Zechariah 2

And I lifted up my eyes, and saw; and behold, a man, and in his hand a measurers' cord. And I said: Where are you going? And he said to me: To measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is its breadth, and how great its length. LXX: And I lifted up my eyes, and saw; and behold, a man, and in his hand a geometer's cord. And I said to him: Where are you going? And he said to me: To measure out Jerusalem, and to see how great is its breadth, and how great its length. He who before, with eyes lifted up, had seen sad things in the four horns, now again lifts up his eyes to see the man of whom it is written: Behold a man, the Rising is his name, of whom we also read above: And behold a man mounting upon a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtles that were in the deep, or, among the shady mountains. And of whom the Father speaks: He has built my city, whose craftsman and founder is God. He is also seen by Ezekiel, holding a cord in his hand, and a reed for the measure of a man's cubit, to measure Jerusalem, whose description, that is, its breadth and length, the same prophet pursues in mystical speech. Some think this was fulfilled in part under Zerubbabel, and Joshua, and Ezra, and Nehemiah and the other leaders or kings who ruled the people of Israel up to the coming of the Lord and Savior. But others, and above all the Jews, interpret it of the kingdom of a thousand years, bodily men seeking bodily things. Most of our writers, however, refer it to the heavenly Jerusalem, and say that it is to be built up again, having been left desolate by the fall of sinful souls. Let heretics suspect this. But let us interpret Mount Zion, and the mother of the firstborn and of the saints, as the Church, which was built in the passion and resurrection of the Lord, and is built every day by him who knows the measures and the merits of each one. What we have said of the Church can also be taken of the souls of believers, which are built every day by the Lord, and behold his peace, which was left to the apostles.

But because in certain passages of Scripture we have learned that some things are done through the cherubim, and other things through the seraphim, whether they do these things by themselves, or whether they are done through the hosts subject to them, which, as is said, receive the names of the greater ones because they come from the greater ones, we do not wish to affirm what we do not prove by clear testimonies. This, however, we know most certainly, that to carry out service from above, some spirits send others, as the prophet Zechariah testifies, who says: Behold, the angel who was speaking in me went forth; and behold, another angel went forth to meet him, and he said to him: Run, and speak to this young man, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls. For when an angel says to an angel "Run and speak," there is no doubt that one sends another. Those who are sent are lesser, those who send are greater.

And behold, the angel who spoke in me was going out, and another angel was going out to meet him, and he said to him: Run, speak to this boy, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without a wall, because of the multitude of men and cattle in its midst. And I will be to it, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be in glory in its midst. LXX: And behold, the angel who spoke in me was standing, and another angel was going out to meet him, and he said to him, saying: Run and speak to that youth, saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited fruitful from the multitude of men and cattle in its midst. And I will be to it, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in its midst. The angel who spoke in the prophet, and was standing, or, as is read in the Hebrew, was going out, for that is what iasa means, the Hebrews think to be Michael. And the other angel, who was going out and coming to meet him, they suppose to be Gabriel, who speaks to Michael so that he may tell the prophet how great an abundance of all things, and multitude of men and cattle, and strength of walls Jerusalem shall have, which at present seems destroyed down to embers and ashes.

And Jerusalem, he says, shall be inhabited without a wall because of the multitude of men and cattle, or, with an abundance of all fruits. Some interpret men and cattle as two peoples, of the Jews and of the Gentiles: that those who were versed in the law and came to the faith of Christ are called men, while we, who after idolatry were as it were in the desert of the law and the solitude of the prophets, and have received his passion, ought to be called cattle. But others want all rational men, learned in the knowledge of the Scriptures, to be understood as men, and as cattle all the simple among the believers, and that of these it is said: Men and cattle you will save, O Lord.

But we, according to the spiritual sense, interpret all these things of the Church, which is inhabited without a wall, or, as the Seventy translated, κατάκαρπος, that is, with an abundance of all fruits, and has a multitude of men and cattle, and the Lord is fire round about her, and he himself dwells in glory in her midst. This is the city of which we read elsewhere: Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God, and again: Great is the Lord and exceedingly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Whoever dwells in her can say: But I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, and: The Lord rules me, and I shall lack nothing; in a place of pasture, there he has set me. By the water of refreshment he has brought me up.

All these things the Jews think will come carnally under the ἠλειμμένῳ (anointed one), whom they promise themselves with the vainest hope: that Jerusalem will have such great blessedness that, because of the multitude of men and of all cattle, it cannot have a wall; but the defense of the Lord himself will be its wall, and it will enjoy the glory of him who dwells in its midst.

These cattle and these living creatures hear the voice of the good shepherd, and know it, and follow him, because he is both the shepherd, who also rules us, and the door, because through him we enter into the Church and to the Father, and a wall of fire round about, so that he may warm those who believe and dwell in the midst, who before had grown lukewarm from the coldness of charity, and that they may be fervent in spirit. But the wolves and the most savage beasts — of which it is written: Do not hand over to the beasts the soul that confesses you, and whose fruit is hay, wood, stubble, and they bring forth thistles and thorns —, let him consume with his fire; and he who is fire to the adversaries, let him be glory in the midst of the believers. That the Lord is the wall of Jerusalem we read in another place too: Mountains round about it, and the Lord round about his people.

O, O, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; for I have scattered you into the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. O Zion, arise, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord of hosts: After glory he has sent me to the nations that despoiled you; for he who touches you touches the pupil of his eye. For behold, I lift up my hand over them, and they shall be spoil for those who served them, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. LXX: O, O, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for from the four winds of heaven I will gather you, says the Lord. In Zion be saved, you who inhabit the daughter of Babylon. For thus says the Lord Almighty: After glory he has sent me to the nations that despoiled you, for he who touches you, as it were touches the pupil of his eye. Behold, I will bring my hand upon them, and they shall be spoil for those who had served them, and you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. The regions of the world, which the Greeks call κλίματα, are understood according to the situation of Jerusalem and of the temple. The Assyrians, therefore, and the Babylonians, who laid waste the people of God, dwell in the land of the north. In short, in Jeremiah the pot which according to Ezekiel is full of flesh — and by it the city of Jerusalem is understood —, is kindled from the face of the north. Since, therefore, the angel who had come to meet the angel who prophesied in Zechariah had commanded him to speak to the boy — for in comparison with the dignity of angels all human nature is called boyhood, because it is not angels who advance into us, but we who advance into angels —, and to say to him: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without a wall, and the rest. Now the same word of the Lord is addressed to those who dwell in the north, that they may be gathered from the four winds into which they had been scattered over the whole world, and that those who dwelt in Babylon may return to Zion. Or else thus: You who have been scattered into the four regions of heaven, flee from the land of the north; and O Zion, you who now dwell in Babylon, flee and return to your former seat. But that O is said a third time, in the vocative case, is an exhortation to flight, so that they may know that they have been warned to flee not once, but more often. It must also be said another way: the north wind is a very harsh wind, which makes very hard the hearts of those who dwell in its land, and from which evils are kindled upon all who dwell on the earth, and toward which, according to this very prophet Zechariah, the black horses go out, to take their stand in its region. He too who in Isaiah had said in his boasting: I will ascend into heaven, above the stars of heaven I will set my throne, I will sit on a lofty mountain, above the high mountains in the north, vaunts that he holds his kingdom in the coldest place of the earth. We read also in another place: Behold, smoke comes from the north; and of those who had departed far from the holy city it is said: Behold, these come from afar, from the north and the sea. And through Jeremiah the Holy Spirit speaks, calling those who are in captivity to return to Jerusalem: Go and read these my words toward the north, and you shall say: Return to me, dwelling of Israel, says the Lord. It is commanded, therefore, to us who have dwelt in the north and have lost the warmth of the Lord's fervor, who have been scattered over the world, and of whom the Gospel proclaims that the Lord sends his angels into the four winds and gathers us, and who are caught up in the vices and confusion of this world, that we flee to Zion, the Church of the Lord, and, leaving lowly things behind, take our stand on her watchtower and on the sublimity of her doctrines.

Another example to prove the same point may be found in a passage of Zechariah where the "Almighty" sends the "Almighty." This can only mean that God the Father sends God the Son. The text runs, "So says the Lord Almighty: 'After the glory he has sent me to the nations that have robbed you; for he that touches you touches the apple of my eye. For behold, I lift up my head upon them, and they shall be a prey to those who served them; and you shall know that the Lord almighty sent me.' " In this case, the Lord almighty says that he is sent by the Lord almighty. How can anyone doubt that it is Christ who is speaking and, in fact, speaking to the lost sheep of the house of Israel? Remember what is said in the Gospel: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The comparison of these lost sheep to the apple of God's eye is explained by the perfection of God's love. And, of course, it was to this flock of sheep that the apostles belonged. "After the glory" of his resurrection—a glory alluded to in the words "Jesus had not yet been glorified"3—it was in the person of these apostles that Jesus was sent to the Gentiles. And this was to be the fulfillment of what the psalmist had prophesied: "You will deliver me from the contradictions of the people; you will make me head of the Gentiles."

But what follows: Thus says the Lord of hosts, after glory he has sent me, and the rest, introduces the voice of the Savior speaking, who, being almighty God, says that he was sent by the almighty Father, not according to that by which he is almighty, but according to that by which he was sent after glory. 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, the death of the cross. Nor is it a wonder that Christ is called almighty, in whose person we read in the Apocalypse of John: Thus says the faithful witness, the beginning of the creation of God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Lord God Almighty. That too which we read in Psalm 23 (24): Lift up your gates, O princes, and be lifted up, eternal gates, and the king of glory shall enter, and which again is said by other angels who did not know the mystery of the flesh assumed: Who is this king of glory? The Lord of powers, he is the king of glory, is referred to Christ. For where we read the Lord of powers, in the Hebrew Sabaoth is written, which is rendered almighty by the LXX translators. From this we understand that wherever the Lord of powers is said of Christ, he must be understood as almighty. Nor is it a wonder if Christ is called almighty: To whom has been given all power in heaven and on earth, and who says: All things that are the Father's are mine. But if all things, that is, God from God, Lord from Lord, light from light, then also almighty from almighty; for it cannot be that those whose nature is one should have a different glory.

But as for what he says: He who touches you touches the pupil of his eye, take the touching as harassment and injury, according to what we read: Do not touch my anointed ones, and do no evil to my prophets. For whoever touches the saints of the Lord is as one who desires to harm the pupil of his eye, and strives to deprive him of the clear light, of which he speaks in the Gospel: You are the light of the world.

He was sent, therefore, after the glory of the divine majesty, to the nations that despoiled the people of God, so that those who had formerly plundered them might be spoil for those who served them, and the whole crowd of those who once served might know that the Lord Almighty has sent him.

"Say no evil thing, my brothers, against Him that was crucified, and treat not scornfully the stripes wherewith all may be healed, even as we are healed. For it will be well if, persuaded by the Scriptures, you are circumcised from hard-heartedness: not that circumcision which you have from the tenets that are put into you; for that was given for a sign, and not for a work of righteousness, as the Scriptures compel you [to admit]. Assent, therefore, and pour no ridicule on the Son of God; obey not the Pharisaic teachers, and scoff not at the King of Israel, as the rulers of your synagogues teach you to do after your prayers: for if he that touches those who are not pleasing to God, is as one that touches the apple of God's eye, how much more so is he that touches His beloved! And that this is He, has been sufficiently demonstrated."

And God lifts up his hand to strike the hostile nations, and to lead his people back either into Jerusalem or into the Church. By the hostile nations, according to tropology, understand the opposing powers, which every day subject sinners to their power and compel them to serve them.

The Lord heard the prayer of the prophets. The Father did not despise our race, which was perishing; he sent from heaven his own Son the Lord as our physician. One of the prophets says, "The Lord whom you seek, comes; and he shall come suddenly." Where will he come? "The Lord shall come to his temple," where you took up stones against him. Another of the prophets, on hearing this, says to him, "In speaking of God's salvation, do you speak softly? In announcing the good tidings of God's coming for salvation, do you speak in secret?" "Go up onto a high mountain, Zion, herald of glad tidings; say to the cities of Judah"—what shall I say?—"Here is your God! Here comes with power the Lord God." Again the Lord himself has said, " 'Behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says the Lord. 'And many nations shall be joined to the Lord.' " The Israelites rejected salvation through me; "I come to gather nations of every language," for, "he came unto his own, and his own received him not." You come, and what do you bestow upon the nations? "I come to gather nations of every language … I will set a sign among them." For from my conflict on the cross I will give to each of my soldiers a royal sign to bear upon his forehead. Still another prophet said, "He inclined the heavens and came down, with dark clouds under his feet." For his coming down from heaven was unknown to humanity.

But rightly, after the captivity, is the daughter of Zion called forth to joy, of whom it is also said in the psalm: When the Lord turns back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall exult, and Israel shall be glad.

But who this people is that is comforted through the Apostles and churchmen, not Israel and Jacob and Judah, as Scripture records in other places, but the people of God, the prophet Zechariah testifies, saying: Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion: for I will come and dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. And many nations shall flee to the Lord in that day, and shall be his people, and they shall dwell in the midst of you, and they shall know that the Lord almighty has sent me to you (Zech 2:10, 11). By this testimony it is clearly shown that very many nations are to be turned into the people of God. And these things the Lord says, sent by the Lord whose name is Almighty.

Praise and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord on that day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord shall possess Judah as his portion in the sanctified land, and he shall yet choose Jerusalem. LXX: Rejoice and be glad, daughter of Zion, for behold, I will come, and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. And many nations shall flee for refuge to the Lord on that day, and they shall be his people, and they shall dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you, and the Lord shall possess Judah as his portion in the holy land, and he shall yet choose Jerusalem. These words too are to be understood as spoken in the person of the Lord: that he exhorts his people, restored from captivity to its former seat, to be glad and rejoice because the Lord himself is coming and will dwell in its midst; and that many nations are to believe in him, of whom it is said: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, and the ends of the earth as your possession; and that he dwells in its midst, saying to the disciples: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age; and that the Lord possesses Judah as his portion, Judah that confesses and believes in his name, and possesses it nowhere else than in the holy land, which is interpreted as the Church; and that he yet chooses Jerusalem, which he had abandoned to temptation in the persecutions.

Some of the Jews think that these things were in part fulfilled under Zerubbabel and Joshua, Ezra and Nehemiah, especially since Jerusalem is chosen and Judah is possessed; that is to say, the two tribes which returned from the Babylonian captivity and were called Judah, and not Israel, which lives among the Medes to this day. Others, however, defer them to the future: that then the nations are to believe in him who is sent by the Lord, and Jerusalem is to be chosen; although surely all the nations have already believed in the Lord Savior, and a city that has been utterly destroyed cannot be chosen.

Let all flesh be silent before the face of the Lord, for he has risen up from his holy dwelling. LXX: Let all flesh fear before the face of the Lord, for he has risen from his holy clouds. Since these things are so, and the Lord is going to possess Judah as his portion and to choose Jerusalem, let the whole race of men dread the coming of the Lord, for he has risen up from his holy dwelling. Now the Lord is said to rise, and as it were to awaken from sleep, when he rises up to avenge his people, according to what is written: Arise, why do you sleep, O Lord? Or else, according to the LXX, who said: He has risen from his holy clouds, understand the patriarchs, prophets and apostles, whom the Lord commanded not to rain rain upon Israel. These are the clouds of which it is written: And let the clouds sprinkle justice; for these bodily clouds, into which the denser air is gathered, cannot rain justice. In these clouds and with these clouds the Lord says in the Gospel that he will come. And in Isaiah we read that the Lord came into Egypt on a light cloud. Egypt is taken as the world, into which the Lord is recorded to have descended in the flesh, which, brought forth from a virginal womb, was weighed down by no weight of human seed and of sins. But that all flesh is to be taken not absolutely, of men and of beasts and of birds and of fish, but specifically of men, is shown by that scripture: Hear my prayer; to you all flesh shall come. For it is not all the flesh of irrational living creatures that is to come to the Lord, but that flesh which is to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, and of which it is said: I will pour out of my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.