The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and declares his visions, by which he puts them in hopes of better times.
The prophet exhorteth the people to conuert to God, and not to imitate the euil examples of their fathers. 7. by a vision of an horseman, and diuers colored horses, he prophecieth bitter times: 18. confirming the same by an other vision of foure hornes.
1In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:Il mese ottavo dell'anno secondo del re Dario, il Signore parlò a Zaccaria figliuolo di Barachia, figliuolo di Addo, profeta, e gli disse:IN THE eight moneth in the second yeare of king Darius the word of our Lord was made to Zacharie the sonne of Barachias, the sonne of Addo, the prophet, saying:In mense octavo, in anno secundo Darii regis, factum est verbum Domini ad Zachariam filium Barachiæ filii Addo prophetam, dicens: 2The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.Il Signore si adirò altamente co' padri vostri.Our Lord hath bene wrath vpon your fathers with wrath.Iratus est Dominus super patres vestros iracundia. 3And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts.Tu però dirai a costoro: Queste cose dice il Signore degli eserciti: Tornate a me, dice il Signore degli eserciti, e io tornerò a voi, dice il Signore degli eserciti.And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Conuert to me, sayth the Lord of hosts: and I wil conuert to you, sayth the Lord of hosts.Et dices ad eos: Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: / Convertimini ad me, ait Dominus exercituum, / et convertar ad vos, dicit Dominus exercituum. 4Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the Lord.Non siate simili a' padri vostri, a quali i profeti precedenti dicevano ad alta voce: Queste cose dice il Signore: Convertitevi dalle vostre male opere, è dalle pessime vostre intenzioni, ma eglino non m'ascoltarono, e non mi dettero retta, dice il Signore.Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Conuert from your euil wayes, & from your most wicked thoughts: and they heard not, neither attended to me, sayth our Lord.Ne sitis sicut patres vestri, / ad quos clamabant prophetæ priores, dicentes: / Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: / Convertimini de viis vestris malis, / et de cogitationibus vestris pessimis: / et non audierunt, neque attenderunt ad me, / dicit Dominus. 5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always?E i padri vostri dove son'eglino? e i profeti viverann' eglino eternamente?Your fathers where are they? and the prophets shal they liue for euer?Patres vestri, ubi sunt ? / et prophetæ numquid in sempiternum vivent ?
6But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.Ma le mie parole, e i miei decreti intimati per mezzo de' profeti miei servi, non venner forse a cadere sopra de' padri vostri? ed ei si convertirono, e dissero: Il Signore degli eserciti ha fatto quello, che avea pensato di fare a noi secondo le opere nostre, e secondo i nostri traviamenti.But yet my wordes, & mine ordinances, which I gaue in commandment to my seruants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they conuerted, & sayd: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to vs according to our wayes, & according to our inuentions, he hath done to vs.Verumtamen verba mea, et legitima mea, / quæ mandavi servis meis prophetis, / numquid non comprehenderunt patres vestros, / et conversi sunt, et dixerunt: / Sicut cogitavit Dominus exercituum facere nobis / secundum vias nostras, et secundum adinventiones nostras, / fecit nobis ? 7In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:Ai ventiquattro dell'undecimo mese di Sabath, l'anno secondo del re Dario, il Signore parlò a Zaccaria figliuolo di Barachia, figliuolo di Addo profeta, dicendo:In the foure & twentith day of the eleuenth moneth Sabath: in the second yeare of Darius, the word of our Lord was made to Zacharie the sonne of Barachias, the sonne of Addo, the prophet, saying:In die vigesima et quarta undecimi mensis Sabath, in anno secundo Darii, factum est verbum Domini ad Zachariam filium Barachiæ filii Addo prophetam, dicens: 8I saw by 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.Ed io ebbi di notte tempo questa visione: Io vedeva un uomo sopra un cavallo rosso, che stava in un luogo assai basso piantato di mirti, e dietro a lui erano de' cavalli rossi, e chiazzati, e bianchi:I saw by night, and behold a man mounting vpon a red horse, & he stood among the myrtletrees, that were in the botome: and after him horses red, speckled, and white.Vidi per noctem, et ecce vir ascendens super equum rufum, et ipse stabat inter myrteta, quæ erant in profundo, et post eum equi rufi, varii, et albi. 9And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:Ed io dissi: Signor mio, chi sono costoro? e l'Angelo, che parlava in me dissemi: Io ti farò vedere quel, che siano queste cose.And I sayd: What are these, my Lord? and the Angel that spake in me, sayd to me: I wil shew thee what these thinges are.Et dixi: Quid sunt isti, domine mi ? Et dixit ad me angelus qui loquebatur in me: Ego ostendam tibi quid sint hæc.
10And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.E colui, che stava trai mirti, rispose, e disse: Questi sono quelli, che il Signore ha spediti a scorrere la terra.And the man, that stood among the myrtle trees answered, & sayd: These are they, whom our Lord sent to walke through the earth.Et respondit vir qui stabat inter myrteta, et dixit: Isti sunt quos misit Dominus ut perambulent terram. 11And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.E quelli risposero all'Angelo del Signore, che stava trai mirti, e dissero: Abbiamo scorsa la terra, e abbiami veduto, che tutta la terra è abitata, ed è in quiete.And they answered to the Angel of our Lord, which stood among the mirtle trees, & sayd: We haue walked through the earth, and loe al the earth is inhabited, and at rest.Et responderunt angelo Domini, qui stabat inter myrteta, et dixerunt: Perambulavimus terram, et ecce omnis terra habitatur, et quiescit. 12And 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 now the seventieth year.E l'Angelo del Signore rispose, e disse: Signore degli eserciti, fino a quando non avrai misericordia di Gerusalemme, e delle città di Giuda, colle quali tu se' sdegnato? Questo è già il settantesimo anno.And the Angel of our Lord answered, and sayd: ô Lord of hosts, how long wilt thou not haue mercie on Ierusalem, and on the cities of Iuda, with which thou hast bene angrie? this now is c the seuentith yeare.Et respondit angelus Domini, et dixit: Domine exercituum, usquequo tu non misereberis Jerusalem, et urbium Juda, quibus iratus es ? iste jam septuagesimus annus est. 13And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words.E il Signore rispose buone parole, parole di consolazione all'Angelo, che parlava in me.And our Lord answered the Angel, that spake in me, good wordes, comfortable wordes.Et respondit Dominus angelo qui loquebatur in me verba bona, verba consolatoria. 14And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal.E l'Angelo, che parlava in me, dissemi: Alza la voce, e dì: Il Signore degli eserciti dice così: Ho avuto zelo grande per Gerusalemme, e per Sionne,And the Angel that spake in me, sayd to me: Crie, saying: Thus sayth the Lord of hosts: I haue bene zelous for Ierusalem, and Sion with great zele.Et dixit ad me angelus qui loquebatur in me: Clama, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: / Zelatus sum Jerusalem et Sion zelo magno,
15And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil.E grand'ira ho io contro quelle potenti nazioni, perchè io era adirato un poco, ma quelle hanno aggravato il male.And with great anger am I angrie vpon the welthie nations: because I was angrie a litle, but they helped toward the euil.et ira magna ego irascor super gentes opulentas, / quia ego iratus sum parum, / ipsi vero adjuverunt in malum. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.Per questo così dice il Signore: Mi volgerò con misericordia verso Gerusalemme, ed in quella città sarà riedificata la mia casa, dice il Signor degli eserciti, e si tenderà l'archipenzolo in Gerusalemme.Therfore thus saith our Lord: I wil returne to Ierusalem in mercies: my house shal be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: & the plumme line shal be stretched forth vpon Ierusalem.Propterea hæc dicit Dominus: / Revertar ad Jerusalem in misericordiis, / et domus mea ædificabitur in ea, ait Dominus exercituum, / et perpendiculum extendetur super Jerusalem. 17Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet flow with good things: and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.Alza ancora la voce dicendo: Queste cose dice il Signor degli eserciti: Le mie città ridonderanno ancora di beni, e il Signore darà ancora consolazione a Sionne, ed eleggerà di bel nuovo Gerusalemme.As yet crie thou saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: As yet shal my cities flow with good thinges: and the Lord wil yet comfort Sion, and he wil yet choose Ierusalem.Adhuc clama, dicens: Hæc dicit Dominus exercituum: / Adhuc affluent civitates meæ bonis, / et consolabitur adhuc Dominus Sion, et eliget adhuc Jerusalem. 18And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns.E alzai i miei occhi, e osservai, e vidi quattro corna.And I lifted vp mine eyes, and saw: and behold foure hornes.Et levavi oculos meos, et vidi, et ecce quatuor cornua. 19And I said to the angel that spoke to me: What are these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem.E dissi all'Angelo, che parlava in me: Che è questo? Ed egli mi disse: Queste sono le corna, che hanno gettato in aria Giuda, e Israele, e Gerusalemme.And I sayd to the Angel, that spake in me: What are these: And he sayd to me: These are the hornes that haue scattered Iuda, and Israel, and Ierusalem.Et dixi ad angelum qui loquebatur in me: Quid sunt hæc ? Et dixit ad me: Hæc sunt cornua quæ ventilaverunt Judam, et Israël, et Jerusalem.
20And the Lord shewed me four smiths.E il Signore mi fece vedere quattro fabbri.And our Lord shewed me foure artificers.Et ostendit mihi Dominus quatuor fabros. 21And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda to scatter it.Ed io dissi: Che vengono a far costoro? E quegli disse: Quelle sono le corna, che gettarono all'aria gli uomini di Giuda a uno a uno, e nissun di essi alzò la sua testa, e questi sono venuti a mettere terrore in esse, ad abbattere le corna delle genti, le quali alzarono il corno contro il paese di Giuda per isterminarlo.And I sayd: What come these to doe? Who spake saying: These are the hornes, that scattered Iuda euerie man a part, & none of them lifted his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast downe the hornes of the nations, that haue lifted the horne vpon the land of Iuda to scatter it.Et dixi: Quid isti veniunt facere ? Qui ait, dicens: Hæc sunt cornua quæ ventilaverunt Judam per singulos viros, et nemo eorum levavit caput suum: et venerunt isti deterrere ea, ut dejiciant cornua gentium, quæ levaverunt cornu super terram Juda ut dispergerent eam.
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Year of the World 3485, Year before Christ 519.
Barachias adopted him, (1 Esdras 5:1.) or rather Addo was his grandfather.
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Calmet
Angry, as he has severely chastised them. (Calmet)
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Worthington
Turn ye. Such expressions admonish us of our free-will, and when we answer, convert us, etc., (Lamentations 5:11.; Calmet) we confess that God's grace preventeth us. (Council of Trent, Session 6:5.) (Worthington)
Haydock
We may resist the Holy Spirit, (Haydock) and reject his graces. The prophet exhorts the people to lay aside all former negligence, (Calmet) and proceed with the temple. (Haydock)
It had been commenced about two months before, Aggeus 2:1, 16.
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Calmet
Always. He seems to hint, that after Malachias prophets would be sent no more till Christ should appear; or, that God's word should be fulfilled (ver. 6.) though the prophets were dead. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Fathers. They felt their effects. (Haydock)
Returned; being converted by the sight of God's judgments, Osee 4:1., and 2 Esdras 1:6.
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Calmet
Sabath. These names were brought from Chaldea. The month was lunar, and corresponded sometimes with parts of our December and January, at other times with January, or with that and the following month. (Calmet)
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Challoner
A man. An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably St. Michael, the guardian angel of the Church of God. (Challoner)
Worthington
It is plain that he was an angel, ver. 11. (Worthington)
Calmet
He appears in obscurity, to shew the distress of the nation. (Calmet)
Haydock
Among. Septuagint, "between two shady mountains." (Haydock)
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Challoner
These are they, etc. The guardian angels of provinces and nations. (Challoner)
The Jews believed that each nation had such an angel, who had to give an account to one in higher authority. God proportions his revelation to their ideas.
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Haydock
Rest. All the country under Michael's care enjoyed peace, (Calmet) in the second year of Darius. (Haydock)
Tournemine
The red horse implies slaughter, Apocalypse 6:4. It was now repressed. (Tournemine)
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Challoner
The seventieth year; viz., from the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus. (Challoner)
Worthington
Of these Daniel (ix.) speaks. The temple had also been destroyed now seventy years, (Worthington) and the angel prays, (Haydock) while the prophet begs that the people may be inspired to rebuild it. (Worthington)
Calmet
Michael takes occasion from the angels' report, to beseech the Lord to perfect what had been so well begun. He speaks not expressly of the temple, as Aggeus had prevailed on the people to commence that edifice. They had excused themselves that the time was not come, as they probably dated from the burning of the temple; though its desolation began with the siege, thirty months before. See Jeremias 25:11., and 29:10. (Calmet)
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Haydock
Answered. We have here a proof of the intercession of angel, and of its good effects. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
In me; revealing God's will. (St. Jerome)
Calmet
Yet it seems to be St. Michael, Zacharias 4:1. (Chaldean; Theod.[Theodotion or Theodoret]) (Calmet)
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Haydock
Zeal. I will again treat her as my spouse. (Haydock)
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Nations, represented as four horns, ver. 18, 19.
Evil, through malice, and thus deserve themselves to be punished, Osee 1:4.
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Calmet
Line. Soon after Nehemias came to rebuild the city. (Calmet)
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Challoner
Four horns,...four smiths. The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the people of God: the four smiths or carpenters (for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors. (Challoner)
Worthington
The Ammonites, etc., on the east, the Philistines on the west, the Idumeans and Egyptians on the south, and the Assyrians and Chaldeans on the north, had much molested God's people, and were therefore punished. (Worthington)
The princes of Assyria and of Babylon, the kings of Persia and of Egypt, had all treated them ill; and these four empires have or will be destroyed by four chariots, (chap. 6:1.) Nabopolassar, Cyrus, Alexander, and Antiochus, Daniel 7:1., etc. St. Jerome, and many who usually follow him, understand the empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, to be designated by the horns, as the workmen mean the angels who have chastised those nations.
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Calmet
Every. Hebrew, "at pleasure; none shall lift," etc. These kingdoms shall no longer prove formidable. (Calmet)
Haydock
Fray, or "terrify." Septuagint, "to sharpen them in their hands. The horns are nations," etc. (Haydock)
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A man.... An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.
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These are they, etc.... The guardian angels of provinces and nations.
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The seventieth year.... Viz., from the beginning of the seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
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Four horns.... The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.
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Four smiths.... The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors.
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VVhen God in the holie Scriptures sayth: Conuert to me, and I vvil conuert to you. VVe are admonished that vve haue freewil. And when vve ansvver: Conuert vs o Lord to thee, and vve shal be conuerted, we confesse that Gods grace preuenteth vs. Conc. Trid. sess. 6. c. 5.
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That this was an Angel in the shape of a man is manifest. v 11.
Seuentie yeares from the transmigration of Ioachin vvere complet in the first of Cytus. Dan 9. Seuentie yeares were also complet from the destructiō of the temple in the second of Darius Histaspis and therfore the prophet novv prayeth God to inspire such as vvere able, that they would build the temple againe.
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Concordance Zach. 8.
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From foure partes of the world, to wite, the Moabites & Ammonites on the east of Iurie; The Idumeans and Aegyptians on the south; the Philisthims on the vveast. & the Assirians & Chaldees on the North side had much molested the Ievves; al vvhich vvere therfore plaged & punished for the same.
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fabros.
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St Athanasius of Alexandria † AD 373 Against the Arians. (Orationes contra Arianos IV.) 2.18
… For when God commands others, whether the Angels, or converses with Moses, or commands Abraham, then the hearer answers; and the one says, ‘Whereby shall I know ?’ and the other, ‘Send some one else ;’ and again, ‘If they ask me, what is His Name, what shall I say to them ?’ and the Angel said to Zacharias, ‘Thus saith the Lord
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on the Merits and Forgiveness of Sins, and on the Baptism of Infants 2.5
… When we turn to Him, therefore, God helps us; when we turn away from Him, He forsakes us. But then He helps us even to turn to Him; and this, certainly, is something that light does not do for the eyes of the body. When, therefore, He commands us in the words, “Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 A Treatise on Grace and Free Will 10
When God says, “Turn ye unto me, and I will turn unto you,”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament 92.4
… Thou dost love thine own works without thee, dost neglect the work of God within thee. Deservedly dost thou go away, deservedly fall off, yea, deservedly even from thine own self depart; deservedly hear the words, “A spirit that goeth and returneth not.” Hear rather Him That calleth and saith, “Turn ye unto Me, and I will turn unto you.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 6.5
5. “Turn, O Lord, and deliver my soul” ( ver. 4 ). Turning herself she prays that God too would turn to her: as it is said, “Turn ye unto Me, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord.”
St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Expositions on the Book of Psalms 145.8
… And wilt thou know how “His compassions are over all His works”? Thence is that long-suffering, whereby “He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good.” Are not “His compassions over all His works, who sendeth rain upon the just and upon the unjust”? In His long-suffering He waiteth for the sinner, saying, “Turn ye to Me, and I will turn to you.”
Pseudo-Cyprian Exhortation to Repentance 1
Also in Zechariah: “Be ye converted unto me, and I will be turned unto you.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 16.29
… and Haggai, Because I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts ; and My Spirit remaineth in the midst of you ; and in like manner Zechariah, But receive My words and My statutes which I command by My Spirit, to My servants the Prophets
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 The Enchiridion 59
… it is that, not through material bodies, but by spiritual power, they present visions not to the bodily eyes, but to the spiritual eyes of the mind, or speak something not into the ear from without, but from within the soul of the man, they themselves being stationed there too, as it is written in the prophet, “And the angel that spake in me said unto me”
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Tertullian † AD 220 On the Flesh of Christ 14
… although He is, to be sure, in one respect more glorious than the prophets, inasmuch as he declares that there was an angel in Him, just as there was in Zechariah. Only it was never said by Christ, “And the angel, which spake within me, said unto me.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen De Principiis 3.2.4
… man whose help is in Thee, O Lord, Thy ascents (are) in his heart.” And the apostle says that “God put it into the heart of Titus.” That certain thoughts are suggested to men’s hearts either by good or evil angels, is shown both by the angel that accompanied Tobias, and by the language of the prophet, where he says, “And the angel who spoke in me answered.”
John Cassian † AD 435 The Conferences of John Cassian 1.19
… Or when the prophet says: “I will hearken what the Lord God will say in me.” Another too tells us “And an angel spoke, and said in me,”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on Second Corinthians 23
… yea though he who suffereth evil be unworthy of aid; yet when he so suffers in excess, by this alone he draweth God unto the forgiveness of himself, and to the punishment of him that did the wrong. Wherefore also God said of old to the heathen, “I indeed delivered them over unto a few things, but they have set themselves on together unto evil things;” (
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1. IN THE EIGHTH MONTH, namely in October, Zacharias began to prophesy; Aggaeus however in the sixth month, namely in August: but each of them prophesied, not in Babylon, as some think, but in Jerusalem, as Esdras expressly says in book I, chapter V. OF DARIUS HYSTASPES; see the sayings of Aggaeus I, 1. Darius in Persian signifies oppouzer, that is prudent, says Hesychius: for prudence and providence is the first gift of a king, so that he may rule and govern well. SON OF BARACHIAH. Barachiah in Hebrew is the same as blessing of the Lord. Zacharias is the son of this one, that is memory, or mindful of the Lord. For it is a great blessing and the highest good to be continually mindful of God, and always to have him in memory, indeed in one's eyes and mind. SON OF ADDO. Therefore Addo was the grandfather of Zacharias; St. Jerome and those who followed him, Remigius, Albertus, Haymo, Hugo and Dionysius think this to be Addo the Seer, that is the prophet, who wrote the chronicles of the kings of Juda, II Paralipomenon XXII, 15, and who was sent by God to Jeroboam the first king of Israel, so that to him, on account of the golden calves erected by him, he might announce destruction, III Kings XIII, 1, although Scripture does not name him there. But this is difficult to believe, for from Jeroboam to Darius Hystaspes there elapsed 400 years and more. Wherefore it seems more true that Addo was the grandfather of Zacharias likewise a prophet, as the Hebrews think, or certainly a man of renown, and therefore is named here, so that he might bring name and honor to his grandson Zacharias. Unless you say that Addo the Seer was not the grandfather, but the fifth or sixth ancestor of Zacharias, so that Barachiah is called the son, that is great-grandson, of Addo. For thus Zacharias himself is called the son, that is grandson or great-grandson of Addo, in I Esdras, V, 1. And this is sufficiently probable, both because we do not read of another Addo the prophet, or celebrated one in Scripture; and because prophecy at that time was as it were hereditary, equally as the priesthood, and passed from ancestors to fathers and grandsons, as the Hebrews relate; whence also in the books of Kings the sons of the Prophets are celebrated, and Zacharias the father of John the Baptist was a prophet, equally as the son, as is evident from Luke I, 67; and because St. Jerome and the others already cited expressly assert it, who indeed saw that from the interval of so many years Addo could not be the grandfather of Zacharias; by grandfather therefore he understands an ancestor. But if it is so, Zacharias was the grandson and heir of a great prophet (for such was Addo the Seer).
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2. HE WAS ANGRY. In Hebrew, with anger he was angry, that is he was very angry, he was greatly inflamed.
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3. AND YOU SHALL SAY TO THEM, namely to the Jews, among whom you dwell, and whom I have appointed to be a prophet. A relative pronoun is used, or rather a demonstrative one in place of the antecedent, as being known and obvious. THUS SAITH THE LORD OF HOSTS. This is added, because the discourse is made to those who had come under the power of Darius, the leader and emperor of great armies, as if to say: Thus saith he whose strength is much greater than human strength, whose army and power far surpass the army and power of Darius, otherwise most powerful. Thus Vatablus. TURN YE TO ME. Most excellently St. Gregory in Psalm VII on Penance: "God," he says, "who rejects the offender, turns to the penitent; he also calls the adversaries, grants sins to those converted, exhorts the sluggish, consoles the afflicted, teaches the diligent, helps those fighting, strengthens those laboring, hears those crying out with their heart. For he himself says through the Prophet: Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you; but because we cannot turn to him without him, let us cry out daily with the Prophet: Turn not thy face away from me." Moreover, St. Thomas III, Question LXXXIX, article 6, to 3, and from him Capreolus in II, distinction XL, unique Question; Soto book II On Justice, Question III, article 10, and Navarre Enchiridion XI, number 8, hold that this precept of conversion to God binds in the first instant of reason: for a boy, they say, when he begins to have the use of reason, is bound to order himself and his things to the due end, namely to God; which if he does, God will pour into him grace by which he will obtain the remission of original sin; if he does not, he sins mortally. For the order of nature seems to require that man, when he begins rational life, should begin from the intention of the ultimate end; for from it depends the institution of a good life. But other doctors hold the contrary, namely that in the first instant of reason the boy is not bound to convert himself to God through love of God above all things, natural or supernatural: first, because this precept is most difficult, and supremely sublime. But it is not credible that God bound men of such immature judgment to the immediate execution of such a precept; second, because man in the beginning does not think of things so sublime, but of sensible and customary things. Nor is there anything from which such sublime thought would be suggested to them; and therefore his lack of consideration, or ignorance of it, is invincible; third, because no such precept exists in Scripture, nor does natural reason dictate it. For that: "Turn ye to me, and I will turn to you," pertains to sinners, who are commanded to do penance for actual sins; not to those who have only original sin; and although it also pertained to these, it would not therefore have to be fulfilled immediately. For it is an affirmative precept, which always binds; but not for always, as a negative one binds; just as neither does an adult, who has sinned mortally, have to do penance immediately under pain of new sin.
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4. BE NOT LIKE YOUR FATHERS, do not imitate your fathers, do not emulate the idolatry, disobedience, apostasy of your fathers, otherwise I will make you like them in punishment, as you have made yourselves like them in guilt.
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5. YOUR FATHERS WHERE ARE THEY? as if to say: They are cut off, and in the destruction of Jerusalem either slain, or carried away into Babylon, and there they died, as I foretold them and threatened them through my Prophets. Do you not see in them that my threats and oracles were not vain and void, but true, certain and efficacious? Know therefore that these things also which I now command and decree to you through Zechariah shall be likewise. AND THE PROPHETS SHALL THEY LIVE FOR EVER? By prophets he means the prophets of the impious fathers, namely false prophets; for he soon opposes to them his servants the Prophets, as if to say: The false prophets, who falsely predicted and promised happiness to your fathers, saying: Peace, peace, did not they also, equally as your fathers, die miserably, either by the sword, or by the hardships of captivity? Where then is their happiness and long life, which they promised to themselves and your fathers? Did they not by their unhappy death testify that they were liars, and their oracles were the vaticinations of a demon, not of God? Thus St. Jerome, Albert, Hugh and Lyra. But others understand by Prophets, as if to say: Both the pious Prophets and your impious fathers are dead; for the good die equally as the wicked; but their prophecies and threats live, are vigorous and are fulfilled, as comprehending your fathers in the punishment which they had foretold to them; for this is what that verse 6 signifies: My words comprehended your fathers. Thus Arias, Vatablus, Mariana.
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6. NEVERTHELESS, that is to say, Your false prophets deceived you, because they promised prosperity which did not come to pass. But truly my Prophets, who directed my words, that is the threats and statutes, namely the punishments established by the law of Moses against the transgressors of the law, at your fathers and at you, did not deceive you; for the punishments and plagues which they threatened, in fact overtook your fathers, who therefore, being chastened by these scourges of God, acknowledged the just judgment of God in themselves and their own guilt, so that they who before had been unwilling to heed me calling them to repentance, as is said in verse 4, now by these chastisements, though late and under compulsion converted, changed their mind and purpose, and said: "As the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways, etc., so hath he done unto us." Thus Arias, Clarius and Vatablus.
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7. ON THE TWENTY-FOURTH DAY OF THE ELEVENTH MONTH SHEBAT, which corresponds to our January; for this is our first month, but it was the penultimate month of the Jews. For they began their sacred year from Nisan, that is March. Shebat and the other Hebrew names of months appear to be Chaldean, for they are found only among those who returned from Babylon. Thus Vatablus. THE WORD WAS MADE, that is the vision of the angel and horses among the myrtles: for God speaks both through symbols and through words. Wherefore any prophecy, as I have said on Isaiah I, 1, is called indiscriminately now word, now vision; although indeed the words of the angel in this vision are also mixed in and interspersed. SAYING, that is showing that which follows, and which he relates by saying.
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8. I SAW BY NIGHT. For night is more suitable for visions; in it, when the senses are at rest and collected, the imagination conceives and beholds its phantasms more vividly, especially those impressed by God or an angel. Symbolically, this night was a symbol of the calamity in which the Jews returning from Babylon were involved, which was soon to be converted into day, light and joy by the restoration of the city and temple. For calamity is opportune for hearing the word of God, because the heart, like wax, is softened. Hence affliction gives understanding to hearing. Thus St. Jerome. Whence morally St. Gregory in book II of the Morals, chapter II, teaches that Holy Scripture is accustomed to signify the outcome of a thing by the time of it: "By the quality, he says, of the time the end of the action is expressed; just as Judas, who was not to return to pardon, is said to have gone out into the night for the perfidy of betrayal, when, as he went out, St. John the Evangelist says in chapter XVIII: And it was night. Hence also to the wicked rich man it is said in Luke XII: This night they will demand thy soul of thee. For a soul which is led to darkness is not said to be demanded in the day, but in the night. Hence it is that Solomon, who received wisdom which he was not to persevere in, in III Kings III, is described as having received it in dreams and at night. Hence it is that angels come to Abraham at midday; but when about to punish Sodom, they are remembered to have come to it in the evening. Since therefore the trial of blessed Job is led to victory, it is said to have begun from the day, when it is said: Now there was a day when the sons of God came, etc. AND BEHOLD A MAN, namely an angel assuming the form of a man; for that it was an angel is clear from verse 11. The Hebrews, St. Jerome, Theodoret and others in many places hold it to have been St. Michael; for he was formerly the guardian of the Synagogue of the Jews, as he now is of the Christian Church, as is clear from Daniel X, 21, and chapter XII, 1; although some think it was Gabriel, who is a mighty warrior for the people of God, as is clear from Daniel IX, 21, and chapter X, 3. UPON A RED HORSE. He sits upon a horse, as if swift and hasty to aid his people; and upon a red one, as if bloodthirsty and a keen avenger against the enemies of the Jews. For a horse signifies many things, namely swiftness, nobility, dignity, ardor in fighting, victories, glory and triumphs of St. Michael. Otherwise Theodoret: He sits, he says, upon a red horse, to signify the affliction of the people: "For a red horse shows the conspiracy and indignation of enemies, because fury is bloodthirsty and red." Now Arias through this man understands Alexander the Great, whose horse was red, namely Bucephalus, so called because it was similar in head and color to an ox; oxen are commonly red, especially in Greece and other hot regions. He therefore thinks it is signified that Alexander was to transfer the monarchy from the Persians to the Greeks. But the Prophet does not treat of this matter here. Furthermore, Theodoret calls this red horse bay, that is, of a chestnut color, which is greatly commended in horses, concerning which hear Virgil in III Georgics, while he depicts a noble horse with these marks: That lofty neck, and head alert, short belly, and thick back, And the spirited breast luxuriates in muscles: honest bays and grays: color worst of all is white. Now from the nobility of the horse understand and measure the spirits, strength and anger of the rider. These were demanded by the difficulty of the matter and affliction. For the Jews were plunged into the depths, as will soon be said, of calamities: they therefore needed a powerful liberator and defender angel of great zeal. Note here: Angels are wont to be at hand for the afflicted, and the greater the affliction, the greater strength, aid and consolation they themselves bring. Mystically, this man standing among the myrtles is Christ, who in the flesh which he assumed from the myrtle, that is the Blessed Virgin, stands in the midst of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and saints of the Old and New Testament, as it were among myrtles. The red horse is human nature, upon which sits the divinity, which he assumed from the first parent, who from the red earth, from which he was formed by God, was called Adam, that is red, and which he reddened with blood, both his own and that of enemies, which he as victor shed, according to that passage in Isaiah LXIII, 1: "Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bosra? etc. Why therefore is thy apparel red? I have trodden the winepress alone, etc." Thus Peter, abbot of Celle, in his book On Loaves, chapter XIII, volume VIII of the Library of the Holy Fathers. Red, white and variegated horses follow him, that is apostles, martyrs and virgins: likewise craftsmen, that is doctors and preachers, who all built the Church of Christ, and those wishing to hinder this building of Christ's enemies cast it down. AMONG THE MYRTLES, that is, places planted with myrtles; the Syriac version says, among shady or shadowing trees; the Arabic and Alexandrian versions say, between two mountains seeing each other, that is, facing each other. In the grammatical sense it denotes Babylon, in which the Jews had been captive; for the myrtle on account of dryness loves low, deep and watered places, such as Babylon, which is near the Euphrates and Tigris. Thus Arias and Vatablus, and indeed the Chaldean translator who rendered it: And he himself stood among the myrtle trees which are in Babylon. Whence he adds in the deep, that is near the deep, namely of waters and rivers. There therefore the angel was seen, to signify the captivity of the Jews and the Babylonian calamity, in which as in a deep they were submerged and almost swallowed up, according to that Psalm LXVIII, 3: "I am stuck fast in the mire of the deep: and there is no substance;" and that he had drawn them out from there in great part and freed them, and would free the others from there, while he would soon help those who had returned in the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem and the temple, which being completed the others would immediately fly from Babylon to Jerusalem. And so Michael appears among the myrtles, because he announces joyful tidings concerning the building and glory of the temple; for the myrtle is an indication of cheerfulness. Whence of old it was the custom at banquets, with a myrtle branch passed around, to stir the guests to singing; for each one receiving it in his hands sang his own parts, as Plutarch testifies in the Symposium. And Horace, with the coming of spring when cheerfulness opens itself from every side, fittingly says: "To bind the shining head with green myrtle." And wherever he celebrates the joy of banquets, he orders crowns of myrtle to be brought in. Thus Pierius, Hieroglyphics, book L, chapter XXVII. Again symbolically, by the myrtles he understands the families and assemblies of the faithful and just Jews, who in Babylon either had been captive, or were still dwelling, such as were Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Jesus, Haggai, etc. Among these therefore stood Michael. For the myrtle signifies the just, on account of the solidity, beauty and fragrance of good works. Whence Esther the pious and holy queen, chapter II, was called by Mordecai, on account of beauty and grace, in Hebrew hadisca, in Latin edissa, that is myrtle, or myrtean. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert and Hugh. He alludes to the name, character, court, family and attendants of Queen Esther; for she was called Hadisca, that is, myrtle. For she lived at this time, indeed by some chronologists and learned men, from many great conjectures, she is thought to have been the wife of this Darius Hystaspes, and therefore he was so benevolent to the Jews, that among other things, he caused the temple to be rebuilt for them. For which reason Haggai and Zechariah prophesied under the same time. The angel was seen, they say, to stand among the myrtles, that is, in the court and family of Esther, who by virtue and name was a myrtle, as if foretelling her marriage with Darius, which in the following year, namely in the 3rd year of Ahasuerus, that is of Darius (for Ahasuerus was the common name of the kings of Persia) was accomplished, as appears Esther I, 3. Again among the myrtles, that is among the attendants and followers of Queen Esther, namely Mordecai, Ezra, Nehemiah, Zerubbabel, Jesus, who obeyed Queen Esther, and were likewise in the vigor and strength of mind and character, myrtles and myrtle groves, as being eminent princes among the people. For of old princes were crowned with myrtle crowns, as Suidas testifies. Whence the proverb: "You seek a myrtle crown," that is, you seek a principality, or magistracy. Thus mystically, our Hadassah and myrtle, our Esther is the Blessed Virgin, who saves those devoted to her and delivers them from Haman, that is, from the devil. The angels therefore stand among the myrtles, that is, under the wings and shadow of the Blessed Virgin, or among her faithful, congregations and assemblies dedicated to her, so that through her merits and prayers they might obtain pardon, grace and consolation for her clients. For the myrtle is a joyful and comely symbol of happiness. Whence just as from myrtles by topiary work in gardens are fashioned armed soldiers, triremes, armored horsemen, and likewise pheasants, parrots, nightingales, etc., for pleasure and delight; so the Blessed Virgin among the myrtles of the heavenly paradise, namely among the angels sitting, nay presiding, promises to her own not only aid, but also consolation, joy, and all spiritual delights; which she bestows through these her angels, who, since by their very nature they are without form, can assume whatever form they wish, and take on manifold armor, nay a complete panoply, so that for the honor and glory of the Mother of God their lady, and for her worshippers, they might fight powerfully, and so that they might build the Church and the house of God in the soul of the faithful. Thus to the Gentiles Venus, the goddess of beauty, was called myrtle-bearing. Whence Pliny, book XV, chapter XXIX: "There was," he says, "an ancient altar at Rome of Venus of the myrtle." The same, book XXI, chapter XI: "In Egypt," he says, "all these things (rose, lily, violet, etc.) are without scent, and only the myrtle has a distinctive odor." What is more beautiful, what more fragrant than the Virgin Mother of God? This one beauty of God, namely grace and charm, obscures all the beauties of Satan and the world, nay shows them to be vain and foul. For she herself is an abyss of grace, an ocean of beauty, a treasure of all charisms, she who alone, like Esther, appeased God the Father Almighty, and found grace in his eyes, so that she was greeted by him through the archangel Gabriel: "Hail, full of grace." For, as is said of her in the Canticle IV, 7: "Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee." And Ecclesiasticus XXIV, 24: "I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. In me is all the grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all the hope of life and of virtue," etc. Rightly therefore St. Bernard, homily 4 on Missus est: "From thy mouth, O Virgin," he says, "hangs the consolation of the wretched, the redemption of captives, the liberation of the damned, and finally the salvation of all." The same: God placed all the beauty of the whole world in Mary, so that if there is any hope, if there is any grace, if there is any salvation in us, we might know that it flows from her. Wherefore with him, sermon 4 on the Assumption, let us invoke her constantly, and say: "Let it therefore be thy piety, blessed Virgin, to make known to the world that very grace which thou hast found with God, obtaining pardon for the guilty, healing for the sick, strength of heart for the faint-hearted, consolation for the afflicted, aid for those in peril, and liberation through thy holy prayers. Amen." Mary therefore is the myrtle of God. Moreover, Theodoret from the Septuagint reads shady mountains for myrtles, by which he understands the providence of God, under which all live, from which proceeds this angel, so that he might execute it concerning the protection of the Jews. These mountains are shady, because the judgments of God are obscure and hidden. Morally, note: The just man, and especially the Blessed Virgin, is fittingly compared to the myrtle: first, because the myrtle loving valleys designates her humility, which is the foundation of holiness. Second, because the myrtle grows beside waters. Whence Virgil, Georgics IV: "And myrtles loving the shores." Thus the just man grows through the tears of compunction and penance, and through the waters of tribulation and patience. Third, the myrtle bears berries of distinctive flavor, from which wine is made: thus the just man bears fruits of good works, savory to God and men, from which is made the wine of exultation that gladdens the angels. Fourth, the myrtle is very fragrant and beautiful; hence it imparts a pleasant odor to the mouth and breath, says Pliny, book XXIII, chapter 18. Whence the effeminate who suffer from stomach trouble and have foul breath, eat berries from the myrtle in the morning as a remedy; for which reason it was dedicated by the Gentiles to Venus, as Pliny testifies, book XII, chapter 1. Thus the just man spreads from himself the odor of good repute, and by the brightness of his morals, modesty and gentleness makes himself pleasing to all, and fulfills that admonition of the Apostle: "Let your speech be always in grace seasoned with salt," Colossians IV, 6. Fifth, myrtle is always green; thus the just man always preserves and increases the verdancy of virtues. Sixth, oil from myrtle binds and hardens, as Pliny says in book XXIII, chapter IV and chapter IX: "Its seed," he says, "heals those who spit blood, and is given to those with dysentery at a denarius weight in wine." Thus the just man restrains and restricts the flux of harmful desires. Seventh, at festivals, games, etc., they encircled the temples with myrtle, as Virgil sings in the Georgics I, and Tibullus in book I, elegy III: "And bears in her distinguished hair myrtle wreaths." Myrtle therefore denotes the spiritual joy and exultation which the just man possesses on account of the peace of conscience. Whence Lyra, according to the letter, understands by myrtles the joy of the Jews at the restoration of the city and temple, and that they would soon actually see again myrtles and myrtle groves planted and set around the city and temple. Moreover, this joy being almost immense and exaggerated, it is hinted that the angel was seen not among myrtles, but among myrtle groves, that is, forests of myrtles. Thus Fernandius in vision XXIX, section II, who also adds that fragrant things restore vigor and strength to those who are failing, and therefore the angel was seen among myrtle groves, which are most fragrant, so that to the Hebrews almost failing and collapsing from fear, he might bring consolation and strengthening. Eighth, gardens, meadows, villas are accustomed to be adorned and enclosed with myrtles; whence Martial in book V: "A villa arranged in idle myrtles." Thus the just man is both a protection and an ornament of a house, college, city, commonwealth, Church and the universe: just as from myrtles are made topiaries, which are the beauty of gardens. Ninth, wine seasoned with myrtle, which they call myrrhine, is effective for calming griping pains, as Pliny says in book XXX, chapter VII, and Columella in book XII, chapter XXXVIII; thus the just man by his patience and virtue calms and overcomes all the griping pains of sicknesses and torments. Moreover Theodoret: "Myrtle," he says, "is a fragrant plant, having the power to cool hot diseases." Thus the just man extinguishes the heat of anger and lust through the grace of God. Tenth, Pliny in book XV, chapter XXIX: "The nature of juices," he says, "has its chief admiration in myrtle, when from it alone of all plants two kinds of oil and wine are produced." He adds that the ancients used myrtle berries in place of pepper. Thus all things in the just man are succulent, savory, sharp and efficacious. Eleventh, in the same place Pliny asserts that myrtle is effective for purging bile, and therefore for reconciling the minds of those in disagreement. Whence "it is handed down," he says, "that the Romans and Sabines, when they were about to fight on account of the ravished maidens, laid down their arms purged by myrtle branches, in that place which now has the signs of Venus Cloacina. For the ancients used to say 'cluere' for purging. Therefore it was then chosen, because it presides over union, and this tree belongs to Venus." Thus the just man everywhere reconciles those in disagreement, and follows that saying of Christ: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God," Matthew V. Twelfth, in the same place Pliny: "Cato," he says, "handed down three kinds of myrtle, black, white, and conjugal; perhaps from marriages of that kind of Cloacina." And soon he says: "The leaves are dried by themselves into flour for remedies of ulcers in the human body, with a gently biting powder, and for cooling sweats. Indeed oil also (wonderful to say) has in it a certain taste of wine, and at the same time a fatty liquid, with special power for correcting wines, after the sacks have been permeated." Thus the just man in his sanctity, and in his words and corrections, has something sharp and biting, by which he may chastise the vices and defects of others. "Flattery," says St. Jerome in dialogue I Against Pelagius, "is bland, and the flatterer is beautifully defined among philosophers as a bland enemy; truth is bitter, of wrinkled brow and sad, and offends those corrected." Thirteenth, from myrtle was made the crown of those who ovate, and likewise of those who triumph, says Pliny in the same place. This designates the crown of triumph, which the ever-green virtue of the just, and that heroic virtue, deserves. Fourteenth, myrtle, says Pliny lib. XXIII, cap. IX, "heals difficult ulcers in the extremities of the body. It is applied to sore eyes with barley meal, and to those with heart ailments on the left breast. And against the bites of scorpions in wine, and for the ailments of the bladder, headaches, and aegilops before they suppurate. Likewise for tumors, and when the kernels are removed, ground in old wine for eruptions of phlegm. The juice of the seed stops the bowels, and promotes urine. For eruptions of pustules and phlegm it is smeared on with cerate. It blackens the hair." He then adds that the same is effective against sacred fire, falling hair, dandruff, articular diseases, dropsy, hemorrhoids, freckles, purulent ears, pains of the kidneys, the royal disease and stone. Thus there is no evil which the just man by his virtue through the grace of God does not cure; no temptation which he does not overcome; no vice which he does not subdue and conquer by his constancy and fortitude. For he overcomes pride by humility, anger by gentleness, gluttony by abstinence, lust by mortification, avarice by liberality, sloth by fervor and zeal, etc. Fifteenth, myrtle is of brief life, but of swift fruit-bearing. Hear Pliny lib. XVII, cap. XIII: "Some things," he says, "grow slowly by nature, and especially those born from seed alone, and lasting for a long age. But those which perish quickly are swift (in bearing fruit) such as the fig, pomegranate, plum, apple, pear, myrtle; and yet they surpass in riches. For in the third year they begin to bear." Thus the saints who are eminent and ardent are of brief life; but they fill that life with many and heroic virtues, as is seen in St. Agnes, Cecilia, St. Stephen, St. Lawrence, Linus, Cletus, Clement, and all the first holy Pontiffs. Finally, myrtle was employed in sacred rites, says Pliny lib. XVI, cap. XXXII, who also in lib. XV, cap. XXIX, concerning the most ancient temple of Quirinus, that is of Romulus, says: "In it there were two sacred myrtles, before the temple itself for a long time." Myrtle therefore denotes the religion, prayer and devotion of the saints. For these reasons Isaiah, describing the gifts and ornaments of the Church, cap. XLI, 19, says: "I will give in the wilderness (of the Gentiles) the cedar, and the thorn, and the myrtle, and the olive tree." And cap. LV, 13: "Instead of the brier shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the nettle shall grow the myrtle." Thus concerning the Jews going into Babylon, as if to a prison, it is said Psalm. CXXXVI, 2: "Upon the willows in the midst thereof we hung up our instruments." Now when they return from Babylon joyful and full of hope, the willows are changed into myrtles for them. Whence among the myrtles an angel appears, to indicate and increase their joy. For which reason also in Levit. XXIII, 40, in the feast of Tabernacles the Jews are commanded to carry branches of the tree of thick foliage, that is of myrtle, as the Chaldean, Josephus and others translate it, so that they might testify and represent by these the joy with which God filled them, when He led them out of Egypt from the wilderness, and placed them in the promised land, namely in Canaan. AND AFTER HIM HORSES RED, AND SPECKLED AND WHITE. For speckled in Hebrew is שרוקים serukim, which Arias translates as silken, such as is the color of raw silk before it is dyed, namely yellow, or tawny, as the Arabic Antiochene translates it; or saffron-colored, such as is the color of gold. Marinus in the Lexicon derives serukim from sorec, which was a kind of vine and the best grape; whence serukim is called the color of the best grape. Others derive serukim from שורק scorec, that is a shoot, so as to signify bay, that is a shoot of the palm with its fruit, which is of a crimson color. But the Septuagint, our Vulgate, the Chaldean and others translate it speckled; others, multicolored. Whence the Arabic Alexandrine translates: And around him horses red also, and flaming, and tawny, and black; others, combed; others, chosen: unless by speckled color you understand the middle one, and therefore mixed. For yellow color is composed of green, red and white mixed together, and therefore is clearer than tawny, such as gold. Whence it denotes middle nations, namely partly friendly, partly hostile to the Jews. Note first, that under horses, by metonymy are understood the riders and horsemen. For concerning them he adds: "These are they whom the Lord hath sent." Second, these horsemen designate the guardian angels of kingdoms: for they follow the first horseman, namely St. Michael, as it were a leader and standard-bearer. Third, the color signifies the quality and condition of the kingdoms and nations over which they presided, and especially their various customs and affections toward the Jews: thus the Hebrews, and from them St. Jerome, whom Haymo, Albert, Remigius and Hugh follow in the usual manner. The red horses therefore signify the angels presiding over bloodthirsty nations, which had laid waste Judaea and other peoples by war, plunder and slaughter, such as then were the Assyrians and Chaldaeans. White ones, on account of their bright and joyful color, signify the presiders over peaceful nations, and propitious to the Jews, such as then were the Persians and Medes. Variegated ones, that is of various colors, signify the angels presiding over nations which had various conditions and inclinations, now toward peace, soon toward war; now toward friendship and benefits, soon toward hatred and misdeeds; now toward good, soon toward evil and calamities to be inflicted, such as then were the Macedonians and Greeks. Thus the Hebrews, St. Jerome, and his followers. But because the empire and power of the Macedonians did not yet exist at that time, inasmuch as it began from Philip, the father of Alexander the Great; hence you would rather understand by the variegated horses various nations neighboring the Jews, and to them partly friendly, partly hostile, or now benevolent, soon hostile, such as were the Egyptians, Tyrians, Sidonians, Syrians, Ammonites, etc. Therefore some wrongly understand by the first horse, namely the red one, the Romans. Others less wrongly by the variegated horses, as if blond ones, understand the Romans, especially Titus and Vespasian, who were of the Flavian race. But this is neither literal nor genuine. For the Romans were then weak and obscure, and had nothing in common with the Jews, much less were they red, that is bloodthirsty: hence we shall better understand by the red horses the Chaldaeans, as I have said. These angels therefore represent their nations; which when they themselves had traversed, and had surveyed the condition of each in verse 11, they announce that all nations and the whole earth keep peace, and dwell peacefully in their own homes, and rest there. For this vision aims at this, that Zacharias persuade the Jews to proceed confidently in the building of the temple and city, because all the surrounding nations dwell in peace, and will not bring war upon the Jews, or hinder the building. Otherwise these horses are understood in chapter VI. For there they are of four colors, and signify four monarchies succeeding one another in order; here however they are of three colors, and signify the present condition of nations, and their threefold affection toward the Jews, of which more in chapter VI. Furthermore he says horses, not horse; because individual angels, or rather archangels, as it were princes and presiders over nations, did not come alone, but attended by their cohorts of angels. The same must be said much more of Michael. Moreover the red, variegated and white horses signify angels destined for various duties, namely some for exercising severity and vengeance, others for beneficence and mercy, others partly for vengeance, partly for mercy. Therefore the opinion of Arius is impertinent and disapprovable, who understands by the man standing among the myrtles Alexander the Great; but by the red, variegated and white horses, Alexander's successors, Seleucus, Philip, Antigonus and Ptolemy, who divided his monarchy and divided it among themselves. For Zacharias preceded Alexander by nearly two hundred years, and treats of present matters, namely of the present consolation of the Jews, so as to incite and impel them to the present building of the temple, to which Alexander contributed nothing. One could more probably say that in these horses there is an allusion to the present empire of the Persians, under whom the Jews were subject; for the Persians excelled in horses, as they still excel in cavalry against the Turks. Hence by the neighing of a horse Darius Hystaspis was made king of the Persians, in whose second year of reign this vision came to Zacharias. Mystically, St. Ambrose in the Symbol of the Apostles, vol. IV, understands by the red horses martyrs; by the white ones, virgins; by the variegated ones, or, as he himself reads from the Septuagint, starling-colored ones, that is of the color of a starling bird, doctors. "There followed him, he says, horses of various colors, that is those who are shown either red by martyrdom; or starling-colored in flight, that is variegated in virtues; or white in virginity."
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9. AND THE ANGEL SAID TO ME WHO SPOKE IN ME. This angel appears to have been the guardian of the Prophet, who revealed to him these oracles of his, and showed him these visions. For he says: "I will show you what these are." Therefore he was different from Michael: for Michael was the guardian of the whole people, and stood among the myrtle trees: but this one was the guardian of Zacharias, and spoke in him. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh, Lyran, although the Rabbis, Theodoret and Vatablus hold the contrary opinion, namely that this angel was the same as he who stood among the myrtle trees, that is, with Michael. For Michael, wishing to console the people, enlightened Zacharias, and showed him these visions and words of consolation, so that he himself might report the same to the people, and console them with these. But what I said before is clearer, and more consonant with the text. Moreover, from the fact that he says of this angel of his: "Spoke in me," some think that this angel, suggesting oracles to Zacharias, spoke to him not with an external voice, but with an internal mental or imaginary inspiration, and that he possessed and ruled him as it were, just as a demon possesses and rules the possessed, and St. Gregory hints at this in book XXVIII of the Morals, chapter II: "When," he says, "he says the angel spoke to him indeed, but in him nevertheless, he clearly shows that he who spoke words to him was not outside in a bodily form." But I say these things happened in this manner: through an imaginary vision presented by God to Zacharias, he seemed to himself to see his prophetic angel speaking with him orally, and to converse with Michael. For this angel asks Michael to explain to Zacharias what these red, variegated and white horses are. Whence Michael, being questioned by him, responds:
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10. THESE ARE THEY WHOM THE LORD HAS SENT TO PATROL THE EARTH, that is to say, These are the angels who are rulers of regions, whom God sent to traverse the same. Presently Michael, as their prince as it were, questions these same angels concerning the state of the regions, what in this traversal they have seen, how the regions entrusted to them are situated. To whom they respond: "We have patrolled the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited and at rest," so that namely Zacharias might know that there is full peace among the nations, especially those neighboring Judaea, and that these will be peaceful toward the Jews, so that they do not provoke them with war, nor hinder the building of the city and temple. You will say: Why then does he say of this angel: "Who spoke in me?" I answer that it is a Hebraism: in me, that is, to me, or with me, as the Chaldean translator renders it. Add that τὸ in me signifies that this vision was not real, but imaginary, in which the angel was depicting and speaking all these things in the mind, or rather in the imagination of Zacharias. For Zacharias seemed to himself to see the angels conversing with one another, and his angel showing and suggesting to him these sights and conversations, but he did not truly see and hear these things with bodily external eyes.
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11. HE WALKED ABOUT. In Hebrew הלך halach, that is to walk about, to perambulate, in princes, such as angels, denotes principality, namely the act of visiting, inquiring, searching out, arranging all things. Whence that passage in Ezekiel XXVIII, 14: "In the midst of the stones of fire thou didst walk," as if to say, Among the Cherubim thou, O Cherub, didst hold principality. Thus in I Maccabees III, 8: "Judas walked about," as a superior judge and avenger, "the cities of Juda, and destroyed the wicked out of them." Thus concerning God the impious speak in Job XXII, 14: "He walketh about the circuit of heaven, and considereth not our things," as if to say, God rules the heavens, despises and neglects the earth. In Leviticus XXVI, 12, God says: "I will walk among you," as a prince, protector, and provider for you. Whence he adds: "And I will be your God, and you shall be my people." Thus on the other hand Satan says in Job I, 7: "I have gone round the earth, and walked through it." And in Psalm XC, 6: "From the business walking in darkness," that is from the demon reigning and raging by night, equally as from him who rages by day; concerning whom he adds: "From the assault and the demon of the noonday." Thus the king "Antiochus walked about the upper regions" with an army, in I Maccabees VI, 1. Thus even now the kings of the Moguls and of Ethiopia, attended here by sixty, there by two hundred, indeed sometimes by five hundred thousand armed men, continually walk about their dominions and kingdoms, which are exceedingly vast, so that they may keep them in peace, survey them, direct and govern them. In like manner these angels walked about the provinces entrusted to them, as their inspectors, guardians and rulers. St. Jerome, Remigius and Hugh add that these angels, by walking about the kingdoms committed to them, subdued neighboring or rebellious or hostile peoples, and subjected them to their kingdoms, and thus brought complete peace to all. Finally, the word "walked about" signifies the execution of divine providence through angels exercised and demonstrated publicly, although it proceeds from obscure causes and hidden judgments, namely from God's counsel, which "in the deep and among the myrtles," and, as the Septuagint has it, among the shady mountains lies hidden. ALL THE EARTH IS INHABITED, AND RESTETH. "All the earth," namely that near to Judaea. For in remote regions there were wars. Whence the Romans in the year 9 of this Darius Hystaspes, says Eusebius in the Chronicle, expelled their king Tarquinius Superbus from the city and kingdom, and in his place created consuls Junius Brutus and L. Tarquinius Collatinus. Moreover, this Darius shortly after besieged and took Babylon, and finally invaded Greece with six hundred thousand soldiers, who were all routed by a few Greeks, under the leadership of Miltiades, at Marathon, as witnesses Justin, Herodotus and others.
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12. AND THE ANGEL OF THE LORD ANSWERED AND SAID: O LORD OF HOSTS, HOW LONG WILT THOU NOT HAVE MERCY ON JERUSALEM? This angel appears to have been not the guardian of Zechariah, but the guardian of the whole Jewish people, namely Michael. For he prays for the whole people committed to him, as if to say, When all other nations live in peace and prosperity, why, O Lord, dost thou suffer the Jews alone to be troubled by Cambyses, by the Samaritans and other enemies, who have hitherto hindered the building of the city and temple? How long dost thou defer to have mercy on Jerusalem, which is inhabited by a few citizens returning from Babylon, and is not fully enclosed by walls, nor by a temple? In I Esdras, V. How long dost thou not bring it about that she and the other cities of Judaea, and especially the temple in her, are restored? Behold, now seventy years have passed," decreed and appointed by thee for her desolation. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Albert, Hugh and Lyra. NOW SEVENTY YEARS HAVE PASSED. The angel said this in the year 2 of Darius Hystaspes, as is evident from verse 1. In this second year therefore these 70 years were completed: whence it follows that they are different from the 70 years of the Babylonian captivity, of which Jeremiah speaks in chapter XXV, 11, and chapter XXIX, 10; those indeed end in the year 1 of Cyrus, who dissolved the captivity and sent the Jews from Babylon, which he had captured, back to Jerusalem, as is evident in I Esdras I, 1. These, however, begin from the city and temple destroyed by the Chaldaeans, which happened in the year 11 of Sedeciah, who was in the year 18 of Nebuchadnezzar, and end in the year 2 of Darius Hystaspes. For this reason these years of Zechariah are called 70 years of desolation, namely of the city and temple; the former are called by Jeremiah 70 years of captivity, namely of the Jews. Thus Eusebius in the Chronicle, Clement in book IV of the Stromata, St. Jerome in the Preface to Haggai, St. Augustine in book XVIII of the City of God, chapter XXVI, Emmanuel, Torniellus in the Chronicle in the year of the world 3462 (who, however, begins these years of Zechariah from the final captivity of the Jews, namely when, after Jerusalem was destroyed, the fugitives went into Egypt, and thence according to the oracle of Jeremiah were led by the Chaldaeans into Babylon, which happened in the year 27 of the transmigration of Joachin, or Jechoniah), Ribera, Sanchez, a Castro and others here, and Fernandius in vision XXIX, section I. Zechariah favors this in chapter VII, 5, where in the year 4 of Darius Hystaspes concerning these 70 years of desolation he says: "When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh during these seventy years," where note the pronoun "these," which designates the present years, not those past before Cyrus. Some, however, think that the same seventy years of Jeremiah and Zechariah are years of desolation and captivity, and that these have already been completed in the first year of Cyrus. Whence these words of Zechariah they read by way of interrogation or admiration, as if to say: Is this, O Lord, the seventieth year of our freedom, predicted by Jeremiah in chapter XXV and by Daniel in chapter IX, 2? As if to say: Not only the seventieth, but the eightieth and more is this year of our captivity, and yet there is not yet an end to our miseries. For although some have returned from captivity, many still dwell in Babylon; and those who have returned are afflicted with so many hardships that it would have been almost better and more desirable for them to have remained and lived in Babylon. Thus Albert, Hugh, Lyra and Mariana. But the Roman Bible has no mark of interrogation or admiration, although the Plantin Bibles have them. Wherefore the former opinion, as it is more common, so it is more true. From which you may rightly deduce that the seventy years of captivity began in the eleventh year of Joiakim, in which he himself was slain, and after three months his son and heir to the kingdom, Jeconiah, or Jechonias, was led captive into Babylon: but these same years ended in the first year of Cyrus, as I showed in chapters XXV and XXIX of Jeremiah. But the seventy years of desolation, of which Zechariah speaks here, began eleven years later, namely in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, and ended eleven years later, namely in the second year of Darius Hystaspes. Hence again you may gather that Cyrus freed the captivity of the Jews and conquered Babylon in the first year not of his reign, as Eusebius in his Chronicle, Africanus, St. Jerome here, Pererius and others think, but of his monarchy; and the monarch lived for only three years, as the Hebrews constantly assert in the Seder-Olam. Whence also Daniel mentions only the third year of Cyrus in chapter X, 1. I know that Xenophon gives Cyrus seven years of monarchy; but Xenophon in his Cyrus describes not so much his deeds and history as the ideal of a distinguished king and monarch, just as Plato in the Republic depicts not an existing republic, but a Platonic one, that is, the one which Plato imagined to himself as the best. For it is difficult to adapt these seven years to Holy Scripture: for although some for this reason begin the seventy years of captivity earlier, namely from the third year of Joiakim, in which Daniel was led into Babylon in chapter I, 1; yet the computation of years does not correspond equally. For from the third year of Joiakim to the eleventh of the same, eight years elapsed, which the seven years of Cyrus do not equal: for from those three must be deducted, which we have given to Cyrus with the Hebrews, computing the seventy years of captivity from the eleventh year of Joiakim to the first year of the monarchy of Cyrus. But concerning these matters more in I Esdras I, 1. Morally, let us say the same, let us pray and beseech the same for England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, etc., in which heresy has stood and stands, and the desolation of temples, monasteries and all sacred things for seventy years and more: how long, O Lord, wilt Thou not have mercy on England? etc. This is already the seventieth, nay almost the hundredth year of her desolation. Has England then sinned more than Jerusalem and Judaea, so that, whereas that city expiated her sins by seventy years of captivity, England cannot expiate hers by a hundred years? She has sinned indeed and committed a great sin, making schism from Thee and Thy Church; but for this so many hundreds of martyrs have shed their blood, who pray earnestly for her, and cry out, not for vengeance, as the blood of Abel, but for mercy. Accept these victims for sin, and by their blood wash away and dissolve this schism: because Thou art merciful and a lover of souls, Thou lovest the souls which Thou hast created and redeemed with the blood of Thy Christ.
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13. GOOD WORDS, that is, consolatory words for the Jews, words of good omen, words of good fortune, namely a joyful oracle long desired by their prayers, concerning the future happiness of Jerusalem, when the Lord shall return to it in mercies, as follows: "Good," says St. Jerome, "from the promise of future things, consolatory from the necessity of present things." Thus Virgil in Eclogue V: "The good Daphnis loves ease, good, that is, happy, blessed, free from guile, sincere." Wherefore the word good not only embraces the dignity of the thing whose oracle it utters, but also the truth of the oracle itself, and the certainty and magnitude of the promises. Hence the Psalmist in Psalm XLIV: "My heart," he says, "hath eructated a good word," as if to say: The word which I have conceived in my mind is so auspicious and happy, so sweet, fills the heart with such fullness and pleasure, that I am forced to open my mouth, and it to burst forth, and as if drunk to eructate. Moreover, the "good words" are those which he subjoins:
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14. I AM JEALOUS FOR JERUSALEM AND ZION WITH GREAT JEALOUSY. This zeal embraces two contrary acts, namely a burning love for Jerusalem, and a great wrath against her enemies; for the hatred of these necessarily follows from love of her, as if to say: I vehemently love Jerusalem, as a jealous husband ardently loves his wife, and therefore I am vehemently angry with the Chaldeans, because they have so cruelly destroyed her and enriched themselves with her spoils, whereas I intended to chastise her only mildly and gently through them, as a pedagogue chastises a boy and pupil. This is what he means when he says:
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15. BECAUSE I WAS ANGRY A LITTLE, BUT THEY HELPED FORWARD THE EVIL. Thus Lyra, Vatablus and others. He calls the Chaldeans wealthy nations, in Hebrew שאננים schaanannim, that is, as the Chaldean [version renders it], those who dwell securely, relying on their own strength and riches, fearing no evil; Vatablus [renders it as] tranquil; Pagninus, quiet; the Septuagint, those that are set above, namely those that rule. Morally, note here that God, after inflicting a plague upon His people, with His fury subsiding, turns His just indignation upon those who themselves exercised vengeance for God, or carried it out, not to satisfy God, but to indulge their own ambition and tyranny. An example is in II Paralipomenon XXVIII, 9: "The Lord God of your fathers," it says, "was angry against Juda, and delivered them into your hands, and you have slain them with a cruelty so great that it hath reached up to heaven, etc.; you have sinned against the Lord your God in this." And Psalm LXVIII, 27: "Because whom Thou hast smitten, they have persecuted: and upon the sorrow of my wounds they have added" mockeries, reproaches, and then along with words, blows. It is one thing to smite, another to persecute unto utter destruction: the former is the act of a father, the latter of an enemy: the former is done by justice, the latter by malice: the former God attributes to Himself in the death of Christ, saying in Isaiah LIV, 8: "For the wickedness of my people have I struck him," and Christ Himself ascribes this same thing to the Father in this place of the Psalm: the latter He imputes to the bloodthirsty Jews.
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16. I WILL RETURN TO JERUSALEM IN MERCIES: in Hebrew ברחמים berachamim, that is in visceral compassions, which namely flow forth from my inmost bowels, and move, affect and trouble them, as if to say, I shall show and exhibit to Jerusalem intimate and visceral compassion and mercy in many ways and gifts, and impelled by these I shall do what follows: MY HOUSE (temple) SHALL BE BUILT IN IT, AND A LINE SHALL BE STRETCHED FORTH UPON JERUSALEM, that is Jerusalem shall be built again. It is a metonymy: for from the plumb line, or level, which architects employ so that they may build in a straight line and make the structure equal, he understands the whole fabric. For in the plumb line a weight or small plummet hangs from a cord, which, being heavy, tends toward its center, namely toward the center of the earth and of the whole universe; whence architects use it to level the areas in which they build, and make them equally distant from the center of the world, which they call leveling: and they erect the fabric which they build upon the areas or plane to the plumb line, so that all its parts, equidistant from the center, stand firmly; lest if one should curve and tend more toward the center than another, it should fall there and bring other parts with it, and drag the whole fabric into ruin. For every heavy thing inclines and tends equally by its weight toward its center, which is the same and common to all. Wherefore two walls of the fabric opposite to each other are not mathematically parallel; because if they were extended, they would meet at the center of the earth, but because this difference at so great a distance from the center is small and imperceptible, hence physically they are reckoned parallel.
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17. MY CITIES SHALL ABOUND WITH GOOD THINGS. In Hebrew תפוצינה מטב tephutsena mittob, that is they shall spread abroad and scatter themselves on account of the abundance of good things, to build other cities and villages. The Septuagint renders it: Cities shall be spread abroad in good things; the Chaldean: They shall be filled with good. God accomplished this in the time of Zerubbabel, and afterwards in the time of the Maccabees, but especially in the time of Christ.
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18. FOUR HORNS. The Hebrews and from them St. Jerome understand by these four monarchies, namely of the Chaldeans, Persians, Greeks and Romans, which afflicted the Jews with various calamities through various ages. But this is scarcely probable. First, because this vision aims to comfort and console the Jews returning from Babylon in their present affliction. Therefore it does not regard the Greeks and Romans, who did not yet exist, nor had afflicted the Jews, but were to come many centuries later, indeed after this consolation which the angel gives here: again because they afflicted the Jews and finally utterly destroyed them under Titus. Second, because the Persians, such as Cyrus and Darius, were well-disposed toward the Jews, and freed them from Babylon, and gave them power to rebuild the city and temple. Therefore these were not horns goring the Jews. Third, because the Persians, Greeks and Romans could not afflict Israel, since it was already destroyed and carried away into Assyria, but only Juda: but these horns attacked Israel equally as Juda, as is said here. I say therefore with Theodoret, Clarius, Ribera, Sanchez, a Castro and others, that by four horns are signified four regions of the world, and the nations dwelling in them, which afflicted both the Jews and the Israelites, or the ten tribes, with wars, such as from the East were the Ammonites and Moabites, from the West the Philistines, from the South the Idumaeans and Egyptians, from the North the Assyrians and Chaldeans. For concerning these the angel says: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel and Jerusalem. Whence the Chaldean for four horns renders it, four kingdoms.
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20. FOUR CRAFTSMEN. These craftsmen were four angels, guardians and protectors of Jerusalem and Judaea. They are called craftsmen because they come for this purpose, that the four iron horns, which so afflicted the Jews that none of them dared to lift up their head, they might terrify, depress and cut off. Wherefore these craftsmen appear to have been blacksmiths: for it is their business to cut off iron horns with iron. Thus St. Jerome, Cyril, Theodoret, Remigius and others.
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21. AND THESE CAME TO TERRIFY. Note: some read to terrify, but it should be read with the Romans to terrify; and this signifies the Hebrew לחריד leacharid, that is, that they might strike them with trembling, that they might make them tremble: for by horns he understands hostile nations which these craftsmen, that is, angels, shook with trembling. First indeed they cast terror upon the hostile nations, then, depressed by fear, they cut them down. Moreover, that these horns were iron may be conjectured from the fact that they mightily shook and tossed about Judaea and Samaria: therefore they were strong: therefore iron. For, as Daniel says in chapter II, 40: "Iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things." Secondly, because Zedekiah the false prophet did something similar to a similar effect, III Kings XXII, 11: "Zedekiah, he says, made iron horns," to express the iron and unconquerable strength of King Ahab, to whom flattering he says: "With these thou shalt push Syria." Thirdly, because a craftsman commonly signifies a blacksmith, unless a mason, carpenter, or something similar be added. Vatablus however and Arias, just as they take the horns as natural, so also by craftsmen they understand horn-workers, or turners, who namely labour in turning, cutting, and polishing horns. Moreover, that angels bestowed these good things upon Jerusalem, which Zechariah here promises, is evident from the event: for soon the city and temple were peacefully and splendidly restored, as also the other cities of Judaea. Whence in the following chapter the Prophet saw a man measuring Jerusalem with a line, for this purpose, that he might rebuild it, and so great a number of citizens in it, that the city would not contain them all. Morally, learn here first that there is no power of kings or tyrants which does not have another more powerful above it, to which the oppressed may flee and appeal. "Every kingdom is under a heavier kingdom." And Horace, book III, ode 1: Kings to be feared over their own flocks, / Over the kings themselves is the empire of Jupiter. Wherefore Ecclesiastes chapter V, 7: "If thou seest, he says, the calumnies of the poor, and violent judgments, and justice subverted in a province, marvel not at this matter; because he that is high hath another higher than himself, and there are others still more eminent over these; and moreover the king of all the earth commandeth him that serveth." Secondly, that there is great force and power of angels over all kings and kingdoms, inasmuch as they, by merely showing the hammer, or iron, with which they are about to strike down the horns of kings, forthwith strike them with terror and trembling: for this is what to terrify signifies, and more effectively the Hebrew hacharid, that is, to shake with trembling. Hence Daniel, although a holy and strong man, seeing an angel, and speaking to him in chapter X, 17: "O my Lord, he says, in thy vision my joints are loosed, and no strength hath remained in me; but my breath is straitened." And soon concerning his companions: "Moreover the men that were with me saw not the vision; but a great fear fell upon them, and they fled into hiding." Thus throughout Scripture when an angel is seen, it is said of the one seeing: "Fear or terror fell upon him," as is said of Zechariah in Luke I, 12. Where St. Ambrose: "We are disturbed, he says, and alienated from our affection, when we are struck by the encounter of some superior power." Nay, the opinion and sense of the ancients was, that angels are so powerful and terrible, that he who saw them must necessarily die. Hence comes that voice of Manoah, who was the father of Samson: "We shall surely die, because we have seen the Lord," namely an angel, Judges chapter XIII, 22. Mystically, St. Jerome says: The four horns, which assail those wishing to build up the spiritual house of God individually, are the four passions of the soul, namely joy, sadness, fear and hope or desire, which the Poet has embraced in this verse: They fear, desire, rejoice and grieve. For who is there, even among the faithful and just, who is not now agitated by fear, now by hope, now by gladness, now by sadness? The four craftsmen are the four cardinal virtues, which tame these passions, namely prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance. Thus St. Jerome. Or more properly and pertinently, these are the four. First, penance which destroys joy. Second, self-denial and resignation to the will of God, which removes sadness. Third, magnanimity and confidence in God, which drives away fear. Fourth, contempt of the world, which suppresses hope. For he who with Magdalene weeps for his sins despises all the joys of the world, and the whole world becomes bitter to him. He who denies himself and his comforts, and resigns himself to the will of God, grieves over nothing; but receives all things with an even mind from the hand of God, who makes all things work together unto good for those who love him. He who is magnanimous and trusts in God fears nothing. He who despises all things that are in the world, and scorns them as vain, base, brief and fleeting, hopes for nothing in the world. Moreover, St. Jerome aptly adds: "Those who destroy vices build virtues, and all the saints who possess these remedies and constantly restore the Church are to be called craftsmen. Whence also the Apostle spoke: As a wise architect I have laid the foundation. And the Lord, angry at Jerusalem, said he would take away the architect and the wise man. And the Lord himself, the Son of God almighty and creator of all things, is called the son of a craftsman." St. Jerome adds: "I have read in the commentaries of someone that the four craftsmen are understood to be the four Evangelists, who restore the oppressed Israel, namely the sense seeing God, and Judah confessing the Lord, and Jerusalem the vision of peace, to their former seat, and those whom the nations had scattered from the Church through their vices, they drew back to salvation through the preaching of the Gospel." In like manner you may understand the four doctors of the Church, St. Augustine, St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, St. Gregory. For these, as it were craftsmen, built up the Church by their teaching and writings. Second, more appropriately through the four horns we can understand the four capital vices, which especially assail the Church and the faithful, and their four presiding demons, which the Psalmist designates in Psalm XC, 13, saying: "Thou shalt walk upon the asp and the basilisk, and thou shalt trample under foot the lion and the dragon," says St. Jerome. For the asp denotes envy and wrath; the basilisk, which kills by its sight, denotes lust, for the eyes are leaders in love; the lion, pride; the dragon, gluttony and avarice. The four craftsmen are the four virtues and angels, fighting against these four vices, namely charity against envy, chastity against lust, humility against pride, abstinence against gluttony and avarice: or Uriel against Beelzebub, Raphael against Asmodeus, Michael against Lucifer, Gabriel against Bacchus and Mammon. In like manner, in the time of the primitive Church, the four horns assailing it were four heresiarchs, namely Arius denying the divinity of Christ; Nestorius positing two persons in Christ, as well as two natures; Eutyches constituting one nature in Christ, as well as one person; Macedonius denying the divinity of the Holy Spirit, whose four craftsmen and cutters down were the four Ecumenical Councils, namely the Nicene against Arius, the Ephesine against Nestorius, the Chalcedonian against Eutyches, the Constantinopolitan against Macedonius: in which the principal craftsman against Arius was St. Athanasius, against Nestorius Cyril, against Eutyches St. Leo, against Macedonius St. Gregory of Nazianzus. Symbolically, these four horns are four universal persecutions and persecutors of the Church, who have assailed it successively from Christ until now, whom St. John, Apocalypse VI, prefigured by four horses and horsemen, namely white, red, black and pale. For the white signifies Christ defeating the Jews; the red signifies the Gentiles, especially emperors such as Nero, Decius, Diocletian, whose maker and successor was Constantine the Great. The black signifies heretics, especially Arians, whose maker and defeater was St. Athanasius, St. Basil, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, etc. The pale signifies the Mahometans, whose makers in part were the kings of Spain; but the maker who will fully cut them down, we still await: would that God might show him soon! For the first persecution of the Church was from the Jews; the second, from the Gentiles; the third, from the Arians; the fourth, from the Saracens. Likewise these four horns are the four first heresies. In a similar manner, in the time of the primitive Church, four horns assailing it were four heresiarchs, namely Arius denying the divinity of Christ; Nestorius positing two persons in Christ, as much as two natures; Eutyches constituting one nature in Christ, as much as one person; Macedonius denying the divinity of the Holy Spirit, whose four makers and defeaters were four Ecumenical Councils, namely Nicaea against Arius, Ephesus against Nestorius, Chalcedon against Eutyches, Constantinople against Macedonius: in which the principal maker against Arius was St. Athanasius, against Nestorius Cyril, against Eutyches St. Leo, against Macedonius St. Gregory of Nazianzus.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « In mense octavo, in anne secundo Darii regis factum est verbum Domini ad Zachariam, filium Barachiae filii Addo, prophetam dicens » ; — quid regis exteri mentio suggerat, vide ad Agg. 14, 1; mensis est octavus! scil. a mense primo Nisan ; «dicitur apud Hebraeos Maresvan (jwm23) apud Aegyptios Athir, apud nos JNovember » (S. Hier.) ; de aliis vide Prolegomena. Recens erat exsilii et collapsae theocratiae memoria; ipsi testes fuerunt calamitatum et castigationis divinae neque earum causam ignorare poterant. Quare ab iis rebus incipit prophetia, quarum sensu omnium animi erant imbuti
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v. 2 « iratus est Dominus super patres vestros ira- ^ cundia » ; — i. e. iratus fuerat; locutio irascí ira et sim. magnitudinem vindictae et exinde delicti enormitatem declarat; quare LXX recte efferunt sensum opyícós... bpyi» pev&Xqv ?. «Sapientiae plenum prooemium prophetiae et illius aetatis hominibus ad divina institutis conve- 4. Vertunt aliqui : in novilunio octavo í. e. primo die mensis octavi ; vf'1T] utique dicit . Biens; recentem enim habebant memoriam eorum quae patribus acciderant neque causam eorum ignorabant» (Theod. sim. Theod. M.). Et quem in finem talia monere iubeatur vates, sequentia declarant v. 3 « et diees ad eos : haec dicit Dominus exercituum : convertimini ad me, ait Dominus exercituum, et convertar ad vos, dicit Dominus exercituum » ; — i. e. non conversio ab idololatria iis praecipitur, sed plena ac perfecta ad Deum conversio, ut scil. abiecta omni segnitie et abstersis maculis magno studio se dedant divino obsequio. Uti ex Aggaeo elucet, talis animorum devotio valde desiderabatur. Insuper sane aliqua.iis adhaerebant ex moribus babylonicis contracta (Sanct.) et quae postmodum sub Esdra reprehenduntur (Esd. 9, 2), forte iam primos advenas inquinaverant (cf. Cyr.). Si ergo Deum experiri volunt insignem protectorem qui totus sit in suorum curam intentus, ut foto corde se ei tradant oportet!; «iubet ergo Dominus, ut vetera deponant, nova meditentur et unum in omnibus intueantur Deum, si modo illum velint habere rerum suarum custodem et curatorem » (Sanct.). Neque enim de prima conversione est sermo, sed de perfectiore cultu et studio rerum divinarum, quo maiorem Dei favbrem maioraque beneficia acquirant, uti ex Aggaeo facile colligitur. Merito autem is quoque conversionis admonetur, quigegnem ac tepidum se exhibet ; nam « qui serio divinos audire sermones non dignatur, adversanti ac dorsa danti persimilis est » (Theod.). Quare serio excitantur, ut verbis Domini promptosanimos offerant neve patrum inobedientiam sectentur
1:4
v. & « ne sitissicut patres vestri, ad quos clamabant prophetae priores dicentes : haec dicitDominus exercituum : convertimini de viis vestris malis et de cogitationibus * vestris pessisnis, et non. audierunt neque attenderunt ad. me, dicit Dominus » ; — « hoc clamabat Isaias, hoc Osee, Ioel, Amos, Ieremias, ut vias malas desere rent et cogitationes pessimas derelinquerent, quibus et opere et mente peccabant » (S. Hier.) ; cf. 4 Reg. 1'1, 71-23. 2 Par. 36, 15. 16. Advertit 3S. Hier. : « notandum quod in pauculis versiculis brevibusque sententiis semper in Aggaeo et Zacharia addatur dicit Dominus exercituum, ut sciant Dominum esse qui praecipit adversus regis imperium et hostes circumfrementes et hac ad aedificationem templi fiducia concitentur » ; « bellator nominatur et potens, cuius virtuti omnis succumbat potentia mortalium ; vel certe cum minetur propheta his quibuscum loquebatur gravia incommoda, qualia parentes olim passi fuerant, ut ostendat haec posse inferre Deum contra omnium gentium potentiam atque conatus, Deum appelat exercituum » (Sanct.) ; cf. Os. 12, 5. Ut ad patrum sortem attendant, interrogatione eos excitat
1:5
v. 5 « patres vestri ubi sunt » ? — i. e. ubi sunt, qui inania putabant prophetarum verba; nonne in Babylonia, in aliena terra, quo se venturos non putabant, consumpti sepulcris in alieno solo computrescunt (cf. Sanct.)? Et quantum vis et roboris insit verbis divinis, quae certe implentur quamvis saepe post spatium diuturnum iisque qui annuntiaverant iam diu vita functis, sequentibus proponitur : « et prophetae numquid. in sempiternum vivent ?
1:6
v. 6 verumtamen verba mea et legitima mea, quae mandavi servis meis prophetis, numquid non comprehenderunt patres vestros et conversi sunt et dixerunt : sicut cogitavit Dominus ezercituum facere nobis secundum vias nostras et secundum adinventiones nostras, fecit nobis » ? — diu enim antequam eveniret exsilium, id per prophetas Deus praedixit, atque hac longa mora ante impletionem illusores et contemptores prophetarum usi sunt ad eos irridendos (cf, Is. 5, 19. Ez.
1:12
12, 22 : « quod est proverbium istud in terra Israel dicentium : in longum differentur dies »?). Ad tale aliquid videtur interrogatio referri ; verbum Dei non caret, effectu, neque tamen opus est ut illi qui annuntiaverint effectum videant; mortem obierunt prophetae, at eorum annuntiatio adhuc valet et viget (cf. Theod. Rib. secundo loco). Eius rei evidens exemplum cernunt in patrum historia, qui demum diuturnas illas minas non frustra iactari experti et confessi sunt; «oculos enim quos culpa clausit, poena aperuit » (Aib.) ; talem confessionem fecerunt tres iuvenes Babylone (Dan. 3, 2'| seq.), fecit nomine omnium Daniel (9, 5 seq.), talem eis praescripsit Baruch (1, 15-2, 10) etc. in v. 6 dici servos Dei ; non item in v. 5 ; et proinde v. 0 pseudoprophetas designari. Sed haec ratio rem non probat, cum prophetae nomen de se sit satis honorificum et eo loco, quia modo mentio facta est priorum prophetarum, qui patres sint adhortati, de iisdem debet intelligi. Habes enim v. À et v. 6 patres et in sempiternum vivere. Censet Sanct. deterreri Iudaeos comminatione, defuturos Sed ad futurum prophetarum silentium referri sententia non potest, quia sequitur particula adversativa : verumtamen etc. ; id quod Sanct. bene perspexit ; quare particulam vult aut non sumi sensu adversativo, aut eo sensu retento mutandam esse explicationem v. 9 in aliam, scil. licet exstincti sint prophetae. Qui de falsis prophetis explicant, facile irrisionem eorum gravem deprehendunt in locutione: numquid in aeternum victuri erant (cf. Rib.). Alii v. 5 ad antecedentia coniungunt : patres et prophetas qui possent testimonium dare, tales admonitiones revera olim fuisse populo intimatas, iam non esse in vivis; sed quorsum hoc dicatur difficile dixeris ; nam factum illud adeo apud omnes erat notum et pervulgatum, ut nulla egeret testificatione. Cum adhortatio haec fiat mox postquam Aggaeus mense septimo vigesima et prima mensis ad templi aedificationem animos excitavit, et antequam mense nono benedictionem futuram temporalem certo promittebat, iuremerito colligimus, eam dirigi inter alia ad opus domus Domini urgendum et ad hanc praecipue obedientiam quam Domino praestare debeant inculcandam ; verba autem : « convertimini ad me et convertar ad vos » esse responsionem ad populi querelas de sterilitate ceterisque calamitatibus, quibus afflicti gemebant (cf. Agg. 2, 15 seq.); quarum causam explicat Zacharias eodem modo quo Aggaeus : quia non corde perfecto et volenti opus Dei aggrediuntur. Verum Zacharias generali monitione etiam satis clare docet alios quoque socordiae ac negligentiae defectus in populo adesse, praesertim cum eos maiorum suorum exemplo et castigatione deterreat, ne iisdem incedant vestigiis. lam incipit explanare, quomodo Deus sese sit conversurus ad populum suum : exhibet scil. sacer vates visiones sibi a Deo oblatas, quibus theocratiae instaurationem et instauratae indolem delineat. Hac visionum narratione declarat, quid Deus facturus sit ; quare visiones vati divinitus latio et eruditio ; neque minus commodi et utilitatis nobis afferunt : exstaurationis, de eius indole spirituali, de officio Messiae. Prophetam.autem visionibus doceri, frequens est ; cf. Is. 6, 1; 21, 2. Ez. 1,1; 8,2; prophetis communicare solet: « si quis fuerit inter vos propheta, in visione apparebo ei » (Num. 12, 6) ; vide Am. '1, 1.
1:1
… 15, 19; 14, 14; Ezek. 13, 3-17; Mic. 3, 5-8; Zech. 7, 12; cf. II Sam. 7, 1 ff.), declares divine (Hos. 4, 1; Joel 1, 1; Am. 1, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2, 1 etc.; Obad. 1; Jon. 1, 1; 3, 1; Mic. 1, 1; 3, 5; 6, 1; Nah. 1, 12; Zeph. 1, 1; Hag. 1, 1; 2, 1, 11, 21; Zech. 1, 1; 7, 1 ff.) what he has written; reports visions, revelations or supernatural dreams (Num. 12, 6 ff.; Is. 6, 20; Jer. 1, 11-16; Ezek. 4, 1-5, 4; Jer. 4, 20 ff.; Is. 5, 9; 22, 14; Ezek. …
… Son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo, he was of priestly stock (Zech. 1:1; Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Neh. 12:16). He was a contemporary of Haggai; he uttered the first oracle preserved in his book in the 8th month of the second year of Darius I, that is, in Oct.-Nov. …
1:7
Barachias (Heb. Berekhjāh[ā] = "blessed by Jahweh")
… the prisoners of Judah released by Pekah (v.) and accompanied them as far as Jericho (2 Chron. 28:12-15), the father of the builder Meshullam (Neh. 3:4, 30), the father of Zechariah taken as a witness by Isa. 8:2, the father of the prophet Zechariah (Zech. 1:7).
… (Hag. 2, 5; which now has its full realization: Zech. 2, 16; 8, 8; Joel 2, 17; 4, 2.16 f. [Vulg. 3, 2.16 f.]), and they are blessed by Jahweh (Hag. 2.18 f.; Zech. 8.14 f.), while Edom and all who rejoiced at the ruin of Judah are about to be punished (Zech. 1, 7-17; Mal. 1, 1-5; Joel 4, 4-8). But the present is only a shadow of the future greatness: the reconstituted theocracy is preparation and prelude to the kingdom of the M. (Hag. 2, 6-9; …
1:12
Already Scripture shows explicit cases of intercession by angels (Zach. 1:12; Job 5:1; 33:23 ff.) and by saints (II Mach. 15:11-16) and shows us how they take an interest in the destinies of the Kingdom of God on earth (Apoc. passim, e.g., 6:10) and offer the …
… One angel takes particularly to heart the rebuilding of Jerusalem and of the other cities destroyed during the Babylonian exile (Zech. 1:12). Others take part in the conversion of sinners (Luke 15:10), in the growth of the Church (1 Cor. 4:9; Eph. 3:10), protect the poor (Matt. 18:10), the Apostles (Acts 12:15). Every …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.