The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the vessel.
In a vision of a flying booke theeues, and sweares are threatned: 5. in an other vision is foreshewed that the Iewes shal be blind, and obdurate.
1And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying.E mi voltai, e alzai gli occhi, e vidi un volume, che svolazzava.AND I turned and lifted vp myne eyes: and I saw, and behold a volume flying.Et conversus sum, et levavi oculos meos, et vidi, et ecce volumen volans. 2And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.E quegli disse a me: Che vedi tu? Ed io dissi: Io veggo un volume, che vola, lungo venti cubiti, e largo dieci.And he sayd to me: What seest thou? And I sayd: I see a volume flying: the length therof of twentie cubits, and the breadth therof of ten cubits.Et dixit ad me: Quid tu vides ? Et dixi: Ego video volumen volans: longitudo ejus viginti cubitorum, et latitudo ejus decem cubitorum. 3And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like manner shall be judged by it.E quegli disse a me: Questa è la maledizione, che si spande sopra tutta quanta la terra; perocché tutti i ladri secondo quello, che ivi sta scritto, saran condannati, e tutti quelli, che spergiurano, saran per esso egualmente condannati.And he sayd to me: This is the malediction, that goeth forth vpon the face of the earth: because euerie theefe, as is there written, shal be iudged: and euerie swearer, by it in like maner shal be iudged.Et dixit ad me: Hæc est maledictio quæ egreditur super faciem omnis terræ: quia omnis fur, sicut ibi scriptum est, judicabitur, et omnis jurans ex hoc similiter judicabitur. 4I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof.Io lo metterò fuora, dice il Signore Dio degli eserciti, e caderà sulla casa del ladro, e sulla casa di quelli, che giurano il falso nel nome mio, e si poserà nel mezzo delle loro case, e le consumerà col legname, e co' sassi.I wil bring it forth, sayth the Lord of hosts: and it shal come to the house of the theefe, and to the house of him that sweareth by my name falsly: & it shal abide in the middes of his house, and shal consume it, and the timber therof, and the stones therof.Educam illud, dicit Dominus exercituum: et veniet ad domum furis, et ad domum jurantis in nomine meo mendaciter: et commorabitur in medio domus ejus, et consumet eam, et ligna ejus, et lapides ejus.
5And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth forth.E usci fuora l'Angelo, che parlava in me, e mi disse: Alza gli occhi tuoi, e vedi, che sia quello, che comparisce.And the Angel went out that spake in me: and he sayd to me: Lift vp thine eyes, and see what is this, that goeth forth.Et egressus est angelus qui loquebatur in me, et dixit ad me: Leva oculos tuos, et vide quid est hoc quod egreditur. 6And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the earth.E io dissi: Che cosa è mai? Ed egli disse: Ell'è un anfora, che vien fuora. E soggiunse: ella è quei ch'ei veggono in tutta la terra.And I sayd: What is it? And he sayd: This is an amphore going forth. And he sayd: This is their eye in al the earth.Et dixi: Quidnam est ? Et ait: Hæc est amphora egrediens. Et dixit: Hæc est oculus eorum in universa terra. 7And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.Ed ecco un talento di piombo tenuto per aria e una donna, che sedeva in mezzo all'anfora.And behold a talent of lead was caried, and loe one woman sitting in the middes of the amphore.Et ecce talentum plumbi portabatur, et ecce mulier una sedens in medio amphoræ. 8And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.E quegli disse: Questa è l'empietà. Ed ei gettola nel fondo dell'anfora, e sulla bocca di essa pose la massa di piombo.And he sayd: This is impietie. And he threw her in the middes of the amphore, and cast a lumpe of lead vpon the mouth therof.Et dixit: Hæc est impietas. Et projecit eam in medio amphoræ, et misit massam plumbeam in os ejus. 9And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the vessel between the earth and the heaven.E alzai i miei occhi, e osservai, ed ecco che venner fuora due donne, e il vento movea le loro ali, e avevano le ali come di nibbio, e alzaron l'anfora tra terra, e cielo.And I lifted vp mine eyes, and saw: and behold two wemen coming forth, and spirit in the winges of them, and they had winges as the winges of a kite: and they lifted vp the amphore betwen the earth and the heauen.Et levavi oculos meos, et vidi: et ecce duæ mulieres egredientes: et spiritus in alis earum, et habebant alas quasi alas milvi, et levaverunt amphoram inter terram et cælum.
10And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the vessel?Ed io dissi ali' Angelo, che parlava in me : Dove portan elleno l'anfora?And I sayd to the Angel that spake in me: Whither do these carie the amphore?Et dixi ad angelum qui loquebatur in me: Quo istæ deferunt amphoram ? 11And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its own basis.Ed ei disse a me: Nella terra di Sommar, affinchè ivi siale edificata una casa, e ivi sia collocata, e posta sulla sua base.And he sayd to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Sennaar, and it may be established, and set there vpon the foundation therof.Et dixit ad me: Ut ædificetur ei domus in terra Sennaar, et stabiliatur, et ponatur ibi super basem suam.
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Menochius
Eyes of the soul. (Menochius)
Challoner
Volume. That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient books, which, from begin rolled up, were called volumes. (Challoner)
Calmet
Such are still used in the synagogues. They were usually written only on one side. (Calmet)
St. Jerome
Septuagint have read e at the end of megilla, and render "a scythe," (Haydock) indicating chastisement. Aquila and Theodoret have Diphthera, and Symmachus Kephalis. (St. Jerome)
Menochius
The latter denotes the roller (Haydock) to which the parchment was sewed. (Menochius)
Calmet
The former signifies a book written on vellum, particularly that in which the poets say Jupiter marks the sins and punishments of mankind. The prophet saw a volume of this nature. (Calmet)
Worthington
The sins of the people, and the punishment designed for them, were described. It appeared flying, to shew that the decree came from heaven. (St. Chrysostom, Il. xxvii. ad pop.) (Worthington)
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Menochius
Cubits, alluding to Judea, which was twice as long as it was broad. (Menochius)
Haydock
Many explain this vision and that of the woman, (ver. 7) of the Jews, (Calmet) after St. Jerome. (Haydock)
Calmet
But is seems rather to denote the Chaldeans, whose sentence had been long pronounced, and who were punished by the Persians, and by the Greeks, as by two women. If we understand the Jews, their iniquity was chastised by the Assyrians and Chaldeans. (Calmet)
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Haydock
In like. Protestants, "shall cut off as on that side standing to it." (Haydock)
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Haydock
Thief. Nabuchodonosor is often so styled. (St. Jerome 4:7.) This title comprises all the injuries done to man, as he that sweareth falsely refers to those where God's honour is concerned (Calmet) more immediately. (Haydock)
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Calmet
Vessel. Hebrew epha. (Calmet)
Calmet
Eye. This is what they fix their eye upon, or this is a resemblance and figure of them, viz., of sinners. (Calmet)
Haydock
Protestants, "resemblance." (Haydock)
Calmet
This is their picture. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "wickedness;" áunom. (Haydock)
Haydock
U is often mistaken for 1:(St. Jerome) Yet here the Septuagint seems equally intelligible, ver. 8. (Haydock)
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Talent, or weight, (Haydock) called a stone, ver. 8.
Vessel, like the idol Canopus.
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Haydock
He cast. Hebrew (Calmet) according to Theodotion, (St. Jerome) "She cast herself into the epha," etc. (Haydock)
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Women. They often represent nations; and here the Jews understand the Medes and Greeks, who punished the Chaldeans. St. Jerome rather thinks that the Assyrians and Chaldeans are meant, carrying away Israel and Juda. Yet the former supposition seems preferable, as the woman in the vessel signified the wickedness of Babylon.
Calmet
Kite. Moderns have, "stork:" the true sense is uncertain. (Calmet)
Worthington
The Jews became blind and hardened on account of their avarice and perjuries. (Worthington)
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Challoner
The land of Sennaar, where Babel or Babylon was built; (Genesis ix.) where note that Babylon, in holy writ, is often taken for the city of the devil, (that is, for the whole congregation of the wicked) as Jerusalem is taken for the city and people of God. (Challoner)
Worthington
Antichrist will begin his reign at Babylon. (Worthington)
Haydock
Yet this is not clear. (Haydock)
Calmet
The Chaldeans are driven from the countries which they had seized, and confined to their own territory, by the Persians and Greeks; or, if we explain it of the Jews, many of them remained at Babylon, and did not return to defile their own country. Only those whose hearts were touched by God returned, 1 Esdras 1:5. (Calmet)
Menochius
Sennaar means "excussion." The Jews have been driven by the Chaldeans and Romans into all parts. (Menochius)
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A volume.... That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient books, which, from being rolled up, were called volumes.
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This is their eye.... This is what they fix their eye upon: or this is a resemblance and figure of them, viz., of sinners.
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In this booke or roll of papers were writen the sinnes of the people, and designed punishment.
It appeared flying to signific that this decree of punishment came from heauen. S. Chrysost. ho. 27. ad popul.
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Excecation & obduration fel vpon the Iewes for their auarice, and periurie.
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Antichrist shal beginne his reigne vvhere Babylon vvas first built. Gen. 11.
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.62
62. Whenever I remember Zechariah, I shudder at the reaping-hook,
St Ambrose of Milan † AD 397 Selections from the Letters of St. Ambrose sermon-against-auxentius-on-th.16
… And these things were written by the hand and spoken by the mouth of a bishop who, that he might show himself to be most learned, omitted not an ancient warning. For we read in the prophet that he saw a flying sickle.
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 9.11
11. But in order that the amendment may take place the more quickly, do this which I tell thee. Inscribe upon the wall of thy house, and upon the wall of thy heart, that “flying sickle;”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 15.4
… and he said to me, What seest thou? and I said, I see a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in breadth. It shall also enter into the house,” saith he, “of every one that sweareth in my name, and shall remain in the midst, and shall pull down the stones and the wood.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 19.6
When the Jews, having been released from Persia, and set free from that tyranny, were returned back to their own county, “I saw,” saith one, “a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits broad.”
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 11
… Nay, not to this point only will your penalty reach, but your punishment will proceed further. “For now,” saith he, “the axe is laid unto the root of the trees.” There is nothing more terrible than this turn of his discourse. For it is no longer “a flying sickle,”
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 12
… Because she simply affirmed, “Yea, for so much,” ye see what she suffered. Bethink you then; they that swear and forswear themselves, of what should they be worthy? It comes in opportunely to-day even from the Old Testament to show you the heinousness of perjury. “There was,” it says, “a flying sickle, ten cubits in breadth.” (
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St Augustine of Hippo † AD 430 Letters of St. Augustin 125.3
… Regulus had not heard anything from the Holy Scriptures concerning the impiety of perjury, he had never heard of the flying roll of Zechariah,
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Origen † AD 254 Origen Against Celsus 6.26
It is in the precincts of Jerusalem, then, that punishments will be inflicted upon those who undergo the process of purification, who have received into the substance of their soul the elements of wickedness, which in a certain place is figuratively termed “lead,” and on that account iniquity is represented in Zechariah as sitting upon a “talent of lead.”
Origen † AD 254 Origen's Commentary on Matthew 14.10
… and, perhaps on this account, he owed many talents, seeing that he followed often the woman, who was sitting upon the talent of lead, whose name is wickedness.
St Gregory of Nyssa † AD 395 On Virginity 18
… one walks lightly enough, the other is dragged into the deep water. For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way “fly like clouds ,” as Isaiah says, “and as doves with their young ones”; but sin is a heavy affair, “sitting,” as another of the prophets says, “upon a talent of lead
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies of St. John Chrysostom 38
… For He said not only, “Ye that labor,” but also, “that are heavy laden.” This the prophet too was speaking of, when in that description of her nature, “As an heavy burden they weighed heavy upon me.” And Zacharias too, describing her, saith she is “A talent of lead.”
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St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 16.19
… duly, as he also could foresee the famine, and provide against it afar off,) but the property of their fellow countrymen in an illegal manner, for they say, “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell, and the sabbaths, that we may open our stores?” And they corrupt justice with divers measures and balances, and draw upon themselves the ephah of lead.
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2. ITS LENGTH WAS TWENTY CUBITS, AND ITS WIDTH TEN CUBITS. — Why? The Rabbis first answer, Lyra and Pineda in Job XXIV, 5, because this volume was going forth from the place of the temple, whose ancient gate was twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide. Thus also the front part of the Mosaic tabernacle, which was called the Holy Place, was twenty cubits long, ten cubits wide, as I said at Exodus XXVI, beginning, to signify that judgment begins from the house of God, so that it may punish priests sinning more gravely, the more they were joined to God; then it will wish to pass through the whole earth, so that it may strike whatever wicked men. This exposition seems apt, especially if you add to it the fourth, which I shall shortly subjoin. Secondly, St. Jerome: These measures, he says, signify here that joyful things are mixed with sad things. For God tempers vengeance with mercy: hence he pours into sinners glykypikrin, that is, sweet bitter. For the number ten signifies prosperity: because the name of the Savior Jesus begins with iota, which is the sign of the number ten: the number twenty, however, opposed to it, signifies adversities. This is mystical, not literal. Thirdly, St. Chrysostom in the place cited, Mariana and Fernandius think that by these measures is signified the enormity and multitude of crimes. This exposition is more general. Fourthly, more genuinely and strictly to the letter Theodoret, Lyra and Vatablus think that by this measure is noted all Judea (into which, as being everywhere contaminated by robberies and oppressions of the poor, this volume of punishments was flying) to be twice and more long than it is wide. For, as St. Jerome says in epistle 129, to Dardanus: From Dan to Beersheba, which is its length, scarcely extends 160 miles in length. But the width from Joppa to Bethlehem consists of 46 miles. Thus in physical things, equally as in houses and buildings, that is the just proportion, that the length be double the width. Mystically the number ten signifies the perfection of a thing: the width therefore of ten cubits signifies the width of punishment to be extended to many, namely to all the wicked: the length however, double the greater, signifies the duration of punishment, namely perpetual in this life, and eternal in the future. Thus Rupert, Ribera and others.
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3. THIS IS THE CURSE, — that is, condemnation, punishment and every kind of evil. Thus Theodoret, meaning to say: This volume contains the sentence of condemnation and the punishments of the impious. For these are called cursed: whence they shall hear from Christ the judge this thunderbolt: "Depart from me, ye cursed," Matt. XXV; for to curse by God, as being efficacious, is to do evil; just as to bless is to do good. As therefore blessing is a benefit, so curse is an evil deed and punishment. Burgensis by curse understands the Talmud of the Jews, which is said to fly, because it has no foundation; and "curse," because its doctrine is execrable, he says. This is accommodated, not literal. Fernandius and others by curse understand the flood of evils, which now throughout the whole world the Jews suffer on account of the slain Christ. But this is mystical. Which goeth forth — from the temple, as the Rabbis wish: or certainly from heaven and the tribunal of God, as St. Chrysostom says in homily 27 to the People, it goeth forth toward the temple and Jerusalem: the curse going forth is public punishment, which before in heaven and the ark of God as if hidden had lain concealed. Whence it follows: "I will bring it out into the open." Upon the face of all the earth. — Namely, to which this discourse is made, to wit, Judaea. For the Prophet threatens this, and these alone swore by the true God, as follows; but the Gentiles by idols. Thus St. Cyril, Rupert, Ribera, Hugo, Arias, Sanchez and others, although Theodoret, Lyran and Vatablus take the whole earth as it sounds, and think that this volume going forth from Judaea, or the temple, flew through the whole world, meaning: The whole world is full of crimes, and therefore upon all hangs the wrath and thunderbolt of God. Thus the heavenly curse devoured and consumed the whole earth at the time of the flood, from which Noah alone with his escaped by the ark. Thus the same shall devour and consume the same under the day of judgment, by the fire of the conflagration of the world. Thus the curse of God lay upon Asia, Greece and the whole East through the yoke of the Turk; upon England, Scotland, Denmark, Sweden, Germany through the factions and seditions of heretics. Because every thief, — God threatens this cursing thunderbolt to the Jews on account of thefts and perjuries: under which all crimes are understood; namely under theft all fraud and injury which against the neighbor, against the second table of the Decalogue; under perjury all impiety which against God, against the first table is committed. Thus St. Jerome and Theodoret. He names however these two, because then more frequently and more shamelessly they were perpetrated: for the Jews in Babylon impoverished by necessity compelling, had learned to steal, and, that they might conceal the theft, to perjure themselves. For the poor sometimes have grasping hands, and thence a perjured tongue. These also in the same he reproves in Osee cap. IV, 2: "Cursing, he says, and murder, and theft, and adultery have overflowed, and blood hath touched blood." Thus St. Jerome, Remigius, Albert and Lyran. St. Cyril adds: "Esdras, he says, adjured the princes, priests and people, that they should put away foreign wives; and they swore. It was therefore necessary to set forth the curse and punishment impending, that they might keep their oath. Moreover because when the temple was built a great quantity of money was gathered, which partly Darius had given, partly the people had offered, it is probable that those who were set over this government turned aside something of what was consecrated to God: for this reason also against thieves he sets forth the curse, lest they should turn the sacred monies to private uses." As there (in the flying volume) it is written (in Hebrew mizze camohu, that is from it as it contains itself), IT SHALL BE JUDGED, etc. — Otherwise Pagninus, Arias and Vatablus; for they translate: Because every thief, as it is written, on one side of it is cut off, and every one that sweareth, as it is written, on the other side likewise is cut off. They think therefore on both sides, on the turned and the opposite side, this book was written; and consequently the curse was repeated either both crimes, of theft namely and perjury, were repeated, as Stunica wishes here; or not, but theft was written on one side, perjury on the other, as Pagninus wishes, that it might be signified that the twofold and certain sentence of God is that the wicked are to be condemned. Thus Ezechiel cap. II, 9, saw a book written within and without, or on the back, that is, written on both sides. SHALL BE JUDGED,—that is, shall be condemned and punished. In Hebrew nicka, that is, shall be cut off; the Chaldean, shall be smitten; the Septuagint: Every thief from henceforth unto death shall be punished, and every perjurer from henceforth shall be tormented; so that he himself remains as it were a perpetual and living volume of punishments. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Rupert, Remigius, Hugh and Lyran. Wrongly therefore the Zurich Bible translated it otherwise: Because every one that stealeth from it, as it is, is absolved: and whosoever sweareth falsely from it, as it is, is absolved; and the Syriac: Because every one that stealeth, from it, as it conquers (is justified), and every one that sweareth, from it, as it conquers (is justified). As if to say, By this volume is signified that the Jews are absolved from their former thefts and perjuries, because those were expiated and atoned for by the punishment of the Babylonian captivity. Wrongly, I say: for the contrary is said here, and it follows: "It shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it." But the Hebrew nicka, although it signifies to be innocent, and to be declared, or absolved, yet it also signifies to cut down, to declare guilty and to punish; for it is of contrary signification. Whence the Arabic of Antioch translated it: Because every one that stealeth, from it unto death (is condemned) and from it they convict: every one that sweareth from it, and as it itself is overcome, that is, is convicted; and the Arabic of Alexandria: Because every thief shall give satisfaction, and shall pay this (which he stealeth) or by this (namely by the sickle to be punished) unto his death, and every one that sweareth falsely shall give satisfaction unto death. Every one that sweareth—falsely, that is, perjureth. Thus the Chaldean, the Zurich Bible, Vatable and others. Yet St. Chrysostom, to the People, inveighing against the custom of swearing, takes these words of any oath whatsoever, because namely he who sweareth often, easily perjureth himself. For that perjury is treated of here is evident from verse 4: "To the house of him that sweareth in my name falsely." The saying of Pericles is celebrated, whom when a friend asked to swear falsely for his cause and matter, he answered: "I ought to lend to friends, but only up to the altars," lest namely for the sake of a friend I should perjure myself, or do something dishonorable, whereby I should violate and offend the reverence of the deity. For in old times those who swore touched an altar with their hand. See Gellius, book I, chapter III.
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4. I WILL BRING IT FORTH, — into the light, into the theater of the world, so that it may be conspicuous to all, so that you may be seen to bear the title of punishment on your forehead, namely, these are thieves and perjurers. Rupertus, Arias and Vatablus think this was done through Antiochus Epiphanes, who wonderfully afflicted the Jews in the time of the Maccabees. But since Zacharias threatened these things, it is credible that God did the same thing, privately consuming the houses of the impious. AND IT SHALL DWELL IN THE MIDST OF HIS HOUSE, AND SHALL CONSUME IT. — For houses in which a monstrous crime, for example rebellion against a prince, has been committed, are accustomed to be destroyed and razed to the foundations, as we saw happen at Brussels at the beginning of the tumults of the Low Countries. Thus God struck down and consumed Sodom and the Pentapolis with heavenly fire. Thus here the curse of God invades the houses of thieves and perjurers, and destroys them, inasmuch as they consist entirely of the plundering and thefts of the poor; of the Jews, I say, as I said in verse 3. For to these the threats of the Prophet are directed, and these alone swore by the name of the true God. Wherefore it seems less true and fitting what some think, that these threats are directed to the gentiles, as if the curse which afflicted the Jews in the Babylonian captivity, being expiated by them, should be transferred to the gentiles, for example to the Babylonians, as is said in the last verse. For they had not so expiated it, but that in many things it still remained to be expiated, especially those who had learned and contracted new crimes either in Babylon, or after their return from neighboring nations. Wherefore although Haggai, Malachi and Zacharias console the faithful and pious returning from Babylon, yet they likewise sharply censure the impious, who by such a chastisement of captivity have become not better, but worse, as is evident from cap. I, 3; Malach. II, 10, and cap. III, 8; Haggai I, 5. You will say: If the curse dwells in the house, how does it consume the house down to the stones and wood? I answer, the punishments which God inflicts upon the houses of thieves, perjurers and similar criminals, are like some mass pressing upon them, which gradually grinds and crushes them like a mill, in some secret and wonderful way, down to the very last wood and stones, until He reduces them to nothing. Thus in this age we have seen and see powerful families, which had become splendid through plundering or ill-gotten goods, being ground down by the just judgment and vengeance of God pressing upon them, and either annihilated, or reduced to a wretched state; so that those who see them are amazed how such great riches have vanished gradually and imperceptibly. St. Chrysostom notes in hom. 15 to the People, that God thus punishes those who swear as an example to others: "For what reason," he says, "does He dissolve the stones and wood of the one who swears, so that the ruin may be a correction to others. For after the one who swears must necessarily be buried in the earth, the house dissolved, and ruin made, it will be an admonition to all who pass by and see it, through the sight, so that they may not dare the same things, lest they suffer the same things, and it will be a continual accuser of the crime of the dead." The Prophet speaks of the curse inflicted upon the Jews who were thieves, perjurers and criminals of his age: yet by parity, indeed by greater reason, he understands also that which afterwards invaded them on account of the slaying of Christ. For this was the greatest of all, which utterly overthrew and consumed Jerusalem with its temple, kingdom and commonwealth, so that that old and glorious Jerusalem now seems never to have existed, as Christ had threatened it, saying Luke XIX, 44: "They shall beat thee flat to the ground, and thy children that are in thee, and they shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone." This curse also dwells continually upon the whole offspring and nation of the Jews for 1600 years, and causes the Jews to be vagrants throughout the whole world, exiles, vile, miserable, slaves, hated, ignorant, hardened and blinded, without law, without king, without Church, without commonwealth, without temple, without priesthood, without prophecy, without God. They themselves attempted, with the permission, indeed with the instigation, of Julian the Apostate, in hatred of Christians, to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem; but fire issuing from the foundations consumed the builders with the building, as St. Chrysostom testifies in his oration Against the Jews.
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6. AMPHORA,—in Hebrew epha, is a measure (as the Syriac and both Arabic versions translate it) holding three modii of grain, a tenth part of an ephah, or of a cor: for a cor held 30 modii. Now because the ephah was a common measure of the Hebrews, hence in this place and elsewhere often, it is taken for a measure in general. Whence Our author wisely translates it amphora, both because this likewise was a common measure among the Latins; and because it corresponded equally to the ephah, or trimodius in dry measures. Hear Budaeus in book V of De Asse: "I have found that the amphora is an eighth part of that vessel which we call a modius of wine. A modius of wine holds thirty-six of our sextarii: and a sextarius holds eight of those which we call pints. But in dry measures we have for the amphora a quarter of a sextarius, that is three bossels, for which we have a trimodium vessel, half a medimnus." The amphora therefore, or ephah, signifies the measure of the sins of the Jews, the punishment and destruction of the same decreed and predetermined by God, which being gradually filled up the Jews were punished and destroyed. For God, seeing the sins of a nation, or of some man, does not immediately rush forth to vengeance, but tolerantly bears with them; and therefore He prescribes to each nation, or man, a certain measure of sins, so that before that is fully filled up, He does not punish, but as soon as it is filled up, then He chastises and avenges all things together and at once sharply, according to that saying of Christ in Matthew XXIII, 32: "And you fill up the measure of your fathers." And Genesis XV, 16: "The iniquities of the Amorrheans are not yet full." See the things said there. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Haymo, Rupert, Albert, Hugh, Lyran and others everywhere. He uses the symbol of the amphora, or ephah and modius, because in these measures the Jews committed fraud and theft, of which verse 3 speaks. Whence the Chaldean version translates: These are the people who received and gave by false measure. And soon after: For this reason they are condemned, and transferred into exile, because they received and gave by false measure. You will ask, when was this amphora, that is the measure of sins of the Jews, filled up by them, and punished by God, and avenged by the final destruction of the nation? I answer first, this measure was filled up by them in the time of Zedekiah, and punished by God through Nebuchadnezzar by the Babylonian captivity of 70 years. Thus the Hebrews, St. Jerome, Theodoret, Vatablus and others. And it seems that this is properly treated here. For this amphora was carried into the land of Shinar, that is into Babylon, as is said in the last verse. Moreover this amphora signifies a measure full both of guilt (whence impiety dwells in it) and of punishment. Of guilt, namely because it had already grown in Judea through idolatry and other crimes to the height of impiety: wherefore it signifies this guilt to be overturned from it, the wicked Jews being led away into Babylon: for Babylon is the seat of idolatry and impiety. Of punishment, namely because it was already punished in Babylon by the captivity of 70 years, and again was to be punished there, if they remained in it, both by the usual exile and by universal destruction by Darius Hystaspes. For Darius took and laid waste Babylon and its inhabitants, both natives and foreigners, namely the Jews who had remained in it, as I said in chapter II, 7. For this vision of Zacharias is properly directed to the Jews, not only those dwelling in Jerusalem, but also to those who in Babylon after the liberty given by Cyrus had remained without returning, nor wished to return to Jerusalem, because they had already fixed their seats and families in Babylon by purchasing houses and fields. The Prophet endeavors to recall these to their homeland, both lest they become accustomed to the customs and idolatry of the Babylonians, and that they might escape the destruction of Babylon impending through Darius. This is what he said in chapter II, 7: "O Sion, flee thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon," as I explained there. Zacharias therefore saw an amphora, or measure in which impiety sat, being transferred from Judaea into Babylon: by which he signifies that the impiety of Judaea and the impious Jews were transferred into Babylon, and consequently that Judaea was now purged and cleansed from impiety, but Babylon was the seat and sewer of impiety: wherefore impiety would remain in Babylon and would no longer return to Judaea. Hence from that time forward idolatry was not seen in Judaea, because the Jews left it with their amphora, that is their punishment, in Babylon, when its measure was paid through seventy years, and they returned expiated and free to Jerusalem. For then free from guilt and punishment, they left its measure, amphora and quantity in Babylon: by which he tacitly admonishes the Jews dwelling in Babylon to leave it as a sewer of crimes and return to holy Jerusalem. Secondly, by the same symbol he signifies through this amphora, that is the heap of impiety which had accrued to Babylon from the impiety of the Jews, and was increasing daily from their crimes as well as those of the Babylonians, that the measure of the sins of Babylon would soon be filled again, so that when filled it would be cut off with all its inhabitants by Darius Hystaspes. For the amphora pressing upon Babylon signifies the punishment and destruction impending upon Babylon on account of the impiety residing in the amphora and transferred with the amphora into Babylon, thus Sanchez: by which reasoning he again admonishes the remaining Jews in Babylon to depart from it, lest they be involved in its destruction. The whole of this chapter, as John Mariana rightly observed, is directed to the Jews, not so much those dwelling in Judaea as those dwelling in Babylon, to show their unhappiness, impiety and danger, and thereby to invite them to return to Jerusalem and the temple: yet from this it consequently and conversely signifies the happiness, piety and security of the Jews dwelling in Judaea, inasmuch as impiety having been exported into Babylon, they dwell in a pure and holy land, and there devote themselves piously and peacefully to the building of the temple and the worship of God. For all these things tend to this end, that they might incite the people to restore, complete and adorn the temple in Jerusalem, so that in it they might worship God piously and holily, and obey and serve him. Therefore properly this amphora, in which impiety sits transferred into Babylon, signifies that idolatry both as to guilt and as to punishment was transferred from Judaea into Babylon, and there fixed its seat. Secondly, this amphora and measure of the sins of Judaea, evacuated and purged by the destruction and captivity of the Chaldaeans, after the return of the Jews from Babylon began to be filled again by them. Whence Arias understands by the amphora the public fraud which then prevailed among the people, thefts and perjuries of which verse 3 speaks. This amphora was gradually filled again through 360 years: whence after these it was again evacuated and purged by Antiochus Epiphanes in the time of the Maccabees, who grievously afflicted the Jews: but it was truly and fully filled by the parricide, nay the deicide by which they killed Christ the Lord, according to that saying of Christ, Matthew XXIII, 32: "And you fill up the measure of your fathers," namely by killing me, your God and Messiah, so that when your measure of crimes is filled, your executioners Titus and the Romans may come, who may punish you with final and eternal destruction, so that in the land of Shinar, that is the whole world, says Sanchez, you may wander and be exiles, until you truly and properly worship and adore Antichrist in Shinar, that is in Babylon, as in the stable and firm seat of his kingdom. Thus Rupertus, Emmanuel, Ribera, Fernandius and others. The former sense is nearer and therefore literal; the latter is more remote, and as it were resting upon the former as a type, and therefore partly literal, partly allegorical. Note here that this amphora is partly an enigma of a past matter, namely the Babylonian captivity; partly an oracle of a future matter, and its threefold character, namely first, the impending destruction of Babylon to be inflicted by Darius Hystaspes; secondly, the impiety to be placed in it through Antichrist; thirdly, the destruction and exile of the Jews through Titus and the Romans on account of the slain THIS IS AN EYE. — "Eye" here can be taken in two ways. First actively, so that it signifies God's providence, as if to say: This ephah signifies the watchful eye of God, which surveys and examines the whole earth, and assigns punishments to each according to the measure of their crimes. For just as the sun is the eye of the world, so much more is God's providence the sun and eye of the universe; concerning which I have said more at chapter II, 10, and Jeremiah chapter I, 11. Second and better, passively and objectively, eye, that is the object of the eye, namely a thing seen upon which all cast their eyes, as if to say: Eye, that is the gaze of all the Jews is directed toward this ephah, their eyes regard nothing other than the ephah, so that namely they fill it with their sins; so headlong do they rush into crimes, that they seem to regard nothing other than crimes and to direct their eyes toward crimes, according to that in Genesis VI, 5: "And God seeing that the wickedness of men was great on the earth, and that all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times." And Jeremiah XXII, 17: "But thy eyes and thy heart are set upon covetousness, and upon shedding innocent blood, and upon calumny," etc. Truly that saying of the common people is correct: "Where the hand is, there is pain; where the eye is, there is love; where the mind is, there is the heart." And that of the Poet: "Love is born to mortals from seeing." For just as the sun through a polished mirror sets tinder ablaze, so a beautiful thing admitted through the eyes into the soul sets it ablaze. In this way love makes a fire in the heart through the eyes. Thus Theodoret, Arias, Ribera, a Castro and others. Whence the Septuagint, reading avonam by diaeresis for enam, that is their eye, translates: This is their iniquity in all the earth. Again the ephah, that is the measure of punishment, which is owed to the iniquity of the Jews and will be inflicted upon them, will be an eye, that is conspicuous to the whole earth. For public crime must be punished by public punishment, so that, just as they themselves continually directed their eyes toward the ephah of guilt, so all others may direct their eyes toward the ephah and the immense measure of punishment, commensurate with their guilt. Whence the Chaldean translates: Behold they themselves are made manifest before all the inhabitants of the earth. For all will see their enormous torments, just as they saw their enormous crimes. And St. Jerome: "Eye," he says, "is the manifestation of sins, so that their vices which lay hidden scattered about, being heaped together in one place, might be laid bare to the eyes of all, and Israel might go forth from its place, and what it was in its own land might be shown to all nations." Thus the Jews are an eye to the whole earth: for all regard them as the sons of Christ-killers, who bear the guilt and punishment of their fathers, and show forth everywhere in their desolation the magnitude of their crime, as Rupert says. Thus tropologically God brings forth sins perpetrated in darkness and hidden places into the light, and makes them an eye to the whole world, when he punishes them with public infamy, or with public calamity and punishment.
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7. A TALENT OF LEAD. — In Hebrew kicker, that is, a globe, or rather a leaden orb, a twisted or mass of lead, as the Interpreter rendered it in verse 5. Whence St. Jerome: "A mass, he says, was borne like a stone, either by its own force, or by the command of the Lord; or it was borne by another whose name is passed over in silence." A talent of lead denotes the gravity of guilt, and consequently of punishment, which depresses and oppresses sinners, so that they cannot raise themselves up and free themselves from it: hence it blocks the mouth of the amphora, so that impiety enclosed therein remains shut up eternally: concerning which more presently. Thus St. Jerome, Haymo, Remigius, Rupertus and Lyranus. Properly, a talent of lead denotes the grave and rigid sentence of God, which measured out to the Jews a punishment commensurate with their guilt, as it were an amphora fitted to their impiety, and as it were sealed and closed it, so that they could not escape from it, unless the whole measure of punishment were paid, namely unless the seventy years of captivity in Babylon were completed. Ribera adds that by the talent of lead by which the amphora is altogether closed, is signified the length of the punishment and exile, as well as the blindness of the Jews, namely that it would last until the end of the world: moreover the amphora is borne into the land of Shinar, because their blindness and punishment will endure, until they themselves in Babylon worship and adore the Antichrist. AND BEHOLD A WOMAN SITTING IN THE MIDST OF THE AMPHORA. — The angel, says St. Jerome, who spoke in the Prophet, and going forth from him showed him all things, seized the woman who was called impiety, and cast her headlong into the midst of the amphora, which before was borne freely, and sitting upon the amphora appeared to all. Here therefore was shown to Zacharias by the angel a woman sitting in the midst of the amphora, that is, in the rim, or opening of the amphora, namely "upon the amphora," as St. Jerome explains it; so that she protruded above it to the navel, but let down her feet either outside or inside the amphora: for shortly after in verse 8, the angel, seeing her thus sitting and protruding her head and breast outside the amphora, cast her into the midst of the amphora, and there submerged her, and closed her with a talent of lead: by which is signified that impiety at first went about unpunished, but as the measure of sins grew, gradually filled the amphora, that is, the measure of sins, the vengeance predetermined by God, yet so that it could still speak and move freely, until their measure was completely filled, the amphora was altogether closed by the angel; by which is represented their consummated impiety, and the measure of their sins predetermined by God altogether completed, so that in fact into a prison and exile, namely into the land of Shinar, it was snatched away by two women like kites with wings. Moreover impiety is depicted as a woman: because a woman, says St. Cyril and Theodoret, is the subject as well as the symbol of weakness and concupiscence, which is the mother and fountain of all sin and impiety. Whence Eusebius in book II of the Preparation for the Gospel, chapter II, calls pleasure a hydra of many heads, because in it are the principles and heads of all crimes. And Cyril of Alexandria in the Stromata calls it the metropolis of all vices. Wherefore the philosopher Aristippus, having caught sight of a small but beautiful woman: "Small indeed it is beautiful," he said, "but great is the evil." Thus Antonius in the Melissa, sermon On the Strong Woman. Diogenes, seeing women chattering among themselves: "The asp," he said, "borrows poison from the viper." Thus the same in the Melissa, part II, sermon 54. Democritus, being asked why, though he was great, he had married a small wife? "I," he said, "in choosing an evil, chose what was smallest." (The blessed Thomas More gave the same answer.) Thus the same, sermon On Woman. It is a common proverb: "Fire, sea, woman, three evils." A second philosopher, according to Maximus, sermon 9, being asked "what was a bad woman?" answered: "The shipwreck of a man, the tempest of a house, the hindrance of quiet, the captivity of life, daily loss, voluntary struggle, costly war, a beast as a guest, anxious care, a lioness embracing, adorned Scylla, a malicious animal, a necessary evil." Wherefore he said: "If the world were without woman, our conversation would not be without gods." St. Gregory Thaumaturgus writing in Ecclesiastes: "I have experienced," he says, "that a woman is a certain soft-" the earth. (Others say that woman is the same as soft air.) For her heart like a net catches those passing by. If one touches her with the hand alone, she holds him: but if he embraces her, she drags him with bonds." St. Cyprian in the book On the Singularity of Clerics: "From coals sparks fly off, from iron rust is nourished, serpents hiss forth diseases, and woman pours forth the pestilence of lust, which Solomon thus compares, saying: From a garment proceeds the moth, and from a woman the iniquity of a man." Socrates used to say: "A beautiful and fair woman is a temple built over a sewer." Thus Laertius in the Life of Socrates. He himself used to say that he had acquired three evils, grammar, poverty, and a pernicious wife; of which he had escaped the first two, but the third not at all: because his Xantippe exercised him continually. Finally, St. Jerome to Nepotian: "Your little guest-room, he says, let the feet of women rarely or never tread upon. See that you do not remain under the same roof; nor trust in your past chastity; nor will you be able to be stronger than Samson, holier than David, or wiser than Solomon. Always remember that a woman cast the inhabitant of paradise from his possession." For this reason, therefore, impiety is here represented by the figure of a woman. In a similar way, iniquity in the Emblems of Caesar Ripa, page 579, is painted as a woman, clothed in fire and flames, who flees with swift course. For iniquity torments and burns the perverse soul, just as fire burns dry wood: she flees, because being conscious of evil she is full of fears and dreads all things safe; indeed she even trembles at shadows. He depicts impiety likewise, page 1367, as a foul woman, with veiled eyes, ass's ears, holding in her right hand a rooster, in her left a branch of a pricking thorn, or a hippopotamus. For the rooster is wild and savage, so that it even violates its mother and attacks its father: but the hippopotamus, or river horse, frequent in the Nile, as Pliny testifies in book VIII, number 25, is impious, because it defiles its mother and kills its father. Thus the impious sinner is toward God the Father and toward the mother Church, and invades them as a rebel and enemy, especially if he be an idolater or heretic. The same sin, page 132, part II, he depicts as a blind, naked, black youth, walking through pathless places and precipices, girded with a serpent, with a worm at his left side, which gnaws at his heart. This worm is, or rather the remorse of conscience: the serpent is the devil, who deceives the sinner by the false appearance of apparent good, just as he first deceived our mother Eve by the appearance of the apple, and by the hope of omniscience, Genesis III. 1. Tropologically, this woman is pleasure. For this is the cause and mother of all impiety and sin. Thus St. Cyril and Theodoret. Wisely Maximus, sermon 171, from St. Chrysostom: "Pleasure, he says, is like a dog; if you pursue it, it flees; if you feed it, it remains." Symbolically, this woman, namely impiety, is said to sit for three reasons. For she sits first, as one accustomed and fixed in her desires and vices. Whence Psalm XLIX, 20, concerning the detractor accustomed to curses it is said: "Sitting thou didst speak against thy brother," not standing, as if in passing and in transit; but sitting as if on purpose, from use, from habit; secondly, as if sad and condemned to the amphora, that is the prison and just punishment; thirdly, as if idle and sluggish. For acedia in the Emblems of Caesar Ripa, page 8, is depicted as a foul old woman, badly clothed, sitting, head leaning on her left hand, resting on her knees, from which hangs a paper with this lemma: "The sluggard grows torpid," holding in her right hand a torpedo fish. Excellently St. Bernard in his Letters rebuking acedia: "O imprudent man, he says, thousands of thousands serve him, and ten hundred thousand stand before him, and do you presume to sit?" Tropologically, he who sits in the amphora, that is he who has peace in sins, says Sanchez, is near to lying down, that is to have a spirit of compunction and torpor, so that he neither sees the light nor feels the blow, and oppressed by the leaden talent of his hardness is snatched by the wings of kites to the land of Sennaar, where for his punishment an eternal and stable house is built. 8. This is impiety,—namely the impious Synagogue. This is the title, or inscription of the woman, just as in comedies titles are affixed to actors in masks, for example: This is David, this is Urias, this is Bathsheba, so that the spectators may know what character each one is playing. Similarly in the trials and punishments of the condemned, a title is usually affixed, indicating the cause of the punishment, as Pilate affixed this title to the crucified Christ: "This is Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews," that is to say, This Jesus is condemned to death because He wished to be King of the Jews, because He sought the kingdom of Judaea. To this St. John alluded in the Apocalypse XVII, 5, when he affixes a title to that famous harlot, that is to Babylon in type, saying: "And upon her forehead a name written, a mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of fornications and of the abominations of the earth." Now impiety here is understood as any kind of sin, namely the whole multitude and collection of sins; but especially a twofold impiety. The first is idolatry, on account of which the Jews were condemned to the Babylonian captivity; thus St. Jerome, Hugo and Lyran; secondly, the slaying of Christ, on account of which they are now condemned to perpetual exile. Thus Ribera, Sanchez, Fernandius and others. For this was properly speaking the impiety, and the supreme impiety. St. Chrysostom notes in the first tract On Praying to God, that every mortal sin is indeed the death of the soul, because it expels from it God, who is its life; but properly speaking impiety is called the death of the soul, because piety, or the worship of God, and conduct worthy of that worship, is properly the life of the soul, which impiety takes away, and is therefore properly its death. Whence in Hebrew it is harisca, that is to say, That impiety, that crime, namely the notable and enormous one. AND HE CAST HER INTO THE MIDST OF THE EPHAH.—Thus the head and whole body of the woman were contained within the ephah, as I said a little before. By this phrase it is signified that the measure of sins was completed, and therefore God's vengeance was pressing upon the Jews. Moreover the Jews filled up this measure of theirs, first, in the time of Zedekiah, when he himself violated the oath he had sworn to the Chaldeans that he would be subject to them, and perjurously rebelled against them, IV Kings XXV, 6. Whence soon he was cut off together with his kingdom by the same Chaldeans. Secondly, when they killed Christ; whence soon they were cut off by Titus and the Romans. Thus Ribera, Sanchez, Fernandius and others. AND HE CAST THE WEIGHT OF LEAD UPON THE MOUTH THEREOF.—"Thereof," either of the woman, as Theodoret and Vatablus wish, or rather and more fully of the ephah; for he obstructed the mouth of the ephah, and consequently the mouth of the woman, and the whole woman, who, cast into the ephah, was shut up by it. Thus St. Jerome, the Hebrews, Albert, Remigius, Ribera and others. By this weight of lead is signified the completed measure of sins, and therefore the woman, that is the impious Synagogue, is condemned to certain and irrevocable punishment, whose gravity and perpetuity are signified by lead, say St. Jerome, Rupert and Remigius, so that she may be thrust down and plunged into perpetual silence, prison, darkness and the abyss. Hear St. Jerome: "She is oppressed by the angel, so that she who formerly rejoiced in crime may be silenced by eternal silence; or according to Theodotion, the woman herself cast herself down and hid herself in the midst of the ephah, and drew over herself the very heavy weight of lead, so that she might have her mouth stopped, and could not cast herself out any further;" and thus she was carried away to Shinar, that is to Babylon; for although the Jews were freed and went out from it through Cyrus, yet they did not go out except after the ephah was emptied, that is after the measure of seventy years was completed, the punishment and captivity appointed to them by God, as it were measured out according to their guilt. Again impiety did not go out from her, because the idolatry of the Jews remained in Babylon, and did not return to Jerusalem; for they, chastened by this captivity, no longer worshipped idols. Thus also Isidore of Pelusium, book III, epistle 33, understands by the talent of lead the weight of sin, which weighs down and depresses the sinner to the depths of hell: "The measure (ephah)," he says, "signifies the end of divine gentleness and patience, and the beginning of punishment." Arias adds that this woman was forced to receive and devour lead in her mouth, or molten lead poured into her mouth, and that in punishment for her frauds and thefts, of which verse 3 speaks, just as today forgers and coin-clippers are cast into a pot of boiling oil, and are forced to drink it. Arias proves this from the traditions of the Hebrews under the title: Concerning the Sanhedrin, or concerning magistrates, where it is said that idolatrous Jews, or those convicted of violated religion, were accustomed to have molten lead poured into their mouth, and by it they were killed and burned. But in this place only the mouth of the ephah was closed with lead, not did the woman sitting in the ephah drink it; but in hell the condemned drink sulphur, pitch and molten lead. Tropologically, impiety in a dark amphora sealed with lead is the blindness of the Jews; the leaden mass is obstinacy, which we see in them to the highest degree even today. Again, the leaden mass of impiety is the habit of sinning. For this weighs down the sinner so heavily that it plunges him into an abyss of malice, from which he cannot raise himself and rise up, unless by a miracle and the miraculous hand and grace of God the Almighty he is lifted up and drawn out. Anagogically, the talent of lead signifies the gravity and perpetuity both of the guilt and of the punishment of the damned in Shinar, that is in hell, and their obstinacy in evil. For there impiety with all the impious, as it were with mouth sealed, to eternal prison, silence and torment shall be damned, and as it were shall be packed into an amphora. Whence St. John, Apocalypse XX, 1, saw "an angel descending from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, etc., and bound him for a thousand years, and cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and sealed it over him. There therefore all iniquity shall stop its mouth," Psalm CVI, 42.
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9. AND BEHOLD TWO WOMEN. — You will ask, who are these? St. Jerome with his followers, Remigius, Rupert, Albert, Hugh and others, understands Israel and Judah, or Samaria and Jerusalem, namely the ten tribes and the two remaining; whom likewise Ezekiel, cap. XXIII, 4, compares to two women who are harlots, namely Oholah and Oholibah. But the matter here is not about Samaria and Israel, for Israel had long since been carried away, not into Shinar, that is into Babylon, but into Assyria. But if anyone should wish to take this ephah as a measure of the impiety and punishment of both Israel and Judah, he would rather say that these two women were Salmanasar and Nabuchodonosor. For he carried Israel into Assyria, and he carried Judah into Babylon. Others, such as Lyra, Vatable, Dionysius, Ferdinand, understand the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin; for these bore the ephah, that is the measure of their guilt and punishment, into Babylon, where it remained as if to live there perpetually. But these women were as it were lictors or executioners; Israel, however, was not a lictor or executioner to itself. Thirdly, Theodoret and the Hebrews according to St. Jerome understand the Persians and Medes, or Cyrus and Darius, who so devastated Babylon that the ephah, that is the punishment of impiety, appears to endure perpetually in it and to have established its seat in it; whereas in Jerusalem it lasted only seventy years, as it were. This exposition touches upon the matter almost, but only half-fully and in part. I say therefore that by two women are understood two principal demons, or rather Nabuchodonosor and Nabuzardan, who devastated Jerusalem and carried the impious Jews into Babylon. For these were winged kites, that is swift and most powerful and rapacious abductors and plunderers of the Jews, who carried them into Babylon. Whence the Chaldean translator renders it, swift and agile peoples, such as the Chaldeans were. Such after the death of Christ were Titus and Vespasian to the Jews, or Titus and Hadrian. Tropologically, some understand two more notable sins of the Jews, which drove them into exile in Shinar. For guilt follows the head; and sin is as it were a lictor, who drives the sinner and conducts him to the gallows; what these sins are is not certain. One might suspect them to be theft and perjury, which he named in verse 3. For this vision of the ephah seems to coincide with that of the flying scroll, and to be referred to the same thing. Ribera wishes them to be the blindness and obstinacy of the Jews, which, driven by a diabolical spirit, as it were with the wings of a kite carry this ephah with the woman into Babylon. But these two things are contained in the woman, for the woman is impiety; but the greatest impiety is obstinacy and a will obstinate in evil. Symbolically, the two women on the part of God can be understood as divine holiness and justice; for these demanded punishments from the impious Jews and cast them out from Jerusalem and the Holy Land into impious and unclean Babylon. Whence they have wings of chasida, that is a kite, or, as more recent translators render it, a stork: chasida from the root chesed, that is piety, signifies a pious bird, namely a stork. For this is pious toward its parents, whom it cherishes as they grow old and bears up with its wings, so that it may fly with them to the nest. Again by antiphrasis chasida signifies a kite, because it is impious, cruel and rapacious; the Septuagint renders it, a hoopoe. Now divine justice raged against the Jews like a kite; holiness protected the temple and piety like a stork, and therefore cast the impious Jews out of it into Babylon. Spirit in their wings. — "Spirit" is wind, that is to say they were borne and driven by a most swift and powerful wind, and they drove the ephah with them into the land of Shinar. There is signified the swiftness and strength of Nabuchodonosor and Nabuzardan in devastating, plundering and carrying away the Jews. Thus Theodoret, Haymo, Vatable and Arias. Symbolically, St. Jerome understands an evil spirit, namely the devil, that is to say these women were driven by a diabolical spirit, so that they seemed to have the devil in their wings, and by him as it were by furies to be driven and snatched into Babylon. THEY LIFTED UP THE EPHAH BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH, — that is to say not by running, not by horses, not by chariot, but by flying, that is most swiftly they carried the ephah. For he who flies, balances himself in the air between heaven and earth. It alludes to flying kites and nesting in the tops of trees. Symbolically it signifies that neither heaven receives the Jews, as impious and hateful to God; nor earth, as those who are hated by men everywhere, and therefore wandering, exiled and fugitive, thus Rupert: "Neither their own land, he says, receives them, nor will heaven admit them. And just as their standard-bearer Judas the traitor perished, suspended between heaven and earth, as someone says, hated by heaven and earth; so also this people, excluded from earthly Jerusalem and made unworthy of the heavenly, as it were hangs between heaven and earth," according to that saying of the Satirist: "If you do not stand in the heavens (or on earth) you will be wherever you wish." And Ferdinand in vision XXXIV, sect. V: "The Jews, he says, are repelled by all nations as if they were a plaything."
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11. THAT A HOUSE MAY BE BUILT FOR HIM IN THE LAND OF SHINAR. — Namely in Babylon, as the Septuagint translates it, for Babylon is in the land of Shinar, as is evident from Genesis XI, 2. Shinar is said to be derived as it were from scenaar, that is, which knocked out, namely the teeth and tongue of the builders of the tower of Babel; for there God confounded one lip of the Meropim, by which all spoke Hebrew, and thus as it were knocked out their tongue and teeth. Again He knocked out the builders themselves from Shinar, and scattered them throughout the whole world. Zacharias signifies that the impious Jews were led away by the Chaldaeans into Babylonian captivity, and there remained for many years, namely seventy, as St. Jerome, the Rabbis, Albert, Vatablus and Stunica say; but after that they were to be led away by Antiochus Epiphanes, and fully and completely by Titus, into captivity and universal exile, so that the whole world will be to them Shinar, that is the land of knocking out, namely the prison and exile of their impiety and infidelity. Because indeed the disaster and captivity of Shinar, or Babylon, was atrocious, hence by catachresis, any grave calamity, prison and exile was called by the Jews Shinar, or Babylon. Thus Arias and Sanchez. Finally, many believe that here is signified that the Antichrist will begin his kingdom in Babylon, and will erect there the seat of impiety, as much as of tyranny, and that the Jews will receive him there as their Messiah and will worship him, as Christ says in John cap. V, 43, until they are converted to Christ by Elias and Enoch through miracles and burning zeal. Thus Ribera, Emmanuel and Francis Suarez, III part. Quaest. LIX, disp. LIV, art. 6, sect. V, and many others; indeed even the author of the work on the Antichrist found in St. Augustine, and St. Jerome in cap. XI of Daniel, and Anselm in the Elucidarium, assert that the Antichrist will be born in Babylon. For this reason St. John in the Apocalypse XVI, 12, saw kings with great armies coming from the Euphrates, that is from Babylon which is adjacent to the Euphrates, coming to the Antichrist: "And the sixth angel, he says, dried up the Euphrates, etc., that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun." And cap. IX, 14: "Loose, he says, the four angels, who are bound in the great river Euphrates, etc., that they should kill the third part of men. And the number of the cavalry army was twenty thousand times ten thousand." It is added that the type of the Antichrist was Nabuchodonosor, who devastated the Jews and led them away into Babylon, and who caused himself to be adored in a golden statue, which he erected, Daniel III, 5, as the Antichrist will also do, according to that passage in Jeremiah cap. I, 14: "From the north shall evil break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land," namely from Babylon which was to the north of Judaea. Now the sense of this passage is that which I assigned in verse 6. For this amphora containing impiety, placed and set in Babylon, signifies both the guilt of impiety and the punishment placed in Babylon, so that when impiety has stood in it through a measure defined by God both of sins and of times, it may be punished and chastised: first, by Cyrus; second, by Darius; third, by Christ, who will destroy Babylon and the Babylonians, the followers of the Antichrist, at the end of the world. Note: When he says, "that it may be built," etc., he alludes to idols and idolatry, which is chiefly understood by the name of impiety here. For the Jews in common fashion built houses and temples for idols, and placed and elevated them on a base, so that they might be lofty and seen and worshipped by all. Now the house of idolatry and crimes was Babylon, as is evident from Jeremiah, chapters L and LI, whence by catachresis, impious and pagan Rome, bloody and drunk with the blood of the faithful and martyrs, is called Babylon by St. John in the Apocalypse, chapters XVII and XVIII. In Babylon therefore the impiety of the Jews, and its punishment and captivity, was placed upon a base, because it was erected like a statue upon a column, so that it could be seen by all even from far away. Properly therefore and genuinely this amphora of impiety transferred from Judaea to Babylon signifies idolatry with idolaters and impious Jews, transferred by the Chaldaeans from Judaea to Babylon, so that Judaea, now purged of it, might be holy and worthy that a temple be restored to God therein, in which he himself, as before, might dwell and be worshipped: by which reasoning the Prophet consoles, and at the same time urges Jesus, Zerubbabel and the people, that returning to Jerusalem he might remain there; and if any should remain in Babylon, let them return thence to Judaea, and there build a temple to God, in which they might sanctly venerate and worship him. For Jerusalem is now a city of piety and of the worship of the true God, and therefore likewise an asylum of impunity and security: but Babylon is a city of idolatry and impiety, as it was from the beginning under the tyrant Nimrod, Genesis, chapter X, 10; and therefore devoted to punishment and destruction, just as Mecca in Arabia is now a city of Mohammedanism, Geneva is the metropolis of Calvinism. The Jews therefore, as it were transferred from Jerusalem in an amphora to Babylon, carried impiety, that is idolatry, with them, so that it should no longer return to Jerusalem, as Lyra, Dionysius and Cassiodorus say— Sennaar, that they may become an orthodox and holy land, as they were of old, when in it our fathers praised thee. tro. In Babylon therefore they deposited their amphora, that is their guilt and punishment, when, the seventy years having been measured out, completed and paid, as it were going forth from their amphora, pure and free they returned to Jerusalem and the holy land, leaving the amphora, that is idolatry, and its punishment to Babylon and the Babylonians, whom therefore first Cyrus, then Darius Hystaspis laid waste. Allegorically, it is signified that the measure of the impiety of the Jews is to be completed through the slaying of Christ, on account of which they themselves with impious Jews are to be expelled from Jerusalem by the Romans into Sennaar, that is into exile throughout the whole world, until in Sennaar they subject themselves to the Antichrist, and with him are punished and thrust into Tartarus. For there shall be the eternal seat of impiety, and there shall be fully fulfilled that: "That a house may be built for him in the land of Sennaar," that is of shaking, "and it shall be established and set there upon its base." For which the Syriac more clearly translates: That they may build for him a house in the land of Babylon, and establish it, and cause it to dwell there upon the preparation (dwelling) of it; and the Alexandrian Arabic: Now a house has been built for him in Babylon, and it is prepared for him, and he shall dwell in the house which is prepared for him; and the Antiochene Arabic: That they may build for him a house in the land of Babylon, and establish it, and place it in equality with it, rendering equal punishments to each according to their deserts. Then indeed the impiety of the Jews, says Fernandius in vision XXXIV, section V, shall be exalted, and as it were placed upon a base like an idol in a temple, so that it may be held more glorious and honourable by all the followers of the Antichrist. Whence their type were the builders who built the tower of Babel in Sennaar, that they might exalt their impiety against God. Thus also the Jews shall exalt the idol of their impiety, as it were upon a base there under the Antichrist, but their thoughts shall come to nothing, just as also the impious tower of the builders. For the Antichrist also shall be slain by Christ, and exalted impiety shall fall: but by the great mercy of God it shall come to pass that, the Antichrist slain, they shall come to their senses from their impiety, and be converted to Christ. For the benefits of God despised first sharpen God's wrath, then his mercy. Tropologically, impiety is overturned from Jerusalem, that is from the Church, when schismatics and heretics are expelled from it, and go forth to establish the idol of their heresy in Babylon, that is in their Satanic Church, from which into eternal Babylon, that is confusion, and Sennaar, that is the gnashing of teeth, they will be cast down, namely into hell, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; where there is no order, but eternal horror dwells. The faithful therefore who are wise should flee this Babylon as a plague, and fix their seat in the Church; there let them build a temple of the perfection of virtues to God, until they are transferred to Jerusalem and the heavenly temple, to eternal life and glory. Would that, O Lord, Thou wouldst drive out impiety (heresy) from England, Scotland, Germany, Bohemia, etc., and transfer it Again, an amphora is the measure of the sins of each one, both of man and of people, which when filled, God's vengeance springs forth unto punishment. Let each one therefore see that he does not fill this amphora, but if he has cast anything of crimes into it, let him immediately empty and drain it through penance. Moreover, the amphora is filled when impiety rages with impunity and publicly, as happens in the Bacchanals, when the eyes of all are turned upon it. Then therefore God's wrath and vengeance are most to be feared. Wherefore holy men, that they may avert it from themselves and the commonwealth, at that time all the more persist in prayers and pious works, that they may stay God's wrath and empty the amphora, as much as the impious are vacant to their desires, and burn to fill it; lest like the Sodomites they be struck down with heavenly fire, or like the Jews be banished into the land of Sennaar, that is of gnashing, namely into present exile and eternal exile in hell; especially when God gives signs of His wrath, and of impending vengeance through famine, plague, and public slaughters and disasters. Then indeed His flying sickle and the amphora issuing forth appear, which heralds should announce to all the people and hold up, that they may strive to avoid it and to appease God's indignation; just as Aaron did in the sedition and punishment of Core, at the command of Moses and saying: "Take the censer, and having drawn fire from the altar, put incense upon it, going quickly to the congregation, that thou mayest pray for them; for already wrath is gone out from the Lord, and the plague rageth. And when Aaron had done this, and had run to the midst of the multitude, whom the fire was now destroying, he offered the incense, and standing between the dead and the living, prayed for the people, and the plague ceased." Symbolically, St. Gregory in book XIV of the Morals, chapter XXVI, understands by the amphora avarice, upon which the eyes of all worldly men look; so that, while they are blind to other things, they seem to have eyes only for beholding amphorae, and measures of buying and selling, and other instruments of gain. Two women, namely pride and vain glory, lift this on high. Hear St. Gregory himself explaining this whole symbol of the amphora morally: "Wishing God to show the Prophet the human race, by which fault was chiefly expanded from Him, by the image of an amphora as it were with an open mouth He designated avarice: For avarice is like an amphora, which holds the mouth of the heart open in its circumference. And He said: This is their eye in all the earth. We see many men of dull sense, and yet we see them shrewd in evil deeds, the Prophet also bearing witness, who says: They are wise to do evil, but to do good they know not. These therefore are torpid in sense, but in those things which they desire, they are stirred up by the goads of avarice; and those who are blind to seeing good things, being excited by rewards to accomplish evil, become watchful. Whence rightly concerning this the same avarice is spoken of: Their eyes are upon all the earth. Behold a talent of lead was carried. What is a talent of lead, but from the same avarice the weight of sin? And behold one woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. That we might not perhaps doubt what woman this was, immediately the angel made it known. For there follows at once: And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into the midst of the ephah. Wickedness is cast into the midst of the ephah; because surely in avarice wickedness is always held. And he cast the weight of lead upon her mouth. A weight of lead is cast upon the mouth of the woman: because namely the wickedness of avarice is weighed down by the weight of its sin. For if she did not covet those things which are below, she would by no means be wicked toward God and toward her neighbours. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold two women going forth, and the wind in their wings. What else did we receive in these two women, but two principal vices, namely pride and vain glory? which are joined to wickedness without any doubt. And they are said to have the wind in their wings, because in their actions they serve the will of Satan. For the Prophet himself calls it wind, of which Solomon says: If the spirit of him that hath power shall rise up against thee, leave not thy place. And of which the Lord says in the Gospel: When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry and waterless places. The wind is in their wings; because pride and vain glory in all that they do serve the will of Satan. He then proceeds to treat the rest of the ephah thus tropologically: And they had wings as the wings of a kite. A kite always strives by nature to lay snares for young birds. These women therefore have wings as the wings of a kite, because their actions are without doubt like those of the devil, who always lays snares for the life of the little ones. And they lifted up the ephah between heaven and earth. Pride and vain glory have this property, that they exalt him whom they have infected, in his thought above other men, and now through ambition for things, now through desire for dignities, him whom they have once captured they hold, as it were lifting him up into the height of honour. But he who is between heaven and earth abandons the lower things, and by no means reaches the higher things. These women therefore lift up the ephah between heaven and earth, because pride and vain glory lift up the mind captured by the desire for honour through avarice in such a way that, despising any neighbours as if abandoning the lower things, they seek after high things glorying. But all such persons while they are proud, and they pass over in mind those with whom they are, and by no means are joined with the higher citizens. The ephah therefore lifted up between earth and heaven is said: because all the avaricious through pride and vain glory despise their neighbours beside them, and by no means grasp the higher things which are beyond them. Between earth and therefore heaven they are borne: because they neither hold equality of brotherhood in the lowest things through charity, nor yet are they able to reach the highest things by exalting themselves. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do these carry the ephah? And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar. For the same ephah a house is built in the land of Shinar: for Shinar is indeed called their stench. And as good odour comes from virtue, Paul bearing witness, who says: He manifesteth the odour of his knowledge by us in every place, because we are a good odour of Christ to God, and on the other hand stench comes from vice. For the root of all evils is covetousness, and because every evil is begotten through avarice, it is fitting that the house of avarice be built in stench. It should also be known that Shinar is a very wide valley, in which a tower began to be built by the proud, which was destroyed by the diversity of tongues made: which tower was namely called Babylon, on account of the very confusion of minds and tongues. And not without reason is the amphora of avarice placed there, where Babylon, that is confusion, is built: because while it is certain that all evils arise through avarice and wickedness, rightly this very avarice and wickedness are said to dwell in confusion. These things which St. Gregory said concerning avarice, you may with equal right attribute to lust, gluttony, anger, sloth, and any other vice. For the amphora is of wine in gluttony; of gall in anger; of torpor in sloth, etc.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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v. 4 « Et levavi oculos meos et vidé : et ecce vir etin manu etus funiculus mensorum» ; — angelum visum esse a propheta viri specie, fere omnes censent; speciem referunt, et quando de partibus est sermo; cf. Ges. Thes. p. 567. 568. — Hebr. nim explica inf. piel à ;11* proiicere. Ceterum Syrus et Chald. textum hebr. fideliter exprimunt. quis autem angelus putandus sit, incertam est ; Michaelem alii esse volunt (Aib. Lap.), alii angelum Domini qui vocari solet eundemque qui Ez. 40, 3 mensurae funiculo instructus apparet (cf. S. Hier.). Certe conveniens omnino est, quod etiam habet Hebraeorum traditio apud S. Iher., ut angelus theocratiae tutelaris, Michael, de urbis instauratione sollicitus et ad ipsum opus aggrediendum iam succinctus et paratus cernatur. Symboli rationem exquirit vates :
Anc. — Symbolum urbis aedificandae proponitur ; civitas nova multitudine incolarum abundabit ; Dominus ipse erit eius munimen et gloria (2, 1-5). Quare omnes qui adhuc Babylone versantur, ut redeant invitantur : Dominus teneram iis exhibebit curam, vindictam hostibus ; exinde erit laetitia et gloria Sionis, ad quam gentes affluent, quam Dominus diligit (2, 6-13). — Hac scil. adhortatione simul ostendit propheta, «quomodo quae in visione acceperit, etiam ad usum et institutionem suorum deduxerit.
Iam altera hac visione ea confirmantur, quae Dominus zelator de urbis aedificandae ratione supra promiserat (4, 16). Et quia urbis reaedificatio est inchoata theocratiae instauratio, in ipsa visione symbolica magis ipsam respicit theocratiam, quam urbem quae sit theocratiae in- Staurandae pignus. Cernit igitur omnia iam parari ad urbem aedificandam
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v. 2 «et dizi : quo tu vadis? et dixit ad me : ut metiar lerusalem et videam, quanta sit latitudo eius et quanta longitudo eius » ; — i. e. uti plerique explicant, quanto ambitu urbs sit aedificanda ; quantam habere debeat longitudinem et latitudinem. Si architectus iam in eo est, ut metiatur longitudinem et latitudinem areae, ut mensura utatur ad variarum partium symmetriam habendam, ipsum aedificationis opus instat quam proxime. Quare haec visio prophetam certiorem reddit de urbis instauratione mox futura. Verum ut ei praeter hanc cognitionem alia eaque sublimior communicetur, angelum suum interpretem cernit aollicitum ; v. 3 «et ecce angelus qui loquebatur in me egrediebatur, et angelus alius egrediebatur in occursum eius » ;$— i. e. angelus interpres qui iuxta vatem constiterat vel in eius quasi animo et mente habitaverat, egreditur, ut novam revelationem ab altiore angelo accipiat (cf. Rib.), statimque alium angelum, quem multi Gabrielem esse volunt (cf. apud S. Hier. Aib. Lap.) obvium habet, qui optatum affert nuntium :
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v. & «et dixit ad eum : curre, loquere ad. puerum istum dicens : absque muro habitabitur lerusalem prae multitudine hominum et iumentorum in medio eius » ; — eum angeli verba fiant ad angelum interpretem prophetae, dubium esse non potest, quin ea non priori angelo qui habet funiculum mensorium dicantur (uti volunt Theod. Theod. M. Schegg, Trochon), sed interpreti, ut. ea perferat ad suum clientem, scil. ad prophetam. Si ad virum cum fune mensorio referrentur, iste admoneretur, ne scil. laborem in se susciperet inutilem id metiendi quod esse debebit sine limite (ita Trochon). At dubito, num pro visione satis aptum sit angelum doceri, ut a labore inutili desistat. Ergo si ad angelum verba diriguntur, id enuntiare debent, ut urbis aedificandae mensuram quam latissimam definiat. Sed ne hoc quidem placet. Nam si angelus adstat ad opus aliquod perficiendum, conveniens est, ut iam sciat, quid et quale opus sit aggrediendum, ne quasi in incertum laborare videatur. Unde quod ipsa verba ad angelum interpretem dicta indicant, erit cum plerisque interpretibus (S. Hier. Rup. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Lap. etc.) retinendum : doceri Scil. prophetam et nuntium ad ipsum perferri. Dicitur puer ^72, quae vox ad clientem, ministrum, servum designandum saepe adhibetur : ergo dic ad chentem, discipulum tuum (Lap. Tir.), ad eum !, qui minister est et servus Dei ad Dei mandata populo perferenda (Sanct.). Statim enim propheta est docendus, ut in parvis restaurationis initiis ad culmen et fastigium oculos et mentem dirigat, proinde intelligat, ad quem tandem exitum et finem natura sua ex divinae providentiae ordine haec theocratiae instauratio tendat; quare ingens ei offertur multitudo incolarum urbis Dei et huius sine limite amplitudo : absque muro ? i. e. nullus murorum circuitus eos capere potest; non sunt muri ponendi, ne urbs ad certum quoddam spatium definiri ac restringi videatur ; urbs non est coarctanda, ei enim iam ab Isaia dictum est : « dilata locum tentorii tui, ne parcas, longos fac funiculos tuos; ad dexteram enim et ad sinistram penetrabis » (Is. 54, 2.3; cf. 49, 18 seq. 60, 4. Ier. 31, 271. Sed immensa haec civitas, quamvis aperta iaceat quasi in planis regionibus et nullo vallo-septa, habet quo firmissime custodiatur ab hostili expugnatione plane tuta v. 5 « etego ero ei, ait Dominus, murus. ignis in circuitu et in gloria ero in medio eius » ; — « quis ibi hostem timebit, quisde inimico sollicitus erit » (Rup.)? « necse rgurum lapideum aut etiam aeneum futurum pollicetur, sed igneum qui longe terreat hostes nec accedere ullo modo sinat ; nam quemadmodum pyra ingens transsiliri nequit, sic non vinci potest, qui gratia Dei custoditur » (Rib.). Deus ignis est consumens (Deut. &, 24) ; hac metaphora zeli eius vis et efficacia in inimicos declaratur; uti dicitur : « sicut fluit cera a facie ignis, sic pereant peccatores a facie Dei» (Ps. 677, 3). Invictam fore theocratiam, insigni promissione declaratur, neque minus innuitur, quam male cessurum sit omnibus, qui vi sacrilega eam impetere ausi fuerint. Sed ut olim in egressu ex Aegypto columna nubis, symbolum praesentiae divinae, inimica erat et perniciem afferens Aegyptiis — « ecce respiciens Dominus super castra Aegyptiorum per columnam ignis et nubis interfeeit exercitum eorum » Ex. 14, 24 — Israelitis vero amica, salutifera, viam pandens, ita Dominus et zelus eius ignis est hostibus, at pro ipsa urbe et pro incolis eius erit in gloria in medio etus vel erit ad gloriam (hebr. LXX) vel ut Chald. habet : in gloria habitare faciam maiestatem meam in medio eius. Sensus planus est : ipse Deus habitabit in media urbe in gloria, se omnibus exhibebit tamquam in gloria versans ibi (S. Hier.); « nam me conspicuum factis ipsis et providentia erga eos efficiam et lau- 4. Aliqui aetatem iuvenilem" prophetae designari volunt; cf. Rib. Sa. 2. Cf. Ez. 38, 11. Esth. 9, 19; nin» regiones planae sunt; unde sensus est, fore urbem dibus praeconiisque celebrabor ob meorum erga eos magnitudinem beneficiorum » (Theod. M. sim. Schegg) ; indeautem consequens est, ut sicut 80] ipse est lucidus et cuncta reddit splendentia, ita etiam Dei gloria red-- undet in urbis splendorem secundum illud : « illuminare Ierusalem, quia venit lumen tuum et gloria Domini super te orta est. . . gloria eius inte videbitur » (Is. 60, 1. 2); vel similiter, ut dicitur: « erit Dominus in lucem sempiternam » (Is. 60, 19), « civitas non eget sole, nam claritas. Dei illuminavit eam » (Apoc. 21, 23; 22, 5). Ita civitas reddetur illustris, ut gloria eius omnes oras pervadat. Plerique interpretes hoc ultimum solum efferunt (cf. Theod. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Tir. Keil, Trochon) ; at verba adeo sunt ampla et prorsus apta !, ut proprius sensus potius sit : ego ero in gloria, ex quo utique alterum est consequens. subministrare potest. Haec duo igitur, quae in divino consilio arcte inter se connexa sunt atque: conserta, si simul consideraveris, habebis theocraetiae in- Staurationem * plenam et perfectam.
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Quis sit huius visionis cum antecedentibus nexus, quis rerum progressus, bene declarat Theod. M. ; postquam scil. adversariorum clades est promissa et urbis instauratio ostensa, ad ea iam fit gressus, quae theocratiam intime constituunt et eius beneficia ad ceteros derivare debent; inter quae munera sacerdotium principem locum occupat. Id iam ex ratione sacerdotii elucet; est enim sacerdos intermedius inter Deum et hominem, Deum precibus, cultu, sacrificiis placare debet et homines ad debitum Deo cultum instituere et ita beneficia divina in homines derivare. Id quoque a contrario patet, ex funesta scil. auctoritate, qua mali Sacerdotes ante exsilium populi civitatisque ruinam adeo efficaciter promoverunt. Nam quam sollemne sit apud prophetas sacerdotes accusare eosque ut populi seductores et malorum auctores traducere, neminem fugerepotest (Is. 98, '1.1er. 2, 8; 5, 31; 6, 43; 8, 10 etc. Os. 5,1. Mich. 3,41. Soph. 3, 4 etc.). Cum talesigitur sacerdotesfuerint et tantum in perniciem valuerint, ipsum sacerdotium quasi sordidum et maculis opertum adstare in visione facile concipitur ; sed cum sacerdotii dignitas et auctoritas plurimum etiam valeat ad virtutes populo inserendas et ad sanctitatem efficiendam, omnino consentaneum est, ut in theocratiae instauratione potissima ratio habeatur sanctitatis sacerdotalis. Quare oppositio illa quae adest inter res gestas sacerdotii et, inter muneris indolem et significationem, optime inservit ad visionem hanc rite perpendendam. Sacerdos magnus personam gerit publicam et qua talis munus repraesentans et exprimens hic concipi debet; v. 4 « Et ostendit mihi Dominus Iesum sacerdotem magnum stantem coram angelo Domini et satan stabat a dextris eius, ut adversaretur ei » ; — in hebr. Dominus nonlegitur ; at rite suppletur. Stat sacerdos coram angelo Domini, qui patronus et, custos est synagogae, quem aliqui etiam h. 1. haud immerito Mi- - chaelem esse dicunt (cf. Rib. Lap.). Ita iam munus sacerdotale ex parte - adumbratur ; debet scil. sacerdos adstare coram Domino, cuius tamquam ducis ac rectoris populi personam angelus gerit, esse intercessor populi apud Dominum et medius inter eum et populum, populi necessitates Domino proponere, voluntatem Dei et beneficia populo perferre ; « labia enim sacerdotis custodient scientiam et legem requirent ex ore eius, quia angelus Domini exercituum est » (Mal. 2, 'I). Sed attendat oportet sacerdos, adstare adversarium, qui simul ac manus ad opus Domini extendatur, adsit, ut insidietur, ut prohibeat, impediat, noceat; stat ad dexteram, ut dexteram manum exsecutricem scil. operis retineat atque opprimat; qua re innuitur, quantopere vigil sit ac solers ad damnum theocratiae inferendum et quantum olim in theocratiae detrimentum valuerit et effecerit; adstitit enim revera sacerdotio insidiator insignis et adversarius et calamitoso successu ipse erat potior ac potentior et magna dexteritate theocratiae nocuit (cf. Ephr. Cyr. Sanct. Sa). Verum Dominus et angelus eius theocratiae curam habentes adversarium reprimunt eiusque conatus eludunt; id indicatur maledictione in eum iactata ; v. 2 « et dizit Dominus ad. satan : increpet Dominus in te satan, et increpet Dominus in te qui elegit lerusalem ; numquid. non iste torris est erutus de igne »? — modus loquendi angelum prodere videtur ; neque obstat quod Dominus nominatur ; angelus enim qui Dei personam gerit, saepius tali nomine insignitur (cf. Sanct. Lap.) ; angelus igitur in persona Domini (Ai/b.) edicit, ut increpatio Domini nocendi potestatem auferat diabolo; « increpatio enim Domini restrictio potestatis diaboli est » (Alb.) ; quod autem bis dicitur, et loquentis commotionem animi et indignationem contra diaboli conatus indicat et certum fore promittit, ut diabolus compescatur et reprimatur ; increpare est imperare cum potestate et obiurgatione et ab incepto deterrere (Rib.). Diaboli autem tentamina et impetus effectu carebunt, quia Dominus elegit lerusalem (14, 1'1). Haec est ratio quam maxime universalis : Deus fundat regnum suum et quis contra Deum praevalebit? Ratio subditur alia particularis, ad praesentem rerum conditionem apta : satis scil. iam poenarum datum et exhaustum esse propter scelera praeterita ; utique fuisse peccatum quam maxime etiam a sacerdotio; at exsilii ignem dignas a peccatoribus exegisse poenas ; nonne iste forris esti. e. est quasi lignum semiustum ex igne ereptum ; poenarum et captivitatis signa, paupertatem, ignominiam, miseriam adhuc gerit sacerdos, ita luens flagitia patrum. At Deus ipsa hac miseria ad misericordiam motus quasi cum indignatione quaerit, num deceat tale esse sacerdotium ; num non in diabolo mulctari oporteat, quod ad talem statum illud redegerit et in miseriis constituto adhuc adversarius insidietur. Ita zelus Domini ipsa suorum calamitate et miseria excitatur, ut in sui populi gloria restituenda suam ostendat maiestatem et benignitatem. Pauperem, afflictam, sordidam conditionem ipse habitus quo sacerdos apparet, satis superque declarat: v. 3 « et Iesus erat. indutus vestibus sordidis et stabat ante faciem angeli» ; — tale scil. erat sacerdotium córam Domino aaroniticum, adeo a pristina dignitate exciderat, onus tum multis peccatis, oneratum foederis violatione, luctu et miseria exsilii obrutum et vix tunc e tali abysso emergens. In vestibus sordidis multi cernunt peccata populi (S. Cyr. Theod. Alb. Sanct. Trochon), alii etiam ipsius Iesu sacerdotis peccata, socordiam scil. quandam et negligentiam in populo emendando, in opere Dei promovendo' (cf. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Sa) : priora sane eo sensu hicintelliguntur, quatenus peccata populi etiam in vituperium cedunt sacerdotio et magnam partem per sacerdotii culpam effecta erant ; Iesum autem sacerdotem sordidis vestibus indutum apparere propter suam negligentiam, minime crediderim ; haec enim si qua fuerit, non tanta erat (cf. Agg. 1, 1); neque puto eum hic, ut aliqui volunt (Cyr. Calm.), populi personam et vices gerere, sed sacerdotii, ad quod cetera omnia diriguntur. Toto habitu ut miseriam exprimit, ita opem et auxilium implorat; quare non frustra additur : stabat ante faciem angeli, « ut ego arbitror eum intuens et ab eo auxilium exspectans et petens » (Rib.). Neque coram eo consistit, qui non habeat talis rei curam, verum qui quam maxime vere boni sit studiosus. ^ Quare tacitae petitioni et miseriae explicatae angelus occurrit remedium afferens : v. 4 « qui respondit et ait ad. eos qui stabant coram se dicens : auferte vestimenta sordida ab eo! Et dixit ad. eum : ecce, abstuli a te iniquitatem tuam et indui te mutatoriis » ; — aliis angelis sibi subditis, qui stant coram eo parati ad ministerium salutis hominibus exhibendum, imperat angelus populi custos ac tutor (cf. Theod. Sanct. Lap. Sa, Mar.), ut auferant sordes, signum iniquitatis qua sacerdotium erat foedatum, et indicium miseriae et poenae peccatorum. Haec iniquitas quamvis non sit ipsius Iesu sacerdotis, potest tamen etus dici, quatenus ut summus sacerdos et caput muneris sacerdotalis re- -praesentat totum sacerdotium. Ipse induitur mutatoriis ?, novis vestibus &c pretiosis, ad sollemnitates conformatis, quae igitur remota iniquitate splendorem gratiae, virtutum, sanctitatis et pietatis significent, quibus donis verum sacerdotium ornatum esse debet, ut suas partes rite expleat. Quare Chald. non male explicat : indui te innocentiis tuis. Ad ornatum sacerdotalem et pontificium absolvendum additur diadema vel, uti. plerisque placet, tiara pontificalis :
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v. 5 «et dixit : ponite cidarim mundam super caput eius ! et posuerunt. cidarim mundam super caput eius et induerunt eum vestibus ; et angelus Domini stabat» ; — ornatum eius absolvi ac perfici iubet idem angelus tutor ornamento capitis, quod pontifici summo erat peculiare ; idque eo magis apte in visionem inducitur, quia, uti iam monet S. Ephraem, apud Ezechielem dictum erat «aufer cidarim » (Ez. 214, 26); quare in theocratiae instauratione cidaris haec emundata restituitur. Ita per quos gradus et per quae symbola theocratia erat suspensa, per eadem denuo revocatur. Adstat angelus, quippe qui sedula cura instaurationi prospicit et sacerdotium ad pristinam dignitatem et sanctam indolem promovere non cessat. Ex textu lat. et quem Syrus quoque eodem modo praebet, angelus cidarim poni iubet ; in textu mas. * vero habetur : et dixi : ponite etc. Verum id omnino videtur esse repudiandum. Nam ipsum prophetam nunc subito loqui aliisque angelis adstantibus mandatum dare, ut absolvant ornatum pontificis, a ratione visionis, qualis eousque erat, prorsus alienum est; neque enim ipse propheta agere cernitür, sed videre, accipere; ad summum quaerit, quid sibi velit symbelum. LXX inembrum istud plane omittunt, ita ut ipsa omissione sermo angeli designetur. Chald. vero iam primam. personam expressit (quamvis in versione lat in polygl. Londin. perperam et dixit legatur). Non quidem h. 1. adhibetur terminus technicus pro tiara summi sacerdotis nD13D sed t2, quae vox diadema dicit vel regium Is. 62, 3. Iob 99, 14 vel ornatum muliebrem Is. 3, 23. Sed communiter tamen vocem in illa significatione h. l. accipiunt interpretes. Fortasse autem addi debet, eam vocem videri consulto electam, quia sacerdos summus post exsilium aliquando etiam summam potestatem civilem exercere coepit et proinde veri principis vices gessit (cf. 4 Mach. 14, 11). Unde talis restitutio designatur, quae ad rerum administratio-
5:6
Dignitas igitur sacerdotalis, uti visione constat, emundata est et splendida facta; proin iterum Deo est accepta. Ex hac parte restitutio sacerdotii (A/b.) cernitur tamquam partis praecipuae theocratiae. Iam haec restitutio per singula accuratius declaratur: quid postulet a sacerdotibus, quid portendat et quo demum culmine sit perficienda. Et primo quidem declaratur, ut Aib. ait, modus conversationis adeptae dignitatis. Est enim visio non solum utilis prophetae, sed per prophetam ceteros omnes eosque maxime ad quos spectat, edocere debet. Quare iam exponitur, quae sint partes sacerdotis et quibus praesidiis muniatur in fideli functione v. 6 « Et contestabatur angelus Domini fesum dicens : v. "1 ha»c dicit Dominus exercituum : si. in viis meis ambulaveris et. custodiam meam custodieris, tu quoque iudicabis doe mum meam, et custodies atria mea et dabo tibi ambulantes de his qui nunc hic assistunt » ; — quantopere angelo curae sit digna sacerdotis '- conditio, ex studio elucet, quo contestatur i. e. serio atque instanter monet et obsecrat. Praecipit, ut mandata Dei observet ; hae enim sunt viae Dei per quas homines incedere vult ; dein ei iniungit fidelem muneris administrationem, ut diligenter observet et custodiat, quae Deus in cultu ac religione observata vult (cf. Lev. 8, 35), ut ea in re sit vigil et fidelis (cf. Num. 4, $3; 3, 98). Quod si praestiterit, Deus illi iura et dignitatem sacerdotii conservabit : habebit domus Dei administrationem, in iis quae ad eam pertinent ius dicet et gubernabit, et templum habebit suae curae commissum et sua auctoritate singula decernet. Vel commode intelligitur cum plerisque (Cyr. Theod. Alb. Rib. Sanct. Sa, Mar. Men. Tir. Schegg) sensu ampliore : domum Dei i. e. familiam Dei, populum Dei iudicabit, ei ius dicet eumque gubernabit ; saepius enim dosus Dci tali acceptione invenitur (cf. Num. 12, "7. Ier. 19, 1. 0s. 8,14; 9, 8. 19) neque membrum parallelum talem significationem excludit, cui etiam v. 5 *''zx cidaris, diadema apte congruit. De potestate iudiciaria summi sacerdotis vide Deut. 1'1, 8 seq. Atque ut hisce muneribus rite fungi possit, angelorum ei praesidium promittitur : de his scil. qui hic assistunt i. e. de angelis qui coram angelo Domini consistere cernuntur (cf. v. 4), tibi dabo qui tecum ambulent, te comitentur, iuvent tibique sedulo assistant et in ministerio opem ferant (cf. S. Hier. Cyr. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Men. Calm. Schegg). Dicuntur stantes, uti Cyr. perpendit, quia stationis vocabulo eos significare vult Scriptura ignaviae non succumbere sed mentem velut erectam et infirmitatis expertem et cum Deo stantem et ad omne ministerium promptam retinere. Ita visio illa quam vidit Iacob (Gen. 98, 12), in theocratiae instauratione valere dicitur : aderunt angeli ascendentes et perferentes ad Deum necessitates hominum et descendentes ad homines iuvandos et Dei beneficia distribuenda ; aderit frequens commercium hominum cum Deo ope sacerdotii, cui angeli intercessores et adiutores praesto sunt. Negant quidem aliqui textum hebr. ita posse accipi; vertunt enim : et dabo tibi vias inter adstantes istos, id quod vel ad vitam futuram referunt : post mortem obambulabis inter angelos (— uti iam Chald. explanat : in suscitatione mortuorum te suscitabo et dabo tibi pedes ambulantes inter Seraphim istos —), vel de libero ad Deum vel angelos aditu explicant i. e. particeps eris consiliorum eorum ad rempublicam gubernandam et adiutor ad erigendam (cf. apud Sanct. Mar. Vat. Houbig. Keil, Trochon). Sed versioni S. Hier. veteres omnes suffragantur; omnes enim 225712 tamquam ambulantes accipiunt ; ità LXX et Syrus et Chald. ; neque opus est hanc communem veterum interpretationem relinquere ; nam formam efferri chaldaizantem (cf. Dan. 3, 93; 4, 34) tempore vatis nostri non potest videri mirum, et certe cum non obstante substantivo noto (Ez. 42, 4. Ion. 3, 3. 4. Neh. 2, 6) veteres participium verbi ibi viderint et expresserjnt, in tali consensu aliquid ponderis inesse videtur. Accedit, quod sensus in hac interpretatione est facilis, obvius, ad rationem visionis aptus; in altero vero satis ambiguus et obscurus. Alii demum participium Aiphil stricte sequendum esse censentes vertunt: dabo tibi duces ; quam acceptionem veteres non eoguoverunt. Neque omnes ibi de angelis fieri sermonem agnoscunt; « haec enim faciens et tu in hoc honore vives et honorem ad posteros transmittes, iis qui ex te nascentur populum hunc regentibus; hoc enim expressit cum dixit $oaw cot dvaatpsqou.évous éy u&0o tv Ecvnxóvov coUzov » ita Theod. et sim. Theod. M. Alb. Sed certe falsa est interpretatio. Quo enim pacto successores summi sacerdotis dici possunt vel si ita dicerentur, saltem ab aliis intelligi tamquam ambulantes inter angelos? ii qui morantur inter angelos, in hoc contextu non possunt esse nisi angeli; homines enim non versantur in medio: angelorum ; unde sensum bene effert S. Hier. vertens : dabo ambulantes de his. Quo magis sacerdotii dignitas éluceat et a sacerdotibus vitae sanctitate commendetur, illud esse figuram et typum Messiae angelus declarat, proinde qui gerant sacerdotium, adumbrare in se munus et dignitatem Messiae eique quasi proludere ; unde sua sponte colligitur, quam sancte illo debeant fungi et ad quod demum culmen perfectionis instauratio baec feratur ; v. 8 « audi Iesu, sacerdos magne, tu et amici tui qui habitant coram te, quia viri portendentes sunt; ecce enim ego adducam servum meum, Orientem » ; — singulari modo summi sacerdotis attentio excitatur eique ut rite acsedulo perpendat ea quae sequuntur ab angelo Anculcatur ; iis enim et quae antecedunt magis commendantur et ipse de Tauneris significatione et eminentia subtilius eruditur. Est vero audiendum i. e. bene recogitandum et alto animo reponendum, ipsum et alios sacerdotes qui in collegio sacerdetali coram eo et simul cum eo sedent, esse viros portendentes, hebr. viros portenti, vel signi, miraculi i. e. qui in se exhibeant aliquid ad rem maiorem futuram declarandam aptum ; cerni scil. in iis et adesse ex divina ordinatione signum rci alterius, eorum officium ac munus non in se concludi, sed exhiberi tamquam indicium et signum mirabile, quo animi ad altiora futura praeparentur et erudiantur !. Et cuius rei sint signum ac portentum, vel ut 1. Do typica Iesu sacerdotis ratione tractat v. g. Eusebius, Den. cv. 4, 11; M. 22, 3329. nos dicimus, figura, typus, adumbratio, statim additur : quia ecce ego adducens (venire faciens) servum meum Germen (hebr.). Quis sit servus Dei Germen, ex vaticiniis antecedentibus clare constat. Habet enim. nomen hoc primam suam radicem in ultimis verbis David, qua promissa sibi divinitus facta paucis complexus certa spe se consolatur, quod Deus hanc salutem proraissam et verbum faustum illud de throno aeterno germinare faciet ( hebr. 2 Reg. 23, 2 - 5 ). Deinde iam apud Isaiam legitur : «in die illa erit germen Domini in magnificentia et gloria» (Is. 4, 9) et apud Ieremiam : « ecce dies veniunt, dicit Dominus et suscitabo David germen iustum et regnabit rex et sapiens erit et faciet iudicium et iustitiam in terra ; in diebus illis salvabitur Iuda et Israel habitabit confidenter et hoc est nom^^ ^^ vocabunt eum : Dominus iustus noster » (Ier. 93, P*. Ti... . secibitur ille qui Davidis ex posteris est suscitandus p:opter promissiones Davidi datas, qui rex futurus sit sapiens et iudi: :m ct iustitiam stabiliturus, salutem, fiduciam, securitatem omnibr:; praebiturus, ita ut in ipso nomen : Iahve iustitia nostra plene adimpleatur. Tali autem descriptione omnia indicia messianica colliguntur ; eadem vide Ier. 33, 18 « germinare faciam Davidi germen iustitiae » etc. et cf. supra p. 193. | Si igitur Deus nunc loquitur : ecce ego adducens servum meum Germen, de eodem illo, de Messia, hoc dici manifestum est. Nam Messias quoque per emphasin dicitur servus Domini (cf. Is. 42, 41; 49, 3. 5; 50, 10; 52, 13; 53, 11. Ez. 34, 23. 24) ; quare Chald.ad amussim inerprétatus est : « ecce ego adducens servum meurn Messiam ei revelabitur». Vocatur germen, quia Dominus eum facit germinare, quia ut germen excellentissimum Davidi datur !, uti loci allati innuunt ; est scil. plantatio Domini sensu eminenti, ab initio externe quidem parva, at cuncta bona amplissime in se continens omnibusque novae ac perennis vitae semina largiens. Dubium non est quin ex mente S. Hier. etiam textus lat. eodem sensu accipi debeat. Scribit enim ad 6, 19 «ecce vir, Oriens nomen eius»: «quod hebr. dicitur. sema (TY)... qui idcirco Oriens, id est àvaxcA?; vel &vagór, sive QA&etqua nuneupatur, id est ger- 3ien, quia ex se repente succrescet et ex radice sua in similitudinem germinis pullulabit »; quare de sole oriente non est cogitandum. Hac promissione Messiae optime ostenditur, theocratiam instaurari eo fine, ut demum per Messiam perficiatur. Atque omnia quae in antecedentibus sunt promissa, iam hoc de adventu Messiae oraculo egregie illustrantur : regna mundana deiiciuntur, ut regnum Messiae consistat ; Dominus miserebitur Sion, veniet enim Messias; urbs aedificatur, quia Messias venturus est ; nova theocratia bonis abundabit propter Messiam et hoc nostro loco sacerdotium a Deo acceptatur, quia typus est Messiae ; at ex tali dignitate officium exsurgit pro sacerdotibus, ut digne tali arititypo conversentur. Typicam rationem voce n2'12 contineri etiam ex usu derivari potest. Ita vox adhibetur Is. 8, 18 : « pueri mei quos dedit mihi Dominus in signum et portentum in Israel » ; erant autem nominibus, quae futura annuntiabant, signum et portentum (cf. Is. 7, 3; 8, 3) ; Isaias habitu captivorum incedens est portentum pro Aegypto eiusque sorte futura (Is. 20, 3) ; similiter Ezechiel actione symbolica captivitatem futuram adumbrans et annuntians (Ez. 12, 6. 44 ; 94, 94. 97). Atque haec significatio etiam hoc loco optime retinetur. Sunt ergo sacerdotes signum rei futurae ; restituitur et splendide emundatur sacerdotium, quia tempus futurum adumbrat ; ratio autem cur sint portendentes, declaratur quia Messias venturus est; ergo Messiae typus sunt, eum praefigurant. Unde munus Meossiae per eminentiam tamquam sacerdotale designatur, per quod vera demum expiatio et reconciliatio efficietur. LXX habent: àí:t &vipé; «eparosxómo: elctv ; S. Cyr. eos diciautumat prodigiorum signorumque cupidos ; Theod. id IDOL Hdds laudem et studium rerum divinarum in ea voce deprehendit : « nam a prophetis edita signa ut pii assidue speculabantur et finem horum exspectabant » ; sim. Theod. M. — Vocem dvacoAly explicat S. Cyr. solem iustitiae, qui illuminet nos velut in tenebris degentes ; luminis orientis etiam Theod. et Theod. M. mentionem faciunt et id dvaroXá per se dicit ex usu quo ad ortum solis vel lunae vel ad orientalem plagam designandam adhibetur, quamvis &v«z&JAety etiam de plantis crescentibus dicatur; v. g. Ps. 108, 14 6 i£avaxDOuov. ybptov «otc xvfiyeatv. Cum igitur nomen ex hebr. constet et &v«xoXf, uti ex S. Hier. audivimus et verbo évac&))ew comprobatur, eandem germinis orientis significationem non respuat, fortasse cum Rib. dicendum est, etiam textum graecum de germine esse intelligendum ; immo Rib. etiam Luc. 1,78 « oriens ex alto» eodem modo de germine interpretatur, neque obstare ait quod sequatur : « illuminare his qui in tenebris et in umbra mortis sedent » ; id enim non ideo dici quia aliquid de sole praecesserit, sed quia germen illud divinum sit revera lux illuminans omnem hominem ; ne- : que inusitatum esse in Scriptura, ut relicta una metaphora subito aliud inferatur, alienum quidem a metaphora illa, sed conveniens rei per metaphoram significatae. Addi potest, apud LXX Ez. 10, 7 dici dvxcoA7, «o9 dypoU et Ez. 177, 10 civ tà Boo dvazoAss abc? Enpevéfisezat, et hebr. m2 verti «à dvarÜOovra (ix «7c 153) Gen. 19, 95 ; &v6x; Is. 61, 11. Haec quamvis ita sint, rem tamen non evincunt; habet enim in lingua syriaca TTDY usum de sole oriente, de fulgore et splendore ; unde Syrus h. 1. solem orientem, fulgorem (Nr127) vertit, quare fieri potuit, ut etiam graecus interpres significationem sequeretur non in lingua hebr, ' ged in dialecto syriaca usitatam $ nam etia:: '*, 4, 2 graecus interpres T"2Y expressit ixOdy pe. Aliqui ex veteribus gerc: ; interpretantur de Zorobabel ; ita 5. 175.7. Zueod. Theod. M. DBarh. — etiam Eusebius (demonstr. evang. 4, 47. M. 99, 399) ita proxime Iesum dici sacerdotem, spiritualiter vero Messiam censet — quos e recentioribus unus Calm. sequitur interpretans de Zorobabele et Nehemia, sed ita ut bi sint figura Christi, cui demum proprie haec appellatio conveniat. Esse germen Messiae nomen, ipsi quoque rationalistae concedunt (cf. Hita.). Cur autem Messias adducendus sit, ratio affertur, quia theocratia perfecta est constituenda et iniquitas abolenda, ad haec autem V. T. instituta non sufficiunt ; v. 9 « quia ecce lapis, quem dedi coram Iesu; super lapidem unum septem oculi sunt; ecce, ego caelabo sculpturam eius, ait Dominus exercituum, et auferam iniquitatem terrae illius in die una » ; — imagine lapidis, qui caelandus est et sculpendus et in pulchram formam redigendus, theocratia designatur, quae ad formam perfectam sit exigenda; lapis iste iacet rudis coram Iesu sacerdote; est enim theocratia imperfecta et inchoata, in qua et pro qua Iesus sacerdos operam suam collocare debeat; sed cum ipse impar sit lapidi isti. efformando, alius servus Domini adducendus dicitur scil. Messias. Super lapidem, sicut positus est ante Iesum, ergo super theocratiam illam inchoatam iam exstantem, septem oculi sunt i. e. ad eum sunt directi (cf. 4, 10) oculi Domini, eius curam habent, vigili studio ad eum attendunt. Cur septem nominentur, non adeo facile certo dixeris ; perfectionem divinae providentiae numero sacro septenario indicari curamque indefessam, quae continuo adsit, non improbabiliter asserueris (cf. S. Cyr.) vel curas multiplices et indefinitas, quas operi suo exstruendo Deus impendat (Theod.) ; aliis quoque placet, allusionem fieri ad mores persicos, secundum quos septem primates regni oculi regis dicuntur teste Hesychio et Suida (Tir. Calm. Reinke). Ad quod si addimus, infra 4, 10 oculos Domini septem dici discurrere in universam terram, et in Apoc. septem oculos describi tamquam septem spiritus Dei missos in omnem terram (Apoc. 5, 6), explicatio satis probabilis esse videtur de septem angelis ! qui adstant ante Deum et qui singulari studio regnum Dei in terris fundandum et propagandum prosequuntur (cf. Rib. Lap. Calm. Trochon). Horum ministerio Deus utitur, sed operis praecipuam partem 8ibi reservat : ecce, ego caelabo ... rudem lapidem ad debitam formam et pulchritudinem exigam i. e. theocratiam splendore et eximia figura condam. | Indolem autem spiritualem, pulchritudinem et sanctitatem huius theoeratiae declarans addit etauferam iniquitatem etc. Hac ablatione verum designatur sacerdotium ; est enim sacerdotis hostias offerre placationis et hominem peccatorem Deo reconciliare et inter Deum culpae vindicem et peccatorem adesse intercessorem (cf. Num. 16, 46. Sap. 18, 21). Ad quod cum vetus sacerdotium imperfecte solum et per modum figurae valuerit, Deus id se praestaturum indicat per servum suum Germen. Ad hunc igitur eiusque beneficium etiam referatur oportet Iesu sacerdotis emundatio in visione facta, qua ad digne fungendum munere suo aptus redditur et ad typum Messiae referendum. 258 Zacm.^3, 9-10 tes dicunt de Christo caelato in passione vulneribus, plagis et vibicibus, ad sensum tantum accommodatum revocari possunt '. Aliqui septem oculos in ipso lapide insculptos apparuisse volunt. Sed hoc coa- . stare nequit. Nam neque cum eo concordat quod 4, 10 de septem oculis dicitur, . neque cum lapidis caelatura, quae pro futuro tempore tierí perhibetur. neque intelligitur, quid septem oculi lapidi insculpti sibi velint. Alii septem oculos in-- terpretantur septem dona Spiritus sancti (cf. Is. 11, 2 seq.) vel gratiae operationes, vel symbolum esse censent divinae providentiae et sollicitudinis (cf. Theod. Sanct. Men.) ; sed quamvis aliquid veri hae explicationes contineant, symbolum tamen non sufficienter elucidant neque satis cum locis parallelis apud ipsum vatem et in Apoc. cohaerent. In hac theocratia a Deoefformata, quae veram peccstorum remissionem et deletionem praebet, pax aderit, concordia, securitas; v. 10 « in die illa, dicit Dominus exercituum, vocabit vir amicum suum subter vitem et subter ficum » ; — plena reconciliatio cum Deo et culparum deletio non erit nisi post adductum Messiam , hoc indicatur nostro quoque loco ex nexu qui adest inter v. 8 et 9, hancautem subsequitur pax, tranquillitas, concordia, gaudium, fiducia, securitas, quae omnia symbolice exhibentur eo, quod alter alterum invitare dicitur. ut subter vitem ac ficum vitam degat iucundam (vide Mich. 4, 4): quae imago vitam revocat - sub Salomone pacificam atque felicem (3 Reg. 4, 25) et proreus apta est ad veri Salomonis indolem repraesentandam : pacem meam do vobis ; pax vobis. Igitur etiam hac visione theocratia restituta exhibetur, quae demum opere et regno messianico sit perficienda , innuitur instituta vetera esse figuras et typos futurorum, esse umbram, quam demum vera bona consequantur ; demum indoles spiritualis et vera sanctitas tamquam theocratiae illi propria et summa quaedam bonorum describitur, quam pax et securitas consequantur ; ad hanc autem theocratiam gradum fieri et praeparationem fideli mandatorum Dei observatione, Iesus sacerdos edocetur (3, 7). Hisce sacer vates iam satis delineat spiritualem theocratiam. Id etiam magis in subsequentibus praestat. Quare Iudaei temporale Anc. — Visione de candelabro cum septem lampadibus, quibus a dua bus olivis oleum subministratur, edocetur propheta Zorobabelem in Dei virtute omnia impedimenta esse superaturum neque bellico apparatu esse utendum (4, 1-7) ; ipsum cum magna omnium laetitia et angelorum subsidio adiutam aedificium templi esse perfecturum ; olivis duabus designari duos filios olei assistentes Domino (&, 8-14).
lam cum in visione consilium divinae providentiae pandatur adeo benignum, splendidum, gloriosum, quid magis consequens est, quam ut quicumque demum de populo electo adhuc degunt in terra peregrina, abrupta omni mora revertantur ad urbem, quo certius et citius divinorum bonorum fiant participes? Quare pergit angelus — is enim qui v. 4 loqui inceperat, etiam hic loqui censendus est cum S. Hier. Theod. Sanct. Lap. aliisque — ; v. 6 « O, o fugite de terra aquilonis, quoniam in quattuor ventos coeli dispersi vos, dicit Dominus ; v. "1 o Sion, fuge, quae habitas apud filiam Babylonis » | — multos eousque remansisse in terra aliena, vel addictos moribus gentilium aut suis bonis possessionibusque ? affixos, vel difficultatibus itineris vitaeque afflictae in Iudaea deterritos, ex parvo numero redeuntium liquet. Hos excitare, ut segnitiem excutiant, ut forti animo spretis commodis temporalibus ad Deum et ad promissiones divinas revertantur, inter praecipua munera prophetica eius temporis erit adnumerandum. Ipsa loquendi forma, verborum adhortationisque geminatio « vim adhibet magnam et stimulos et communiter contentionem et studium significat » (Sanct.) ; hebr. *Y3, heus, heus ! « quod est adverbium hortandi et incitandi ad celerem fugam ; ideoque geminatur, immo triplicatur, ut ingentis cladis ingentem. pavorem incutiat et ingentes stimulos ad eam fugiendam addat » (Lap.).| Terra aquilonis apud prophetas usitata est pro Babylonia (cf. Ier. 1, 14; | 4, 6; 95, 9 etc.) ; in quattuor ventos dispersi dicuntur ? eo modo, quo. apud Ezechielem fuga Iudaeorum exhibetur : «tertiam vero partem tuam 492; cf. Sanct. Calm.), et «residui in omnem ventum dispergentur » (Ez. 1'1, 21). Invitantur ut redeant, quia iam Deus eos vocat ea periodo transacta, qua illos in poenam criminum voluit esse dispersos. Ipsa oppositione nominum Sion-filia Babylonis ad reditum urgentur; Sioni enim quaecumque sunt sancta.et fausta a prophetis promittuntur, Sion est sedes Dei, ex Sione dominabitur in omnes gentes, ad Sionem . zenient omnes populi salutem et benedictionem quaesituri etc. ; Babylon . vero iam dudum ruinae et interitui et maledictioni est devota atque diris -exsecrationibus a prophetis onerata (cf. Is. 13, 1-92; 91, 1-9; 41, 4-15. Ier. 50, 2-81, 64); quare maiore cum pondere in textu hebr.: heus Sion serva te, i. e. servate vos qui adhuc moramini Babylone ab interitu urbi impendente, ne simul cum ea pereatis. Sunt qui id speciatim applicent ad oppugnationem et expugnationem Babylonis urbis rebel- .lis a Dario factam (de qua Herodotus 3, 150 seq. lustinus, histor. 4, 10; cf. Lap. Calm.), sed non unus eventus, verum plura et maiora in gentes iudicia a propheta. indicantur, uti sequentia docent ; v. 8 « quia haec dicit Dominus exercituum : post gloriam. misit me ad gentes quae spoliaverunt vos ; qui enim tetigerit vos, tangit pupillam oculi mei; v. 9 . quia ecce ego levo manum meam super eos et. erunt praedae his qui serviebant sibi, et. cognoscetis quia Dominus exercituum misit me»; — angeli verba sunt, qui profitetur se a Deo missum, ut vindictam poenasque repeteret a gentibus, quae populum Dei iniuriis et oppressione lacessissent. Talis vindicta partim iam est inflicta, ita Assyriis re- . gnoque Chaldaeorum, partim etiam infligetur per ruinam regnorum, de . quibus Daniel et Aggaeus loquuntur (cf. Dan. cp. 2, 11, 8. Agg. 2, 'l. . 928). Ad angelum vero refertur, quia Dei minister est in rerum guberna- . tione et administratione, uti v. g. apud Ezechielem in visione impii ab angelis dicuntur occidi, urbs ab angelis incendio igneque divino concremari (cf. Ez. 9, 1-10, 8) vel uti angelus peste homines percutere atque interimere dicitur (cf. 4 Par. 21, 16. 21). In visione enim non causae humanae secundae ita solent efferri, sed causa et origo rerum a Deo profecta potissimum innuitur (vide fasciculum periodicum Stimmen aus Maria-Laach 18'/9, XVII p. 921 seq.). Modum loquendi : haec dicit Domi- Qus : misit me concipe orationem quam vocant indirectam : dicit Donninus me esse missum ab ipso '. 4. Ita res satis commode expeditur (cf. Keil). Aliud proponit Sanct., illud scil. dícit Domi- 381u£ non ad «a quae sequuntur,esse referendum, sed ad ea quae proxime antecesserupt; ' idque probari ait partium quae in denuntiatione sint sinilituline, cuilibet 'enim subiungi Ratio autem cur redire debeant, augetur quia angelus ita mittitur ad gentes puniendas, ut hac ipsa punitione gloria Dei exsistat et cernatur ; proinde insignis punitio indicatur; ita explica post gloriam misit me i. e. ut sequerer et consequerer gloriam, ut opere hoc et legatione mea exoriatur gloria (sim. iam TAeod, : « ut veterem gloriam recuperaret » ; Theod. M.: «misit me gloriam eius nuntiaturum »). Dei enim gloria agitur in populi Dei oppressione, quia ut saepius iam notatum est, populi facinora ad numinis honorem vel ignominiam computari solebant, et in populo victoipsum eius numen superari et subiici censebatur (cf. Is. 40, 10. 11). Insuper Deus se tenerrimo affectu populum suum utrem pretiosissimam tueri palam annuntiat; nam qui populum tangit, vexat (S. Hier.), iniuria afficit, ab eo tamquam talis habetur, qui vexare cupiat pupillam oculi Dei illumque clara luce priváre, qui sacrilegas manus in rem pretiosissimam, quale est oculorum lumen, inferre audeat ; cf. Deut. 32, 10 Deus populum suum circumducens et, docensin deserto « custodivit quasi pupillam oculi sui » ; quare oratio funditur : « custodi me ut pupillam oculi » (Ps. 16, 8) et iubemur legem Dei servare « quasi pupillam oculi » (Prov. 71, 2). . Cum igitur et gloriae Dei et eius amori ! tam atrox inflicta sit a gentibus iniuria, cum emphasi (ecce ego) castigationem gravem denuntiat dicens se iamiam agitare (hebr.) manum suam super eos i. e. ictu et percussione vehementi eos prostraturum (cf. Is. 10, 32; 30, 32), ita ut ii qui eousque servi fuerint et subiecti tamquam domini et spoliatores in pristinos tyrannos consurgant; i. e. victores qui olim fuerant, victi manus dabunt et victi misere spoliabuntur. Ita quoque in regnorum Successu evenisse compertum est, Graecis insurgentibus in Persas, Romanis in Graecos. Vel facilior est etiam explicatio, si versus iste ad Iudaeos solos refertur : gentes erunt praeda eo sensu et modo, qui statim v. 11 proponitur et qui iam a prioribus prophetis saepius est expositus (cf. Is. 44, 9; 49, 22; 60, 10. Ez. 106, 61; 35, 11. Mich. 4, 2 etc.). Rerum eventu cognoscent et discent angelum vera loqui eumque legatum Dei fuisse ad populi bona promovenda. Res administrari angelico interventu et divinae providentiae consilia exsecutioni mandari non sine angelorum ministerio, hoc ipso sermone docemur. Simul invitamur, ut ex impletione rerum, quae vati in visione erant exhibitae, ipsam visionem angelico ministerio ei fuisse immissam ipsumque ab angelis edoctum concludamus. Angelum loquentem etiam in v. 8 agnoscunt Sanet. Mar. Tir. Gord. Calm. 4. Qui duo sunt affectus. vehementissimi et ed opera exhibenda quam mazime incitant, Schegg, Trochon, etiam Lap. Men. qui tamen praeter hunc sensum et literae corticem « alium sensum praecipuum » de Christo Domino adstruunt. Vocem Christi Salvatoris solam hoc loco deprehendunt S. Hier. Cyr. Theod. Rup. Rib. Sa ; etiam Eusebius (M. 99, 448. 405) aliique. Duae hae explicationes inter se conciliari facile posse videntur, si advertamus angelum Domini in V. T. loquentem fuisse quidem verum angelum, sed saepe in se exhibuisse ac repraesentasse personam Verbi, vel Verbum apparuisse non quidem immediate et in se sed angelo mediante. Quae igitur angelus de se loquitur et quae angelus pro ratione V. T. agit, ea suo modo transferri possunt ad eum quem saepe repraesentat. In N. T. Verbum immediate et per se apparet in natura humana assumpta ; quare etiam Ecclesiae suae protectionem et custodiam hostiumque deiectionem ipse perficiet et absolvet. Variae sunt sententiae de verbis post gloriam misit me. Qui Christum unice loquentem ibi audiunt, exponunt vel : cum in forma Dei esset et nihilominus ad formam servi deveniret, quomodo non post gloriam ipsi summopere congruentem factus est (Cyr. Hier.)? vel : postquam gloriam meam ostendero in terris magnitudine miraculorum, post resurrectionem Deus mittet me i. e. me per Apostolos ad gentes (Rib.) et sim. Sed hae explicationes coactae sunt neque eo sensu verba tempore Zachariae intelligi poterant. Álii qui angelum loquentem audiunt, gloriam explicant de instauratione urbis et templi et de prosperitate populi ; « ubi enim haec essent perfecta, angelus quo hortatore haec suscepta sunt, iturum se dicit ad gentes alias, ut iniuriam et vim populo israelitico illatam ulcisceretur. Quomodo vero id acciderit, quave ratione mulctatae fuerint gentes male olim in Iudaeos animatae, constat ex libris Machabaeorum » (Sanct. sim. Alb. Lap. Tir. et iam Chald. : post gloriam quae dicta est futura super vos); Mar. vocem refert ad v. 5, Gord. ad reditum ex captivitate etc. ; alii praepositionis significationem de gloria comitante accipi posse censent : mitti cum gloria, in gloria, ita ut praeclara ac gloriosa facinora missum et antecedant et comitentur (Schegg) ; alii demum de sana explicatione quasi desperantes cognomen Michaelis Achar-Kabod ibi deprehendere sibi visi sunt : dixit Dominus ad Achar- Kabod etc. ; unde vides Houbig. non immerito adnotare : « multum sudant interpretes, ut duo verba edisserant ; sed inutili labore »; ipse textum corrigit scribens 3TIN possidens gloriam ; at sane iste «labor» omnium est inutilissimus! cundum vulg. vel angelus de se loquitur, vel censeri potest verba Dei referre; saepe enim etiam apud prophetas sermo prophetarum immediate transit ad ipsa Dei verba proferenda. Ceterum lectio mei in variis codd. v. g. amiatino et editionibus antiquis non habetur, sed eius; Rib. illam lectionem vocat sine dubio vitiatam ; de qua re fusius agit Lucas Brugensis in notatione ad h. 1. Porro efficaciter ad reditum invitantur qui adhuc in terra aliena commorantur, laetitia commemorata et gloria quam Sion captura est ex Domini praesentia et tutela v. 10 «(auda et laetare, filia Sion, quia ecce ego venio et habitabo in medio tui, ait Dominus » ; — hebr. $ubila ; praeclara sane promissio, quae efficaciter eos movere debet qui non omnem fidem et amorem Dei abiecerint ; verba in memoriam revocant habitationem qua Deus in deserto in medio populo erat sese manifestans in nube lucida, qua in templo quoque peculiarem sui praesentiam exhibuit : et iam ita miros Dei favores et si opus fuerit miracula in commodum populi pollicentur. Quare exhortatione ad iubilum et laetitiam beneficii magnitudinem et excellentiam vestit propheta et huius gaudii et tripudii exhibitione studet allicere ; facile enim omnes tali spe et desiderio moventur. Quam insigni modo verba haec in Incarnatione Verbi divini sint. impleta, in comperto est ; immo sacer auctor ipsa verba prophetae refert. Uti enim hic legimus : àyo Zpyopat xai xatacxn9oco-t» uíco cow, ita in evangelio Christus vocatur à épyópevog et de eo dicitur xai £cxfjysev £y 4t» (Ioan. 4, 14. 19). Atque revera tempora prospici messianica elucet ex eo, quia statim. mentio fit gentium, -quae veri Dei cultui sese sint mancipaturae — id enim est constans periodi messianicae criterium et indicium — v. 11 «et applicabuntur gentes multae ad Dominum in die illa et erunt mihi in. populum et habitabo in medio tui, et scies quia Dominus exercituum misit me ad. te» ; — praeconium, quod eousque solum ad populum Israel pertinebat, esse scil. et vocari populum Domini, iam fit commune etiam gentibus ; proinde clare indicatur theocratia universalis, nullis li- . mitibus adstricta, in qua gentes eodem dignitatis ordine et censu cum Israelitis adnumerandae sunt. Hac autem theocratia universali regnum designari messianicum inter omnes constat. Hebr. etiam intelligi potest de gentibus quae numero et potestate valent (cf. Is. 9, 3. 4. Mich. 4, 2). Cum etiam in ea theocratia Deus dicatur habitare in medio Israel, id indicatur, quod in symbolo montis Domini ad quem omnes confluunt, proponitur scil. salutem esse ex Iudaeis et reliquas gentes insertione in olivam bonam participes reddi et socios radicis et pinguedinis olivae . (Rom. 11, 17), vel quod aliis in locis throno et regno Messiae in monte Sion constituto designatur (cf. Mich. 4, 8. Ps. 9, 6). Haec cum fiant, omnes scient, experientur, ipsis rebus cognoscent et agnoscent clarissime, vaticinia numine divino afflante esse facta et symbola in visione ostensa non fuisse vanas rerum umbras, verum simulacra divinitus data quibus verus rerum ordo et consilii divini exsecutio adumbretur. Ab hoc vaticinio quod totum tempus messianicum spectat, revertitur angelus ad tempus proxime futurum, quia verba bona et consolatoria utrumque tempus complectuntur (cf. 4, 13 seq.) ; v. 19 «et possidebit Dominus Iudam partem suam in terra sanctificata et eliget adhuc Ilerusalem » ; — cf. Deut. 32, 9 ; sint igitur macti animis ; neve afflicta rerum conditione deprimantur; Dominus enim terram sanctam diligit et populum suum tamquam partem et hereditatem suam assumet, 1i. e. instauratio prosperum .habebit successum ; templum aedificabitur, urbs sancta denuo surget; Deus enim quae semel dedit et promisit fideliter servat. Cum igitur Deus ad opus adeo insigne inchoandum iamiam se accingat, quid magis decet homines, nisi ut venerabundi maiestatem Dei agnoscant et consiliorum eius sublimitatem, magnificentiam, benignitatem supplices adorent ? Unde v. 13 « sileat omnis caro a facie Domini, quia consurrexit de habitaculo sancto suo » ; — cf. Hab. 2, 20; « pulchrum hoc et utile epiphonema ct cohortatio bona volentibus bene audire » (S. Cyr.). « Silentium indicium est supremae auctoritatis aut potestatis in eo cui creatae res omnes obsequuntur » (Calm.) ; nam « silere in Scriptura significat inter alia ita aliquem domitum esse alterius potentia, ut se commovere non audeat, neque contra illum leviter aut obscure quidquam mutire, et ob idipsum revereri et colere » (Sanct.). Dicitur Deus surgere de sede sua coelesti, quando opus aliquod eximium aggreditur (cf. Mich. 4, 3), ad quod quasi robur suum ac fortitudinem assumit. In hebr. quie excitatus est ; id quod respicit S. Hier. scribens: «surgere autem Dominus dicitur et quasi evigilare de somno, quando consurgit in vindictam populi sui iuxta illud quod scriptum est: exsurge, ut quid dormis, Domine » (Ps. 43, 23)? Deus enim, ut notat Lap., visus est dormire, cum nos neglexit et dimisit in captivitate per septuaginta annos; iam vero velut somnum excutiens assumit robur ac fortitudinem. A silentio indicto, quod maximae reverentiae, admirationis, stuporis est indicium, et a symbolo Dei excitati et surgentis de throno suo coelesti rei gerendae magnitudo commendatur. Et revera quid maius fingi potest hisce in terris, quam regnum Dei parvis initiis ac debili adumbratione conditum ac fundatum in templi urbisque instauratione, sed tempore Messiae ingenti incremento et continuis Dei favoribus auctum et ornatum? | 948 Za&cu. 3, 4 TERTIA VISIO : SACERDOTII SANCTITAS RESTITUTA CAP. $. Anc. — Ut satanae, theocratiae adversario, potestas nocendi et opus Dei impediendi eripiatur, munus sacerdotale ad pristinam sanctitatem revocari actione symbolica, sordidis scil. vestibus depositis et splendidis datis, designatur (2, 14-5). Ad quam actionem consequenter admonetur sacerdos vitae sanctitatis, promittitur praesidium coeleste, adventus Messiae, theocratiae instauratio, pacis abundantia, ad quae bona sacerdotium est prolusio quaedam ac praeparatio typica (3, 6-10).
5:1
… the wicked with a view to a judgment of condemnation, says clearly: "Many of those who sleep in the dust shall awake: some to eternal life, others to reproach and eternal infamy." Similar themes are developed by Is. 14, 9-20; 33, 14; Ez. 32, 23; Zach. 5, 1-11; Mal. 4, 1-3.
5:11
SENNAAR (Heb. Šin'ār). - A geographical term that in certain biblical passages means the land of Babylonia, e.g., Gen. 10:10 ff. (even in opposition to Assyria); ibid. 11:1-9 (Tower of Babel [v.]); Dan. 1:2; Zech. 5:11. In others, however, it would seem
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.