Zechariah 11

Open your gates, O Lebanon, and let fire devour your cedars. Howl, O fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the magnificent have been laid waste. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, because the fortified forest has been cut down. LXX: Open your gates, O Lebanon, and let fire devour your cedars. Let the pine howl, for the cedar has fallen, for the nobles have been crushed. Howl, O oaks of Bashanitis, because the wooded forest has been brought down. Plainly Lebanon, to which the prophetic word turns, saying: Open your gates, O Lebanon, is understood as the temple of the Jews, which, restored, or rather built, by Zerubbabel, is sung as destined to be overthrown again by Vespasian and Titus. And because he had called the temple Lebanon μεταφορικῶς (metaphorically), he keeps the figure in the rest as well, so that by the cedars and fir trees and oaks of Bashan and the wooded forest he signifies the princes and priests and people of the Jews. And Lebanon opens its gates so that the Roman army may enter, and fire devours its cedars, so that either all things are laid waste by burning, or the leaders and princes are consumed by the onslaught of the enemy.

Some, not understanding this place, refer Lebanon and the fir trees and pines and the oaks of Bashan, and the wooded or fortified forest, to the opposing powers, of which it is also said in Ezekiel, under the name of Asshur and of Pharaoh: Behold, Asshur was a cypress on Lebanon, fair in its branches, and thick with shade, and lofty in its height, and its top was among the clouds; water nourished it, the abyss raised it on high, and the rest, which are said both of Asshur and of Pharaoh, and they think these are said either of the opposing powers, or of all the proud and the princes, of whom we also read in the psalm: The voice of the Lord breaking the cedars, and the Lord will break the cedars of Lebanon, and in another place: The day of the Lord Sabaoth upon everyone who is insolent and proud, and upon everyone who is lofty and exalted, and a little after: And upon every cedar of Lebanon that is lofty, and upon every oak tree of Bashan. And of this Lebanon, they assert, it is prophesied: Lebanon shall fall with its lofty ones. But let us follow the former interpretation, especially since what follows also agrees with this sense.

The fir trees howl because the cedar has fallen, the princes and priests mourning one another in their own devastation. And what he said obscurely before, he now sets out more plainly: Because the magnificent have been laid waste. I want to know what are the cedars of Lebanon that were burned, what are the fir trees to which howling is enjoined, what is the pine that has fallen; the magnificent, he says, have been laid waste. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, that is, of confusion and ignominy, because the most fortified forest, which in Hebrew is called besor, and was translated by the LXX as wooded, has been cut down; because the temple, which had grown up in impregnable strength, and had been built by various kings and princes, and afterwards by Herod, was destroyed when the Roman attacked it.

The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their magnificence is laid waste; the voice of the roaring of lions, because the pride of the Jordan is laid waste. LXX: The voice of shepherds mourning, since their magnificence has been made wretched. The voice of lions roaring, because the roaring of the Jordan is afflicted. Part of the preceding passage is contained in these little verses too. Those whom he had called cedars, firs, pines and oaks of Bashan — and, explaining what these trees were, he had added, saying: Since the magnificent are laid waste — he now, by another μεταφορὰν (metaphor), says are shepherds, that is, princes and teachers; and those who were first among the people, he says, ought to weep and mourn, because their magnificence and beauty and glory has been laid waste and consumed, namely the temple, in which they gloried. And the voice, he says, of the roaring of lions: those whom he calls lofty trees, and again shepherds, the same he now calls lions. And because he had said lions, he keeps the metaphor, so as to add: Since the pride of the Jordan is laid waste, or the roaring and sound of the water running down, which in Hebrew is called gaon. And just as, according to the lie of the land of Judea, he compared the height of the temple to the height of Lebanon — for nothing in the land of promise is loftier than Lebanon, nor more wooded and dense —, so to the river Jordan, which is the greatest in Judea, and near which lions dwell, he joined the roaring of lions, on account of the burning of their thirst; and on account of the nearness of the desert and the breadth of the vast wilderness, and the reed-beds and sedge-beds. Hence it is also said through the prophet: The lion has come up from the Jordan, meaning to show that Nebuchadnezzar went out from his seat, like a lion from its lair, against Jerusalem. Another way: The voice of the roaring of lions, since the pride of the Jordan is laid waste. The voice, he says, of the nobles, because the temple has been destroyed, from which they always hoped for help, and which once nourished just, warlike and mighty lions.

Thus says the Lord my God: Feed the cattle of slaughter, which those who had possessed them were killing, and were not grieving; and they were selling them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we have become rich; and their shepherds were not sparing them. LXX: Thus says the Lord Almighty: Feed the sheep of slaughter, which those who possessed them were killing, and they did not repent; and those who were selling them were saying: Blessed be the Lord, and we have become rich; and their shepherds suffered nothing over them. Where the prophecy is most manifest, and through the metaphor the true order of the history is narrated, the interpretation of tropology is superfluous: that we should say that some shepherds are good and others bad, and refer this as much to the old people as to the new, that is, as much to the priests and princes of the Jews as to the bishops and presbyters of the Christians; and that whatever shepherds have been negligent and have scandalized one of the least, they are the ones who feed the cattle of slaughter, and suffer nothing over them, nor grieve, nor can say with the Apostle: Who is scandalized, and I do not burn? And that they sell the peoples entrusted to them, of whom it is written: Who devour my people as a meal of bread; and gain riches from the deaths of others, praising those who take plunder from the wretched, and blessing the wicked. Let others interpret these things as they will: let us keep the order of explanation which we once took up. Since Lebanon has been opened, and its cedars and firs have been consumed by burning flame, and the howling of the shepherds has been heard, and the roaring of the lions, because all the beauty and pride of the Jordan has been laid waste and consumed, therefore the Lord my God said these things to me: O prophet Zechariah, this word is addressed to you: Feed the flock of slaughter, that is, let it be nourished meanwhile for now and grow, which afterwards is to be slaughtered by enemies; which sheep and cattle the princes of the Romans, who possessed them and held them by right of victory, were killing and not pitying, or else were sacrificing; and they did not feel grief, that is, they suffered no harm for so great a cruelty; and they were selling those whom they kept not out of clemency but for the price. Let us read the old histories, and the traditions of the lamenting Jews, how at the Tent of Abraham — where now a most crowded market is held every year —, after the last overthrow, which they suffered under Hadrian, many thousands of men were sold; and those who could not be sold were carried over into Egypt, cut down as much by shipwreck and famine as by the slaughter of the nations. These victors, then, and avengers of the Lord, who were killing and not grieving, and were selling the cattle and saying: Blessed be the Lord, we have become rich, held this opinion: The Jews offended because of their sins, therefore we have crushed them, and from their price we have become rich. And no wonder, he says, if the enemies by the right of victors were killing the cattle and not grieving, were selling them and glorying in their crime; since their own shepherds and teachers did not spare them, and by their fault the flock was handed over to wolves.

Whenever I remember Zechariah, I shudder at the reaping hook and likewise at his testimony against the priests, his hints in reference to the celebrated Joshua, the high priest, whom he represents as stripped of filthy garments and then clothed in rich priestly apparel. As for words and charges to Joshua which he puts into the angel's mouth, let them be treated with silent respect, as referring perhaps to a greater and higher object than those who are many priests. But even at his right hand stood the devil, to resist him, a fact, in my eyes, of no slight significance and demanding no slight fear and watchfulness. Who is so bold and adamant of soul as not to tremble and be abashed at the charges and reproaches deliberately urged against the rest of the shepherds? A voice, he says, of the howling of the shepherds. A voice of the roaring lions, for this has befallen them. Does he not all but hear the wailing as if close at hand, and himself wail with the afflicted. A little further is a more striking and impassioned strain. Feed, he says, the flock of slaughter, whose possessors slay them without repentance. They sell them saying, "Blessed be the Lord, for we are rich," yet their own shepherds are without feeling for them. Therefore I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord almighty. And again: "Awake, O sword, against the shepherds, and smite the shepherds, and scatter the sheep, and I will turn my hand upon the shepherds"; and, "My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will visit the lambs," adding to the threat those who rule over the people. So industriously does he apply himself to his task that he cannot easily free himself from denunciations, and I am afraid that if I referred to the whole series, I should exhaust your patience. This must then suffice for Zechariah.

Because, then, their shepherds were not sparing them, and they themselves were the first to devour my people, therefore I too will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land of Judea, says the Lord. For he speaks of this land, of which his discourse was, and not of the whole world, as the Jews, interpreting badly, wish to twist God's sentence away from themselves in another direction. For after the overthrow of the temple — which befell them for this reason, that for forty-two years after the Lord suffered, though granted a space of time, they would not repent —, I will let loose, he says, each one against his neighbor; and they will cut one another down in mutual slaughter, or else in the very siege of the temple, when the Roman army shall surround Jerusalem; for there will be such wars and discords among the Jews themselves that the people will be divided into three parts. Let us read Josephus and the seven books of the Jewish Captivity, and we shall see by the truth of history that this prophecy has been fulfilled. And they shall cut down, he says, the land: there is no doubt that the Romans destroyed all the land and all the cities of the Jews. And I will not rescue them from their hand. Hear, O Jew, you who promise yourself the vainest hopes, and do not hear the Lord saying and affirming: I will not rescue from their hands, that your captivity among the Romans is to be eternal.

And I will no longer spare those who dwell on the land, says the Lord. Behold, I will deliver men, each one into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they shall cut down the land, and I will not rescue from their hand; and I will feed the cattle of slaughter for this, O poor of the flock. LXX: Therefore I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. And behold, I will deliver men, each one into the hands of his neighbor, and into the hand of his kings; and they shall cut down the land, and I will not rescue from their hand, and I will feed the sheep of slaughter in Canaanitis. What the LXX translated at the end of the passage: And I will feed the sheep of slaughter in the land of Canaan, is not in the Hebrew, and is translated by none of the other translators.

And I will feed the cattle of slaughter, so that the Jews may always be nourished for death; because this is the sentence of God: O you who are the poor of the flock, that is, the just of Israel, who have believed in the Lord Jesus and received the Son of God, hear what is said, and learn the mysteries of the following passage. But what we read according to the Seventy: And I will feed the sheep of slaughter in the land of Canaan, we can understand thus: that the Lord feeds the people of the Jews, which is destined for death and scattered through the whole world — that is, in the land of Canaan and of the Gentiles —, and nourishes it for sacrifice.

The Creator and shepherd, whose sheep know his voice and follow him, took for himself two staffs, or two σκυτάλας, that is, sticks, which in Hebrew are called macaloth, to show the bearing of a shepherd. One staff he called Beauty: that is, under Noah he protected the whole human race with his blessing, when, the world being restored, sins had not yet made it foul. And therefore the calling of all the nations is called beautiful and fair, because nothing is more just than that the parent of the universe should call all equally, whom he begot in equal condition. And the other he called Cords; for when the Most High was dividing the nations and scattering the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of the Lord. And his people Jacob became the portion of the Lord; Israel the cord of his inheritance. And I fed, he says, the flock: either Israel itself, or, together with Israel, the whole human race.

Some have understood the two callings as those of the Jews and of the Gentiles: by the first name Israel, and by the last the Christians. But how the Christian calling was cast away first, and the Jews remained and were fed by God, they did not sufficiently consider.

And I took for myself two staffs: one I called Beauty, and the other I called Cords; and I fed the flock.

And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was straitened over them, since their soul also varied against me. And I said: I will not feed you; what dies, let it die, and what is cut off, let it be cut off, and let the rest devour each one the flesh of his neighbor. LXX: And I will take for myself two staffs: one I called Beauty, and the other I called Cord; and I will feed the sheep. And I will take away three shepherds in one month, and my soul will grow heavy upon them, since their souls also were roaring against me. And I said: I will not feed them; what dies, let it die, and what fails, let it fail, and let the rest devour each one the flesh of his neighbor. Above he had said: For this, O poor of the flock; and, a break being made by ἀποσιωπήσει (by aposiopesis), there was understood: Give heed, because the gates of Lebanon are opened, and the oaks of Bashan, the firs and the cedars are cut down; and he had added, threatening: I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. And he seemed to say this of the Jewish people alone, because, having killed the prophets, they had also laid hands on the Son of God, and with rash voice had cried out: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. Now the Creator and Lord of the universe sets forth the mysteries of his world, and says that he had two staffs, one of which he called Beauty, the other Cords, and that with the two staffs he fed the flock bound together; and also that he cut off three shepherds in one month, and that his soul was straitened, or indignant, or — as the Seventy translated —, my soul will grow heavy upon them; there is no doubt that he means the shepherds whom he cut off in one month. And he gives the reason why he was so indignant with the shepherds as to cut them off in one month: Since their soul also, he says, varied against me. And the sense is: They did not love me with a full heart, nor did the hireling shepherds love the true shepherd: For the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. Wherefore I too, in indignation, pronounced sentence, and to those very shepherds whom I had cut off in my indignation, or else, the shepherds being cut off, to the flock left behind, I said: I will not feed you; but what has chosen death, let it die by its own will, and let them devour one another and tear one another apart in mutual slaughter. We have said this παραφραστικῶς (by paraphrase), to pave the path for the explanation to come.

Let us understand this according to the letter of Moses and Aaron. Moses indeed was led out, and Aaron, but not led into the land of promise. Jesus succeeded him. See what is written. Moses died in the desert, Aaron died, Miriam died; and this is what is written in the prophet: "And I will strike," it says, "three shepherds in one month." They died: for they could not enter into the land of promise. They only saw over against the land of promise, and could not enter. The Jews saw the land of promise, and could not enter. For they died in the desert, and their corpses are in the wilderness, of those who died in the desert. We, the sons, under Jesus as leader, came to the Jordan, and entered into the land of promise, and came to Gilgal, and were a second time circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, and the reproach of Egypt was taken away from us. Then Jesus himself our leader holds the sword, and always goes before us, and fights for us, and conquers our adversaries, and for seven days we go around Jericho, that is, this world. We sing with the priestly trumpets, and we go around Jericho, that is, this world, and its walls fall, and we enter in, and we are the victors. Then we conquer the city of Ai: afterward we come to Jebus, we come to Hazor, we come to other cities; we conquer the adversaries whom under Moses we could not conquer.

And I cut off, he says, three shepherds in one month. I have read in the commentaries of a certain writer that the shepherds cut off by the Lord's indignation are to be understood as the priests and false prophets and kings of the Jews; because after the passion of Christ all were cut off at one time, those of whom Jeremiah speaks: The priests did not say: Where is the Lord? Those who held my law did not know me. And the shepherds transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and followed idols. Not content with this explanation, he wants the three shepherds cut off in one month to be taken as those who have sinned against the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; for all heretics sin either against one, or against two, or against three persons at once. Let him have said what he wished, for one must not detract from another's sense. To us the three shepherds who were cut off in one month seem to be Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam; of whom Miriam died in the first month, which is called Nisan, in the desert of Zin, and in the same place, on account of the water of contradiction, and in the same month, Moses and Aaron were condemned not to enter the land of promise. And so it came about that of the three shepherds, one was cut off by present death, the others by the sentence of a death to come. And my soul, he says, was straitened over them, namely over the three shepherds whom I had set over my flock. Because their soul also varied against me; for they did not glorify me at the water of contradiction. But if we refer it to the people, that the soul of the people varied against God, it must be explained thus: I was indignant with them for this reason, that they too, wavering between me and idols, fought against me in various ways.

Wherefore in indignation I said to Moses: I will not feed you; let me alone and I will destroy them. But when, in anger, he says, let me alone, he invites entreaty, and shows that he can be held back by him. What dies, he says, let it die, and what is cut off, let it be cut off; let the bodies of all fall in the wilderness, and, turned to sedition, let them be torn by one another's bites like beasts, and let none enter the land of promise.

We find the God of the universe often giving rein to humanity because of the excess of its wickedness, and he allows the human race to be borne where it will. Of this he has warned us speaking through his prophet to Israel: "And I said, 'I will not tend you. That which dies, let it die, and that which perishes, let it perish; and for the rest let each devour the flesh of his neighbor.' " When wicked rulers are in control, and cruel, harsh masters rule households, then we should implore the one who directs the universe and, by conversion of life and a change in our ways, make supplication, rousing him to help us, fervently begging him to give us better times.

And I took my staff which was called Beauty, and I cut it off, to make void my covenant which I had struck with all peoples. And it was made void on that day, and thus the poor of the flock who keep watch for me knew that it is the word of the Lord. LXX: And I will take my fair staff, and I will cast it away, to scatter my testament which I disposed toward all peoples; and it shall be scattered on that day, and the Canaanites shall know, the sheep that are kept for me, that it is the word of the Lord. After the calling of Israel, and the taking up of the second staff, which was called Cord, the Lord took the first staff, the nations of the whole world, which were called beautiful, and cut them off from his worship, because they venerated idols, and all have turned aside, together they have become useless. And setting out more plainly what this staff was, he added: To make void my covenant which I had struck with all peoples. For as soon as Israel was taken up, the crowd of the nations was cast away; and as soon as the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue was born — who later in the Gospel, when she was twelve years old, is related to have fallen sick and died —, the αἱμοῤῥοῦσα (the woman with a flow of blood) began to flow with blood and to be tormented by a perpetual infirmity.

And it was made void, he says, my covenant which I had entered into with all the nations. And the poor of the flock understood, that is, the people Israel which keeps my commands, that it is the word of the Lord, that is, that it is the Lord's will to cast off the nations that deny, and in Abraham to take up Israel that confesses. For what we have translated: And thus the poor of the flock knew, the Seventy translated: And the Canaanites shall know, the sheep that are kept for me, which some expound thus: The people of the Jews shall know, to whom it was said: Seed of Canaan, and not of Judah, which is now kept by my ceremonies; or else, because Canaanites is interpreted 'ready for humiliation', those shall know who were once made ready to be humbled by the Lord and to be abandoned. But why, for what we have translated: Thus the poor, they said: Canaanites, the cause is manifest; for among the Hebrews 'thus' is called chen, 'poor' anie; they, joining the two words into one, for what is: Thus the poor, that is, chen anie, translated the name of the Canaanite nation.

Hear now in regard to thirty pieces of silver: "And I will say to them, 'If it seems good to you, give me my wages, or refuse.' " One recompense is due me for curing the blind and the lame, and I receive another; instead of thanksgiving, dishonor, and instead of worship, insult. Do you see how Scripture foresaw all this? "And they counted out my wages, thirty pieces of silver." O prophetic accuracy! A great and unerring wisdom of the Holy Spirit! For he did not say ten or twenty but thirty, exactly the right amount. Tell also what happened to this payment, O prophet! Does he who received it keep it, or does he give it back? And after its return what becomes of it? The prophet says, "So I took thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry." Compare with the prophecy of the Gospel, which says, "Judas repented and flung the pieces of silver into the temple and withdrew."

And I said to them: If it is good in your eyes, bring my wage, and if not, be still; and they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: Cast them to the statuary, the fine price at which I was priced by them; and I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary. LXX: And I will say to them: If it is good in your sight, give, setting my wage, or refuse. And they set my wage, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: Put them down into the furnace, and consider whether it is tested, as I was tested for them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and put them into the house of the Lord into the furnace. Since the poor of the Israelite flock, who keep my commands, knew that what I spoke was the word of the Lord, and that what I said was true — what I said, that is, to the poor of the flock: If it pleases you; for you are men, and once for all I created you with free will, you to whom I also spoke in the desert: If you hear me, you shall eat the good things of the land; in return for this taking up, by which I cast off the whole human race and chose you for myself as a flock of my own, and, the Creator of all, willed to have a small cord, give me back my wage, that is, keep my precepts. But if you do not wish to pay the wage, and it does not please you in your eyes to be reckoned by my name, refuse openly, and do what you will. And they then indeed answered Moses: All things whatsoever the Lord says, we will do. But at the end of the times, in return for my having chosen them from the midst of the nations, and freed them from the iron furnace of Egypt, they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver, giving them to Judas the traitor for my blood.

The Jews, interpreting this place maliciously, relate the thirty pieces of silver to thirty commands of the law which they are ordered to do in the law, and again thirty-six others which are forbidden in the law; and they say that they are told to return the silver of the Lord's commands to their modeller and moulder, God, and that because they would not do it, they were cast away. I wished to indicate briefly what they think; otherwise it is wearisome to unroll their most long-winded explanation, so that we may pass on to the rest.

Then was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah, saying: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one valued, whom they valued from the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed for me. This testimony is not found in Jeremiah; but in Zechariah, who is almost the last of the twelve prophets, a certain likeness is reported, and although the sense does not differ much, yet both the order and the words are different. I read recently, in a certain Hebrew volume which a Hebrew of the Nazarene sect brought to me, an apocryphal Jeremiah, in which I found these things written word for word. But still it seems to me that the testimony is rather taken from Zechariah, in the common manner of the evangelists and apostles, who, passing over the order of the words, bring forward only the sense from the Old Testament as an example.

Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; And gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord appointed me. [Zechariah 11:12]

But since what the evangelist says after these things (then was fulfilled that which had been spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying the things which are written) — this is not found to have been prophesied by Jeremiah anywhere in his books, whether those which are read in the churches or those which are recited among the Jews — but if anyone can know, let him show where it is written. I suspect, however, that either it is an error of the Scripture and Jeremiah is put for Zechariah, or that there is some secret writing of Jeremiah in which it is written. Now such is the text in Zechariah the prophet: "and I will say to them: if it is good in your sight, give me my wages, or refuse them; and they appointed my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me: put them down into the furnace, and see if it is genuine, even as I was proved for their sake. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and put them into the house of the Lord, into the furnace". But if anyone saying this supposes that he stumbles, let him see whether this may be prophesied somewhere in the secret writings of Jeremiah, knowing that the Apostle too brings forward certain writings of the secret books, as he says somewhere: "what eye has not seen nor ear heard"; for in no canonical book is this found set down, except in the secret writings of Elijah the prophet.

You observe that he was appraised by the traitor's covetousness at thirty pieces of silver. Of this also the prophet speaks, "And I said to them, If you think good, give me my price, or if not, forbear"; and "presently, I received from them," he says, "thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord, into the foundry." Is not this what is written in the Gospels, that Judas, "repenting of what he had done, brought back the money, and threw it down in the temple and departed"? Well did he call it his price, as though blaming and upbraiding. For he had done so many good works among them, he had given sight to the blind, feet to the lame, the power of walking to the palsied, life also to the dead; for all these good works they paid him death as his price, appraised at thirty pieces of silver. It is related also in the Gospels that he was bound. This also the word of prophecy had foretold by Isaiah, saying, "Woe to their soul, who have devised a most evil device against themselves, saying, 'Let us bind the just one, seeing that he is unprofitable to us.' "

And the Lord said to me, says the prophet, or else the Savior himself, whose are the preceding words, bearing witness that the Father spoke to him: Cast it to the statuary, for which in the Hebrew is read ioser, that is, τὸν πλάστην, whom we can call moulder and potter. And the sense is: Cast my price to the potter, who is the Creator and moulder of all. Nor did he say, put it down, but cast it, so that the wage of the Lord might be weighed by the judgment of the moulder and modeller. And εἰρονικῶς (ironically), seeing his price, that is, the price of the divine majesty, in thirty pieces of silver, and himself betrayed for so cheap a wage: A fine price, he says, at which I was priced by them; and this must be read with more emphasis, with the mockery and derision of the speaker: At so much did my people, once the poor of the flock and chosen by me as sons, judge that I should be bought and sold! And I took, says the Lord through the prophet, as I had been commanded by the Lord, the thirty pieces of silver, and I did not put them down, but cast them into the house of the Lord to the moulder; in the house of the Lord I caused them to be returned by the traitor to the priests and Pharisees, the very man who sold me confessing: I have sinned, betraying just blood. But they, since it was the price of blood, would not put it into the corbona, that is, into the treasury; but with it they bought the potter's field for the burial of strangers. For all of us who were strangers and sojourners from the law, redeemed by his most precious blood, are buried and rest in the house of the potter and Creator of all. For πλάστῃ and moulder I once translated statuary, compelled by the ambiguity of the word, because it signifies statuary and moulder by a single term.

And I cut off my second staff, which was called Cord, so that I might dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. LXX: And I cast away the second staff, which was called Cord, so that I might scatter the covenant that was between Judah and Israel. In this place too I know that I have read a long explanation by a certain writer, or rather inextricable tangles, who brings forward from the book of Ezekiel the two staffs joined into one fellowship, and fits to this passage everything that is to be understood spiritually about the concord of Judah and Ephraim. But let us follow the order we have begun. After the Lord was crucified by the Jews and valued at thirty pieces of silver, and the price of his blood availed for the burial of the Gentiles, who were strangers to the law and the commandments of God, at once the Lord, no longer putting off his sentence, says: I cut off my second staff, which was properly mine, which clung to me in such a way that in Jeremiah it was called a loincloth and a girdle and a waistband, or, to use the everyday word, a hip-band; this second staff, once called Cord and my portion, was therefore cast away by me, so that I might dissolve the pact and the brotherhood and the concord that had been between Judah and Israel, and separate the brothers from one another. So that, in the number of the apostles and of those who repented, the name Judah should again be given, as to one who also confesses his God; while those should be called Israel and Ephraim and Joseph who, persisting in hardness of heart, said: We have no king but Caesar. Hence he did not add: So that I might make void the pact, or covenant, which I had with Judah and Israel — for to this day he stretches out his hand to the repentant —, but also that he might divide from one another, out of the one people, some who believe and others who do not believe, saying: Do not think that I came to send peace on the earth; I did not come to send peace, but a sword. For I came to separate a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies are those of his own household.

Such is my defense; its reasonableness I have set forth. And may the God of peace, who made both one and has restored us to each other, who sets kings upon thrones and raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, who chose David his servant and took him away from the sheepfolds, though he was the least and youngest of the sons of Jesse, who gave the word to those who preach the gospel with great power for the perfection of the gospel—may he himself hold me by my right hand. [May he] guide me with his counsel and receive me with glory, who is a Shepherd to shepherds and Guide to guides. [May he guide us] that we may feed his flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd, according to the blessing, and not according to the curse pronounced against the men of former days. May he give strength and power to his people and himself present to himself his flock resplendent and spotless and worthy of the fold on high, in the habitation of them that rejoice, in the splendor of the saints, so that in his temple everyone, both flock and shepherds together may say, Glory in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be all glory forever and ever. Amen.

And the Lord said to me: Take for yourself yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit what is forsaken, will not seek what is scattered, and will not heal what is broken, and will not nourish what stands, and he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and break apart their hooves. O shepherd and idol, forsaking the flock, a sword upon his arm and upon his right eye; his arm shall be dried up with withering, and his right eye, growing dark, shall be darkened. LXX: And the Lord said to me: Take for yourself yet again the shepherd's instruments of an unskilled shepherd. For behold, I will raise up a shepherd upon the land, who shall not visit what is forsaken and shall not seek out what is scattered, and shall not heal what is broken, and shall not guide what is whole, and shall devour the flesh of the choice ones, and twist their ankles. O you who pasture vain things, and who have forsaken the sheep, a sword upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be dried up with withering, and his right eye shall be darkened with blindness. When he says: Take for yourself yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd, he means this: that above he had taken to himself two staffs, one Beauty and the other Cord. And because through their own vice and sin he cast them away, and, the brotherhood between Judah and Israel being dissolved, we have been grafted into the root of the good olive, and blindness has come in part upon the house of Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, now the prophet is told to take up the most grievous prophecy of the foolish, or unskilled, shepherd. The foolish and unskilled shepherd is without any doubt the Antichrist, who is said to be coming at the consummation of the world, and what sort he will be is indicated. By the instruments of the shepherd we ought to understand his insignia and his garb: the wallet, the staff, the pipe and the whistle. And just as Isaiah, to show the captivity of the people, walks about naked, and Jeremiah goes to the potter's house, so that from the shattering of the vessel which was turning on the wheel and being shaped by the craftsman's hand he might show both the destruction of Israel and the power of God, and Ezekiel, to show the overthrow of Jerusalem and the flight of Zedekiah and the burdens of the captives not only by his voice but also by his garb, digs through the wall and is carried out upon his shoulders, so Zechariah takes on the garb of a foolish and unskilled shepherd, to announce him who is to come.

This shepherd will rise up in Israel for this reason, because the true shepherd had said: I will no longer feed you. Under another name, both in the prophet Daniel and in the Gospel and in Paul's epistle to the Thessalonians, he is prophesied as the abomination of desolation, who is to sit in the temple of the Lord and make himself out to be God; and through Isaiah too he is called the great mind. And he comes for this, not to heal but to destroy the flock of Israel. For the good shepherd visits the sick animals, seeks out the scattered, brings back those left behind, supports the weary. On the contrary, the bad shepherd does everything the opposite way, and having devoured the flesh of the fat ones, he breaks apart and twists the hooves of the rams and the sheep, so that they may not walk with a straight foot. This shepherd the Jews received, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the spirit of his mouth and will bring to nothing by the brightness of his coming, so that those who did not believe the truth, lest they should be saved, may believe a lie and be judged, because they consented to iniquity.

Having described the worst shepherd, foolish and unskilled, the prophetic discourse turns to the shepherd himself: O shepherd and idol. So wicked is the shepherd that he is called not a worshiper of idols but himself an idol, since he calls himself God and wishes to be adored by all. He forsook the flock to be devoured by beasts, the flock which the Lord had guarded for so long a time. A sword upon his arm, and his strength, and upon his right eye, by which he boasted that he keenly discerned the mysteries of God and saw more than all the prophets before him had seen, so much so that he called himself the Son of God. And that sword is the one of which we both learn above and shall now speak in part, the one of which Isaiah too speaks: My sword has been made drunk in heaven. And it is for this reason that the sword of the Lord will be upon his arm and upon his right eye, that his strength and all the boasting of his might may be dried up with withering, and the knowledge which he promised himself under a false name may be darkened with eternal darkness.