Jerome

In his own words on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:1

  (Chapter 1, Verse 1) In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, son of Barachiah, son (Vulgate: sons) of Addo, the prophet, saying. LXX: In the eighth month of the second year under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, son of Barachiah, son of Addo the prophet, saying. In the second year of Darius, son of Hystaspis, in the seventieth year of the desolation of the temple, which was predicted by Jeremiah (Chapter 25 and 29), Zechariah himself testifies, saying, O Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you are angry? Behold, this is the seventieth year (Zech. I, 12): and there is no doubt that Cyrus, the king of the Persians, who destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans, in the first year of his reign, released about fifty thousand captive men from Babylon into Judah: and he also returned the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken away, and ordered the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem: and he appointed Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedec, as the high priest and leaders of the people who returned. Therefore, after the death of Cyrus, who reigned for thirty years in Persia, at the hands of Tomyris, the queen of the Massagetae, his son Cambyses succeeded to the throne. After ruling for eight years, Cambyses had two magi brothers as his successors, who were killed by the people. Darius, the son of Hystaspes, was then established as king of Persia by the consent of the seven noble families, in the second year of his reign the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai and to Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Addo. We have already spoken about the book of Zechariah. Now a few things need to be said about the title 'son of Barachiah'. It is questioned why he is called the son of Addo. There is no doubt, according to the book of Chronicles, that he is Addo, who was sent to Jeroboam, the son of Nabath, under whom the altar was destroyed and the king's hand withered, but was restored again at his prayers. Therefore, from the first year of the reign of King Cyrus until the second year of the reign of Darius, son of Hystaspis, forty years are reckoned in which the altar was constructed and the foundations of the temple were laid, with the neighboring nations in the surrounding area hindering the work, and King Cambyses of Persia, who sent letters about this matter to the rulers of Syria, Cilicia, Phoenicia, and Samaria. Super quo plenius Esdras scribit historiam. Sed Aggaeus in mense sexto in die prima ejusdem mensis prophetare exorsus est. Zacharias vero in eodem quidem anno, sed non in eodem mense: nam post duos menses octavo anni mense fudit vaticinium. Unde recte juxta ordinem duodecim prophetarum, ille decimus, et hic undecimus ponitur. Magnaeque confidentiae est, immo spei fideique in Dominum, ut quod tanto tempore praetermissum est, vel rege prohibente, vel gentibus, ad commonitionem duorum hominum facere incipiant. According to the usual practice, we have sent this following the story. Now, we must briefly discuss it according to interpretation. The eighth month among the Hebrews, called Maresvan by them, Athir by the Egyptians, and November by us, is the beginning of winter: in which, with the heat of summer consumed, all the earth is stripped of its greenery, and the bodies of mortals contract, and there is no solemnity according to the law. For it is written that every kind of male must appear before the Lord our God three times a year (Exod. XXXIV). The first feast is the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Passover, which is called Pascha in Greek and Latin. The second is Pentecost, seven weeks after, in which the loaves of offering from the new crops are first presented. The third is in the seventh month, the propitiation of trumpets and tabernacles, that is, the pitching of tents, whose final day is called the day of departure and end. Therefore, the people, being in captivity and still under the rule of the Persians, with neither the temple nor the walls and fortifications of the city yet built, do not see prophecy in a time of joy, but after joy. And yet he who had the memory of the Lord, and because of the memory, the blessing, and because of the blessing, the testimony: therefore to him Zacharias, son of Barachias, son of Addo, is sent. Zacharias interprets as the memory of the Lord: Barachia, the blessing of the Lord: Addo, his testimony. Let us therefore see, the word of the Lord who was in the beginning with God the Father, what the prophet Zachariah spoke to the people.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:2-3

  (Version 2, 3.) The Lord is angry with your fathers with great anger, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, saying. LXX: The Lord is angry with your fathers with great wrath, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. And do not be like your fathers, whom the former prophets rebuked, saying. The anger of the Lord does not signify a disturbance in Him who becomes angry; but rather the merits and sins of those on whom the anger of God falls. Otherwise, the Lord never avenges in anger; but He corrects in order to bring about improvement. Hence the prophet prays in the Psalms: O Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger, nor chastise me in Your wrath (Psalm 6:1). And in another place we read: Correct us, O Lord; but not in Your anger, but in Your mercy (Jeremiah 10:24). Therefore, the Lord is angry with their fathers who are now being criticized, not according to the Seventy interpreters with great anger, but simply with anger. For if he were angry with great anger, he would never have provoked the captives to repentance through Daniel and Ezekiel. And when he is angry with them, the Lord of hosts speaks to you, for which 'Sabaoth' is placed in Hebrew, which sometimes the Seventy translate as Almighty, sometimes as Virtues. And he says: Return to me, and I will return to you, according to what we read: Come near to the Lord, and he will come near to you. But to those who have turned away from me, I have also turned away from them. He commands them to return to the Lord, those who have returned from Babylon, so that the Lord will also return to them, lest the children begin to suffer what the fathers once suffered, to whom likewise the prophets of that time spoke. Note that in a few short verses and sentences, in both Haggai and Zechariah, the phrase 'says the Lord of hosts' is always added, so that they may know that it is the Lord who commands against the king's authority and the surrounding enemies; and they are encouraged by this confidence in the building of the temple.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:4

  (Verse 4) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn away from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts; but they did not listen, nor pay attention to me, says the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Almighty Lord: Turn away from your wicked ways, and from your evil inventions; but they did not pay attention to listen to me, says the Lord. The conclusion depends on the preceding statements, and what follows must be connected with what came before. For it is not Zacharias speaking to the people; but he shows what the former prophets spoke to their fathers, to which they cried out, saying: 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn from your evil ways and from your wicked thoughts.' This was cried out by Isaiah, by Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Jeremiah, urging them to forsake their evil ways and abandon their wicked thoughts, in which they sinned both in action and in mind. However, they did not listen or pay attention to the Lord speaking through the prophets who spoke to them, but to me, says the Lord: I was the one speaking and being despised among them. Wherefore, the Lord also said in the Gospel: 'He who receives you, receives me' (Matthew 10:40).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:5-6

  (Vers. 5, 6.) Where are your fathers and the prophets? Will they live forever? However, my words and my ordinances that I commanded my servants the prophets, did not your fathers understand them? And they turned and said: Just as the Lord of hosts planned to do to us according to our ways and according to our inventions, He has done to us. LXX: Where are your fathers and the prophets? Will they live forever? However, listen to my words and accept my law, which I command in my spirit to my servants, the prophets who have understood your ancestors. And they answered and said, 'Just as the Lord Almighty was ready to do to us according to our ways and our inventions, so he did to us.' 'Where are,' he said, 'your ancestors who did not listen or pay attention to me?' Where are your prophets? In common it must be heard: Where are your fathers, and where are your prophets? That is, false prophets: for never would it be said of the holy prophets, 'Will they live forever?' And so, those who have sinned and refused to return to me, and those who, while sinning, deceived others with false promises, have been taken away by death, but my words, which I spoke through my prophets, endure forever, which your fathers understood and showed to be true. Your fathers, confirming the fulfillment of the prophecies of my prophets by the outcome of events, turned to repentance and said: As the Lord of hosts foretold, he has dealt with us according to our works and sins. Let us read Daniel confessing in his own person and in the person of the people to the Lord, that they did not want to hear him, and that whatever they have suffered has rightfully befallen them (Dan. III).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:7

  (Vrs. 7.) On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sabat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying. LXX: On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sabat, in the second year under Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Addo, saying. Some place the eleventh month as the twelfth month and interpret the twenty-fourth day of the same month by mathematical calculations, suspecting it to be a firm and stable number, wanting what is written to be certain and stable; but we say that in the same year, the second year of King Darius, in the third month after the first Vision, that is, the eleventh month after the eighth, which is called Sabat by the Hebrews, again the word of the Lord came to Zechariah. According to the number, it is unclean and pertains to the union of flesh and worldly things, pertaining to matter, as we often teach. But the eleventh month, which is called Sabat, and is translated in our language as "rod," signifies severity and chastisement, as the Apostle says: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod? (1 Corinthians 4:21). And as the Psalmist says: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalm 23:4). And it is during the harshest time of winter, which is called Mechir by the Egyptians, περίτιος by the Macedonians, and Februarius by the Romans. The twenty-fourth day of the month also signifies the illustrious shadow of the night, with the moon waning into darkness and the blind and perpetual horror of the night growing. Therefore, it is fitting that those who were still in captivity, the majority of whom were in Media and Chaldea, and were exiled in Assyria, saw what follows on the second year and eleventh month, during the most severe cold, and on the twenty-fourth day of the same month, to the Jewish people.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:8

  [Daniel 7:5] "And behold another beast like a bear stood up on one side; and there were three rows in his mouth and in his teeth; and they said to him: 'Arise up and devour flesh in abundance.'" The second beast resembling a bear is the same as that of which we read in the vision of the statue (2:32): "His chest and arms were of silver." In the former case the comparison was based on the hardness of the metal, in this case on the ferocity of the bear. For the Persian kingdom followed a rigorous and frugal manner of life after the manner of the Spartans, and that too to such an extent that they used to use salt and nasturtium-cress in their relish. Let us consult the record of the childhood of Cyrus the Great (i.e., "The Education or Training" of Cyrus). And as for the fact that the bear is said to have "stood up on one side," the Hebrews interpret it by saying that the Persians never perpetrated any cruelty against Israel. Hence they are described in the Prophecy of Zechariah also as white horses (Zechariah 1:7-11). But as for the three rows or ranks that were in his mouth and between his teeth, one authority has interpreted this to mean that allusion was made to the fact that the Persian kingdom was divided up among three princes, just as we read in the sections dealing with Belshazzar and with Darius that there were three princes who were in charge of the one hundred and twenty satraps. But other commentators affirm that these were three kings of the Persians who were subsequent to Cyrus, and yet they fail to mention them by name. But we know that after Cyrus's reign of thirty years his son Cambyses ruled among the Persians, and his brothers the magi, and then Darius, in the second year of whose reign the rebuilding of the Temple was commenced at Jerusalem. The fifth king was Xerxes, the son of Darius; the sixth was Artabanus; the seventh, Artaxerxes who was surnamed Makrokheir, that is Longimanus ("Long-handed"); the eighth, Xerxes; the ninth, Sogdianus; the tenth, Darius surnamed Nothos ("Bastard"); the eleventh, the Artaxerxes called Mnemon, that is, "The Rememberer"; the twelfth, the other Artaxerxes, who himself received the surname of Ochus; the thirteenth, Arses, the son of Ochus; and the fourteenth, Darius the son of Arsamus, who was conquered by Alexander, the king of the Macedonians. How then can we say that these were three kings of the Persians? Of course we could select some who were especially cruel, but we cannot ascertain them on the basis of the historical accounts. Therefore the three rows in the mouth of the Persian kingdom and between its teeth we must take to be the three kingdoms of the Babylonians, the Medes, and the Persians, all of which were reduced to a single realm. And as for the information, "And thus they spake to him: 'Devour flesh in abundance,'" this refers to the time when in the reign of the Ahasuerus whom the Septuagint calls Artaxerxes, the order was given, at the suggestion of Haman the Agagite, that all the Jews be slaughtered on a single day (Esther 3:13). And very properly, instead of saying, "He was devouring them" the account specifies, "Thus they spake unto him..." This shows that the matter was only attempted, and was by no means ever carried out.

  St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER SEVEN

• Zechariah 1:8-13

  (Verse 8 and following) I saw during the night: and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the ravine, and behind him there were red, sorrel, and white horses. And I said, 'What are these, my lord?' And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, 'I will show you what these are.' And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, 'These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth.' And they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, 'We have gone throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is peaceful and quiet.' And the angel of the Lord answered and said: O Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry? This is the seventieth year. And the Lord answered the angel that spoke in me, good words, and comfortable words. LXX: I saw in the night: and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and white. And I said: What are these, my Lord? And the angel who spoke with me said: I will show you what these things are. And the man who stood among the mountains answered and said to me: These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to go around the earth. And they answered the angel of the Lord, who stood among the mountains, and said: We have gone around the whole earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited and at rest. And the angel of the Lord answered and said: O Lord Almighty, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you are angry? This is the seventieth year. And the Lord answered the angel who spoke to me, good words and consoling speeches. First, let us discuss the story: I saw, he said, during the night: not during the day, like Moses, who saw God face to face: and Isaiah who spoke: I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne (Isa. VI, 1): before the people were led into captivity, before Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple; but still, while the people were in the midst of the evils of servitude, he sees what he sees for them in darkness. And behold, a man riding on a red horse. The Hebrews believe this to be the angel Michael, who is the avenger of iniquities and sins of Israel. And the standing among the myrtle trees that were in the depths, they want to understand as the prophets and saints who dwelled among the captive people and were in the depths. But the man, that is, Michael, was followed by red and various-colored horses, and white ones, with the order, as they think, changed: so that the white ones signify the Medes and the Persians, because under them the captivity was dismissed and the temple was rebuilt; the various-colored ones, the Macedonians, some of whom were friends, others were persecutors (the last vision of Daniel [Chapter 8] speaks most fully on this matter); but the red ones signify the kingdom of the Romans, bloody and murderous, which killed the people and destroyed the temple. But others, preserving the order that was written, interpret the man who rides a red horse and the red horses as representing the four kingdoms. The first and second, the bloodshedders, are interpreted as the Assyrians and Chaldeans, whose first ten tribes were led captive by Salmanasar. The second, Judah and Benjamin, with the city of Jerusalem burned and the temple destroyed. The third and fourth, the various and white horses, are thought to represent the Medes and Persians: some of whom were merciful, such as Cyrus, Darius son of Hystaspis, and Artaxerxes, called by the Greeks Assuerus, under whom the story of Esther is fulfilled; others were cruel, such as Cambyses and the rest. Therefore, the seer and prophet sees a man riding on a red horse, followed by red, spotted, and white horses. Not knowing what he had seen, and desiring to understand the meaning of his vision, he asks, 'What are these, my Lord?' The angel who was speaking with him promises to reveal the answer. As the seer remains silent, a man standing among the myrtle trees recounts, 'These are the kingdoms that the Lord has commanded to go throughout the earth and subdue it under their authority.' Finally, the angels who presided over kingdoms and nations do not come to anyone else, but to the very man and angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtles, and they say: We have walked through the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited and at rest. And the meaning is: all the kingdoms under us are safe and peaceful, and no distress weighs upon them. From this response, the angel who interceded for Israel takes the opportunity to pray for the people, and says to the Lord: Since the whole world is quiet and peaceful, why, O Lord, do you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, especially since the time of captivity, according to your promises, has been fulfilled? And the Lord answered the angel who spoke in the prophet with good words, comforting words. Good words regarding the promises of the future, comforting words regarding the needs of the present. These, according to the letter, so that we may not see our own concealed things, which we have learned from foreign language teachers. But the teachers of the Churches understand the darkness of the mystical vision on the night when the vision is seen. For God has placed darkness as his hiding place (Psalm 18:12). And according to the Septuagint translators, it is said of him: 'The abyss is like his garment' (Ps. 103:6). But the man who was riding on a red horse is the Lord Savior, who, by taking on the dispensation of our flesh, hears in Isaiah: 'Why are your garments red?' (Isa. 63:2). This one who is now shown as red to the captive people is described in the Apocalypse of John as sitting on a white horse, wearing white garments (Rev. 3 and 6). But what is said to be standing between two shady mountains (although in Hebrew it does not have two), the New and Old Testaments understand, which is said to be covered with dense leaves, and forest, and shady woods, because it is enveloped in many obscurities. But the myrtles that were in the depths, among which it is described as standing, understand the angelic powers, which also ministered to him even in the flesh. Or certainly the mountains (to remove what is not written, two) absolutely and without number, we can understand many holy people and apostles and apostolic men, who are reported to have traveled the whole world, red, and various, and white. Some have been crowned with martyrdom and are called 'rufi'. Others, through their works, teaching, and variety of signs, are called by various names. Others have received rewards for their virginity, purity of doctrine, and pure heart that sees God. Finally, the prophet asks the same man and angel who stood among the myrtles, saying: Who are these, my lord? And the angel who spoke in him, namely the prophetic sense, promises to show what is seen. And when he had promised, he did not answer himself, but another who stood among the myrtle trees, and said: These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk the earth. For the apostles were sent by the Lord to complete the preaching of the Gospel throughout the whole world, and after they had fulfilled their mission, they returned to the angel of the great council who stood among them, who spoke with the Apostle: We are the pleasing aroma of Christ to those who are being saved and to those who are perishing (1 Corinthians 2:15), and among peoples of both callings. And they said to him: We have traveled the land, fulfilled the work that was assigned to us, and behold, the whole land is inhabited and at rest, which was once deserted by God. Now it is His dwelling place, resting from wars, battles of vices and sins. For He has received the inheritance of the Lord, who has returned to the Father, and who says: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave you (John 14:27). And as for the full mercy that is requested, they refer to the imminent seventieth year when God will have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with respect to that understanding: that as long as true peace comes and the Sabbath and the number of seven decades, that is, the seventieth year is fulfilled, neither Jerusalem may receive complete freedom, which is interpreted as the vision of peace and is the Church, nor may the cities of Judah, who confess the Lord, receive it. Finally, the Lord promises good words, consoling words: which we now see in part, and in part we prophesy (I Cor. XIII, 12). But when that which is perfect has come, those things which are in part will be done away with: and being delivered from the Babylon of this age, let us cry out: When the Lord brings back the captivity of Zion, we became like those consoled (Psal. CXXV, 1).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:9

  I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. The prophet prays on behalf of the people, and he who speaks within himself while God speaks, and he says, I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me. You see that God speaks not in the ears but in the heart; just as Zechariah too says: "And the angel who spoke within me said to me." There the angel is understood to be our Lord, who announces the will of the Father, who in Isaiah is called the "angel of great counsel." I will hear what the Lord God speaks within me: I will incline the ear of my heart, that I may hear what the Lord God speaks within me.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS, ALTERNATE SERIES 64

• Zechariah 1:12

  [Daniel 5:2] "Being now drunken, he therefore gave order that the golden and silver vessels be brought in which his father, Nebuchadnezzar, had taken away from the temple which was in Jerusalem, in order that the king might drink from them..." The Hebrews hand down some such story as this: that up until the seventieth year, on which Jeremiah had said (Jeremiah 25:11) that the captivity of the Jewish people would be released (a matter of which Zechariah also speaks [Zechariah 1:12] in the first part of his book), Belshazzar had esteemed God's promise to be of none effect; therefore he turned the failure of the promise into an occasion of joy and arranged a great banquet, scoffing somewhat at the expectation of the Jews and at the vessels of the Temple of God. Punishment, however, immediately ensued. And as to the fact that the author calls Nebuchadnezzar the father of Belshazzar, he does not make any mistake in the eyes of those who are acquainted with the Holy Scripture's manner of speaking, for in the Scripture all progenitors and ancestors are called fathers. This factor also should be borne in mind, that he was not sober when he did these things, but rather when he was intoxicated and forgetful of the punishment which had come upon his progenitor, Nebuchadnezzar.

  St. Jerome, Commentary on Daniel, CHAPTER FIVE

• Zechariah 1:14-16

  (Verse 14 and following) And the angel who spoke in me said to me: Cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and Zion with great jealousy, and with great anger I am angry (alternate: I will be angry) with the prosperous nations, for I was angry only a little, but they (alternate: they themselves) assisted in bringing about evil. Therefore, thus says the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and my house will be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and the plumb line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. LXX: And the angel who was speaking with me said, 'Cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: I am zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great zeal, and with great wrath I am angry with the nations that are above them, for I was indeed angry for a little while, but they themselves are subjected to evil. Therefore, thus says the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and my house will be rebuilt in it,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.' Still good words, and consoling words these are, which now the prophet is commanded to cry aloud: that the Lord is zealous for Jerusalem and Zion with a great zeal. But he who is zealous, shows by loving the thing that he is zealous for, not saying, as Isaiah says, 'As a wife despises her husband, so has the house of Israel despised me' (Jeremiah 3:20). To whom the Lord spoke through Ezekiel: 'I will no longer be angry with you, and my zeal has turned away from you' (Ezekiel 16:42). Therefore, he who is jealous for Jerusalem and Zion (which are one and the same city) now becomes angry with the rich nations, whom he called upon above red, white, and various colored horses, because he himself delivered them for punishment. However, they raged against those who were delivered; here, as if wanting his son to be corrected by a tutor; there, as if wanting to kill an enemy and punish him. Similar to this is what is written in Isaiah: 'I gave them into your hands, but you showed them no mercy.' You have laid a heavy yoke on the aged and said, 'I will be mistress forever' (Isaiah 47:6). But zeal is understood in a human way, like anger. From this passage heretics are refuted, who detract from the Old Testament, claiming that God, when angry, does not want to destroy those towards whom He is angry, but to correct them. Therefore, he says, I have been zealous for Jerusalem, and with great zeal I have consumed those who opposed her: therefore, thus says the Lord: I will return not in one mercy, but in many mercies to Jerusalem, and my house, that is, the temple, will be rebuilt in it under Zerubbabel and Joshua son of Jehozadak; and the measuring line of the builders will be stretched out over Jerusalem. Jerusalem and Zion can be understood as the vision of peace and the watchtowers, which do not belong to the wars of this age, nor to the lowly and earthly, but to peace and harmony, and to the lofty heights of the heavens, the Church. Because of its vices and sins, and because of its daily cooling love, the Lord becomes angry and delivers it to persecutions, so that it may appear as gold and silver in a furnace. However, its adversaries, to whom it has been entrusted, seek to destroy it. Jerusalem will be built again with the blood of Caesar, from one gate to another. Where the Lord promising peace and mercy, says that it will be built again. And a plumb line or a cord should be stretched in it according to the measurements and orders of each. However, what a cord is, is demonstrated in the following chapter, where the prophet says: I lifted up my eyes and saw: and behold a man, and in his hand a measuring cord. But the temple of God that the adversaries destroyed can also be understood as the venerable body of the Lord, of which he himself said: Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up (John 2:19). What was destroyed in the passion, was raised up in the resurrection, and it was the origin and foundation of all temples, about which the Apostle also speaks: You are the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwells in you (2 Corinthians VI, 16).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:17

  (Verse 17.) Still cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall still overflow with goods, and the Lord shall still comfort Zion, and shall still choose Jerusalem. LXX: And the angel who spoke in me said: Still cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Still cities shall be spread with goods, and the Lord shall still have mercy on Zion, and shall still choose Jerusalem. The angel who had spoken above to the prophet said: Cry out: Thus says the Lord of hosts, now he also urges him to cry out, not with the intensity of his voice, but with the intensity of his mind: and this is what he commands to be cried out: My cities shall still overflow with goods, which you now see devastated by the fire of the Babylonians, they shall again abound with all things, and the Lord shall comfort the present miseries with future goods, and shall choose Jerusalem, which he had recently cast away. But if we refer to the Church, to which true and eternal goods are promised, those goods must be believed, about which we read: See the good things of Jerusalem (Ps. 127:5). And in another place: If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land (Isa. 1:19). And that: Trust in the Lord, and He will exalt you to possess the good things of the earth. Which a wise man, to whom the Lord had revealed the uncertain and obscure things of His wisdom, promises to himself with hope for the future, and says: I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living (Ps. 26:13). After the fires of the most savage persecution which the Church of the Lord endured from both the pagans and the heretical Arians, peace being restored, we see the Churches of the Lord flourish, and Zion consoled, and Jerusalem chosen, which it had previously rejected. We can understand this to refer to the temple of the Lord and to each and every believer. Some interpret the consoled Zion and chosen Jerusalem, and the other things that are preached in this manner by all the prophets, as referring to the heavenly Jerusalem, which, having been destroyed through ruin, is to be restored through virtues. We will interpret all these things more correctly about the Church.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 1:18-19

  (Verse 18, 19.) And I lifted up my eyes and saw: and behold four horns, and I said to the angel who spoke with me: What are these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Judah, and Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four craftsmen, and I said: What are these coming to do? And he said, saying: These are the horns that have scattered Judah, each one by his own man, and none of them has lifted up his head, and these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that have lifted up their horn over the land of Judah, to scatter it. LXX: And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold four horns. And I said to the angel who talked with me, 'What are these, Lord?' And he said to me, 'These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.' Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen, and I said, 'What are these coming to do?' And he said, 'These are the horns that have scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.' Four horns, the nations that lifted up a horn over the land of the Lord to scatter it. Four horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, to be four nations, the Babylonians, Medes and Persians, and Macedonians, and Romans, and now the Lord, questioned by the prophet, explains, and Daniel fully repeats. He, in the vision of the image, had a golden head, and a silver chest, and a bronze belly, and legs and feet of iron and clay, these four nations he interpreted (Dan. II). And again, in another vision, four beasts, a lion and a bear, and a leopard, and another horrible beast, whose name was not given, showed the same nations under a different appearance. And let no one doubt that the Medes and Persians are one kingdom after the victory of Cyrus, who has read both secular and sacred letters. And he rightly placed horns for kingdoms, the Holy Scripture having this custom of always interpreting kingdom as horns, as in this passage: And He has exalted the horn of His Christ (Psalm 148:14). And in another place: And he raised up the horn of salvation for us, in the house of David his servant (Luke 1:69). And ten horns will reign in the end, as the prophet Daniel also testifies (Daniel 7). At that time when this vision was seen, the kingdom of the Babylonians had already passed, the Persians and Medes were pressing in, the Greeks or rather the Macedonians were to come, and then the Romans. What the Babylonians, the Medes and Persians, the Greeks or rather the Macedonians did to the Jews, Israel, and Jerusalem, a learned man knows, especially during the time of Antiochus, surnamed Epiphanes, under whom the history of the Maccabees is recorded. After the arrival of the Lord and Savior, when Jerusalem was surrounded and the Israelites endured, as the Gospel before tells (Luke 19), and as the Jewish historian Josephus explains in great detail. These horns scattered and dispersed Judah, almost every single man, so that none of them, burdened by the weight of great tribulation, could raise their head. The prophet himself did not see the four craftsmen or artisans whom the Greeks call τέκτονες, but the Lord showed and explained to him who these craftsmen are, whom we understand to be obedient to the Lord's authority, to rebuild what the nations destroyed. But this, for which we have been interpreted from the Hebrew: They came to destroy these things, namely, kingdoms, interpreted by the Seventy: They came to sharpen these things, in their hands. But to sharpen these things means to understand them. Or certainly, to destroy, so that all may submit their necks under the yoke of Christ, and not (as some have interpreted) when they have been sharpened, become worse. For if the angels come for this purpose, to make the wicked worse, they should not be called craftsmen, that is, destroyers of evil, and builders of good; but they themselves should be understood as wicked and destroyers. And it should be noted that these four horns of the nations, one opposed to the people of God, raised a horn; for they did not reign equally and at the same time oppress Israel, but they succeeded each other, Babylonians, Medes, and Persians. The kingdom of the Persians, the kingdom of the Macedonians; the kingdom of the Macedonians, the empire of the Romans. We have mentioned these following the order of history. But what the prophet says, that he lifted up his eyes, must be understood in a spiritual sense: I have lifted up my eyes to the mountains, from whence help shall come to me (Ps. 120:1). And: Lift up your eyes and behold the regions, for they are already white for harvesting (John 4:35). And that which we read in Isaiah: The holy one said, Lift up your eyes and see who has shown all these things (Isaiah 51:6). Therefore, it is necessary to lift up our eyes and have spiritual understanding, so that we may see the opposing forces that have exalted their horn against us, and concerning which the Apostle speaks: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against the spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). These four adversaries, who always fought against the Saints, were crushed by Christ when He came. And concerning them, the Psalmist says: You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon (Psalm 90:13). We can understand four horns, which reigned against the people of God, and four passions, which the learned do not express word for word with envy, but interpret as disturbances, the affliction of the soul and joy: two present, and two future, fear and desire, of which even the illustrious poet signifies (Aeneid VI). From here they fear, desire, grieve, and rejoice. Against these [virtues], four craftsmen, and (so to speak) doctors, and good artisans, are not perceived by the prophet, for without the revelation of God he could not yet see them on his own, but they are revealed to him by the Lord, namely the four virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance, about which Cicero extensively argues in his book On Duties, also writing a separate book about the four virtues. Therefore, those who destroy vices and build virtues, and all the saints who continually restore the Church possessing these remedies, are to be called craftsmen. Hence, the Apostle spoke: Like a skilled builder, I laid the foundation (1 Corinthians 3:10). And the angry Lord said that He would remove the architect and wise man from Jerusalem (Isaiah 3). And the Lord Himself, the Son of God Almighty and Creator of all, is called the son of a craftsman. I read in someone's Commentaries that the four blacksmiths are the four Evangelists, who, by understanding the oppressed Israel, namely, seeing God, and confessing the Lord Judah, and the vision of peace in Jerusalem, restore them to their former seat, and who the sinful nations had dispersed from the Church, they brought back to salvation through the preaching of the Gospel.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:1-2

  (Chapter 2, Verses 1, 2.) And I lifted up my eyes and saw: and behold, a man, and in his hand a measuring line. And I said: Where are you going? And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem, and see how wide it is, and how long it is. (Alternate translation: And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem, and see how high it is, and how long it is.) Septuagint: And I lifted up my eyes and saw: and behold, a man, and in his hand a measuring cord, and I said to him: Where are you going? And he said to me, to measure Jerusalem, and see how wide it is, and how long it is. With his eyes raised, Quiprius had seen sad things on the four horns. Now he raises his eyes again, to see the man about whom it is written: 'Behold the man, his name is the East' (Zech. VI, 12); about whom we also read above: 'And behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, or in the shady mountains' (Zech. I, 8). And about whom the Father speaks: 'He has built my city' (Heb. XI), of which God is the architect and builder. Here it is seen also from Ezechiel, holding a rope in his hand, and a reed measuring a cubit, to measure Jerusalem, the description of which, namely, its width and length, the same prophet continues in mystical language (Ezek. 40). Some think that this was fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel, and Jesus, and Ezra, and Nehemiah, and other leaders or kings, who ruled the people of Israel until the coming of the Lord and Savior. But others, especially the Jews, interpret it as a thousand-year kingdom, seeking physical things. But many of us refer to the heavenly Jerusalem, and say that it must be rebuilt, as it had been destroyed by the sins of the souls. The heretics suspect this. However, we interpret Mount Zion, the mother of the firstfruits and the saints, as the Church, which was built in the passion and resurrection of the Lord, and is continually being built by him who knows the measures and merits of each individual. What we said about the Church can also be applied to the souls of the believers, which are daily built by the Lord and experience His peace that was left to the apostles.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:4-5

  (Verse 4 and following) And behold, the angel who spoke to me went out, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him: Run, speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of people and animals in its midst. And I will be to it, says the Lord, a wall of fire all around, and I will be in the midst of it in glory. LXX: And behold, the angel who spoke to me stood, and another angel went out to meet him, and said to him: Run and speak to that young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a fruitful place, because of the multitude of people and animals in its midst. And I will be a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory within her. The angel who spoke to the prophet, and stood, or as it is read in Hebrew, went out, this signifies Jasa (the Hebrews think it is Michael). And the other angel who went out and came to meet him, they suspect is Gabriel, who speaks to Michael, so that he may speak to the prophet, about the great abundance of all things, and the multitude of people and animals, and the strength of the walls that Jerusalem will have, which at present seems to be destroyed to ashes and dust. But according to the spiritual sense, we interpret all these things in the Church, which, without a wall, or as they have translated it in the Septuagint, κατάκαρπος, that is, it may be inhabited with the abundance of all fruits and may have a multitude of people and animals, and the Lord of fire may be around it, and He Himself may move in the midst of it in glory. This is the city of which we read elsewhere: Glorious things are said of you, O city of God (Psalm 86:2). And again: Great is the Lord and exceedingly praiseworthy, in the city of our God, on his holy mountain (Ps. VII, 1). Whoever dwells in this place can say: But I, like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God (Ps. LI, 10). And: The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want: he has placed me in a place of pasture, by the waters of refreshment (Ps. XXII, 1). And it shall be inhabited, it says, Jerusalem, because of the multitude of men and animals, without walls, or abundance of all kinds of fruits. A certain one, humans and animals are interpreted as two peoples, Jews and Gentiles, because those who have been versed in the Law and come to faith in Christ are called humans: but we who were in idolatry as if in the desert of the Law and solitude of the prophets, and have received his passion, should be called animals. But others want that even rational and knowledgeable in the Scriptures, be understood as humans: but that simple believers be called animals, and concerning them it is said: You will save humans and animals, O Lord (Ps. XXXV, 7). These animals, and these living beings, hear the voice of the good shepherd, and they recognize, and follow him: who himself is both shepherd, because he guides us; and door, because through him we enter the Church, and to the Father (John 10); and a wall of fire around, so that it may warm up (or may warm up) those who believe and dwell in the midst, who had previously grown lukewarm in the coldness of charity, and may be fervent in spirit. But let it consume with its fire the wolves and the most savage beasts (of whom it is written: Do not give the soul confessing you to beasts (Psalm 73, 19): and whose fruits are hay, wood, straw (1 Corinthians 3, 12): and they bring thistles and thorns); and may the one who is an adversary of the fire, be in the midst of believers with glory. But as for the wall of Jerusalem, it is the Lord, and in another place we read: Mountains surround it, and the Lord surrounds his people (Ps. 124:2). The Jews think that all these things will come about in a carnal way under the hope of a most vain promise, thinking that Jerusalem will have such great blessedness that, due to the multitude of people and all the animals, it will not be able to have a wall; but the wall will be the defense of the Lord Himself, and let it enjoy the glory of the One dwelling in its midst.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:6-7

  (Verse 6 and following) O, O flee from the land of the North, says the Lord, for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. O Zion, arise, you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon. LXX: O flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I will gather you from the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. In Zion you shall be saved, you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon. The regions of the world, which the Greeks call climates, are understood to be located near Jerusalem and the temple. Therefore, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who devastated the people of God, dwell in the land of the North. Finally, in Jeremiah (Chapter I), the pot that is filled with meat (which is understood to be the city of Jerusalem) is set on fire from the face of the North. Therefore, since the angel had commanded the angel who met the prophetic angel in Zechariah to speak to the boy (for in comparison to the angelic dignity, all human nature is called boyhood, because we do not progress from angels to us, but from us to angels), and to say to him: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, and the rest. Now the same word of the Lord comes to those who live in the North: that they should gather from the four winds, to whom they had been scattered throughout the whole world, and return to Zion, those who dwelt in Babylon. Or certainly in this way: O you who have been scattered in the four parts of the heavens, flee from the land of the North, and, O Zion, who now dwells in Babylon, flee and return to your former home. And that when it is said in the vocative case 'O' for the third time, it is an exhortation to flee, so that they may know that they have been warned not once, but repeatedly, to flee. It is said in another way: Aquilo is the most violent wind, which hardens the hearts of its inhabitants and from which all the evils that dwell on the earth are kindled, and towards which, according to the same prophet Zachariah, the black horses go out to stand in their own region (Zach. I and VI). He also, who in Isaiah boasted, saying: I will ascend into heaven, I will set my throne above the stars of heaven, I will sit upon the mountain of the covenant, in the heights of the north (Isai. XIV, 13), boasts of having a kingdom in the coldest place on earth. We read in another place: Behold, smoke comes from the north (Ibid., 31): and it is said of those who have departed far from the holy city: Behold, these come from afar from the north and the sea (Ibid., XLIX, 12). And through Jeremiah the Holy Spirit speaks, calling those who are in captivity to return to Jerusalem: Go and read my words to the north, and you shall say: Return to me, O dwelling of Israel, says the Lord (Jer. XLVI). Therefore, it is commanded to us who dwell in the North, and have lost the heat of the Lord's fervor, who have been scattered throughout the world, and about whom the Gospel preaches, that the Lord send his angels in the four winds, and gather us, and that we, who are involved in the vices and confusion of this age, flee to the Church of the Lord in Zion, and, forsaking worldly desires, stand firm in the watchtower of its teachings and greatness.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:8

  (Verse 8) For thus says the Lord of hosts, after glory He has sent me to the nations who plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. LXX: For thus says the Lord Almighty: after glory He has sent me to the nations that plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. But what follows is this: Thus says the Lord of hosts, after the glory He sent Me, and so on, the voice of the speaking Savior is introduced, who says that He is sent by the Almighty God from the Almighty Father, not according to what is almighty, but according to what He was sent after the glory. Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal to God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6). It is not surprising that Christ is called omnipotent, from whose person we read in the Book of Revelation of John: 'These things saith the faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty God' (Rev. 1:4, 5). Also, what we read in the twenty-third psalm: 'Lift up your gates, O ye princes, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall enter in' (v. 7). And again, it is said by other angels who were ignorant of the mystery of the assumed flesh: 'Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory,' and this refers to Christ. For wherever we read 'the Lord of hosts,' it is written in Hebrew as 'Sabaoth,' which is translated by the Septuagint interpreters as 'omnipotent.' From this we understand that wherever 'the Lord of hosts' is said of Christ, He is to be understood as omnipotent. It is not surprising if Christ is called omnipotent, to whom all power is given in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). And who says, 'All things that the Father hath are mine' (John 17:10). But if all things, that is, God of God, Lord of the Lord, light of light, then also omnipotent of omnipotent; for it cannot happen that where one nature is, there be diverse glory. Therefore, He was sent after the glory of divine majesty to the Gentiles, who had despoiled the people of God, so that those who were once their plunderers might be slaves to them, and that the whole crowd of former slaves might know that God is omnipotent and merciful. And He says, 'He that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of His eye'; understand the touch as vexation and injury, according to what we read: 'Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm' (Ps. 105:15). For whoever touches the saints of the Lord is as if he desired to vex the apple of His eye, and endeavored to deprive him of the bright light spoken of in the Gospel, 'Ye are the light of the world' (Matt. 5:14).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:9

  (Verse 9) For behold, I will shake My hand over them, and they shall become spoil for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. LXX: Behold, I will raise my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. But God lifts His hand to strike the adverse nations and to restore His people, either in Jerusalem or in the Church. By adverse nations, according to the allegorical interpretation, understand the opposing powers, which subject sinners daily to their authority and compel them to serve themselves.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:10-12

  (Verse 10 onwards) Praise and rejoice, Daughter Zion, for behold, I am coming and will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. Many nations will be joined to the Lord on that day and will became my people. I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will choose Jerusalem again. Rejoice and be glad, Daughter Zion, for behold, I am coming and will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. Many nations will flee to the Lord on that day and will become his people. They will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will possess Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he will choose Jerusalem again. And these things must still be understood from the perspective of the Lord: that he encourages his people to rejoice and be glad about their restoration from captivity to their former dwelling place, that the Lord himself will come and dwell among them, and that many nations will believe in him, as it is said: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Psalm 2:8); and he will dwell among them, speaking to his disciples: Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). And may the Lord possess Judah as his own portion, confessing and believing in his name, and may he not possess elsewhere, except in the holy land, which is interpreted as the Church, and may he choose Jerusalem again, which he had forsaken in temptation and persecutions. Some Jews believe that this happened under Zerubbabel and Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah, who completed this in part, especially because Jerusalem is chosen and possessed by Judah: namely, the two tribes that returned from the Babylonian captivity and were called Judah, not Israel, because the latter are still living among the Medes. But others differ in their interpretation of the future, because they believe that there will be nations who will believe in the one sent by the Lord, and that Jerusalem must be chosen. However, since all nations have already believed in the Lord Savior, it cannot be chosen because it is completely destroyed. But rightly after the captivity, the daughter of Zion is called to rejoice, as it is said in the psalm: 'When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will rejoice, and Israel will be glad' (Psalm 53:7).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 2:13

  (Verse 13) Let all flesh be silent before the face of the Lord, for He has risen from His holy dwelling. LXX: Let all flesh fear before the face of the Lord, for He has risen from His holy clouds. When these things happen, and the Lord possesses His portion, Judah, and chooses Jerusalem, every human race fears the coming of the Lord, for He has risen from His holy dwelling. The Lord is said to rise, and as if awakening from sleep, when He rises for the vengeance of His people, according to what is written: Rise up, why do you sleep, O Lord? (Ps. XLIII, 23) Or according to the Septuagint, He rose from His holy clouds, understand the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, to whom the Lord commanded not to rain rain upon Israel. These are the clouds, of which it is written: And let the clouds rain down righteousness (Isaiah 45:8): for these clouds are not corporeal, in which denser air is condensed, they cannot rain down righteousness. In these clouds, and with these clouds, the Lord says in the Gospel that He will come (Luke 21). And in Isaiah we read that the Lord came into Egypt in a light cloud (Isa. XIX). Egypt is understood as the world, into which the Lord is said to have descended in the flesh, which was born from a virgin womb, not burdened by the weight of human seed and sin. But that the term 'every flesh' does not apply to all creatures, including humans, animals, birds, and fish, but specifically to humans, is indicated by the Scripture: 'To you all flesh will come' (Ps. LXIV, 3). For not all flesh of irrational animals will come to the Lord, but that which is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and of which it is said: I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy (Joel 2:28).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 3:1-5

  (Chapter III - Verse 1 and following) And he showed me Jesus, the great high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan: May the Lord rebuke you, Satan, may the Lord rebuke you who has chosen Jerusalem. Is this not a brand plucked out of the fire? And Jesus was clothed in filthy garments, and he stood before the face of the angel who responded and said to those who stood before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquity, and I will clothe you with rich garments.' And they put a clean turban on his head, and they put clean clothes on him. LXX: And the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!' Is not this man like a brand plucked from the fire? And Jesus was clothed with dirty clothes, and he stood before the face of the angel, and he answered and said to those standing before his face, saying: Take off the dirty clothes from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have wiped away your iniquities from you; and dress him in fine clothing, and put a clean turban on his head, and they put a clean turban on his head, and they surrounded him with garments. Before we come to the understanding of the spiritual intelligence, it must be said strictly and briefly how the Hebrews explained this passage. They want Jesus the great priest, whom the Greeks call ἀρχιερέα and the Latins call pontifex, to be understood as the son of Josedec, who presided over the people with Zorobabel. The adversary (for this is what Satan means) stood at his right hand to oppose him. And he rightly stood at his right hand, not at his left, because the accusation was true, since he himself had taken a foreign wife, as is written in Ezra and in Malachi, who follows this prophet, (1 Esdras 12 and Mal. 2). And the Lord said to Satan, the accuser and adversary, for he is the enemy and avenger, and the accuser of his brothers: Let the Lord rebuke you, Satan: for it is raining from the Lord: and let the Lord rebuke you, who chose Jerusalem. Therefore, since Jerusalem has now been chosen from among all the cities of Judah, with the Lord not imputing to her the sins she has committed, why do you attempt to bury Jesus, who escaped from the captivity of Babylon as if half burnt, like a tower which is commonly called a torch? But what follows, 'Jesus was clothed in dirty clothes,' is interpreted in three ways. Either because of illicit union, or because of the sins of the people, or because of the squalor of captivity. But the angel, before whose face Jesus stood, commanded the other angels on behalf of the Lord to take away from him the dirty clothes of which we have spoken above. When they had fulfilled the command, the same angel spoke again to Jesus: 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquity; these are the dirty clothes, and I have clothed you with new garments.' This refers to the joining of an Israelite wife to you, which the Seventy interpreted as 'ποδήρη,' which we can call a long tunic, because it flows down to the ankles and feet. And what follows: Place a clean headband over his head, because we read in Hebrew Saniph (), which is called by many a headdress, and in this they want the dignity of the priest to be understood, that he, having removed the filth of sins, may have a clean priesthood. This is how the Jews interpret it. But our argument is that the priest is great, to whom it is said: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. CIX, 4). But since he (the angel) cannot be seen by himself, he is shown to the prophet by the Lord standing before the angel of the Lord, whom they wish to be the angel of great counsel, not because one and another are, or that we should accept two persons in the Son; but that he is shown to be the same and as one, and is said to appear as if in the form of a defiled man and as if an angel, mediating between God and men. However, they attempt to show that he is not Jesus son of Josedech, because it is not appropriate in the present place for him to be called the son of Josedech, who in other places, and where Jesus is truly called the son of Josedech, is always considered under the name of the Father. Therefore, Jesus is seen standing and standing firmly; and Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him. For he was tempted in every way without sin. And in the Gospel, the tempter approaches him, always seeking to oppose him with his right hand and his powers. And that which follows: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and the Lord rebuke you, who choose Jerusalem, they have said, because the Father and the Son are Lord, and in the 109th psalm we read: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. The Lord speaks to another Lord, not because the Lord who speaks cannot rebuke, but because out of the unity of nature, when the other rebukes, he himself who speaks rebukes. For he who sees the Son, sees also the Father (John 14:9); and this is he who chose Jerusalem, the Church which contemplates the peace of the Lord. But the tower taken out of the fire can rightly be understood as one who, while he is in Babylon, is not consumed by the fire of Babylon, nor touched by the flame of this world. Therefore Moses also sees a great vision in the desert, in which the bush was burning, but was not consumed (Exodus 3). This Jesus was clothed in filthy garments; although he had not committed any sin, he was made sin for us, and he himself carries our infirmities, and suffers for us, and we thought of him as being in sorrow, and in wounds, and in anguish. But he was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:4). And in the Apostle we read: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Here in the twenty-first psalm it says: Far from my salvation are the words of my offenses (Psalm 22:1). And in the sixty-eighth psalm: O God, you know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from you (Psalm 69:6). All the garments that are called dirty will be taken away from him when he has washed away our sins, so that because he was clothed in dirty garments, we may hear after baptism: May your garments always be white (Eccl. IX, 8): and the whole Church of believers hears through Isaiah: Wash, be clean (Isa. I, 16). And she is prophesied about in the Song of Songs: Who is this that ascends, white (Cant. III, 6)? But take the incarnation of Him, which is from the earth, and is signified in the feet. Understand the clean robe over His head, understand the splendor of divine majesty, so that he may seem to be adorned as one and the same according to man, and according to God.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 3:2

  But perhaps an inquisitive reader will object this too: how we can assert that God stands at the right of the just man, and the devil at the left of the sinner, when concerning our Lord it is read in Zechariah, "And the devil was standing at his right hand to oppose him." Let him, then, who objects this read also what follows: that when the devil was standing at his right hand, Jesus had filthy garments. Rightly did he who had taken up our sins and was bearing our offenses have the devil at his right hand, not so much for himself as for the filthy garments. And at the same time let him consider that it is not said, "The devil was standing as victor and triumphing," but as still set in the contest and in the battle-line and in doubt—indeed, when he had not yet begun to fight. For it follows, "That he might oppose him." But the devil was opposing him, as we said, because he had filthy garments from our sins. But after he heard, "May the Lord who chose Jerusalem rebuke you," he did not stand at the right, but went behind his back and under his feet, and at once Jesus the great priest receives the ankle-length robe (poderis), and is clothed in white vesture, and, royal dignity being joined to him—that is, Zerubbabel being coupled with him—builds the Church, and constructs the spiritual Jerusalem.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS, ALTERNATE SERIES 61

• Zechariah 3:3

  There are many things that might be said. But to sinners the devil stands at the right hand. Yet that discussion is another matter. Whoever is a sinner, the devil stands at his right hand. But someone says: How is it that in Zechariah it is said to stand also to Jesus the son of Josedech? "And the devil was standing at his right hand." How is it written in Zechariah that the devil stands at the right hand of the Savior? You see that there is a question here. But at that time when the devil was standing at the right hand of the Savior, "Jesus," it says, "had filthy garments." He was bearing our sins, he was wrapped in our vices: therefore the devil was standing at his right hand.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 36

• Zechariah 3:6-7

  (Vers. 6, 7.) And the angel of the Lord stood and testified to the angel of the Lord saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you walk in my ways and keep my custody, you shall also judge my house and keep my courts and I will give you those who walk among those who stand here. LXX: And the angel of the Lord stood and testified to Jesus saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: If you walk in my ways and keep my commandments, and you shall judge my house; and if you keep my courtyard, I will give you those who dwell among those who stand here. Following the order of the proposed interpretation, the Hebrews understand the following words spoken to Jesus, son of Josedech, by the angel of the Lord: that after the removal of dirty garments and the restoration of the dignity of the priesthood, he is commanded according to what is written in the Gospel: 'Behold, you are healed, sin no more, lest anything worse happen to you' (John 5:14); and a reward is promised to him if he walks in the ways of the Lord and keeps His commandments, that he may be the judge of His house, that is, the high priest who perseveres in the temple and guards its courts and vestibules, and may the Lord grant him assistance from the number of the angels (who at that time stood before Him) to surround him and protect him from all enemy deceit. According to our companions who refer all these things to the Lord Savior, this seems difficult, what Jesus says by the angel: If he walks in the ways of the Lord and keeps his commandments, he himself should judge his house, and guard its courts, and the Lord will give to those who walk with him. This is easily resolved if we consider him who deigned to take the form of a servant (Philippians 2). And though he was rich, he became poor for us (2 Corinthians 8). Therefore, whatever is said about the members, is referred to the body: our progress is the victory of the Lord. And when we have reached the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4), he will judge the house of God, according to what the Apostle said: But Christ as a son over His own house, whose house we are (Hebrews 3:6). And to Timothy: If I delay, that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth (I Timothy 3:15). And not only will he judge his own house, but he will also keep the courts of the Lord, about which it is written: Worship the Lord in his holy courtyard (Ps. 28:2). However, he will judge or settle the matter with his lord, and according to the merits of each, some will be given ten cities and others five (Luke 19), and some will be appointed as prophets in the Church, and others as apostles, others as teachers, others performing miracles (1 Cor. 12), some having concern for the eyes, others for the hands, others for the feet, according to what we read: God stands among the gods' assembly; among them he judges gods (Ps. 82:1). He also gave him ministers of the number of the angels, who, being constituted in the flesh, are like unto the angels, and of whom the Apostle spoke: Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). For if the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, and those who persevere in virginal continence are like unto the angels (Matt. 22), why should we not consider the apostles and the saints given by Jesus, who assist him in the Church, and never have wavering feet, but stand with the Lord standing?

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 3:8-9

  (Verse 8, 9.) Listen, great priest Jesus, and your friends who dwell before you, for they are men who foresee. Behold, I will bring my servant the East, for behold, the stone which I placed before Jesus, upon it are seven eyes. LXX: Listen, therefore, great priest Jesus, and your neighbors who sit before your face, for they are men who observe wonders, that is, spectators of miracles, for behold, I will bring my servant the East, for the stone which I placed before Jesus, upon it are seven eyes. Our people in this place are being hindered by the Jews, because according to the context and the wording of the discourse, they should understand Jesus the priest as the son of Josedech, rather than the Lord and Savior. For if the discourse is about the Lord, and it is said about Christ: 'Hear, O great Jesus the priest', who is it referring to: 'Behold, I will bring forth my servant the East, who is called by another name, and he has been given before Jesus, and upon this stone there are seven eyes?' On the contrary, our opponents strive to assert that Jesus is the great High Priest, and the East, and the Stone, according to different understandings, are called Christ. But how this can be said of himself is very difficult to explain. Therefore, those who want Jesus to be the son of Josedech, the great High Priest, interpret his friends who dwell or sit before him, and who are men bearing signs, as his disciples and prophets. For prophets are placed as signs of future events. So what is it that Jesus and his friends are compelled to hear: I will bring my servant, the East, and the rest? Above, God had promised (or permitted) Jesus, the great high priest, that if he walked in his ways and kept his commandments, he would judge his house, guard his courts, and give him ministers of angelic dignity. Now he says the same to him and his friends, full felicity and perfect blessedness that will come when the East arrives, of whom it is written: Behold, a man named the East (Zach. VI, 12). And in Malachi: The sun of justice shall arise to you that fear my name, and health in his wings (Mal. IV, 2). And in Numbers: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring up of Israel (Num. XXIV, 17). In the Gospel also we read very clearly about Christ: In whom the Orient from on high hath visited us: To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace (Luke I, 78). He himself is called the Rising Sun and the Cornerstone, because he unites both peoples and joins two walls into one house: He is the stumbling stone for unbelievers, of whom it is said in the Psalms: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone: This is from the Lord. On this stone, there are seven eyes, of which Isaiah speaks: A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and reverence for the Lord, and his delight will be in the fear of the Lord. Those who want to understand the great High Priest, and his friends the Lord Savior, and his disciples, interpret them as men of miracles, and predictors, in such a way that they refer to the apostles (or disciples who have seen his mystical signs and have known the future from the present), while in the case of the man blind from birth (John 9), they interpret the restored eyes as referring to the Gentile people, and in the case of the woman with the flowing blood (Matthew 9), they explain that the Church is freed through the works of blood. Now, what follows is understood by lovers of history about Christ, that after Jesus, the son of Josedech, they say that Christ will come. For this is what it means to be before Jesus, that is, in His presence, and to be called a stone for strength and power, by which He will shatter all kingdoms, which we also read about in Daniel, when the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands (Dan. II).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 3:10

  (Verse 10) Behold, I will plow her sculptured image, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the wickedness of that land in one day. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, each man will call his friend under the vine and under the fig tree. LXX: Behold, I will dig a pit, says the Almighty Lord, and I will investigate all the wickedness of that land in one day. On that day, says the Almighty Lord, each person will call their neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. He had said above: behold the stone which I have given before Jesus, upon this one stone there are seven eyes. Now, accordingly, he preserves the metaphor from the stone, and says: I will engrave its sculpture; or I will carve its engraving. For what is written in Hebrew MaphatePhethee (), Aquila has interpreted as διαγλύψω ἄνοιγμα αὐτῆς, that is, I will carve its opening: Theodotion and Symmachus, I will carve its sculpture. And the sense is: I will make this stone be wounded by the key of the cross, and by the spear of the soldier, and in its passion I will take away the iniquity of the earth in one day, of which it is written: This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it (Ps. CXVII, 24). On that day of the Passion of Christ, the man who is perfect in Christ will be called, and with the apostles he will ascend to the summit of the Lord's benevolence, his neighbor, whether they believe from among the Jews or certainly the multitude of the Gentiles, under the vineyard which is called Sorec, and of which he says in the Gospel: I am the true vine (John 15:1), and its fruit gladdens the heart of man, and under the fig tree, the most sweet fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that they may rest in eternal peace and, with the suppression of the world's turbulence and the bloodshed of warriors, know themselves to be under the reign of him whose mystical name in Solomon is peace. In the same session, the prophet Micah also mentions the vineyard and the fig tree, saying: 'In that day, each person will call their neighbor and their brother under the fig tree and their vineyard, and there will be no one to frighten them away' (Mic. IV, 4). And that which is written in the Septuagint: 'Behold, I will dig a pit,' we can understand as 'pit' or 'hole' for the carving of a stone, for everything that is carved is also dug. However, if someone does not want to interpret this more contentiously in reference to a stone, but rather to have its own beginning and its own opinion, let us say that God Almighty, on the day of the passion of His Son or (as the Jews believe, at the end of the world, when He comes to judge) will dig and bring forth each person's works and will touch the whole earth on the day of judgment; for this is the one day, and on that day each of the saints will call their companions and friends, who are also holy, to rest and to rejoice in the virtue of their works.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 4:1

  (Chapter 4, Verse 1) And the angel who spoke to me came back and woke me up like a man who is awakened from his sleep. LXX: And the angel who spoke to me came back and woke me up as a man is usually awakened from his sleep. For wherever he had gone, in order to return he had to be with the prophet who was speaking to him, and without him he could not exist. But whenever human frailty is left to its weakness, we must believe that the help of God and his angels departs from us. Therefore, the prophet, astonished by the wonder of a great vision, was bewildered in his whole mind and could not see the clear light of truth. Thus, he is awakened from a past vision and brought to another vision as if waking from sleep, in order to see what he could not see with closed eyes. Let us say it differently. The proverb of Solomon testifies: If you sit, you will be without fear; but if you sleep, you will sleep sweetly and you will not fear the terror that comes upon you, nor the attacks of the wicked (Prov. III, 23 et seqq.) . Let us, therefore, see for what things, as if rising from sleep, the prophet may contemplate.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 4:2-7

  (V. 2 onwards.) And he said to me, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'I see, and behold, a golden lampstand, and its lamp on top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven pipes to the lamps that are on top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the lampstand and one on its left.' Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, 'What are these, my lord?' And the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, 'Do you not know what these are?' And I said, 'No, my lord.' And he answered and said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forth the capstone with shoutings of "Grace, grace to it!"' Then he said to me, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'I see, and behold, a golden lampstand, and a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.' And behold, two olive trees were standing by the lampstand, one on the right side and one on the left side. So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, 'What are these, my lord?' And the angel who was speaking with me replied to me, 'Do you not know what these are?' And I said, 'No, my lord.' Then he answered and said to me, 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts. 'Who are you, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? You will become a plain.' And I will bring out the stone of inheritance: the equality of grace shall be his grace. The angel who raised up Zacharias as if from a sleeping man, asks what he sees, so that when he responds, ignorant and questioning what he discerns, and says, 'What are these, my lord?' let us hear from him: This is the word of the Lord to Zorobabel: Not in an army, nor in strength; but in my spirit, says the Lord. Let us therefore discuss each point in order, first what it seems to the Hebrews, from whom we have learned in the Old Testament: then through these steps let us ascend to the heights of the Church. The solid golden candlestick represents the Law, that is, the νόμον. And the lamp, that is, the flame shining and sparkling at the top of the candlestick, represents Christ, who is the head of the Law and illuminates the entire world. The seven lamps on the candlestick represent the seven graces of the Holy Spirit, which we mentioned above, because it is said that in one stone there are seven eyes. There is no doubt that the Law was written with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. However, the seven infusions in which there is oil, which is put into lamps that shine on the candelabrum, are understood to mean that these seven graces descend from heaven to humans through the Law. But the two olive trees on the candelabrum, on the right and left side, between which the central lamp shines, are interpreted as the Law and the Prophets. And when the prophet narrated his vision, not knowing what he was seeing, he asked the angel who was speaking in himself, namely the sense illuminated by God. For this is our angel, who intelligently understands, and reveals to us the will of God, and says: What are these, my lord? But the angel does not explain the vision to the prophet, as he had been asked; but he asks the inquirer again: Do you not know what these are? And when he replied, I do not know: he himself also replied; This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying: Not by an army, nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Therefore, the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, who spoke not in the army, nor in strength, but in my spirit, he is the interpretation of the vision: not in the army, nor in the multitude of warriors, but in the spirit of God, the people are to be led back and more fully restored, and the adversaries are to be devastated. And what follows: Who are you, great mountain, before Zerubbabel, to become level ground? This is understood as a saying to the devil, who stood at the right hand of Jesus, to oppose him, and he was lifted up against Zerubbabel and the people of Judah. But he was brought low and humiliated; and Israel is trampled underfoot, for God will bring forth the chief stone, Christ his Son, who has always been a help to the people of Israel. And by his grace, that is, the stone, he will equal the grace that he always exercised towards their ancestors. We find these things said by the Hebrews. Now let us discuss what has been written by the learned men in the Commentaries. The golden candlestick (which some call the candelabrum) is understood to represent the Church, which in the Holy Scriptures seeks the meaning and intention rather than the words themselves. The fact that gold is understood in a figurative sense is shown in the later part of the 67th psalm, where it is said that the shoulders of the dove radiate with the brilliance or gleam of gold. They understand the lamp itself to represent Christ, who shines in the Church and who said of himself: 'No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel (Matt. V, 15),' that is, under the measure of the Law; but on a candlestick, that is, on the freedom of the gospels, so that it may shine for all who are in the house. The seven lamps and their pouring vessels (also called 'suffusoria') symbolize and represent the grace of the Holy Spirit, through which the Church receives the oil of God's mercy and all virtues. The two olive trees on the candlestick symbolize Moses and Elijah, who spoke with the Lord on the mountain and foreshadowed what would happen to him in Jerusalem (Matthew 17). For the entire law and the prophets preach about the passion of Christ. Others interpret the two olive trees on the right and on the left as the Law and the Gospel, so that the Gospel is on the right and the Law is on the left. Concerning the right and left, it is said in the Song of Songs: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me (Song of Songs 2:6). But many of our people interpret the mountain as the devil and the Antichrist, who dares to stand before Zerubbabel (from whom Christ is to be born) and raise himself up, and say in the Gospel: All these things have been given to me, and I will give them to you if you will prostrate yourself and worship me (Matthew 4:9). He who prostrates himself at the Lord's feet, and makes the proud humble and the lowly, says: 'Get behind me, Satan, for it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve' ( Ibid., 10, and Deut. VI, 13). And they give an example in the Gospel of the lunatic whom the apostles could not heal, they ask why they could not heal him, and they hear: Truly I say to you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting (Matt. XVII, 19, 20). Here the mountain is clearly accepted as the devil. However, others, not without considerable rashness, interpret what is clearly spoken about the devil as referring to Christ, who is often called a mountain in the Holy Scriptures. It is not necessary to give examples, as there is a great abundance of them. But they are led into error because it is written in the Septuagint: Who are you, O great mountain, before the face of Zerubbabel, to be made level? Indeed, this mountain which is before the face of Zorobabel, that is, one who is descended from the lineage of Zorobabel, desires to correct the world itself. And of him it is said: 'I will bring forth the stone of inheritance of which it is written: You are the one who will restore my inheritance to me' (Psalm 15:5). And in another place: 'He has chosen for us his beautiful inheritance, the pride of Jacob whom he loved' (Psalm 46:5). And again: 'The portion of the Lord is Jacob, the line of his inheritance is Israel' (Psalm 105). And in the second Psalm: The Lord said to me, 'You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance' (Psalm 2:7-8). But the Lord will bring forth the chief cornerstone, of which we read: 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God' (John 1:1). And: 'All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made' (John 1:3). And when he says, 'He will equalize grace to his grace,' he signifies this. We all have received from His fullness, and grace for grace, that is, grace of the Law, grace of the Gospel, so that believing in Israel may receive equal grace, and the people of the Gentiles as well. Hence, Gabriel speaks to Mary: 'You have found favor with the Lord' (Luke 1:30). And the apostle Paul writes: 'For by grace you have been saved' (Ephesians 2:8). And the evangelist John says: 'For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ' (John 1:17).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 4:8-9

  (Verses 8-9) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall complete it. And you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. Many things are said by the Hebrews and by our own people, some of whom follow them and others reject them. Let us bring forth what pleases us, preserving the truth of history, so that from this we may recognize the one who is prophesied through history. The hands of Zerubbabel, the leader of the Jews who returned from Babylon, laid the foundation of the temple, and his hands will also complete it, reaching up to the pinnacle of the temple. They will fulfill what they began and will construct everything that was started. We read in Ezra that the temple was started and completed by Zerubbabel (1 Esdras 4 and 6). And when, says the prophet Zechariah, you see the pinnacle placed on the temple that you are now building, then you will understand that I have been sent by the Lord and that everything I have spoken, I have spoken at his command.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 4:10

  (Verse 10) For who hath despised the day of small things? and they shall rejoice, and shall see the tin in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. LXX: For who has despised the day of small things? They will rejoice and see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel: these seven eyes of the Lord, which scan throughout the whole earth. For who despises small days? Who here is received as rare, according to that: Who do you think is a faithful and wise steward (Luke XII, 42)? And, Lord, who shall dwell in your tabernacle, and who shall ascend to your holy mountain (Psalm XIV, 1)? Therefore, rare is the one who despises the small days of this age, and thinks royal power is worth nothing. When we see the powerful of the age shining with gold, purple, and gleaming with gems, surrounded by an army, let us say within ourselves: who, do you think, despises small days? And so Jacob, understanding the brevity of human life, said: 'They are short and the worst days of my life' (Gen. XLVII, 9). Therefore, those who despise the short days (which refers to royal power, as a reminder to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people building the temple of God, not to fear their adversaries but to listen to the Lord encouraging them) will rejoice and see the help of the Savior, who is promised from the lineage of Zerubbabel, and is called the cornerstone and the stone of tin: For which it is written in Hebrew as Abdil (Al. Abdel), because it is the wall and strength and firmness of the believers. For just as tin protects other metals from fire, and although copper and iron are extremely hard by nature, if they do not have tin, they become consumed and burnt; so too, the strength of every angel and human, if they do not have the help of the Savior, is revealed as weak and fragile. But this stone, that is, the mass, which is called Abdil among the Hebrews, that is, tinstone, is etymologically derived from the word ἀποχωρίζων, that is separating and segregating, just as tin separates and dissociates mixed and adulterated metals through fire. Thus the true Lord, the assayer and refiner, separates good works as gold and silver from vices as lead, so that pure gold and silver may remain. In other words, ἀποχωρίζων is written as 'separating' in the Gospel: Whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor, and gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17), he who speaks through Jeremiah: What have straw to do with grain? says the Lord (Jeremiah 23:28). Many of us interpret Zerubbabel, who laid the foundation of the temple and completed it, as Christ. And if we accept this, we will be forced to explain what the stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel means. For indeed in the hand of Christ, is Christ to be approved? For although certain people have received a stone-like body of the Lord, which was not defiled by any stains of sins, nor called lead, but the purest tin. However, we have previously explained that the seven eyes that roam throughout the whole earth and judge all things are the seven spirits: and that nothing escapes God's knowledge, who is conscious of past, present, and future events, and renders to each person according to their deeds, especially when he comes in the person of the one who separates the good from the evil, and the inflator.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 4:11-14

  (Verse 11 and following) And I answered and said to him, 'What are these two olive trees on the right and the left side of the lampstand?' And I answered the second time and said to him, 'What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, from which the golden oil pours out?' And he said to me, 'Do you not know what these are?' And I said, 'No, my lord.' And he said, 'These are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.' LXX: And I answered and said to him, 'What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on its left side?' And I answered a second time and said to him, 'What are the two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, which pour out the golden fluid from themselves?' And he said to me, 'Do you not know what these are?' And I said, 'No, my Lord.' Then he said, 'These are the two sons of fatness who stand before the Lord of the entire earth.' Asking the prophet what the two olive trees meant, one of which stood at the right side of the lampstand and the other at the left, the Lord or the angel of the Lord refused to answer. When the prophet understood this, he inquires a second time, saying: What are these two branches of the olive trees or two golden pipes, which in Hebrew are called Sinthoroth (in Greek, μυξωτῆρες), and which are themselves the two μυξωτῆρες upon which the two branches or two olive trees are placed, made of the purest gold. And when the prophet asked about the two branches, and was again questioned by the angel whether he knew what the two branches signified, and he said, 'No, Lord,' the angel of the Lord answered: 'These are two sons of oil, as Symmachus wished, or of splendor, as Aquila interpreted, that is, of brightness, or of richness, as the Septuagint translated, or of clarity, as Theodotion rendered: they stand before the Ruler of all the earth.' We read above about the two olive trees that were on the right and left of the lampstand. And therefore, the one who now asks about them, does not deserve to hear, because he does not remember the previous things, or because what was said there is obscure, he desires to hear more clearly here, or surely the silence of the angels confutes his stubbornness, because he claims to know greater things, although the Hebrews confirm that when he asked about the olive trees, he heard nothing, because he did not ask properly, nor did he inquire about everything he should have known. Finally, afterwards he inquires more fully, adding the olive branches or sprigs, about which he had remained silent above; for there he said: What are these two olive trees? here he asks; What are these two olive sprigs? metaphorically because, just as straight tree trunks are like ear heads, so these are covered by a certain wall of branches and leaves and rise up on high. Some of our people interpret the two olive trees as the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the middle lamp as God the Father. But I do not know how, without blasphemy, they accept one on the right, the other on the left. The branches or the clusters of olives also point to the incarnation of the Savior and the likeness of the dove of the Holy Spirit, because we cannot see the whole olives, but only a certain part and, so to speak, the little branches of the incarnation of Christ and the manifestation of the Holy Spirit shown to us. Others understand the two Testaments, the Gospel on the right, the Law on the left, because in the former there is a spiritual meaning, in the latter a physical one; and because we cannot explain the whole Gospel or the whole Law, and now we know in part and prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:9), and we are not yet able to understand what is perfect. There are those who interpret the two branches of olives or the two ears of grain as representing the priesthood and the Law, which bring joy to the whole earth. Others believe that Enoch and Elijah, one of whom pleased God in uncircumcision and the other in circumcision, were taken up to heaven with their bodies (Genesis 5 and 1 Samuel 2). As for splendor, oil, fatness, and brightness, in Hebrew we read 'Isaar' (according to what is written in the Psalms about the joy and happiness of the saints: 'They shall be satisfied with the fatness of your house' - Psalm 36:8). The word 'πιότης' (or 'πιότητος') in Greek signifies more fatness than abundance. We have spoken these things as best we could and as far as the powers of our talent allowed, briefly touching upon the various opinions of the Hebrews and our own. If anyone should speak better or rather more truly, we willingly defer to them.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 5:1-4

  (Chapter 5, verses 1 onwards) Then I turned and lifted up my eyes, and behold, a flying scroll! And he said to me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits." Then he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. I will raise up, says the Lord of hosts, and it will come to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely in my name, and it will remain in the midst of his house and consume it and its wood and its stones. LXX: And I turned and lifted up my eyes and saw a flying sickle. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see a flying sickle, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the land: because every thief will be punished from this until death, and every perjurer will be crucified from this until death. And I will bring it, says the Lord Almighty, and it will go into the house of the thief, and the house of the one who swears falsely in my name, and it will rest in the midst of his house, and it will consume him, and his wood, and his stones. Turning, the prophet said, to another vision, and lifting my eyes from joyful and fortunate things to sadder things, I see a flying scroll that is called Megella in Hebrew, and it is translated as διφθέρα by Aquila and Theodotion, and as κεφαλὶς by Symmachus, meaning, chapter, according to what we read in the psalm: In the chapter of the book it is written about me (Ps. XIX, 8); or according to the Seventy, δρέπανον πετόμενον, meaning, a flying sickle. For all the things that he had seen above, the construction of the temple, the coming of the Lord Savior, the liberation of the people from Babylon, had been proclaimed. Therefore, so that his heart would not be lifted up with the Apostle (to whom the angel of Satan had been given to buffet him), he also sees the things that are sad, so that whatever had increased in arrogance from the revelation of good things, may decrease from the threat of sad things. Moreover, a flying scroll is shown, in which all sins are written down, so that each person may receive according to their works, whether good or evil, as Daniel says: Thrones were set up, and books were opened. But if we take the sickle, as the LXX translated it, let us take the example from the Apocalypse of John, in which it is written: And the angel answered, and said to him who sat on the horse: Send forth thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of thy vineyard, for the grapes thereof are ripe (Apoc. XIV, 18). For sickle, in Deuteronomy we read arrows and sword: I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh (Deut. XXXII, 42). And because God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;). The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished And in Jeremiah we read: How long will you cut with the sword, or the sword of the Lord? How long will you not rest? Return to your sheath (Jer. XLVII, 6). This sword is not only called a sickle, which cuts hay, straw, and thorns; but it is also called an axe of trees, which will cut down those who have not made themselves worthy of the fruits of penance. And about whom John the Baptist proclaimed: Behold, the axe is laid to the roots of the trees: every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matt. III, 10). This volume, in which the sins of everyone are described, or rather, the sickle that cuts down the sins of all, is sent into the vineyard of Sodom, of which it is written: Our enemies are foolish; for their vineyard is the vineyard of Sodom, and their offspring is from Gomorrah: Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters are bitter. The fury of dragons is their wine, and the incurable madness of asps. (Deuteronomy XXXII, 31 ff.) This sickle measures twenty cubits in length and ten in width, in a number joined together that is sad for the afflicted. For the Lord corrects in order to improve. In the twentieth, which is made up of two decades, harsh and difficult things are announced: in the tenth, that is, one decade, better and prosperous things are revealed: for Israel is taught through all kinds of scourges and punishments. At the same time, let us warn those who think small crimes like theft and perjury, that the curse which is written in the book and (by Al. a) with a sickle, be brought upon the house of the thief and perjurer, and let it remain in it, and consume all its wood and stones. But if there is such a threat of punishment for what is considered lesser offenses (such as theft and perjury), what shall we say about fornication, adultery, homicide, sacrilege, and all other crimes numbered among the works of the flesh by the Apostle (Galatians 5)? It has been said that the length of twenty cubits and the width of ten cubits correspond to the age of our Lord and Savior, that is, the number thirty. This is not for the Father to judge anyone, but all judgment has been given to the Son, and he will judge the world (John 5).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 5:5-8

  (Verse 5 seq.) And an angel came out who spoke to me, and said to me: Lift up your eyes and see what is coming. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a departing vessel; and he said: This is their eye in all the land. And behold, a weight of lead was being carried, and behold, a woman sitting in the middle of the vessel. And he said: This is wickedness, and he threw her into the middle of the vessel, and he put a lead mass in her mouth. LXX: And the angel who spoke with me came out and said to me: Lift up your eyes and see what is coming out. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the measure that is coming out. And he said, This is their iniquity in all the land. And behold, a talent of lead was lifted up: and behold, a woman was sitting inside the measure, and he said, This is wickedness, and he threw her into the midst of the measure, and he threw a lead stone into her mouth. The amphora, or measure, was being carried out and was seen in the air. And so that we would not doubt by what proper term it is called, the angel himself, who showed the amphora, or measure, gives it a name and says, according to the Septuagint, 'This is their wickedness in all the earth'; according to the Hebrews, 'This is the eye, that is, the manifestation of all sins.' And behold, a woman was sitting in the middle of the amphora, or measure, which is called 'Epha' by the Hebrews, and it is often translated by the Seventy as 'οἴφι'; and this very woman was called wickedness. When she saw these things, behold, a talent of lead, that is, a mass the size of a stone, was being carried either by its own force or by the command of the Lord, or it was being carried by another whose name remains unspoken. But this angel who was speaking through the prophet, and coming out of him, showed all these things, seized the woman who was called impiety, and threw her headlong into the middle of the amphora, which was previously being carried freely, and sitting on top of the amphora, he appeared to everyone. Acne forte rursum elevaret caput, et sua iniquitate et impietate gauderet, talentum plumbi in modum gravissimi lapidis mittit in os amphorae: ut impietatem in medio opprimat atque concludat, ne quoquo modo possit erumpere. Haec quasi umbras quasdam et lineas futurae imaginis duximus, ut quod reliquum est suis coloribus impleamus. Angelus qui loquebatur in propheta, egressus de eo, et quasi cominus loquens, praecipit illi ut levet oculos suos, et videat peccata populi Israel in mensuram coacervata perfectam, et impleta delicta cunctorum: et hanc esse oculum eorum, quod Hebraice dicitur Enam (), et scribitur per Ain, Jod, Nun, Mem: Sive iniquitatem eorum; quae si per Vau litteram scripta esset, recte legeretur Onam (), ut LXX putaverunt: et hic error in editione Vulgata frequenter inolevit, ut quia Vau et Jod litterae eadem forma, sed mensura diversae sunt, altera legatur pro altera. This amphora or measure, their eye is in the whole earth, that is, a display of sins, so that the vices of those scattered and hidden might be gathered together and exposed to the eyes of all, to show what kind of people Israel was and how it had been in its land. And behold, a talent of lead was carried. For the talent of lead, we read in the following passage a lead stone. Chachar is called a talent (); Aben a stone. He is, therefore, the lead stone, which we, expressing it more clearly, have interpreted as the mass or sphere of lead, from which the heaviest weight of sins is signified. And above this measure and vessel of all sins, impiety sat in the middle, which we can also call by another name, idolatry, and denial of God. Hence, the Savior said to the Jews: 'Fill up the measure of your fathers' (Matthew 23:32). This wickedness, which sat upon the sins of Israel and boasted in its own wickedness, is later cast into the midst of Babylon and pressed down by the bad of captivity. Or according to Theodotion, it throws itself and hides in the midst of a jar, and places upon itself the heaviest weight of lead, so that it may have its mouth sealed shut and cannot boast any longer. Or surely it is oppressed by the angel of God, so that what previously rejoiced in wickedness may be silenced in eternal silence. But the following reading teaches to what place and by whom it is brought to a close.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 5:9-11

  (Verse 9 and following) And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and a spirit was on their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite, and they lifted up an amphora between the earth and the sky. And I said to the angel who spoke to me: Where are these taking the amphora? And he said to me: To build a house for it in the land of Shinar, and it will be established and placed there upon its base. LXX: And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and a spirit was on their wings, and they themselves had wings like the wings of a hoopoe. And they raised the measure between the earth and the sky. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where do they bring this measure? And he said to me: To build a house for him in the land of Babylon, and prepare it, and place it there on its foundation. Two women coming out, the Jews imagine the kingdom of the Medes and Macedonians, both of whom have afflicted the people of Babylon, and there their wickedness has established its seat. However, they craft this in such a way that what is said of themselves may not be understood as being about themselves. For indeed, the two women who depart, there is no doubt that they are to be received by the twelve tribes from the land of Judea: of whom one was taken captive by the Assyrians, the other by the Chaldeans. And in their wings was the spirit, that is, the power of the devil, of whom it is written in Ecclesiastes: If the spirit of the one who has power ascends over you, do not abandon your place (Eccl. X, 4). And in the Gospel, we read about an unclean spirit who, after being cast out from his home, wanders through desolate and dry places, and then comes back to his former home with seven other even more wicked spirits (Luke XI). Therefore, these women, carried away by this spirit as if by a gust of wind, were being borne swiftly, and they had wings; according to the Hebrew word 'Asida' (which Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translated as 'herodion'), only the LXX translated it as 'hoopoe.' The Hebrews consider 'Asida' to be the kite, a very rapacious bird that always attacks domestic birds; as for 'herodion', those who have written about the nature of birds assume three types: one white, another starry; the third black, which is both the most savage and bloodthirsty, and is fierce and unwilling to mate, to the point that blood bursts from their eyes. But the hoopoe, which we have taken from the similarity of the Greek name (for they themselves call it 'popam' from the fact that it examines human excrement), is said to be the most filthy bird, always dwelling in tombs, always in human dung: finally it is said to build its nest out of it, and to feed its young with decaying worms from the filth. Whatever you want to understand about this bird, it is fitting for those women of Judaea and Israel who, because of their sins of prostitution, were handed over to the power of demons and led into captivity by them. And they brought a jar or measure, in which impiety was enclosed, with a mass of lead placed on top so that it could not escape, and the heaviest weight of all sins between earth and heaven. The prophet, understanding this, did not ask (for it was clear to his prophetic spirit) who these women were, nor what they represented, about which he had been previously instructed; but rather to what do they portend. Finally, it follows: I said to the angel who was speaking with me: To what place are these women carrying the jar? He replied: 'To build a house for him in the land of Shinar.' For this reason, the Seventy translated it as 'in the land of Babylon.' Shinar is indeed the plain of the Chaldeans, where those who had moved their feet from the East and were unable to stand in the service of God, built a tower of pride (Gen. 11). Therefore, the city itself is called Babylon, which means confusion, because there the languages of all were confused and mixed. Therefore impiety is attributed to these women in Babylon, so that there his house may be built, and established, and placed upon its foundation, and find eternal rest. Truly, in Babylon there is a seat of impiety, according to both history and mystical understanding. If you are willing to consider two women, the peoples of heretics and Jews (both of whom turn away from the face of God, and are carried by an uncertain spirit, and have wings like eagles, herons, and hoopoes, while always seeking riches like partridges, not with judgement, and hastening to plunder the Church, and delighting in disputes and quarrels, and leading to destruction those whom they deceive, and rolling in the mire of perpetual lust and filthiness), these women relieve the weight of the most serious impiety, and build their house in confusion, and serve the Babylonian king, so that the peoples of heretics and Jews may dwell there, where idolatry resides, serving wood and stone.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 6:9-15

  (Verse 9 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Take from the exiles, from Holdai, from Tobiah, and from Idah, and come in that day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Sophaiah, who came from Babylon. And take silver and gold, and make crowns, and put them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and say to him: Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying: Behold a man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. And he himself will build a temple for the Lord, and he himself will bear the glory, and he will sit and rule on his throne, and he will be a priest on his throne, and there will be counsel of peace between them both. And the crowns will be for Helem, Tobiah, and Idajah, and for Hen son of Zephaniah, a memorial in the temple of the Lord. And those who are far off will come and build in the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And it will come to pass, if you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me saying: Take what is from the captivity, from the princes and from their benefactors, and from those who know them: and you shall enter on that day into the house of Josiah the son of Sophonias that came from Babylon, and you shall take silver and gold, and shall make crowns, and shall set them on the head of Jesus the son of Josedec the high priest, and you shall say to him: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold a man, the Orient is his name, and under him shall he spring up, and shall build a temple to the Lord, and he shall take upon himself the glory, and shall sit, and shall rule upon his throne. And there shall be a priest at his right hand, and there shall be counsel of peace between the two: but the crown of expectation and of benefit to him, and to them that know her, and to the beloved son of Zephaniah, and to the psalm in the house of the Lord, to them that are far off, they shall come and build in the house of the Lord. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you. And it shall come to pass, if hearing you will hear the voice of the Lord your God. Once I set forth the hidden doctrine of Hebrew learning, and the concealed discipline of the masters of the synagogue, namely, that which is agreeable to the holy Scriptures. To reveal in Latin. Therefore, it is necessary for me to draw lines of history in the darkest places and thus bring forth what I have learned from ecclesiastical men, leaving it to the reader's discretion as to what they should follow more. And first, the order of the reading must be restored, so that what is said becomes clear according to the letter. Take, it says, from Holdai, and from Tobia, and from Idaja, who came from the Babylonian captivity, and you shall take from them gifts that are offered, silver and gold, and you shall enter the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah; and there you shall make crowns, distinguished by the variety of gold and silver, not one crown, but either two or more: for Ataroth, namely, στέμματα, signifies not one, but either dual or plural number. When you make the crowns, you shall set one of them on the head of Jesus, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, "Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is; and He will build the temple of the Lord."' And when he has built that, he himself will also receive glory, that is, another crown, which in Hebrew is called 'Hod', and in another language 'ἐπιδοξότης', in another 'εὐπρέπεια', in another 'ἀρετὴ', in another 'δόξα', which all mean illustrious, beauty, virtue, or glory. They think it refers to Zerubbabel, who, rising suddenly from a low and captive state, built the temple of the Lord, and sat on his throne, ruling with princely power. And the high priest, too, said he, Jesus the son of Josedech will sit on the priestly throne, and with united minds and councils, they will govern the people of God. And there will be peace between those two, that is, between the one who is of the royal tribe and the one who is descended from the Levite line, so that they may jointly rule the priesthood and the kingdom of God's people. And you shall consecrate the very crowns that you have made of gold and silver, after they have been placed on the head of Joshua, the son of Josedech, and on the head of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, with their names from whom they have been offered, in the temple, that is, Helem, and Tobiah, and Iddo, and Hen. The second and third names are the same as above. The first has been changed, and instead of Holdai he now uses Helem. The fourth, which was not mentioned above, is Hen, of whom we will speak in the following. And after having stored the crowns in the temple of the Lord, and consecrated them for everlasting memory, the nations from all the ends of the earth, scattered afar, will come and each one will build in my temple according to their own abilities. And then, at the end of events and with the prosperity of all, you will know that the Lord has sent me, and that I have foretold everything by His command. But all these things will be if you obey the commandments of the Lord and fulfill his commands. Holdai is interpreted as the prayer of the Lord, which in Greek is more significantly called the Litany of the Lord. Tobiah is a good man, known by the Lord. Instead of Holdai, Helem is now placed in the first place, which is interpreted as a dream; and in the fourth place, Hen is added, which means grace. The crowns of these four men will be with the son of Zephaniah, whom we read above Josiah, who is the guardian and custodian of the temple of the Lord, and there they will rest with eternal station. The Hebrews Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, who came from captivity, commemorate that they brought gold and silver as gifts to the temple, as well as the crowns of the high priest and the prince. They also mention that above, Hen, that is, favor, Daniel came with a gift. And for this reason, Helem is placed in place of Holdai, so that from the interpretation of the name which is called a dream, it may be shown that Daniel was placed in captivity, and that the three boys knew the mysteries of the royal dream. For when three boys were taken, Daniel prayed to the Lord and obtained the interpretation of the dream (Daniel II). According to history, this is an attempt to explain Circumcision. However, it is necessary for us to say what our ancestors said according to the Septuagint translators. Take from the captivity and from the princes, and from her useful things, and from those who know her, gold and silver, and upon entering the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, who himself came from Babylon, make golden and silver crowns, which you will place upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest. The captivity of the Jews, that is, confessing the Lord of the people, is due to vices and sins: those who begin to do penance, and desire the former Jerusalem, that is, the Church of Christ, forsake and abandon it in Babylon, and are offered by the princes of the captives, and by their helpers, that is, those of the captivity (who themselves were handed over to the angel of Satan for their own utility, unto the perdition of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved (I Cor. V), and by those who know it, namely, the captivity, to be turned into a good part after punishment. But gold and silver are offered by those who both confess the Lord with understanding and speech, and from them, that is, from gold and silver, crowns are made in the house of Josiah, who is interpreted as saved, and he is the son of the visitation of the Lord, that is, the oversight of the Lord. For he is visited by the Lord who had previously been seriously ill. And rightly Josiah is called saved, because he himself also returned from Babylon. And crowns are placed upon Jesus, the son of Josedech the high priest, because as we progress and return to better things, the Lord is crowned by each of our virtues. Indeed, we are crowned with the virtue of repentance, and the Savior receives a crown in each of us, according to what Paul also says: Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the righteous judge, the Lord, shall give to me: and not to me only, but also to all who love the appearing of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ (I Tim. IV, 8). From where he received the name 'crown of justice' and 'Father of the Lord Savior'. For Josedec means Lord of justice, because he renders to each one according to his works. James also speaks of this crown in his Epistle: Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he is tried, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him (James 2). And the prophet is commanded that after he has placed the crown, or crowns, upon the head of Jesus, the son of Josedec the high priest, he should speak to him, and say: Thus says the Lord: Behold, a man, his name is the Rising Sun: and beneath him will arise, and so on. We do not divide Jesus, nor can we make two persons into one person; but he himself who is called Jesus, because he saved the world, and is called the Orient, because in his days righteousness arose. And it is sung in the Psalm: Truth has arisen from the earth (Ps. LXXXIV, 12), because he, who was born from the virgin womb in the completion of the ages, has said: I am the truth (John XIV, 6), and the final hour has come, as it is written in the Epistle of John (I John II, 18): Little children, it is now the final hour, in which he has called the people standing and doing nothing from the Gentiles, and has sent them to the vineyard (Matt. XX). Moreover, if he becomes different according to the diversity of names, he will be another shepherd, another ram, another lamb, another gate, another stumbling block, and another rock of offense. Therefore, the one who is crowned with our virtues will arise and be called the East. To whom the Father spoke: You are my Son, today I have begotten you (Ps. 2:7): And beneath him a multitude of believers will arise, and he will build the house of the Lord, the Church, and he himself will receive power and beauty and progress, and the glory of each one, and he will sit and reign on his throne, on the throne of David, of whom it is also written in the Gospel: And there shall be a priest at his right hand (Luke 1), or according to the Hebrew, above his throne; for he is both king and high priest: and he will sit on both the royal and the priestly throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two, so that neither the royal summit may detract from the dignity of the priesthood, nor the dignity of the priesthood from the royal summit, but that both may agree in the glory of the Lord Jesus, the one and only. I read in a certain book (Zech. 6:13): And peaceful counsel shall be between two, to be referred to the Father and to the Son: because it is not His own, but the Father's will that He came to do, and the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father (ibid., 14). But the crown, that is, the sign of victory, is promised also to those who await Him and understand the benefit of their former captivity and know all the mysteries of God, so that they may be in the grace of the son of Zephaniah, that is, in the visitation of the Lord. And those who were in Babylon said (Ps. CXXXVI, 1, 2): By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows in its midst we hung up our lyres, after they had returned to Jerusalem, let them receive a psalm and a timbrel, and let them sing in the church of the Lord. And those who were far from Judaea because of great sins, let them come with true confession, and let them rebuild the house of the Lord according to their individual progress, and then the entire congregation will know with one mind that the Almighty Lord has sent a prophet to them. But all the promises will be fulfilled if they are willing to listen to the Lord and, after repentance, remain in good works.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 7:1-7

  (Chapter 7, verses 1 onwards) In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu. And they sent to the house of God Sarasar and Rogommelech, along with the men who were with him, to seek the face of the Lord and to speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, saying: Should I weep in the fifth month and separate myself as I have done for many years? And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me? And when you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? Are not these the words that the Lord spoke by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, and her cities were around her, and the Negeb and the Shephelah were inhabited? LXX: And it came to pass in the fourth year under King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Casleu. And he sent to Bethel Sarezer and Regemmelech, and their men, to entreat the Lord, saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for many years? And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests, saying: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month for seventy years, did you truly fast for me? And if you eat or drink, do you not eat and drink? Are these not my words, which the Lord spoke through the prophets, who were before when Jerusalem was inhabited, and it was prosperous, and its cities around it, and the mountains and fields were inhabited? In the fourth year of King Darius, in the ninth month, which is called Casleu, (), and on the fourth day of the same month, they sent to the house of God, that is, to the temple which had already been restored by Zerubbabel and Joshua, Sarsechim and Regemmelech and the other companions who were with them, whom the Hebrews considered to be the leaders of King Darius, fearing God: so that because they had already heard that the temple was constructed, they would inquire of the priests of the house of the Lord and the prophets, whether they should weep and fast according to the ancient custom, or change mourning into rejoicing. And the understanding of those inquiring is this: In the fifth month, called July among the Romans, Jerusalem was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. For this reason, because of the desolation of the temple, we have fasted and mourned up until now, and have comforted our sorrow with weeping and fasting. Now because it is said that the temple has been rebuilt, and we see no reason for our sadness to continue, we ask for your response: should we continue to do this, or should we exchange our mourning for joy? And it must also be considered that weeping and fasting are called sanctification. Therefore, in Joel, it is commanded to the priests to sanctify fasting and preach healing (Joel 5). For fasting and abstinence heal the wounds of the sinner, and sanctify those who have been healed. After the Persian leaders had questioned those whom they had sent, and the legation had been completed by consulting the priests and prophets, the word of the Lord came to the prophet, commanding him to speak to the people and the priests about what they should respond to the envoys. When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month of the captivity in Jerusalem, and in the seventh month, when Gedaliah was killed by Ishmael, during the seventy years of desolation of the temple and the destruction of Jerusalem, did it benefit you that you fasted? And conversely, when you eat and drink, does it not satisfy your hunger and quench your thirst? For God is not pleased by these things, but by good works, and if we follow His commandments, for food does not commend us to God. And if we do not eat, we will be weak; and if we eat, we will be satisfied. Are these not my words, spoken to you while Jerusalem and the cities of Judah were still standing, which I spoke to you through my prophets, when Jerusalem and the cities of Judah were prosperous, and the mountainous and plain regions were abundant in crops, and enjoyed a secure peace? But these were the words of the Lord, as the following Scripture testifies, desiring to judge with truth and show mercy to one's neighbor, widow, orphan, stranger, and poor, and not to plan evil in one's heart. They, he says, did not want to do this, and with deaf ears they despised my commands. Therefore, great indignation came upon Jerusalem; and just as they did not want to listen to me, so I did not hear them. And now they seek with such scrupulousness when they should fast and mourn, when I had said before through Isaiah: I have not chosen such a fast, says the Lord, nor for a man to humble his soul; but to dissolve every bond of wickedness: dissolve the obligations of violent guarantors: give your bread from the heart to the hungry. If you see someone naked, clothe them; and bring the poor and the homeless into your tent. Then your temporary light will break forth, and your healing will quickly appear (Isaiah 58:5, seqq.). This is what is written in the Septuagint: Sarasar and Arabesser ((or Arbath Sager)) king of Bethel sent, none of us could explain: for neither can what is wrongly translated from Hebrew be explained in any way. Who is this Sarasar or Arabesser king? Who was the king of the province, or to which province did Bethel send a message? Or could the king of Bethel have been Arabian, which had previously been abandoned along with Judaea, and at that time was not called Bethel, which means house of God, but rather Bethaven, which means house of idols? Also, concerning what follows: In the fifth month, the consecration entered here, just as they had been doing for many years, they attempt to explain it as follows: the consecration entered, the temple vessels that had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar were restored at that time. However, they tried to refer to the days of the week for the fasts of the fifth and seventh days. But because it follows the fast of the tenth day, they were compelled to refer to months, and they completely ignored the fasts of the fifth, seventh, and thirteenth months. Therefore, we are satisfied with the earlier explanation, and we do not incline (or rather, we are not indignant) towards the false attempts of commentators that came from an error in interpretation.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 7:8-14

  (Verses 8 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another. But they refused to listen, and turned a stubborn shoulder, and stopped their ears in order not to hear. They made their hearts adamant in order not to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. And it came to pass as he had spoken, and they did not hear: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord of hosts. And I scattered them throughout all the kingdoms which they did not know; and the land was desolate from them, because there was no one who passed by or returned; and they made the pleasant land a wilderness. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty, saying: Execute true judgment, and shew mercy and compassion every man to his brother: and oppress not the widow, and the orphan, and the poor man: and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your hearts. And they were unwilling to pay attention, and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear. They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear, says the Lord of hosts, and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the pleasant land was made desolate. I wanted these things more, I sought those things that you, not doing, are handed over to captivity; and not the fasting of the fifth and seventh month of desolation and death. Judge a just judgment, so that you may not hear in the Psalms: How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality to the wicked? Judge for the orphan and the widow; justify the humble and the poor (Psalm 81:2, 3), lest Isaiah also speak to you: Those who justify the wicked for bribes and take away the justice of the righteous (Isaiah 5:23); and because of you, let Habakkuk make a complaint to God on behalf of those who are oppressed: Judgment has been done against me, and the judge accepts bribes; therefore the law is useless and justice does not reach its end, because the wicked oppress the righteous (Habakkuk 1:3, 4). Nor should we consider this commandment of God to be something new; once upon a time, He had given these instructions through Moses: 'You shall judge great as small: you shall not show partiality to anyone, and you shall not have pity on the poor in judgment, for it is the judgment of God' (Deuteronomy 1:17). Each person shall also show mercy and compassion towards their brother. After the severity of judgment, let mercy follow for all, especially towards brothers, whom we perceive to be of the same blood or of the same faith as us. Also see the widow and orphan, of whom it was commanded to us: Be a father to the orphans and a husband to their mother; judge the orphan and justify the widow (Eccl. IV, 10). And do not slander the stranger and the poor, for one is made a foreigner by travel, the other is made lowly by poverty. And let not a man think evil of his brother in his heart, as it is said in the Septuagint: And let everyone not remember the wickedness of his brother in his heart (Luke X). But we must accept our brother and neighbor, or all kinds of people; because we are all generated from one parent, or those who are of the household of faith, according to the parable of the Gospel, which wants all people to be understood as neighbors, not just those who are blood relatives. And whatever anger should be resolved before the sun sets, and all the evil that we have suffered from others should be erased from memory, and we read this in many places, especially in Jeremiah, who speaks in the voice of God: And let each one not remember the malice of his neighbor in your hearts. When I commanded them to do these things, they refused to pay attention and turned their back, despising my orders, disregarding the posture of my body. For we are accustomed, when we wrinkle our forehead and contract our nostrils, to show disdain, to turn our back, according to that which is written: They turned their back to me, and not their face (Jeremiah 2:27). And they have made their ears heavy, so they could not hear, like the deaf adder that stops its ears, which will not hear the voice of charmers, no matter how skillful they might be. For they have made their ears heavy, that they may not hear, and their heart they have turned away, that they may not understand the law of God. Hence, Isaiah, threatening them, says: The heart of this people is fat, and with their ears they have been heavily affected, and their eyes they have closed, lest perhaps they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. Moreover, what is said according to the Hebrew: And they have placed their heart as adamant (or as adamant), signifies the hardness of heart, and a stony heart, that they have not been willing to receive the words of God. For indeed, the diamond is the strongest stone, which in Hebrew is called Samir, so hard that it breaks all metals and it itself is not broken by any. Hence, it is called indomitable by the Greeks. Pharaoh's heart was hardened by this diamond, so that he would not let the people of God go (Exod. 7 et seq.). And because they had, or rather they set their hearts like a diamond, willingly taking on the hardness of heart, they did not listen to the words of the Lord, which he sent in his spirit, that is, in the Holy Spirit through the hand of the prophets of old, Isaiah, Hosea, and the others, who had clean hands, as it is evident from before the captivity: therefore, great anger was brought about by great sins, and the words of the Lord have been fulfilled, in accordance with the principle of like for like, that just as they walked towards him in wickedness, so he would walk towards them in wickedness, and he would not listen to the words of those calling out, because they too had disregarded the words of the Lord with a deaf ear. Therefore, he scattered them throughout all the kingdoms that they did not know, the kingdoms of the Assyrians, Chaldeans, Medes, Persians, and other nations that were subject to these empires, and in whose lands they were scattered. And all of Judah became desolate, because it had no inhabitant, and there was no one passing through or returning. And the land, which was a honeycomb among all lands and flowed with milk and honey abundantly, they turned into a wilderness. Can we apply these things to those who, in the Church, as delinquents, were cast out from the land of confession, because they refused to hear the Lord, and turned their back on Him departing, and made heavy their ears, and hardened their heart like adamant. And the indignation of the Lord came upon them, and they were scattered throughout all the kingdoms of vices, and their land was deserted, either in soul or body, having no indwelling Lord, nor a returning spirit within themselves. And the once desirable land, which was the dwelling place of the Trinity, has been turned into a desert, the abode of dragons. Let us quickly pass over those things which are clear, so that there may be room for discussing obscure matters: for we are not writing lengthy and flourishing treatises in which eloquence plays a pleasing role, but rather we are writing commentaries, whose duty it is to pass over obvious things and discuss obscure matters.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:1-3

  (Chapter 8, Verses 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with a great jealousy, and with a great indignation am I jealous for her. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. LXX: And the word of the Lord Almighty came, saying: Thus saith the Lord Almighty: I am jealous for Jerusalem and Zion with a great jealousy, and with a great fury am I jealous for her. Thus says the Lord Almighty: I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called the true city, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty, the holy mountain. In the book of Ezekiel (Chapter 16), we learn in greater detail how the Lord took Jerusalem, that is, the Israelite people, when they were in the wilderness like a wife, covered in the blood of idolatry, and he covered them with his cloak and loved them with marital affection. Later, we learn that she ate fine flour, honey, and oil, adorned with the most beautiful garments, and had all the jewelry and ornaments given by her husband, but she committed adultery with the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, and the Lord said: As a wife despises her husband, so Israel has despised me in the house of Israel (Jeremiah 3). But when she was delivered into captivity and mocked by her lovers, and stripped of her former beauty, after she spread her legs to every passerby and was defiled up to her head, she laments the memory of her former happiness, saying: 'I will return to my former husband, for it was better for me then than it is now.' (Hosea 2:7). And he, taking her back in marriage, to whom he had previously said, 'I will not be angry with you, and my jealousy shall depart from you' (Ezekiel 16), now speaks: 'I am consumed with zeal for Zion, with great zeal and great indignation I am consumed for her.' I was very angry that she was defiled by many lovers and stained my marriage bed. Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers, not as an adulteress under her husband, but as a harlot and worthless slave, and she was prostituted in brothels. Now I have returned to her even more, because she has repented and built a temple for me to dwell in the midst of her. And she will be called the city of truth, which was previously called the city of lies, as written in Isaiah: Truth has slept (or dozed) in her; but now murderers. And there will be a mountain, the mountain of the Almighty Lord, a sanctified mountain, in which, with the temple restored, victims are sacrificed, and the order of ceremonies is observed. This is according to the history. However, there is no doubt that Zion and Jerusalem, the watchtower and vision of peace, are able to receive the souls of the faithful, to whom, when they have sinned, the angry Lord hands them over to captivity, so that they who have not sensed God through good and prosperous things may sense Him through evil and adverse things. And when they shall have repented, the Lord will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, which we understand as the one and the same city, in which before reigned the vices of sins and falsehoods; afterwards Christ will dwell, who is the truth. And the mountain of the Lord of hosts shall be called the holy mountain, of which it is said: They that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Zion (Ps. 142:1). And: Great is the Lord and exceedingly praiseworthy, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain (Ps. 47:1). About which Isaiah and Micah cry out: In the last days, the mountain of the Lord will be prepared on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills, and all peoples will flow to it, and many nations will hurry, and they shall say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob (Isaiah 2:2-3; Micah 4:1-2). Concerning this mountain and this city, and the Apostle Paul (if indeed in receiving the Epistle, he did not reject the Greek authority in the Latin language) disputing with sacred prayer says: You have come to Mount Zion and the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, and to thousands of angels, and the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven (Hebrews 12:22).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:4-5

  (Verses 4, 5.) This is what the Lord of hosts says. Yet old men and old women will dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets. LXX: This is what the Lord Almighty says: Yet old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their many days. And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets. So great, he says, will be the prosperity of all things and the peace and tranquility of war, with no enemy remaining, that old age in both sexes will reach the very last age, and trembling limbs will be supported by a ruling staff. The streets of the city will also be filled with playing boys and girls. However, this usually happens when there is security and deep peace in the cities, so that the joy of the cities may celebrate with games and dances the playful age. But if we refer to the Church, of which it is said: Glorious things have been spoken of you, O city of God (Psalm 87:3), and: The streams of the river make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved (Psalm 46:4-5), who can doubt that the streets of the Church are the virtues, in which wisdom acts confidently and is proclaimed on the heights of the walls? Therefore, the Psalmist cries out to the Lord: I hold your commandments in high esteem (Psalm 119:96). In the streets, seeking the Lord and Savior, the bride speaks in the Song of Songs: I will arise and go about the city in the streets and in its squares, until I find him whom my soul loves (Song of Songs 3:2). Therefore, the elderly men and women will dwell or sit, of whom it is written (if anyone is willing to receive the book): Honorable old age, not measured by time or numbered by years (Wisdom 4:8). But dogs are the wisdom of men, and old age is a blameless life: of which the Lord also speaks to Moses: Gather with you seventy elders, whom you know to be elders (Num. XI, 16); wherefore before Abraham no one was called old, of whom we read: Abraham died being old: nourished in good old age, old and full of days (Gen. XXV, 8). For the glory of old men is gray hair, of whom it is said: The gray hair of a man is his wisdom (Wis. IV, 8). They will hold rods and staffs in their hands because of the multitude of days, and they will say to the disciples: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in the spirit of gentleness and meekness (1 Corinthians 4:21)? For he who speaks wisdom from his lips, the rod strikes the foolish man. And on the contrary: He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who diligently corrects him loves him (Proverbs 13:24). And not only old men, but old women will also sit in the streets of Jerusalem, which Paul describes with apostolic words: Honor, he says. See widows who are truly widows. And in another place: Let a widow be chosen not less than sixty years old, who was the wife of one husband, having testimony in good works: if she has brought up children, if she has received strangers, if she has washed the feet of the saints, if she has relieved the afflicted, if she has diligently followed every good work (I Tim. V, 3, 9, 10). Such old men and old women will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, and they will hold staffs in their hands, and the streets of the city will be filled with playing boys and girls. These are the boys and girls, the old and young, whom the Psalmist exhorts to sing to the Lord, saying: Young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the name of the Lord (Ps. CXLVII, 12). And John the Evangelist and Apostle says: I write to you, young men, because your sins are forgiven you for the sake of the Savior's name: I write to you, fathers, because you have known him who is from the beginning (I John II, 12, 13). And of these things Solomon speaks in Proverbs: And He shall give subtlety to the innocent, and understanding to the young man. And again: Hear, O sons, the discipline of a father, and attend that you may know understanding (Prov. 1:4, 8). Concerning these boys, young men and girls, the forty-fourth psalm says, After her shall virgins be brought to the king. According to what is written: The daughters of Judah rejoiced and were glad because of your judgments. Lord (Ps. XCVI, 8). When they have heard from the Apostle: Rejoice, again I say rejoice (Philip. IV, 4), they will indicate the joy of the mind with a gesture of the body, and with a leaping dance, they will say with David: I will leap and dance in the sight of the Lord (II Sam. VI, 22).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:5

  This is that wine with which, when youths and maidens are intoxicated, they at once thirst for virginity. They are filled with the spirit of chastity, and the prophecy of Zechariah comes to pass, at least if we follow the Hebrew literally, for he prophesied concerning virgins: "And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof. For what is his goodness, and what is his beauty, but the corn of the elect, and wine that gives birth to virgins?" They are virgins of whom it is written in the forty-fifth psalm: "She is led to the king, with her virgin companions, her escort, in her train. With joy and gladness they are led along as they enter the palace of the king."

  Against Jovinianus 1.30

• Zechariah 8:6

  (Verse 6) Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it seems difficult in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be difficult in my eyes? says the Lord of hosts. LXX: Thus says the Lord Almighty: If it is impossible before the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be impossible before me? says the Lord Almighty. The prophet presents, word by word and sentence by sentence, the promises of prosperity to Israel and almost incredible things due to their magnitude. Thus says the Lord Almighty, speaking in another manner: Do not think that what I promise belongs to me, and do not believe me as you would believe a man. The promises I make are of God. As I said before, the old people and the elderly will sit in the streets and hold staffs in their hands for a long time. The streets will be made narrower due to the multitude of people, and boys and girls will lead processions as if it were a festival. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and restored to its former state of happiness. To those remaining people who had come out of captivity, this seemed unbelievable when they saw the city completely deserted, with walls in ruins and burnt walls, exhibiting the hand of Babylon. Therefore, he associates: If for those of you who are the remaining captives, what I promise seems difficult or impossible, that such happiness will be in those days when Jerusalem is being built, will it be difficult or impossible in the sight of the Lord who promises these things with my own mouth? For what is impossible for men is possible for God (Matthew 19:26). We have witnessed these things fulfilled during the time of persecution in the churches of Christ, when such a rage of cruelty was stirred up among the persecutors that they even destroyed our assemblies, burned divine books, filled all islands, mines, and prisons with chained flocks of confessors and martyrs. Who would have believed at that time that the very ones who had destroyed would be the ones to build up the churches again? Not because the same men were in power, but because the same royal authority, which previously lay in wait with the rich (Psalms 10), and sought to extinguish the name of Christ as if by a senatorial decree, now constructs basilicas at the expense of the republic of the Churches, and raises up the highest, so that it not only decorates the shining ceilings and roofs with gold, but also clothes the walls with different layers of marble, and venerates the divine books, which it previously handed over to the fire, now gilded and purpled, and distinguished by a variety of gems, in the custody of the Roman state.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:7-8

  (Verses 7, 8.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East, and from the land of the setting sun. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in justice. Likewise in the Septuagint. Others say that these things were fulfilled by the Jews after the rebuilding of the temple and the city walls by Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, and the restoration of the Jewish state by the Maccabees and various princes who ruled over Judea until King Herod. Others, in talking about the completion of the world under Christ, whom they vainly wait for, mention things that are yet to be fulfilled. But we, on the other hand, say that even at that time, that is, after Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, it was partially completed and already foreshadowed in types and images when the people were brought back from captivity, dwelt in Jerusalem, and were called the people of God, and again the Lord was called their God: not in deceit and injustice, but in truth and righteousness. And now, most fully under the Lord and Savior in the Church, that is, in the true Jerusalem, the promise is being fulfilled, especially because it is said: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East and from the land of the West, of whom the Lord also spoke in the Gospel: Many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. VIII, 11). And long before, the Psalmist had promised, saying: The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken and called the earth. From the rising of the sun to its setting, from Zion, the perfection of beauty, he comes. For from Zion shall come the one who delivers and turns away iniquities from Jacob, when, from the east and the west, incense is offered to the name of the Lord in every place, and a pure sacrifice, not of the victims of the old Testament, but of the sanctity of the gospel purity, of which incense and elsewhere we read: Let my prayer be directed as incense in your sight. And the following speech explains what this offering is: The lifting up of my hands is the evening sacrifice. For after the shoot from the stem of Jesse has blossomed forth, who was to rule the nations, in Him the nations were to hope (Rom. XV), and from the East and the West, as well the first people as the last have believed in the Lord, and there was made one flock: then all the nations were called to joy, and stirred up to gladness, as the Prophet says: Rejoice, O nations, with His people (Ps. XXI, 28). According to what is written elsewhere: All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. And what follows: In truth and righteousness, this signifies that the shadow of the old Law departs and the truth of the Gospel comes, not in the righteousness of the Jews, but in Christian righteousness: for the Lord himself is truth and righteousness, of whom we read: Truth will spring up from the earth, and righteousness will look down from heaven (Psalm 85:11). And in the fourteenth Psalm, righteousness and truth are mentioned together: He who walks without blemish and practices righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:9

  (Verse 9) Thus says the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing through the mouth of the prophets the decrees that were made when the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid for the rebuilding of the temple. For there are seventy years for the Lord of hosts, the Almighty, and in like manner the rest were translated. When the temple was built under Zerubbabel and Jesus (for in the fourth year of King Darius, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Chislev, these things are said, when the temple had already been constructed), the same prophets Haggai and Zechariah, who had encouraged the leaders and the people to build it, now encourage them to conform their faith to what had been promised in the past and what is promised for the future, and to strengthen their hands, fearing neither the attack of the Medes nor the plots of the surrounding nations. And let them be comforted by the words of the prophets from the day the foundation of the temple was laid until the day it was completed, and let them hear what follows. Briefly, we explain the history of whatever is said about Jerusalem and the temple, referring it spiritually to the Church, in which hands are strengthened through good works, and houses are founded when the foundations of faith are laid, and a temple is built when the multitude of believers is strengthened, and thus lives so as to deserve to be the temple of God.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:10

  (Verse 10.) Indeed, before those days there was no wages for humans, nor wages for animals, nor peace to the one entering and leaving because of the affliction. And I will send forth all people against their neighbors. They have all been reported to the future time, but better to the past, as it is in Hebrew, and the truth of the exposition will approve. Before the house of the Lord was founded, and the temple of the Lord was built, all your labor was in vain. And both men and animals in agriculture, in trade, and in various works, were frustrated in their empty efforts: outside there were adversaries, at home sedition disturbed the peace, and everywhere there was injustice due to the frequency of wars and domestic plots, while brother did not show faith to brother, and every kinship was hostile. Understanding this meaning, the prophet Haggai says: And now set your hearts from this day and beyond: before the stone was placed upon the stone in the temple of the Lord. When you approached a heap of twenty measures, there were ten; and you entered the winepress to press out fifty jugs, and there were twenty. I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands, and there was no one among you who returned to me, says the Lord (Hag. 2:16-17): which we can also understand in the Church and in each of the believers. Indeed, before the house of God is laid as a foundation within us, and we are built up as a temple to God, and we hear from the Apostle; You are the temple of God: and the Holy Spirit dwells within you (II Cor. VI, 16), whatever good work we seemed to have, either rational, who are called humans, or simple, who are called beasts (for you will save humans and beasts, Lord (Ps. XXXV, 7)), it has no reward from God, and there are battles and conflicts within us, and everywhere there is tribulation without the peace of Christ, which he left with the apostles as he went to the Father (John XIV), and the Lord's saying is fulfilled in us: The enemies of a man are those of his own house (Micah VII, 6). For every brother supplants with supplanting; and every friend walks deceitfully, and a man mocks his brother, and does not speak the truth, their tongue has learned to speak lies. (Jeremiah IX, 4). But if we turn to Christ, and become his temple, immediately we will hear the Apostle proclaiming: Each one will receive their own reward according to their work. (I Corinthians III, 8).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:11-12

  (Verse 11, 12): But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. LXX: And now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Almighty Lord; but I will show peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of my people to possess all these things. Before the foundations of the house of God were laid and the temple was built, there was no merchandise of men, nor merchandise of livestock, nor was there peace for those entering and leaving, and all people were in hostile disagreement with one another. But now, because the foundations of the house of the Lord are already laid and the temple is built, I will not do as I did before to those who have returned from the captivity of Babylon; but there will be peace and joy everywhere, and the abundance of the former times will compensate for the drought and famine. For the vine shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall be filled with the produce of the harvest; the presses shall overflow with wine, and the land shall be adorned with bountiful crops. With abundant rain and nightly dew, all shall sprout and grow. I will fulfill all that I have spoken and the remnants of my people shall possess. For the foundations of the house of the Lord have been laid, and the temple has been built. These same words were spoken by the prophet Haggai at the same time, who said: 'I struck you with scorching wind, mildew, and hail, destroying all the work of your hands, after the foundations of the temple were laid. Set it in your hearts from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month: from the day the foundations of the temple were laid, set it upon your hearts.' Is the seed already in the bud: and has the vineyard, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree not yet blossomed? From this day forward, I will bless you, and I will shake the heavens and the earth again (Haggai 2:18-19). Let us also say, following another explanation of the Church. Before anyone receives the faith of Christ, and the foundations of the Holy Spirit are laid in them, no one can hear, there is recompense for your work. Whether they are Jewish, or heretic, or pagan: whatever good works they do, if they do not do them in the name of Christ, they will not receive the reward of their good works. We see the virgins of the heretics, the strictness of the philosophers, the variety of observances among the Jews in regard to food; and yet, according to Haggai, we say that they eat, but are not satisfied; they drink, but are not intoxicated; they cover themselves, but are not warmed; and whoever gathers wages, puts them in a bag with holes (Haggai I). But after they have received the faith of Christ, both those who were sinners outside the Church and those within, and have been handed over to the captivity of this world and burned by Babylonian fire, and have heard the Lord preaching: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me; to preach the Gospel to the poor He has sent me, to proclaim release to captives, and sight to the blind, to heal the broken-hearted" (Isaiah LXI, 2), and when in them is fulfilled what is said through Amos: "I will turn again the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the desolate cities, and I will plant them" (Amos IX, 14), then in those days righteousness and a multitude of peace shall arise (Psalm LXXI). The vine will produce its fruit, as it says in the Gospel: I am the vine, you are the branches. Every branch that remains in me, the Father cleanses, so that it may bear greater fruit (John 15:8). And when its branches, that is, the shoots and tendrils, have been cleansed, and with budding eyes begin to promise the hope of future fruit, then the flowering vines will give off their fragrance (Song of Solomon 2:13). At that time, the sun of righteousness will color the hanging clusters of grapes, as mentioned in the winepress psalms of the eighteenth and eighty-third, which are inscribed for the winepresses. The feet of the Lord, who ascends from Bosor, will crush them, in order to create the wine that gladdens the heart of man. The earth will also yield its produce, not dry and rocky and full of thorns; but good earth that gives a hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold fruit (Matt. 13): so that those who sow in tears may reap in joy (Psalm 126). And the heavens will also give their dew, of which it is written in Psalm 18: The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands. About these heavens, it is said in the song of Deuteronomy: Rejoice, O heavens, with him (Deut. 32:43), that is, with the Lord and Savior, whom he foreknew and predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Rom. 8), who speaks with Moses: May my teaching come down like rain, my words fall like dew (Deut. 32:2). For those who were dead in sins will rise again, and those who lay in their graves will be raised up, those tombs that are full of the bones of the dead, and those who reside on the earth will rejoice. And the following statement explains the reason for their joy: For health is theirs from the dew of the rose that is from you. And all these things, namely peace and the fruit of the vineyards and the abundance of the lands, which thrive from the dew of the heavens, will be possessed by the remnants of my people, of whom Isaiah speaks: Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 1:9). For the elect's sake, the remains were saved by grace: not by works; otherwise grace would not be grace.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:13-15

  (Verse 13 and following) And it shall be, as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, let your hands be strong. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Just as I purposed to afflict you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath, says the Lord, and I did not relent, so now I have purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear. LXX: And it shall be, as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Fear not, let your hands be strong.' For thus says the LORD of hosts, 'As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the LORD of hosts, so again have I purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. These things after the building of the temple promise to be in the future, that just as they were in all nations for a curse and for a hissing and for an example, the house of Judah and the house of Israel (namely, the two and ten tribes), so when they have been saved and returned to Judaea, they may be a blessing for all. Do not, he says, fear the rebellious adversaries: trust that what the Lord promises through me is true: strengthen your hands: fulfill the works that you have begun. For the cause of comfort, there is a promise of the Lord. For thus says the Almighty Lord, to whom nothing is impossible, who can fulfill what He promises: just as I have devised to afflict you and deliver you into captivity because your fathers provoked me to anger and I did not show mercy. And the Septuagint translated it as 'I did not repent', which is written in Hebrew as 'Ulo Naamathi'. But I did not show mercy in order to correct you with captivity and instruct you with all kinds of torments and afflictions. So now, at this present time, I have devised to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. And it is to be noted that when he is angry, his curse is upon the nations of the house of Judah and the house of Israel, that is, all twelve tribes that were handed over to captivity. But when he plans to do good, he does not do so for Judah and Israel, that is, the two and ten tribes, namely Jerusalem and Samaria, Oollae and Oolibae; but leaving Israel in captivity, he does good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah: and he concludes by saying: Do not fear or be confident, in the sense that we have explained above. However, the Church and each individual believer can be understood in this way: that during times of persecution, they were a curse and an example to all the surrounding nations because they offended their Lord. And afterwards, they were a blessing when peace was restored. And all of this happened because the Lord, who was once angry, then had mercy on Jerusalem and on the Jews who confessed the faith of the Lord. Moreover, each of the believers who are expelled from the Church due to their sins and handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh (I Cor. V), so that they may learn not to blaspheme (I Tim. I), when they have repented, they shall return to their former state and shall see the peace of God and possess the glory of their confession. The heretics falsely accuse God, saying that he is either cruel or changeable, if he either does not repent or does repent, because it is written: \"I have not shown mercy or had pity\". For if he repents, they say he is changeable; if he does not repent, they assert he is cruel. However, God regretted that he had anointed Saul as king (1 Samuel 15). And concerning the Ninevites, to whom he had proclaimed through the prophet: \"Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown\" (Jonah 3:4), it is said that he himself changed his mind when they repented, not due to a fault of his unwise mind, but due to the variation of their actions, whether good or evil. For if they have done wrong, He threatens; if they have repented of their former sins, He shows mercy. God, who is always the same and cannot be changed, does not change; but when they have turned from evil to good works, He changes His own decree. He also speaks in Genesis: The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah has multiplied, and their sins are very great. Therefore I will go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me, and if not, I will know. What he said is this: If they remain in anger, punishment will not be lacking for sinners; if they cease from insanity, they will become most worthy of my knowledge. But the Lord knows those who are His (2 Tim. 2:19). And the Apostle writes to the Galatians: But then, not knowing God (Gal. 4:8). And since God knows all things, and nothing can escape Him, neither past nor present nor future, He says in the Gospel that the wicked do not know Him: Depart from me, workers of iniquity, I do not know you (Luke 13:27). Therefore let us understand both the knowledge, and the repentance, and the anger, and the indignation, and all the affections of God, not with the fault of human speech, but with the sense of divine majesty.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:16-17

  (Verse 16, 17) These are the words you shall do: Speak truth, each one with his neighbor. Give judgment of truth and peace in your gates. And let none of you think evil in your hearts against his neighbor. And love not a false oath. For all these are the things that I hate, says the Lord. LXX: These are the words you shall do: Speak truth, each one with his neighbor. Give judgment of peace and justice in your gates. And let none of you think evil against his neighbor in your hearts. And love not a false oath. For I hate all these things, says the Almighty Lord. I have promised that I will not abandon the remnants of the captive people and I will not act as I did in the past days. Just as I had planned to afflict them when their fathers provoked me to anger and I showed no mercy, now I have turned my thoughts to doing good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Therefore, in order to fulfill my purpose and not make my promises void, do these things that I command: Speak the truth with your neighbors. Let us embrace, as our nearest kin, the entire human race, for we are all descended from a single parent. Otherwise, whoever is the next closest relative should be considered, and one must lie to strangers and foreigners. The Apostle speaks of the same thing: 'Putting away lying, speak ye the truth every man with his neighbour' (Ephesians IV, 25). 'Judge ye the truth and the judgment of peace in your gates.' In judgment let truth and justice come first, and then mercy follows. For this is the judgment of peace, that the judge has the intention to reconcile the discordant, according to that Gospel: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God (Matthew 5:9). And what follows 'In your gates' is in agreement with that prophetic passage: They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth (Amos 5:10). And in another place: They shall not be put to shame when they speak with their enemies in the gate (Psalm 129:6). David also judged in the gates, when Absalom, promising the truth of judgment, laid snares for his father (2 Samuel 19). And it is asked why among the Jews in the city gates there was a place for judgment. So that farmers would not be forced to enter the cities and incur any expense, judges would reside in the city gates in order to hear both urban and rural people entering and leaving the city, and once the matter was finished, each person would immediately return to their own homes. And the evil, he says, do not contemplate against your friends in your hearts: Raah (), which all voice consonant κακίαν, that is, malice, can be understood in two ways, both as affliction and as evil. Regarding affliction: If there is wickedness in a city that the Lord has not made (Amos III, 6). And: Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew VI, 34). Concerning evil, God speaks through the prophet Jonah: The outcry of their wickedness has come to me (Jonah I, 2). And in the Apostle, we read: They were filled with all unrighteousness and wickedness (Romans I, 29). Therefore, in both ways, one who is holy does not afflict his friend nor does he think of bringing harm upon him in his heart. And he said, 'Do not love a false oath: according to the commandment of the Lord in the Gospel: 'But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God; nor by the earth, for it is His footstool...' (Matt. V, 34). For whoever does not swear, will never be able to perjure. Let the one who swears, hear what is written: 'You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain' (Exod. XX, 7). These are all the things that I hate,' says the Lord, according to the words of Malachi: 'And you have done all the things that I hate' (Mal. II, 13; sec. LXX). In the precepts pertaining to life, which are clear, we should not seek allegory, lest, in accordance with the Comic, we seek a knot in a reed.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:18-19

  (Verse 18, 19,.) And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace. LXX: And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty. The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and good festivals (for this is the Hebrew word Tobim (), meaning good), and be happy, and love truth and peace. To the question that Sarasar and Rogommelech asked through messengers, whether they should fast and mourn in the fifth month and the seventh month, as it is written in the Septuagint, or whether they should end the fast and put away mourning after the completion of the temple, with many things being set forth in the midst of what they would do and what they would hope for, the Lord responded through the person of the prophet: the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, and the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month (for the month is understood) shall be turned into joy and gladness for the house of Judah and Jerusalem on the appointed feasts. God alone seeks the truth and peace. In this place, many of our people have said many different things, and there is disagreement among them. Some, professing obscurity, have passed over the deepest pit in their commentaries: thinking it better to say nothing at all than to say too little. Therefore, we are compelled to turn to the Hebrews and seek the truth of knowledge from the source rather than from the streams: especially since there is no prophecy about Christ, where they often twist and conceal the truth with lies; but rather the order of history is woven from what comes before and what follows. On the seventeenth day of the month of July, which is called Julius in Latin, it is believed to commemorate the moment when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and threw down and broke the tablets of the Law (Exodus 32), and when the walls of the city were first breached, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 52). In the fifth month, which is called Augustus in Latin, when a rebellion arose among the people because of the spies of the Holy Land, they were commanded not to ascend the mountain; but for forty years they wandered in the wilderness, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, until they all perished (Numbers 14). In this month, both by Nabuchodonosor (Jer. LII), and many centuries later by Titus and Vespasian, the temple in Jerusalem was burned and destroyed, the city of Bether was captured, to which many thousands of Jews had fled, the temple was plowed in disgrace by the Roman governor Turannius Rufus. In the seventh month, which is called October among us, as we have said above, Godolias was killed, and the tribes of Judah and the remains of Jerusalem were scattered (IV Reg. 25). We read Jeremiah (Chapters XXXIX and XLI). In the tenth month, which is called January among us, because it is the door of the year and the beginning, Ezekiel, being in captivity, heard that the temple was destroyed in the fifth month, which we fully know from the same prophet. Therefore, this is all that is said: The days of mourning and fasting that you have had until now for sorrow, you shall know that I planned to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah, to turn them into joy and gladness and festive occasions, if only you love truth and peace. According to interpretation, because then we fast when the bridegroom is taken away from us (Luke 5), and we do not deserve to have his presence when the Lord returns to us and decides to bless us, all sorrow will turn into joy; and the previous hunger for the word of God, the presence of his teachings, and the satisfaction of heavenly bread, will be weighed.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:21-22

  (Verse 21, 22.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: How long will the people come and dwell in many cities, and the inhabitants go from one to another, saying: Let us go and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will also go, and many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the face of the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord almighty: Yet many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come; and those who dwell in cities will gather in one city, saying: Let us go to entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the presence of the Lord almighty. I will also go, and many peoples and numerous nations will come to seek the face of the Almighty Lord in Jerusalem, and to supplicate the face of the Lord. The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be changed into the best festivities, to the extent that the cities of Judah, which were previously deserted, will be celebrated with abundant inhabitants. And one city shall go to another, and they shall encourage one another and say: Because for seventy years the ways of Zion had been desolate, since there was no one to go to the feast, all its gates were deserted, and its priests were lamenting. Now that peace has been restored, let us go to Jerusalem, where it is commanded by law that we offer sacrifices, and let our every male appear before the Lord three times a year (Exod. XXIII). And one city will say to another: Let us go and supplicate the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Almighty Lord. The other city will reply: I will also go. At that time, many peoples and innumerable and powerful nations will come to offer sacrifices to the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to supplicate His face. For the Lord is near to those who do not test Him, and He reveals His face to those who are not unbelieving. Whoever sees the Son, sees the Father as well; and the Son is the image of the invisible God, not because the Son is visible and the Father invisible, but because when the Son is mentioned, the Father is felt. For the Father does not exist without the Son. Therefore, He Himself speaks in the Gospel: Father, I have manifested Your name to men. What we have said about Jerusalem and Zerubbabel, or after Zerubbabel, is more accurately and fully applied to Christ and Jerusalem, which is understood as the Church: and then concerning the whole world and peoples and nations coming together to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord. Also during the time of persecution, as we have mentioned before, the teachers and priests of the Church boldly promise to the captives and believers that the parishes will be rebuilt and peace will be restored, and the face of the Lord is to be sought in the Churches. We pass by in order to dwell in the more obscure things.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 8:23

  (Verse 23) Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days, when ten men from all the languages of the nations take hold of the garment of a Jewish man, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' LXX: Thus says the Lord Almighty: In those days, if ten men from all the languages of the nations take hold of the fringe of a Jewish man, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' Certain Jews say that these things were completed under Zerubbabel, and after Zerubbabel. Others differ, expecting Christ to come in the future. But we understand more correctly and truly in the coming of the Lord and Savior, when He was born of the Virgin Mary. Finally, it is written: 'How long will the peoples come?' (Zech. VIII, 20) When it is said, 'How long,' it does not signify the present time in which Zerubbabel and Joshua were, but the future, when many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the face of the Lord. At that time, therefore, and in those days, ten men from all the languages of the nations will take hold of the edge of a man who is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And in Isaiah we read: Seven women will take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing, only let your name be called upon us: take away our disgrace (Isaiah 4:1). Therefore, the seven women who are called there, that is, the Churches, whose number is also mentioned in the apostle Paul: for he writes to seven Churches, to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians. And in the Apocalypse of John, in the midst of the seven candlesticks (Apoc. I), that is, of the Churches, of the Ephesians, of the Smyrnians, of the Pergamenes, of the Thyatirians, of the Sardisians, of the Philadelphians, of the Laodiceans with variety (or truth), the Lord enters girded with the purest gold. Now in the prophet Zechariah, ten are mentioned, whom the Lord also inquired about, that if He found them in Sodom and Gomorrah, He would deliver them from destruction. For the letter Iota , from which the Savior's name begins, signifies not only the number ten among the Greeks, but also among the Hebrews. And by this mystical discourse it is shown that all those who are considered by the name of Christian, whom the Lord Himself says have left seven thousand in the time of the persecution of Jezebel and the flight of Elijah, who have not bent their knees before Baal (III Kings XIX), and who have come to the measure of a perfect man from all languages and nations, will grasp the fringe of the Jewish man, that is, of the Lord and Savior, about whom it is also said in the Psalms: 'Judah, my king' (Ps. LIX, 9). And: Judas, your brothers will praise you. And again: A ruler will not fail from Judah, and a leader from his loins, until the one to whom it belongs comes, and he will be the hope of the nations (Gen. XLIX, 8, 10): For he will be the offspring of Jesse, and the one who rises to rule the nations, in him the nations will hope (Isai. XI, 10). And when they take hold of him, they will desire to follow in his footsteps; for God is with him. Indeed, from all languages and nations, whoever believes will take hold of the Jewish man, the apostles who are from the Jews and they will say: Let us go with you, for we have heard through the prophets, and we have known by the voice of all the Scriptures, that the Son of God, Christ, is God and Lord with you. When the most manifest prophecy is fulfilled, and the coming of Christ and his apostles is preached, and the faith of all nations, we do not seek anything more. But what we said about the number seven thousand belonging to the name of Christians, calculate in Greek έπτα χίλια και Χριστιανους, and you will find the same number and sum, that is, one thousand nine hundred and forty-one. But also the parable of the ten virgins in the Gospel (Matt. XXV), which we interpret in the senses of the flesh and the spirit, if they have prepared oil of good works for their lamps, and have doubled the number five, so that they may be holy (according to the Apostle) in body and spirit, refer to the sacrament of this number. He will also receive in the future ten cities, the best governed by those who have the most excellent control of their senses (Luke 16).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:1

  (Chapter 9, verse 1) The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Adrach, and Damascus shall be his rest: for the Lord hath an eye upon men, and upon all the tribes of Israel. LXX: The assumption of the word of the Lord in the land of Adrach (or Sedrach) and Damascus shall be his sacrifice, for the Lord regards men, and all the tribes of Israel. All this vision or burden of the word of the Lord, as Aquila interpreted it, pertains to the calling of the Gentiles and the rebuilding of the Church. And the order of the words is: Assumption of the word of the Lord, sharp towards sinners, gentle towards the righteous. Adrach (for this name is composed of two whole words: Ad, sharp, Rach, gentle and tender), and not as some read it incorrectly, Sedrach. Some refer Adrach to the Jewish people and Damascus to the calling of the Gentiles. Therefore, the people, or the assumption of the word of the Lord, takes place on the land of Adrach, on which the Lord exercised both severity and mercy (Isaiah XI, 10 in the Septuagint). Austerity towards those who refused to believe: mercy towards those who have returned with the Apostles. However, Damascus is for the rest of the Lord, according to what is written in Isaiah: And his rest shall be honor. For before the child knew how to choose good or evil, and call his father and mother, he received the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria (Isa. VIII, 4). Therefore, Damascus is translated into our language as 'drinking blood' or 'the blood of a hair shirt,' in order to signify the bloody people in the former interpretation; the second interpretation associates it with his cruelty and repentance. And what follows: Because the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel belong to the Lord, thus they have said: Therefore the temple of God must be built by both peoples, that is, by the land of Adrach and by the rest of Damascus: because whoever looks upon God, and hopes in Him, is of the nations, and is of all the tribes of Israel: or, according to the Septuagint, because the Lord equally regards all men, and all the tribes of Israel. Let us speak in another way: in the land of Adrach, the burden of the word of the Lord is heavy and of great weight. But in Damascus, his victims and sacrifices, because the Lord regards the faith of the nations and the unfaithfulness of circumcision without any partiality, and he is equally the God of all: imposing the weight of his own judgment and resting in the seat of others. The Jews say that all these things are to be fulfilled in the coming of Christ, whom they expect in the last times, and that the land of Adrach, and Damascus, and Emath, and Tyre, and Sidon, and Ascalon, and Gaza, and even Accaron and Ashdod and the Philistines, will bow their necks to the most powerful king and serve him who dwells in Jerusalem, and no one shall dare to raise a hand against Israel after they have been pacified throughout the land. Which we spiritually comprehend in the coming of the Lord and in the events of his Church.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:2-4

  (Vers. 2 seqq.) Emath quoque in terminis ejus, et Tyrus et Sidon: assumpserunt quippe sibi sapientiam valde. Et aedificavit Tyrus munitionem suam, et coacervavit argentum quasi humum, et aurum ut lutum platearum. Ecce Dominus possidebit eam, et percutiet in mari fortitudinem ejus, et haec igne devorabitur. LXX: Emath in finibus ejus Tyrus et Sidon: quoniam sapientes fuerunt nimis, et aedificavit Tyrus munitionem suam, et congregavit argentum ut humum, et aurum ut lutum viarum. Therefore the Lord will possess it, and strike its strength in the sea, and it will be consumed by fire. Emath, which is interpreted as 'wrath,' that is, indignation, is the one which received the name Epiphania from Antiochus Epiphanes, and now it is the city of Coele Syria. And thus, both Tyre and Sidon will be in the borders of Damascus, or in the borders of the land of Adrach, so that they may believe in the Lord Savior, to whom it was said by the Father: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession (Ps. 2:8). The daughters of this Tyre, that is, the souls of those who believe in Christ, will bring gifts to the king, so that what is written may be fulfilled: The daughters of Tyre will worship him with gifts (Psalm 44:13). And when the city of God, the Church, is built, of which the Psalmist sings: Glorious things are said of you, O city of God (Psalm 86:2), then the following will immediately come: Behold, foreigners, Tyre, and the people of Ethiopia, these were born there (ibid., 56:4). In two psalms it is said of aliens: Aliens serve me, or are subject to me. In the prophet Zephaniah we read about the Ethiopians: From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia my worshipers, my dispersed ones, will bring me offerings (Zep. 3:10). And in the Psalm: Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God (Ps. 68:31). But the Gospel speaks of Tyre: Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes (Matt. 11:21). That Canaanite woman from the territory of Tyre and Sidon, whose daughter was badly possessed by a demon, encountered the Lord and Savior (Mark VII); and she dedicated the first fruits of faith of the Tyrians and Sidonians, so that those who did not believe at the time of Christ because they had not yet seen signs and wonders, would later see them through the apostles and believe, and be partakers of that blessedness which the Lord promised, saying: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John XX, 29). But Tyre and Sidon (of which one signifies 'narrowness', that is, constraint; the other 'hunting', that is, hunting, according to interpretation) took for themselves such great wisdom, that they proposed to Solomon, that is, the peaceful king, their enigmas, along with their sophisms and the nets of the dialecticians and the intricate web of the sophists, which the Scripture records as their fortifications. They amassed for themselves their silver, which is the brightness of eloquence, and their gold, which is cunning of the senses, gathered together like dust and mud in the streets and roads, in order to possess the kingdom of idolatry which they had fortified. But the Apostle speaks against these fortifications: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful to God, for the destruction of fortifications: destroying thoughts and every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God (II Cor. X, 4, 5). And in the persona of Nineveh, which is interpreted as adorned, or beautiful (for nothing is more adorned than the world), God speaks through the prophet against the people of the world: And you will be drunk and despised, and you will seek help from your enemy: all your fortifications, like figs with their clusters, if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater. And so the Lord will possess both Tyre and Sidon, when he strikes down their strength in the most salty and bitter sea of this age, and nothing of their former wisdom remains, that is, their swelling foolishness, through which they acquired weak fortifications, and silver and gold similar to clay. He will burn them with fire and purify them completely, as the Savior speaks of in the Gospel: I have come to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (Luke XII, 49), according to what is written in Mark: Everyone will be salted with fire (Mark IX, 48).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:5-8

  (Verse 5 onwards) Ascalon will see it and be afraid; Gaza will writhe in agony, and Ekron too, for her hope will wither. Gaza will lose her king and Ashkelon will be deserted. Foreigners will occupy Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines. I will take the blood from their mouths, the forbidden food from between their teeth. Those who are left will belong to our God and become a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. And I will surround my house with those who fight for me, going and returning, and no oppressor will pass over them anymore, for now I have seen with my own eyes. Ascalon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be very sorrowful; and Ekron, because her hope is confounded, and her king will perish from Gaza, and Ascalon will not be inhabited. Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod; and I will remove the injustice of the foreigners, and take away their blood from their mouths, and their abominations from the midst of their teeth. And they will be for our God, and they will be like a leader in Judah; and Ekron will be like the Jebusites. And I will make my house a place of honor, so that no one will pass through or return, and no oppressor or oppressor will come upon them, for now I have seen with my own eyes. Ascalon is interpreted as lowly fire, or weighed down: Gaza, strong, or empire: Accaron, barren, or uprooted: Azotus, which in Hebrew is called Esdod, fire generating, or uncle's fire, or breast's fire; Jebusaeus, it signifies trampled. We have expressed the etymologies of the names in order to briefly go through their meaning. Seeing that Ascalon and Gaza and Accaron, since Emath was in the borders of Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon, after they were struck from all sides, and all of their hay, wood, and straw burned in the fire, were possessed by the Lord, and they themselves, terrified by fear and grief and confusion, began to hope for better things. Finally, Ascalon, in which the devil had been earlier, a lowly fire, and had come to the measure and weight of sins, trembled with fear, because it had ceased to have inhabitants. And Gaza mourned greatly, repenting of its former crimes, which had once been strong and hard to tame, and had promised itself the kingdom of all, because its king and prince, contrary speech and the power of the enemy, had lost its own rule. Accaron also is barren because it had no children without the Law and knowledge of God, it was uprooted, so that it might hear that prophetic saying: Rejoice, barren one, who does not bear; burst forth and cry out, you who are not in labor; for more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband (Isai. LIV, I). And when Ascalon and Gaza and Accaron were terrified, and mourned, because they had no inhabitants, or had lost their king, or their former hope had been frustrated, strangers shall dwell in Azotus, where fire begets, which the Lord has sent upon the earth, and desires to burn (Luc. XII). For he will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matt. 3), where 'fratruelis' and 'patruus' are translated as 'brother-in-law' and 'paternal cousin', whom the bride desires in the Song of Songs: where there is the fire of the breast and the abundant udder, of which we read in the same Song: 'He will rest among my breasts' (Song of Songs 1:12). And in the Apostle: 'I gave you milk to drink, not solid food' (1 Cor. 3:2). Because, as we said according to the LXX: 'Aliens shall dwell in Ashdod', in Hebrew it is written, 'he shall dwell' or 'sit', the 'Mamzer' shall dwell in Ashdod, for which we have substituted 'separator' shall sit in Ashdod. Understand the Lord as the separator, who separates the grain from the chaff (Matthew 3 and 13), and the good fish from the bad fish, and discern silver and gold from dirt and slag. And when he has done this, he promises other things: I will destroy the injustice or the pride of the Philistines. For this, the 70 foreigners were brought in. Philistines are translated in our language as 'falling to the cup,' because they drank from the cup of Babylon and fell down drunk. Therefore, at the time of the calling of the Gentiles and the coming of Christ, they will not have pride, but they will follow Jesus with humility and meekness. And he will take from their mouth the blood, the blasphemy, and the abominations, the worship of idols, and the eating of things sacrificed to idols, from between their teeth. So that after these things have been removed, the Philistines themselves, that is, the foreigners, will be abandoned to the Lord, and he will be the leader in Judah, that is, in the people confessing the Lord, so that the former people who were in the head, will be turned into the tail, and the last one who was in the tail, will pass into the head. And once barren Accaron, therefore, uprooted, will be as Jebus, that is, as Jerusalem. For this city is called by three names, Jebus, Salem, and Jerusalem. And I will surround, he says, my house, that is, the Church, with those who fight for me, that is, with those who serve me in various ministries and come and go at my command. Or: I will surround my house with the protection of angels, about whom it is also written elsewhere: The angel of the Lord will encamp around those who fear him, and he will deliver them (Ps. 34:7), so that there is no one who can attack and return, that is, who can plot against my people. Nor shall there pass over him any more the exactor, of whom Isaiah speaks: The exactor hath ceased (Isaiah 14:5), or surely one who drives out, that is, leading outwards, and dragging the bound captives into captivity: because with his own eyes, which we can understand as the prophets and all the saints, the Lord has seen the calling of the nations and the security of the Church.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:9

  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass. LXX: Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; proclaim, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee, just, and a Saviour, he is meek, and riding upon a young ass. The Evangelists write that this prophecy was fulfilled when the Lord entered Jerusalem, sitting on a donkey and the foal of a donkey, and a crowd of children with palm branches came out to meet Him, shouting: Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest (Matthew XXI); and when the Pharisees reproached Him for not rebuking the children who were shouting, He replied: Have you not read: Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise (Psalm VIII, 3)? Therefore, Sion exults and Jerusalem rejoices, the same city (for Sion is the citadel of Jerusalem), because its king has come, who was promised by the prophecies of all the prophets: He himself is just, the Savior, that is, Jesus, as the angel interpreted, speaking to the Virgin: And he shall be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins (Mat. I, 21). Also, poor or, as the LXX translated, meek, who, though rich, became poor for us, and says in the Gospel: Learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart (Mat. XI, 29). And, riding upon a domestic ass or a young foal, that is, the people of both Circumcision and Uncircumcision, of whom the former had borne the heavy yoke of the Law, as it is written in the Acts of the Apostles: Neither we, nor our fathers, were able to bear the heavy yoke of the Law (Acts 15). Therefore, Paul also writes to the Galatians who wanted to be circumcised: Stand fast, and do not be held again under the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1). But the new chick, a multitude of gentiles, having no reins of the Law, nor being straightened by anyone, but always falling into precipices and whirlpools of idolatry, has learned to walk and enter the straight path by the session of the Lord.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:10

  And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. LXX: And he shall destroy the chariots out of Ephraim, and the horse out of Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be destroyed, and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his dominion shall be from the sea to the rivers, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth. And I will destroy, he says, the chariot of Ephraim. Moreover, it is said in the person of God the Father, that the chariot, or the chariot, of Ephraim may perish, and the horse from Jerusalem. And in the meantime, according to the letter, he speaks thus: There will be no battles, with the advent and birth of Christ pacifying all. Furthermore, according to a higher understanding, Ephraim is referred to as a multitude of heresies, which is interpreted as bearing fruit, that is, abundance and plentiful crops. This is written in the seventy-seventh psalm: The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. About these chariots and charioteers, we read: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand upright (Psalm 20:7-9). The horse that is lost from Jerusalem, that is whom we read about: A deceitful horse for salvation (Psalm 32:17), And in Jeremiah, those who indulged in luxury and lust, they hear: The horses have gone mad, they have become like females to me: each neighed after his neighbor's wife (Jeremiah 5:8). Hence they are called to repentance, as the Psalmist says: Do not be like a horse or a mule, which have no understanding (Psalm 32:9). When God has destroyed the chariots of Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, which were freed from such horses and chariots; they will be brought into the service of the Lord, and will become cherubim, and it will be said of them: The chariots of God are ten thousandfold, thousands of rejoicing (Psalm 68:18). And: I have likened you, my beloved, to my horse in Pharaoh's chariots (Song of Solomon 1:8). And: Ride on horses, and let your riding be salvation (Habakkuk 3:8). The bow of war will be dispersed, so that no burning arrows may be launched, which could strike the hearts of the pleasure seekers. And he will speak peace to the nations, of whom it is written: He shall be the expectation of the nations (Gen. XLIX, 10). And again: The nations shall hope in him (Isai. XI). And: His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth (Ps. LXXI, 8). This is not to be weakened by allegory, but truly believed to be fulfilled, according to what we read: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Ps. II, 8). In the seventy-first psalm, under the person of Solomon and the true peacemaker, it is said: And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth (Verse 8).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:11-12

  (Verse 11, 12.) You also, in the blood of your covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit in which there is no water. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. Even today I declare that I will restore double to you. LXX: And you, by the blood of your covenant, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit that has no water. You shall sit in the stronghold, prisoners of the assembly, and for one day of your journey I will restore double to you. After the prophet's message, or rather God the Almighty Father Himself, has announced to Zion and Jerusalem that her king will come to them, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey, and his dominion will be from sea to sea and from the rivers to the ends of the earth, he addresses Christ Himself, of whom the prophecy is, and speaks: You also, in the blood of your covenant or pact, have sent forth your prisoners from the pit, in which there is no water. It is understood in this way: In the blood of your passion, you freed those who were held captive in the prison of hell, where there is no mercy, through your mercy. Finally, after the Lord rose, those who were held captive by the sins of Adam, or, as some would have it, the stains of error, and the chains of death, rose with him and appeared in the holy city. Concerning this blood of the covenant, he himself, indicating his coming passion, said to the disciples: Take and drink from this all of you: for this is the chalice of the new testament in my blood (Matthew 26:27-28). In this prefiguration, a lake that does not have water, Joseph was sent by his brothers into the lake (Gen. XXXVII): and Daniel (Dan. VI) and Jeremiah by the Chaldeans and the people of Judah: Benaiah also went down into the lake in the time of snow and cold, to kill a lion there (II Sam. XXIII, 20). But Jeremiah was not thrown into the water of the lake; rather, he was thrown into the mire and mud of the lake, which could suffocate him more than refresh one who was thirsty (Jerem. XXXVII and XXXVIII). Where it is written in the psalm: I am stuck in the mire of the deep, and there is no substance (Ps. LXVIII). In this lake of hell, that once rich man with a purple robe dwelled, whose boastful tongue was consumed by the fires of punishment, and he had no refreshment of any waters to such an extent that he begged for the cooling of water from the tip of the poor man's finger dipped in water (Luke XVI). And again, a word is directed to those who were bound and in need of the mercy of Christ: Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. And the meaning is: You who are now bound and held in a cruel and terrible hell, who hope for the release of your chains in the coming of Christ, turn to the stronghold, whether you will sit in the stronghold, of which it is written: The stronghold of the holy is the fear of the Lord; so that you may learn: Be to me a protector God and a fortified place, that you may save me (Ps. LXX, 3), and let the prophet also mention you: Behold, a strong city will set our salvation as its wall and bulwark (Isai. XXVI, 1). But this fortress, to which God encourages those bound by hope or bound in hope to the Church, we should not understand as anything other than the dwelling place of paradise, into which the first thief entered with the Lord (Luke 23); and for this reason they are called to the fortress by Zechariah, because even then and from that time the Lord promised that, for a brief tribulation, they would receive eternal rewards. Or, as it is read in the LXX: for one day of your pilgrimage, I will repay you double. For in comparison with eternity, everything that we suffer in the world should be called one day, not of habitation, but of pilgrimage: because we are strangers and pilgrims, like all our fathers. For in the present momentary and light tribulation, an excessive weight of eternal glory works in us, not looking at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen (2 Corinthians 4). For the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:13

  (Verse 13) For I have bent Judah for Myself as My bow, I have filled Ephraim, and will stir up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man. LXX: For I have stretched Judah for Myself as My bow, I have filled Ephraim, and will stir up your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece, and will touch you as the sword of a warrior. This refers to the time of the Maccabees, when they defeated the Macedonians and cleansed the defiled temple of idolatry after a period of three and a half years. And what follows: 'I have filled Ephraim like a bow,' they think signifies those who came from the ten tribes which are called Israel, under Hezekiah, to whom Josiah is also mentioned as having reigned: provided that they interpret the testimony in a way different from the explanation we have given, and say: 'O Christ, whom we ((or, once upon a time, hoped to)) expected to come, and who were to reign over all the boundaries of the earth: in the blood of thy covenant, which thou didst find Jerusalem to be sprinkled with according to Ezekiel [16:6], and didst make a covenant with Abraham in the divisions of the calf, the ram, and the goat; thou didst send forth thy people Israel from captivity and the land of the Chaldeans, in which there was no mercy [Gen. 15:13].' Therefore, you also, O Israelites, who were bound and hoped in the Lord, return to the most beloved Jerusalem; for today you have the Lord promising you that, for the brief injury of captivity, you will receive a double recompense, as we read in the book of Job (Chapter XLII). According to allegory, this passage can be explained as follows: Judah is stretched out in the bow, when the Lord and Savior is sent from the Father into this world, who himself is both the bow and the archer and the arrow. Arcus, as in the present place. Sagittarius, as in the forty-fourth Psalm: Your arrows sharp and mighty (Psalm 44:6), with which, when wounded, he says: I am wounded with love (Song of Solomon 2:5). But the arrow itself is the one who speaks through Isaiah: He has made me like a chosen arrow, and has hidden me in his quiver (Isaiah 49:2). The chosen arrow is the word of God; the quiver in which the arrow is hidden, is the dispensation of the assumed flesh. Thus Ephraim is fulfilled, that when he is armed and prepared for war, he himself is wounded by the arrows of the Lord, from whose tribe Jeroboam, who was received in the person of the heretics, first tore the people apart (III Kings 12). Hosea the prophet more fully explains this (Hosea 5 and 6), and what we have said above: The sons of Ephraim, aiming and shooting the bow, turned back on the day of battle (Psalm 77:9). For the Lord raises up the sons of Zion, that is, the sons of the Church, and the leaders of opposing doctrines, and all the assertions and arguments of the Gentiles are destroyed, because the Lord Himself is the sword of the mighty, of whom it is said: Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty. Your beauty and splendor, understand, prosper and reign; because of truth, gentleness, and justice, and your right hand will lead you wondrously. (Ibid. XLIV, 4 et seqq.). The Ethiopians are wounded by this sword, of whom it is written: And you, Ethiopians, wounded by my sword you will be. (Soph. II, 12), those who, once wounded by Christ's sword, will cast off their dark color, and rejoicing they will say: The splendor of the Lord our God will be upon us. (Ps. LXXXIX, 17), which David also promises to himself after repentance: You will wash me, and I will be made whiter than snow. (Ibid., L, 9). This is the sword about which the Apostle writes: The living word of God, and effective, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the division of soul and spirit.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:14

  (Verse 14) And the Lord God will appear over them, and His arrow will go forth like lightning, and the Lord God will sound the trumpet, and He will go in the whirlwind of the south. The Lord of hosts will protect them. LXX: And the Lord God will appear over them; and He will go forth like a lightning arrow: and the Lord God Almighty will sound the trumpet, and He will go in the commotion of His terror. The Lord Almighty will protect them. And this passage refers to the times of the Maccabees when, as they fought against and defeated Antiochus, the Lord's battle and victory was with them. He went forth strong to battle, and His power appeared like that of lightning, and He protected the people of Judah by scattering their enemies in the whirlwind of death. But we refer all things to the understanding of the Savior, concerning whom it was said above: 'I have stretched out Judah as my bow.' With this bow stretched out, and the heretics and gentiles from the sons of Zion being killed, the glory of the Lord will appear, and He will come forth like a lightning arrow, of which we read in Habakkuk: 'With light of your arrows they shall walk, in the brightness of your flashing spear' (Habakkuk 3:11). This lightning and brightness is also called by another name, a trumpet and a shout, so that when the holy shout resounds, let the one who was previously deaf say: 'The discipline of the Lord has opened my ears, and He has given me an ear to hear.' And what follows: And he will go in the whirlwind of the south wind, or he will go in the motion of his threat. Therefore he threatens, and says, that he will bring punishments, so that he may have mercy on the penitent. Finally, he joins and says: The Almighty Lord will protect those whom he previously terrified with his threat. Let us read the story of the Ninevites.

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:15-16

  (Verse 15, 16.) And they shall devour and subject to stones of slings: and drinking, they shall be intoxicated as with wine (Vulgate: with wine), and shall be filled like bowls and like the horns of the altar, and the Lord their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people, because holy stones shall be lifted up upon his land. LXX: And they shall consume them, and bury them in stones of slings, and they shall drink their blood like wine, and they shall be filled like the bowls of the altar, and the Lord shall save them on that day as his flock, because holy stones shall roll on his land. For what we have said, they will be exalted, and it is written in Hebrew, Methnosasoth (), can be interpreted as wandering or fleeing. With the children of Zion protected, and the Lord singing, and going in a whirlwind against their adversaries, the destruction of the Greeks will be so great that I will not say by swords, but they will be crushed by the throwing of stones and the rotations of catapults, so that they will be spoils and food for their enemies. Then they will be drunk as if with wine. Not those who have been killed, but they will be drunk with their own blood; but those who conquer will fight as if drunk with desperation, and they will please the Lord like the horns of the altar, and their libation. For this is understood in the bowls, in which the offerings are poured out on the altar. The Lord will also save them like sheep and the flock of his people: for he will not fight like an armed and trained army against the Macedonians; but he will come like a flock prepared for death, and with the help of the Lord, he will prevail. And the holy stones that were oppressed (for they are called stones, on account of the hardness of trials and the courage of the soul) shall be lifted up from their humility, and they shall be on the land of his glory. Otherwise: his holy stones of the priestly race fleeing in different directions, with him granting them victory, shall attain it, let us say, according to the anagoge, nay, let us explain the prophecy enveloped in many obscurities. The sons of Zion, protected by their Lord, shall devour their adversaries, whom we understand to be the sons of Greece. And they shall subject them to stones of slings, and menaces of Scriptures, making their adversaries subject and humble: for nothing strikes so much as an example from the holy Scriptures, and a testimony emitted by the rotation of the mouth. But what is said in the Septuagint: And they shall drink their blood like wine, we do not read thus in Hebrew; but they shall be drunken with wine, so that they may hear that from the Song of Songs: Drink, O friends, and be intoxicated (Song of Songs 5:1). And so their drunkenness will please them, like a sacrificial altar; and like the horns or angles of an altar. The Lord will also save them, like a flock of his people, for the holy stones will roll upon his land, which will be so light and shining that they will not wait for the hands of builders, but will themselves hasten to be placed upon the foundation of Christ, and to be held by the corner stone, of which even the Apostle Peter speaks: 'You yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God.' (I Peter 2:5). These are the stones that will cry out if the people of Judah keep silent (Luke XIX), and they will roll as long as they are on earth, for earthly dwelling weighs down the senses that attend to many cares (Wisdom IX), and the Holy One, who is in the flesh, speaks: Who will give me wings like a dove? (Psalm LIV, 7) Whoever is able, strives and rolls; and is lifted up to the heights, but is held back by the frailty of the flesh. And that earth on which the stones roll is the one of which we read: Sing to the Lord, all the earth (Psalm XCV, 1). And let all the earth adore you and sing to you (Ps. 65:4).

  Commentary on Zechariah

• Zechariah 9:16

  This we have said in a general way: but let us speak also in particular of the inner man. The wheel stands upon the earth with only some small trace of contact, and it not only stands, but as it were runs on: it does not stand still, but touches and passes by: finally, when it is rolled, it always mounts up to higher things. So too the holy man, because he is in the body, has the necessity of thinking some things about earthly matters; and when he has come to food and clothing and the rest of such things, having food and clothing, with these he is content, touching the earth, and he hastens to higher things. In him who runs and hastens to higher things, in him is your word. We read also in the prophet: "Holy stones are rolled upon the earth." See what he said: Holy stones are rolled upon the earth. For because they are wheels, therefore they are rolled upon the earth and hasten to higher things. Do you wish to know of more wheels? We read: "And a wheel within a wheel"; we read in Ezekiel: "The wheels cling one to another." The two wheels are the new and the old testament. This wheel clings to that, and that to this. Yet see what is said in Ezekiel: "And wherever," it says, "the spirit was leading, thither the wheels also followed." This is said also in Ecclesiastes, at the consummation of the world: "And the wheel," it says, "shall be rolled over the cistern." There are many things that might be said about wheels: but the discourse hastens on to the rest.

  HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 10

• Zechariah 9:17

  (Verse 17.) For what is its good and what is its beauty, except for the chosen grain and the wine that brings forth virgins? LXX: For if there is anything best from it, and if there is anything good from it, it is the grain for the youth and the wine with a good aroma for the virgins. Therefore, they say, the Maccabees, fleeing here and there with the help of the Lord, will prevail, so that, with the Macedonians expelled from the land of Israel, the temple may be purified, the precepts of the Law may be observed, and the instruction of the Scriptures may once again bring forth virgins, that is, the people of believers in one God, who were previously defiled by the worship of idols. In the chosen wheat, that is, the Bread, not young men, as the Seventy translated it, but they want it to be understood as chosen and learned men, who deserve to eat the Bread, that is, the Law of God. For wine, which in Hebrew is called Thiros, Aquila interpreted as 'oenoa', which can also refer to the abundance of the vineyard. This is what the Jews consider. But we understand the chosen wheat, whether of young men, and the wine producing virgins, or the wine of good odor for the virgins, to be the Lord and Savior, who speaks in the Gospel: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit (John 12:24). From this wheat is made that bread which comes down from heaven and strengthens the heart of man (Ps. 103). Those who are strong in Christ eat this bread, to whom John the Evangelist speaks: 'I write to you, young men, because the word of God abides in you (Al. us) and you are strong, and have overcome the evil one' (1 John 2:14). He himself is both the grain of the chosen, or the young men, and the wine that gladdens the heart of man, and it is drunk by those virgins who are holy in body and spirit, that they, being intoxicated and rejoicing, may follow the Church, and it may be said of them: 'Virgins shall be brought after her to the king, her neighbors shall be brought to thee: they shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing' (Ps. 44:15, 16). For how will those who are not joyful have joy, those who are intoxicated by the drink of the Savior, generated in virgins, and dare to say: 'Bring me into the wine cellars, comfort me with ointments' (Song of Solomon II, 4)? This wine is of good odor, as it is said in the same song: 'You shall drink of the wine of the unguentary, of the rivers of your pomegranates' (Ibidem). Those who follow the Lamb of God wherever He goes are intoxicated by this wine, dressed in white garments; for they have not defiled themselves with women: they have remained virgins (Apocalypse XIV).

  Commentary on Zechariah