Zechariah 3

But because he forgot the commandment of God and fulfilled the will of the serpent, the devil held his hand and caused him to reach for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, in order to eat of the forbidden fruit. In him, judgment was pronounced on all, and the adversary began to stand at the right hand of all. Hence, that cursed form came forth against Judas: And let the Devil stand at his right hand (Psalm 108:6). If that curse is severe, then this blessing is the greatest, by which the chains of harsh curses are loosened. Therefore, the Lord Jesus placed the devil at His right hand, just as we read in the book of Zechariah (Zach. III, 1); for He had taken up the cause and place of mankind.

Also in Zechariah: "And the Lord showed me Jesus, that great priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil was standing at his right hand to oppose him. And Jesus was clothed in filthy garments, and he stood before the face of the angel himself; and he answered them and said to them who were standing before his face, saying, 'Take away his filthy garments from him.' And he said to him, 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquities.' And put upon him a priestly garment, and set a fair miter upon his head." Also Paul to the Philippians: "Who being established in the form of God, thought it not robbery that he was equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore also God exalted him and gave him a name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, of things in earth, and of infernal things, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord in the glory of God the Father."

For in that passage too, in giving the name of High Priest to Him Who made with His own Blood the priestly propitiation for our sins, he does not by the word "made" declare the first existence of the Only-begotten, but says "made" with the intention of representing that grace which is commonly spoken of in connection with the appointment of priests. For Jesus, the great High Priest (as Zechariah says), Who offered up his own lamb, that is, His own Body, for the sin of the world; Who, by reason of the children that are partakers of flesh and blood, Himself also in like manner took part with them in blood (not in that He was in the beginning, being the Word and God, and being in the form of God, and equal with God, but in that He emptied Himself in the form of the servant, and offered an oblation and sacrifice for us), He, I say, became a High Priest many generations later, after the order of Melchisedech. Surely a reader who has more than a casual acquaintance with the discourse to the Hebrews knows the mystery of this matter.

And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. And Satan was standing at his right hand, to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and the Lord rebuke you, he who has chosen Jerusalem. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and was standing before the face of the angel, who answered and said to those who were standing before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have taken away your iniquity from you, and I have clothed you with changes of raiment. And he said: Put a clean tiara upon his head; and they put a clean tiara upon his head, and they clothed him with garments. LXX: And the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil was standing at his right hand, to oppose him. And the Lord said to the devil: The Lord rebuke you, devil, and the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you. Is not this like a brand plucked out of the fire? And Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and was standing before the face of the angel, and he answered and said to those standing before his face, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have taken away your iniquities from you; and clothe him with a robe reaching to the feet, and set a clean tiara upon his head; and they set a clean tiara upon his head, and they put garments about him. Before we come to the spiritual understanding, we must say succinctly and briefly how the Hebrews explain this passage. Joshua (Iesus, the same name as Jesus) the high priest, whom the Greeks call ἀρχιερέα, the Latins pontiff, they take to be the son of Jehozadak, who presided over the people together with Zerubbabel. At his right hand the adversary was standing (for this is what satan means), to oppose him. And rightly was he standing at his right hand, not at his left, because the accusation was true, since he too, along with the rest, had taken a foreign wife, as is written most fully in Ezra and in Malachi, who follows this prophet.

Our writers, however, explain it thus: that he is the high priest to whom it is said: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek. Since he cannot be seen of himself, he is shown to the prophet by the Lord, standing before the angel of the Lord, whom they take to be the angel of great counsel: not that he is one and another, so that we should admit two persons in the Son, but that he is one and the same, and is both shown as a man in soiled clothing and said to appear as an angel, the mediator of men and God. And that he is not Joshua son of Jehozadak they try to show from this, that the words son of Jehozadak are not added in the present place, whereas in other places, where it is truly Joshua son of Jehozadak who is spoken of, he is always registered by his father's name. So Jesus is seen standing, set firm with a steady step: And Satan standing at his right hand, to oppose him. For he was tempted in every way, without sin. And in the Gospel the tempter approaches him, seeking always to oppose his right-hand works and his virtues.

But perhaps an inquisitive reader will object this too: how we can assert that God stands at the right of the just man, and the devil at the left of the sinner, when concerning our Lord it is read in Zechariah, "And the devil was standing at his right hand to oppose him." Let him, then, who objects this read also what follows: that when the devil was standing at his right hand, Jesus had filthy garments. Rightly did he who had taken up our sins and was bearing our offenses have the devil at his right hand, not so much for himself as for the filthy garments. And at the same time let him consider that it is not said, "The devil was standing as victor and triumphing," but as still set in the contest and in the battle-line and in doubt—indeed, when he had not yet begun to fight. For it follows, "That he might oppose him." But the devil was opposing him, as we said, because he had filthy garments from our sins. But after he heard, "May the Lord who chose Jerusalem rebuke you," he did not stand at the right, but went behind his back and under his feet, and at once Jesus the great priest receives the ankle-length robe (poderis), and is clothed in white vesture, and, royal dignity being joined to him—that is, Zerubbabel being coupled with him—builds the Church, and constructs the spiritual Jerusalem.

And the Lord said to Satan, to the accuser and his adversary, for he is the enemy and avenger, the accuser of his brothers: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, as the Lord rained from the Lord, and the Lord rebuke you, he who has chosen Jerusalem. Since, then, out of all the cities of Judah Jerusalem has now been chosen, the Lord in no way imputing to her the sins she committed, why do you try to overwhelm Joshua like a brand, which is commonly called a firebrand, Joshua who escaped as it were half-burnt from the Babylonian captivity?

As for what follows: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and the Lord rebuke you, he who has chosen Jerusalem, they explain it thus: that the Father and the Son is Lord, and in Psalm 109 (110) we read: The Lord said to my Lord: Sit at my right hand; he speaks of the other Lord, not because the Lord himself who speaks cannot rebuke, but because, from the unity of their nature, when the other has rebuked, he himself who speaks rebukes: For he who sees the Son sees the Father, and he it is who has chosen Jerusalem, the Church, which contemplates the peace of the Lord. Now the brand plucked out of the fire can most rightly be understood as him who, though he was in Babylon, was not consumed by the Babylonian fire, nor touched by the flame of this world. Hence Moses too, in the wilderness, sees a great vision, in which the bush was burning and was not consumed.

I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. [Zechariah 3:2] But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core. These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

This is also a type of our situation. Just as the avenging and wicked devil was very opposed to Joshua for being high priest and making intercession to God on behalf of the people, so in turn this same enemy was an opponent of Jesus the great high priest in the order of Melchizedek for taking away the sin of the world15 and wished to bring him down. It was, however, not Joshua the son of Jehozadak that rebuked him, but Joshua's Lord; when he approached Jesus the Savior of the world, he was rebuked by him, as by his God and Lord, and hears, "Get behind me, Satan."

You can search them out for yourself from sacred Scripture without my help. And it will become clearly evident to you that this likely is the age of which it was said, "Believe not in friends and trust not in princes," and that the prophecy is now being fulfilled: "The leaders of my people have not known me; they are foolish and senseless children. They are wise to do evils, but to do good they have no knowledge." We should rather pity such people than hate them and should rather pray for them than revile them. For we were created to bless and not to revile. Thus also Michael, when he was arguing with the devil over the body of Moses, did not dare to bring an accusation of blasphemy against him even for such a serious offense but said, "May the Lord rebuke you." Even in Zechariah, we read something similar to this. "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan, and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke you." And so we also pray that those who refuse to be rebuked by their friends with humility may be rebuked by the Lord.

Holy Job says, when speaking about his own sins, "for man that is born of a woman is short-lived and full of wrath: as the flower of grass, so does he fall; and he departs like a shadow, nor shall he stay. Hast Thou not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment in Thy sight? For who shall be pure from uncleanness? Not even one, even if his life should be but of one day upon the earth." Now when he speaks of uncleanness here, the mere perusal of the passage is enough to show that he meant sin to be understood. It is plain from the words, of what he is speaking. The same phrase and sense occur in the prophet Zechariah, in the place where "the filthy garments" are removed from off the high priest, and it is said to him, "I have taken away thy sins." Well now, I rather think that all these passages, and others of like import, which point to the fact that man is born in sin and under the curse, are not to be read among the dark recesses of the Manicheans, but in the sunshine of catholic truth.

Now in this, by that wondrous sacrifice, Elijah clearly proclaimed to us the sacramental rite of baptism that should afterwards be instituted. For the fire was kindled by water thrice poured upon it, so that it is clearly shown that where the mystic water is, there is the kindling, warm and fiery spirit that burns up the ungodly and illuminates the faithful. Yes, and yet again his disciple Elisha, when Naaman the Syrian, who was diseased with leprosy, had come to him as a suppliant, cleanses the sick man by washing him in the Jordan, clearly indicating what should come, both by the use of water generally and by dipping in the river in particular. For the Jordan alone of rivers, receiving in itself the firstfruits of sanctification and benediction, conveyed in its channel to the whole world, as it were from some fount in the type afforded by itself, the grace of baptism. These then are indications in deed and act of regeneration in baptism. Let us for the rest consider the prophecies of it in words and language. Isaiah cried, saying, "Wash you, make you clean, put away evil from your souls," and David, "Draw nigh to him and be enlightened, and your faces shall not be ashamed." And Ezekiel, writing more clearly and plainly than them both, says, "And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be cleansed; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I give you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh, and my spirit will I put within you." Most manifestly also does Zechariah prophesy of Joshua, who was clothed with filthy garments (to wit, the flesh of a servant, even ours), and stripping him of his ill-favored raiment, adorns him with the clean and fair apparel, teaching us by the figurative illustration that truly in the baptism of Jesus all we, putting off our sins like some poor and patched garment, are clothed in the holy and most fair garment of regeneration.

There are many things that might be said. But to sinners the devil stands at the right hand. Yet that discussion is another matter. Whoever is a sinner, the devil stands at his right hand. But someone says: How is it that in Zechariah it is said to stand also to Jesus the son of Josedech? "And the devil was standing at his right hand." How is it written in Zechariah that the devil stands at the right hand of the Savior? You see that there is a question here. But at that time when the devil was standing at the right hand of the Savior, "Jesus," it says, "had filthy garments." He was bearing our sins, he was wrapped in our vices: therefore the devil was standing at his right hand.

As for what follows: Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, they interpret it in three ways: either on account of the unlawful marriage, or on account of the sins of the people, or because of the squalor of the captivity. Now the angel before whose face Joshua was standing commanded the other angels, in the person of the Lord, to take away from him the filthy garments of which we spoke above. When they had fulfilled the command in deed, the same angel speaks again to Joshua: Behold, I have taken away your iniquity from you; these are the filthy garments; and I have clothed you with changes of raiment; that is, I have joined an Israelite wife to you; for which the Seventy translated ποδήρη, which we can call an ankle-length tunic, because it flows down to the ankles and feet.

This Jesus was clothed in filthy garments, who, though he had committed no sin, was made sin for us. And he bears our infirmities, and grieves for us, and we reckoned him to be in sorrow, and under a blow, and in anguish. But he was wounded for our iniquities, and was made weak for our sins. And in the apostle Paul we read: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. It is he who speaks in Psalm 21 (22): Far from my salvation are the words of my offences. And in Psalm 68 (69): O God, you know my foolishness, and my offences are not hidden from you. All these are called filthy garments, and they will be taken away from him when he has blotted out our sins, so that, because he was clothed in filthy garments, we, rising again, may hear in him after baptism: Let your garments be always white; and the whole Church of believers hears through Isaiah: Wash yourselves, be clean. And of her it is prophesied in the Song of Songs: Who is this who comes up made white? Ποδήρην, moreover, take to be his incarnation, which is from the earth and is signified in the feet. By the clean tiara upon his head understand the splendor of the divine majesty, so that one and the same may be seen to be adorned, according to the man, with the ποδήρη, and according to God, with the tiara.

"But to give you the account of the revelation of the holy Jesus Christ, I take up again my discourse, and I assert that even that revelation was made for us who believe on Christ the High Priest, namely this crucified One; and though we lived in fornication and all kinds of filthy conversation, we have by the grace of our Jesus, according to His Father's will, stripped ourselves of all those filthy wickednesses with which we were imbued. And though the devil is ever at hand to resist us, and anxious to seduce all to himself, yet the Angel of God, i.e., the Power of God sent to us through Jesus Christ, rebukes him, and he departs from us. And we are just as if drawn out from the fire, when purified from our former sins, and [rescued] from the affliction and the fiery trial by which the devil and all his coadjutors try us; out of which Jesus the Son of God has promised again to deliver us, and invest us with prepared garments, if we do His commandments; and has undertaken to provide an eternal kingdom [for us]. For just as that Jesus (Joshua), called by the prophet a priest, evidently had on filthy garments because he is said to have taken a harlot for a wife, and is called a brand plucked out of the fire, because he had received remission of sins when the devil that resisted him was rebuked; even so we, who through the name of Jesus have believed as one man in God the Maker of all, have been stripped, through the name of His first-begotten Son, of the filthy garments, i.e., of our sins; and being vehemently inflamed by the word of His calling, we are the true high priestly race of God, as even God Himself bears witness, saying that in every place among the Gentiles sacrifices are presented to Him well-pleasing and pure. Now God receives sacrifices from no one, except through His priests."

Now who this one would be to whom God promised an eternal priesthood Zechariah has taught, even giving his name most clearly. For thus he spoke: "And the Lord God showed me Jesus the high priest standing before the face of the angel of the Lord, and the devil stood at his right hand to be his adversary. And the Lord said to the devil, 'May the Lord that chose Jerusalem rule over you, and behold the brand plucked out of the fire!' And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments, and he stood before the face of the angel. And he answered and said to them that stood around before his face, saying, 'Take away the filthy garments from him, and put on him a tunic and sandals, and put a clean miter upon his head.' And they clothed him with garments and put a clean miter upon his head. And the angel of the Lord stood and testified before Jesus, saying, 'Thus says the Lord almighty: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charges, you shall judge my house. And I will give you some of them that are now present to walk with you.' Hear, then, O Jesus, the high priest."

Every soul that has been clothed with a human body has its own "filth". And that you may know that Jesus too was made filthy by his own will, because for our salvation he had assumed a human body, listen to the prophet Zechariah saying: "Jesus was clothed with filthy garments". And this indeed makes against those who deny that our Lord had a human body, but say it was woven of heavenly and spiritual things. For if his body was of heavenly things and, as they falsely assert, of the stars and some other more sublime and spiritual nature, let them answer why a spiritual body could be filthy, or how they interpret what we have set down: "Jesus was clothed with filthy garments". But if they are compelled by necessity to accept that a filthy garment is understood as a spiritual body, they must consequently say that what is set down in the promises has been fulfilled, that is: "an animal body is sown, a spiritual body rises," and that we rise polluted and filthy — which even to think is a sacrilege, especially when one knows it is written: "it is sown in corruption, it will rise in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it will rise in glory; it is sown in weakness, it will rise in strength; an animal body is sown, a spiritual body will rise". It was necessary, therefore, that for our Lord and Savior, who had been "clothed with filthy garments" and had assumed an earthly body, there should be offered those things which by the law were accustomed to purge filth. What is frequently asked among the brethren I take up again, prompted by the occasion of this passage. Little children are baptized "for the remission of sins". Of what "sins"? Or at what time did they sin? Or how can that reasoning of the washing hold in the case of little children, except according to that sense of which we spoke a little before: "no one is clean from filth, not even if his life should be of a single day upon the earth"? And because through the sacrament of baptism the "filth" of birth is laid aside, therefore little children too are baptized: for "unless one be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven".

And as for what follows: Put a clean tiara upon his head, for tiara we read in the Hebrew Saniph, which most people call a mitre; and by this they want the dignity of the priesthood to be understood, because, once the filth of his sins had been taken away, he held a clean priesthood. This is what the Jews say.

And the angel of the Lord was standing.

And the angel of the Lord solemnly charged Joshua, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you walk in my ways and keep my charge, you also shall judge my house, and shall keep my courts, and I will give you those who walk, from among these who now stand by here. LXX: And the angel of the Lord was standing. And the angel of the Lord solemnly charged Joshua, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty: If you walk in my ways and keep my precepts, you too shall judge my house; and if you keep my court, I will give you those who shall move about in the midst of these who stand here. The Hebrews, following the course of the interpretation they have begun, understand these things to have been said by the angel of the Lord to Joshua (Iesus, the same name as Jesus) son of Jehozadak: that after the removal of the filthy garments and the restoration of the dignity of a clean priesthood, he is given a command according to what is written in the Gospel: Behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse befall you; and a reward is promised him, if he walks in the ways of the Lord and keeps his precepts: that he himself should be the judge of his house, that is, should continue as high priest in the temple, and should keep his courts and porches; and that the Lord should give him some from the number of the angels who at that time stood in his sight, so that he might be walled about by their help and be secure from every treachery of his enemies. According to our writers, who refer all these things to the Lord Savior, this seems to be difficult: that it is said to Jesus by the angel that if he walks in the ways of the Lord and keeps his precepts, he too shall judge his house and keep his courts, and the Lord shall give him those who walk, from among those who stand by him. This is easily resolved if we consider him who deigned to take the form of a servant. And though he was rich, he became poor for us. Whatever, then, is said of the members is referred to the body; our progress is the Lord's victory. And when we have come to the perfect man, to the measure of the age of the fullness of Christ, he will judge the house of God, according to what the Apostle said: But Christ as a son over his house, whose house we are, and to Timothy: If I delay, that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. And not only will he judge his house, but he will also keep the courts of the Lord, of which it is written: Worship the Lord in his holy court. And he will judge, or discern, his house, and according to the merits of each, giving to one ten cities and to another five, and appointing some in the Church as prophets, some as apostles, some as teachers, some as workers of signs, holding some as eyes, some as hands, some as feet, according to what we read: God has stood in the assembly of the gods, and in the midst he discerns the gods. He also gave him ministers from the number of the angels, who, though set in the flesh, are like the angels, and of whom the Apostle spoke: Our citizenship is in the heavens. For if the angels neither marry nor are given in marriage, and those who persevere in virginal continence are like the angels, why should we not think that the apostles and all the saints, being of angelic dignity, were given to Jesus, to stand by him in the Church and never to have wavering feet, but to stand with the Lord who stands?

Of Him He has also spoken by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, saying, "I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed them, even My Servant David, He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and My Servant David a Prince among them." Now king David was already dead, and therefore the true David, the truly humble, the truly meek, the true Son of God, strong of hand, is announced by this name; he also is intended in the book of the prophet Zechariah, where God the Father says, "Behold I will send my servant, the Orient is His name." Did then His being "clothed in filthy garments" deprive the Sun of righteousness of the brightness of His Godhead?

Those who want the high priest and his friends to be understood as the Lord Savior and his disciples take the men τερατοσκόπους, men who portend, in this way: they refer them to the apostles, who perceived his mystical signs and recognized the future from the present; while in the man who was blind from birth they interpret the restored eyes as concerning the people of the Gentiles, and in the woman with the flow of blood they explain the Church as set free from the works of blood.

Hear, O Joshua, high priest, you and your friends who dwell before you, for they are men who portend. For behold, I will bring my servant the Rising, for behold the stone which I have given before Joshua: upon one stone are seven eyes. LXX: Hear then, O Joshua, high priest, and your neighbours who sit before your face, for the men τερατοσκόποι, that is, of portents, are beholders, for behold, I will bring my servant the Rising, for the stone which I have given before the face of Joshua, upon one stone are seven eyes. Our writers are hard pressed in this place by the Jews, on the ground that, following the sequence and texture of the discourse, they ought rather to understand Joshua (Iesus, the same name as Jesus) the priest, son of Jehozadak, than the Lord Savior. For if the word is addressed to the Lord, and to Christ it is said: Hear, O Joshua, high priest, who is the one of whom it is added: Behold, I will bring my servant the Rising, who by another name is called the stone, and has been given before Joshua, and upon this stone are seven eyes? Our writers, on the contrary, strive to maintain that Christ is called, according to different understandings, both Jesus the high priest, and the Rising, and the stone. But how they could explain that this is said of him, to him, as though of another, is most difficult. Those, then, who want the high priest to be Joshua son of Jehozadak interpret his friends who dwell, or sit, before him, and who are men who portend, as his disciples and the prophets. For the prophets were set as a sign of things to come. What is it, then, that Joshua and his friends are made to hear: I will bring my servant the Rising, and the rest? Because above God had promised Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, that if he walked in his ways and kept his precepts, he himself would judge his house and keep his courts, and that he would give him ministers of angelic dignity, now he tells him and his friends that full happiness and perfect blessedness will come then, when the Rising comes, of whom it is written: Behold a man, the Rising is his name. And in Malachi: For you who fear my name the sun of justice shall rise, and healing in its wings. And in Numbers: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man out of Israel. In the Gospel too we read most plainly of Christ: In which the Rising from on high will visit us. To give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. He himself is called the Rising and the cornerstone, because he joins both peoples together and unites two walls into one house. To those who do not believe he is a stone of stumbling, of whom it is also said in the psalms: The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner. This was done by the Lord. Upon this stone are seven eyes, of which Isaiah speaks: A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from his root, and the spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and fortitude, the spirit of knowledge and piety; and the spirit of the fear of God shall fill him.

These are the "seven eyes" of the Lamb, and the "seven facets" of the stone mentioned by Zachary, and the seven days that followed upon the first light. These Centers are the "seven golden lamp-stands," and Christ "in the midst of the seven lamp-stands," which are the seven illuminations of wisdom, that is, the metaphysical, the natural, the mathematical, the logical, the ethical, the political, and the theological.

As for what follows: For behold the stone which I have given before Joshua, the lovers of the history understand it of Christ in this way, saying that Christ was to come after Joshua son of Jehozadak. For this, they say, is what before Joshua means, that is, in his sight and before his face, so that it signifies things to come; and he is called a stone for his strength and hardness, with which he crushed all kingdoms, the stone which we also read in Daniel was cut from the mountain without hands.

Behold, I will engrave its carving, says the Lord of hosts, and I will take away the iniquity of that land in one day.

On that day, says the Lord of hosts, a man shall call his friend under the vineyard and under the fig tree. LXX: Behold, I will dig a pit, says the Lord Almighty, and I will handle all the iniquity of that land in one day. On that day, says the Lord Almighty, each one shall call his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree. Above he had said: Behold the stone which I have given before Joshua, upon one stone are seven eyes. Now, consistently, he keeps the μεταφορὰν (metaphor) taken from the stone, and says: I will engrave its carving, or I will carve its engraving. For where it is written in Hebrew maphate phethee, Aquila translated διαγλύψω ἄνοιγμα αὐτῆς, that is, I will carve its opening; Theodotion and Symmachus, I will carve its carving. And the sense is: I will cause this stone to be wounded by the nails of the cross and the soldier's lance, and in his passion I will take away the iniquity of the land in one day, the day of which it is written: This is the day which the Lord has made; let us exult and rejoice in it.

As for what is written according to the Seventy: Behold, I will dig a pit, we can understand the ditch or pit in place of the carving of the stone: for everything that is carved is also dug. Yet if someone, more contentiously, will not refer this to the stone, but would have it hold, as it were, its own beginning and its own meaning, let us say that the Lord Almighty, on the day of his Son's passion, or else — as the Jews think, at the final end of the world, when he comes to judge — digs out and brings into the open the works of each person, and handles the whole earth on the day of judgment; for this is the one day, and on that day each of the saints calls his companions and friends, who are themselves also saints, to rest, and rejoices in the virtue of his works.

On that day of the passion of Christ, the man who is perfect in Christ, and who with the apostles ascends to the summit of the Lord's goodwill, shall call his neighbour, either the believers from among the Jews or at any rate the people of the Gentiles, under the vineyard which is called Sorek, and of which he says in the Gospel: I am the vine, and whose fruit gladdens the heart of man; and under the fig tree, the sweetest fruits of the Holy Spirit, so that they may rest in eternal peace and, the sedition of the world and the gore of warriors having been suppressed, may know that they are under a king whose name, mystically in Solomon, is that of peace. Of this same sitting under the vineyard and under the fig tree the prophet Micah also makes mention, saying: On that day each one shall call his neighbour and his brother under the fig tree and his vineyard, and there shall be none to terrify them.