Commentary on Zechariah 1 part 5/24

'No one,' He says, 'having lighted a lamp puts it in a hidden place or under a vessel or a bed, but on the lampstand, that all who are in the house may see the light.' In these words it is possible to take the house as the Church of the living God, being His household, in which those who abide and dwell, being disposed according to her doctrines, are illumined by the lamp set upon the lampstand — kindled by him who instructs those living in the house of God according to the ordinances and canons and doctrines of ecclesiastical judgment.

And this teacher gives light whenever he lifts up his own mind as a lamp, which he does not hide under a bed or a vessel, but sets upon his spoken word, allegorically called a lampstand, having a tongue of instruction when it is needful to speak.

One may also call the practical life a lampstand, upon which rests the enlightened mind of him who has kindled for himself the light of knowledge.

Let him who applies himself to the present explanation of the prophetic saying here set forth judge whether he ought to accept it or to seek another from those who are advanced in understanding.

For thus it comes about that one reaps an exactly examined understanding as fruit.

'And I asked and said to the angel that spoke within me, saying:

What are these things, my Lord? And the angel that spoke within me answered and said to me, saying:

This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying:

Not by great power, nor by might, but by My Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.'

— of the lamp-bowl and the seven funnels and the equal number of lamps, and the two olive trees, of which the one was on the right and the other on the left of the lamp-bowl.

To the question concerning the seeing of these things, which are not perceptible to the senses, the one who was asked immediately answered that they are the word of God from the person of Zerubbabel — from which it is established that the things shown were intelligible visions, and that this is true.

The showing of the things revealed came to the prophet while he was still in Babylon, in which neither the house of God had been built, nor the vessels within it — among which are also the lampstand and the things above it.

These things being thus contemplated, one must either abide by the interpretation that has been given concerning them, or seek a greater one.

It was said and made manifest to the prophet by the angel that it was not by great power nor by the might of man or of any other created thing, but by the Spirit of the Lord.

And the Spirit of the Lord is continually called holy in the Scriptures, as also in other Scriptures besides the one before us.

Concerning Him, at any rate, that also which is in Isaiah is proclaimed thus:

'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me.' In agreement with these, the apostle Paul also, writing to the Corinthians, says:

'For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also the things of God no one knows except the Spirit of God,' which searches even the mystical depths of God. And again in Isaiah, the Author and Provident One of all things Himself says:

'A Spirit shall go forth from Me.' In this Spirit the things shown before the person of Zerubbabel were made manifest, but not by great power or might of any created thing.

For there is another power which is supplied together with the Spirit to those who are worthy, concerning which the Saviour, in the Acts of the Apostles, says to His own disciples, being now taken up into heaven and to His Father:

'You shall receive the power of the Holy Spirit coming upon you.' In agreement, at the end of the Gospel according to Luke, the Saviour, ascending to whence He had come, having given the Holy Spirit to the apostles, says:

'But you shall sit in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.' And this power is none other than that of Christ, who is the wisdom and power of God, from which the evangelical proclamation was begun for the apostles, one of whom, Paul, writes:

'My speech and my proclamation were not in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power' — which are at times bestowed by God who possesses them and imparts them, as it is said concerning John in the Gospel, that he went forth before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.

Consider carefully whether that which was announced to Mary by the holy angel Gabriel has the same meaning:

'The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you.' By the Spirit of God mentioned in the sayings set forth and in many others, the announcement was made before the person of Zerubbabel and the power joined with him, and not by any other great power and might.

For this latter power is inferior, even though it be divine and greatly to be sought after.

'Who are you, O great mountain, that stand before the face of Zerubbabel to prosper him? And I will bring forth the stone of the inheritance, the equality of grace, its grace.'

As to a rational being capable of apprehending the divine voice, the discerning prophet — or the angel speaking within him — brings forward this question.

And what is it that He says to it? 'Who are you, O mountain, that stand before the face of Zerubbabel to prosper him, and what is the stone which I will bring forth of the inheritance, the equality of grace, its grace?' To these things one might say that the two appellations are set in parallel of the Saviour who sojourned among us.

For many Scriptures name Him both a mountain and a stone.

'The mountain of the Lord shall be manifest in the last of days' — this is the Son of God, in whom in the last of days He spoke, after having spoken in Moses and the prophets.

And this too is declarative of Him:

'Go up onto Mount Zion, you who bring good tidings to Zion.' And there are countless other testimonies concerning Him, which must be left aside from being adduced now, lest the discourse become too long beyond what is fitting — especially since it has often been interpreted, in the commentaries on the divine Psalms and on the final vision of Isaiah, that the mountain is the Saviour.

But the Saviour who is named a mountain is also called a stone, in this:

'The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner.' Having made mention of this saying in the Acts of the Apostles, Peter, the chief disciple of the Saviour, said most refutingly to the Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees who prided themselves on Jewish teaching:

This is the stone that was despised by you the builders, which has become the head of the corner. And since he is not only the head of the divine building but also its foundation, God makes a promise concerning him, saying:

Behold, I lay in the foundations of Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, precious, and whoever believes on him has a hope that will not be put to shame. Setting forth these words, Peter the disciple of Christ, upon whom the Church has been built, exhorts and counsels those to whom he wrote his epistle:

Coming to him, a living stone, you also are being built up into a spiritual house, in which spiritual sacrifices are offered. And of what inheritance is the stone a part? Of that concerning which it is said in Isaiah:

There is an inheritance for those who serve the Lord; and of that concerning which the psalmist, singing, said:

My inheritance is most excellent to me;

you are the one who restores my inheritance to me. Consider then whether the stone belongs to that inheritance which is being completed out of the godly individuals one by one, an inheritance which is chosen and longed for by the Cause of all things, according to what was proclaimed by men who bore the Spirit—apostles and evangelists and prophets, and Moses, the great hierophant of all things:

He has chosen for us his own inheritance—that is, God has—the beauty of Jacob which he loved. Equivalent to the utterance from the Psalm is also what is contained in the great song of Deuteronomy, which reads thus:

Jacob became the Lord's portion, Israel the allotment of his inheritance. But above all, the celebrated stone is the inheritance signified in the second Psalm as spoken to the stone itself:

You are my Son, today I have begotten you.

Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance. In addition to the interpretation already given—that the mountain and the stone are set forth in parallel as referring to the same thing—it must also be said, in another way, that the mountain is one thing and the stone another.

And the mountain of uprightness is Mary who knew no marriage;

while the stone that came forth from her—the Son whom she bore without a man—is the one referred to.

The book of the most wise Daniel initiates us into the mysteries concerning these things.

For it is said in it that the stone which strikes the various kingdoms and the image composed of them was cut without hands and torn away from the mountain without the customary and deliberate activity of parents that leads to birth.

For all human beings who have their origin from both parents are torn away and cut from those who conceive them by the hands of marital acts; only the one born of the virgin who knew no man was torn away and cut from her without hands.

And it was before the face of Zerubbabel that the stone was cut from the mountain without hands, because Jesus too is traced in genealogy from him.

At any rate, the name is interpreted 'a shifting of the flow,' because the customary flow of parents has been shifted, being brought to completion by a virgin alone, without a man.

And the stone that was thrust out of the inheritance has grace upon grace, according to the meaning of what John the Baptist said, that of his fullness we all have received.

it belongs to him, as the theologian says to those to whom he addresses his epistle:

By grace you have been saved, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall complete it; and you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

The prophecy is not spoken concerning a perceptible building, a visible house.

For it has already been said that this prophet, while still in Babylon, in the seventieth year of the captivity being already at hand, was initiated into the revelations here set forth.

But it was not in Babylon, rather in Jerusalem and after the captivity, that the perceptible house was built.

Therefore the utterance before us is not concerning it;

for it is spoken demonstratively concerning it, as of a temple present and already at hand:

But the house raised up in Jerusalem after the return from captivity does not lie before the sight of the one who is in Babylon.

But even if these things are not spoken concerning the perceptible building, nevertheless there is disclosed by them the archetype of the visible one, which is something intelligible and is, as it were, the ideal form of that which was constructed after its likeness.

It has been said before also that, just as the tabernacle and the vessels in it were constructed according to the pattern of an invisible tabernacle that appeared on the mountain—that is, at the height of the archetype—so too the bodily house raised up out of perceptible stones is an imitation and image of that which was shown to the prophet Zechariah by way of a vision, and not by the impact of sense-perception.

The symbol of this archetype the hands of Zerubbabel laid as a foundation, and his active powers shall complete it.

And when this has come to pass, you will know—as the one to whom the promise is made—that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you, so that you may be enlightened and may with understanding contemplate the things divinely ordained through the vision of God.

And the prophet before us might well say the very same things that Paul, who speaks in Christ, wrote in this manner:

I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. In harmony with God's speaking in revelations to those who have inward vision according to the inner man, the psalmist says in the Psalms:

Then you spoke in a vision to your sons—not in ears nor by voice—to those who have the Spirit of adoption, God the Word speaking to them.

For being true light, he enlightens the mind of those whom he wills to receive his divine converse;

he speaks in a vision rather than in ears.

So then, when God spoke thus to Isaiah as well, with this:

A vision which Isaiah saw—not visible things, but words are brought forward:

Hear, O heaven, and give ear, O earth, for the Lord has spoken:

I have begotten sons and raised them up, but they have rejected me. With equivalent meaning also concerning the fifth of the Twelve Prophets:

The vision of Obadiah—no perceptible spectacle, but words are brought forward, reading thus:

Thus says the Lord to Idumea:

I have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent a message to the nations:

you are greatly despised; and so forth.

For who has despised the days as small? And they shall rejoice, and shall see the stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel;

these seven are the eyes that look upon all the earth.

For who is it that despises the small days? These are the days after which the restoration takes place, when those who had gone into Babylon by the law of captivity receive their return to their own homeland.

And small days are those that are few in number, and especially those that are shortened, when the sun does not remain for long in the hemisphere above the earth;

the former sense is rather to be taken, because the revelations were shown to the prophet in the seventieth year of the captivity, so that the prophet himself says to God:

To this contemplation belongs also what was said in the Gospel by the Savior:

Unless those days had been cut short, no flesh would have been saved. The cutting short of the days of tribulation signifies that the afflicting things will not remain for a longer time, but quickly cease, so that the strength of those being ill-treated may suffice for them to contend nobly and to attain the prizes and crowns.

For one must not be persuaded by Tatian the heretic, who erroneously says that the former days had become fewer than the present ones, the hours of the day and night having been briefly contracted, because it is proclaimed by the psalmist to God:

By your ordinance the day abides. But since it is impossible for the days to be cut short in this way according to the literal history, one must trace back the Gospel saying concerning the cutting short of the days, and what is set down in the prophetic text concerning the small days, to their true meaning.

Since the intelligible days have magnitude and multitude in relation to the Sun of righteousness, and this arises from the difference among those who are enlightened, and not from the divine light that illumines them.

For when the Lord says concerning the righteous one who dwells in the help of the Most High:

With length of days I will satisfy him, we do not say that he promises longevity to the righteous one who longs to depart and be with Christ, so that he says:

Woe is me, that my sojourning has been prolonged. Indeed, then, the literal history too fights against such a notion, since those who honor their parents do not by all means become long-lived, though it is said to each one:

Honor your father and your mother, that it may be well with you and that you may be long-lived upon the land which the Lord your God gives you. For it is possible to find those who keep this commandment dying an untimely death in a short time, passing out of this perishable life.

Since, then, the statement is shown not to be as the many suppose, what is said in the Psalms concerning length of days, and if anywhere else in the God-inspired Scripture there is such a thing as this:

He asked life of you, and you gave him length of days forever and ever, and that in Proverbs:

The righteous shall make many years in wealth. And that the enlightenment which is prolonged is also length of days, Moses the hierophant of the divine laws says to the God-loving one:

This is your life and the length of your days:

to love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your heart. For since intense love toward God is luminous, it prepares long and great days, so that the one who partakes of it comes to be one of many days and of long days.

Compared with these days, the introductory illuminations turn out to be small days;

and the one who does not despise them will most easily experience the brilliant advancements that come after the introductory stages.

In these the one who has come to be will rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorified, which is a fruit of the Holy Spirit.

And what follows for the one who has thus rejoiced but to see the stone of tin in the hand—that is, in the activity—of Zerubbabel, in that from him is traced the genealogy of Jesus who is from Abraham and David and finally from Mary, the one who, because he is wholly luminous, also makes those who draw near to him clear-sighted?

He said there are seven eyes, watching over and looking upon all the earth, then especially when those who dwell upon the earth have learned to do righteousness, walking blameless and working righteousness.

And that these are watched over by the Lord, one can learn from the psalmist who says:

The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are attentive to their supplication. Seven divine eyes has He who, being wholly discerning in all His parts, sees through all things.

For this reason the all-holy Cherubim, upon whom God is borne, according to the vision of Ezekiel, are furnished with eyes throughout: they are said to be full of eyes, so that both their backs and their fronts have eyes that behold the transcendent and mighty sights.

Now 'Cherubim' is interpreted as 'a multitude of knowledge.'

They understand, and they see the things upon which they cast their gaze.

'Who has despised the days of small things?' This does not indicate the one who is a rare spectator, but rather a certain thing which by some is properly called 'a quality,' and by others 'an individual,' in a manner similar to the apostolic saying which runs thus:

'Every house is built by someone.'

And I answered and said to him:

'What are these two olive trees, on the right of the lampstand and on the left?' And I asked a second time and said to him:

'What are the two branches of the olive trees, which are in the hands of the two golden spouts that pour out and supply the golden oil-vessels?' And he said to me:

'Do you not know what these are?' And I said:

'No, my lord.' And he said: 'These are the two sons of fatness who stand beside the Lord of all the earth.'

When the angel who spoke in the prophet had asked:

'What do you see?' he answered and said by way of inquiry:

'What are the two olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand?' No answer being given him, he asks a second time concerning the two branches of the olive trees, which are in the hands of the two spouts that pour out and supply the golden oil-vessels.

'Do you not know what these are?' The prophet having said, 'No, my lord,' the angel declared:

'These are the two sons of fatness who stand beside the Lord of all the earth.' To one who is but at the beginning of initiation into the mysteries it is not yet possible to know which are the olive trees on the right and on the left of the lampstand.

Therefore he asks a second time concerning the two branches of the olive trees.

It has been made clear in the foregoing that these are words of divine meditation, called 'olive trees' because their fruit increases and nourishes the light.

Since, then, it is not possible for one who knows and prophesies in part to behold in their entirety the trunks and the shoots of the plants set forth, he brings forward a second inquiry concerning the two branches of the olive trees; for of these alone can one who applies himself to the truth 'through a mirror and in an enigma' scarcely gain knowledge, so that, being benefited by the partial things, he may at some time be able to know which the olive trees are.

And since one of the interpretations, according to a certain one of those who have expounded the text—who took the two olive trees to refer to the doctrine concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit—consider whether the branches of these olive trees might be understood as the things attainable by one who knows in part.

And Christ being an olive tree, the branch would be the fact that the Word became flesh;

and of the Holy Spirit, the introductory contemplation of Him, which is called His pledge (earnest).

Having asked concerning these a second time, the one seized by God heard from the initiating angel:

'Do you not know what these are?' And when he said:

'No, my lord,' 'These,' he says, 'are the two sons of fatness;

they stand beside the Lord of all the earth.'

For just as, on the right of the discourse concerning the Father—and this is the little lamp above the lampstand, as was interpreted a little earlier—so, the contemplation concerning the Father being called 'fatness,' its sons turn out to be the discourse concerning the Son and the Holy Spirit, in so far as one who is still in the body is able to know.

According to another interpretation, the mystical understanding of the God-inspired Scriptures is the fatness of the house of God, according to what is said in the thirty-fifth Psalm to the Lord God:

'They shall be inebriated with the fatness of Your house'—it being clear that these are the sons of men who hope under the wings of God, being two sons in that the one was born of the circumcision and the other according to the Gospel of Christ.

Consider whether you can take the two sons of fatness who stand beside the Lord of all the earth to be those who appeared in glory with Jesus on the mountain, Moses and Elijah—that is to say, the legal and the prophetic word.

For just as the spiritual law turns out to be a son of the fatness that was expounded, so also the elevated word of the prophet.

I read in an apocryphal book that Enoch and Elijah are the two sons of fatness, as is likely because of their being profited beyond the rest of mankind.

He was translated that he should not see death; and Elijah was taken up, a chariot of fire and a horse of fire carrying him up as into heaven.

Having contemplated these things according to our own capacity, which is but slight, let us set forth what follows in the prophet, longing to understand these also, if indeed He who enlightens the prophet through revelations should grant a word in the opening of our mouth.

And I turned and lifted up my eyes;

and I looked, and behold, a flying sickle.

I see a flying sickle, twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in breadth.

This is the curse that goes forth over the face of all the earth;

for every thief shall be punished from this even unto death, and every perjurer shall be punished from this even 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 lodge in the midst of his house and consume it, both its timbers and its stones.

Having turned back from the vision that had gone before, I lifted up my eyes—those of the understanding.

And I see a flying sickle, having a length of twenty cubits and a breadth of ten cubits.

Concerning which sickle, he who shows the vision of it says:

This is the curse—that is, the chastisement—that is brought upon all the earth, so as to cut down and consume the thief and the perjurer.

And behold the greatness of the instruction that comes through revelation, which makes manifest the unseen from the seen, the things perceived by the mind from the things perceived by the senses.

For at the sentence of the righteous Judge who examines the just man and the impious, and renders to each according to his deed and his works, the punishments brought upon unjust and impious men He names in one place 'sword and arrows,' in another 'axe and sickle.'

For whenever wicked and deceiving men, and along with them the abominable demons—being hostile and seditious by reason of the cruelty they possess—when the things brought upon such people according to their desert are called 'swords and javelins,' brought upon them by the Lord who says in the great Song of Deuteronomy:

I will make My arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh from the blood of the slain; and again:

I will bring My sword upon them, and My arrows shall consume them. And since the chastisement touches not only those who sin on earth, but also the angels who fell into wickedness—for it is written:

'God spared not the angels who sinned, who forsook their heavenly dwelling'—in Isaiah it is said in the person of God:

My sword has become drunk in heaven. But most of all the toilsome judgment brought upon the impious is made known in the passage in Amos, the second of the Twelve Prophets, which runs thus:

By the sword shall all the sinners of the people die. For the prophetic word is not about a perceptible weapon of enemies, since never yet have all the sinners of the people been slain by a visible sword.

With equal force, in the seventh Psalm too the psalmist threatens, saying to those who are called to repentance:

If you will not turn back, He will whet His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready; and upon it He has prepared instruments of death;

He has wrought His arrows for the burning ones. Now as to the sense of the 'instruments of death,' in Jeremiah it is said:

Bring forth then fruits worthy of repentance;

already the axe is laid at the root of the trees;

every tree therefore that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Against the plants that are thus interpreted the curse is brought, in the manner of a sickle, so as to cut down those of whom it is said that they bear destructive and harmful fruit;

for their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and their tendril is of Gomorrah;

their grape is a grape of gall, a cluster of bitterness to them; their wine is the fury of dragons, and the incurable fury of asps. Of an evil choice, like a harmful vine bringing forth poisonous fruit, it was necessary that it be cut down with a sharp sickle, and that the grape and the cluster be stripped away.

These things having been shown in a more general way, see also how it is possible to make plain each detail one by one.

The prophet, having turned back from the things he had already seen and taught, and having lifted up the luminous eyes of his heart, sees a flying sickle—not a perceptible one, but plainly one perceived by the mind—having a length of twenty cubits and a breadth of ten cubits, cutting down every planting which the heavenly Father did not plant.

And all things that are cut off prove to be unclean.

The cutting off is done with a sickle twenty cubits in length;

for the number twenty is not clean, being a dyad among the tens.

But since the length does not remain by itself alone, it takes on a breadth of ten cubits.

And this number resembles a monad (unity).

It is shown through the measures set forth that a favorable and beneficial end comes upon those who have been cleansed by the sickle.

The sickle is called a 'curse' because it produces pains and afflictions for those being cleansed, bringing vengeance against every thief and everyone who swears the name of the Lord falsely.

In order, then, that no one may suffer these things, let him keep the commandments that stand thus—in the Mosaic teaching:

'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal'; and in the apostolic writing:

'Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labour, working that which is good.' And just as theft is to be shunned because of the curse called the sickle, so let perjury also be avoided, the name of the Lord not being taken in vain.

A little further on in the prophecy, then, perjury is forbidden thus:

'And love not those who take the name of the Lord in falsehood, and a false oath.'

Concerning such a curse, which is a sickle, the Lord says:

'I will bring it forth by the verdict of judgement, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and of the perjurer, and shall consume it, both its timbers and its stones.' And just as the house that is consumed is not a perceptible building, so neither are the timbers and stones that complete and finish it visible.

In the versions of the other translators of the Hebrew Scripture, the curse is called a parchment scroll, plainly covering over the thief and perjurer who are caught by it.

And this sickle flies most swiftly, coming upon all the earth.

And in a second sense it flies, because it lays hold not only of those who sin upon the earth, but also of those in the air, and of the impious everywhere who are punished.