Commentary on Zechariah 1 part 1/24

On Zechariah. Zechariah, who lies before us for elucidation, being the eleventh of the Twelve Prophets, possessed an eye of the understanding that had been illumined, having been made godlike

by the word that came to him; he beheld great visions and proclaimed the prophetic word in many and manifold ways. Eager to understand these things, let us make a beginning of the elucidation concerning him, having prayed that a word be given us in the opening of our mouth; and with you also joining together in prayer, we take courage that we shall thus attain what we earnestly seek.

'In the eighth month of the second year under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, son of Iddo the prophet, saying:'

It being the second year of the reign of Darius the king of the Persians, in the eighth month of the second year of the reign of the one then holding power, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, declaring that a great wrath had come upon the fathers of those being reproved, God being indignant against those who were accused.

Now he to whom the word of God came is called Zechariah in the Hebrew tongue, and among the Greeks he is interpreted as 'remembrance of God.'

For how is he not indeed a 'remembrance of God' who ... does not ... having ... of God ...? And of the same ... is Barachiah also, and he too ...

... being named after ... of remembrance, being the father of Zechariah ...

There has come down to us a tradition that the parents of the prophets are then remembered when they too happen to be worshippers of God.

And it is shown most clearly, both that the prophet who lies before us and his fathers were of the priestly line, also from the Gospel according to Luke;

for the father of John the Baptist was called Zechariah, and Barachiah was his parent.

For as a general rule, the later members of the same kindred bear the names of those who went before, especially when they are holy.

Now records are made in the superscriptions of the prophecies, of the ancestors of those who were called by God to prophesy, and of the time of their prophecy.

And there are times when also the homeland is recorded for the sake of certainty, so that no deception may arise from sameness of name or falseness of name.

The word of God comes to someone when he partakes of it, just as virtue and knowledge come to be in a diligent and knowledgeable man.

But what the word of God whispers and declares to the one who has been qualitatively shaped according to the prophetic word will be clear from what follows.

'Thus,' he says, 'says the Lord Almighty:'

'The Lord was angry with your fathers with a great anger.'

A great wrath comes upon those who greatly sin and act impiously;

for since God gives to each as judge according to his works, and to the transgressor of the divine laws according to his deed, not the same punishment is threatened upon all, but one that is proportionate and corresponding to the sins committed.

But the threat breathes forth much goodness;

for if God were punishing in a vindictive manner those who were liable to suffer this, He would not have announced it beforehand, but without delay would have brought on the retribution.

The one who holds fast the divine word is commanded to exhort those who have been taken captive unto repentance, saying:

'Thus says the Lord Almighty:'

'Turn back to me, keeping my commandments and coming to know my truth;'

'for so you will find me turned back toward you.'

For I, being unchanging and unalterable, existing always in the same manner and likewise, seem to turn away from you and to be far from you whenever you undergo this yourselves.

He says, at any rate, to those being reproved, addressing them all as one:

'You forgot the law of your God, and I also will forget your children.' And in the case of certain perceptible things too such a thing appears;

for while the earth is unmoved upon its own seat, those who depart from it by ships, being themselves removed from it, get the impression of it as though it were being removed.

Setting forth the magnitude of His goodness, He who says these things declares that He will do them as one who is Almighty;

for it belongs to one who is compassionate and possesses exceedingly great goodness, to call to conversion and to drawing near those who remove themselves far from God and from virtue, that they may have eternal salvation by drawing near to Him and having Him near, according to what is written:

'Draw near to the Lord, and He will draw near to you.' Now the so-called departures and drawings-near come about by relation and disposition, but not by place.

Turning back toward me, I also toward you.

Do not become like those who begot you in wickedness, whom the prophets accused before the present time, so that you may not suffer the same things as they did.

And what did they accuse them of, but that they should turn back from base practices and wicked ways? But not having listened nor given heed, they perished together with the false prophets who deceived them, so that there are no longer any, neither the impostors nor those swept away by their sorcery.

Since, then, neither the prophets nor those who were deceived remain, you to whom I set forth the word of God, walk in the divine ways and do not pursue after the wicked ones.

For divine and beneficial practices are proclaimed to you in our Spirit — this is the Holy Spirit — by my servants the prophets who possess it;

for these, possessing the Spirit of truth and being prepared by it to speak, benefit those who give heed to them — of whom your accused fathers had experience;

since they did not listen nor give heed to them, they were answered by their very deeds;

just as the Lord had ordained to do, so it came about for them, and yet God had roused them to repentance, so that they might not suffer the things that had been threatened.

'On the twenty-fourth day in the twelfth month — this is the month Shebat — in the second year under Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Barachiah, son of Iddo the prophet, saying:'

All things that come to be and are bestowed by God have order and harmony according to proportion, since He does great and unsearchable things, arranging all things by measure and number.

In any case, then, the present word of the prophet, coming about according to scientific contemplation, is a thing seen rather than heard; whence, as having much certainty by number, it was appointed on the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth month according to the Hebrews.

The number twenty-four is in potentiality thirty-six;

for the parts of twenty-four make this up as follows:

the half is twelve, the third eight, the fourth six, the sixth four, the eighth three, the twelfth two, the twenty-fourth one.

The number generated from twenty-four by the composition of its parts is a square;

and none of the figures is so secure as the square.

And the one before us has this as its distinctive feature, that each of its sides is composed according to a perfect number, namely six.

In the same way as twenty-four, twelve too, composed from its parts, generates a square;

the half is six, the third four, the fourth three, the sixth two, the twelfth one; these parts taken together and added up fill out sixteen, which is itself also a square;

and this one has a distinctive feature with respect to its own sides;

for the tetrad is in potentiality a decad, thus:

'I looked by night, and behold, a man mounted upon a red horse, and he stood between the two shadowed mountains, and behind him were red horses and dappled and speckled and white.'

When the word of the Lord came to Zechariah by night, there appeared to him a man mounted upon a red horse, standing between the two shadowed mountains.

Now the man mounted upon the red horse is the Saviour who became man.

And the red horse is the body which surrounds Him;

by nature it is human flesh, because of the blood that comes to the surface in it.

But where the one seized by God saw the man standing, and between what, and when, must be attended to.

He saw him, then, between the shadowed mountains.

And these happen to be the two covenants, being fruitful and shadowed because of the density of their meanings and the abundant complexity of the sayings concerning theology and the incarnation.

And since each of the things declared in the two covenants with riddle and depth has much obscurity, he saw by night the mounting of the man upon the horse, similar to what was said concerning Him:

'He made darkness His hiding place;'

for in this saying too the hiddenness that arises from obscurity is signified, just as also in the saying:

'The deep is as a garment, His covering.' In addition to seeing the man who has been interpreted mounted upon the red horse, he also beheld, in a most theological manner, the horses coming behind him.

And behind him come those who follow him;

and Moses, at any rate, the great hierophant, not yet being able to see His face knowingly, was appointed to see His back parts — that is, the things after Him, which are none other than the creative work of God.

In any case, then, when the things after God — which are called 'His back parts' — were shown to him, he wrote the account of the making of the world, beginning from:

'In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth.' And a differing colour is recorded of the horses behind the one who appeared, since some of them happen to be men, and others divine spirits sent forth for ministry for the sake of those who are about to inherit salvation.

For all those who have handed down the human things of the Word who sojourned among us and became flesh are red, especially since He too, behind whom they are, bears the redness of garments from Bozrah, so that it was said to Him by those who beheld:

'Why are your garments red?' — calling His garments the flesh which He has put on and the blood diffused throughout it.

These things have been explained more fully in the commentaries on Isaiah the prophet.

After the red horses, behind the One who is hymned, there appeared dappled and grey and white horses.

And perhaps the dappled and grey horses are those who conduct their teaching in manifold ways concerning things perceptible and things intelligible — which the divine words call visible and invisible — while the white horses are those who proclaim theological matters apart from all matter.

According to another sense, one must say that the dappled and grey ones are those who, in teaching, adapt themselves to the varied disposition of those being instructed.

Or was not Paul a dappled horse, being a follower of the Christ who spoke in him, when he became a Jew to the Jews that he might gain them, and to those without law as without law, that he might turn them away from the choice of the lawless, and to those under the law as under the law, that he might gain these also, persuading them to pass beyond the law of the shadow? At any rate, after saying these things he says:

'I have become all things to all men, that I might save all.'

And not only those after the sojourning [of Christ], but also those before it, possessed this manifold quality, sharing in the manifold wisdom of God; of whom it suffices to mention two, lest the discourse become long, since it is possible by reflection to pass over to the others as well.

Isaiah, who received divine visions from God, possessed together all the kinds of profitable words.

For he was a prophet, seeing things to come with a prophetic eye, and he declared:

'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son.' And as a lawgiver he commanded and forbade, saying:

'Cease from your wickednesses, learn to do good.' But he also recorded histories concerning Sennacherib king of the Assyrians and Hezekiah the ruler of the Hebrews.

Besides these he was also a singer, in one place saying:

'Let me sing now to my beloved a song of the beloved concerning my vineyard'; and in another place:

'In that day they shall sing this new song.'

Likewise David, as a melodist, said:

'O God, let us sing to You a new song';

'Turn away from evil and do good';

and as one foretelling things to come he cried out:

'The God of gods shall be seen in Zion.' Nor did he leave out the historical narrative, having recounted in several psalms many of the things that came to pass perceptibly on behalf of the Israelites and against the Egyptians and Pharaoh.

But what the spiritual horses that were behind the man mounted on the red horse accomplished, let us see in the following words of the prophet before us.

'What are these, Lord?' And the angel who spoke in me said to me:

'I will show you what these are.'

The prophet himself says to the angel who spoke in him:

'What are these, Lord?' Now the angel who spoke in him is either the angel who presided over the prophecy, or, according to another conception, the Saviour Himself, concerning whom the prophet says:

'His name is called Angel of great counsel.' And the teacher speaks in the hearer when he is partaken of by him, or when he is present in him according to disposition.

A testimony of the former [conception] is this:

'Christ lives in me'; and again:

'Of the Christ who speaks in me.' In this same sense the psalmist too said:

'I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me'; and Habakkuk:

'I will keep watch to see what the Lord will speak in me.' And of the latter [conception]:

'Priests, speak to the heart of Jerusalem' — since not every teacher speaks to the heart of his hearers, but only the one who disposes the mind of the learners according to the understanding and quality of the lessons.

For there are those who do just this alone: buzzing at the ear, but not profiting the mind of those being instructed;

and he who speaks in someone indeed also speaks to him, since not everyone who strikes the ear speaks in the heart.

'And the man who stood between the mountains answered and said to me:

These are they whom the Lord has sent forth to go about through the earth.'

Someone might well ask why on earth, when the prophet had seen the horses coming — red, dappled, grey, white — the angel who spoke in him promises to show him the things that had appeared.

Perhaps, then, since there is a twofold contemplation concerning the same things — one more introductory and one more exalted — the divine instructor promises to the one who has come to know the introductory demonstration the more perfect one, since the one who has received the revelation has received a perfect longing.

The man who stood between the two mountains that were mentioned answered:

'These are they whom the Lord has sent forth to go about through the earth.' According to a second contemplation, the two shadowed mountains are the people from among the Hebrews and from among the nations, in the midst of whom the aforementioned man, standing, initiates the prophet into the mystery of who they are that have been sent to go about through the earth.

They are the best of teachers, from among men and angels, as was said just now.

It is not in vain that it is added that they have been sent by the Lord to go about through the earth, since not all who profess to teach or who go about have been sent by the Lord.

At any rate the devil, going about the earth, as he himself said, in order to scrutinize Job and the other athletes of God, does this by his own most wicked choice, and not because he was entrusted [with it] by God.

And what do those who have been sent say they beheld in going about, except that the whole earth is inhabited and at rest, as the following words present it, reading thus:

'And they answered the angel of the Lord who stood between the mountains, and said:

We have gone about all the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited and at rest.'

Since not every angel belongs to the Lord — those who have forsaken the heavenly dwelling no longer being His — it is fitting that those going about answer the angel of the Lord that the whole earth is inhabited and at rest.

And that the apostates, even if they are simply called angels, nevertheless do not bear the title 'of the Lord,' is still clearly shown from the Scriptures — in one place:

'God did not spare angels who had sinned' — for it did not say 'His';

and in another place, it is said by the Apostle who speaks in Christ:

'We shall judge angels.' What is meant by the whole earth being inhabited and being at rest must be contemplated.

Since the rational soul is self-moving and ever-moving, whenever it moves well and blessedly, it grows quiet and rests from disordered agitation; and it reaps this stability from divine reverence.

'The earth feared and was still when God arose to judgment'; and:

'He that dwells in hope is at rest from every evil,' according to the God-inspired writing of Proverbs.

In this sense, to Cain the accursed, who was moved as he ought not, God says:

'You have sinned; be still' — all but saying:

'In sinning you are agitated in disorder, but put an end to the disordered impulse;

for then, in a praiseworthy manner, you will be at rest, having turned aside from evil and having done good.'

Upon the one who is thus at rest there follows dwelling [in a house].

And that this is so: the harlot woman brought forward in Proverbs — whoever she may be — does not keep her feet at rest in the house, but has them wandering outside, being a haunter of crossroads and a strutting wanton, whereas the townswoman and the wellborn wife dwells in the house, keeping the marriage rights due to her bridegroom, upon which there immediately follows the bearing of children.

For it is said in the Psalms concerning the bridegroom, God the Word:

'Who makes her that was once barren to dwell in a house, that she may become a joyful mother of true children.'

'And the angel of the Lord answered and said:

O Lord Almighty, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which You have disregarded this seventieth year?' The angel of the Lord Almighty, having beheld with foreknowledge the whole earth inhabited and at rest — all the nations having believed in the Lord who sojourned [among us] — deems it worthy that the King of all should grant knowledge of how long and when Jerusalem and the cities of Judaea subject to it will obtain mercy, the seventieth year of the captivity being now present, on account of which they seemed to be disregarded.

And since Jerusalem has often been interpreted in manifold ways, according to each interpretation the cities of Judaea too may be taken.

If, then, Jerusalem be taken as the perfect and enlightened soul, contemplating all things peacefully and stably — for it is rendered 'vision of peace' — the cities of Judaea are the more lowly souls that are still making progress.

But if the name Jerusalem signifies the Church, which stands beside Christ, being holy, the cities of Judaea may be interpreted as the souls that have not become so great.

The Apostle makes such a distinction plain when writing to the Corinthians, blessing the Church together with all who call upon the name of the Lord, so that the Church is allegorically Jerusalem, while the cities of Judaea are those who call upon the name of the Lord.

According to both interpretations, Jerusalem is at times disregarded, and the cities subject to her suffer the same as the mother-city, so that, taking perception from the disregard, they may rouse themselves, no longer to suffer the things of captivity, the seventieth year being now present.

For there shall no longer be toilsome labour, the sabbatical year being fulfilled;

For the number seventy, composed of seven decades, brings about a perfect rest, which is granted by Him who came to proclaim release to the captives, having risen out of Judah.

For concerning the Saviour it is announced:

'Judah is my king'; and to Him it is said in blessing:

'lowly in heart,' that they might find the rest befitting pure souls, when the seventieth year is fulfilled through the cyclical motion of the Sun of righteousness, who circles about the pure and translucent minds.

'And the Lord Almighty answered the angel who spoke in me good words and comforting sayings.'

To the angel who had said:

'How long wilt Thou have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah?' — the Almighty Lord answered good words concerning the mercy that would be shown to Jerusalem and the cities under her, and comforting sayings that made manifest and conveyed much consolation.

For how do they not comfort and restore those who return from captivity, so that they say with thanksgiving:

'When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we became as those who are comforted, we became joyful'? May the Lord Almighty also answer us, through the Angel of His great counsel, good words, so that, attaining every praiseworthy thing, we may be perfectly comforted, led on by His perfect words into a free and blessed manner of life.

'And the angel who spoke in me said to me:

Thus saith the Lord Almighty:

I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy, and with great wrath do I rage against the nations that join in assaulting her; for whereas I was but a little angry, they joined together for evil.'

In his own person the prophet says that a command was given him by the angel of the Lord Almighty, to cry out with insistence:

'I have been jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy,' bringing great wrath upon the nations that oppress her; since, when their guardian had inflicted only a few small chastisements for the sake of correction and turning back, they for their part joined the assault savagely and most cruelly.

They ought to have been afraid, seeing those who belong to God abandoned to be scourged for the evils they had done, and to have taken heed lest they suffer the same; but instead they joined in the assault for evil, swaggering and mocking with a malicious disposition, striking with the fist, trampling upon those who had been handed over.

Against those who dealt so inhumanly and brutishly with those handed over to them, God utters a rebuke, saying through Isaiah the prophet:

'I gave them into thy hands, but thou didst show them no mercy;

upon the aged thou didst make thy yoke exceeding heavy, and thou saidst:

I shall be a mistress for ever. Wherefore, when I am angry with thee, there shall suddenly come upon thee the very things thou didst threaten to do to those whom I handed over — not unto destruction, but that, perceiving the threat that was to come against them, they might turn back to Me their guardian.'

And what were the things she boasted of out of pride and insolence? 'I am,' she says, 'and there is none beside me any longer.

I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know bereavement of children.' Having spoken these things arrogantly and cruelly, she was suddenly, by God's judgment, seen to be without protection, no longer aided by father or husband.

Taking these things to heart, let those who have been entrusted with authority not rise up cruelly, laying violent hands upon those whom they have as subjects by the decree of Providence, for reasons which it alone knows.

And what is it that the Lord Almighty means by saying:

'I have been jealous for Zion and for Jerusalem with a great jealousy'? For she who is spiritually called Zion and Jerusalem was a bride and consort to God the Word, whom He forsook for a little while when she had dissolved the marriage rights due to her husband, so that He who dwelt with her said:

'As a wife faithlessly departs from him who is with her, so hath the house of Israel dealt faithlessly with Me, saith the Lord.' Thus, when she who once was nobly and honourably kept in the bridal chamber was neglected, many of those who set out to harm her subjected her to ill-treatment, dishonouring her, bringing her to shame, as though she were some woman without protection, having no husband.

At these things He who is by nature merciful took pity, and began again to be jealous for her.

For when this happened, those who wished to abuse her no longer had any room, since the jealous husband drove away from his spouse those who came to injure her;

caring for her once more genuinely and dwelling with her in love, as also formerly, when as yet she had not been forsaken.

That this understanding is well-founded may be learned also from the prophet Ezekiel;

for God, being angry with the Hebrew multitude, said:

'I will no longer spare thee, nor will I be jealous over thee.' He proclaimed these things beforehand to arouse her, that she might not fall under the threats, keeping unstained the rights of her cohabitation.

He calls the one for whom He is jealous Zion and Jerusalem, that she might no longer be oppressed by those who join together to harm her, on account of the virtues present in her.

For Zion is interpreted 'watchtower' or 'commandment performed,' and Jerusalem 'vision of peace';

Zion, by way of anagogy, is called she who looks not upon things temporal but upon things eternal, by performing the commandments given.

And there follows upon such a state the unconfused and untroubled condition of the things rightly accomplished.

And there is beheld the peace concerning which Jesus says:

'My peace I leave with you.' And this is given, together with divine grace, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul teaches.

Both of these, I mean peace and grace, are the Saviour.

He Himself is our peace. And again, he who accomplishes what is right out of her and through her says:

'It was not I who accomplished these noble deeds, but the grace that was with me.'

As God the Father supplies this grace and peace, Jesus also gives them substance, offering Himself to be partaken of by those who have known Him to be grace and peace.

Let us too, by good resolve, become such, that we may not forsake Him — as a wife who has been faithless to her husband — but rather be to Him objects of jealous love and desire.

'Therefore thus saith the Lord:

I will return to Jerusalem in compassion, and My house shall be built again in her, saith the Lord Almighty, and the measuring line shall yet be stretched out over Jerusalem.'

Since nothing comes to pass by chance under Him who provides for all things, therefore causal conjunctions are often placed before the things that happen, God saying to those subject to His governance:

'Because ye said or did these things, these things shall be brought upon you.'

So indeed even in the present text there is found a saying of this kind:

'Therefore thus saith the Lord Almighty.' And what is this 'therefore' but 'that I have been jealous for Zion and for Jerusalem with a great jealousy'? Since, when I was but little angry, the enemies of those for whom I was jealous joined together for evil, I will return to Jerusalem in compassion, taking pity on her as a protector and genuine helper — for He is Himself the very Father of mercies.

And what is the manner of the mercy shown to Jerusalem is immediately announced:

'For My house shall be built again in her and in her midst,' that, dwelling and walking about among her citizens, I may perfectly show mercy to her, no longer permitting her to be laid waste or plundered, proving her to be an object of jealous love and worthy of remembrance, the measuring line being stretched over her once more as before, when she had prosperity and fruitfulness.

For whereas the desolate and neglected land is not surveyed, the land that is henceforth pitied by God is measured out as a fruitful region.

And the city is measured, being divided into lanes and broad streets, sacred precincts and gymnasia.

What the measure applied to her is will be shown in what follows, when an angel appears holding a surveyor's line.

And the house that is built in the midst of the Jerusalem that is pitied is the Church of the living God, in which it is fitting that the servant of God, consecrated according to the Law, should conduct himself.

This the Apostle who speaks in Christ addresses to Timothy, writing thus:

In another sense, the house being built in Jerusalem is Jesus who was born of Mary, built by the wisdom of God, according to the proverbial oracle that runs thus:

'Wisdom hath built herself a house' — concerning which the Wisdom who built said to those who set themselves in opposition:

'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up';

'but this,' he says, 'He spoke concerning the temple of His body,' as the Evangelist wrote.

In addition to what has been said, each one of the faithful is also a house that is being raised up, that it may be a temple of God.

'For know ye not,' he says, 'that ye are a temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' And the Saviour Himself says this openly:

'If anyone love Me, he will keep My word, and I will love him, and We will come, both I and My Father, and We will make Our abode with him.' Now temple and house and abode.

'And the angel who spoke in me said to me:

Thus saith the Lord Almighty:

The cities shall yet overflow with good things, and the Lord shall yet have mercy on Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'