Zechariah 5

As to the suggestion you made in your letter that we should examine together the nature of an oath extorted by force, I beg of you, do not let our discussion turn crystal-clear matters into murky ones. If a servant of God were threatened with certain death, so that he should swear to do something forbidden and wicked, he still ought rather to die than to swear, so as not to commit a crime in fulfilling his oath. But in this case, … it was only the persistent shouting of the people that was forcing the man not to any crime but to what could be lawfully done, if it were done. And … the only thing to fear was that a few violent men, mingled with a crowd of mostly good ones, might seize the occasion to start a riot, under pretence of virtuous indignation, and might break out into some accursed disturbance to satisfy their passion for robbery. And when even this fear was unfounded, who would think that perjury could be committed even to avoid certain death, much less loss or some kind of physical injury? That individual called Regulus had never heard what the holy Scriptures say about the wrongfulness of a false oath. He had learned nothing about the sickle of Zechariah, and obviously he had not sworn to the Carthaginians by the sacraments of Christ but by the filthiness of demons. Yet he did not so fear certain torture and a horrible sort of death as to take his oath under compulsion, but he went to meet them to avoid perjuring himself, because he had sworn on oath of his own free will.

And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying scroll; its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth, for every thief, as it is written there, shall be judged, and everyone who swears shall likewise be judged by it. I will bring it forth, says the Lord of hosts, and it shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of him who swears falsely by my name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, and its timbers, and its stones. LXX: And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw a flying sickle. And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I see a flying sickle, of twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in breadth. And he said to me: This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth, for every thief shall by it be punished unto death, and every perjurer shall by it be tormented unto death. And I will bring it forth, says the Lord Almighty, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name, and it shall rest in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, and its timbers, and its stones. Having turned, says the prophet, to another vision, and lifting up my eyes from joyful and happy things to sadder ones, I see a flying scroll, which in Hebrew is called megella, and was rendered by Aquila and Theodotion διφθέρα (hide), by Symmachus κεφαλὶς, that is, a heading, according to what we read in the psalm: At the head of the book it is written of me; or, according to the Seventy, Δρέπανον πετόμενον, that is, a flying sickle. For all that he had seen above had announced the building of the temple, the coming of the Lord Savior, the liberation of the people from Babylon. And so, lest his heart be lifted up, as with the Apostle — to whom was given an angel of Satan to buffet him, lest he exalt himself —, he too sees things that are sad, so that whatever arrogance had grown from the revelation of good things might shrink from the threat of sad ones. And a flying scroll is shown, in which the sins of all are written down, so that each may receive according to his works, whether good or evil, as Daniel says: Thrones were set, and the books were opened. But if we take it as a sickle, as the LXX translated, let us take an example from the Apocalypse of John, in which it is written: And the angel answered, and said to him who sat upon the horse: Put in your sharpest sickle, and reap your vineyard, for its grapes are ripe. Instead of a sickle we read in Deuteronomy of arrows and a sword: I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh. And because God did not spare the angels who sinned, who by their own fault lost their heavenly dwelling, therefore he himself says through Isaiah: My sword has been made drunk in heaven. For all the sinners of the people shall perish by the sword, not, surely, by a bodily sword — since there are many and various ways to death besides the sword —, but by a spiritual sword, with which those are to be struck who have not repented, and whom the psalmist threatens, crying out: Unless you are converted, he will brandish his sword; he has bent his bow and made it ready, and in it he has prepared the vessels of death. And in Jeremiah we read: How long will you cut, O point, or sword, of the Lord? How long will you not be still? Return into your sheath. This sword is called not only a sickle, which cuts down hay, stubble and thorns, but it is also called the axe of the trees, which will cut down those who have not brought forth fruits worthy of repentance; and of whom John the Baptist cried out: Behold, the axe is laid to the roots of the trees; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. This scroll, in which the sins of all are written down, or this sickle, which cuts down the offences of all, is sent into the vineyard of Sodom, of which it is written: Our enemies are without understanding, for their vine is of the vineyard of Sodom, and their shoot from Gomorrah. Their grape is a grape of gall, and theirs a cluster of bitterness. Their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps. This sickle has twenty cubits of length and ten of breadth, in which number joyful things are joined with sad. For the Lord rebukes in order to amend; and in the twenty, which is made up of two decades, harsh and sad things are announced; in the ten, that is, one decade, better and prosperous things; for Israel is instructed through all scourges and punishments.

I have read that the twenty cubits of length and the ten of breadth refer to the age of the Lord Savior, that is, they make the number thirty, because the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, and by him the world is to be judged.

It comes in opportunely today even from the Old Testament to show you the heinousness of perjury. "There was," it says, "a flying sickle, ten cubits in breadth." The "flying" betokens the swift advent of the vengeance which pursues oaths; that it is many cubits in length and breadth, signifies the force and magnitude of the woes; that it comes flying "from heaven," is to show that the vengeance comes from the judgment-seat on high: that it is in the form of a "sickle," denotes the inevitableness of the doom: for just as the sickle, where it comes and has hooked the neck, is not drawn back with nothing but itself, but with the head reaped off, even so the vengeance which comes upon the swearers is severe, and will not desist until it have completed its work.

But if we swear and escape, let us not be confident; this is but to our woe. For what think ye? How many, since Ananias and Sapphira, have dared the same with them? How is it then, say you, that they have not met with the same fate? Not because it was allowed in them, but because they are reserved for a greater punishment. For those who often sin and are not punished, have greater reason to fear and dread than if they were punished. For the vengeance is increased for them by their present impunity and the long-suffering of God.

And at the same time let us warn those who think theft and perjury small crimes, that the curse which is described in the scroll and the sickle is brought into the house of the thief and of the perjurer, and remains in it, and consumes all its timbers and stones. But if in these things which are thought lesser — theft, I mean, and perjury — there is so great a threat of punishments, what shall we say of fornication, adultery, homicide, sacrilege, and all the crimes which are numbered by the Apostle among the works of the flesh?

The angel who was speaking in the prophet, having gone out from him and speaking as it were face to face, bids him lift up his eyes and see the sins of the people of Israel heaped up into a full measure, and the offences of all filled up; and that this is their eye, which in Hebrew is called enam, and is written with ain, iod, nun, mem. Or their iniquity, which, if it were written with the letter uau, would rightly be read onam, as the LXX rendered; and this error has often crept into the common edition, that because the letters uau and iod are of the same shape but differ in size, one is read for the other. This jar or measure is their eye in the whole earth, that is, the showing of sins, so that those whose vices lay hidden, scattered, might be heaped up into one and laid open to the eyes of all, and Israel might go forth from its place, and it might be shown to all the nations what Israel had been in its own land.

And the angel who was speaking in me went out, and said to me: Lift up your eyes, and see what this is that goes forth. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a jar going forth; and he said: This is their eye in the whole earth. And behold, a talent of lead was being carried, and behold, a woman was sitting in the midst of the jar. And he said: This is impiety, and he cast her into the midst of the jar, and put a lump of lead into its mouth. LXX: And the angel who was speaking in me went out, and said to me: Look up with your eyes and see what it is that goes forth; and I said: What is it? And he said: This is the measure that goes forth. And he said: This is their iniquity in all the earth. And behold, a talent of lead was lifted up; and behold, a woman was sitting in the midst of the measure, and he said: This is iniquity, and he cast her into the midst of the measure, and cast a stone of lead into its mouth. A jar, or a measure, was going forth and being carried in the air. And so that we should not be in doubt by what word it is properly named, the angel himself who had shown the jar, or measure, gives it a name; and he says, according to the Seventy: This is their iniquity in the whole earth; according to the Hebrews: This is the eye, that is, the showing of all sins. And behold, a woman was sitting in the midst of the jar, or measure, which among the Hebrews is called epha, and is often rendered by the LXX οἴφι; and this woman herself was called impiety. While he was seeing these things, behold, a talent of lead, that is, a lump like a stone, was being carried, either by its own impulse, or by the Lord's command, or it was carried by another whose name is passed over in silence. And this angel who was speaking in the prophet, and going out from him was showing him everything, seized the woman who was called impiety, and threw her headlong into the midst of the jar, she who before was being carried freely and, sitting upon the jar, was visible to all. And lest she should perhaps raise her head again, and rejoice in her iniquity and impiety, he puts the talent of lead, like a very heavy stone, into the mouth of the jar, to press down impiety in the midst and shut her in, so that she cannot in any way break out. These things we have drawn as certain shadows and outlines of the picture to come, so that we may fill in the rest with its proper colors.

For "now," saith he, "the axe is laid unto the root of the trees." There is nothing more terrible than this turn of his discourse. For it is no longer "a flying sickle," nor "the taking down of a hedge," nor "the treading under foot of the vineyard;" but an axe exceeding sharp, and what is worse, it is even at the doors. For inasmuch as they continually disbelieved the prophets, and used to say, "Where is the day of the Lord?" and "let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel come, that we may know it," by reason that it was many years before what they said came to pass; to lead them off from this encouragement also, he sets the terrors close to them. And this he declared by saying "now," and by his putting it to "the root." "For the space between is nothing now," saith he, "but it is laid to the very root." And he said not, "to the branches," nor "to the fruits," but "to the root." Signifying, that if they were negligent, they would have incurable horrors to endure, and not have so much as a hope of remedy. It being no servant who is now come, as those before Him were, but the very Lord of all, bringing on them His fierce and most effectual vengeance. Yet, although he hath terrified them again, he suffers them not to fall into despair; but as before he said not "He hath raised up," but "He is able to raise up children to Abraham" (at once both alarming and comforting them); even so here also he did not say that "it hath touched the root," but "it is laid to the root, and is now hard by it, and shows signs of no delay." However, even though He hath brought it so near, He makes its cutting depend upon you. For if ye change and become better men, this axe will depart without doing anything; but if ye continue in the same ways, He will tear up the tree by the roots.

The deserts of each one of us are suspended in the balance, which a little weight either of good works or of degenerate conduct sways this way or that; if the evil preponderate, woe is me! if the good, pardon is at hand. For no man is free from sin; but where good preponderates, the evil flies up, is overshadowed, and covered. Wherefore in the Day of judgement our works will either succour us, or will sink us into the deep, weighed down as with a millstone. For iniquity is heavy, supported as by a talent of lead; avarice is intolerable, and all pride is foul dishonesty. Wherefore exhort the people of God to trust rather in the Lord, to abound in the riches of simplicity, wherein they may walk without snare and without hindrance.

For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way "fly like clouds," as Isaiah says, "and as doves with their young ones"; but sin is a heavy affair, "sitting," as another of the prophets says, "upon a talent of lead." If, however, this reading of the history appears to any forced and inapplicable, and the miracle at the Red Sea does not present itself to him as written for our profit, let him listen to the Apostle: "Now all these things happened unto them for types, and they are written for our admonition."

And behold, a talent of lead was being carried. For talent of lead we read in what follows stone of lead. A talent is called chachar; a stone, aben. It is, then, the stone of lead which is also the talent of lead, which we, expressing it more plainly, have translated as a lump or ball of lead, by which is signified the very heavy weight of sins.

And upon this measure and jar of all offences sat impiety in the midst, which by another name we can call idolatry, and the denial of God. Hence it is said by the Savior to the Jews: Fill up the measure of your fathers. This impiety, which sat upon the sins of Israel and gloried in its wickedness, is afterwards sent into the midst of Babylon, and is crushed by the evil of captivity. Or, according to Theodotion, she casts herself and hides in the midst of the jar, and draws over herself the very heavy weight of lead, so that she has her mouth stopped and can no longer boast herself. Or else she is crushed by the angel of God, so that she who before rejoiced in wickedness may fall silent in eternal silence. But whither, and by whom, she is carried shut in, the following reading teaches.

"They went down into the deep like a stone." Why did "they go down into the deep like a stone"? Because they were not such "stones as those from which sons of Abraham could be raised up," but such as loved the deep and cherished the liquid element — that is, who seized the bitter and fleeting pleasure of present things. Whence it is said of them: "They were sunk like lead in the mightiest water." Sinners are heavy. Finally, iniquity too is shown "to sit upon a talent of lead," as the prophet Zechariah says: "I saw," he says, "a woman sitting upon a talent of lead, and I said: what is this? And he answered: iniquity." Thence it is, therefore, that the wicked "were sunk into the deep, like lead in the mightiest water."

And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming out, and the spirit was in their wings, and they had wings like the wings of a kite, and they lifted up the jar between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where are these carrying the jar? And he said to me: That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar, and that it may be established, and set there upon its base. LXX: And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming out, and the spirit was in their wings, and they had wings as are the wings of a hoopoe. And they lifted up the measure between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where are these carrying the measure? And he said to me: To build a house for it in the land of Babylon, and to prepare it, and to set it there upon its seat. The Jews take the two women coming out to be the kingdom of the Medes and that of the Macedonians, each of which afflicted the Babylonian people, and there their impiety set up its seat. But this they invent with cunning, so that what was said of themselves may not be understood of themselves. For the two women who come out, no doubt from the land of Judea, are to be understood as the ten tribes and the two, of which the one were taken captive by the Assyrians, the other by the Chaldeans. And in their wings was the spirit, that is, the power of the devil, of which it is written in Ecclesiastes: If the spirit of him who has power rises up against you, do not leave your place. And in the Gospel we read of the unclean spirit which, when it has been cast out of its house, goes about through desert and dry places and returns to its former house with seven other spirits more wicked than itself. By this spirit, then, these women were snatched along as by wind and blast and borne in swift flight, and they had wings; in the Hebrew asida, which Aquila, Symmachus and Theodotion translated heron, the LXX alone hoopoe. The Hebrews think the asida is the kite, a most rapacious bird, forever lying in wait for the birds of the farmyard; but of the heron, those who have written on the nature of birds declare that there are three kinds: one white, another starred, the third black, which is both the fiercest and bloodthirsty, and quarrelsome, and so impatient in mating that blood bursts from their eyes. The hoopoe, again, whose name we drew from the likeness of the Greek name (for they too call it epopa, because it settles on human dung), they say is a most filthy bird, forever lingering in tombs, forever in human dung; in short, it is even said to make its nest of it, and to feed its young on the little worms of rotting dung. Whichever of the three birds you choose to understand by asida, it suits these women, Judah and Israel, who because of their stinking sins were handed over to the power of demons and were led by them into captivity. And they took up the jar, or measure, in which impiety was held shut in, with a lump of lead laid on top so that it could not get out, and the most heavy weight of all sins, through the air between earth and heaven.

If we choose to take the two women as the peoples of the heretics and of the Jews — both of whom go out from the face of the Lord, and are borne by an unsteady spirit, and have the wings of the kite, the heron and the hoopoe, since, after the manner of the partridge, they are forever gathering riches, and not with judgment, and hasten to snatch from the Church, and delight in contentions and quarrels, and drag to destruction whomever they have deceived, and wallow in the mire of lusts and in everlasting filth —, these women lift up the most heavy weight of impiety, and build their house in confusion, and serve the Babylonian king, so that the peoples of the heretics and of the Jews may dwell there, where the idolaters abide, serving wood and stones.

The prophet, understanding this, does not ask who these women are, for that was plain to the prophetic spirit, nor what they carry, about which he had been instructed above, but where they carry it. In short, there follows: I said to the angel who spoke in me: Where are these carrying the jar? He answered: That a house may be built for it in the land of Shinar. For which the Seventy translated, in the land of Babylon. For Shinar is a plain of the Chaldeans, in which those who had moved their feet from the east, and could not stand in the service of God, built the tower of pride; whence the city itself also was called Babylon, that is, confusion, because there the tongues of all were confounded and mingled. Impiety, therefore, is carried by these women into Babylon, so that there its house may be built, and it may be established, and set upon its base, and rest in an everlasting abode. For truly in Babylon is the seat of impiety, both according to the history and according to the mystical senses.