Zechariah 13

On that day there shall be a fountain open to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for the washing of the sinner and of the menstruous woman. LXX: On that day every place shall be opened in the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, both for transformation and for sprinkling. Of this fountain, which goes forth from the house of David, it is written also in the prophet Ezekiel that a fountain bursts forth in the house of the Lord and grows into a river, which is called the water of remission and pardon, and goes on to the wilderness and to the sea which is now called the Dead Sea, and gives life to all the fish, and on either bank of the river trees of various kinds rise up, always abounding with new fruits month by month. And so that we may know that the house, that is, the temple of God, is itself the house of David, which in Ezekiel is called the house of God and in Zechariah the house of David, this fountain going forth from the house of God is referred to the Church and to the knowledge of the Scriptures, so that we may all be reborn in Christ and our sins may be forgiven us in the water of baptism. Nothing is more unclean than a menstruous woman, who makes unclean whatever she touches, and yet her filth shall be washed away by the baptism of Christ. For the washing of sins and of the menstruous woman the LXX translated transformation and sprinkling, because we pass over from the law to the Gospel, from the letter to the spirit, from the shadow to the truth, and things future and eternal succeed in place of things brief and present. And the sprinkling signifies the blood of the Lord, of which the apostle Peter also speaks: Grace to you, and peace be multiplied, unto obedience and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, and again: Knowing that you were redeemed not with corruptible things, silver and gold, but with the precious blood as of a lamb unspotted and most pure; whoever has been sprinkled and redeemed with it will be able to say with the prophet: You shall sprinkle me, O Lord, with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed; you shall wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

Hermes Trismegistus lamented these vain, deceptive, pernicious, sacrilegious things because he foresaw that the time was coming when they would be abolished. He was impudent in his grief as imprudent in his prophecy, since the Holy Spirit had made no revelation to him as to the holy prophets, who exultantly proclaimed their inspired visions: "Shall a man make gods to himself, and they are no gods?" and again, "And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord of hosts, that I will destroy the names of the idols out of the earth, and they shall be remembered no more." It is relevant to recall that holy Isaiah uttered a particular prophecy concerning Egypt: "And the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst thereof," and the rest.

And it shall be on that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, and they shall be remembered no more; and the prophets and the unclean spirit I will take away from the land. LXX: And it shall be on that day, says the Lord Sabaoth, I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, and there shall be no more remembrance of them; and the false prophets and the unclean spirit I will take away from the land. On that day, which he mentions so often, all idols shall be taken away from the land: whether those idols of which the psalmist says: The images of the nations are silver and gold, the works of men's hands, so that there may be no other religion but only that of the Christian name, and of which it is written in the prophet: Howl, you carved images in Jerusalem and in Samaria. For as I have done to Samaria and to her carved images, so will I do to Jerusalem and to her idols; or those idols of which the Apostle speaks: But the Spirit says manifestly that in the last times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, in the hypocrisy of liars who have their conscience cauterized. For just as idols are made by the hand of a craftsman, so the perverse doctrine of the heretics turns into an idol whatever it has feigned, and causes the antichrist to be worshipped in place of Christ. For false prophets, in the Hebrew prophets is read absolutely, that is, nebim, who themselves also signify false prophets; but besides, the priests of the idols are also called prophets by the heathen.

Let us see, then, the necessity of literary erudition; let us reflect that partly it cannot be admitted, partly cannot be avoided. Learning literature is allowable for believers, rather than teaching; for the principle of learning and teaching is different. If a believer teaches literature, while he teaches doubtless he commends, while he delivers he affirms, while he recalls he bears testimony to, the praise of idols interspersed therein. He seals the gods themselves with this name [of gods], whereas the law, as we have said, prohibits "the names of gods to be pronounced" and this name [of God] to be conferred on vanity. Hence the devil gets people's early faith built up from the beginnings of erudition. Inquire whether he who catechizes about idols commits idolatry. But when a believer learns these things, if he is already capable of understanding what idolatry is, he neither receives nor allows them; much more if he is not yet capable. Or, when he begins to understand, it behooves him first to understand what he has previously learned, that is, touching God and the faith. Therefore he will reject those things and will not receive them; and [the believer] will be as safe as one who knows it not, who knowingly accepts poison but does not drink it. To him necessity is attributed as an excuse, because he has no other way to learn. Moreover, the not teaching literature is as much easier than the not learning, as it is easier too for the pupil not to attend than for the master not to frequent the rest of the defilements incident to the schools from public and scholastic solemnities.

And it shall be, when anyone prophesies any more, his father and his mother, who begot him, shall say to him: You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother, who begot him, shall pierce him when he prophesies. LXX: And it shall be, if a man prophesies any more, his father and his mother, who begot him, shall say to him: You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother who begot him shall fetter him when he prophesies. When the names of the idols have been taken away from the land, and the false prophets, and the unclean spirit that spoke in them, if anyone wishes to try any more and to prophesy something in the person of the Lord, at once his father and mother will forget that they are parents, so as to hold fast to the service of God, and they will pronounce the sentence of death against their son; and the minds of all will be so devout toward God that no public judgment will be awaited, but those who are such will perish by the sentence of their kinsfolk. For what we have rendered, they shall pierce him, there is in the Hebrew the same word as above, dacaru. By what reasoning, then, did the LXX translators choose to translate there κατωρχήσαντο, that is, they insulted, or they mocked, and, to render word for word, they danced against him, and here συμποδιοῦσιν, that is, they shall fetter, when Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion rendered alike both there and here: they pierced? And rightly is he who has prophesied falsehoods called a man, as the Apostle says: For since there are among you rivalries and contentions, are you not carnal, and do you not walk according to man? And in the psalms: But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. And those unworthy of the Spirit of God deserve to hear: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh.

And it shall be on that day, the prophets shall be confounded, each one by his vision when he has prophesied, nor shall they be covered with a cloak of sackcloth in order to lie. But he shall say: I am not a prophet, I am a man, a tiller of the ground, for Adam has been my example from my youth. And it shall be said to him: What are these wounds in the middle of your hands? And he shall say: With these I was wounded in the house of those who loved me. LXX: And it shall be on that day, the prophets shall be confounded, each one by his vision when he has prophesied, and they shall put on a skin of haircloth because they have lied; and he shall say: I am not a prophet, for a man begot me from my youth. And I will say to him: What are these wounds in the middle of your hands? And he shall say: Those with which I was struck in the house of the one who loved me. Whoever has attempted to prophesy, and has been condemned by the judgment of his parents, and whose prophecy has been proved false by the contrary outcome of events, shall be confounded by his vision, and shall no longer be covered with haircloth in order to lie. For this was the habit of the prophets: that when they were calling the people to repentance, they put on haircloth. Hence Isaiah too is commanded to take the sackcloth from his loins and to walk naked; for it was by no means a time of repentance, but of impending captivity.

What is written, Nor shall they be covered with a cloak of sackcloth in order to lie, the Hebrews expound thus: and they shall not be filled with the demonic spirit, those whom we read of in Isaiah as τριχιῶντας, that is, hairy ones, lest on this occasion of a feigned habit they belie the utterances of God within them, or deny God. For Chaesu can be interpreted both 'they shall lie' and 'they shall deny'.

Again, in Zechariah thirteen it is said: I am a husbandman, for Adam has been my example from my youth; Gloss: "That I may eat my bread in the sweat of my face, while he showed himself born for this, that in the sweat of his face he might eat bread"; but this most befits one who needs bread and can bear labor and sweat; and such is the able-bodied poor person: therefore he is bound to labor bodily.

Therefore this false prophet too will by no means take up the prophetic habit, lest under another's clothing and covering he deceive all the simple, but rather he will cleave the earth with the ploughshare and, given over to farming, will prove himself a man, and subject to the sentence of God, who spoke to Adam: Cursed is the ground in your work; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the plants of the earth; and in the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.

And I will say unto him, What are these wounds between thine hands? And he shall say, wounds which I received in the house beloved by me.

And when he has shown that he was born for this, to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, another will question him and say: What do these wounds mean, and these gashes that are in the middle of your hands? And the sense is: Why do you cling to the gibbet? Why are your hands pierced with nails? What have you committed, that you should be subjected to this penalty and torment? And he will answer and say: These gashes and these wounds I received, condemned by the judgment of my parents and of those who did not hate me but loved me. And truth will prevail so far, once falsehood has been put to flight, that even he who has been punished for his own fault confesses that he has suffered justly.

I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. Of this passage also the Lord made mention at the time of his Passion, applying it to himself when he was on the point of being betrayed.

O sword, be roused against my shepherd and against the man who cleaves to me, says the Lord of hosts. Strike the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will turn my hand to the little ones. And there shall be in all the land, says the Lord: two parts in it shall be destroyed and shall fail, and the third part shall be left in it. And I will lead the third part through fire, and I will burn them as silver is burned, and I will test them as gold is tested. He shall call on my name and I will hear him; I will say: You are my people; and he shall say: The Lord is my God. LXX: O sword, arise against my shepherd and against the man his fellow citizen, says the Lord Almighty. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and I will bring my hand upon the shepherds. And it shall be on that day, says the Lord, two parts shall perish and shall fail, and the third part shall be left in it; and I will lead the third part across through fire, and I will burn them as silver is burned and I will test them as gold is tested. He shall invoke my name, and I will hear him and will say: This is my people; and he shall say: You are the Lord my God. For sword (framea), which the LXX translated ῥομφαίαν, we find in the Hebrew areb, and in Aquila and Symmachus μάχαιραν, that is, sword or point. And for what we have rendered, Against the man who cleaves to me, that is, προσκεκολλημένον μοι, Aquila translated: Against the man of my tribe, that is, σύμφυλόν μοι. Symmachus: Against the man of my people, which in Hebrew is said amithi. The LXX: Against the man his fellow citizen. Theodotion: Against the man his neighbor; they read vav at the end of the word instead of yod, letters which differ from each other only in size; and if yod is read it means 'my', if vav, 'his'. But I am amazed that some wish to thin out with allegorical interpretations this prophecy — which the evangelist Matthew referred to the Lord and Savior after the disciples fled at his passion, and says that it was then fulfilled —, and, while they want to seem to know more than the rest, do not hold to the rule of truth. For the evangelist Matthew relates: Then Jesus says to them: You will all take offense at me this night. For it is written: I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. And again: But all this was done that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples, leaving him, fled. Nor should it be thought that the testimony was taken from another place because in the Gospel God says that the shepherd was struck by himself, while in the present place we read that the sword and the point are commanded: Strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This is the sword, and this is the broadsword and the sword (framea), of which the Lord also speaks to the Father in Psalm 21 (22): Deliver my soul from the sword and my only one from the hand of the dog. Of this broadsword it is also written in Amos the prophet: All the sinners of the earth shall die by the sword. This cannot stand at all according to the letter, for many sinners perish by shipwreck, others by poison; these are choked by water, those a fire consumes. But by this sword and this broadsword all sinners perish, and the Ethiopians of black color too, of whom Zephaniah testifies with his sacred mouth, saying: But you also, Ethiopians, shall be slain by my sword. After the good shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, who spoke to the Father: Him whom you struck they have persecuted, and they have added to the pain of my wounds, was struck by the Father's will, and the man who cleaves to God, who says: I am in the Father, and the Father in me, hung on the gibbet and said: Father, into your hands I commend my spirit, at once the sheep were scattered, the whole multitude of believers in Christ. And the Lord turned his hand, as is read in the LXX, to the shepherds, whom many wrongly interpret as the princes of the Jews. But as it is written in the Hebrew, to the little ones, to whom the Lord had said in the Gospel: Fear not, little flock, and in Isaiah: Behold I and the children, or the little ones whom the Lord has given me.

For it is written: I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered. This is written in other words in Zechariah the prophet, and, unless I am mistaken, it is said in the person of the prophet to God: Strike the shepherd, and let the sheep be scattered, Psalm 68 (69) also, which is sung throughout in the Lord's person, agreeing with this sense: For they have persecuted him whom you have struck. And the good shepherd is struck so that he may lay down his life for his sheep, and that out of many flocks of errors there may be made one flock and one shepherd. Of this testimony more has been said in the little book which we wrote on the best kind of translating.

Christ spoke of the betrayer; he foretold that all would run away; he predicted his own death. "I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." He foretold who was going to deny him, when he would do so, and how many times it would happen. He predicted everything accurately. After he had foretold all these things as a sufficient proof that he possessed knowledge of what was going to happen, he went to a certain place to pray. The heretics say that the prayer is the prayer of the divinity; we say it is the prayer of the plan of redemption.

Moreover, the prophet Zechariah foretold that this same Christ would be smitten, and His disciples scattered: which also took place. For after His crucifixion, the disciples that accompanied Him were dispersed, until He rose from the dead, and persuaded them that so it had been prophesied concerning Him, that He would suffer; and being thus persuaded, they went into all the world, and taught these truths. Hence also we are strong in His faith and doctrine, since we have [this our] persuasion both from the prophets, and from those who throughout the world are seen to be worshippers of God in the name of that crucified One. The following is said, too, by Zechariah: "O sword, rise up against My Shepherd, and against the man of My people, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the Shepherd, and His flock shall be scattered."

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. [Zechariah 13:7] But after that I am risen, I will go before you into Galilee.

And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives. Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. [Zechariah 13:7] But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee.

There was, therefore, a great and excellent faith in that thief. Clearly it is great and admirable faith which believed that the crucified Christ was being glorified more than punished. For this is the shape that all salvation takes—that the Savior should be recognized as the Lord of majesty when he is seen to be crucified and subject to humiliation. Hence the apostle says, "If they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of majesty." This, I say, is an excellent faith, to believe that Christ on the cross is God and not a wrongdoer. Therefore that thief was justified while the Jews insulted the Savior on the gibbet and said to him as if he were a criminal, "Free yourself if you are able." But [the thief], certain of Christ's divinity and sure of his good will, asks instead to be freed himself. There was a great faith in that thief, I say, and one which was comparable to that of the holy apostles; indeed, it preceded theirs. For he who preceded with respect to devotion preceded with respect to the prize, for the thief came to paradise before the apostles did. Peter follows the Lord, and this man accompanies him. But the Lord gives him a reward according to faith and merit, for, as we read, all the disciples were afraid during the Savior's suffering, and all left him just when he was betrayed. It happened as it was written: "I shall strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered."

If there is anyone who, reading Moses, murmurs against him, and the law which is written according to the letter displeases him, because in many things it does not seem to preserve consistency, Moses shows him the rock, which is Christ, and leads him to it, that he may drink from there and refresh his thirst. But this rock, unless it be struck, will not give waters; but when struck it brings forth fountains. For Christ, when struck and driven to the cross, brought forth the fountains of the New Testament; and therefore it was said of Him that "I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered". It was necessary, then, that He be struck; for unless He had been struck and "water and blood had come forth from His side", we should all suffer "a thirst for the word of God". This, then, is what the Apostle also interpreted, that "they all ate the same spiritual food, and they all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed; and the rock was Christ". Observe, however, what God said in this place to Moses: "go before the people, and take with you the elders, that is, the presbyters of the people". Not Moses alone leads the people to the waters of the rock, but also the elders of the people with him. For not the law alone announces Christ, but also the prophets and the patriarchs and all the "elders".

Besides, Christ himself has confirmed this prefigurement of himself when he said that a shepherd who flees when he sees the wolf and leaves the flock to be devoured is wicked. Such a shepherd will be banished from the farm; his separation pay will be kept from him as compensation for his damage; in fact, he will have to pay back something from his former wages to indemnify the losses of the master. "For to him who has shall be given and from him who does not have even that which he seems to have shall be taken away." Thus Zechariah threatens, "Arise, O sword, against the shepherds, and pluck out the sheep, and I will turn my hand against the shepherds." And against them Ezekiel and Jeremiah thunder with similar recriminations, in that they have not merely battened upon their sheep and fattened themselves but they have themselves dispersed the flock and, without a leader to guide them, left them as prey to all the beasts of the field. For this is what happens when the church is deserted by the clergy in time of persecution.

And two parts were made in all the land, of the Jews and of the Gentiles, who perished alike and failed. For at his passion the voice of the psalmist was fulfilled, saying: Save me, O Lord, for the holy one has failed, and: All have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one. As the Gentiles and the Jews were perishing, a third part in the world, that is, the third people, of Christians, suddenly sprang up. And he says beautifully: The third part shall be left in it, that is, in the land, because of the Jews and the Gentiles those alone who confessed the Lord were kept for life and for dwelling in the land.

And that this third part too might not be soft, and its confession careless, it is led through fire and tested like silver and gold, the fire which the Lord too longs to blaze in believers and Paul desires to be fervent. Hence the apostles too, baptized in the Spirit and in the fire of the Lord, speak in the psalm: For you have tested us, O God; you have tried us with fire as silver is tried. And a little after: We passed through fire and water, and you brought us out into refreshment. And in another place it is said to the believer: If you pass through fire, the flame shall not burn you, because I am with you. And the reason the fire does not consume and the flame does not devour is this: For the voice of the Lord cuts through the flame of fire. When the little ones, over whom the Lord turned his hand, have been tested in this way, and through their calling the whole throng of the nations has believed, then the people of believers will call Christ by his name, and when he says: You are my people, the people will answer: You are the Lord my God. The Jews refer these things to Christ and contend that they will come to pass in the last time, but the difference between us and them is this: we say that they have already been fulfilled, they speak of them as yet to be fulfilled.

These cases occur in persecutions more than at other times (for it is then that we are approved or condemned, humbled or corrected). Their general occurrence is permitted or commanded by him at whose will they happen even partially; by him, I mean, who says, "I am he who makes peace and creates evil"—that is, war, for that is the antithesis of peace. But what other war has our peace than persecution? If in its issues persecution emphatically brings either life or death, either wounds or healing, you have the author too of this. "I will smite and heal, I will make alive and put to death." "I will burn them," he says, "as gold is burned; and I will try them," he says, "as silver is tried," for when the flame of persecution is consuming us, then the steadfastness of our faith is proved. These will be the fiery darts of the devil, by which faith gets a ministry of burning and kindling; yet by the will of God. As to this I do not know who can doubt, unless it be persons with frivolous and frigid faith, which seizes upon those who with trembling assemble together in the church. For you say, seeing we assemble without order, and assemble at the same time, and flock in large numbers to the church, the heathen are led to make inquiry about us, and we are alarmed lest we awaken their anxieties. Do you not know that God is Lord of all? And if it is God's will, then you shall suffer persecution; but if it is not, the heathen will be still. Believe it most surely, if indeed you believe in that God without whose will not even the sparrow, which a penny can buy, falls to the ground. But we, I think, are better than many sparrows.