Ezekiel 37

The hope of resurrection is the root of every kind of good work, for the expectation of reward braces the soul to productive toil. And whereas every worker is ready to sustain his toil if he can look forward to being repaid for his labors, where toil has no recompense the soul is soon discouraged and the body flags with it. A soldier who expects his share of the spoils is ready for war. But no one is prepared to die serving a king so undiscerning that he does not provide rewards for labors. In the same way, any soul that believes in resurrection takes care for itself, as is right, but any soul that disbelieves the resurrection abandons itself to destruction. A person who believes that the body survives to rise again is careful of this garment and does not soil it by fornicating. But a person who does not believe in the resurrection gives himself up to fornication, abusing his own body as if it were nothing to him. A mighty message and teaching of the holy Catholic church is belief about the resurrection of the dead; mighty and most indispensable. While many deny it, the truth claims credence for it. Greeks deny it, Samaritans disbelieve, while heretics tear away the half. Truth never appears but in one shape, while contradiction assumes a hundred.

For instance, Ezekiel leaps in the spirit of prophecy over all the intervening time, with its vast duration; he stands, by his powers of foresight, in the actual moment of the Resurrection, and, as if he had really gazed on what is still to come, brings it in his description before our eyes. He saw a mighty plain, unfolded to an endless distance before him, and vast heaps of bones upon it flung at random, some this way, some that; and then under an impulse from God these bones began to move and group themselves with their fellows that they once owned, and adhere to the familiar sockets, and then clothe themselves with muscle, flesh, and skin (which was the process called "decorating" in the poetry of the Psalms); a Spirit in fact was giving life and movement to everything that lay there.

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of a plain which was full of bones; and he led me around through them in a circle: and they were very many upon the face of the plain, and exceedingly dry. And he said to me: Son of man, do you think these bones will live? And I said: Lord God, you know. And he said to me: Prophesy concerning these bones, and you shall say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will send spirit into you and you shall live, and I will put sinews upon you and make flesh grow up upon you, and I will stretch skin over you, and I will give you spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he had commanded me. And there was a sound, as I prophesied, and behold, a commotion; and the bones drew near, bones to bones, each one to its joint. And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh came up upon them, and skin was stretched over them from above, and they did not have spirit. And he said to me: Prophesy to the spirit; prophesy, son of man, and you shall say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe upon these slain, and let them come to life again. And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the spirit entered into them; and they lived, and they stood upon their feet, an army great beyond measure, exceedingly. And he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; they say: Our bones have dried up and our hope has perished, and we are cut off. Therefore prophesy and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your tombs, and I will lead you out of your graves, my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves and have led you out of your tombs, my people, and have put my spirit in you and you have lived, and I will make you rest upon your own soil, and you shall know that I am the Lord: I have spoken and I have done it, says the Lord God. (LXX: "And the hand of the Lord came upon me, and he led me out in the spirit of the Lord, and placed me in the midst of a plain, and this was full of the bones of men; and he led me around over them by a circuit round about: and behold, very many upon the face of the plain, and dry exceedingly. And he said to me: Son of man, will these bones live? And I said: Lord, Lord, you know these things. And he said to me: Son of man, prophesy over these bones, and you shall say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord; thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will bring upon you the spirit of life, and I will put sinews upon you and bring flesh upon you, and I will stretch hide over you, and I will give you my spirit, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied as he commanded me. And there was a voice, when I was prophesying, and behold, a commotion; and the bones were drawing near, bones to bones, to its joint. And I looked, and behold, sinews and flesh were springing up upon them, and hides were coming up over them from above, and there was no spirit in them. And he said to me: Prophesy over the spirit, prophesy, son of man, and say to the spirit: Thus says the Lord, the Lord: Come from the four spirits, O spirit, and breathe upon these dead, and let them live. And I prophesied as he had commanded me, and the spirit entered into them; and they lived, and stood on their feet, a congregation large, exceedingly, beyond measure. And the Lord spoke to me, saying: Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel; they say: Our bones have become dry, our hope has perished, we have despaired. Therefore prophesy, and say to them: Thus says the Lord, the Lord: Behold, I will open your memorials, and I will bring you back from your graves, my people, and I will bring you into the land of Israel; and you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves so as to lead you out of your graves, my people, and I will give my spirit in you and you shall live, and I will place you upon your own land, and you shall know that I am the Lord: I have spoken and I will do it, says the Lord, the Lord.") The vision is a famous one, and celebrated in the reading of all the churches of Christ; and for this reason above all I have set down both editions in full, so that no calumny might be raised against us by the Hebrews if they differed even in some words — for they are accustomed to laugh at us and to raise their eyebrows, and with puffed-out cheeks to belch forth their knowledge of the Scriptures, if they have been able to point out in our codices, I will not say a discrepancy of sense — which, if there were one, is rightly censured — but a dissonance of words —. Those, then, who think that the word of God is about the resurrection — which is believed by all, both Jews and Christians — are accustomed to say this: The hand of the Lord came upon the prophet, that is, the Lord and Savior, through whom the Father wrought all things — All things indeed were made by him, and without him nothing was made that was made —. And he led me out, he says, in the spirit of the Lord: the hand of the Lord is understood; and he led him out in the spirit: not in the body but outside the body, and placed him, or set him down, in the midst of a plain which was full of human bones; nor did it allow him to rest, but made him go around all the bones, which were not covered with earth but lying upon the plain: and not only many, but very many and, because of the length of time, dry and exceedingly parched and having no moisture in them.

But those who interpret otherwise will put forward the following: it ought not to bring odium upon us that, by expounding this passage otherwise, we seem to deny the resurrection: for we know that we find in the holy Scriptures much stronger testimonies, and ones in which there is no doubt — such as that of Job: You will raise up my skin, which endures these things, and in Daniel: Many who sleep in the dust of the earth shall rise again, these to life eternal, and these to reproach and to eternal confusion, and in the Gospel: Do not fear those who kill the body and cannot kill the soul; but rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in gehenna, and in the apostle Paul: Who will give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit dwelling in you, and many others —; from which it is clear that we do not deny the resurrection, but contend that these things were not written of the resurrection and that, through the parable of the resurrection, it is the restoration of Israel that is prophesied, which at that time was captive in Babylon. Nor shall we at once give an occasion to heretics if we deny that these things are to be understood of the common resurrection: for the likeness of the resurrection would never be set forth to signify the restoration of the Israelite people, unless the resurrection itself stood firm and were believed to be in the future — since no one confirms uncertain things from things that do not exist —; and our whole assertion tends to this: that, just as it seems unbelievable that a future resurrection should be promised to dry bones worn away by great age, and yet what is promised will be, so also the restoration of the people of Israel, which was led into captivity and scattered over the whole world, seems indeed incredible to those who do not know the power of God, but yet it will be: 'For I' he says 'the Lord have spoken and will do it, as I have promised'. Finally, the earlier prophecies too, in which their ancient state is promised again to the mountains of Israel, and the Lord says to them: And I will turn to you, and you shall be plowed and shall receive seed; and I will multiply men upon you, and all the house of Israel, and again that the house of Israel will dwell in its own land, which, once uncultivated, will afterwards be like a garden of delight, and that the deserted and abandoned cities are fortified, and the house of Israel is multiplied in them like a flock of sheep, and the rest that follows — these pertain to the same sense which is now spoken under the tropology and parable of the dry bones that have no moisture of life at all — that being fulfilled which is written in the Gospel: What seems impossible with men is possible with God —; and they were cast forth from their graves, from the graves of captivity and from the chains by which they were held bound in Babylonian servitude. But the Jews affirm that all these things were fulfilled either under Zerubbabel, as I said before, when a great commotion took place and the kingdom of the Chaldeans was transferred to the Medes and Persians, or at the presence of their Christ, who they think is yet to come. We, however, declare that they were fulfilled spiritually after the cross of the Lord Savior and are fulfilled daily, above all in those who, like Lazarus bound in the grave-bands of their sins, are raised at the voice of the Lord, and are truly the house of Israel, once dry and having no hope of salvation, but who, as the spirit of grace enters into them and the Lord stretches out his hand, are set free from the depth of the underworld; and those who had earlier said: Lord God, you know, may afterwards, once set free, hear this: O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

There were at all events many wonderful and great prophets among ourselves who spoke many things about the future, and they in no way used to bid those who asked them to dig up the bones of the departed. Ezekiel standing near the bones themselves was not only not hindered by [the bones] but added flesh, and nerves and skin to them and brought them back to life again.

The mystery of the resurrection is great and difficult for many of us to understand. It is mentioned also in many other passages of the Scriptures and is proclaimed no less through these words in Ezekiel.

For even if there is some surpassing glory of the eye, it is chiefly in this, that either it itself be the guide of the body, or it not be forsaken by the offices of the other members. And this too I think we are taught through that vision of the prophet Ezekiel, when he says that "bone must be gathered to bone, and joint to joint and sinews and veins and skin", and each thing be restored to its own place. In short, see what the prophet adds: "these bones", he says (he did not say: they are all men, but he said: "these bones") "are the house of Israel". You will have gladness, then, on departing from this life, if you have been holy. But then there will be full gladness, when no member of the body is lacking to you.… Of these bones, while they were still scattered, before he came who was to "collect and gather them into one", that prophetic word too was spoken: "our bones are scattered beside hell". Because, then, they were scattered, therefore he says through another prophet: "let bone be gathered to bone and joint to joint and sinews and veins and skins".… But when he came who "collected the scattered" and who "joined together the dispersed", associating "bone to bone and joint to joint", he began to build up the holy body of the Church.

Again this is the spirit of contemplation; he did not see these bodies that were shown to him with his eyes, but he had them revealed to him by the Holy Spirit.

And when the divine word had asked him whether he thought these bones could live, he replied: 'Lord God, you know, you who have full knowledge of things to come'.

In minute detail the holy prophet Ezekiel teaches and describes how strength will be restored to our dry bones, feeling return and motion added; how, with the return of sinews, the whole structure of the human body will grow strong, and how the driest bones will be clothed with restored flesh and the openings of the veins and the streams of the blood will be concealed by a veil of skin drawn tautly over them. At the very words of the prophet, as we read, the crop of human bodies seems to rise up again to life, and one may see the wide expanses of the fields sprouting with a novel kind of growth.

Note how the prophet shows that there was hearing and movement in the bones before the Spirit of life was poured on them. For, above, both the dry bones are bidden to hear, as if they had the sense of hearing, and that on this each of them came to its own joint is pointed out by the words of the prophet.…Great is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that the prophet is taken as a witness of the future resurrection, that we, too, might see it with his eyes. For all could not be taken as witnesses, but in that one all we are witnesses, for neither does lying come on a holy person or error on so great a prophet.

And the Lord said to him: Prophesy concerning the bones (or over these bones), and you shall say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. In this it is to be wondered at how he spoke to dry bones, which, before the sinews, flesh and skin and the life-giving spirit, could hear the word of God; and first bones are bound to other bones by the bonds of sinews, then they are filled with flesh, and over them, for beauty, skin is stretched to cover the unsightliness of the bare flesh, and then they receive the spirit which makes them live, so that, after they have lived, they may then know that he is the Lord.

There should … be certain bones of the inner person in which the bond of union and harmony of spiritual powers is collected. Just as the bones by their own firmness protect the tenderness of the flesh, so also in the church there are some who through their own constancy are able to carry the infirmities of the weak. And as the bones are joined to each other through articulations by sinews and fastenings that have grown on them, so also would be the bond of charity and peace, which achieves a certain natural junction and union of the spiritual bones in the church of God.

But why, my beloved, was it that those dead did not rise because of the one word [spoken] through Ezekiel, and why was not their resurrection, both of bones and spirit, accomplished [through that one word]? For look! By one word the bones were fitted together, and by another the Spirit came. It was in order that full perfection might be left for our Lord Jesus Christ, who with one utterance and one word will raise up at the last day every human body. For it was not the word that was insufficient but its bearer was inferior.

Of course I could do nothing—I could not last out one hour—without continual conscious recourse to what I called Spirit. But the fine, philosophical distinction between this and what ordinary people call "prayer to God" breaks down as soon as you start doing it in earnest. Idealism can be talked, and even felt; it cannot be lived. It became patently absurd to go on thinking of "Spirit" as either ignorant of, or passive to, my approaches. Even if my own philosophy were true, how could the initiative lie on my side? My own analogy, as I now first perceived, suggested the opposite: if Shakespeare and Hamlet could ever meet, it must be Shakespeare's doing. Hamlet could initiate nothing. Perhaps, even now, my Absolute Spirit still differed in some way from the God of religion. The real issue was not, or not yet, there. The real terror was that if you seriously believed in even such a "God" or "Spirit" as I admitted, a wholly new situation developed. As the dry bones shook and came together in that dreadful valley of Ezekiel's, so now a philosophical theorem, cerebrally entertained, began to stir and heave and throw off its gravecloths, and stood upright and became a living presence. I was to be allowed to play at philosophy no longer.

So when the prophet spoke what he had been commanded, at once a commotion arose; and the bones were fitted into their framework, bound with sinews, full of flesh, covered with hide; and there lay human bodies that did not have spirit.

For the prophets have proclaimed two advents of His: the one, that which is already past, when He came as a dishonoured and suffering Man; but the second, when, according to prophecy, He shall come from heaven with glory, accompanied by His angelic host, when also He shall raise the bodies of all men who have lived, and shall clothe those of the worthy with immortality, and shall send those of the wicked, endued with eternal sensibility, into everlasting fire with the wicked devils. And that these things also have been foretold as yet to be, we will prove. By Ezekiel the prophet it was said: "Joint shall be joined to joint, and bone to bone, and flesh shall grow again; and every knee shall bow to the Lord, and every tongue shall confess Him." And in what kind of sensation and punishment the wicked are to be, hear from what was said in like manner with reference to this; it is as follows: "Their worm shall not rest, and their fire shall not be quenched;" and then shall they repent, when it profits them not.

If you are skeptical that ashes can be reassembled into bodies and souls restored to their vessels, Ezekiel will be your witness, for long ago the whole process of resurrection was revealed to him by the Lord. In his pages you will behold the dusty remains of people of old come to life over the entire region, bones scattered far and wide over the broad plain spontaneously hastening to fuse together when bidden, sprouting sinews from the innermost marrow and then drawing the skin over the flesh that had grown on them. Then the limbs are perfectly ordered more quickly than words can tell, and from the ancient dust stand forth people made new.

The proclamation, he says is made by me, by divine command. The bodies that were bound together came back to life, and they experienced a resurrection, and the multitude of those who rose again was not small.

Therefore the prophet prophesies to the spirit, and says: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O spirit — namely from the four quarters of the world, so that, just as in the first creation of man: God breathed into his face and he was made into a living soul, so also the second creation, that is, the resurrection of the dead, may be given life by the breathing of the spirit —, and the spirit entered the human bodies, and at once they lived and stood upon their feet — whence also the resurrection of the dead is called a 'congregation', or church, 'large' and, as it is in the Hebrew, 'a great army'; and at that time is fulfilled: Send forth your spirit and they shall be created, and you shall renew the face of the earth —.

He will contemplate truly admirable souls that have been brought back from the grave to reanimate completely consumed bodies.

But what follows: And he said to me: Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel, seems to raise a question, in that it is said not of the general resurrection but properly of the resurrection of the house of Israel, which says: 'Our bones have dried up and our hope has perished, and we are cut off from our land' or 'we have utterly despaired'; and as they say these things, Ezekiel is compelled to prophesy a third time and to say to the dry bones: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your tombs, and here it is asked, if he opens tombs, how he said above: And they were very many upon the face of the plain, and exceedingly dry. And I will lead, he says, you out of your graves, my people — according to what is written in the Gospel: The hour comes when those who are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who have done good shall come forth to the resurrection of life, and again: Those who hear shall live —. And if, as some think, the divine word speaks of the general resurrection, what need was there to say specifically: And I will bring you into the land of Israel, when throughout the whole world the dead must rise from those places in which they were buried? And when, he says, I have led you out of your tombs and have put my spirit in you and you have lived, then: 'I will make you rest upon your own soil, so that, after you have rested in the land of Israel, you may then know that I am the Lord, who have fulfilled my promises in deed'. Those, then, who understand these words of the general resurrection refer what seems to raise a question: These bones are the whole house of Israel, to the resurrection of the saints — of which the apostle John also speaks in the Revelation: Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection; over him the second death has no power —, namely that the resurrection of the saints is one thing, that of sinners another — whence also it is said in the first psalm: The ungodly shall not rise again in judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous —; and the land of Israel, which the Lord promises to those who rise again, they affirm to be that of which it is written: Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land, and: I will please the Lord in the region of the living. These things are said by those who hold that Ezekiel wrote, as we have said, of the general resurrection.

It is a prerogative of God to raise the dead.

We notice here how the operations of the Spirit of life are again resumed; we know in what way the dead are raised from the opening tombs. And is it in truth a matter of wonder that the sepulchers of the dead are opened at the bidding of the Lord, when the whole earth from its utmost limits is shaken by one thunderclap, the sea overflows its bounds and again checks the course of its waves?

But if the Jews and judaizing Christians wish to refer these things to the reign of a thousand years, they will be compelled by necessity to accept that all who have been saved will dwell in the land of Israel, that Jerusalem is to be built, the temple to be erected, all the ceremonies of the law to be practiced, the sabbath to be observed, the injury of circumcision to be received, that there is to be eating and drinking, and that an abundance of riches is to be esteemed as the highest blessedness and all wealth, when the Apostle says: Food for the belly and the belly for foods: but God will destroy both it and them; but just as, in the type of the resurrection, the preceding prophetic word showed the restoration of the Jewish people, not carnal but spiritual, so also this prophecy pertains not at all to the happiness of the flesh but to that of the soul, and to the faith of Christ, by which we are cleansed in baptism, whose kingdom is for ever, so that we may not await as things to come what has already been accomplished and what we know is accomplished daily.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write upon it: Of Judah and of the sons of Israel his companions. And take another stick and write upon it: Of Joseph — the stick of Ephraim — and of the house of Israel and of his companions. And join them one to the other for yourself into one stick; and they shall be in union in your hand. And when the sons of your people say to you, speaking: Will you not show us what you mean by these things? you shall speak to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph — which is in the hand of Ephraim — and the tribes of Israel which are joined to him, and I will put them together with the stick of Judah and make them one stick, and they shall be one in his hand. And the sticks on which you have written shall be in your hand before their eyes, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from the midst of the nations to which they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and I will bring them to their own soil, and I will make them one nation in the land on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be ruling over all, and they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. Nor shall they be defiled any more with their idols and abominations and with all their iniquities, and I will save them out of all their dwelling places in which they sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And my servant David shall be king over them, and there shall be one shepherd of them all; they shall walk in my judgments, and they shall keep my commandments and do them. And they shall dwell upon the land which I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their sons and their sons' sons for ever, and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. And I will strike with them a covenant of peace, it shall be an everlasting pact for them, and I will establish them and multiply them; and I will put my sanctification in the midst of them for ever, and my tabernacle shall be among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctification shall be in the midst of them for ever. (LXX: "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: And you, son of man, take to yourself one rod and write upon it: Judah and the sons of Israel who are added to him. And you shall take to yourself a second rod and you shall inscribe it: Joseph — the rod of Ephraim — and all the sons of Israel who are added to him. And you shall join them to each other for yourself into one rod, so as to couple them; and they shall be in your hand. And it shall be, when the sons of Israel say to you, speaking: Will you not show us what these things are to you? you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord, the Lord: Behold, I will take into the tribe of Joseph — through the hand of Ephraim — the tribes of Israel which are joined to him, and I will put them all upon the tribe of Judah and they shall be into one rod, and they shall be one in the hand of Judah. And the rods which you inscribed shall be thus, in your hand in their presence, and you shall say to them: Thus says the Lord, the Lord: Behold, I will take the whole house of Israel from the midst of the nations into which they have entered, and I will gather them from all who are round about it, and I will bring them into the land of Israel, and I will make them into one nation in my land on the mountains of Israel; and one prince shall be over all these as king, and they shall no longer be into two nations, nor shall they be divided any more into two kingdoms. And let them no longer be defiled with their idols and with their stumbling blocks and with all their impieties, and I will rescue them from all their iniquities in which they sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they shall be to me for a people: I will be to them for God. And my servant David shall be prince in their midst, and there shall be one shepherd of all these, for they shall walk in my precepts and keep my judgments and do them. And they shall dwell in their own land which I gave to my servant Jacob, where their fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell in it, they and their sons and their sons' sons for ever, and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. And I will appoint for them a testament of peace, it shall be an everlasting testament with them, and I will give them and multiply them; and I will set my holy things in their midst for ever, and my tabernacle shall be among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, when my holy things shall be in their midst for ever.") The history of the Kings relates that under Rehoboam the son of Solomon the twelve tribes were divided, and that two, that is, Judah and Benjamin, with the Levites and priests, followed Rehoboam, who reigned in Jerusalem: and his kingdom was called Judah; but that the other ten tribes — who said: We have no part in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse — submitted their necks to Jeroboam the son of Nebat, of the tribe of Ephraim, who was the son of Joseph, and served him: and that they were called, from the greater part of the people, by the ancient name Israel; and that for a long time the kingdom of Judah and Israel waged conflicts against each other and obeyed their own kings, and that first the ten tribes were taken captive by the Assyrians, and, after some time, those which were called Judah were led captive by the Chaldeans into Babylon; and that the tribe of Judah was restored to its ancient land after seventy years, but the ten tribes, which were called Israel, serve as captives to this day in the mountains and cities of the Medes. The present prophecy, therefore, promises these things from the mouth of the Lord: that both realms are to be joined together, that is, the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel, and that the rod of Ephraim, who was begotten of the stock of Joseph, is to be taken up with the remaining tribes which are associated with him, and joined to the rod of Judah, so that they are no longer called Judah and Israel but are called by one name, Judah, and, under the figure of the prophet, who goes before as a type of the Lord Savior, are held not by two hands but by the one hand of Christ.

But if we wish, following the prophecy of Hosea, which is almost wholly directed to the ten tribes, that is, to Joseph and Ephraim and Samaria and Israel, to understand the knowledge falsely so called and the various crowds of heretics, we shall say this: that in the last time, when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and all Israel has been saved, then the hostile peoples also, who fought against the house of Judah and the confession of the Church, will give themselves up to the faith of the Church, and, having abandoned all their errors and the princes of this world who are being destroyed and their own patriarchs who led them down into the abyss of blasphemies, they will rise up, and leave their idols and their abominations which they had fashioned out of their own heart, and from all their dwelling places in which they sinned will pass over to the faith of the Church, and be cleansed, and be the people of Christ, and he will be their God; which I know I have dictated more fully on the prophet Hosea.

And that the Lord rejected the tribe of Ephraim and chose the tribe of Judah, we read also in the Psalms, where it is written: And he rejected the tabernacle of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; but he chose the tribe of Judah, of which it is written: A prince shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his thighs, until he comes for whom it is laid up; and he shall be the expectation of the nations: for truly at the coming of the Lord Savior the 'two rods' and, as it is set down in the Hebrew, the 'two sticks', were joined into one scepter, and in the baptism of Christ those long separated are united, so that they become one new man and one nation, and are no longer defiled with idols and abominations but, made clean by the washing, are the people of God, and Christ rules over them, and they dwell upon the land of the meek and the land of the living which he had given to his servant Jacob, who supplanted the people of Israel in his mother's womb.

So they are truly said to assemble together who hasten with devoted mind to believe in the inseparable Trinity, which is the one God. There follows too the happy change, so that the kingdoms of earth and heaven serve the Lord, and they are then all the more free since they are bound to their Maker in faithful service.

For he says that he takes the sons of Israel from the midst of the nations to which they were led captive, and will lead them back into the land and into the mountains of Israel — of which we read above —, and that they are to be called one nation and ruled by the authority of one king, so that they are no longer defiled with their idols and abominations; but that, when they have been freed from the dwelling places of captivity in which they had sinned, they are to be cleansed of all vices and will be the people of God, so that the Lord is their God.

And my servant, he says, David shall be king over them — of whom the angel also speaks in the Gospel, saying that he will reign over the house of Jacob and of his kingdom there will be no end —; and he will be of such clemency that he is called not only king but also shepherd, so that the name of shepherd may soften the proud name of power; and they, after they have become one nation and have dwelt in the land and on the mountains of Israel, will walk in all the judgments of the Lord and keep his precepts; and they will dwell not in another land but in that which he gave to his servant Jacob, in which their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and the other saints dwelt; and not only will they themselves dwell there, but also their sons and grandsons — according to that line of Vergil: And the sons of sons and those who will be born of them —; and they will dwell there not for a short time, but for ever.

'But do you wish' he says 'to know who this king and shepherd is? He is the one of whom I spoke above: My servant David: Who, though he was in the form of God, did not think it robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and became obedient to the Father unto death, even the death of the cross. And when they are under such a king, I will strike with them a covenant of peace': not, as in the old testament, a covenant of contests and wars, but a pact of peace: Which surpasses all understanding — of which the Savior speaks to the apostles: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you, and the prophet says: His place was made in peace —. And when he has founded and established them in the Church — so that they can say: He set my feet upon a rock —, then they will be multiplied, either in the number of believers or in the multiplication of virtues.

And I will put, he says, my sanctification (or sanctuary) in the midst of them for ever, which the Jews interpret of the temple that was built under Zerubbabel — but how will what is said, 'for ever', be able to stand, when that temple, which was built by Zerubbabel and afterwards restored by many, was burned by Roman fire? —. All these things are to be referred to the Church and to the times of the Savior, when his tabernacle was set in the Church, where he has become our God and we his people. And it is the advancement of all, that they may know that he is the Lord; and that he himself sanctifies Israel, not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, when his sanctification has been set in the midst of believers for ever.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [Ezekiel 37:27] Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

If he has walked among us in this life, he will dwell among us in that other one: who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

To be made partakers of Christ, both intellectually and by our senses, fills us with every blessing. For he dwells in us, first, by the Holy Spirit, and we are his abode, according to that which was said of old by one of the holy prophets.