Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
He predicts that Jerusalem will be attacked by the Gentiles, and indeed by the faithless Jews as well, but that God will protect it through the Maccabees, who like heroes, like fire, will pervade, subdue, and consume all things; and finally, in verse 10, God promises that He will pour out upon Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayers through Christ, whom the faithful will behold nailed to the cross with nails and a lance, and therefore will make the greatest lamentation. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Albert, and Hugo. Allegorically, Jerusalem is the Church, especially the primitive Church, which God through the apostles and martyrs, as heroes, most bravely defended against all the assaults of the Jews and Gentiles for three hundred years: so Ribera, Arias, and Vatablus; and again at the end of the world He will defend it against the Antichrist, Gog and Magog. I say allegorically, not literally, as many think. For that Zechariah is speaking literally of the times of the Maccabees soon to follow is clear both from the sequence of the times, and from the connection and congruity of these oracles with the deeds of the Maccabees; and because verse 10 ends with the Passion of Christ. But this followed the age of the Maccabees. Just as therefore Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Daniel, Ezekiel, etc., predicted the things that were soon to befall the Jews from Shalmaneser, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Darius: so also Zechariah predicts the things that were soon to befall them from Antiochus under the Maccabees.
Vulgate Text: Zechariah 12:1-14
1. The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord says, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him: 2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a lintel of drunkenness to all the peoples round about; but Judah also will be in the siege against Jerusalem. 3. And it shall come to pass: In that day
that day I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden to all peoples: all who lift it shall be torn with lacerations; and all the kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered against it. 4. In that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with stupor, and his rider with madness; and upon the house of Judah I will open My eyes, and I will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5. And the leaders of Judah shall say in their heart: Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in the Lord of hosts, their God. 6. In that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a furnace of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire in hay; and they shall devour on the right and on the left all the peoples round about; and Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its own place, in Jerusalem. 7. And the Lord shall save the tents of Judah as in the beginning, so that the house of David may not glorify itself magnificently, and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem against Judah. 8. In that day the Lord shall protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he who stumbles among them in that day shall be like David; and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. 9. And it shall be in that day: I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10. And I will pour out upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of prayers; and they shall look upon Me, whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for Him with mourning as for an only son, and they shall grieve over Him as one grieves at the death of a firstborn. 11. In that day the mourning in Jerusalem shall be great, like the mourning of Adadremmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12. And the land shall mourn: families and families apart; the families of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; 13. the families of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; the families of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the families of Shimei apart, and their wives apart. 14. All the remaining families, families and families apart, and their wives apart.
Verse 1: The Burden of the Word of the Lord
1. The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. — "Burden" means an oppressive, sad, and dire prophecy, as I said on Isaiah 13:1. Israel here refers to the Jewish people, descended from Jacob. For Jacob was surnamed Israel by the angel, and therefore all his posterity — namely the twelve patriarchs and the twelve tribes descended from them — were called Israel. Now because the ten tribes had long ago been carried off to Assyria and were dispersed throughout the whole world, so that in the time of Zechariah the name of Israel seemed to have vanished among them, the lineage and family, and consequently the inheritance and name of Israel, were reduced to the two remaining tribes, namely the Jews. For they were the stock of Jacob, and the people of God, to whom the Messiah, promised to Abraham and Jacob, was given. So says Cyril. Zechariah therefore here predicts a burden, that is, calamities to be brought upon Israel, that is, the Jews, by Antiochus and his generals and successors, but to be averted by God's right hand and shield through the Maccabees. Hence, emphasizing God's power, he prefaces by saying:
THE LORD SAYS, WHO STRETCHES OUT THE HEAVENS, AND LAYS THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH, AND FORMS THE SPIRIT OF MAN WITHIN HIM — meaning: I am God almighty, all-knowing, and supremely good; for I showed My omnipotence when I created the vast heavens from nothing and spread them out; I revealed My wisdom when I founded and supported with wondrous skill the earth hanging in the middle of the universe; I demonstrate My goodness by daily creating souls and sending them into the bodies of men being born and preserving them. Therefore much more will I with the same omnipotence, wisdom, and goodness support and defend Jerusalem, and will crush and shatter her enemies before her. Hence mystically, the heaven is a symbol of the Christian Church, which God extends throughout the whole world; the earth, however, represents the Jewish people, whom God suspends, as it were, in the midst of the Church.
Verse 2: Behold, I Will Make Jerusalem a Lintel of
2. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a lintel of drunkenness. — The Hebrew word saph has two meanings: first, a threshold or lintel; second, a cup or goblet, as the Chaldean, Vatablus, Pagninus, Arias, and others translate here. Again, raal means first, trembling; second, drunkenness; third, drowsiness; fourth, poison; fifth, stupor; sixth, shaking. Hence some translate it as a vessel of drunkenness; others, a vessel of trembling; or, as the Syriac has, a gate of trembling; or as the Arabic, a gate of commotion; others, a cup of sleep-inducing poison; others, a bowl of stupor.
the Maccabees fell upon them so that they collapsed like drunkards. Allegorically, he speaks of the primitive Church, which Nero, Decius, and Diocletian persecuted; but God struck them down and crushed them as if they were drunk. Wherefore Alcazar, commenting on Apocalypse 11:13, note 12, explains from Theodoret: "as a lintel of drunkenness," that is, just as in drunkenness the lintels seem to a drunkard to be moving because of the dizziness in his head, so in truth Jerusalem, that is the Church, will be shaken, and will be so battered by persecutions that it will seem about to collapse, and the neighboring peoples will encourage one another to beware of it, lest they be caught up in its ruin. Or, meaning: The neighboring peoples will regard the thresholds of the Church as drunkenness, inebriation, and madness; and they will mock Christians as drunkards and madmen; just as boys chase a drunkard, mock him, and push the staggering, stumbling man so that he falls. "But Judah also will fight against Jerusalem," meaning: Not only Gentiles will persecute the Church, but Jews as well; who nevertheless, enlightened by God, will take up arms for the Church against the Gentiles and will inflict great slaughter upon them, as Zechariah says in verse 6. Ribera explains it slightly differently, meaning: Just as to drunkards the lintel of the house they wish to enter seems to be moving, and therefore they, as if mad, thinking that they themselves are moving, fall down; so it will happen to the enemies of the Church who come to attack it; for they will be seized with madness as if with drunkenness, and so will fall. Delrio adds, in Adage 1020, that perhaps for this reason the Septuagint translated "lintels" in the plural, because to drunkards everything appears double, as it does also to the ecstatic. Less correctly, Rupert takes drunkenness in a positive sense for satiety, meaning: The Church will be a house of drunkenness, that is, of satiety and spiritual inebriation, of which it is said at Pentecost in Acts 2, that the Jews judged the Apostles to be full of new wine and drunk.
"The lintel of drunkenness," or of trembling, stupor, and shaking, can be taken in two ways. First, passively, meaning: I will reduce Jerusalem to such straits of siege that she herself, as if drunk from them, will seem to tremble and go mad — for this is the burden of Jerusalem. Hence there follows: "But Judah also will be in the siege against Jerusalem." So Theodoret and Eusebius, Book VIII of the Demonstration, chapter IV. Secondly, actively, meaning: The nations will besiege Jerusalem to sate and intoxicate themselves with her wine and spoils; but I will drive them into such disasters and slaughter that, as if drunk with deadly poison, they will be driven to trembling, stupor, and madness. They will distress Jerusalem, but there they themselves will be distressed; and the snare they laid for others will fall back on their own heads, just as Haman was hanged on the cross he had prepared for Mordecai. For so in the following verse he explains the "stone of burden" of Jerusalem actively, not passively — namely, as one that burdens and crushes not Jerusalem, but the enemies who harass her. It is a metaphor taken from a golden cup full of excellent but poisoned wine, to which the thirsty rush eagerly, but as soon as they taste it, they begin to tremble, grow stupefied, and expire. In a similar way, Babylon is said to offer the nations a golden cup of cursing, and thereby to intoxicate, stupify, and drive mad all the nations (Jeremiah 51:7). Now the meaning is the same whether you translate saph as "cup" or as "threshold" or "lintel," meaning: Whatever enemy touches the threshold of Jerusalem will immediately, as if drunk and out of his mind, begin to tremble and rage — just as Virgil recounts of the Cumaean Sibyl in Aeneid VI, that as soon as she entered the threshold of her prophetic cave, she began to be carried outside herself, to rage, and to prophesy. There is also a lake near Naples: if you throw a dog into it, it immediately seems to die and lose all life; but if you carry it to the opposite lake, it immediately comes to itself and revives. So say St. Jerome, Remigius, and Hugo.
Again a Castro explains it thus, meaning: I will make Jerusalem like a lintel threatening ruin to all who wish to enter, making them tremble as if drunk and infected with a poisoned draught; for as soon as they touch the threshold, they will tremble and fall. Palacios and Mariana explain it thus, meaning: I will make Jerusalem a lintel of drunkenness, against which enemies, drunk with rage, will crash and dash their heads, meaning: Those who attack Jerusalem will fall and collapse like drunkards and madmen. Others say, meaning: Jerusalem will be to the besieging enemies like a cup of deadly poison, which lulls the drinker into eternal death. Literally, he speaks of Jerusalem distressed and afflicted by Antiochus Epiphanes and his followers, whom Judas and the Maccabees struck down.
Moreover, Zechariah seems to allude to Jeremiah 25:15: "Take the cup of the wine of this fury from My hand, and you shall give it to all the nations to which I send you to drink. And they shall drink, and be troubled, and go mad before the sword which I shall send among them. And I took the cup from the hand of the Lord, and gave it to all the nations to which the Lord sent me: Jerusalem," etc. And more so to Isaiah 29:9: "So shall be the multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion: Be astonished and wonder, waver and stagger; be drunk, but not from wine; reel, but not from drunkenness. For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He will close your eyes," etc. And more clearly Jeremiah 25:27: "Thus says the Lord: Drink and be drunk, and vomit, and fall, and rise not again before the sword which I shall send among you." Behold, this is drunkenness not of wine, but of God's vengeance, of which Zechariah speaks here. See what I said there. For the Greeks wished to intoxicate Jerusalem with the cup of their fury, slaughter, and blood; but they themselves were intoxicated by God through the Maccabees, who, as the Psalmist says in Psalm 77:65, "was aroused as one sleeping, like a mighty man drunk with wine. And He struck His enemies in the rear; He gave them an everlasting reproach." The same He did much more often to the infidels who persecuted the Church. For there is no nation that has not at some time savagely persecuted Christ and the Church, when from afar it merely saw its thresholds — that is, Christ crucified — and heard its paradoxical doctrine: "Blessed are the poor; Blessed are those who mourn; Blessed are those who hunger," etc. For the world abhorred and hated all these things, until it saw and tasted the Church's inner beauty, grace, consolation, and spirit. For this reason, in Song of Songs 1, the Church is said to be like the curtains of Solomon and like the tents of Kedar — outwardly rough, black, and scorched by the heat of persecutions. Therefore whoever wishes to see her wonderful riches must enter her house and not remain on the threshold. Hence from the beginning of the world, between the good and the wicked there has been a fierce and perpetual war; for contraries always fight against each other — hot and cold, white and black, virtue and vice, God and the devil. Zuniga thinks that as a symbol of this, the first miracle Christ performed was producing wine from water, because the Church to be established by Him was to be a vessel of drunkenness.
to cause drunkenness properly so called, for this is the sin of inebriation. I respond: Jerusalem had made itself the lintel of drunkenness properly so called; therefore God made it the lintel of drunkenness metaphorically, so that she who had been drunk with inebriation and guilt, might be made drunk with punishment, and be intoxicated with her own blood and with God's vengeance, meaning: I will punish her and make her drunk with blows, so that by these I may show the whole world that she had made herself a tavern and drinking house of drunkenness. There is therefore in this tropology a metonymy or metalepsis, by which from the consequence the antecedent is understood, from the effect the cause, from the punishment the guilt; otherwise it is awkward and incongruous, as departing from and opposing the literal sense. You may rightly apply this to revelers during Carnival, when in many places, with great disgrace to the Christian name and great offense, mockery, and reproach of unbelievers, nearly every house and the entire city becomes a lintel of drunkenness, so that this title may justly be given and inscribed upon it: This is the house of drunkenness; This is the city not of Christ but of Bacchus; These are the days of revelers, fools, and madmen, not of Christians — as I have read printed in some calendars.
But Judah also — meaning: Not only the Gentiles, but also the faithless Jews, or deserters, will besiege Jerusalem and afflict her, so that she will seem drunk with troubles; but God will turn these troubles back upon the faithless and deserting Jews themselves, and will intoxicate them with blows and with the blood of their slain. Such deserters were Jason and Menelaus, who as fugitives to Antiochus, besieged, captured, and devastated Jerusalem, as I said in the previous chapter, verse 15. Likewise many others who, out of fear of Antiochus's threats and tortures, apostatized from Judaism to paganism, about whom see 1 Maccabees 1:44 and 55, 2 Maccabees 4 and 5, and Josephus, Antiquities XII, chapter 6.
Allegorically, the first persecution of the Apostles and the Church was from the Jews, as is clear from the Acts of the Apostles. So say Arias and Vatablus.
Verse 3: I Will Make Jerusalem a Stone of Burden
3. I WILL MAKE JERUSALEM A STONE OF BURDEN TO ALL PEOPLES. — The Syriac has: a stone of trampling; the Septuagint: a stone that is trampled upon; the Chaldean: a stone of stumbling; the Arabic: a stone of subjection. You ask: what is this stone of burden? St. Jerome answers best (whom Remigius, Rupert, the Gloss, Ribera, and others generally follow), saying: "It is the custom in the cities of Palestine, and to this day the old practice is observed throughout all Judea, that in villages, towns, and fortresses, round stones of very great weight are placed, at which young men are accustomed to exercise themselves and lift them according to the variety of their strength — some to their knees, some to their navel, some to their shoulders and head, some above their crown with arms extended and joined, displaying the greatness of their strength by raising the weight. In the citadel of the Athenians, beside the statue of Minerva, I saw a bronze sphere of very great weight, which I, given the weakness of my little body, could scarcely move.
Tropologically, Messana understands by the "lintel of drunkenness" a tankard or a branch of ivy or vine, which wine-sellers hang at the threshold of a tavern to invite passersby to enter and drink and get drunk there. Albert agrees, who explains it thus, meaning: I will make Jerusalem an open entrance for those coming to it, as to a drinking bout, by which their insatiable greed may be fed. So the "lintels of drunkenness" signify a tavern, a cook-shop, an eating-house, etc., in which drunkenness and debauchery flourish, against which the Prophet here threatens God's burden. For on account of drunkenness, as well as other crimes, God seems to have imposed this burden on Jerusalem. Hence Sanchez takes "lintel of drunkenness" to mean a place of prostitution for gluttony and lust, namely the Ephebia established in Jerusalem by the impious Jason, in which the best of the young men were publicly prostituted to anyone for unspeakable lust. For this place of prostitution was called "of drunkenness" because it was distinguished by a symbol of drunkenness — that is, a goblet — standing on the lintel, as a sign and title. For the goblet was sacred to Hercules and Bacchus, the emblem of drunkenness and the lust that follows from it. Moreover, the sacrilegious man had established this very thing next to the temple, indeed in the temple itself. For, as it is said in 2 Maccabees 6: "The temple was full of the debauchery and revelry of the Gentiles, and of those fornicating with prostitutes." For Aristotle teaches in Politics VII, chapter 12, that the Gentiles held public feasts in their temples. Hence also the Shechemites, feasting in the temple of their god Berith, cursed Abimelech, as is said in Judges 9:27.
You will say: God is said here to be about to make Jerusalem a lintel of drunkenness. But God cannot
When I asked what it meant, I was told by the inhabitants of that city that the strength of athletes was tested with that mass, and no one went down to the contest before it was known from lifting the weight who should be matched against whom. The meaning therefore is this: I will make Jerusalem for all nations like a very heavy stone to be lifted. They will indeed lift her, and devastate her according to the variety of their strength; but it must be that while she is being lifted, in the very effort and elevation of the weight, the very heavy stone will leave some cut or scrape on the bodies of those who lift it." This is the stone of burden, which falls on and crushes the one burdened and carrying it, which Ecclesiasticus 6:22 mentions, saying: "Like a stone, the testing of virtue will be in them, and they will not delay in casting her aside," meaning: Wisdom is a stone of burden, which each person tests his strength and vigor by lifting. Hence the foolish and wicked lift it part way, but as soon as they feel its weight, they immediately throw it down. Hence the Greek has: Like a stone of testing it shall be mighty in him. Jerome Mercurialis mentions this stone as well as the athletic lead weight in Book II of Gymnastics, chapter 11. Now Theodoret, Remigius, and Hugo think Jerusalem was a "stone of burden" when it was conquered by Titus and the Romans. But here we are dealing with the time of Antiochus and the Maccabees, not of Titus and the Romans. For to these latter Jerusalem was not a stone of burden, but a ball of plunder and joy.
I say, therefore, that the literal meaning here is that Antiochus and the Greeks, with their forces gathered from all nations, would attack Jerusalem to carry it off from Judea to Greece like a stone of burden, but by it, as by a stone of burden, they would be cut down and crushed through the Maccabees. For a Castro demonstrates that this happened not once but many times over intervals of time, in due order. For first, Ptolemy Philopator, when he entered the temple and wished to penetrate into the Holy of Holies, while the priests were imploring divine help, fell down almost dead and was slain by divine power, had he not been most quickly led out of the temple by his attendants, as is recorded in 2 Maccabees. Heliodorus, sent by King Seleucus to plunder the treasury of the temple, departed after being scourged (2 Maccabees 3). Jason, having entered the city by force, perished as a fugitive in various places, deprived of the honor of burial. Antiochus Epiphanes plundered the city and temple in person (1 Maccabees 1 and 2 Maccabees 5), and then through Apollonius and Lysias; but the wicked man perished miserably, as is said in 1 Maccabees 6 and 2 Maccabees 9, begging for mercy from Him from whom he was not to obtain it. Then Alcimus, sent by King Demetrius, besieged Jerusalem (1 Maccabees 9), and ordering the inner court and the works of the Prophets to be destroyed, was struck with paralysis and died in great torment. Antiochus Sidetes devastated Judea and besieged Jerusalem; but touched by God, he offered a sacrifice and, having made a treaty, withdrew, as Josephus records in Antiquities XIII, 15.
After these, Pompey was the first of the Romans to subjugate Judea; having entered Jerusalem and the inner sanctuaries of the temple, he never again prospered in wars, until in the battle of Pharsalus his entire army fell with faces turned toward Jerusalem, and he himself, fleeing to Egypt, was slain. Finally, Marcus Crassus, setting out against the Parthians, plundered the temple of Jerusalem; therefore he was slaughtered by the Parthians together with his son and his entire army, and molten gold was poured into his mouth as punishment for his sacrilege, as Josephus records in Antiquities XIV, chapter 13, and Plutarch in his lives of Pompey and Crassus. From these examples it is clear that over many years the city of Jerusalem was besieged by many kings and generals, and by God's grace was freed, not without their destruction. It is also shown that all the kingdoms of the earth were gathered against Jerusalem.
Moreover, Sanchez shrewdly conjectures that the Prophet in this "stone of burden" is looking to the wrestling-ground, which the impious Jason established in Jerusalem according to pagan custom, together with the gymnasium, in which they competed by carrying weights and throwing the discus with such eagerness and crowding "that the priests hastened to participate in the wrestling-ground, and in its unjust exhibition, and in the discus" (2 Maccabees 4). Note here: the discus was a round mass, or globe, of iron, lead, or stone, with which young men tested their strength, either by lifting it or by throwing it, so that whoever raised it higher or threw it farther would win. Hence Pliny calls them discus-throwers in Book II, chapter 34; Martial writes of them in Book XIV: "When the gleaming weights of the Spartan discus fly, stand far off, boys; let it be harmful but once."
Allegorically, the Church is a stone of burden, which the Jews and Gentiles wished to lift, remove, and cast away; but all were cut down and crushed by it, as is evident in the cases of Nero, Decius, Valerian, Julian, etc., but especially Diocletian and Maximian, who had sworn either to extirpate Christ's Church and faith, or to lay down their imperial power. They accomplished the latter because they could not accomplish the former. Hence both were driven to death and the noose by Constantine, the first Christian emperor.
Anagogically, the Church and Christ will be a stone of burden that will crush the wicked on the day of judgment and press them down into hell, of which Christ says in Matthew 21:44: "Whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder," meaning: Whoever resists Christ, whom God has placed in the Church as the cornerstone — that is, the stone of burden and the rock of scandal — and persecutes Him, will do so in vain. For he will bring destruction upon himself in body and soul, yet not so completely that he cannot be repaired through repentance. But he upon whom this stone falls — that is, upon whom Christ brings down His heavy vengeance, as will be the case with the damned on the day of judgment — for him no hope of restoration will remain, just as when a great stone falls upon an earthen vessel, it breaks it into the tiniest fragments so that it can in no way be repaired. So St. Augustine, Book I, Questions on the Gospels, Question 30, Volume IV.
Verse 4: I Will Strike Every Horse (namely of the
4. I WILL STRIKE EVERY HORSE (namely of the enemy, that is, of Antiochus and the Greeks, through the Maccabees) WITH STUPOR — that is, to the point of stupor, so that all who see it may be astonished at so great and so sudden a blow, and the horsemen themselves, overwhelmed with stupor and terror, as if turned to madness, may not know where to flee or what to do. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, and others.
AND UPON THE HOUSE OF JUDAH I WILL OPEN MY EYES — namely, to protect Judea and the Jews, indeed so that those who out of fear of Antiochus had fallen into paganism and, mingled with his forces, had fought against their homeland, might come to their senses, take courage, join the Maccabees, and defend their homeland. We read that this happened in 1 Maccabees 2:29.
Allegorically, meaning: I will cause the Jews who were persecuting the Church to see their error and be converted to it and spread it, as happened to St. Paul in Acts 9. So says St. Jerome.
AND I WILL STRIKE EVERY HORSE OF THE PEOPLES WITH BLINDNESS. — This is a catachresis and synecdoche; for by blindness he means the stupor and fear by which the horses, seized as if blind, did not know where to flee. Properly also, many enemy horses were struck on the head and blinded by the Maccabees. For in 2 Maccabees 10:29, it is said: "Five men on horses appeared from heaven to the adversaries, adorned with golden bridles, providing leadership for the Jews; two of these, having Maccabeus between them, kept him safe, surrounding him with their armor, while upon the adversaries they hurled darts and lightning bolts, so that, confused with blindness and filled with confusion, they fell."
Verse 5: And the Leaders of Judah Shall Say in
5. AND THE LEADERS OF JUDAH SHALL SAY IN THEIR HEART. — St. Jerome explains it thus, meaning: The Jews who had deserted out of fear, and were besieging Jerusalem together with the forces of Antiochus, will say and pray not with their mouths, lest they be heard, but in their hearts: Lord, strengthen the citizens of Jerusalem so that they can resist these forces of Antiochus, so that we who were conquered alongside the enemies whom we serve under compulsion, may conquer with the citizens whom we dearly love. Secondly and more simply, meaning: The Maccabees in their heart will pray to God that He strengthen the citizens of Jerusalem, lest they succumb to Antiochus. So we read that Judas Maccabeus almost always prayed before the battle line and implored God's help, and by it obtained victory.
Allegorically, the leaders of Judah are the Apostles, who prayed to God that Jerusalem, that is the Church, might resist all tyrants bravely even to death and martyrdom. So say Albert and Arias.
Verse 6: I Will Make the Leaders of Judah Like
6. I WILL MAKE THE LEADERS OF JUDAH LIKE A FURNACE OF FIRE — meaning: I will cause the Maccabees, and mystically the Apostles, like fire to ravage, overcome, subdue, and convert everything round about. See the deeds of Judas, Jonathan, and Simon in the Books of the Maccabees. This was evident in the Apostles at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon them in the form of fiery tongues; hence immediately by their fiery eloquence they converted many thousands of men, and gradually the whole world, to Christ. So say St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, and others.
AND LIKE A TORCH OF FIRE IN HAY. — So the Roman edition. Others read "bundle" for "torch"; others, "torch," and so the Septuagint, the Chaldean, Pagninus, Vatablus, and others translate. For this is what the Hebrew word lappid means, namely a lamp and torch. Everything comes to the same thing: for the face of fire is a torch, most swiftly burning and consuming the hay into which it is cast.
And Jerusalem shall be inhabited — meaning: Jerusalem, previously emptied of its citizens who had fled out of fear of Antiochus, shall by the valor of the Maccabees be filled again with them, so that they may dwell in it as before, peaceably, in great numbers, and prosperously, as is clear from 1 Maccabees 14:4; and this almost until the time of Christ, who will enrich and adorn it with other inhabitants, heavenly and divine — namely the Apostles and early Christians. Note the Hebrew pleonasm when the Prophet says: "Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in its own place, in Jerusalem"; for the phrase "in Jerusalem" is redundant. For he means nothing other than that Jerusalem is to be rebuilt and inhabited not in another place, but in the very same place as before; and to signify that this will certainly, fully, and surely come to pass, he adds "in Jerusalem." For many destroyed cities were afterward built not in the same place, but in another nearby location, as New Tyre: for old Tyre is called Palaetyrus and is a considerable distance from New Tyre. So modern Rome is different from the ancient city. So too Tusculum; indeed modern Jerusalem is in a different place from the old one, for Mount Calvary, which was formerly outside the city, is now practically in the middle of it. Zechariah therefore predicts that Jerusalem under the Maccabees will be restored, repopulated, and made magnificent in precisely the same place as before.
Allegorically, Jerusalem is the Church of Christ, which, although shaken by the most severe persecutions and driven, as it were, from its seat, nevertheless always held its ground in its own place; indeed, it established itself more firmly and abundantly in the same place. For example, our Jerusalem is Rome, from which, although nearly all the emperors for three hundred years tried to uproot the popes and Christians, and therefore slew hundreds of thousands of martyrs with the most exquisite torments, they nevertheless always persevered in it; indeed they grew in number and strength, until at last they became rulers not only of the entire city but of the whole world. Hence St. Ambrose, commenting on Romans chapter 9, reads: "I will make Jerusalem among all nations"; "because," he says, "everywhere there were going to be, through Christ, sons of God, and the house of God in all places, which is the Church."
Verse 7: The Lord Shall Save the Tents of Judah
7. THE LORD SHALL SAVE THE TENTS OF JUDAH. — This is a prolepsis, or anticipation. For it meets a tacit objection: How will Jerusalem and Judah remain safe among so many enemies? And it answers that this will happen not by their own strength, but by God's. For God will save them and their homes, even the rural ones, which he therefore calls tents, especially because originally the Hebrews in the desert dwelt in no other homes than tents.
Allegorically, the "tents" are the particular Churches, to which although formerly Christians, out of fear of persecutions, could scarcely venture, and only at night, and in small numbers, God nevertheless preserved them, indeed increased and expanded them; just as of old, "in the beginning" of the Synagogue, namely in the desert, He preserved the antitypical tents of the Hebrews unharmed from enemies as well as from heat, rains, and storms.
SO THAT THE HOUSE OF DAVID MAY NOT GLORIFY ITSELF MAGNIFICENTLY — meaning: Lest the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and especially the descendants of David, boast that they by their own strength defended both themselves and the Jews dwelling in the neighboring towns and villages against Antiochus and the other enemies; behold, I say and declare that I will save both the people of Jerusalem and the other Jews. Let all therefore submit to Me and attribute their salvation to Me; for I will give the Maccabees courage and spirit, by which a few fighting against the largest armies will lay them low and rout them. Judas Maccabeus professed this in 2 Maccabees 8:18 and elsewhere; and thus he obtained miraculous victories from God. Note: "The house of David" means the descendants of David and their families, which were very numerous and most noble in Jerusalem. Again, "the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem" means, by hypallage, the citizens dwelling gloriously in Jerusalem: "Glorious things are said of you, O city of God" (Psalm 86:2). But "Judah" refers to the other Jews who dwelt in the villages and cities around Jerusalem. A similar hypallage is found in the Poet when he says: "Entrust the vessel to the winds," instead of: entrust the winds to the vessel. And: "The pipe blew the cheeks," instead of: the cheeks blew the pipe.
Allegorically, the "house of David" refers to the Apostles and similar princes of the Church; "the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem" refers to the doctors and men renowned in religion and holiness, for these are the glory of the Church. They too cannot boast against Judah, that is, against the faithful people and laity, as if they had protected them by their own strength, since this is the work of God and His grace. So say Albert, Hugo, and Vatablus.
Tropologically, Clarius says: The house of David and the glory of Jerusalem are kings, princes, nobles, and the wealthy. These cannot boast against Judah, that is, against the faithful laity, as if they by their nobility, power, and wealth obtain a worthier faith and place in the Church, since this is the result of the pure grace of Christ, which in Christianity makes the lowborn equal to the noble, the poor equal to the rich. For, as the Apostle teaches, in Christ Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither rich nor poor; but all are one — namely, a new creation of God. Indeed, in Christianity the poor hold the first and better parts: both because Christ preached to the poor (Luke 4:18) and proclaimed the poor blessed, and because He appointed poor Apostles as the nobles of His kingdom, through whom He converted kings and princes, according to 1 Corinthians 1:26-27: "Consider your calling, brothers, that not many are wise according to the flesh, not many powerful, not many noble; but God chose the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to confound the strong," etc. And James 2:5: "Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which God has promised to those who love Him?" Finally, the rich and noble have greater impediments to humility and Christian virtue than the poor; for honors puff up, wealth and pleasures weaken the mind; therefore they need a greater grace of Christ to break these chains than the poor do. Hence, on account of the greater grace given to them, they are bound to give greater thanks to Christ.
Verse 8: He Who Stumbles Among them
8. He who stumbles among them. — The Zurich Bible has: He who strikes against. For the Hebrew cashal means to strike against or stumble upon something, for example a stone, and thereby to fall and become weak. Hence the Septuagint, the Chaldean, and Pagninus translate: He who is weak among them; Vatablus: He who is feeble shall be like David; the Arabic: As one who belongs to David. Now the meaning is, as if He were saying: The Maccabees and their companions, who seemed few and weak, will by God's help become mighty warriors like David, who, although he was young and almost a boy, nevertheless slew a lion, a bear, and the giant Goliath. Indeed, those among them who stumble, by apostatizing from Judaism to paganism out of fear of Antiochus, when they see the courage and victories of Judas and his brothers, will — like David who fell into murder and adultery — do penance, resume their faith, and with that faith take on new courage and strength like David. The Books of the Maccabees relate that this indeed happened. So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, and others cited at the beginning of the chapter.
Allegorically, this is even more truly seen in the Church, where the weak — indeed women, boys, and girls — by the grace of Christ become so strong that they overcome the world, the flesh, the devil, executioners, fires, beasts, and every torment, as was evident in St. Agnes, Cecilia, Dorothy, Lucy, Pancras, Vitus, Celsus, and is evident daily. Again, those who have fallen into some sin, when touched by God, will rise up stronger, like David the penitent, as was evident in Saints Peter, Paul, Matthew, Magdalene, Pelagia, and very many others. So St. Gregory, Homily 20 on Ezekiel, Albert, Hugo, and Lyra here. Arias says differently, meaning: Countless saints of the new law will be comparable to the greatest saints of the old law, such as David was. This therefore is the great consolation of Christ's saints, that He Himself chooses the weak things of the world and makes them so strong that they confound the mighty; for His power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Therefore whoever is weak — whether in age, or sex, or health, or spirit — let him say with St. Paul: "I can do all things in Him who strengthens me."
his brothers — although originally from Levi, not from Judah and David — is called the house of David, because the house of David and the entire Jewish commonwealth chose him as their head and leader. He therefore succeeded David in the leadership and governance of his house, tribe, and people of Judah. He alludes to the house of David's mighty men: for David, because he was warlike and was engaged in constant wars, had and made his soldiers and commanders most warlike through training, among whom there stood out the thirty-seven listed in 2 Samuel 23:8ff., who are called "David's mighty men." The first three and bravest of these were Jeshbaam (that is, "sitting in the seat"), Eleazar, and Shammah, of whom it is said: "He did not attain to the first three." Hence Adrichomius, in his Description of Jerusalem, depicts the house of David's mighty men, in which those heroes of David dwelt, where also, as in a gymnasium, athletes and fighters competed in combats for the sake of exercise; and he cites for this Nehemiah 3:16 and Lyra there. The meaning therefore is: The house of David, that is, the descendants and followers of David — namely the Maccabees — will be so warlike and strong that they will equal, indeed surpass, the house and company of David's mighty men, and even his three foremost and bravest in strength.
Allegorically, David is Christ: He is strong as the Angel of great counsel, indeed as God; because He was truly God as well as man. The house and family of Christ were the Apostles and apostolic men, whom He Himself appointed as princes of His Church, which is the house of God, and He made them so powerful that they seemed to be angels or gods rather than men — especially because they led the life of angels on earth, and like angels they were mediators between God and men. So say Vatablus, Ribera, and others cited just above.
AND THE HOUSE OF DAVID SHALL BE LIKE GOD. — The Hebrew has quasi Elohim, which can be taken either in the nominative or the genitive. In the nominative take it Vatablus, Pagninus, the Syriac, and the Antiochene Arabic, translating: The house of David shall be like God — which the Prophet explains when he adds: Like the angel of the Lord, meaning: The house of David shall be strong like the angel of God. For the Hebrew Elohim signifies not only God but also angels, heroes, leaders, and princes. Hence the Chaldean translates: The house of David shall prosper like heroes, as if the angel of the Lord were in their sight. But the Septuagint, the Arabic, the Alexandrian, and our Vulgate take Elohim in the genitive: The house of David shall be like the house of God — because it shall be strong like the angel who is of the house of God. And thus both senses and both versions come to the same thing. It signifies that the princes of Judah (for they were of the house and posterity of David) will be most mighty, so that they will have not human but divine strength, and like angels will easily rout the battle lines of Antiochus and all men. Therefore the meaning of the entire verse is this: Under the Maccabees, the timid and weak common people, by God's help, will become so strong as to be compared to David the mighty warrior; and the princes will be comparable not only to David but even to angels in strength, leadership, foresight, and governance. And so it happened: for Judas, Jonathan, and Simon surpassed David in strength and victories, and indeed fought and conquered with the help and leadership of angels. For angels hurled darts and lightning at their enemies, as is narrated in 2 Maccabees 10:30. And in 2 Maccabees 15:16, it is said that Jeremiah appeared and gave Judas a golden sword, saying: "Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you shall strike down the adversaries of my people Israel." From then on, he and his followers became like the house of God — that is, like a divine refuge to which all the Jews afflicted by enemies would flee as to a sure anchor of salvation, and in whom they would trust as in angels sent for their deliverance. Indeed even the Gentiles — the Spartans and Romans — sought their friendship, as is clear from 1 Maccabees 12:1 and 14:17. So says Theodoret. Moreover, Judas, together with
Tropologically, the house of David is a religious community, in which, like David, all sing psalms and praise God, and therefore become strong in spirit to overcome all difficult things, like David. Hence it is at the same time the house of God, in which religious live like angels; for both are of the house of God, because they stand before God and are God's messengers, and they march at the head of the people's camp, like valiant soldiers and leaders. Add that they are familiar with angels and are guided by them, according to Exodus 23: "My angel shall go before you and bring you to the Amorite." Finally, St. Gregory, Homily 20 on Ezekiel, understands by the house of David the house of penitents: "This," he says, "is the day of mercy that was promised to us by the coming of our Redeemer. Therefore he who stumbles shall be like David, because the sinner returns to repentance. And the house of David shall be like the house of God, because each one who returns to righteousness becomes a dwelling place of his Creator, so as to be like an angel in His sight, because the bowels of mercy which he has experienced in himself, he pours out for others by proclaiming them."
Verse 9: I Will Seek to Destroy
9. I WILL SEEK TO DESTROY. — In Hebrew lehasmid, that is, to annihilate, meaning: I will strive that the Greeks and other nations that attack Jerusalem may be
crushed and annihilated by the Maccabees and their successors, and that Jerusalem may enjoy, as it were, continual peace until Christ, who as a new Solomon, the son of peace — indeed the Father of peace — will bring full and divine peace to the world. So says Theodoret. Note that when he says "all nations," he means those neighboring, subject to, or allied with the Greeks. For, as St. Jerome says on Isaiah 13, it is an idiom of Sacred Scripture to understand by "all nations" or "all the earth" the nations of that particular province of which there is discussion.
Allegorically, meaning: God will crush all the emperors and nations that persecute the Church; indeed He will subject them to the Church and make them faithful, as is evident from the Histories of Eusebius, Socrates, Sozomen, Baronius, and others that God actually did so. So say St. Jerome, Albert, Remigius, and Vatablus. Arias understands it differently, taking "nations" to mean the hosts of demons attacking Christ and Christ's Church, all of whom Christ has crushed.
Verse 10: And I Will Pour Out Upon the House
10. AND I WILL POUR OUT UPON THE HOUSE OF DAVID. — Here the Prophet rises, as is his custom, to Christ, and promises that He Himself will pour out upon Jerusalem — that is, upon the Jews who will believe in Him, that is, upon the primitive Church, which began in Jerusalem and Judea and was formed from the Jews — the spirit of grace and of prayers. For "grace" the Hebrew has chen, which signifies the grace by which we are pleasing and lovable. Hence in Scripture it is so often said: I have found, or I will find, grace in your eyes — that is, may I be pleasing, acceptable, and lovable to you. God therefore here promises that through Christ He will pour out upon the faithful the spirit of grace, that is, the spirit which by infused grace will make them pleasing to God, and will make them gracious and lovable to Him and to the angels, according to Ephesians 1:5: "He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, etc., to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us acceptable in the Beloved Son." So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, and others generally.
Secondly, the Chaldean and Arias not badly translate chen as compassion — the compassion by which we feel for the miserable, especially the innocent, such as Christ pierced, of whom verse 10 speaks. Hence you may translate with the Chaldean: I will pour out upon the house of David, etc., the spirit of mercy and compassion; or with Arias, the spirit of compassion and supplication, which generally arises from the thought and feeling of compassion. For supplication is the expression, through voice, weeping, and lamentation, of a compassionate heart.
AND OF PRAYERS. — In Hebrew tachanunim, which the Septuagint translates as "of mercy"; the Chaldean, "of compassions"; Clarius, "of propitiation." For the root chanan means to have mercy, and hence to pray; for misery stirs us to prayers by which we may relieve it. Hence our Vulgate translates "of prayers." Now St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Vatablus, and others generally think that here the sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and the faithful at Pentecost and thereafter is broadly predicted. Note here the two principal effects of the Holy Spirit: the first, that He gives us grace by which we are pleasing to God; the second, that He gives us the spirit of prayer and supplication, by which we may heal all our infirmities and miseries and obtain from God all the good things we need — according to Romans 8:26: "The Spirit helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unutterable groanings." Therefore the gift of prayer is a great gift of God and of the Holy Spirit.
Secondly, and more precisely, and more aptly and connectedly with what follows, Arias and a Castro think that the "spirit of grace and of prayers" here refers to that which God inspired in the people of Jerusalem when they saw Christ crucified on the cross — namely, that they might look upon Him not with fierce and cruel eyes, but with kind, gracious, and compassionate ones, and might thereupon burst into tears and prayers, wishing that God would have mercy on the innocent Christ suffering such terrible things. For "spirit" in Scripture signifies the impulse and intensity of the mind — for example, to love and to compassionate, if it is a spirit of compassion, as it is here. That this is the meaning is clear from the Hebrew, where these words depend on what follows: "And they shall look upon Me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for Him with mourning as for an only son." For this compassion of theirs was the beginning of their faith and conversion to Christ, and of the spread of the Church. For God, on account of this compassion of theirs toward Christ, gave them faith, grace, and salvation through Christ. In a similar way, St. Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary, and very many others, were moved to compunction and converted to the perfect life by gazing upon Christ crucified, as I shall soon show. Therefore it is less correct when some think, according to the literal sense, that this spirit of grace and of prayers is promised here to the Maccabees, as we know it was given to Judas Maccabeus. Again, Mariana takes this spirit of grace and compassion in a passive sense, as if to say: I will cause My faithful to be pleasing to all, so that all may have compassion on them and bring them aid.
Morally, learn here that the gift of prayer and supplication is a great gift of God: for prayer is a heavenly pipe through which, from God, through the merits of Christ, we draw all grace like manna. In this, St. Bernard, St. Dominic, St. Francis, St. Thomas Aquinas (who professed that he obtained his wisdom and learning by praying rather than by studying), St. Francis Xavier, and others excelled, who, relying on this, undertook and accomplished the most arduous tasks, and obtained nothing from God that they had not asked for. What leads and disposes to this is a great trust in God, which is born of a deep consideration both of God's goodness and of Christ's merits. For what will the most benign God deny to His friends, who spend their life and all they have for Him? What will He refuse to those who hold up before Him the blood, sufferings, and most bitter death of Christ, and through them make their supplications? Hence comes the wonder-working faith, the worker of miracles and the raiser of the dead — indeed of the damned, or of those certainly to be damned. Do you want examples? Take a few from
many examples. St. Elizabeth by her prayers converted a vain young man and impelled him toward religious life, so that while she was praying the young man cried out: "Stop, my lady, stop, because by the vast fire of your supplication my heart and my very marrow are being consumed, so that I grow faint and am about to die." So her biography relates.
In the year of the Lord 959, the English Church obtained perfect peace when King Edwin died and Edgar succeeded to the throne of the entire kingdom. Moreover, that by the prayers of St. Dunstan, whom Edwin had persecuted, his soul was snatched from being utterly condemned to hell, the monk Osbert narrates as follows: "Meanwhile Edwin was taken from this present life, and his soul, while Dunstan was occupied in prayer, was immediately presented to him by certain most foul men. Moved with pity for his misery and forgetful of his own injuries, he poured out immense floods of tears to almighty God for his liberation, and did not cease from them until he knew he had been heard on his behalf. After no great interval, therefore, those dark ones returned to Dunstan empty of their prey. And because they had come in vain to avenge their wrongs, they uttered slanderous cries; but he, giving no thought to their rages, gave thanks to God for His ineffable mercy." So relates Osbert in the Life of St. Dunstan, and from him Baronius in the year of Christ 959.
Sophronius, in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 44, tells of a certain elder whose negligent disciple had died. Grieved, he prayed and said: Lord Jesus Christ, our true God, reveal to me the state of my brother's soul. And being carried out of himself in an ecstasy, he saw a river of fire and a great multitude in the fire, and that brother submerged in it up to his waist. Then the elder said to him: "Was it not because of this punishment that I used to beg you to care for your soul, my son?" The brother answered and said to the elder: "I thank God, Father, that at least my head has rest. For by your prayers I stand above the head of a bishop."
In the year 920, Sisinandus, the fourth Bishop of Compostela, died, whose reputation for holiness was so great that Pope John (I believe the Tenth) commended himself to his prayers by letter and his own courier. He died worn out by old age. At his death the voices of angels were heard singing: "Come, chosen one of God, enter into the joy of your Lord." He was succeeded by Gundesindus V, Bishop of Compostela and son of a certain count; but since he was more devoted to the world than to God, he is said to have ended his life without a sufficiently pious death. Concerning which his mother, a pious noblewoman overwhelmed with grief and deeply anxious about her son's soul, did not cease day and night before the altar of the blessed Apostle James to implore divine mercy and to earn merit for herself by tears, prayers, fasts, and almsgiving, with the intercession of St. James, until one night in the temple of the same apostle she heard this voice: "Know that your son has this night been admitted to the company of the elect." So relates John Vasaeus in the Chronicle of Spain, under the year 920.
AND THEY SHALL LOOK UPON ME WHOM THEY HAVE PIERCED. — Foolishly the Jews understand this from the Chaldean as referring to a certain Christ, son of Joseph, whom they fable to have fallen in battle, or to Judas Maccabeus killed by the enemy. For the word "Me" indicates that God is speaking here. The Hebrew means "they pierced through" — that is, they ran through, they thrust through, they transfixed — namely, the faithless and impious Jews transfixed Christ's head with thorns, His hands and feet with nails, His side with a lance on the cross. That this is a prophecy and discourse about Christ transfixed on the cross, St. John teaches and interprets in John 19:37, where, after narrating that the soldiers did not break Christ's legs because they saw He was already dead, he says: "But one of the soldiers opened His side with a lance. For these things were done that the Scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of Him. And again another Scripture says: They shall look on Him whom they have pierced." So say St. Jerome, Theodoret, Cyril, and all other interpreters, both Greek and Latin; and indeed the ancient Hebrews as cited by Galatinus, Book VIII, chapter 17. He speaks of the Jews who looked upon Christ on the cross, especially those who felt compassion and pity for Him, as I said a little before, and as Alcazar proves at length and rightly in Apocalypse 1:7, note 6 — such as the Centurion and his companions, who "seeing the earthquake and the things that were done, feared greatly, saying: Truly this was the Son of God" (Matthew 27:54). Moreover, that there were many such people, indeed the majority, Luke indicates in Luke 23:48, saying: "And all the crowd that had come together for this spectacle, seeing the things that were done, returned striking their breasts." So say Arias, a Castro, Salmeron Volume X, treatise 48, at the end, and Alcazar in the place just cited. For "pierced," the Septuagint translates "mocked" (or "danced upon"), because instead of dakaru they read by metathesis rakadu, meaning "they danced, they mocked." So says St. Jerome.
Symbolically, Cyril and Eusebius, Book VIII of the Demonstration, chapter 4, apply these words to the Jews in the destruction by Titus — to those, I say, who recognized that the cause of the destruction was that their fathers had crucified Christ, and therefore were converted to Christ. For the rest attributed the cause of the destruction not to the killing of Christ, whom they did not acknowledge but indeed denied to be the Messiah, but rather to the seditions and mutual slaughters and other sins of the Jews, as is clear from Josephus, Book VI of the Jewish War, chapter 16.
Anagogically, this will be fulfilled on the day of judgment, when the Jews and other impious people, who here on earth refused to acknowledge Christ, will acknowledge Him against their will; for they will be condemned because they pierced Him, or because they were unmindful and ungrateful through their sins for His piercing and passion, and therefore they will mourn. So St. John explains in Apocalypse 1:7: "Behold, He comes with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over Him." See what I said there. Indeed many consider this to be the literal sense, such as Theodoret, Remigius, Lyra here, and St. Augustine, City of God XX.30, Suarez, Part III, Volume II, Disputation 57, Section 9, Jansenius in Harmony of the Gospels chapter 1, 44, Toledo on John 29:37 — who from this passage prove that the stigmata of crucifixion and passion remained in Christ's body after the resurrection, and that they will be seen by the impious on the day of judgment. But from what has been said, it is clear that this sense is rather anagogical. Christ also alluded to this in Matthew 24:30, saying: "And then the sign of the Son of Man shall appear (namely the cross, with nails, lance, etc.) in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth shall mourn," etc.
Finally, some extend this to the particular judgment of each individual person. Thus Pope Innocent in his book On the Misery of the Human Condition, and from him Ludolph, Volume III of the Life of Christ, chapter 46, think that every person at death sees Christ placed on the cross: the wicked, to their confusion, so that they may blush at not having been redeemed by Christ's blood, their own fault requiring it, and that this is what Zechariah says here: "They shall look upon Me whom they have pierced"; the good, however, see Christ for their exultation. They prove this from 1 Thessalonians 3:13: "At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" — that is, they say, on the day of death, when Christ appears on the cross to both the good and the wicked. And from Apocalypse 3:3: "I will come to you as a thief." But these arguments are weak and uncertain, and therefore it seems rash to assert them, as Dionysius the Carthusian rightly says in his Dialogue on the Particular Judgment, articles 2 and 11. At the universal judgment, however, Christ will appear not crucified, but with the cross and the scars of His five wounds, as I have already said. Therefore Christ carries out the particular judgment of each person either by Himself or through angels. By Himself, not by descending from heaven (for then at every hour, since many throughout the world are dying, He would have to descend from heaven and multiply Himself many times over, to judge those who at the same instant in various
places and provinces are dying), but through a mental communication by which, remaining in the empyrean heaven, He speaks to the soul dying on earth, revealing to it its deeds and dictating the sentence of eternal life or death. For so do the angels speak to one another even when they are at a very great distance from each other. Or He certainly carries out the particular judgment through angels; for they are His ministering spirits, as the Apostle says in Hebrews 1. Hence Bartholomew Sibylla, Doctor of Sacred Theology, of the Order of St. Dominic, in the Mirror of Pilgrim Questions, Decade 1, chapter 2, Question 9, thinks that Christ carries out this judgment through the guardian angel of each person, so that the angel may then, according to his merits, lead him either to purgatory or to heaven, or hand him over to the demon to carry him off to hell. For this seems to pertain to the guardian angel's custody and to be his final act.
AND THEY SHALL MOURN — not so much their own sorrows, as the impious will do on the day of judgment, but rather the unworthy death of Christ. For he says: "They shall mourn for Him" — namely, for Him undeservedly crucified and killed — "with mourning as for an only son, as one grieves at the death of a firstborn." For Christ is "the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1:15), "like the mourning of Adadremmon in the plain of Megiddo" — that is, like the Jews of old mourned for Josiah, the best of kings, slain by Pharaoh in the plain of Megiddo, whose son and antitype was Christ, killed in Jerusalem by the Jews. So says St. Jerome: "When the Lord and Savior was crucified, the mourning will be renewed in Jerusalem, with men separated from women, because in a time of mourning we ought not to be occupied with marriage and the work of weddings." He proves this from Joel 2:16: "Let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride from her bridal room." And he adds: "This is to be done not only in a time of distress, but also in a time of prayer, when we wish to beseech God. Therefore even now the house of David, and the tribe of the house of Nathan, and the tribe of the house of Shimei are separated from their wives, that they may mourn the Lord." He speaks literally of the mourning of the faithful at the death of Christ, as I showed a little before.
Symbolically, you may rightly understand this mourning in two ways: first, the mourning with which the faithful mourned, partly from the repentance and joy of their conversion, by which they had received Christ's Holy Spirit; partly on account of the various persecutions which they suffered at first from the Jews and Gentiles because of Christ. Indeed, St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, and Alcazar in the place already cited think this is understood literally here. And secondly, the mourning with which every year the faithful, especially in Holy Week (in which God pours out upon the faithful and devout this spirit of grace and of prayers, or compassion), recall and mourn the Passion of Christ, as they reflect that by their sins they crucified Christ, and therefore they do penance, embrace an austere life, tame their appetites, and devote themselves to mortification, as religious do. For these truly share in the suffering of Christ, since out of remembrance, veneration, love, and imitation of Christ, they carry about the dying of Jesus in their flesh, as the Apostle says, and thus they render, as it were, funeral rites to Christ crucified for them, and honor Him as the dead. For they truly say and mourn that word of Lamentations 4:20 and 5:16: "The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord, was taken in our sins. The crown of our head has fallen: woe to us, because we have sinned."
Moreover, this mourning is in Adadremmon, that is, in the gardens of pomegranates: for such are religious orders and monasteries, in which discipline and charity flourish, the care of which pertains to the Bride of Christ, according to Song of Songs 6:10: "I went down into my garden to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had blossomed." And chapter 7:12: "Let us rise early to the vineyards, and let us see, etc., whether the pomegranates have flowered." Hence men mourn separately in men's monasteries, women separately in women's monasteries, practicing the penance of religious life.
Moreover, those who mourn most are the houses of David, Nathan, Levi, and Shimei, which were related to Christ — that is, which approach Christ most closely in piety and charity. Hence David is interpreted as "beloved," Nathan as "given," Levi as "joined," Shimei as "obedient." So says Alcazar, with whom Isidore, Clarius, Vatablus, and Dionysius agree. Thus Abbot Stephen in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 64, when three elders were discussing the salvation of the soul, said: "Day and night I gaze upon nothing else but our Lord Jesus Christ hanging on the cross." So St. Elzear, Count of Ariano, always gazing upon the Crucifix, was moved to neither anger nor impatience by any injury, any affliction, any annoyance, but bore everything calmly with unmoved countenance and invincible patience. And when his wife Delphina marveled at this apathy and asked the reason, he replied: "I will explain to you the secret of my heart. Know that I sometimes feel a certain indignation in my soul against those who harass me, but I immediately turn to thinking of the injuries inflicted on Christ, and desiring to imitate Him, I say to myself: Even if my servants were to pull your beard and strike you with blows, it would be nothing compared to your Lord, who suffered far greater things. And know for certain, Delphina, that I never cease to recall the injuries of my Savior until my soul is fully calmed." By this means no disturbance or agitation could gain mastery over him. Thomas of Cantimpre, Book II of the Bees, chapter 25, part 5,
relates that a certain martyr, captured by a pagan tyrant, always went about groaning. When the tyrant asked the cause of his sadness, he replied: "I always walk in sadness because, mindful of the death of my God, I continually carry in my heart the stigmata of His passion." Whereupon the enraged tyrant ordered his heart to be torn out and cut open, and in it found an image of Christ crucified. Moved by this, he converted to Christ and was baptized. The same image of Christ crucified was found in the heart of St. Clare of Montefalco, as the eyewitness Thomas Bosius records in Book XV of the Signs of the Church, chapter 3, Volume II. Well known are the sacred stigmata impressed upon St. Francis by Christ crucified, upon whom he continually gazed. St. Lydwina continually dwelt in the wounds of Christ, as in the clefts of the rock, like a nesting dove, as her biography records in Surius, chapter 7, April 14. The same did St. Clare, disciple of St. Francis, as her biography records, chapter 20, in Surius, August 12; and her follower St. Colette, as her contemporary Stephen of Juliers relates in her biography. The same did St. Hedwig, Duchess of Poland, as her biography records, chapter 5, in Surius, October 15. And St. Bridget, as her biography records, chapter 5; and Gertrude, Mechtild, and Catherine, as cited by Abbot Blosius in the Spiritual Necklace, chapter 2. Finally, St. Elizabeth, daughter of the King of Hungary, when one day she had entered the church in royal dress and retinue, as soon as she saw the cross and Christ hanging upon it, she began to dissolve in tears and was tormented with the sharpest grief, thinking and saying to herself: "My God and Savior dies on the gallows; I gleam with gems, gold, and purple. He wears a crown of thorns; I a golden one. He is among thieves, enemies, and mockers; I am surrounded by a crowd of servants attending me." Therefore, calling herself on this account unhappy, wretched, and almost damned, because she so poorly imitated her Creator, she fell unconscious to the ground, and with difficulty coming to herself, resolved to change her life and imitate the humility and cross of Christ, as she indeed did. So her biography relates, and Hieronymus Platus in his book On the Dignity of Cardinals, chapter 17.
Moreover, Zechariah here teaches that among the various feelings which we can draw from meditation on the Passion of Christ — such as wonder, love, gratitude, compunction, fear, repentance, imitation, patience, joy, hope, etc. — the feeling of compassion stands out, and it is properly what we owe to Christ suffering for us. For who would not grieve from the depths of his being for Christ, innocent and holy, indeed the only-begotten Son of God, when he gazes upon Him nailed to the cross, suffering so many and such great things for him so lovingly? Who would not groan from compassion and dissolve in tears? Truly St. Bonaventure says in the Stimulus of Divine Love: What could be more fruitful, what sweeter, than to share with one's whole heart in the most bitter passion of Jesus Christ our Lord? See also our Francis Arias, Book on Mental Prayer, chapter 12. Therefore St. Clare, disciple of St. Francis, commanded the nuns of her Order to mourn frequently the death of Christ, as her biography records.
They shall mourn for Him — He passes from the first person to the third, namely from "Me" to "Him." Hence Sanchez thinks that the Prophet, after being transported to Christ and His wounds with which He was pierced, immediately returns and flies back to the Maccabees, of whom he has been treating throughout the chapter, meaning: In the persecution which the Jewish people will suffer most cruelly from Antiochus, all the pious will mourn over him, namely the people just mentioned, for it is clear from 2 Maccabees 1 that all mourned at that time. But in the preceding verses no mention was made of devastation, only of the strength and victories of the Maccabees. Add that this transition seems too sudden and unusual. That there is an allusion to it, however, I do not deny.
Secondly, Alcazar in the cited passage thinks that "Me" refers to the eternal Father, for He customarily speaks of Himself, that is, in the first person in Scripture; but "Him" refers to the Son, meaning: They shall look upon Me, the eternal Father, whom they have pierced — because the wound was inflicted on Me that they inflicted on Christ, My most beloved Son, according to Malachi 3:8: "Does a man afflict God? For you afflict Me." Therefore I will cause them to mourn for Him.
Thirdly, others more simply think it to be a Hebrew enallage: for the Hebrews often change persons and speak of themselves now in the first, now in the third person. Or more easily you may say that up to this point Christ has been speaking of Himself in the first person, but now the Prophet speaks of Christ, and therefore speaks of Him in the third person. For the Prophet exaggerates and shows what Christ had said briefly — namely, how great the mourning of all will be over His piercing on the cross. The Septuagint translates: They shall mourn over themselves — following whom, St. John in Apocalypse 1:7 says: "All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over themselves because of Him"; because on the day of judgment the wicked will mourn over themselves, in that they either procured Christ's death or were ungrateful to Him. More on this at the end of the chapter.
Verse 11: Like the Mourning of Adadremmon
First, "Adadremmon" was a city near Jezreel, which was later called Maximianopolis, situated in the plain of Megiddo, where Josiah, king of Judah, was killed by Pharaoh Necho, whose death Jeremiah and all Israel mourned (2 Chronicles 35), meaning: At the crucifixion and death of Christ the mourning of the faithful will be the greatest, such as it was at the killing of Josiah, the best of kings, who was the ancestor and type of Christ. So say St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, and others. This city seems to have been so named from the abundance of pomegranates. For Remmon in Hebrew means the same as pomegranate; hadad, or as the Chaldean reads, habar, means beauty. Therefore this most pleasant city was called Adadremmon, that is, "beauty of pomegranates." Hence the Arabic and Syriac translate: Like the mourning over the son of Amon (that is, over Josiah, for Josiah was the son of Amon, Matthew 1:10) in the plain of Megiddo.
Secondly, the Septuagint, interpreting the proper names by their etymology as is their custom, translates Remmon as "pomegranate" or "pomegranate fruit," and Megiddo as "cut down." For so they have it: Like the mourning for a pomegranate, or rather, for a pomegranate grove that is cut down in the field. Here St. Jerome rightly notes that the Greek rhoonos (for so it should be read in the Septuagint, not rhoon, meaning "of pomegranates," as the Complutensian reads) signifies not a pomegranate fruit but a pomegranate orchard, that is, a place planted with pomegranates. Now St. Cyril explains the Septuagint version thus, meaning: At the death of Christ "there will be mourning like the mourning of a farmer when a pomegranate tree with its fruits is cut down. The tree is 'sweet-flowering' (that is, beautifully blooming), sending out from its root many branches, straight and tall, which when adorned with its pomegranates excites admiration" — meaning: Just as the owner grieves most when a pomegranate orchard is cut down, since it was his delight, especially when adorned with purple blossoms like little cups or with blushing pomegranates (as we see the Romans delight in pomegranate groves); so all the pious will grieve most deeply at the death of Christ.
He uses the similitude of pomegranates rather than other fruits, because when pomegranates are pressed they pour out a blood-colored juice, both savory and healthful, which represents the blood of Josiah and of Christ, by which the world was saved. Hence the bride in Song of Songs 8:2: "I will give you a cup of spiced wine and the juice of my pomegranates." Cyril adds that the pomegranate signifies the nobles of the commonwealth. Theodoret explains the Septuagint thus: Just as woodcutters, he says, cutting down a very large pomegranate tree, make a great noise, so the mourning of these people will resound in everyone's ears. Moreover, the pomegranate is a type of charity: for it has very dense and closely joined seeds, like a grape cluster, and so it seems to be the grape of a fruit, just as a cluster is the grape of a vine; for in its skin it is a fruit, but in its seeds it is a grape and a cluster. Add that the crimson or purple color of the pomegranate fruit and its blossom is a symbol of love. These are from the Septuagint version, from which some think that at the death of Josiah the pomegranate orchard near where he was killed, called Adadremmon, was cut down, and therefore mention is made of it here, because it introduces a double cause and likeness of mourning — one from the death of Josiah, the other from the cutting down of the pomegranate orchard.
Thirdly, the Chaldean thinks that two mournful slaughters are signified here — namely those of Ahab and Josiah — and that a comparison is drawn from each. For he translates thus: Like the mourning for Ahab, son of Omri, whom Hader Remmon (Benhadad), son of Tabrimon (king of Syria, as is clear from 1 Kings 15:18 and 22:34), slew in Ramoth Gilead; and like the mourning for Josiah, son of Amon, whom Pharaoh the Lame slew in the plain of Megiddo. But Ahab was an impious king: hence at his death there was no great mourning, and if there had been, Scripture would not use it, nor compare the mourning for the death of Christ to it. Wherefore a Castro suspects that this Adad was some famous man, a citizen of Remmon, killed at Megiddo, whose death was celebrated with universal mourning, and whose story was very well known in the time of Zechariah, although it is unknown to us.
There is therefore a Hebrew proverb: "The mourning of Adadremmon" or "The mourning of Josiah," signifying an immense mourning, like the mourning for a deceased only child. A similar one among the Gentiles was "The mourning of Adonis." For Venus bitterly mourned Adonis when he died, and her lamentations were renewed and celebrated each year with mourning and solemnity. Hence Venus says in Ovid, Metamorphoses X: "Monuments of grief shall remain forever, O my Adonis, and the recurring image of your death shall enact the yearly rites of our mourning." And Ezekiel 8:14 saw in the temple women mourning for Adonis. See what I said there.
Verse 12: Apart
12. Apart. — Because among the Hebrews, and indeed among the Greeks, women were separated from men at banquets, at prayer, and other public and solemn occasions, to such an extent that among the more respectable families one part of the house was assigned to men, called the andronitis, and another part to women, called the gynaeconitis. So from Plutarch, Athenaeus, and others, says Sanchez.
THE FAMILY OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID. — All these families, but four above the rest, are said to be about to mourn at the killing — not of the Jews in the time of Antiochus, but of Christ — namely David, Nathan, Levi, and Shimei, for which the Septuagint has Simeon. But this Shimei, or Simeon, is not the second-born son of Jacob, brother of Judah and patriarch, but another, says Lyra, much later, who was illustrious in life and wisdom and founded a school or sect. Of him St. Jerome writes in his commentary on Isaiah 8 and in his Questions to Algasia, Question 10: The Nazarenes, he says, interpret the two houses as two families — Shammai and Hillel — from whom the scribes and Pharisees arose not long before Christ was born, whose school Akiba later directed; and these were the two houses that did not receive the Savior, who was to them a ruin and a scandal. Now what exactly these four families were is not established; it is established that in the time of Zechariah and of Christ they were known and famous among the Jews. However, there are two probable opinions about them:
The first is that these four were ancestors of Christ; hence their families mourned most at the death of Christ, as His kinsmen, especially those who had embraced the faith of Christ. For Luke in chapter 3, in the genealogy of Christ, names His ancestor Levi in verse 24 and another in verse 29, then Shimei in verse 26, and again Nathan and David in verse 31. In favor of this are St. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, who say that at the death of Christ not only did the women mourn and all His acquaintances stand at a distance, but the entire crowd, having seen the many prodigies that occurred then, struck their breasts. So say Arias and a Castro.
The second opinion is that of St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius, Albert, Ribera, and many others: that by the family of David the nobles are signified, for they were descended from David; by the posterity of Levi, the priests and pontiffs are signified, for they descended from Levi; by Shimei, or Shammai, the doctors and scribes are signified, who had Shammai as their leader and teacher; by the posterity of the prophet Nathan, the Prophets are signified — that is, devout men who devoted themselves to prayer, meditation, and the praises of God, who in the Books of Kings are called the sons of the Prophets. For these were the offices of the Prophets, and from them some, being more elevated in spirit, conceived the spirit of properly prophesying — that is, of predicting the future.
You will object: Many of these, such as the priests and scribes, did not mourn the death of Christ but rather brought it about. I respond that in Scripture things are often said to be done, or to be about to happen, that ought to be done or that must be done, or that propriety and the nature of things requires to happen, or for which a just and serious reason is given, as I said in the Prooemium, Canon 15.
Therefore these four families are said to be about to mourn at the death of Christ: because it was fitting for them to mourn, because each had its own proper and serious reason for mourning, even though many among them who were perverse did not actually mourn. For the family of David had a proper reason for mourning, because Christ, who was born from it as King and Messiah, was being killed. And again, because on account of the slain Christ, the kingdom of David and Judah was to be destroyed. The family of Levi had reason to mourn, because Christ the priest and pontiff, foreshadowed by all the Levitical sacrifices and priests, was being killed, and because it was itself the cause of His death, and therefore the priesthood was to be taken from it and the temple would be polluted and burned by the Romans. The family of Shimei had reason to weep, because Christ, the teacher of the world, was being slain, and therefore the order of teachers and scribes was to be contaminated and abolished. The family of Nathan had reason to grieve, because Christ, the leader of the Prophets, was being most unjustly and cruelly killed, and therefore all prophecy, religion, and holiness was to be taken from them. Add that many from these families were pious and converted to Christ, and they indeed bitterly mourned His death in reality. Moreover, Arias, Mariana, and Sanchez think that these four families, more than the rest, mourned the death of Josiah and paid him their mourning tribute, and that many of them did the same for Christ, the antitype of Josiah.
Finally, these and all other families will mourn on the day of judgment, when they shall see themselves, or their own people, condemned to eternal fire by Christ now judging and reigning in glory, on account of His death either procured or despised, as ungrateful, faithless, rebellious, and impious people. Hence the Septuagint, in verse 10, instead of what the Hebrew and our Vulgate have — "they shall mourn for Him" — translates: "they shall mourn over themselves." And from this, St. John, speaking of Christ the Judge, in Apocalypse 1:7: "All the tribes of the earth shall mourn over themselves because of Him." From which it is clear that this meaning about the mourning of the impious on the day of judgment is not so much anagogical as literal. For the Prophet combines all the mourning over Christ's death — both that of the pious at His funeral and that of the impious on the day of judgment. So say St. Augustine, Theodoret, Remigius, Suarez, and others whom I cited at verse 10, to whom add Tertullian, Against the Jews, chapter 11, and Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV, chapter 66.
Then therefore the impious will mourn, because they will see the stigmata of Christ's wounds, as well as their own sins, which were the cause of those wounds. For example, Judas will see that by his betrayal he drove Christ to the cross; the rich glutton will see that by his luxuries he pierced Christ; the proud man will see that by his points of honor; the miser by his frauds and usuries; the adulterer by his lusts; the combative man by his daggers — each pierced Christ. Every wicked person will see how many wounds he inflicted on Christ by his crimes, how many thorns he drove into His head, how many scourges and pains he inflicted on Him, how many sufferings he added to Him. Moreover, he will see that Christ, out of His immense love, took upon Himself all his sins to be expiated, and atoned for them as far as was in His power; and therefore he will see his own ingratitude and madness, in that he refused to repent and amend his life and obey Christ, and thereby rendered the Passion and cross of Christ fruitless for himself; and consequently, that by his own guilt alone, negligence, and malice he perishes, and therefore is most justly condemned to horrible and eternal torments. With good reason, therefore, will he mourn.
Finally, all the families of the faithful mourn the death of Christ every year during Holy Week. For this prophecy began to be fulfilled when Christ was dying, and after His death it continues to be fulfilled through each century, until it is fully completed at the end of the world and on the day of judgment. So say Vatablus and Dionysius. This explanation is general and complete, and embraces all the others; for the Prophet in verse 12 seems to broaden this mourning and extend it to all families and all times.
Tropologically, religious and the faithful mourn Christ crucified, who mortify their vices and crucify their passions and members for the love of Christ, so that they may continually carry about His cross, both active and passive, for His honor, both in body and mind, so as to say with St. Paul in Galatians 6:17: "I bear the stigmata of the Lord Jesus in my body," as I said from Alcazar at verse 10.