thorny from loving vices would be crowned with Him and would become the head and crown of the Church. He was given vinegar to drink, so that He might inebriate us with the sweetness of heavenly desire and eternal joy. Finally, He was sacrificed on the altar of the cross, to destroy the sins of the whole world. He died, to capture the empire of death. He was buried, to bless the burial of the saints, and to bury us to Himself in regard to our vices and lusts. This weakness of Christ therefore overcame all the strength of the world."
begins the sense in the first person and immediately passes to the second, and in the second completes the sense begun. For with what coherence is it said: You also, by the blood of Your covenant, I have sent forth Your captives? Surely it should have been said: I also, by the blood of Your covenant, have sent forth Your captives. But since in the Hebrew it is not ani ("I") but atta ("You"), it follows that instead of schillachti ("I sent forth"), with one dot changed, one should read schillachta ("You sent forth"). For thus the thread of discourse plainly coheres, and the sentence is fittingly and completely expressed by saying: "You also, by the blood of Your covenant, have sent forth Your captives from the pit." And it is an apostrophe of the Prophet to Christ, by which, exulting, he congratulates Him on His victory over His enemies, and the spoils wrested from them, and His triumph. The sense therefore is, as if to say: You, O Christ, as Messiah and triumphant conqueror, will enter Jerusalem, as I said in verse 9; for on the fourth day afterward You will pour out Your blood on the cross, by which You will ratify a new covenant between God and men, and by Your death will triumph over death, sin, the devil, and hell. Therefore, immediately after death, You will descend to the pit — that is, the limbo of the fathers — to make them participants of this Your blood and new covenant, and to assign to them the first fruits of Your passion and redemption, which they have most eagerly hoped for and awaited for many hundreds, indeed thousands of years. For rising on the third day, You will likewise raise them, leading them with You from limbo to earth, and from earth on the fortieth day ascending to heaven — as spoils and captives, yet in a happy captivity — You will lead them forth in triumph. So St. Augustine, Epistle 99, and St. Jerome, Cyril, and others already cited.
Therefore the Chaldean and the Jews wrongly take "the pit" as the Egyptian captivity, or, as Hugh and Calvin think, the Babylonian captivity; for the release from this was not accomplished by the blood of the covenant. Add that both were temporal and had long since passed; but here the discourse concerns the full and perpetual liberty to be brought by Christ to the fathers detained in limbo — for it is a prophecy of things future in Christ's time. Likewise Calvin and Beza wrongly understand "the pit" as heaven. For they do away with the limbo of the fathers and teach that the souls of the saints before Christ's death went to heaven, not to limbo — which is a demonstrated error. For heaven cannot be called a pit; nor are any in heaven bound; nor did Christ lead His own out of heaven. The pit, therefore, is the underworld — namely, limbo. So the Fathers and Doctors by common consent, whom Bellarmine cites in Book 4 On the Soul of Christ, chapter 11. Finally, for "by the blood of Your covenant," the Arabic translates "by the blood of Your commandment," because this testament was entrusted and commanded by the Father to Christ, and by Christ to men — namely, to the faithful and to Christians. From this passage therefore and similar ones, the Church teaches that Christ, after shedding His blood on the cross — that is, immediately after death — descended to limbo, and remained there for three days until the Lord's Day on which He rose again, and then led the fathers out of limbo with Himself. He calls limbo a pit, because it is in the depths of the earth near its center; and a pit without water, both because physically there is pure dry earth there, and mystically because it lacks all refreshment and consolation. For since water refreshes and restores one who is weary and thirsty in heat and thirst, it is therefore a symbol of refreshment and consolation.
Mystically, St. Augustine in The City of God Book 18, chapter 35, by "the pit" understands the misery and barrenness of human depth and nature lying in sin, from which Christ led men out into the happiness and fruitfulness of grace and glory. Hence Theodoret also by "the pit" understands idolatry, for this was the deepest and greatest pit of crimes, as well as blindness and misery. Clarius and Arias, however, by "the pit" understand the yoke of the Old Law, by which the Jews were held as if bound in a harsh prison, from which Christ freed us. Thus tropologically, Christ leads the sinner out of the pit — that is, out of the state of damnation — when He brings him from sin to grace, and thus, like Lazarus from the tomb, raises and gives him life. St. Augustine says magnificently in Sermon 181 On the Times, chapter 6: "What is weak in God is stronger than men. He was born of a virgin, so that we might be born from the womb of the virgin Church. He was tempted, so that He might free us from temptation. He was seized, so that we might be released. He was bound, so that we might be loosed from the knot of the curse. He was mocked, so that He might free us from the mockeries of demons. He was sold, so that He might redeem us. He was humbled, so that He might exalt us. He was captured, so that He might take us from the captivity of demons. He was stripped, so that the nakedness of the first man, through which death entered, might be covered. He was crowned with thorns, so that He might free us from the thorns of sins — or rather, to show that those who were thorny from loving vices would be crowned with Him and would become the head and crown of the Church. He was given vinegar to drink, so that He might inebriate us with the sweetness of heavenly desire and eternal joy. Finally, He was sacrificed on the altar of the cross, to destroy the sins of the whole world. He died, to capture the empire of death. He was buried, to bless the burial of the saints, and to bury us to Himself in regard to our vices and lusts. This weakness of Christ therefore overcame all the strength of the world."
Verse 12: Return to the Stronghold
12. Return to the stronghold — namely, to Christ and the Church, or, as Cyril says, to the Evangelical law, which is the most strongly fortified citadel of Christ.
Captives of hope — namely first, you who are held bound by the chains of sin, detained as captives by the devil, but who at the same time have hope of liberation, because you hope for redemption from Christ who is to come.
Literally, return to the fortification — that is, to Jerusalem, which in this passage is called a fortification, either because of the divine protection promised above in chapter 2:5, or because at some time — namely, in the time of Nehemiah — the city would be fortified.
the arrow may deliver a blow by which it pierces and dispatches the intended target; for then the archer fills the bow, as it were, with all his full strength, while he expends and exerts those forces in drawing it. So in 2 Kings 9:24, in the Hebrew it says: 'Jehu filled his hand with the bow,' as the Septuagint translates, that is, with his hand he filled the bow, by hypallage, that is, he drew the bow with all his strength. Therefore 'I have bent Judah for myself as a bow' is the same as 'I have filled Ephraim,' namely, as if to say: I have fully drawn and stretched both the ten tribes and the two as a bow, so that with them I might shoot powerful arrows.
Hear St. Cyril: "This phrase," he says, "is taken from what happens with a bow. For when we draw the string and iron tip of the bow close to the eyes, then the archers are said to 'fill' the bow, and a powerful shot is made." So also Vegetius, Book I, On Military Matters, chapter 15, speaking of the training of recruits in military service: "Greater skill," he says, "must be applied so that they hold the bow carefully and wisely, that they draw it powerfully, that the left hand be fixed." And Sidonius, Book I, epistle 2: "He takes, draws, and expels the darts." Moreover, the hand is just as much filled by a bow fully and completely drawn, as the bow by the hand: for the extension of the bow equals the extension of the hands, and vice versa. Hence in 2 Kings 9, Jehu is said to have filled his hand with the bow: for the bow is proportioned to the archer. When therefore he fully extends his hand, he also fully extends the bow. Secondly, Sanchez considers the bow to be 'filled' when, with the ends or horns of the bow coming together as the string is drawn vehemently, a circle is completed which previously appeared only begun in the bow, if it has the shape of a semicircle. So the Thracian woman in Aeneid XI drew the bow:
"And she drew it far, until the curved ends came together."
Which he took from Homer, Iliad IV, where he says a bow intensely drawn is brought into a circle. And Euripides in Rhesus: "Join," he says, "the horned bows with their strings."
To this Delrio adds, in adage 1017, who considers this phrase 'to fill the bow' to be taken from the moon, which is called 'full' when its horns come together and it is bent back into a circle: for a bow stretched with the greatest force is similar to this.
Now as to the meaning, the Chaldean, Theodoret, St. Thomas, and Hugo consider Ephraim to be the same as Judah: for 'I have filled Ephraim' means the same as 'I have bent Judah as a bow,' and signifies that the Jews returning from Babylon would be strong and warlike, as they indeed were in the time of the Maccabees. But, as I said shortly before, these things literally regard Christ and the Apostles, who were born partly from Judah, partly from Ephraim, that is, from the kingdom of the ten tribes. God therefore signifies that He will use the Apostles as bows most powerfully stretched and aimed, who by preaching will most powerfully aim and shoot the arrows of divine love, by which they will wound the hearts of their hearers, and subject them to Christ. So Christ says of Himself in Isaiah 49:2: "He made my mouth like a sharp arrow: in His quiver He hid me." The Apostles therefore were like the sharp arrows of a mighty one.
Hear St. Cyril: "He calls Judah and Ephraim the whole race of Israel: from which the first Apostles, armed with the word of God, and made like bows, struck the other opposing nations with divine teachings: they struck, I say, and wounded them, not unto death, but unto charity. Hence the bride in Song of Songs 1 calls herself wounded with love."
AND I WILL RAISE UP YOUR SONS, O ZION, AGAINST YOUR SONS, O GREECE. — As if to say: I will raise up from your sons, O Zion, those who will subdue the Greeks. He names the Greeks before other nations, because after the time of Zechariah the Jews continually had dealings with them; for Alexander, hostile to the Jews but appeased by the high priest Jaddua, entered Jerusalem: Judas Maccabeus and his brothers waged constant wars against Antiochus Epiphanes, who succeeded the posterity of Alexander in the kingdom of Asia and Syria, and his followers. Hence Albert, Hugo, and Sanchez consider that the literal speech here is about the victories which the Maccabees won against Antiochus. But granted that the Prophet alludes to them and briefly touches on them in passing; yet persisting in his prophecy about Christ, he intends something higher, namely St. Paul, St. John, and other apostolic men armed with the word and zeal of God, who would convert Greece to the faith of Christ, as they are shown to have done from the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of St. Paul. Hence the Greek Church was almost the first in the world to flourish, and gave the Church its first and most excellent doctors, such as St. Dionysius the Areopagite, St. Polycarp, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, St. Gregory Nazianzen, and many others.
AND I WILL MAKE YOU (O Zion, O Church) LIKE THE SWORD OF THE MIGHTY. — As if to say: I will cause you to be most strong like a sword, and to strike down and slay the Greeks and other nations, because namely you will slay in them their unbelief and paganism, and compel them to a new Christian life, holy and joyful.
Verse 14: And the Lord God Shall Appear Over them
14. AND THE LORD GOD SHALL APPEAR OVER THEM. — God from on high will be present to the Apostles and apostolic men, and will send forth flashing javelins of interior illuminations, by which He will impel both the Apostles to divine
preaching, and the nations to avidly hearing and assenting. So St. Cyril.
AND THE LORD GOD SHALL BLOW THE TRUMPET. — "The trumpet," namely of the Gospel, by which He will rouse His Apostles to evangelize, and will lead them forth as if drawn up in battle array, and will go before them and rush upon the enemies most swiftly and mightily, and like a whirlwind coming from the South will engulf and carry them all away. By these military metaphors are signified the force and energy of Evangelical preaching, breathed by God into the Apostles and preachers. Hence of them He adds:
Verse 15: They Shall Devour (their Enemies) and Shall Subdue
15. THEY SHALL DEVOUR (their enemies) AND SHALL SUBDUE WITH SLING STONES. — The Hebrew mark of comparison, 'as' or 'like,' is understood: for the burning sentences of Sacred Scripture and the sermons of the Apostles were like sling stones, which they hurled at the nations with such force and accuracy that they struck and laid them low. He alludes to the sling with which David hurled a stone at the forehead of Goliath, and struck him so powerfully that he felled him. For in a similar but mystical manner, the Apostles laid low those fleshy towers of the Gentiles. He also alludes to the light-armed troops and slingers, who in ancient times were stationed in the front line and were the first to begin battle.
AND DRINKING THEY SHALL BE INEBRIATED AS WITH WINE. — In Hebrew it is המו (amu), that is, they shall rage like drunkards. Hence the Zurich Bible translates: 'They shall roar like those made merry with wine.' It is a catachresis, signifying the copious slaughter of enemies, and the great zeal of the Apostles both in destroying enemies, namely idols, unbelief, and all the crimes of paganism; and their victory: for so much blood of the enemies was to be shed by them that if the victors were to drink it (as some savage men once did), they would be inebriated and filled, just as the bowls and the horns of the altar are usually filled with the blood of victims. With a similar figure it is said of Christ the Victor in Psalm 110:6: "He shall crush the heads of many on the earth: He shall drink from the torrent on the way." Wherefore the Septuagint clearly translates here: 'They shall drink them like wine.' Such also is that passage in Isaiah 63:3: "I have trodden them in my fury, and their blood has been sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my clothing." He alludes to the bloody victories of the Maccabees, in which they shed much enemy blood. Note: the phrase 'as the horns of the altar' signifies that this slaughter of paganism to be carried out by the Apostles will be a sacrifice and offering most pleasing to God, just as the most pleasing offerings to God are the enemies of God when they are slain, and their blood is poured out and, as it were, poured as a libation to divine justice and vengeance. Hence the Septuagint translates: 'They shall fill the bowls as an altar;' or, as St. Jerome reads: 'They shall fill the altar like bowls.' So Theodoret and the Chaldean: 'And their soul,' he says, 'shall be full of delights, as a bowl which is full of fine flour and oil, and they shall shine like blood that shines on the wall of the altar.' So St. Paul calls the preaching of the Gospel a sacrifice, in which the nations are the victims and Paul the priest (Romans 15:16): "That I might be," he says, "a minister of Christ Jesus to the nations, sanctifying (in Greek ἱερουργῶν, that is, sacrificing) the Gospel of God, so that the offering of the nations might be accepted and sanctified in the Holy Spirit." Hence for this sacrifice he offers his own blood through martyrdom as a libation to God (Philippians 2:17): "But even if I am poured out," he says, "upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and congratulate you all." Hence also Tertullian, Book IV Against Marcion, chapter 39, reads and explains thus: 'They shall fill the bowls of the altar,' namely the martyrs with their blood, which they pour out to God and, as it were, offer as a libation on the altar.
Verse 16: And the Lord Shall Save Them, Etc., as
16. AND THE LORD SHALL SAVE THEM, etc., AS THE FLOCK OF HIS PEOPLE. — For the Apostles were like a chosen and select flock of rams by Christ who said: "Behold, I send you as sheep in the midst of wolves" (Matthew 10:16); but God protected and saved them, so that the sheep conquered the wolves and converted them into sheep. Note: the phrase 'as the flock of His people' can be taken in two ways: first, as if to say, as a flock not of sheep but of His people. So all the people and all the faithful are the flock of God. Second, as if to say, as a flock selected from the people. So only the Apostles and apostolic men are the flock of God's people.
FOR HOLY STONES SHALL BE LIFTED UP OVER HIS LAND. — As if to say: The Apostles, and the faithful whom they will convert, especially those illustrious in virtue and holiness, shall be saved by God and freed from all dangers; because they are the flock of God, and like foundation stones, whom He Himself has decreed to elevate, honor, and exalt in the land. Albert and Hugo understand by the holy stones the Maccabees. But granted this is alluded to, yet properly these things regard Christ and the Apostles, as St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Lyranus, Ribera, and others generally say.
For 'holy' in Hebrew is נזר (nezer), which can first be translated as 'stones of separation,' that is, separated from common ones, and therefore holy; because they are destined for the holy building of the Church, or for a monument or trophy. Second, nezer means the same as 'consecration.' Hence the Zurich Bible translates: 'Consecrated stones shall be borne aloft over his land.' Third, nezer signifies a diadem, crown, or tiara. Hence some translate 'stones of a diadem' or 'of a crown.' So Vatablus. From nezer the Nazirites were named, as if separated from the common people and consecrated to God, and crowned with their hair, as I said on Numbers 5.
(1) In proper words is said what was set forth in the preceding verse by the image of a storm. The Jews are compared to lions, who devour those they attack and drink their blood.
You will ask: What kind of stones are these? First, some think they are gems, from which the diadem (for this is what nezer means) of Christ is fashioned and adorned, as if to say: The Apostles will be gems that will stand out in the diadem of Christ, and will adorn it, and in turn be adorned by it. So Vatablus and Sanchez. To this the Chaldean adds, who translates: 'He shall choose them like the stones of the ephod;' as if there is an allusion here to the twelve gems that were in the ephod and breastplate of the High Priest, inscribed with the twelve names of the Patriarchs, who represented the twelve Apostles: for these are the Patriarchs of the New Testament, as I said on Exodus 28:17. In a similar way Isaiah says of the same ones in chapter 62:3: "You shall be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord." To this Mariana adds, explaining thus, as if to say: The princes of Judah shall be exalted like the stones of a crown, that is, they shall be held in esteem, and shall stand out in dignity and honor, just as gems stand out in a royal crown.
Second, others understand building stones, as if to say: The Apostles in the building of the Church will stand out like primary stones at the summit, both in virtue, and in dignity, and in authority and glory. So St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Lyranus, and others. For Zechariah seems to allude to the building of the temple, to which he constantly urged the Jews: for this was a type of the building of the Church.
But since here there is no mention of a crown, nor of a breastplate, nor of a building, but of the land, upon which he says these stones are to be raised; hence we more fittingly understand by these stones those which are erected as a monument of victory, triumph, or some illustrious event. For he alludes to the twelve stones which Joshua, having crossed the Jordan dry-shod, upon entering the Holy Land, erected in Gilgal (Joshua 5:19) as a monument and memorial of this miraculous entry, and at the same time as a sign of a kind of possession, namely that he had now entered into possession of the Holy Land. For these twelve stones were a type of the twelve Apostles, who in a like manner were raised and elevated in the Holy Land, that is, in the Church, as a monument of victory and of the possession entered upon by Christ. Such also were the stones on which Moses commanded the law of God to be inscribed, and then to be erected and set up on Mount Gerizim (Deuteronomy 27:2 and following). Such also was the altar which Moses built and erected from stones, as it seems, as a trophy of the victory won over Amalek (Exodus 17:15), and he called it: "The Lord is my exaltation," or "my banner," which, namely, raising it against Amalek, he laid him low. For the Hebrew נס (nes) means a banner: hence נוסס (noses) is called a standard-bearer.
Zechariah uses nearly the same word here, namely מתנוססות (mitnosesot), which our translator renders 'shall be elevated;' others translate 'shall be bannered,' that is, they shall bear the banner of the cross of Christ, and shall be His standard-bearers in the camp of the Church, to proclaim the victories won by His power, for whose glory they have been erected; to which therefore all the faithful, as soldiers of Christ, will rally, in order to lay low their enemies.
The meaning therefore is, as if to say: The Apostles and apostolic men will be preserved and protected by God as a flock chosen from His people: for as holy stones they will be raised aloft in the land, to be monuments and memorials of Christ and the Church and their victory, and to show to all the way to and through the Church into heaven. To this Sanchez adds: These stones, he says, of nezer, that is, of separation, consecration, or coronation, can be so called because, like boundary stones, they separate field from field, namely they distinguish the Church from the synagogues of the Jews, the academies of philosophers, and the sects of the pagans, and demonstrate by some illustrious mark that it is consecrated to God: or certainly they surround and crown the Church, like the promised land, just as rivers are said to be crowned with willows. They can also be called sacred because they have been erected by Christ for the sake of religion. And he adds that there is an allusion here to the boundary stones of Judea, which after the devastation by the Chaldeans the Edomites and other hostile neighboring peoples occupying Judea had removed; but when the Jews returned from Babylon to Judea, these were restored and raised up by them. From which the sense of this whole verse will be: Just as God saved the Jews returning from Babylon, and fed them as His flock in pastures, marked with His signs and monuments, as if with a boundary stone: so the same God will preserve Christians, as His flock, from all dangers, and will feed them on the high mountains of the Church, as in His pastures, which the elevated stones, namely the Apostles, enclose and mark off from the Jews and Gentiles, and sanctify, and raise toward heaven.
Third, some consider these stones to have been round stone balls. Hence the Septuagint translates: 'Stones that roll' (Tertullian, Book IV Against Marcion, chapter 39, reads 'they roll') 'upon the earth.' For the Hebrew mitnosesot can be derived from נוס (nus), that is, 'to flee;' and in the poel actively noses, that is, 'to cause to flee,' as if to say: Fleeing stones, that is, most swiftly rolling and mobile, putting all enemies and obstacles to flight. For these stones signify the Apostles, who most swiftly traversed and circled the whole world in their evangelizing. Hear St. Cyril: "He most aptly says that they roll, to declare the agility and swiftness of the saints for any task. For round or spherical stones are most easily moved without any difficulty, if anyone wishes to push them: so the mind of the saints is adaptable to all things pleasing to God." The reason is that they look toward heaven, and touch the earth only at a point. For a sphere or globe resting on a plane touches it only at a point, as mathematicians teach: by which is signified that the saints, and especially apostolic men, are so fixed on heavenly things that they scarcely touch earthly things, and only when compelled by necessity, as admonishes
St. Paul in 1 Timothy 6: "Having food," he says, "and something to cover us, let us be content with these." Hence the Arabic version translates: 'They are sanctified stones, and He will cause them to ascend into the land of holiness from the place of the best goods.' Wherefore St. Jerome elegantly and aptly explains that passage of Psalm 77:19: 'The voice of your thunder in the wheel,' "that is," he says, "the voice of your preaching in the whole world:" for through that whole world, preaching circulated like a wheel rolling.
But tropologically: "A wheel," he says, "stands on the ground by a very small trace; and it does not merely stand, but as it were passes over: it does not stand still, but touches and passes on: so also the holy man, since he is in the body, has the necessity of thinking about some earthly things; but having food and clothing, he is content with these; and touching the earth, he hastens toward higher things (so that, like a wheel touching the earth, he is immediately raised on high). He who runs and hastens toward higher things — in him is your word. We read in the Prophet (Zechariah 9): 'Holy stones roll upon the earth.' For since they are wheels, they roll upon the earth and hasten toward higher things."
So Atherius, Archbishop of Asia, commanded by an angel to seek out St. John, who was surnamed the Silent (Silentiarius); having found him and learned that he had abandoned his nobility, ample wealth, and the episcopate for the love of God, and had devoted himself to voluntary poverty, humility, and anchoritic discipline, and was living unknown among anchorites, exclaimed in admiration: "Truly even now holy stones roll upon the earth," as Cyril relates in the Life of St. John the Silent, who was a contemporary of St. Sabas and the Emperor Justin, and flourished around the year 500 after Christ.
Morally, learn here how lofty, separated, and elevated is the life of the saints, especially of those who are Nazirites by their religious profession and who sanctify others. For they are raised from earth to heaven, and thus reach up to the nezer, that is, the diadem which is on the head of Christ, and they adorn it. As far therefore as this diadem is elevated from the earth, so too they are elevated from earthly things and earthly ways: for their conversation is with Christ in heaven. Receive this description and portrait of a holy man so elevated: "A holy man orders the interior man; adorns the exterior; restrains himself from base things: loves upright and useful discourse: does not burst into laughter, does not shout, nor raise his voice. He walks modestly. He does not curiously inquire into the deeds of others; he receives admonitions with a cheerful countenance: he easily pardons the errors of others: he is humble, meek, and kind: he has compassion from his inmost being on all who are wretched: he is not puffed up by praises, nor cast down by detraction: he answers one who questions him easily and gently: he readily yields to one who contends: he listens patiently to others: in all things he strives to edify and perfect others: he is of rare and weighty speech: sparing in food, sober in drink: composed in countenance and words: he hates falsehood, fables, and trifles: he is a son of truth: his eyes are lowered and simple. White in purity, prompt in obedience, perfect in patience, constant in prayer: stable in faith, diligent in work, rigorous in abstinence, exemplary in conduct: gracious in conversation, affable in speech, generous in giving, faithful to friends, kind to enemies, resigned to God, dead to self, crucified to the world, all things to all people so that he may gain all: a zealot for the honor of God and the salvation of souls."
Hear also St. Gregory, Book VI of the Moralia, chapter 2: "Because holy men tread upon the prosperity of the world with the same contempt as they tread upon and bear its adversity, through a great loftiness of mind, subjecting to themselves both the adversities and prosperities of the world, they say: 'As its darkness, so also its light,' as if to say: Just as the sorrows of the world do not weigh down the strength of our intention, so neither do its blandishments corrupt it."
The same author, Book VIII, chapter 14, explaining that passage of Job 7: 'My soul has chosen hanging, and my bones death,' takes 'hanging' as the elevation of the mind to heavenly things; 'the death of the bones' as the mortification of the flesh: "For holy men," he says, "know most certainly that they can in no way have rest in this life, and therefore they choose hanging, because forsaking earthly desires, they raise their soul to the heights. And being suspended, they bring death upon their bones, because girded with zeal for virtue out of love for the heavenly fatherland, they pursue with the bond of humility what they had previously been as strong men in the world."
The same author, Book XII, chapter 17, teaches that saints are called heavens on account of the loftiness of their life and mind, "as it is written in Psalm 19: 'The heavens declare the glory of God,' who by nature all have in themselves their own mutability, but while they desire always to cling zealously to immutable truth, by clinging they bring it about that they become immutable." The same, Book XX, chapter 19: "The Lord helps His saints by coming to them, tests them by forsaking them, strengthens them with gifts, tries them with tribulations." The same, Book XXI, chapter 10: "When holy men are in authority, they attend not to the power of their office in themselves, but to the equality of their condition; nor do they rejoice in ruling over men, but in being useful to them." The same, Book XXI, chapter 15: "When holy men enter into disputes with persons of lesser rank, while they fear to burden others even in the smallest matters, they by no means refuse to be themselves burdened against justice." The same, Book XXVI, chapter 21: "Saints," he says, "are kings, because they know how not to succumb by consenting to the impulses of their temptations, but to rule by governing them." The same, Book XXI, chapter 15: "The holy man, the more he is pressed by persecution, the more keenly he is urged to preach the truth; and while he patiently bears his persecutors, he eagerly hastens to draw hearers to himself." The same, Book XXXV, chapter 2: "When holy men hear the hidden things of divinity, the more they advance in contemplation, the more, by looking down upon what they are, they come to know that they are nothing, or next to nothing."
Hear also St. Augustine on Psalm 122: "Heaven is my seat. Who are the heavens, if not the just? In them God sits, and from them God judges. Just as the sinner has become earth, to whom it was said: 'Earth you are, and to earth you shall go;' so the justified have become heaven. They carried God, and from them God flashed miracles, thundered terrors, rained consolations. The soul of the just is the throne of wisdom, that is, in the soul of the just, wisdom sits as on its seat, as on its throne, and from there it judges all that it judges." The same on Psalm 96: "If you wish, you will be heaven: if you wish to be heaven, purge earth from your heart: if you do not have earthly desires, and you have not responded in vain that you have your heart on high, you will be heaven. For your conversation will be in the heavens." The same, Book II of the Sermon of the Lord on the Mount, chapter 10: "Our Father who art in the heavens, that is, in the hearts of the just, as in His holy temple." For to these He promised that verse of Isaiah 58:14: "You shall delight in the Lord, and I will lift you up above the heights of the earth, and I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father." Hear also the pagan Seneca in his book On the Four Virtues: "The good of a great-souled man is not to waver, to be consistent with himself, and to await the end of life fearlessly. There is nothing else great in human affairs, except a mind that despises great things. If you are magnanimous, you will never judge that an insult is done to you."
Verse 17: For What is his Good, and What is
17. FOR WHAT IS HIS GOOD, AND WHAT IS HIS BEAUTY, BUT THE GRAIN OF THE ELECT AND WINE PRODUCING VIRGINS? — The word 'His' in Hebrew and Greek is masculine: hence it cannot refer to the land, since that is feminine in gender. It refers therefore to God, and consequently to His people. For just as God can give nothing better or more beautiful than this gift, so neither can the people receive anything better. It is an epiphonema, by which through admiration and exclamation he closes with a single synopsis, as it were, all the goods recounted shortly before, and at the same time gives the cause, that is, the fountain of such great goods, as if to say: The cause why the Apostles and their followers will be like arrows and flashing javelins that will lay low all nations and subject them to themselves; and why they are to be saved by God and fed as His flock; and finally why they are stones of nezer, that is, separated and consecrated to God, and therefore to be raised above the earth: the cause, I say, of all these things is that God so loves them that He communicates all His good to them: "For what is His good, and what is His beauty, but the grain of the elect?" etc., as if to say: Truly God has nothing to give better or more beautiful than the grain of the elect. Hence the Septuagint translates: 'For if anything is beautiful in Him, and if anything is good in Him, it is surely grain for the young men, and wine of good fragrance for virgins;' Pagninus and Vatablus: 'For how great is His goodness, and how great His beauty! Grain shall make the young men, and wine the virgins, vigorous and flourishing;' the Syriac: 'How good, and how beautiful is wheat for young men, and wine delights virgins!' the Arabic of Antioch: 'How good and how useful is food to youth, and wine gladdens virgins!' the Arabic of Alexandria: 'From the place of the best goods, grain of children, and wine and ointment of virgins.' O therefore the stupendous goodness and beauty of God! O abyss of goodness! O love! O wonder!
You will ask: What is this grain and wine? First, the Hebrews and Theodoret consider that here an abundance of grain and wine is literally promised to the Jews. Hence Sanchez explains thus, as if to say: O how much goodness and beauty that field will have, which the Lord will assign to His people, and which He will mark off with His own boundary stones! For it will produce grain that makes young men robust, and wine that makes virgins flourishing and radiant. Mariana explains thus: What will be most beautiful in this victory will be its conclusion, namely the feasts which young men and virgins will prepare, and the songs with which they will celebrate their joy. But this sense is lowly and earthly, especially because all that precedes regards the times of Christ: nor does material wine produce virgins, as our translator renders, but rather it inflames lust.
Second, others better understand grain and wine mystically as spiritual nourishment; namely as the law and teaching of Moses and the Prophets, which fed and nourished the minds of the Jews, both young men and virgins, in the worship of God, when the Maccabees raised up the law and the worship of God, which had fallen through persecution, and fully restored them. Hence the Chaldean translates: 'For how good and beautiful is the teaching of the law, and the judgment of truth directed in the assembly!' So Albert and Hugo. But since from verse 9 up to this point he has been treating of Christ, not of Moses; hence
Third, more sublimely and more genuinely others understand by grain and wine the Evangelical law and teaching, which, preached by Christ and the Apostles, feeds the minds of the hearers, and stirs young men to fortitude and virgins to chastity. So Clarius, Vatablus, and Arias.
Fourth, most fittingly and plainly in the literal sense, this grain and wine is the Eucharist, in which the body of Christ the Lord under the species of bread made from grain, and His blood under the species of wine, by the power of consecration, namely the words of Christ the Lord, are really and substantially present and placed upon the altar. This nourishes, strengthens, and inflames the Apostles and the faithful to fight the battles of the Lord, and draws and elevates them from earthly desires to heavenly ones. For this wine of His produces not lust but chastity: therefore both species of the Eucharist are indicated here, namely grain or bread and wine. So St. Jerome, Remigius, Haymo, Lyranus, Ribera, a Castro, and others generally, and Paschasius in his book On the Body and Blood of the Lord, chapter 21.
Where note: The Eucharist is called the good and the goodness of Christ, because with supreme goodness He communicates the supreme good, namely Himself in His entirety, that is, His whole divinity and humanity, and gives it to us as food; so that He pours out and exhausts, as it were, the whole treasury of divinity here into us. It is likewise called the beauty and the comeliness of Christ. First, in substance: because it substantially presents to us Christ, who as God is the Word, the Image, and the Beauty of the Father; and as man is "beautiful in form beyond the sons of men." Second, in causality and effect: because it is "the grain of the elect, and wine producing virgins." For it produces in us a flourishing youth of spirit and soul, by making it robust, flourishing, agile, and eager for every good: and again by making it pure and virginal. For truly the Wise Man says (Wisdom 4:1): "O how beautiful is the chaste generation with glory!" Third, in the Sacrament: because the species of bread and wine represent to us Christ immolated on the cross, that is, His body separated from His blood, as if slain and dead. Now this immolation and sacrifice was most beautiful, most excellent, most worthy of God and most pleasing to Him, inasmuch as through it all the honor violated and taken away by sin was restored to Him, and consequently our redemption and reconciliation with God was accomplished. Wherefore St. Augustine elegantly and truly says on Psalm 44, after the beginning: "Christ," he says, "is beautiful in heaven, beautiful on earth, beautiful in the womb, beautiful in the hands of His parents, beautiful in miracles, beautiful in scourging, beautiful in inviting to life, beautiful in not caring about death, beautiful in laying down His soul, beautiful in taking it up again, beautiful on the wood, beautiful in the sepulcher." Fourth, in the banquet: for the Eucharist is a banquet in which God feasts with us, and therefore sets before us food not human, not angelic, but divine, and therefore most beautiful and most magnificent. For the beauty of a banquet is its splendor and magnificence. This is what the Psalmist says, Psalm 111:3: "Praise and magnificence is His work," because namely "He has given food to those who fear Him." What food? "He gave them the bread of heaven: Man ate the bread of angels" (Psalm 78:25). Therefore in the Eucharist, "praise and beauty are in His sight: holiness and magnificence in His sanctuary" (Psalm 96:6). Rightly St. Augustine, Sermon 50 On the Words of the Lord: "What do You say," he says, "O Lord, good shepherd? For You are the good shepherd, who are the good lamb: the same shepherd and pasture, the same lamb and lion." This beauty will be more apparent from the symmetry and congruence of the Eucharist with the other mysteries of the faith, which I now add.
Morally, learn here that the Eucharist is every good and beautiful thing of God and of Christ, as well as of ourselves, so much so that He can give us nothing better or more beautiful. Truly of it the Christian Poet says:
"Holy, august, nourishing, wondrous gift of heaven, Through you the mountains drip with honeyed sweetness. Through you the honey-flowing valleys are filled with nectar. Love itself, the very will entwined with our souls."
The reason is that in the Eucharist, as it is said in Psalm 111:4: "The merciful and compassionate Lord has made a memorial of His wonders, He has given food to those who fear Him." For the Eucharist is as it were a compendium and recapitulation of all the wonderful works of God. For first, here there is as it were a new creation of the world: because transubstantiation is like a kind of creation, by which the Lord Himself and Creator of the world is, as it were, created on the altar, and the world in Him, and therefore He changes and transubstantiates the entire natures of things, bread into flesh, wine into the blood of Christ.
Second, a wonderful work of God was the manna, which was the bread of heaven and the bread of angels. The Eucharist is a supernatural and divine manna (John 6:59).
Third, a marvelous and ineffable work of God was the Incarnation, by which "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us." In the Eucharist there is in a certain manner a new incarnation, as the Word is again placed upon the altar in human form, and is, as it were, incarnated anew.
Fourth, a wonderful work of God was the crucifixion of Christ, His death, and the redemption of the world: in the Eucharist there is a living representation of the crucifixion and death of Christ: "For as often as you shall eat this bread and drink the chalice, you shall proclaim the death of the Lord" (1 Corinthians 11:26).
Fifth, because in the Eucharist God renews and surpasses all the ancient miracles. For He does not change water into wine, but wine into His own blood: He causes Christ, a man of six feet, to subsist in a point, indeed in each individual point of the host: He causes the accidents of bread and wine to subsist by themselves without a subject, as if they were a substance. The same He does not in one place, but on all altars wherever consecration takes place, throughout the whole world. And so Christ, the same in His whole body and dimensions, is in very many and most distant places, and this continuously every single day, through all weeks, months, years, and ages.
Sixth, He left us the Eucharist so that it would be an object around which we might exercise all virtues: for great faith is required here, that we may believe the host is not bread but the flesh of Christ; nor that what was wine before is wine, but that it is the blood of Christ; even though all the senses judge it to be wine, to be bread, not flesh, not blood. Second, religion is exercised here: because we have God present, whom we adore with the worship of latria. Third, hope: because if Christ gives us Himself as food, what will He not give? And so with the rest.
Seventh, the Eucharist is the highest and most excellent sacrifice, by which God is supremely honored: because there is offered and immolated to Him the most noble victim, namely not an ox, not a bull, but the Son of God Himself, God and man; and He is, as it were, slain and consumed in His honor. Moreover, the Eucharist is a propitiatory sacrifice, by which the priest, as mediator between God and men, propitiates God toward men, obtains pardon for sins and all graces for the Church, which would otherwise be severely chastised by God on account of the sins of many.
Eighth, the Eucharist is transsubstantial bread, ὑπερούσιος, and supersubstantial (Matthew 6:11), strengthening the heart, the spirit, the mind of man, and all his powers and faculties. It is the medicine of immortality, by whose power we shall rise to immortal life, as Christ teaches in John 6:59: "He who eats this bread shall live forever;" and St. Cyril expressly teaches the same there. It is the medicine of all infirmities and diseases of body and soul. Are you troubled by pride? Take the Eucharist, that is, Christ humbling Himself to flesh, indeed to bread; and this humble bread will make you humble. Are you troubled by the temptation of lust? Take the wine that produces virgins. Are you troubled by anger and impatience? Take Christ crucified and most patient: He will communicate His patience to you, etc.
Ninth, the Eucharist is the fire of divine love, kindling in us the ardor of charity. For in it Christ is "the love of loves," says St. Bernard, or whoever is the author, in the sermon On the Lord's Supper. For, as St. Thomas Aquinas sings:
"Being born, He gave Himself as companion; Feasting, as food; Dying, as ransom: Reigning, He gives Himself as reward."
For who would not love Christ, and pass entirely, as it were, into Him, while Christ entirely passes into him? Who, receiving Christ who is fire, would not be set ablaze by Him? St. Augustine, Sermon 9 On the Lord's Nativity: "God was made man," he says, "so that man might be made God: so that man might eat the bread of angels, the Lord of angels was made man." We read of St. Catherine of Siena that her heart was split by the contemplation of and love for Christ suffering, so that she expired, as Ambrosius Catharinus relates in her Life, Book II, chapter 30. So it is a wonder that our heart in the Eucharist is not split by so great a love for Christ, is not consumed by so great
a fire. It is an axiom of Philo in the Life of Moses: "Miracles through daily use cease to seem such." We truly experience this among men in Holy Communion: for to them the Eucharist, because it is daily, becomes cheap, though it is the miracle of miracles, and the wonder of wonders. St. Francis lamented this, indeed was astounded by it, as is contained in his epistle to the Priests of his Order, which is found at the end of volume 5 of the Library of the Holy Fathers: "It is a great misery," he says, "and a pitiable weakness, when you have Him (Christ) so present, and you care about something else in the whole world. Let the whole man tremble, let the whole world quake, and let heaven exult, when upon the altar in the hands of the priest is Christ, the Son of the living God." Therefore, so that we may avoid this evil of familiarity breeding contempt, the novelty of mind, attention, consideration, admiration, and wonder at so great a Sacrament must be daily awakened, just as if it were happening for the first time on that day, and had never been done before: "It ought to seem to you so great, so new, and so joyful when you celebrate or hear Mass, as if on that same day Christ, descending for the first time into the womb of the Virgin, had become man, or hanging on the cross were suffering and dying for the salvation of men," says our Thomas in Book IV of the Imitation of Christ, chapter 2.
All these things Zechariah encompasses in this eulogy: "For what is His good, and what is His beauty?" and this for the purpose of sharpening in Christians the hunger for the Eucharist, and at the same time indicating that the best disposition and preparation for Holy Communion is if one arouses in oneself a great hunger for it, a great, I say, desire to receive Christ. For just as the best disposition for profitably eating bodily food is appetite and eagerness: for this makes everything tasteless become flavorful, and binds it fast, digests it perfectly, and incorporates it into itself; hence that common saying: "The best seasoning for food is hunger;" so it is exactly with the spiritual food of the Eucharist. Wherefore St. Chrysostom teaches that one approaching the Eucharist ought to approach it so eagerly, as if in it he were placing his mouth to the side of Christ, and from it were sucking and drinking the blood of Christ, as he truly does. St. Catherine of Siena would approach Holy Communion with as great an eagerness as hungry infants approach their mother's breast, so that from hunger she seemed to be fainting and dying. Hence also St. Chrysostom, Homily 60 to the People: "Do you not see," he says, "with what eagerness little children seize the nipple, and with what force they press their lips upon the breast? Let us also approach this table with as great eagerness, indeed let us draw, with far greater eagerness, like nursing infants, the grace of the spirit; and let our one grief be to be deprived of this food." St. Thomas, Opuscule 57: "No one," he says, "is able to worthily express the sweetness of this Sacrament, through which spiritual sweetness is tasted at its source, and the memory of that love is recalled which in His passion Christ
showed, of most excellent charity." Wherefore St. Mechthild learned from God that the best disposition for the Eucharist, and the one most pleasing to God, is that even if one does not feel in oneself a living hunger for it and a burning desire, one should nevertheless conceive a desire for this desire, wishing for a vehement hunger for this food, and praying God to give and inspire in oneself this heavenly appetite for heavenly food.
Moreover, in order that we may enjoy this beautiful and good thing of the Eucharist, and fully taste and savor it, that very thing after Holy Communion must be long and devoutly ruminated upon with thanksgiving, and the mind must be gathered and united with Christ: on which matter our Father Balthasar Alvarez, a man of rare prudence and sanctity, produced excellent and very useful instructions, which Father Louis de Ponte relates in his Life, chapter 6, section 2: For many who receive Communion, he says, their feet itch to depart immediately under the pretext of reading, conversation, or walking, which is an intolerable madness. For what are prayers and readings, but certain cries by which we call upon the Lord to deign to come to our house? What folly it is, then, that after so many hours while He comes to us, indeed enters in, we immediately leave home, abandoning Him?
What do you seek beyond your God? He will teach you more than all books, refresh you more than all friends, give you more virtue than all saints. For this, ponder the following truths, in which the soul speaks with God:
"Weak, O Lord, is he who is not gladdened by You — he is very near to falling. The soul that does not exult in You — from where will it be able to exult? He who is not content with You, Lord — how will he not languish? He who, while having You as guest, hastens to leave the house, easily shows that his heart is bound elsewhere. He to whom it is tedious to remain with You, does not know that You are God and his whole good. He who does not willingly remain with You, shows that he labors under madness, since he was born for this very thing."
For You are every good and beautiful thing of the whole universe, who freely communicate and impart a spark of it to each creature. What folly then, having abandoned the immense fountain of delight, to pursue a single drop? Therefore, if you are wise, follow the counsel of the Wise Man (Sirach 14:14): "Do not cheat yourself of a good day, and let no part of a good gift pass you by."
THE GRAIN OF THE ELECT. — In Hebrew it is בחורים (Bachurim), which the Septuagint, the Syriac, and the Arabic, Vatablus and Pagninus translate as 'of young men.' For these are chosen over the elderly for performing both civil and military tasks. The Eucharist therefore is "the grain of the elect," which makes chosen young men, that is, strong, eager, and ready for every good work, as well as for any battle however arduous and difficult. Second, "of the elect;" because it causes us to be chosen by God for eternal life (John 6:59), and being separated from the reprobate, to be numbered among the elect to be given heaven. Hence it is clear that the sign and cause of election to glory is pious and frequent communion.
Furthermore, that the Eucharist is the grain of the elect and of young men, invigorating, animating, and strengthening them, is clear first in the martyrs, who fortified and strengthened themselves with the Eucharist when going to tribunals, thorns, racks, and tortures, as is clear from St. Cyprian, Book I, Epistle 2 to Cornelius, and for this reason they carried the Eucharist home during times of persecution, so that they might receive it when danger was imminent. For when we receive the blood of Christ poured out for us, we are strengthened and roused to also pour out our own blood for Him generously and willingly, says St. Cyprian, because love is strong as death: and he adds that in this battle they cannot fight bravely who are not armed with these weapons. Wherefore St. Anacletus, the fourth Pope after St. Peter and a martyr, in the year of the Lord 112, when the persecution of Trajan was intensifying, decreed that all Christians present at the sacrifice of the Mass should, once it was completed, receive Communion, and thus strengthen themselves for the contest of martyrdom, as his Life and Decrees record.
Second, in the assault of demons, whose fury the faithful, strengthened by the Eucharist, overcome and rout. Hence St. Chrysostom, Homily 61 to the People: "Let us depart from this table," he says, "like lions breathing fire, made terrible to the devil, according to that verse of Psalm 23:5: 'You have prepared a table before me against those who trouble me.'" St. Prosper writes in On the Promises and Predictions of Half-Times, chapter 6, that at Carthage a certain virgin possessed by a demon was freed by the power of the Eucharist. For this reason Christ, about to go with His own to His Passion, first instituted the Eucharist, received it, and distributed it to His own, so as to teach us to do the same in every temptation and tribulation. Hence St. Chrysostom, at the cited place: "When we see ourselves," he says, "seized by anger or by some other vice, let us think of what we have been made worthy, and let such a thought be the correction of our irrational impulses."
Third, in battle and conflict: Emperor Otto, about to engage the Hungarians in battle, first received the Eucharist with his men, and then fighting slew a vast number of the enemy and won a glorious victory, in the year of the Lord 955, as Udalricus writes in his Deeds, and from him Cardinal Baronius. Who also, under the year of the Lord 1040, relates from Curopalates and Cedrenus that Catalacus, prefect of the Emperor Michael, routed great Saracen forces invading Messena, the soldiers having been fortified with the sacred viaticum before the battle. He relates that Emperor Henry, the husband of St. Cunegund, was accustomed to do the same before battles, from Peter Damian and Boniface, in the year of the Lord 1022. Theodoret writes in Book III of his History, chapter 3, that Constantius, son of Constantine the Great, exhorted his soldiers to receive the Eucharist before the battle with Magnentius. That the Christians did the same in the holy war when Jerusalem was besieged, William of Tyre writes, and from him Molanus in the Nativity of Belgium, July 15, appendix 2. Memorable was the victory which Alphonsus VIII, King of Castile, won over the Saracens by the power of the Eucharist and the Holy Cross, under Pope Innocent III, in the year of the Lord 1212, on July 16. For when the king with all his soldiers had fortified himself before battle with sacred confession and communion, and Roderick, Archbishop of Toledo, had carried the standard of the cross against the barbarians, about two hundred thousand Saracens were slain, with only 25 Christians lost. Wherefore the Spaniards celebrate the annual memory of so great a miracle with the feast which they call the Triumph of the Holy Cross, on July 16. The king wrote an account of the event to Pope Innocent III, and Roderick, Archbishop of Toledo, in Book VIII of his History, chapter 1, and from them Father Ribadeneira in the Lives of the Saints under July 16. No less glorious was the victory which King Ramiro won over the same enemy with the same armament, in the year of the Lord 834. For when Ramiro, beaten by them, had withdrawn with his men to the mountains, and afflicted, was beseeching God, St. James appeared to him, commanding him to purify all his soldiers by sacred confession and refresh them with Holy Communion, and thus to attack the enemy calling upon the name of God and St. James: for he himself would ride ahead of the camp on a white horse and scatter the enemies. So it was done: wherefore in that battle seventy thousand Moors fell. And from then on the Spaniards in their battles were accustomed to call upon St. James. So Ribadeneira in the Life of St. James. Let Christian generals and soldiers imitate this, and they will carry off similar triumphs over the enemies of the faith.
Fourth, in bodily infirmity. St. Bonaventure writes in his book On Perfection, addressed to his sister, that weak persons often feel in Holy Communion so much strength, consolation, and joy that they depart from it robust, as if they were subject to no infirmity whatsoever. In the Lives of the Holy Fathers we read that some saints, sustained without food by the Eucharist alone, lived a healthy and long life. Palladius in the Lausiac History, chapter 15, writes that John the Monk never took food except on the Lord's Day the Eucharist: for this alone was both his Sacrament and his sustenance. So Severus the abbot, refreshed on the Lord's Day with the Eucharist and a little bread, ate nothing more for the rest of the week. Emperor Louis the Pious, in his final illness in which he died, spent a full forty days fasting, receiving only the Eucharist daily, as the writer who was present with him testifies, says Thomas Bozius, volume II, Book XV of the Signs of the Church, chapter 2.
Sigebert writes in his Chronicle that in the year of the Lord 823, in the territory of Toul, a certain twelve-year-old girl, having received the Eucharist at Easter, abstained from all food for three years. St. Mary of Oignies, famous in Belgium for her sanctity, when ill refused all food; she lived and grew strong on the Eucharist alone; and from time to time her face seemed to vibrate and radiate certain rays of light, says Cardinal Vitriaco in her Life, Book II, chapter 12.
St. Gregory Nazianzen wrote, in Oration 19 at the Funeral of his father, that his father, exhausted by a most ardent and prolonged fever, recovered upon receiving the Holy Eucharist, and he adds that the same miracle happened to his mother some time later: "For since he (the father)," he says, "was never free from pain, and indeed very often daily, and sometimes even hourly, from the liturgy alone he drew strength, and the disease, as if banished by decree and command, withdrew." The same author, at the Funeral of his sister Gorgonia, writes that she, while praying at the Holy Eucharist, was restored to health from the dissolution of all her limbs and the most grievous torments that distressed her. St. Ambrose, at the Funeral of his brother Satyrus, writes that he, with the Eucharist hung around his neck, swam safely out of a shipwreck. From this it is clear that the Eucharist is the grain of the elect, given to them by God for this purpose, that nourished by it they may grow and become young again. Excellently Tertullian, in his book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chapter 8: "The flesh," he says, "feeds on the body and blood of Christ, so that the soul too may be fattened on God."
AND WINE. — In Hebrew it is תירוש (tiros), that is, new wine or must, which is most sweet, and so powerful that it bubbles up and bursts even the largest vessels unless some opening is left and a vent through which it may boil over. What is sweeter than new wine? What is stronger? What more fervent? What more splendid? What more effective for gladdening the heart, for restoring the vital and animal powers, for rousing the spirits, for stirring the soul, and for illuminating and sharpening the mind? You might rightly call it a second artificial life, invented not without God's counsel by Noah, to take the place of the tree of life which was forbidden to men. So sweet, so powerful, so fervent, so splendid, so effective is the wine of the Eucharist, which instills into us the sap and spirit of Christ, by the drinking of which the languishing are aroused, the dead revive, and they become different men, so that they conceive a youthful ardor and powers conformable to that ardor for planning, daring, and accomplishing all great and difficult things.
PRODUCING. — In Hebrew it is ינובב (ienobeb), which the Septuagint translates εὐωδίαν, that is, 'fragrant for virgins,' exhaling a good odor for virgins, so that it seems to be aromatic; hence commonly wine is called 'cos,' because it has an excellent color, odor, and flavor, such as, says St. Jerome, is that of the bride saying in Song of Songs 8:2: "I will give you a cup of spiced wine, and the must of my pomegranates." The Zurich Bible translates: 'Making them vigorous and flourishing;' Sanchez: 'Making them blossom;' others: 'Bearing fruit, begetting, propagating virgins;' Vatablus: 'Gladdening;' the Syriac: 'Delighting, pleasing;' the Arabic: 'Anointing like ointment;' Pagninus: 'Making them sing;' for so he translates: 'Grain for young men, and wine making virgins sing.' Indeed, the Eucharist first strengthens the soul; second, makes it vigorous, flourishing, eager, and ready for every good; third, gladdens it; fourth, inebriates it so that it bursts forth into hymns and praises of God. Hence in ancient times after Holy Communion the faithful, as if inebriated with the Eucharist and the love of Christ, would sing sacred songs; indeed, from time to time seized by enthusiasm and the Holy Spirit, they would pour forth hidden and most sublime mysteries in wondrous chants and odes, as is clear from St. Paul (1 Corinthians 14:26) and Ephesians 5:18: "Do not be inebriated with wine, in which is debauchery;" but with the wine of the Eucharist, in which is holy and sober inebriation, and there "be filled with the Holy Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord."
So St. Monica, after receiving Holy Communion, would sing as if inebriated: "My heart and my flesh have exulted in the living God." And: "Let us fly to heaven," let us leave the earth, "let us fly to heaven." For the Eucharist raises up, invigorates, strengthens, and elevates to heaven souls that are languishing, creeping on the ground, sluggishly cast down, sorrowful, faint-hearted, and pressed down to earthly things, and makes them angelic, indeed angels; for, as St. Bernard says, or whoever is the author, in his sermon On the Lord's Supper: "This bread is called par excellence the Eucharist, that is, 'good grace.' For in this Sacrament not just any grace is received, but He from whom all grace comes."
Hence the Psalmist, Psalm 23:5: "And my cup," he says, "how excellent is it that inebriates!" Explaining these words, St. Cyprian, Book II, Epistle 3 to Caecilius: Just as, he says, inebriation alienates a man from himself and from his mind, and makes him altogether another person; so the Eucharist alienates the faithful man from himself, and from an earthly man makes him heavenly.
We read in the Cistercian Chronicles that a certain monk, as often as he received Holy Communion, seemed to himself to be receiving a honeycomb, the sweetness of which lasted in his mouth for three full days.
St. Francis, says St. Bonaventure in his Life, chapter 9, "burned with a fervor of all his marrow toward the Sacrament of the Lord's body, wondering with the greatest amazement at that most dear condescension and most condescending love. He communicated often, and so devoutly that he made others devout, for while tasting the sweetness of the immaculate Lamb, as if inebriated in spirit, he was for the most part rapt into ecstasy of mind."
St. Mary of Egypt, going into the desert, received Holy Communion, and then in the desert lived for many years without food; and when about to die, receiving the same as viaticum, with her hands stretched toward heaven, groaning with tears she exclaimed: "Now You dismiss, O Lord, Your handmaid according to Your word in peace, for my eyes have seen Your salvation." And shortly after she fell asleep in the Lord in holiness and peace. So the eyewitness Zosimas relates in her Life. The same, with even greater devotion and love, did St. Magdalene, shortly before death when St. Maximin gave her the Eucharist.
So St. Cassius, Bishop of Narni, celebrating daily, would flow with holy and pious tears, as St. Gregory relates, Homily 37 on the Gospels. Behold, these saints by their own experience and taste explain this passage of Scripture more clearly to us than any interpreters.
Virgins. — That is, first, the chaste; second, the immortal: for a virgin blooming with vivid and rosy color is a symbol of youth that never ages and of immortal life, says Hieronymus Prado on Ezekiel, chapter 15. For the effect of the Eucharist is the resurrection: for by its power we shall rise to immortal, blessed, and eternal life, as Christ asserts in John 6:59. Wherefore the Eucharist is called by the Holy Fathers the medicine of immortality, the antidote of incorruption, the tree of life, of which Genesis 2 speaks. So St. Ignatius, in his epistle to the Ephesians, at the end, calls it "the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death, life in God through Jesus Christ, a remedy purging vices and expelling all evils."
Again, the word 'virgins' alludes to the stones of nezer, that is, the Nazirites and saints, of whom the preceding verse spoke. For the Nazirites abstained from the pleasures of the flesh and from wine, in which is debauchery, so that they might be holy and chaste. This the Eucharistic wine, which produces virgins, provides for us, and thus makes us Nazirites, that is, separated from the pomps and delights of the world, consecrated and crowned by God. Christ therefore, says St. Jerome, "is the grain of the elect, or of the young: He Himself is also the wine that gladdens the heart of man, and is drunk by those virgins who are holy both in body and in spirit, so that inebriated and rejoicing they may follow the Church, and it may be said of them: 'Virgins shall be brought to the king after her, her companions shall be brought to you; they shall be brought with gladness and exultation.' For how will they not have joy, who being inebriated with the cup of the Savior are begotten into virgins, and dare to say: 'Bring me into the wine cellar, comfort me with ointments?'" And shortly after: "With this wine are inebriated those who shall follow the Lamb of God wherever He goes, clothed in white garments; because they have not defiled themselves with women, for they have remained virgins" (Revelation 14).
St. Cyprian also, Epistle 63, or Book II, Epistle 3, says that the cup of the Lord, inebriant, most excellent, or illustrious, namely of His blood, so inebriates those who drink it "as to make them sober, as to bring their minds to spiritual wisdom, so that from this worldly taste each one may rise to the understanding of God; and just as by this common wine the mind is loosened, and the soul is relaxed, and all sadness is set aside: so when the blood of the Lord and the cup of salvation have been drunk, the memory of the old man may be set aside, and forgetfulness of the former worldly way of life may come about, and the mournful and sad breast, which before was weighed down by the burden of sins, may be dissolved in the joy of divine pardon." St. Cyril of Alexandria, Book IV on John, chapter 17: "The Eucharist," he says, "drives away not only death, but also all diseases. For when Christ abides in us, He calms the raging law of our members, strengthens piety, extinguishes the disturbances of the soul, heals the sick, restores the broken; and like the good shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep, He raises us from every fall."
From this passage therefore it is clear that the effect of the Eucharist is the repression of carnal temptations, the suffocation or extinction of lust, and the implanting of chastity, indeed of virginity. For the virginal flesh of Christ, which nourishes us in the Eucharist, makes us similar to itself, namely virgins eternally blooming, never fading with a wrinkled brow or growing old, shining perpetually and immortal; just as we see that phlegmatic foods, like fish, make those who eat them phlegmatic; choleric foods, like eggs, pepper, etc., make them choleric; sanguine foods make them sanguine; melancholic foods make them melancholic. For food is converted into the substance of the person, and therefore sprinkles and communicates its own qualities to him. See here how different, indeed how contrary, the wine of Christ is to the wine of the vine and of Bacchus. For the latter is called by Aristophanes in Athenaeus, Book X, 'the milk of Venus,' and by Pontianus, 'the mother-city of all evils.' For, as St. Jerome says in Book II Against Jovinian: "Drinking wine and filling the belly is the seedbed of lust." Therefore it is like a miracle that this wine produces virgins, since earthly wine causes even the wise to fall away. At Cyzicus there is a fountain called the Fountain of Cupid, from which Mutianus believes that those who drink lay aside love, says Pliny, Book 31, chapter 2. Such is the Eucharist, of which St. Bernard says, in his sermon On the Sacrament of the Altar and the Washing of Feet: "If any of you," he says, "no longer feels such frequent or such bitter impulses of anger, envy, lust, etc., let him give thanks to the body and blood of the Lord; for the power of the Sacrament is at work in him, and let him rejoice that the worst ulcer is approaching health." The river Selemnus is a remedy for love; for those who bathe in it, whether men or women, forget their desire, says Pausanias in his Attica. Far nobler than the Selemnus is the blood of Christ, which, as St. Chrysostom says, extinguishes the flames of impure love, and reforms the royal image within us.
He Himself therefore in the Eucharist is the wine that produces virgins. Similar to this is the Aqua Virgo in Rome, which like a virgin shuns all other water, famous among the ancients and equally esteemed today: for nearly all of us in Rome drink from it; of which Pliny, Book 31, chapter 3: "Nearby," he says, "is the Herculanean stream, by shunning which it obtained the name 'virgin.'" Fabulous is the fountain of Canathus among the Argives, in whose waters Juno, having bathed, is said to bloom again each year with renewed virginal glory, as Pausanias relates in his Corinthian section. The true fountain of chastity and virginity is Christ in the Eucharist.
St. Catherine of Siena experienced this above all others, who by the power of the Eucharist was made an angelic virgin, and such a virgin that she became a wonder of all ages: for first, she dealt most familiarly with Christ, and read the hours with Him. Second, Christ betrothed her to Himself as a bride, placing a ring on her finger (which still exists in Rome in the monastery called Magnanapoli, where it was shown to me). Third, she lived on the Eucharist alone without bodily food, so that if she took ordinary food, she seemed about to die and was forced to vomit it up. Fourth, when she asked that her own will be taken from her, and her own heart, and prayed: "Create a clean heart in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my inmost parts. Give me therefore, O Lord, a new heart, give me Your heart," Christ, assenting, opened His side and removed her heart (so that she lived for several days without a heart), and after three days inserted another heart in her: "Receive, daughter," He said, "My heart, so that henceforth you may live not for yourself, but for Me." Hence she thereafter, when praying, would say: "Lord, I commend to You Your heart, not mine." Fifth, after this exchange of hearts she was completely changed, so that she seemed to be an angel, and to live a heavenly, indeed divine life. Wherefore she herself affirmed to her confessor, and would say: "I am not as I was, I am entirely other. For my heart so burns with charity that bodily fire compared to that burning seems to me not to burn but to be cold; and with so great a joy in
my mind am I flooded, that I cannot contain myself, indeed I marvel how I do not burst and die from joy. Moreover, I feel in myself so great a love for my neighbors, and so great a zeal for souls, that I wish to undergo all labors, all torments, death itself for any one of them, so that I might save that soul." Sixth, she was frequently rapt outside herself into ecstasies, and would see hidden and ineffable divine things; hence when asked by her confessor to explain them, she would answer: Our words, she said, are too lowly, and signify only earthly things: therefore it is impossible for me to express in our words things so sublime, so august: for they are ineffable and incomprehensible; hence neither could I utter them with a human voice, nor even if I did speak them, could you grasp or comprehend them. So Raymund records in her Life, who was her confessor and later Master General of the Order of St. Dominic, who also adds that Christ had impressed upon her in her hands, feet, and side the five sacred stigmata of His wounds. Indeed, in the hand of St. Catherine, which is preserved intact at Magnanapoli, I myself saw this stigma. Moreover, he asserts that from the love of Christ her heart had been split, and so in dying she had flown to heaven, and had seen God; but was sent back to life by Christ, so that she might benefit the Church. So her Life records, Book II, chapter 50, translated into Italian by Ambrosius Catharinus.
Wherefore St. Catherine herself writes in her Dialogues, and from her Garetius in On the Eucharist, century 14, that God had said to her: "That you may more fully understand with what ardent desire I long to be with you, and that you may be more inflamed to subject and unite your will to Mine, see and consider with profound mind that I willed My Only-Begotten to be incarnated, etc. That I prepared moreover the table of the greatest and little-known Sacrament, of His very body and blood, so that receiving it as food you might be transformed; and changed into Me: and just as the bread and wine on which you feed pass into bodily substance, so also you, eating Him who is with Me, under the species of bread and wine, may be converted into spiritual substance, and into Myself. And this is what I said to My servant Augustine: 'I am the food of the mature; grow, and you shall eat Me; nor will you change Me into yourself, but you shall be changed into Me.'"
This wine producing virgins had also been drunk abundantly by St. Casimir Jagiellon, son of King Casimir of Poland, who was so attentive at the awesome sacrifice of the Mass, and was present with his mind so raised to God, that he seemed plainly to be rapt outside himself: indeed, it was his custom to go secretly to the churches in the dead of night, and prostrating his face upon the ground before their vestibule, to pray as a suppliant to God present and dwelling in them, namely in the Blessed Sacrament. Hence he had such a love of virginity that he preserved it unblemished to his last breath. For being seized with a grave illness, when the doctors maintained that it could only be cured by the use of marriage, and his parents consequently urged and all but compelled him to marry, he preferred rather
to die than to lose the glory of virginity, which he chose with the utmost constancy. A martyr therefore of virginity, and a virgin of martyrdom, he died at the age of 24, in the year of Christ 1484, on March 4, on which same day and year, at Rome, Sixtus IV, the Supreme Pontiff, ended his pontificate and life. Wherefore Leo X enrolled St. Casimir among the number of the Saints, and Clement VIII decreed that his memory should be celebrated in Poland with the office of a double feast, inasmuch as God had made him illustrious with many remarkable miracles, and particularly with a memorable victory in which a few Lithuanians destroyed vast Muscovite forces by an utter rout, after a vow made to Blessed Casimir, who appeared in the air as their leader going before them. So his Life records, and the Polish Breviary under March 4. Hence fittingly, Casimir by anagram is the same as 'sum ac iris' ('I am and a rainbow'), into which, namely, the Sun of Justice, Christ in the Eucharist, shining, breathed upon him the radiance of His chastity. Again, Casimirus, as if 'cadis mirus' ('you fall wonderfully'), because you fall for chastity's sake. Wherefore a Polish poet sang of him:
"Of your own will you fall, but you fall for the love of modesty, Casimir. Wondrous, with Christ making you wondrous, you fall."
Finally, the words "grain and wine producing virgins" signify that we cannot live the spiritual life, nor long persevere in the grace of God, and especially in virginity or chastity, without the Eucharist, just as we cannot sustain natural life without grain, food, and drink; moreover, the more frequently we receive the Eucharist, the more we grow and are strengthened in spirit and angelic purity, just as through frequent food we grow and are strengthened in bodily life. Wherefore the first faithful "continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house (Eucharistic bread), they took their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising the Lord, and having favor with all the people" (Acts 2:46).
For these reasons, in ancient times the Holy Eucharist was given to the newly baptized immediately after baptism, as a symbol, nourishment, and perfection of Christianity. St. Clement I, the Pope, teaches this in Epistle 3, On the Office of Priests and Clerics. And St. Dionysius the Areopagite, in his book On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter On Baptism: "They lead," he says, "the baptized person to the Hierarch; who, having marked the man with ointment (in the sacrament of Confirmation) which most of all produces divine effects, declares him a partaker of the Eucharist, which has the greatest power to perfect holiness." So in the Acts of Saints Processus and Martinianus, whom St. Peter converted and baptized in prison, it is said: "There were baptized persons of both sexes and various ages, numbering 47. And he (St. Peter) offered for them the sacrifice of praise, and made them partakers of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ." The same we read in the Acts of St. Getulius, Cerealis, Pelagia, and other martyrs. Hence Tertullian, Book I Against Marcion, refutes him because, although he used the same ceremonies as the Church, he nevertheless held different beliefs from her in faith: "He," he says, "has up to now neither rejected the water of the Creator, with which he washes his own; nor the oil with which he anoints his own; nor the fellowship of honey and milk (which were formerly given to the baptized) with which he initiates his own; nor the bread by which he represents his very heart." St. Ambrose also testifies to the same, in his book On Those Who Are Initiated into the Mysteries, chapter 8: "Having cast off," he says, "the remains of inveterate error, renewed to the youth of the eagle, he hastens to approach that heavenly banquet. He comes therefore, and seeing the sacred altar prepared, exclaims: 'You have prepared a table in my sight.'" This custom lasted until the year of the Lord 900. For in that time Theophilus lived, who writes that the same custom still endured, commenting on chapter 10 of St. Luke: "Daily," he says, "those who are baptized are freed from the wounds of the soul, having been anointed with the oil of ointment, and immediately communicating they become partakers of the divine blood." The same custom still endures in Greece and Ethiopia. For Jeremiah, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who recently flourished in Greece and opposed our heretics, Response I, chapter 2: "It is consonant with reason," he says, "that chrism be joined to baptism, and not be deferred to another time, but that the baptized person immediately be made a partaker of that venerable communion." Concerning the Ethiopians it is clear from their Baptismal Ritual, in which we read: "Afterward they receive the Holy and life-giving Sacrament, the priest sponsoring for them, namely the venerable body and blood of the Lord God, and our Redeemer Jesus Christ."
The Eucharist therefore is the grain that invigorates the young, and the wine that produces virgins.