Commentary on Zechariah 1 part 7/24

not only the vessels of the sanctuary, but also the virtues and wise thoughts which they had acquired there.

For having been benefited out of that unpleasant and toilsome condition, they acquired those good things concerning which it is said in one of the Songs of Ascents to the one blessed by the Lord:

May you see the good things of Jerusalem; and again:

You shall trust in the Lord, and He shall bring you up to the good things of the land — which land is given as an inheritance to those who learn from Jesus that He is meek and lowly in heart.

Concerning which the hymnodist has cried out:

'I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.' In agreement with this, the blessed prophet Isaiah too exhorts us to conceive a longing for the good things that have been expounded:

'For if,' he says, 'you are willing and hearken to me, you shall eat the good things of the land.' To the one who received the things from the captivity, who had received a command concerning this matter from the word of the Lord that came to be addressed to him, it is enjoined to enter into the house of Josiah, whose name is rendered as 'unto one being saved.'

For it is fitting that the one being saved by the Lord—concerning whom it is written:

'Our God is a God who saves'—the Lord having come to seek and to save that which was lost—should be a son of Zephaniah, whose name is interpreted as 'the tarrying of Iao.'

For a tarrying is granted by God to the one who has been saved with an eternal salvation, of which the Saviour is the author, and concerning which the Apostle writes, speaking about the Saviour:

'Having been made perfect, he became to all those who obey him the author of eternal salvation.' To the one commanded to enter into the house of him who has come from Babylon to Jerusalem the holy city, a command is given to take silver and gold and to make crowns, that they may be set upon the head of the great high priest—and this is Jesus, the true Jesus being the salvation of God, whose name is rendered as 'the salvation of Iao,' that is, plainly, of God:

for Iao is one of the names of God in the Hebrew tongue.

Let us consider what the gold and the silver are from which the several crowns are fashioned by the one who has received the commandment.

By the law of allegory the silver is taken to be the word (reason), and the gold the mind.

Accordingly, in the Song of Songs it is said concerning these spiritual treasures—to the bride, by the friends of her bridegroom who is a king:

'We will make you likenesses of gold with studs of silver, while the king is at his repose.' It is likely that the shadowy and figurative instructions of the Scripture prior to the coming of the Saviour are likenesses of the spiritual gold;

these the Apostle says are shadows of the good things to come and an image of the transcendent realities;

and these are the good things to come, constituted according to the life-giving Spirit.

And since the likenesses of the aforesaid spiritual gold are diversified and fashioned out of the God-inspired oracles, the likenesses of the spiritual gold receive their variegation from the studs of silver.

And what is the silver from whose studs the likenesses of the gold are adorned, but the pure oracles of the Lord, which are 'silver refined, tried for the earth'?

Concerning the spiritual gold that has been expounded and the silver that corresponds to it, it is said in the very nuptial song concerning the bridegroom of peace:

'King Solomon made himself a palanquin from the wood of Lebanon;

he made its pillars of silver, and its couch of gold.' The pillars of this spiritual palanquin have been made of the aforementioned silver, and its couch is of gold, being intellectual (of the mind).

of this, spiritual wickednesses.

Since the contests are many and various, it is necessary that the prizes too be many and various.

Therefore not one crown but many crowns are wrought by the one who received the command.

For each virtue, and the works accomplished in accordance with it, has its own proper crown.

For the one who has heard the laws of his own Father, God, and has not rejected the ordinances of his mother—the free Jerusalem above and the glorious Church—receives upon his own head a crown of graces, being adorned as with a golden collar in the submissive faculty of the soul, which is allegorically called the neck.

And in this passage the golden collar has its fashioning not from perceptible matter, but from the divine mind.

There are graces in these things, out of which is plaited the crown that the head of the one who has heard the words of God who begot him binds upon itself by doing righteousness.

For everyone who does righteousness has been begotten of God, and keeps the ordinances of the aforementioned mother, in no way rejecting them;

the virtues according to their several kinds are those that bestow grace upon the one being crowned and save by grace the one who partakes of them.

There is another contest, holding fast to which one takes his delight in the Lord, partaking of him as of living bread, and drinking the cup that he offers to those who thirst for drink—a cup that intoxicates, being most excellent—so that the one who has drunk says thankfully to him who offered it:

'You have put gladness into my heart.' The one who has received this feasting unharmed and well-pleasingly, being persuaded by the President of the contest who said:

'Be well-pleasing before me and be blameless,' receives a crown of delight, which is at once an adornment and a saving weapon, according to Wisdom which says:

'With a crown of delight she shall shield you.' Paul the apostle, in his longing for the prizes and the crown, fought the good fight and finished that course concerning which the hymn-singer says:

'Without lawlessness I ran and directed my way';

'I have run the way of your commandments, when you enlarged my heart.' Harmoniously, the one who has finished this course also keeps the faith in the Trinity, in no measure slipping, having been established in it, according to what was said in praise to certain persons:

'You stand fast in the faith.' And what will be given to the one who has fought the good fight and finished the course that has been expounded and kept the faith that is reckoned unto righteousness, but the crown of righteousness? He who has thus played the man says: 'I have fought the good fight,' and adds the words joined thereto:

'Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall render to me; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ.'

This crown is also the crown of eternal life, as James inscribes in the epistle that bears his name, saying:

'Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for having become approved he shall receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.' And since to endure temptation patiently is the same thing as to fight the good fight and to finish the course and to keep the faith, it is likely that the crown of righteousness is the very same as the crown of life.

The many crowns that came to be from the spiritual gold and silver are set upon the head of Jesus—the Jesus of righteousness—for Jozadak is rendered as 'righteousness' from the Hebrew into the Greek tongue.

And observe indeed how one head, that of Jesus, receives many crowns.

For he was tempted in all points, apart from sin, having contended in the contests.

Fix your attention, according to another contemplation, on how the head of Jesus the great high priest receives the crowns of all.

All those who believe are the body of Christ and its members;

for it has been said to those who fill up the assembly of the Church:

the practical ones are hands, feet are those who are not sluggish in zeal, eyes are those who are perceptive according to the mind, the head are the rulers who lawfully preside as they ought.

Those who are thus the head both see keenly and hear the parables of Jesus; and since there are many who are thus allegorically called the head, on account of the practical and contemplative life which they possess, it follows that the head of the great high priest receives the crowns of all.

And a great high priest is also written of in this way in the Epistle to the Hebrews:

'Having therefore a great high priest, Jesus, who has passed through the heavens, let us hold fast our confession.' And it is nothing paradoxical that the head of one man should receive all the crowns.

For if each virtue is a crown—or rather, each virtue is a crown—and the perfect man possesses all the best dispositions, the virtues following one upon another, then he who possesses them all binds upon himself many crowns: pre-eminently the man taken up by the Word of God, and thereafter his imitators, who are themselves called christs (anointed ones) because they are partakers of him concerning whom it is said:

'Christ, the wisdom and power of God.'

'Thus says the Lord Almighty:

Behold, a man, Dawn (Branch) is his name, and from beneath him shall he spring up, and he shall build the house of the Lord;

and he himself shall receive virtue, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and the priest shall be at his right hand, and a counsel of peace shall be between them both.'

'And the crown shall be for those who endure and for those useful to her and for those who have known her, and for a grace of the son of Zephaniah, and for a psalm in the house of the Lord.'

'And those who are far off from them shall come and shall build in the house of the Lord.'

'And you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you;

and it shall come to pass, if you diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God.'

'You shall say,' he says, 'to him'—that is, to the son of Zephaniah:

'Thus says the Lord Almighty:

Behold, a man, Dawn (Branch) is his name.'

These things are said concerning our Saviour who sojourned among us, being a man according to him who was born of Mary, the temple of God the Word, and being the true light and the sun of righteousness.

In harmony with what lies before us is what is said in the prophet Jeremiah, which runs thus:

'Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a righteous Dawn (Branch), and he shall reign as king and shall understand and shall execute judgment and righteousness upon the earth.'

'In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell securely; and this is his name, by which the Lord shall call him, Jozadak among the prophets.' For the righteous Dawn who rises up from David is the one shown forth by the hierophant in the words:

'Behold, a man, Dawn is his name.' We say that this very man, called Dawn because he is the sun of righteousness—the righteous Dawn arisen out of David—is none other than the one who came to be of the seed of David according to the flesh, concerning whom the sacred herald Isaiah prophetically cries out:

'There shall be the root of Jesse, he who rises up to rule the nations;

in him the nations shall hope, and his rest shall be honour.' The Apostle sends the same things as the prophet, writing thus to his own genuine disciple Timothy:

'Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the seed of David.' For these texts that have been set forth make plain the one born of the undefiled Virgin, who came here to sojourn that a name might be called upon him:

for this is what the name Emmanuel signifies when interpreted.

In agreement with these things are also the things foretold by the great patriarch in the blessings concerning Judah, which begin thus:

'Judah, your brothers shall praise you.'

'Your hands shall be upon the back of your enemies, and all the sons of your father shall bow down before you.'

He who was born of an undefiled virgin without a man. His majesty and pre-eminence are set forth in that he is hymned and adored by his brethren and by the sons of his own mother.

He is shown also to be a triumphant king, from the fact that he holds his hands upon the back of his enemies, who have been turned to flight.

In harmony with what is written concerning the resurrection of the one who is hymned is also that which is promised by God in the prophet Ezekiel, when He says to those whom He wills to benefit and to save:

'I will raise up for you one shepherd, my servant David,' who has said in the Gospel:

'I am the good shepherd.'

The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep, of which he is the leader of the flock and the best of herdsmen, exposing himself to danger on their behalf;

for he dies, having by the grace of God tasted death for all, so that, having shown them to be alive, he might grant them the glory of the Lord Almighty.

For concerning him the holy prophet Micah, prophesying in the manner of hymn-singing, foretold, saying:

'And he shall stand and see and shepherd his flock in strength, the Lord, and they shall abide in the name of God, their Almighty' — that is, partaking of Him who said to the hierophant Moses:

'I am He who is.' And just as the best shepherd, David, being true and mighty in his hand, arose to feed the sheep that hear the voice of Jesus — sheep of the hand of Jesus and people of his pasture — so too the best general, sent by the good pleasure of the Father, who sprang up from a shoot as one recently come, as it was said, turned the enemies to flight in fear, laying his hands upon their back.

He is hymned and glorified by his own brethren, having been shown to be their firstborn, according to the word of the Apostle:

'Whom he foreknew and predestined' — God, that is — 'to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren';

concerning whom the firstborn says to God:

'I will declare your name to my brethren;

in the midst of the church I will hymn you.' These things are said concerning Him who is glorified, being of Abraham and David, as Matthew writes:

'The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.' Correspondingly to the brethren who praise him, also the sons of his mother — clearly of the Jerusalem above — worship him in spirit and in truth, in the same manner as the angels, concerning whom it is said:

'Let all the angels of God worship him.' All these deeds of valour have been accomplished, when the prophecy which reads thus receives its fulfilment:

'The root of Jesse shall be, and he who rises up to rule the nations;

in him the nations shall hope.' Equivalent to the ruler of all the nations rising up from the root of Jesse is also the saying just now cited from Jeremiah.

For the same as the king of the nations rising up from the root of Jesse is this:

'Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will raise up for David a righteous dawn, a king who reigns as king, in whose days he who confesses — Judah, so called in the Hebrew tongue — shall be saved, and the mind that sees God — called Israel — shall dwell in confidence,' according to what is said by those who make confession to the Master of all:

'Have mercy on us, O Lord, for in you we have trusted.' Concerning everyone who so boldly and courageously stands firm it is written:

'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his hope.' And what name shall be called for the king who arose from David and reigns as king, who has understanding since the Spirit of God rested upon him — being a spirit of wisdom and understanding — who has executed judgement and righteousness upon the earth, other than 'Josedek' in the prophets? 'Josedek' is interpreted as righteousness that is in the prophets, who prophesy beforehand its coming to us, according to what is proclaimed in the hymns, in one place:

'Righteousness looked down from heaven'; and in another place:

'In his days righteousness shall spring up (dawn).'

The prophetic passages that have been adduced for the demonstration of Zechariah's prophetic saying having been clarified, it is now time to consider that saying itself.

'Behold,' he says, 'the Dawn (Branch) is his name.' In addition to what has been said, the incarnation is signified from this:

'Behold, the Dawn (Branch) is his name.' Take note whether here the bridegroom, who has the bride, is called a man.

For the Apostle makes this plain, writing to the Corinthians:

'I desire to present you all to one man, as a chaste virgin.' It is the expectation of those who are filled with the knowledge of the Son of God to attain to this man, as again the same Paul, speaking in Christ, inscribes:

'Until we all attain to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fulness of the Son of God' — for to this perfect man, concerning whom John the Baptist, than whom none greater has been raised up among those born of women, says:

'There comes after me a man who has been before me';

he signifies this man, saying:

'He who has the bride is the bridegroom;

but the friend of the bridegroom rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.' This man, who is shown by the prophet, is called the Dawn — that Dawn concerning which, in the Gospel, Zechariah the father of the Baptist, being filled with the Holy Spirit, uttered forth:

'The Dawn from on high,' of true light and of the Sun of righteousness, 'has appeared to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,' so that, when the darkness is dissolved and the shadow of death no longer exists, we might pass over from death into life, and being illumined might become light in the Lord, casting off the darkness that comes from ignorance of God and from the rest of wickedness, and might become light in the Lord, according to the philosophy of him who writes to some:

'For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.' Concerning this Dawn that arose from David, the father of the Baptist, among other things concerning God, also says this:

'He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of David' — that is, a king of salvation.

For in many places of Scripture, and not least in the wise Daniel, kings and kingdoms are called horns.

Making use of this one who arose in the house of David, the wise say to God:

'In you we shall gore our enemies.' Beneath the man who is shown, called the Dawn, there shall spring up either light, or a plant bearing saving fruits — for the verb 'to spring up (dawn)' is applied in common to both light and plant — which things shall spring up beneath the great Teacher, Lawgiver, and King.

And what are the things beneath him, other than the rational beings that are subject to divine laws and to congenial instruction? For how is not every man who is praiseworthily called 'man' beneath him, since Christ is his head? And all the members of Christ, being that which fills up the Church which is the body of Christ, are beneath Christ, who is the head of the Church.

So too you will say that beneath the king and teacher are the subjects and disciples, from whom comes the dawning of the light of the knowledge of the truth and of the tree that bears good fruit, addressing which, as a husbandman, God says:

'I planted you a fruitful vine, wholly true';

and far be from every God-fearing person that word:

'How have you turned to bitterness, O foreign vine?' And beneath the spiritual farmer you will say there shall spring up also the virtues according to their kinds and their works, being fruits of righteousness, concerning which the Apostle writes:

'May God sanctify the fruits of your righteousness'; and the prophet Hosea:

'Seek the Lord until he comes with fruits of righteousness for you.' These things they reap in exultation who sow them in tears — that is, with toil and sweat, among those who labour for godliness.

'Beneath him it shall spring up,' and thus:

the Word who became flesh, Jesus who was born of a woman, arose beneath the Dawn from on high, the God-Word, who is the true light.

When the Son sat at the right hand of the Father, his enemies were placed beneath him after the manner of a footstool; and these, having been benefited by coming to be under his feet, sprang up as light and as fruits.

He who sprang up beneath the one spoken of as God shall build the house of the Lord, the Church of the living God — especially the man who, according to the incarnation, sprang up beneath the God-Word.

But also those who, according to the other renderings, sprang up beneath — being subjects of the King of all and the good Teacher, who translated into deeds the commandments of him who rules over them and instructed them — built their life as a house upon the rock, Christ, laying down the foundations and bases of the house upon the firm and indissoluble faith in the Trinity, a rock named in relation to him who confessed it, from him who was confessed, according to what was thus said:

'You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.' But also those enemies who, according to the third rendering, were placed under the feet of the King of all, having become friends instead of adversaries, shall build the house of the Lord, so that he may dwell and walk about among them, having called and improved them.

He who according to the incarnation sprang up beneath, similarly to this:

'Truth sprang up out of the earth,' shall receive virtue, since those who are saved by him and led to great glory bear it as fruit.

For how does not the righteousness of God in him receive this from the things that come to pass, when he became sin on their behalf, according to the apostolic philosophy:

'For him who knew no sin,' he says, 'he made to be sin on our behalf, that in him we might become the righteousness of God'? For how does he not receive virtue, which is the righteousness and the abundance of peace in the days of his incarnation? And since he consents to receive the virtue that comes to be among men, let each of the faithful bear it as fruit and offer it:

he who sets before himself the practice of sound-mindedness, let him offer decorum and self-control, purity and virginity;

he who is temperate, temperance — always carrying about in his own body the dying of Jesus.

And those also offer virtue who conduct themselves in honourable marriage and an undefiled bed.

Such were Joseph, and Susanna, and Anna the prophetess, and Elizabeth the mother of the Baptist, and all the other men and women who were distinguished in purity.

And they have offered great and indestructible faith, being a virtue that surpasses nature, who contended even unto death for the truth, confessing in themselves the Son of God before men, so that he too might confess them in themselves before the heavenly Father and the holy angels.

The man called Dawn shall be seated and shall bear rule upon his throne.

And his throne is twofold: the one as of a king, the other as of a priest, as it is possible to demonstrate from scriptural passages.

The all-ruling throne is shown from the proverbial oracle which reads thus:

'When a righteous king sits upon a throne, nothing evil is set in opposition to him.'

'Your throne, O God, is for ever and ever;

a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of your kingdom.'

and from what is said in the Psalms:

The Lord shall sit as king for ever. And concerning the priestly office, in the Epistle to the Hebrews;

for he who penned the letter wrote thus:

Such a high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled; and he says this also:

Let us therefore come with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us — calling the throne of grace the throne of the holy and harmless and undefiled high priest.

Since, then, he of whom it is said 'he shall sit and shall rule upon his throne' received the throne of David his father,

that he might reign unto the ages, his kingdom having no end, but also an inviolable priesthood.

Thou art the priest for ever. He shall sit and rule upon the twofold throne, he alone holding the throne of kingship and of priesthood.

When, having taken his seat upon the throne, he rules while reigning securely, then shall the priest be at his right hand, there being between them both a counsel of peace.

And who is this but Melchizedek, of whom the Apostle writes that he abides a priest continually, being made like unto the Son of God?

The apostolic word to the Hebrews stands thus:

Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like unto the Son of God, he abides a priest continually. And since he is a worshipper of God not in a shadowy way, but truly and according to the spirit, he shall be at the right hand of him who sits and rules upon his throne.

And being at the right hand — he who is made like unto the Son of God, abiding a priest continually — he has a counsel of peace toward him to whom he was made like; and the Son of God likewise being at peace with the king of Salem, that is, of peace, and with the king of righteousness, this is Melchizedek.

For how should he not have a counsel of peace toward him according to whose order he is a priest, abiding for ever? But the true and divine crown is given to those who bear their captivity with patient endurance and greatness of soul, according to what was said, which also we mentioned a little before:

Blessed is the man that endures temptation, for when he has been proved he shall receive the crown of life, which God promised to them that love him. He upon whom comes the longing to obtain this, his head being crowned, has perfected the endurance concerning which James writes:

Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into diverse temptations, knowing that the proving of your faith works patience — so that those who have perfected it sing praises with thanksgiving, in one place as all one, through concord having one soul and one heart:

With patience I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me and heard my supplication;

And now, what is my patience? Is it not the Lord? And my substance is from thee. And this sacred and most beautiful crown belongs not only to those who endure, but also to those who are useful and to those who have come to know it.

Of the contemplation of the prophet here set forth, or of the virtue previously mentioned — what then is this crown, named preeminently above those spoken of before, which were made of silver and gold? It is the Lord of hosts himself, as it is borne in the prophet Isaiah:

In that day the Lord of hosts shall be the crown of glory. For he is the prize of glory, to be given to those who glorify God in their own body and who hold a godly conviction, and who cherish right thoughts — rather, godly doctrines.

For according to this we who possess the Church's knowledge are called orthodox.

And this crown is woven not from gold and precious stones, but from the right opinion concerning the truth.

And this same crown is the imperishable one concerning which the Apostle writes word for word thus:

Everyone that strives is temperate in all things; but the one contending in the lower and human contests, that he may receive a perishable crown, strives for that; whereas we strive for an imperishable one, which is also called unfading by the chief of the apostles, Peter.

For writing to the shepherds under the true Shepherd, concerning whom God promises that he will give to his spiritual sheep, saying:

I will give you shepherds after my own heart, and they shall feed you with knowledge — the word of Peter runs thus:

The elders among you I exhort to shepherd the flock among you, not by constraint but willingly, that when the chief Shepherd is manifested ye may receive the unfading crown of glory, to be rendered to those who have kept the faith orthodoxly and to those who have carried out to the end the injunction which says:

Give glory to our God; and again:

Glory and honour unto the Lord. This crown is given for the graces of Zephaniah and for a psalm in the house of the Lord, concerning which the melodist says:

Take up a psalm and give a timbrel, a pleasant psaltery with a harp. Now the psalm which must be taken up is the reasoned word concerning what is rightly done and rightly thought, to which it is fitting to give a timbrel, and a pleasant psaltery and a harp.