The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be extirpated: Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried by fire.
In the Church of Christ al idolatrie shal be abolished. 6. In his passion his Apostles shal be dispersed, and they and others shal be proued by tribulations.
1In that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman.In quel giorno saravvi una fontana aperta per la casa di David, e per gli abitatori di Gerusalemme per lavanda del peccatore, e della donna immonda.IN that day shal be a fountayne lying open to the house of Dauid, and to the inhabitants of Ierusalem: for the ablution of the sinner, and of the menstruous woman.In die illa erit fons patens domui David et habitantibus Jerusalem, / in ablutionem peccatoris et menstruatæ. 2And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of the earth.E in quel giorno (dice il Signore degli eserciti) io sterminerò dalla terra i nomi degl'idoli, e non se ne avrà più memoria, e leverò dalla terra i falsi profeti, e lo spirito immondo.And it shal be in that day, sayth the Lord of hosts: I wil destroy the names of idols our of the earth, & they shal be remembred no more: and the false prophetes, and the vncleane spirit I wil take away out of the earth.Et erit in die illa, dicit Dominus exercituum: / disperdam nomina idolorum de terra, / et non memorabuntur ultra: / et pseudoprophetas, et spiritum immundum auferam de terra. 3And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live: because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him through, when he shall prophesy.E se alcuno ancora profeterà, diranno a lui suo padre, e sua madre, che lo generarono: Tu morrai, perchè nel nome del Signore spacci menzogne; e lo trafiggeranno il suo padre, e la sua madre, che lo han generato, quando egli profeterà.And it shal be when any man shal prophecie any more, his father & his mother that begot him, shal say to him: Thou shalt not liue: because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of our Lord. And his father, & his mother his parents shal strike him, when he shal prophecie.Et erit: cum prophetaverit quispiam ultra, / dicent ei pater ejus et mater ejus, qui genuerunt eum: / Non vives, quia mendacium locutus es in nomine Domini: / et configent eum pater ejus et mater ejus, genitores ejus, / cum prophetaverit. 4And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision, when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a garment of sackcloth, to deceive:E in quel giorno rimarranno svergognati i profeti, ciascuno dalla sua propria visione quando profeteranno, e non si copriranno di sacco per dire delle bugie;And it shal be: in that day, the prophets shal be confounded euerie one by his owne vision, when he shal prophecie, neither shal they be couered with cloke of sackcloth, to lie:Et erit: in die illa confundentur prophetæ, / unusquisque ex visione sua cum prophetaverit: / nec operientur pallio saccino, ut mentiantur:
5But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman: for Adam is my example from my youth.Ma ognuno di essi dirà: Io non sono profeta, sono un contadino: Adamo è stato il mio modello fin dalla mia adolescenza.But he shal say: I am no prophet, an husbandman am I: because Adam my example from my youth.sed dicet: Non sum propheta: / homo agricola ego sum, / quoniam Adam exemplum meum ab adolescentia mea. 6And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of them that loved me.E dirassi a lui: Che son elleno queste piaghe nel mezzo delle tue mani? Ed egli dirà: Queste mi sono state fatte nella casa di coloro, che mi amavano.And it shal be sayd to him: What are these wounds in the middes of thy handes? And he shal say: With these was I wounded in the house of them, that loued me.Et dicetur ei: Quid sunt plagæ istæ in medio manuum tuarum ? / Et dicet: His plagatus sum in domo eorum qui diligebant me. 7Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn my hand to the little ones.O spada, esci dal fodero contro il mio pastore, e contro l'uomo unito con me, dice il Signore degli eserciti: percuoti il pastore, e le pecorelle della greggia saran disperse, ed io stenderò a' piccoli la mia mano.Sword be thou raysed vp vpon my pastour, and vpon the man that cleaueth to me, sayth the Lord of hosts: Strike the pastour, and the sheepe shal be dispersed: and I wil turne my hand to the litle ones.Framea, suscitare super pastorem meum, et super virum cohærentem mihi, dicit Dominus exercituum: percute pastorem, et dispergentur oves: et convertam manum meam ad parvulos. 8And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord, two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but the third part shall be left therein.E avverrà, che in tutta la terra, dice il Signore, due parti saran disperse, e periranno; e la terza parte vi rimarrà.And there shal be in al the earth, sayth our Lord: two parts in it shal be destroyed, and shal fayle: and the third part shal be left in it.Et erunt in omni terra, dicit Dominus: partes duæ in ea dispergentur, et deficient: et tertia pars relinquetur in ea. 9And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.E farò passare questa terza parte pel fuoco, e li brucerò, come si brucia l'argento, e li proverò, come provasi l'oro. Eglino invocheranno il nome mio, ed io gli esaudirò. Io dirò: Popol mio: ed ei dirà: Signore Dio mio.And I wil bring the third part through fyre, and wil burne them as siluer is burnt: and I wil trie them as gold is tried. They shal cal my name, and I wil heare them. I wil say: Thou art my people; and they shal say: Our Lord my God.Et ducam tertiam partem per ignem, et uram eos sicut uritur argentum, et probabo eos sicut probatur aurum. Ipse vocabit nomen meum, et ego exaudiam eum. Dicam: Populus meus es: et ipse dicet: Dominus Deus meus.
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Worthington
Fountain. In the New Testament Christ is made an open fountain by his incarnation, John 4:13. (St. Gregory, xx. in Ezechiel 1:6. ep. 186.) (Worthington)
Calmet
His baptism and other sacraments have the most surprising effects, to which the prophet refers more than to those waters which were brought by pipes into the temple to cleanse the victims, Ezechiel 47:1. (Calmet)
Haydock
The washing. Septuagint, "change and sprinkling." Grabe substitutes chorismon, "separation," and marks the verse with an asterisk. The legal impurities shall be effaced. (Haydock)
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Calmet
No more. After the Machabees, the people were free from idolatry, and magical arts were repressed, Osee 2:16., and Ezechiel 37:22. (Calmet)
Worthington
"Idolatry and heresy are punishable by death, in the law of Christ." (Worthington)
Haydock
To judge in these matters belongs only to the Church. (Haydock)
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Haydock
Not live. The law condemned those prophets to death, who attempted to lead the people into idolatry, Deuteronomy 13:1. People shall be so zealous for God's honour, that the parents of the seducer shall themselves (Calmet) bring him to judgment. (Haydock)
Calmet
Through, or make some mark upon him, as fugitive slaves, etc., were stigmatized. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "shall shackle." (Haydock)
St. Jerome
They before interpreted dakar, danced, or insulted. The others have in both places, "pierced." (St. Jerome)
The person was not slain, ver. 6.
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Vision. They shall have no appearance of truth.
Sackcloth. Hebrew, "hairy skin;" adereth. Such were used by kings, Jonas 3:6. The people shall not be deceived by such appearances, so that these garments will not be used. The Jews have always been ready to receive impostors, Matthew 7:15. Yet they shall not be so frequent, or dangerous. The prophets used coarse hairy garments, 4 Kings 1:8.
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Husbandman. Worldly occupations were incompatible with the office of prophets, 3 Kings xix 20., and Amos 7:15., and Matthew 4:20. The (Calmet) false (Haydock) prophets will become so odious, that people will excuse themselves from taking up the calling.
De Dieu
Example. I am condemned like him to labour, Genesis 3:17. Septuagint, "a man begot me." Hebrew, "taught, or bought me, (Calmet) or caused me to work." (De Dieu)
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Calmet
Loved me. My parents marked me thus, ver. 3. (Calmet)
St. Thomas Aquinas
Some have understood this of Jesus Christ. (Rupert) (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Calmet
But the context excludes this interpretation, which would be injurious to him. (Calmet)
Haydock
The false prophet is reformed by his parents' correction, so that he applies to agriculture, and owns that he had been justly punished. (St. Jerome) (Haydock)
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Calmet
Sword. This address rouses attention. (Calmet)
Worthington
The sword implies all the torments which Christ endured. (Worthington)
Haydock
He explains this of himself; only instead of strike, he says I will strike, (Matthew 26:31.) as the sword was directed by God. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
Patris voluntate percussus est. (St. Jerome)
Haydock
Cleaveth. Hebrew hamithi, "my amiable one;" (Haydock) "of the same tribe with me;" (Aquila) "of my people." (Symmachus) St. Jerome observes, that Septuagint and Theodotion have read v for the last i, and render "his neighbour," or citizen. Yet some editions of the Septuagint retain "my fellow-citizen." (Haydock)
St. Jerome
Little ones. Septuagint, Arabic, etc., "shepherds," (Calmet) which "many ill apply to the Jewish princes." (St. Jerome)
Calmet
Tsoharim means also "the little," Micheas 5:2. Christ takes care of his little flock, (Luke 12:32.; Haydock) and is always one with the Father, John 8:29., and 10:30. (Calmet)
Worthington
He recalled the flying apostles, and gave them courage. (Worthington)
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Haydock
Third. The greatest part of mankind will be lost. (Haydock)
Calmet
The few Jews who embrace the faith will be absorbed in the Gentile converts, and suffered to live, though proved by persecutions, while the rest shall be exterminated. Both shall lose their name, and be styled Christians. (Calmet)
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Calmet
Fire. The Church was persecuted during the first centuries; but always became more pure, and the blood of martyrs increased her numbers. (Calmet)
Haydock
She faithfully adhered to God. (Haydock)
St. Jerome
The Jews say this will not take place at last: "but we assert that it is already accomplished." (St. Jerome)
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In the time of the new testament Christ is made an open fountaine of grace by his Incarnation. Ioa. 4. v. 13. S. Greg h•. 20. in Ezec & li. 6. epist. 186.
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Concordance Ezec. 3•.
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False doctrine as idolatrie and heresie, are punishable by death in the law of Christ.
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By svvord is vnderstood al sortes of persecution that fel vpon our Sauiour.
Concordance Mat. 26. Mar. 14.
The Apostles fleīg God recalled them, and streingthned them with fortitude.
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Neither Ievves nor Gentiles, remayning in their proper professions can be saued, but Christian Catholikes liuing iustly, which are Gods proper people distinct from the rest by his grace.
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Pope St Gregory I the Great † AD 604 Register of the Epistles of St. Gregory the Great 7.25
… It is fulfilled, sweet daughter, it is fulfilled, what was promised to us by the prophetic voice concerning this time of the holy Church: And in that day the house of David shall be an open fountain for ablution of the sinner and of her that is unclean (
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 City of God 8.23
… Spirit who revealed these things to him, as He had done to the holy prophets, who, foreseeing these things, said with exultation, “If a man shall make gods, lo, they are no gods;” and in another place, “And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered.”
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St Barnabas † AD 61 The Epistle of Barnabas 5
… The Son of God therefore came in the flesh with this view, that He might bring to a head the sum of their sins who had persecuted His prophets to the death. For this purpose, then, He endured. For God saith, “The stroke of his flesh is from them;” and “when I shall smite the Shepherd, then the sheep of the flock shall be scattered.”
St Justin Martyr † AD 165 Dialogue with Trypho 53
… The following is said, too, by Zechariah: ‘O sword, rise up against My Shepherd, and against the man of My people, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the Shepherd, and His flock shall be scattered.’
Tertullian † AD 220 De Fuga in Persecutione 11
… nay, even from his former savings a restoration of the master’s loss will be required; for “to him who hath shall be given, but from him who hath not shall be taken away even that which he seemeth to have.” Thus Zechariah threatens: “Arise, O sword, against the shepherds, and pluck ye out the sheep; and I will turn my hand against the shepherds.”
Aphrahat † AD 346 Aphrahat: Select Demonstrations 17.10
… And again he said:— The spear shall arise against the shepherd, and against the man, My friend; and it shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep of his flock shall be scattered; and I will turn back My hand upon the pastor.
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.63
… Therefore, I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord Almighty. And again: Awake, O sword, against the shepherds, and smite the shepherds, and scatter the sheep, and I will turn My Hand upon the shepherds;
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 30
… For Scripture often personifies many even lifeless objects; as for instance, “The Sea said” so and so; and, “The Depth saith, It is not in me;” and “The Heavens declare the glory of God;” and again a command is given to the Sword;
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 78
Then “He saith unto them, All ye shall be offended in me.” After this He mentions also a prophecy, “For it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered abroad:”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on 1 Timothy 1
… lxiv. 5 .) And again, the blessed Paul in another place writes, “For therefore we both labor, and suffer reproach, because we have hope in the living God.” The teacher must suffer dangers even more than the disciple. “For I will smite the shepherd, (he says,) “and the sheep shall be scattered abroad.” (
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Tertullian † AD 220 Scorpiace 7
… I myself also wish to be put among the number of her sons, that I may be slain by her; I wish to be slain, that I may become a son. But does she merely murder her sons, or also torture them? For I hear God also, in another passage, say, “I will burn them as gold is burned, and will try them as silver is tried.”
Tertullian † AD 220 De Fuga in Persecutione 3
… But what other war has our peace than persecution? If in its issues persecution emphatically brings either life or death, either wounds or healing, you have the author, too, of this. “I will smite and heal, I will make alive and put to death.” “I will burn them,” He says, “as gold is burned; and I will try them,” He says, “as silver is tried,”
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1. IN THAT DAY, — namely, when they shall see Christ fixed upon the cross, and therefore shall mourn, as was said in the preceding chapter, verse 10; for then Christ became a fountain of blood, rather than of water, to wash away the sins of all Jews and of all men. THERE SHALL BE A FOUNTAIN OPENED TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID. — The Syriac and Arabic versions: A fountain which shall be opened to the house of David. He alludes to the fountain of Siloam, which was a type of Christ, John IX, 7. For Siloam in Hebrew means the same as sent: and Christ, as it were a legate sent by the Father to us, was sent that he might reconcile us to himself. The fountain of Siloam, says Adrichomius in his Description of the Holy Land, to which the pool, or bathing place of Siloam is joined on the western side of the valley of Josaphat, springs forth from the root of the mountain of Zion. Its water is clear, sweet and most abundant, flowing with silence, as Isaiah says in chapter VIII, 22, and gently flows into the torrent of Cedron. This fountain the renowned king Ezechias restored: and in its pool that blind man from birth, washing his eyes anointed with Christ's spittle and clay, received his sight (to which allusion is made here), John IX. Concerning the virtue of this water, Saligniacus, the most diligent investigator of this place, writes thus: The water of this fountain is held in esteem even to this day, by the Saracens themselves. For since they naturally stink like goats in their bodies, they wash themselves and their children in this fountain, and by this washing they mitigate their stench. Indeed, the Turks also hold it in great regard, because they have found by experience that its use benefits the sight of the eyes. Nicephorus writes in book VIII, chapter xxx, that St. Helena the empress constructed wonderful works at this fountain. Thus Adrichomius. Siloam therefore both by name and by its virtue represents Christ, of whom Isaiah says in chapter XII, 3: "You shall draw waters in joy out of the fountains of the Saviour." See what is said there. You will ask, what is this fountain? Some, thinking that the time of the Maccabees is here spoken of, who purified the temple and restored the Jewish rites, believe this fountain to have been that of the temple, by which the unclean and menstruating women were washed: for the Jews hand down that these were washed with living water. But this is cold and Jewish. Add that all the orthodox hold that Christ is here spoken of. They answer therefore, first, St. Jerome, Rupertus, Hugo and Lyran, that this fountain is baptism. This is true, but partial: for many sins are committed after baptism, which are washed away by this fountain, although they cannot be washed away by baptism. Second, Remigius holds that this fountain is the doctrine which flowed from the mouth of Christ and the Apostles, as from a fountain, according to that in Proverbs X, 11: "The mouth of the just is a vein of life, and the mouth of the just shall bring forth wisdom." Whence the Chaldean version renders it: In that time the doctrine of the law shall be revealed, as a spring of waters to the house of David. Third, Haymo holds that this is the fountain of the mercy of God. Fourth, Vatablus holds that this fountain is the side of Christ, when that side was pierced by a lance and poured forth water and blood, as it were symbols of the sacraments and grace. These things are true, but partial. I say therefore, fully and adequately: This fountain is God incarnate, namely Jesus Christ, who is a fountain, in Hebrew מקור macor, that is, a vein, a spring, perpetually flowing forth into men in every age the waters of all grace and doctrine. Again, Christ is the fountain and source of the Holy Spirit, whom he pours forth upon us, that he may purge sins and quench the thirst of the soul, according to that in John VII, 37: "If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. He that believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now this he said of the Spirit, which they should receive who believed in him." Moreover, this fountain was physically opened, when on the cross, with the side and body of Christ opened by the wounds, he himself became as it were an open fountain of baptism and of all the sacraments. Thus Theodoret and the Hebrews in Galatinus, book IV, last chapter. Likewise St. Gregory in homily 20 on Ezechiel, hear him: "A hidden fountain, indeed, is the only-begotten of the Father, the invisible God. But an open fountain is the same God incarnate: which open fountain is rightly called the house of David, because from the race of David our Redeemer proceeded to us. But these dwell in Jerusalem, who fix their mind on the vision of intimate peace. But the sinner and the menstruating woman is: either he who sins in deed, or the mind which falls into wicked thought. For this menstruation is a pollution, because it neither touches with an alien flesh, and is defiled by its own flesh. Thus, thus is every soul, which although it does not commit an evil deed, is yet defiled by wicked thought." Moreover, that the Prophet here looks to the cross and wounds of Christ is evident both from chapter XII, 10, where he said: "They shall look on me whom they have pierced;" and because explaining the fountain here, verse 6, he says: "What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands?" Therefore the five wounds of Christ were as it were five fountains, both of grace and of blood. But he looks especially to the wound of Christ's side, both because from it flowed blood and water, which were as it were symbols of Baptism, the Eucharist and the other Sacraments, by which we are washed from sins: whence St. Jerome, epistle 83: "When," he says, "at the setting of the sun, the side of Christ is struck by the lance, the sacraments of baptism and martyrdom are poured forth;" and St. Ambrose, book V On the Sacraments, chapter 1: "Why," he says, "water? why blood? water that it might cleanse, blood that it might redeem;" and because this wound was greater than the others, and so great indeed that St. Thomas was able to put his hand into it, John XX, 27. Nay, this wound seems to have pierced through the whole side of Christ, so that namely this lance driven through the right side of Christ passed through his heart and pericardium, and its point came out through the left side at the breast. For that both sides of Christ were pierced through, Prudentius teaches in three places. First, in the poem On the Passion of Christ, when he thus sings: Pierced through either side, with fluid and gore Christ acts: blood is victory, water is washing. Secondly, Peristephanon, hymn 8: He himself is Lord of the place, to whom with wound of either side, Hence blood poured forth flowed, and thence water. Thirdly, Cathemerinon, hymn 8: O new and wondrous miracle of the wound! Hence flows a wave of gore, water from the other part. The same is insinuated by St. Cyprian, treatise On the Passion of Christ, when he says: "From thy side, O Christ, with divided boundaries water and blood emanate." Hence also Theophylactus calls this wound of the side τύπους in the plural. The same is confirmed from the fact that St. Thomas was able to put his hand into the side of Christ: therefore the lance was driven deeply through it; and consequently its point penetrated and pierced the left side. See here, O Christian, the breadth of the wound, and consequently of Christ's love. This is an open fountain, namely an open heart, into which thou mayest enter: enter therefore into it; for it will contain thee wholly: "Longinus opened to me the side of Christ with a lance, and I entered, and there I rest secure," says St. Augustine in the Manual, chapter XXIII. The same, chapter XXI: "Safe," he says, "and firm is the rest for the infirm and sinners in the wounds of the Saviour. I dwell secure there: the bowels are open to me through the wounds: whatever is lacking to me from myself, I take for myself from the bowels of my Lord, because mercies abound, nor are there lacking openings through which they may flow forth. Through the openings of the body the secrets of the heart are open to me, the great sacrament of piety is open, the bowels of the mercy of our God are open, in which he hath visited us, the dayspring from on high. The wounds of Jesus Christ are full of mercy, full of piety, full of sweetness and charity. They pierced his hands, his feet, and his side they pierced with a lance. Through these cracks it is permitted me to taste how sweet is the Lord my God, because he is truly sweet and mild, and of great mercy to all who call upon him in truth; to all who seek him, and especially to those who love him. Abundant redemption is given to us in the wounds of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Great multitude of sweetness, fullness of grace, and perfection of virtues. When some foul thought strikes me, I have recourse to the wounds of Christ. When my flesh presses me, I rise again by the remembrance of the wounds of my Lord. When the devil prepares snares for me, I flee to the bowels of the mercy of my Lord, and he departs from me. If the heat of lust stir my members, by the remembrance of the wounds of our Lord Son of God it is extinguished. In all adversities I have found no remedy so efficacious as the wounds of Christ: in them I sleep secure, and rest undismayed. Christ died for us. There is nothing so bitter unto death, which is not healed by the death of Christ. All my hope is in the death of my Lord." By the symbol of this fountain, at the birth of Christ in Rome, in a tavern for hire across the Tiber, a certain fountain flowed with oil throughout the entire day. For this indeed represented the fountain of mercy and beneficence, which Christ being born brought to the world, nor did he merely bring it, but also communicated it to his own, while he made them fountains like himself, according to that which he himself said to the Samaritan woman: "The water that I will give him, shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life everlasting," John IV, 14. Most excellently St. Ambrose in book VI of the Hexaemeron, chapter IV: "We have all things in Christ, he says, and Christ is all things to us. If you desire to heal a wound, he is a physician: if you burn with fevers, he is a fountain: if you are weighed down by iniquity, he is justice: if you need help, he is virtue: if you fear death, he is life: if you desire heaven, he is the way: if you flee darkness, he is light: if you seek food, he is nourishment." Christ therefore is the fountain of wisdom, charity, grace, virtue and all good: he himself is the fountain of wisdom and salvation. TO THE HOUSE OF DAVID,—that is, as Saints Jerome and Gregory in homily 20 on Ezekiel say, from the house of David, that is from the temple, as Mariana says, bursting forth. Whence Ezekiel chapter XLVII, 1, saw a fountain bursting forth from the temple, and growing into a river. But because it is added: "And to the inhabitants of Jerusalem," hence you may better understand by the house of David the princes, by the inhabitants of Jerusalem the people, as if to say: This fountain is open to all, both to the common people and to the princes. He makes mention of David, because Christ was promised to David, and was born from him: therefore to his descendants in the first place was it to be exhibited, and then to the other inhabitants of Jerusalem and Jews. Whence Christ said that he was not sent except to the sheep that had perished of the house of Israel; and finally through the Apostles this fountain of grace was set before all nations, so that they might be able to draw salvation from it. Thus Theodoret. Mystically St. Jerome: The house of David is the Church, especially the primitive Church of the Apostles, in which, as if dwelling in Jerusalem and citizens, all the faithful are, both from the Gentiles and from the Jews. FOR THE CLEANSING OF THE SINNER.—At Cyzicus there exists a fountain, which is called the fountain of Cupid, from which those drinking it Mutianus believes they put down love, as Pliny says in book XXXI, chapter XI, and Isidore in book XIII of the Origins, XIII. At Cyzicus, he says, a fountain takes away the love of Venus. Be that as it may, certainly there is no fountain which washes away sins, and cleanses sinners from them, except Christ, who by the fountain of baptism wipes them away, and by his grace not only abolishes them, but also their sources, namely earthly desires and the tinder of lust, gluttony, etc., he quenches and extinguishes, and inflames the mind with sacred fire and heavenly love. In Hebrew it is: For sin and menstrual uncleanness, namely to be washed away and expiated, namely by the sinner and the menstruating woman, which Our Lord clearly translates: "For the cleansing of the sinner and of the menstruating woman." For he alludes to the waters of expiation, made from the ashes of a red heifer, by which uncleanness contracted from menstruation, from a dead body, or from any other pollution whatsoever (which was a legal sin of the Old Testament) was washed away, Numbers XIX, 11. Whence the Chaldean translates: I will remit their sins as they are cleansed by the water of sprinkling, and by the ashes of the cow which was offered for sin. Furthermore, this legal uncleanness, especially of menstruation, was a type of sin, which is menstrual, that is the poison and supreme pollution of the soul, as I said on Leviticus XV, 19 and 25; and consequently the waters of expiation of the same were a type of the blood of Christ, by which all sin is washed away. Furthermore, according to the letter, by the sinner he understands men, by the menstruating woman women defiled by sin: for both the sins of women and of men are washed away by this fountain of Christ. Symbolically, Albert, Lyra and Clarius understand by sin the actual, by menstruation the original: for this is transmitted by generation, whose dregs and remnants in the woman in childbed are menstruation, or a flow of blood, and filth like menstruation. Tropologically, St. Gregory in homily 20 on Ezekiel: The sinner, he says, is he who sins by deed: the menstruating woman is the mind which slips by perverse thought. Morally, St. Bernard in sermon 62 on the Canticles: "What, he says, is so efficacious for healing the wounds of conscience, and also for purifying the eye of the mind, as the careful meditation of the wounds of Christ?" And St. Bonaventure, Collection VII: "He who applies himself intently and devoutly to the most holy life and passion of the Lord, finds there abundantly all things useful and necessary to him; nor is there need that he seek anything outside of Jesus."
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2. I WILL DESTROY THE NAMES OF IDOLS FROM THE EARTH. — It is clear from all histories that through Christ and the Apostles idols and the oracles of idols were everywhere removed, as well as priests and prophets, concerning which he adds: "And false prophets, and an unclean spirit," namely a demon which attended the idol, as if its soul, and spoke through it, and gave responses. Thus St. Cyril, Remigius and Albert. For false prophets in Hebrew it is נביאם nebiim, which commonly signifies Prophets, from the root naba, that is, he prophesied, yet subsequently, says Arias, it signifies foolishly talkative and garrulous persons, who are namely the artificers of vain speech, to which no account of truth or virtue is subject, and they capture the people by the tricks of discourse and words, from the root nob, which signifies to germinate, and like a sprout to burst forth and bubble up. Whence ניב nib is called fruit, and speech, which is the fruit and as it were the sprout of the tongue.
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3. When anyone shall prophesy (namely false and impious things, from the instigation of an unclean spirit and of idols, as has preceded), his father and his mother shall say to him, etc.: THOU SHALT NOT LIVE, BECAUSE THOU HAST SPOKEN A LIE IN THE NAME OF THE LORD. — "A lie," namely in faith and religion, teaching idolatry or heresy. It signifies that in the new law Christians shall be such zealots for Christ and the faith, that they shall not spare even sons apostatizing from him. It alludes to Deut. XIII, 6: "If thy brother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife that is in thy bosom, or thy friend, whom thou lovest as thy own soul, shall persuade thee secretly, saying: Let us go and serve strange gods, which thou and thy fathers know not, thou shalt not consent to him, nor hearken to him, neither shall thy eye spare him to pity and conceal him, but thou shalt presently put him to death." From which place let heretics learn, that not only is it lawful and holy, but it is even commanded by God, that heretics be punished with death, so much so that not even parents spare their sons. This is what Christ says in Matt. V, 29: "And if thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee, etc. And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee." And cap. X, 34: "Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law, and a man's enemies shall be they of his own household." AND THEY SHALL PIERCE HIM. — In Hebrew דקרוהו dekaruhu, that is, they shall pierce through, transfix him, either with a sword, or a spear, or a dart, or nails on a cross; Zurich: They shall pierce him; Vatablus: They shall transfix him, that is, they shall take care that he be driven to the cross. Sanchez rightly notes that to pierce, to burn, to cut, in the Scriptures by catachresis signify any grave pain and punishment. Whence the Septuagint translates: They shall bind him with fetters. Thus Nahum says in cap. III, 10: "All her great men are bound in chains."
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4. NOR SHALL THEY BE CLOTHED WITH A HAIRY GARMENT. — The Septuagint, with a hairy skin; Pagninus, with a hairy garment; Zurich, with a hairy cloak. For the outward habit of the Prophets was sackcloth, namely a garment woven from the hair and bristles of camels, horses, or other animals, and therefore haircloth; so that by the very habit they might provoke the people to mourning and penance, as the Capuchins do. Thus St. Jerome. For this reason false prophets assumed a similar garment, so that by the very habit they might appear to be true Prophets. The sense therefore is, as if to say, Because false prophets will see themselves even by their own, indeed by the parents of falsehood rebuked, and therefore beaten and killed; hence they will not dare henceforth to lie that they are God's Prophets, and to prophesy falsely. Hence consequently they will not dare to put on the prophetic garment, namely sackcloth, as if true Prophets displaying before themselves penance and austerity of life. Whence it follows:
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5. HE WILL SAY: I AM NOT A PROPHET, I AM A MAN WHO TILLS THE GROUND. — Just as Amos said to Amaziah in chapter VII, 14: "I am not a prophet, and I am not the son of a prophet: but I am a herdsman plucking sycamores." Because Adam is my example. — He proves that he is not a prophet, but a tiller of the ground, that is to say, I have imitated from childhood Adam and the first fathers, who taught me by their example to till the fields. For Adam prepared his food in the sweat of his face, according to the word of the Lord: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," Genesis III, 19. Looking therefore upon him, I determined rather to live by the sweat of my face from the field, than to act insolently as a prophet. For the Hebrew קנה kana signifies to possess; hence הקנני hicnani in the Hiphil conjugation, which signifies a double action, is the same as he made me possess, or he taught me to till possessions. Whence the Zurich Bible translates: Adam instructed me from my youth, that I should till possessions; Vatablus, a man, that is someone (for Adam can be taken either as the proper name of the first parent, or as common to any man), taught me the pastoral art from my youth. For the Hebrew hicnani, if it be derived from the root קנה kana by he, signifies he made me possess; but if from קנא kana by aleph, signifies he created, he begot: for the letters aleph and he are often interchanged. Whence for that which our version translates in Proverbs VIII, 22: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways;"; in Hebrew it is the same hicnani, which the Septuagint translates: The Lord created me. 6. AND IT SHALL BE SAID TO HIM: WHAT ARE THESE WOUNDS IN THE MIDST OF THY HANDS? — First, Cyril, Theodoret, Lyra, Albert and Vatablus think that here discourse is made to the false prophet, of whom there has been discourse hitherto, who when he had been beaten by his own people and was bruised, being asked by others whence he had contracted those bruises and wounds, answers: I was chastised by my parents, lest I should prophesy, of which chastisement these wounds are witnesses. Or, as St. Jerome holds, who takes these things of the false prophet crucified on account of false doctrine, that is to say, Why art thou affixed to the cross? why are nails driven through thy hands on the gallows? what crime didst thou commit that thou shouldest deserve these wounds? But Arias thinks that the false prophet inflicted these wounds upon himself, that he might make himself venerable and holy to the people. For thus the Prophets of Baal inflicted wounds and stigmata upon themselves, as appears in III Kings XVIII, 28. But I say truly that here is discourse concerning Christ, and his wounds on the cross. For the Prophet, after a long digression which he inserted concerning the false prophet, whom he said was to be taken away by Christians, returns to Christ, whom he said in verse 1 would be a fountain opened to the house of David. For he declares this here through the wounds, by which his hands shall be opened and laid bare, as also his feet and side. That this is so appears, first from the very words, which plainly signify the wounds of the hands in Christ crucified. Second, because thus the Church explains and applies them to Christ in the Mass of the Passion of Christ. Third, because that which follows: "Smite the shepherd," etc., Christ altogether refers to himself in Matthew XXVI. Fourth, because the Septuagint translates: What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was smitten in the house of them that loved me, namely by my beloved people. Fifth, because the Prophet returns here to Christ, of whom all his discourse here is, whom he has hitherto taught would destroy idols and false prophets. Thus Rupert, St. Thomas in Psalm XXI, R. Samuel On the Coming of the Messiah, chapter VII, Galatinus book XVIII, chapter XVII, Ribera and others. Moreover, the Prophet, marveling at and astounded by the newness of the matter, and a prodigy unheard of from the ages, rightly asks: "What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands?" For what more wonderful from the age, what more astounding in heaven or on earth, than God on the cross, than God wounded, nailed, crowned with thorns, crucified? Beholding him, the sun was astounded, the moon, and all the stars, and therefore they withdrew their rays from so unworthy a spectacle: the sepulchers and rocks were astounded, when in his passion they were split and burst asunder: the whole world was astounded, when at his death, shuddering with horror, it was shaken by an earthquake, and as if torn from its center, departed. Shall this man alone not be astounded? The angels were astounded and are astounded, on the one hand at God suffering, on the other at the stupor of men, who behold so great a spectacle unmoved, and as if insensible, and therefore they cry out: "Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be ye very desolate, O gates thereof." The King of heaven, God and my creator, hangs on the cross for me, disembowels himself for me, empties himself for me, is most cruelly flayed to death for me, and shall not I, a worm of the earth, be astounded? shall I not be struck with sacred horror? shall I not melt wholly with love? shall I not repay wounds with wounds, hardship with hardship, death with death, love with love? St. Lawrence, St. Vincent, St. Sebastian, and the other athletes and martyrs replied, who most ardently desired crosses, racks, fires, and beasts for Christ, so that they might repay to Him whatever gratitude and love they could. The holy anchorites, virgins, and confessors replied, mortifying themselves with eager spirit through so many and such great penances, taming the flesh through so many vigils and labors, so that they might continually bear the mortification of Jesus in their body for His love and honor. Monks, religious, and men devoted to contemplation reply, who continually gaze upon God with the eyes of their mind in wonder, and upon their Christ fixed for them on the cross, and are wholly absorbed with St. Francis into this fire and abyss of divine love; nor do they say or think anything other than what St. Thomas said upon seeing the wounds of Christ: "My Lord, and my God; my God, my love, my Jesus and my all." Moreover, the version of the Syrian and Antiochene Arabic is more pathetic; for it reads thus: What are these wounds which are in thy hands? And he shall say: These are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of those who loved me. And the Alexandrine Arabic: What are these wounds, which are in the midst of his hands? And he shall say: They happened to me from the house of my beloved. IN THE MIDST OF THY HANDS. — In Hebrew, between thy hands, which are namely in the arms, neck, breast, and the whole body with hands interspersed. Whence Theodoret reads: In the midst of thy shoulders. But St. Jerome, the Septuagint and others everywhere translate: In the midst of thy hands; the Zurich Bible: Between thy hands. For the matter concerns the wounds and nails by which the hands of Christ were pierced on the cross, under which understand equally the wounds of the feet and side. AND HE SHALL SAY: I WAS WOUNDED IN THE HOUSE OF THOSE WHO LOVED ME, — namely in Judaea and Jerusalem; for this was the house of those who worshipped and loved God, who professed to love God, and were bound to it by a special obligation, as if to say: My fellow citizens, my fellow countrymen, my kinsmen, namely the Jews to whom I was promised, and to whom I was sent as Messiah, king and redeemer, who were bound by a thousand benefits and titles to love and venerate me supremely, my, I say, brothers, fellow citizens and subjects wounded and crucified me, as if to say: I suffered to be wounded and crucified by my own, because I loved them, though undeserving, and loved them exceedingly, so that I might snatch them from wounds. Note: That "those who loved me" greatly pierces and sharpens the wound. For the wound and pain inflicted by friends is wont to be most grievous. Hence the Bride in the Song of Songs I, 6: "The sons of my mother, she says, have fought against me." For this reason love is called by St. Gregory of Nazianzus, oration 28, a sweet tyrant, and by Euripides in the Hippolytus, bitter, and most fertile with honey and gall. For love, as it has a remarkable power of doing good, so also of doing harm. The gentiles had a symbol of this matter in Apollo (that is, the sun, which is the hieroglyphic of love and beneficence), whom they painted holding a lyre and the Graces in one hand, and arrows and a quiver in the other. Hence also that saying: "Where there is love, there is pain: for one does not live in love without pain." Hence that complaint and pathos of Christ concerning Judas the traitor, Psalm LIV, 13: "For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it, etc. But thou, a man of one mind, my guide, and my acquaintance: who didst take food sweetly with me, in the house of God we walked with consent," as if to say: This torments me, that thou, Judas, who wert my table companion, hast betrayed me, whom thou ought in every way to have protected. Hence again the anger of lovers is most bitter, and the hatred of brothers most severe: just as from the sweetest wine, if it becomes corrupted, the most sour vinegar is made. Tropologically, let the penitent soul feel this said to itself weepingly by the crucified Christ: Behold, I was wounded with these five wounds by thee, whom I loved, and whom I made to love me in return: thy debt I paid, thy wounds I received upon me, thy delights and pleasures pierced me with nails: thy pride pierced my head with thorns: thy gluttony gave me gall and vinegar to drink: I suffered, so that I might free thee from the torments of hell; I died, so that I might snatch thee from eternal death. See how much I suffered for thee. See how much I loved thee. See how little thou lovest me in return, how unequal and ungrateful thou art to my love. Pathetically St. Augustine in his Meditations, chapter VI: "The breast shines, laid bare," he says, "the side reddens with blood, the stretched viscera are parched, the fair eyes languish, the royal countenance grows pale, the lofty arms stiffen, the legs hang like marble, a stream of blessed blood washes the pierced feet. Behold, glorious father, the torn limbs of your most grievous offspring. See the suffering of the Redeemer, and forgive the sin of the redeemed." And shortly after: "What have you committed, sweetest child, that you should be judged thus? What is your crime? What is your guilt? What is the cause of your death? What the occasion of your condemnation? For I am the wound of your sorrow, the guilt of your slaying. I am the merit of your death, the shame of your vengeance. I am the bruise of your passion, the labor of your torment. O wonderful condition of judgment, and ineffable disposition of mystery! The wicked man sins, and the just man is punished: the guilty man offends, and the innocent man is beaten: the impious man transgresses, and the pious man is condemned: what the evil man deserves, the good man suffers: what the servant perpetrates, the Lord pays: what man commits, God endures. Where, son of God, where has your humility descended? Where has your charity burned? Where has your piety proceeded? Where has your kindness grown? Where has your love reached? Where has your compassion extended? For I have acted unjustly, and you are punished with penalty: I have committed a crime, and you are struck with vengeance: I have perpetrated a sin, and you are subjected to torture: I have been proud, and you are humbled: I have swelled, and you are diminished: I have been disobedient, and you, obedient, pay the penalty of disobedience: I have obeyed gluttony, and you are afflicted with hunger: the tree drew me to illicit desire, perfect charity led you to the cross: I presumed to eat the forbidden fruit, you underwent the rack: I delight in food, you labor on the gallows: I enjoy delights, you are torn by nails: I taste the sweetness of the apple, you taste the bitterness of gall: Eve rejoices laughing with me, Mary suffers weeping with you. Behold the king of glory, behold my impiety, and your piety is made clear. See my injustice, and your justice is evident." Bursting forth from these words into the affection of gratitude, he adds: "What, my king and my God, what shall I render to you for all that you have rendered to me? For there cannot be found in the human heart that which might be worthily returned for such rewards. Can human sagacity devise anything to which divine mercy might be compared? Nor is it possible for a creature to perform a service by which it might justly recompense the aid of the Creator. Yet there is, son of God, in this your admirable dispensation, there is something by which my frailty might in some way suffice, if my mind, visited by you, crucifies its flesh with vices and desires: and this, when it is granted by you, seems already to begin to suffer with you, because you too deigned to die for my sin." Let us therefore mortify our desires with thanksgiving and joy, saying to Christ what Sephora said to Moses her husband, Exodus chapter IV, verses 25 and 26: "You are a spouse of blood to me on account of circumcision," indeed on account of crucifixion and the cutting away of all your members; so that, as you, my spouse, permitted yourself to be cut for my sake, so I may circumcise and mortify mine for love of you. Finally, Christ wounded on the cross for us, silently and lovingly cries out to each one: "Behold, I have written you in the palms of my hands," Isaiah XLIX, 16, surely not with a pen, but with a nail: not with ink, but with my blood: You see how love is carved in your whole body, and in turn: You see how pain is carved, indeed burned, in your whole being by love. Look upon me, hold me in your mind, keep me in your heart. I am he who, pitying the bitter falls of men, came here. Lactantius in his poem On the Passion of the Lord, thus sings of it: Behold hands fixed with nails, and arms stretched out, and the great wound of the side, behold from it the flow of blood, and the pierced feet, and the bloody limbs. "Recognize, O man, how grave are the wounds for which it was necessary for the Lord Christ to be wounded," says St. Bernard in sermon 3 On the Nativity, and thus to be wounded with so many and such great wounds. St. Mary Magdalene recognized this, who, as Sylvester Prieras relates in her Life, found in Surius, in the cave, doing penance thirty years, continually fixed upon it a cross beheld by St. Michael and gazed upon with her eyes, and contemplated with her mind, and therefore she poured forth perpetual showers of tears: "Christ therefore our love was crucified for us:" and he is likewise a man of sorrows, because he is a man of loves. For where there is sorrow, there is love; nor is life lived in love without sorrow: because the measure of sorrow is love, and of love sorrow. O love, love, love, how much thou hast loved us, how few love thee! and these how little do they love thee, and grieve for thee! because they know thee not. Grant, O Lord Jesus, that henceforth I may feel thy loves, not mine; thy sorrows, not mine: because thy love is my love, thy sorrow my sorrow. For with exceeding sorrow, and with far greater love didst thou bring me forth. With reason did St. Bonaventure say: "O Lord, I will not live without a wound, because I see thee wounded." And St. Augustine: "Hence I am weaned from the breast, hence I am fed from the wound." And St. Paul: "I am crucified with Christ: and I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the marks of the Lord Jesus I bear in my body." And: "In all these things we overcome because of him that hath loved us." And St. Ignatius the Martyr: "My love is crucified." Again St. Paul: "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." And St. Bernard: "It is not fitting that under a thorny head a member should be delicate." And St. Elzear, count of Ariano, to his wife Delphina: "If thou seekest me, said he, thou wilt find me nowhere but in the wounds of Christ." Finally: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." For my crucified love hath crucified love, And my hope hath fixed my hope crucified upon the cross. This the bride of the Canticle II, 13, understood and felt, singing to her spouse: "A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts." Moreover these wounds are so dear and precious to Christ, and so worthy of admiration, love and adoration by us, that Christ rising again wished to resume them, and to preserve and display them in heaven throughout all eternity, and this for twenty reasons and titles, namely that these wounds be first, most certain signs of the true flesh assumed, not phantasmal, as the Manichaeans wished; second, witnesses of the most atrocious passion; third, the stings of conquered death, and undoubted proofs of resurrection, namely that the same body of Christ crucified rose again, not another; fourth, characters of most ardent love, by which, as Isaiah saith, he hath written us in his hands, not with pens, but with nails; fifth, most splendid trophies of glorious victory over sin, the demon, death and hell; sixth, shining ornaments and triumphs of the glorious body; seventh, the token of our redemption; eighth, marks of obedience unto death; ninth, sacred relics of the labors and sorrows of Christ; tenth, the ransom of all sinners, which Christ continually representeth to the Father, beseeching him for them; eleventh, consolation of the afflicted; twelfth, example of the patient; thirteenth, refuge of the distressed; fourteenth, incitement of the penitent; fifteenth, asylum of the tempted, according to that of the Canticle II, 13: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come: my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall;"; sixteenth, stimulus of the laboring; seventeenth, exemplar of the martyrs; eighteenth, joy of the elect; nineteenth, reproach to the reprobate on the day of judgment; twentieth finally, admiration and astonishment to the angels.
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7. To awake the sword. — When asked: "What are these wounds in the midst of thy hands?" Christ answered that he was smitten by those whom he loved most dearly as citizens and kinsmen of his own. Now God the Father responds to the same question, that it was his decree that Christ should be smitten, and thus that fountain should be opened, which would pour forth upon us the waters of salvation, of which verse 1 speaks, who is the same good shepherd, healing and satisfying the weak, wandering and scattered sheep with this fountain of his, so that he might procure for them eternal life. That this passage is to be understood of Christ transfixed on the cross, Christ himself teaches in Matthew XXVI, 51, when he says to the Apostles: "All you shall be scandalized in me this night; for it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed." God the Father therefore says: "To awake the sword"; the Zurich Bible: "Awake, O sword!" The Chaldean: "Be unsheathed, O sword!" The Septuagint: "Rise up, O sword!" that is to say, Be drawn, O sword! be unsheathed, so that thou mayest strike and slay Christ. Note here: These imperatives are taken for the future; for they signify God's decree concerning Christ's future death, from the malice of the Jews foreseen and permitted by him, that is to say, God foreseeing that the malice of the Jews would be so great that if he should set Christ before them, they would kill him, decreed to set him before them and to permit them to kill him, so that by his passion and death he might save mankind. From God's decree therefore it will come to pass that the sword shall be drawn, which will slay Christ. Whence Vatablus translates: "I awake thee, O sword!" But St. Matthew translates it, by the future active voice, saying: "I will strike the shepherd." And thus Pagninus translates it, so that the Hebrew קה hach, that is, strike, is put for אך ach, that is, I will strike, namely with the sword through the Jews, by setting Christ before them, whom I know to thirst for his death, and commanding Christ to bear and endure their blows steadfastly. Whence to the word "I will strike" corresponds the word "I will turn my hand," which follows. This is what St. Peter says in Acts II, 23: "This Jesus, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you by the hands of wicked men have crucified and slain." For without this permission, foreknowledge and decree of God, the Jews with all their strength and counsels could not have killed Christ, nay, they could not even have taken a hair from his head. Just as therefore Moses, striking the rock with his rod, Exodus XVII, 6, drew forth from it a fountain, from which the whole people drank: so God the Father, striking Christ with the cross, drew forth from him a fountain of grace, from which all the faithful drink and are saved. But the rock was Christ, I Corinthians X, 4. Note: The sword is called by Gellius and Tacitus a lance, or a long missile: the sword seems to some to be named from the Greek ῥομφαία by transposition of letters, so that o precedes, which is turned into f. Whence for sword the Septuagint here translates ῥομφαία; hence sword has been extended to signify a sword. Wherefore for sword, Aquila and Symmachus translate machaera, that is, as others also translate throughout, a sword. For this is what the Hebrew חרב chereb signifies. Now by sword and sword synecdochically and catachrestically are signified nails, lance, and all instruments by which death is inflicted upon anyone, as upon Christ nails, scourges, thorns were inflicted. Isidore in book I On Differences, letter F, thus distinguishes these words, so that a sword is a blade sharp on both sides, a machaera a blade sharp on one side. In a similar manner Jeremiah says in chapter XLVI, 7: "O sword of the Lord! how long wilt thou not be quiet? etc. How shall it be quiet, when the Lord hath commanded it against Ascalon?" etc. And Ezekiel in chapter XXI, 28: "Sword, sword, be drawn for slaughter; be sharpened, that thou mayest kill and shine." My shepherd. — Whom namely I, God the Father, have given to men as shepherd, John X. AND UPON THE MAN THAT IS MY FELLOW. — In Hebrew עמיתי amithi, that is, as Pagninus says, my companion, my associate; Symmachus, the man of my people; Aquila and Theodotion, my fellow-citizen, that is, consubstantial with me the Father according to humanity, as being my Son intimately united to me by hypostatic union. Whence the Chaldean translates: Upon his companion, who is like unto him; Vatablus: Upon the man equal to me; the Syriac: Upon the man my friend; the Arabic of Antioch: Upon the man illustrious, or renowned and endowed with majesty; the Arabic of Alexandria: Upon the man of those who are of his city; the Septuagint translates: Upon the man my fellow-citizen. Theodoret for "my" reads "his," and explains it of the Apostles and disciples of Christ, as if to say: By God's decree the Jews will strike Christ and his disciples and Apostles. Note: Although the person of the Son alone, not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit, hypostatically assumed and terminated the humanity assumed by the Word, and therefore the Son alone is said to be incarnate and made man, not the Father, nor the Holy Spirit, nevertheless through this assumption to the person of the Son, the assumed humanity contracted an intimate coherence and affinity with the Father and the Spirit. For just as a woman, marrying a man, becomes related to his brothers, so that she is called sister by them and is their sister, as Festus says; so much more humanity, joined to the Word, has become related to the Father and the Holy Spirit, especially because the Father and the Holy Spirit concur in the same divine essence with the Son, just as individual brothers have their own and distinct human essence. STRIKE (O sword) THE SHEPHERD (Christ), AND THE SHEEP SHALL BE SCATTERED, — that is, the Apostles and other faithful. The Septuagint in the Vatican edition has: And drive away the sheep. AND I WILL TURN MY HAND TO THE LITTLE ONES. — First, some think the little ones are the same as the sheep, namely the Apostles. Hence the Septuagint translates: I will turn my hand to the shepherds. They appear to have read רועים roim, that is, shepherds, for צערים tsoarim, that is, little ones, as if to say: I will soon recall the Apostles, who, being faint-hearted like little ones, fled from the suffering Christ, and bring them back to Christ: I will therefore turn my hand upon them from plague to healing, from scattering to gathering. Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert, Hugh and others. Second, others distinguish the little ones as small flocks from the sheep, and refer "I will turn my hand" to "strike the shepherd," as if to say: My hand with which I struck the shepherd, and his sheep were scattered, I will likewise turn upon his little lambs, that is, upon the common and common faithful, so that I may similarly strike, chastise and afflict them; that they may be like their shepherd, and that I may exercise them in virtue and strength, and in their weakness show the strength of my grace. Thus Theodoret and Lyra. This happened after Christ's ascension into heaven, when first persecution was stirred up by the Jews in Jerusalem, then soon in Rome and throughout the whole world, a fierce persecution against Christians, which lasted for three hundred years until Constantine.
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8. AND THERE SHALL BE IN ALL THE EARTH: TWO PARTS IN IT SHALL BE SCATTERED, — that is, In the whole world two parts of men shall be scattered and perish, namely Jews and Gentiles; for whoever remained in Judaism and Gentilism shall be condemned, only the third part which shall be Christians shall be saved and preserved. For only those who from Jews and Gentiles are converted to Christianity are saved. Thus St. Remigius, Albert and Lyra. Second, Theodoret, Arius and a Castro understand by earth Judea, of which the discourse here has been, that is, In all the land of Judea, of three parts of Jews, two remaining in their error shall be cut off and perish, the third part of the elect faithful remnant shall increase and be saved. But this must be understood loosely; for the third part of Jews was not precisely converted to Christ: for very few believed in Christ and the Apostles. Whence the Apostles soon, leaving them, went forth to the Gentiles. Less probably Vatable and others explain it of the destruction of Jews by Titus, that is, Of the Jews who shall be after the passion of Christ, two parts shall be cut off by Titus, the third shall be preserved, but to be tested and afflicted by many tribulations. For this third part was not of the faithful: because the faithful and Christians, warned by God before the destruction, departed from Jerusalem, and thus escaped it. Thus Theodoret and others. Note: For "shall be scattered" the Louvain editors read "shall be destroyed": for in Hebrew it is יכרתו iiccaretu, that is, shall be cut off; the Septuagint, shall perish; the Chaldean, shall be consumed. Again for "shall fail," in Hebrew it is יגועו iiguau, that is, shall be lifeless, shall expire. Anagogically, Emmanuel Sa expounds it, that is, In the whole world two parts of men shall be the reprobate who shall be damned, the third shall be of the elect who shall be saved. Understand this morally, not mathematically, that is, Two parts, that is, far more are damned than are saved. For arithmetically it is evident that the third part of men is not saved, from the fact that the third part of the world is not faithful: for paganism and Mohammedanism occupy Asia, Africa and India: almost only Europe is Christian. Now in Europe almost half is heretics, schismatics, politicians and atheists. Among the orthodox many are concubinaries, many who harbor hatreds, many unjust possessors of goods, many drunkards, etc. Consider therefore how small a part is of the good, who alone have hope of salvation. Whence Christ says: "Many, He says, are called, but few are chosen." And: "Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there are who go in thereat. How narrow is the gate and strait is the way that leadeth to life, and few there are that find it!" Matt. VII, 13.
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9. AND I WILL LEAD THE THIRD PART THROUGH FIRE (that is to say, I will prove the faithful and purify them by the fire of persecutions and tribulations, so that they may be purified like silver: but the more perfect I will refine in the same fire, so that they may be solidified, perfected and shine like gold. For in this fire the Lord will be present with them, whom they will call upon (whence he says): HE HIMSELF (namely my faithful people, whom I said to be the third part of men) SHALL CALL (that is, shall invoke) MY NAME, AND I WILL HEAR HIM. I WILL SAY: Thou art my people (that is to say, I have thee, I love thee, I care for thee, I protect thee as my people); AND HE HIMSELF SHALL SAY: THE LORD MY GOD, — that is to say, He in turn will worship me, will love me and will invoke me as his Lord and God. For proved and refined by fire, he is worthy to be laid up in the treasures of God, according to that passage in Wisdom III, 5: "God tried them, and found them worthy of himself. As gold in the furnace he proved them." And Proverbs XVII, 3: "As silver is tried in the fire, and gold in the furnace, so the Lord trieth hearts." Hence St. Jerome rightly says of them: "This third part of the saints, lest it should be delicate and secure, is led through fire and proved like silver and gold." Thus Job asserts himself proved in chapter XXIII, 10: "He, he says, knoweth my way, and hath proved me as gold that passeth through the fire." Wherefore Ecclesiasticus wisely admonishes in chapter II, 4, saying: "All things that are brought upon thee receive: and in thy sorrow be patient, and in thy humility have patience: for gold and silver are tried in the fire, but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation." What therefore fire is to gold, a file to iron, a fan to wheat, lye to cloth, salt to flesh, that tribulation is to a just man. See the words in Genesis XXXIII, at the end.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 2 « et erit in. die illa, . dicit Dominus exercituum, disperdam nomina idolorum de terra et non memorabuntur ultra, et pseudoprophetas et spiritum immundum auferam de terra» ; — hebr. prophetas, sed intelligi pseudoprophetas elucet ex coniunctione cum idololatria, cum spiritu immundo et ex sequentibus v. 3-6. Alluditur in priore parte ad oraculum Os. 9, 17. Novae theocratiae revera munus incumbit, ut per universum orbem idola disperdat et oblivione obrui faciat gentium scil. conversione procurata et effecta, quod officium apostolicum a vetere aberat. Spiritus immundus, « qui loquebatur in pseudoprophetis » (S. Hier.), is intelligi potest, de quo 3 Reg. 22, 19-23 sermo est, spiritus scil. mendax et malus, cui a Domino permissum sit decipere eos qui daemonum inspirationi libenter aures praebent. Magiam enim et divinationem et auguria et quaecumque demum ad idololatriam et pseudoprophetiam pertinebant, saepe non sine daemonum ope atque auxilio fuisse peracta, s. literae testantur (cf. Act. 16, 18). Etiam hoc nostro loco id innuitur quod postmodum explicite docuit S. Paulus, in idololatria et annexis ritibus daemonis cultum exerceri (cf. 4 Cor. 10, 20. 21). Censet Sanct. uti supra allusum sit ad Iosiam (19, 11), ita etiam in fonte aperto et idololatria et mantia excisa alludi ad praeclare gesta a Iosia (cf. 4 Reg. 23, 5 seq. 9 Par. 34, 4 seq.), ut eius exemplo et quasi typo tempus adumbretur messianicum. Quamvis tempore Zachariae Iudaei idololatriae non essent dediti, nihilominus propheta prorsus apte ea qua fecit ratione novae theocratiae - Statum describere potuit. Nam discrimen effert inter novam et veterem theocratiam ; vetus periit ex idololatria, ergo conveniens erat efferre, novam ab eo periculo et ruina fore longissime remotam. Neque omittendum est, etiam pro Iudaeis ex exsilio reducibus non omneidololatriae periculum abfuisse; elucet id ex pseudoprophetis qui tempore Nehemiae non deerant (Neh. 6, 14), elucet ex historia. Machabaeorum, quo tempore haud pauci ad gentilium ritus sese abiecerunt ; unde verba illa de idololatria nullo modo arguunt tempusante exsilium, sed tempore Zachariae quoque apte proferuntur. Adde praedici simul idololatriam universam in orbe terrarum ablatum iri et facile perspicies, quam bene usurpare potuerit Zacharias vetustum oraculum iam ab Osee datum ad novam theocratiam adumbrandam. Unde frustra aliqui haec verba in medium afferunt, ut probent oraculum hoc ante Zachariam editum fuisse. In vetere theocratia prophetae saepe conqueruntur de studio et favore, quo populus pseudoprophetas sit prosecutus (cf. Is. 9, 15. Ier. 5, 31; 14, 18; 23, 16 ; 21, 9. Mich. 2, 11 hebr.) ; aliter res se habet in nova :
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v. 8 «et erit, cum prophetaverit quispiam ultra, dicent ei pater eius et mater eius, qui genuerunt eum : non vives, quia mendacium locutus es in nomine Domini. Et configent eum pater eius et mater etus, genitores eius, cum prophetaverit » ; — quod in lege praeceptum est, contra pseudoprophetam ipsi parentes exsequentur; cf. Deut. 13,6; 18, 20. Bene advertit S. Hier. : « si quis ultra tentare voluerit et quidpiam ex persona Domini prophetare, statim pater eius et mater obliviscentur parentum, ut Dei retineant servitutem, et proferent contra filium mortis sententiam et tam piae erunt omnium in Deum mentes, ut non exspectetur publicum iudicium, sed pereant qui tales sunt sententia propinquorum ». Tant. igitur odio abhorrebunt a pseudoprophetia, ut satis sit parentibus ad quodvis supplicium in filios proprios decernendum, quod falsa in nomine Domini locuti sint (S. Cyr.), quod se a Domino missos et inspiratos et iubente eo loqui finxerint; «habet autem emphasin post pater eius et mater eius dicere genitores eius, ac si dicat : quantumvis eum genuerint, quantumvis eum ut. parentes ament » (Rib.). Et si ipsi parentes adeo in reos animadvertunt, quanto zelo alii quoque honorem Dei laesum vindicare censendi sunt? Etiam h. l. verbum "p! mortem dicit violentam confixione illatam ; nam non vives... et configent eum. Immo tanta erit rerum mutatio, ut ipsi quoque pseudoprophetae de peccato suo admisso pudore afficiantur, illud confiteantur, et ab incepto desistant
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v. 4 « et erit, in die ?lla confundentur prophetae unusquisque ez visione sua cum prophetaverit, nec operientur pallio saccino ut mentiantur,
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v. 5 sed dicet : non sum propheta, homo agricola ego sum, quoniam Adam exemplum meum ab adolescentia mea » , — pallium saccinum erat vestimenti genus asperum, quo prophetae usi esse videntur ; nihil enim molle in vero propheta cernebatur, verum vita aspera, labore plena et communicationi cum Deo dedita, et verbis et suo exemplo aliis praedicabant (cf. 4 Reg. 1, 8. Matth. 3, 4). Unde impostores ipso vestitu se mentientes prophetas populum decipere studebant. Verum effusione spiritus facta id continget, quod difficillimum est, ut scil. eiusmodi impostores larvam abiiciant et palam verum fateantur. Hebr. quia homo se possedit (me emit) ab adolescentia mea i. e. tantum abest, ut sim propheta, ut tamquam servus agrum colere debeam a iuventute mea. Textum lat. explicare poteris : Adam quem Deus colendae terrae alligavit ministerio, sequor et sudore vultus panem meum acquirere debeo. Haec dicere videtur « poenitens, quod in cogitationes adeo insipientes devenerit, ut perfricta fronte contra Deum falsa proloqueretur, et peccatum suum confitens et veniam poscens » (S. Cyr.) ; sim. Alb. Reinke ; alii volunt pseudoprophetas rogatos mentiri, dum negent se unquam munus illud sibi arrogasse, et e contra affirment se agros colere et. servos esse; timore scil. poenae et mortis eos adigi, ut veritatem celent neque videri velint, quod olim magno cum fastu appetierint ; ita, ut videtur, S. Hier. Rib. Sanct. Keil, Trochon; vel saltem timore eos impelli, ut muneri falso assumpto renuntient (Lap. Men. Tir.). At nihil est in ipsis verbis, cur ii simulationis et mendacii arguantur, neque cernitur, cur non sincere, sed tecte loquantur. Cum igitur verba de sincera conversione accipi possint et certe talis conversio addat ad splendorem temporis messianici et ad efficacem virtutem spiritus gratiae demon- &trandam haud parum conferat, prior explicatio retinenda videtur. Hanc explanationem etiam quae sequuntur commendant :
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v. 6 « et dicetur ei : quid sunt plagae istae in medio manuum tuarum ? et dicet : his plagatus sum in domo eorum, qui diligebant me » ; — interrogatus scil. de incisionibus et cicatricibus quae in manibus eis ac lacertis apparent, candide suam fatetur culpam, se illis oliminidolorum cultu fuisse incisum, cum ageret vatem eorum ac cultorem. Hebr. i» domo amasiogum meorum i. e. idolorum quae ego vesano amore colui; verbum enim h. l. usurpatum 2742 nunquam de vero et casto amore adhibetur, sed de impuro amore et fornicatione corporali et spirituali ; eo nomine idola &ppellantur, quibus populus adhaesit (cf. ler. 22, 90. 22. Ez. 16, 33. $6) ; unde apud Os. 2, 1 : « vadam post amatores meos, qui dant mihi panes et aquas » (cf. v. 15), eodemque nomine etiam populi vocantur, quibuscum foedera inierunt Iudaei antitheocratica (cf. Thren. 4,49. Ez. 16, 371; 23, 5. 9. 29), quia foedus inire et auxilium implorare gentium iam est recedere a Domino et gentium deos adire. Tales vero incisiones in idolorum cultu factas fuisse et vesanos cultores sibi ipsis intulisse, praesertim si furore mantico corriperentur, et'sacri auctores et profani Scriptores satis superque testantur (cf. 3 Reg. 18, 28. Ier. 16, 6; 48, 9. Movers, Phoeniz. I, 682 ; Reinke l. c. p. 252). Cum igitur talis sit usus constans verbi amatorum et eiusmodi in manibus et lacertis incisiones fieri solerent in cultu idolorum, explicatio proposita et verbis et rebus apte correspondet. Plerique tamen interpretum domum intelligunt parentum vel propinquorum, a quibus pseudopropheta, ut ab auguriis desisteret, plagis et vulneribus affectus fuerit, vel generatim a quibus puer varias expertus sit castigationes. Ita S. Hier. : « haec vulnera et has accepi plagas parentum meorum iudicio condemnatus et eorum qui me non oderant, sed amabant. Et intantum fugato mendacio veritas obtinebit, ut etiam ipse qui suo punitus est vitio, recte perpessum se esse fateatur » ; sim. S. Cyr. Theod. Theod. M. Haimo, Alb. Sanct. Mar. Vat. Clarius, Schegg, Trochon. At si per parentes propter pseudoprophetiam punitus esset, non solum verbera et incisiones, verum ex v. 3 poenam mortis exspectaremus. Inde igitur aliud huius sententiae incommodum oritur. Etiam hic aliqui (cf. Keil) censent, hominem illum turpiter mentiri ; volunt enim eum revera in idolorum .cultu et in pseudoprophetia sibi illa intulisse vulnera ; at cum ea de re interrogatus esset, eum affirmare, illa castigationibus parentum sibi esse inflicta. Sed ad quid tales ambages? Verba de se plana ex usu communi domum dicunt idolorum ; ergo culpam fatetur. Alii sunt, qui ea verba de Christo in manibus transfixo esse accipienda statuant (cf. S. Ephr. Rup. Rib. Lap. Sa, Men. Tir. Gord.). Ratio potissima, quae a Rib. affertur, est « quoniam Ecclesia romana in Missa quinque plagarum proponit nobis haec verba Zechariae et omnino ad plagas Christi videtur referre ». Sed, ut bene iam respondit Sanct., in asu liturgico permulta sensu solum accommodato proferuntur. Illi ipsi debent verbis vim inferre; explicant enim qui diltgebant me : qui debuerant me diligere, qui plurimis titalis tnihi devincti erant, a quibus ideo amorem exspectare iure merito potui (et sim.). Sed tales non esse diligentes, et Christum non 4 diligentibus, sed 4 nobis cum essemus inimici (ut S. Paulus ait, Rom. 5, 10), esse plagis transfixum, probatione non indiget. Adde veram vocis hebr significationem et usum constantem, quinam sint amatores, et potius mecum miraberis, talia verba, quae pium aliqiud solum sonare possunt contextum ignoranti, sensu accommodato pro mysterio divini amoris esse usurpata. Praeterea nota quam arcte haec verba cum antecedentibus sint coniuncta ipse externa loquendi forma, et quantopere solo iam dicendi genere a subsequentibus sint separata et aliena.
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4, 28 : «et convertam manum meam ad te et excoquam ad purum scoriam tuam », quae verba Zachariae omninoobversata esse videntur. Accedit quod cum in dispersione iam contineatur afflictio et miseria, nulla ratio reddi possit, cur parvuli etiam speciali modo sint castigandi, complures vero causae sponte sua et ex ordine providentiae offerantur, cur parvulis i. e. humilibus vel reliquiis paucis misericordia impendeatur. Igitur Deus convertit manum, ut dispersos colligat, exsangues confirmet et a fuga et pavore receptos amplexetur ac foveat (Sanct. sim. S. Hier. Alb. Rib. Sa, Mar. Reinke, Trochon ; sensu vero contrario castigationis Tir. Schegg ; uter sit praeferendus, in medio relinquunt Lap. Men.). Toti igitur gregi praedicitur afflictio, dispersio. Haec autem singulis cedere potest vel in salutem vel in ruinam ; cedet in salutem parti minori. Ita ex verbis ipsis. Unde patet, quomodo eadem verba a Christo in monte olivarum sint usurpata (Matth. 26, 31. Marc. 14, 21. Ioan. 16, 32). Apostoli enim ad gregem illum quem Pastor bonus pavit, pertinent, quare ex pastoris sorte ipsi quoque affligentur, fuga dilabentur et tamquam oves timidae et pavidae perturbabuntur. Verum ea re vaticinium non esse absolutum, iam ex eo patet, quia norma generalis statuitur et dispersio gregis v. 8. 9 magis explicatur eamque partim fore in ruinam partim in salutem praedicitur. Pastorem esse ipsum Messiam, fere omnes [Interpretes rite perspexerunt; neque id ex cp. 41 et 129, 10 et ex ipsis Christi verbis (Matth. 96, 31 et al.) dubium esse potest. Ex veteribus unus S. Ephr. censuit secundum sensum ezteriorem verba ea posse convenire Oniae sacerdoti, et solus Theod. M. nulla Christi mentione facta explicat de malis principibus : « commovetor, inquit, o gladie, tum contra illos qui tam male principatu utuntur, tum etiam contra omnes qui genti iure societatis addicti favere illorum improbitati curarunt ». Legit Theod. M. 1 « framea, consurge adversus pastorem et adversus virum civem elus»: sim. etiam Chald.: «gladie, denudare super regem et dominatorem socium eius » ; quae lectio omissa appellatione pastoris mei explieationi eius ianuam aperuit. Syrus in utroque nomine pronomen meum effert; lectio graeca variat: ad pastorem additur iov, sed in altero membro alii legunt etiam you (cod. vatic.), alii a$xo0 (Cyr. Theod. cod. alex.). In explicatione vestigia a Theod. M. trita aliqui recentiores relegerunt : Ewald regem intelligi vult Phacee (Pekach), llit3. Manassen, lahn Iudam Machabaeum, Pressel reges Davidicos post Ezechiam. — Etiàm in ultima versus parte lectio varia est : S. Cyr. praebet convertam manum meam ad pastores (idem cod. alex.); Syrus ad superiores ; cod. vatic. ad parvos ; Theod. Theod. M. ad parvos pastores ; hac utique lectione convertere manum de poenarum inflictione intelligitur. Jam dispersio gregis clarius describitur
In antecedentibus (cp. 19) sacer vates tbeocratiam novam etiam ab hostibus impugnatum iri praedixit simulque exposuit, quibus subsidiis victoria sit reportanda et qua ratione impetus hostilis vers pietate sit superàndus (129, 10 et seq.). Nunc autem intimam oobis pandere videtur rationem, cur nova quoque tbeocratia » persecutionibus et tribulationibus non immunis sit futura. Huius scil. theocratiae rex et pastor summus in se expertus est altissimo consilio divino impetus hostiles, dolores, mortem ; unde ii quoque qui ipsi nomem dederunt per multas tribulationes pastoris sui imaginem in se exprimant oportet 1s est enim arctus ille nexus, quem ipsa verba prophetica statuunt inter pastorem percussum et gregem dispersum (v. 7) varieque afflictum et probatam (v 9 ). Pastoris percussionem non sine arcano divinae voluntatis et ordinationis mysterio fieri, verba produnt quibus Deus loquens inducitur v. '1 « Framea suscitare super pastorem meum et super virum | cohaerentem mihi, dicit Dominus exercituum ; percute pastorem et dispergentur oves et convertam manum meam ad parvulos * : — in hac gladii allocutione firmum depingitur ac determinatum Dei decretum, quod exsecutioni mandari vult; simul res magna desienstur et stupenda, quae divina egeat exhortatione, imperio divino, ut gladius quasi audeat munere suo fungi. Gladius ex usu loquendi non de uno percussionis et mortis genere quod fit per gladium, adhibetur, verum generatim de vulneratione et morte (cf. S. Hier. Rib.). Pastor quem suum Dominus dicit, ille est, cui dictum est pasce 11, & seq., ille, cuius personam gerere et in se repraesentare ; propheta iussus erat, ille scil. pastor, qui teste S. Paulo populum iam per desertum duxit eique cibum et potum praebuit coelitus suppeditatum ' (4 Cor. 10, 4. 9), et qui accedens ad populum suum inique ab eo est ha-- bitus et repudiatus (supra 11, 12. 13). Appellatur a Deo vir socius meus (hebr.) vel uti hebr. bene expressit Aq. àx' dv3pa cóp.ouAóv pov. Super virum contribulem meum (S. Hier.), vel proximum meum ; est enim vox pentateuchica D"2Y adhibita!, quae pastorem hunc intima societate et aequalitate iunctum ostendit cum Domino, adeo ut sicut homo alium eiusdem stirpis et familiae et gentis hominem vocat n'"2Y, ita. Dominus hunc pastorem suum nominet socium et aequalem. Altior igitur et divina pastoris natura indicatur et cur dici potuerit aspicient ad. me quem confixzerunt (19, 10), ulterius declaratur. Pastor igitur ex. Patris voluntate (S. Hier.) gladio i. e. morte est percutiendus. Tali enim imperio percute pastorem, id exprimitur, ut S. Cyr. adnotat, quod Christus dixit: « non haberes potestatem adversum me ullam, nisi tibi datum esset desuper »; exprimitur calix ille quem Pater dederit filio ( Rup. Alb. sim, Theod.) ; exprimitur, pastorem in mortem tradi definito consilio et praescientia Dei (Act. 2, 93. Lap.). Sed uti fit pastore percusso grex dispergitur, oves timidae perturbantur, diffugiunt, praecípites quaquaversus ruunt, praeda fiunt obvia luporum et latronum. Oves ille certe grex est totus, cuius curam pastor suscepisse 11, 12 scribitur. Huic gregi sortem imminere dispersionis praedicitur. Hanc autem dispersionem et afflictionem Dei benignitate et gratia temperandam esse et piis et humilibus opem divinam adfore et misericordiam, verba reliqua testantur convertam manum... quae vox media quidem est in sensum bonum vel malum i..e. in favorem vel castigationem versatilis, st h. 1. bono ac promissorio sensu adhiberi suadetur eo, quia parvulorum horum sors ex reliquorum sorte eximitur; sed cum maioris partis sors sit excidium et interitus, reliquiis istis salus et gratia annuntiatur. Ita iam licet concludere ex norma toties proposita : reliquiae salvabuntur (Is. 10, 21. Ier. 23, 3; 31, "1. Mich. 2, 19; 5, 3. Soph. 2, 9; 3, 43 etc.). Idem ex v. 8. 9 elucet, in quibus tertia gregis pars relinquenda et salvanda dicitur, neque minus ex analogia cum 14, 11 et cognoverunt pauperes gregis concludi debet atque ex loco simillimo colligi potest Is.
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v. 8 « et erunt in omni terra, dicit Dominus, partes duae in ea dispergentur et deficient et tertia pars relinquetur in 6a » ; — dispersionis effectus is erit, ut duae partes ex«cindantur (hebr.) ac pereant (exspirent) etsolum tertia parsrelinquatur ; reliquiae igitur salvabuntur. Id certe proprie intelligi debet de illo grege, de quo cp. 141 sermo est institutus ; ergo de Iudaeorum populo qui percusso pastore malis ingentibus affligetur et ruinae atque interitui tradetur, ita ut minor populi pars salva evadat. Quare illud in omnt terra de sola ac tota Iudaeorum regione videtur explicandum cum S. Cyr. Ephr. Theod. Sanct. Aria, Vat. Mar. Tir. Schegg et non immediate ac proxime de terra Iudaeorum et gentilium vel de universo orbe (S. Hier. Alb. Rib. Lap. Men. Gord.). Quamvis per analogiam facile ad omnes traducatur; nam simul cum regni messianici fundatione iudicium quoddam exercetur, quo illud in opus deducitur « multi vocati, pauci electi »; habet enim Messias ventilabrum in manu sua et venit, ut gladium mittat et separet, cum sit positus in ruinam et resurrectionem (cf. Erklaerung des Proph. Is. p. 141). Hac consideratione adhibita tertia pars per quandam ampliationem et similitudinem dici potest de universa Ecclesia ex omnibus gentibus collecta (cf. S. Hier. Alb. Rib. Men. Calm.) ; illam non mathematice intelligi per se planum est ; locutio est similis ei apud Is. 6, 13. Ez. 5, 2. 12. Matth. 24, 40. 44. Tertia haec pars ex interitu et iudicio erepta ipsa quoque ad Pastoris similitudinem per multas tribulationes et probationes intrare debebit in regnum coelorum ; et ita optime redditur ratio, cur socii regni messianici variis exerceantur probationibus, Regis enim sui similitudinem in se exprimere debent ;
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v. 9 « et ducam tertiam partem per ignem et uram eos sicut uritur argentum, et probabo eos sicut probatur aurum. Ipse vocabit nomen meum et ego exaudiam eum ; dicam : populus meus es; et ipse dicet : Dominus Deus meus » ; — cf. Ps. 65, 10. 11. Ignis tribulationis veros ostendet et exhibebit Messiae sectatores; eo probationis genere maior atque illustrior virtus eorum, fortitudo animi, sincera pietas atque generosus in Deum amor elucebit, ita ut in domo Dei tamquam aurum et argentum fulgeant in vario meritorum gradu constituti. In tali probatione omnes supplices ad Deum tendent manus eius opem invocantes et in eius auxilium singulari fiducia sperantes : nomen Dei invocabunt, Deum quasi admonebunt nominis sui Jahve, ut se exhibeat Deum praesentem, iuvantem, foedus ac promissa in opus deducentem (cf. Os. 12, 5. Ioel 2, 32. Hab. 3, 18). Deus autem promptam praestabit opem ; cf. Is. 65, 24 : « eritque antequam clament, ego exaudiam ; adhuc illis loquentibus ego audiam ». Ita fiet, ut populus Dei divina ope » praeventus sanctitate et summa securitate emineat, ut foedus divinum summa consistat integritate, salute, beatitate. Id enim mutua illa inter Deum et populum appellatione et intimae amicitiae significatione et quasi consalutatione pulcherrime exprimitur ; cf. 10, 6. Ez. 36, 26. Os. 2, 94. Adnotat S. Hier. : « Iudaei haec ad Christum referunt et in ultimo tempore futura contendunt; sed hoc inter nos et illos est, quod nos expleta iam dicimus, illi explenda commemorant ». Barh. probationem eam ad tempora Machabaeorum refert scribens : « excoquam eos i. e. per manum Antiochi » (cf. 4 Mach. 2, 19 seq.). Impletionem quod spectat, haud immerito v. 8 ad tempus obsidionis per Romanos factae referunt (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Sanct. Calm. Reinke) et ad cladem illam ingentem quae ludaeis est illata; «et quidem losephus (de bello 7, 1'7) scribit in obsidione undecies centena millia periisse, fuisse vero capta nonaginta septem millia ; tertia vero pars et vitam retinuit et libertatem, nempe Christianorum » (Sanct.). Tertiam partem alii intelligunt Iudaeos ei calamitati superstites, ita ut v. 9 tribulationes et persecutiones ac vexationes designentur, quibus illi et tum temporis et subsequentibus saeculis obnoxii ac subiecti fuerint et post quas demum aliquando convertendi et ad Dominum reducendi sint (cf. Vat. Mar. Reinke). Alii autem fideles vel electos ex Iudaeis tertia parte designari censent(cf. Theod. Sanct.). Atque haec sententia omnino est praeferenda. Nam tertia haec pars correspondet iis qui 11, 11 pauperes gregis et modo parvuli dicebantur ; proinde non de infidelibus Iudaeis superstitibus, sed de partegregis fideli dicitur. Praeterea non est abs re quod notat Sanct., Iudaeos illos infideles et Titi tempore et nunc ita ustos esse fornace persecutionum et uri, ut tamen non purgarentur, ita excoctos esse et excoqui, ut tamen non excoqueretur scoria neque animos mutarent et mores, unde nomen Dei invocare. et populus Dei dici merito possent. — Neque ea explicatio generaliori acceptioni de omnium Christi fidelium sorte in v. 9 delineata obstat. Nam sors describitur gregis illius partis quae Pastori adhaeret et propter similitudinem cum illo. persecutiones obire debebit. fam huic gregi omnes aggregantur, qui Christo nomen dederint; est enim docente S. Paulo theocratia oliva, Iudaei infideles rami sunt ii qui exscinduntur, gentes vero fideles in excisorum loco inseruntur participes factae et sociae radicis et pinguedinis olivae (Rom. 11, 17 seq.) et «si autem vos Christi, ergo semen Abrahae estis, secundum promissionem heredes » (Gal. 8, 29; cf. 4, 26. 91). Etiam gregi fidelium durae vexationes modo praedictae sunt et afflictiones valde graves. Quid enim vehementius et acrius fingi potest, quam uri sicuti metalla igne liquantur et purgantur (13, 9)? Iam eius vexationis exemplum vel potius symbolum generale proponitur in urbis Ierusalem expugnatione et direptione. Et primo quidem versu summatim prius tota perstringitur calamitas, altero per partes enumeratur, qualis quantoque gradu inferenda sit (cf. Rib.) ;
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.