撒迦利亞書註釋 第 1 章 第 2/24 段

... an abundance ... of those who ... and of those who make better ...

... when the Lord shall yet, as also before, have mercy on Zion ...

And moreover He shall choose Jerusalem ... receiving ... because it has been filled with things worthy ...

which things it is said, by way of blessing, that one shall see ...

'And thou shalt see the good things of Jerusalem.' Concerning these things this also must be understood:

If you are willing and heed me, you shall eat the good things of the earth.

You shall put your trust in the Lord, and He will bring you up to the good things of the earth, concerning which the wise man, to whom the hidden and secret things of wisdom were disclosed by God, says:

I believe that I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Properly and ... the holy one to see in the land of the living, and he feeds ... having been brought up to the good things of the earth, being ...

... apart from what are called bodily good things, but ...

... according to the inner man; and these are the virtues ...

... these works being brought to completion, leading in ...

For one must not attend to those who assert ... in a bodily manner, the taking one's fill of tree-fruits ... in a fleshly way, nor again the being rich and ...

And I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.

And I said to the angel who was speaking within me:

What are these, Lord? ... he speaks not of the eyes ... but of those that have been enlightened; for these he raises on high ...

... in the contemplation of God and of the things brought to pass by Him ...

... God, with wise, pure, and undistracted eyes ...

This one says to God, as ...

... of God, according to which He creates and exercises providence, ... and the contemplation of things perceptible.

To You I have lifted up my eyes, to You who dwell in heaven. And the Saviour:

Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look upon the fields, that they are white for harvest already.

In like manner ... the holy one said, he says, the ...

Lift up your eyes and see.

Who has displayed all these things? He who brings forth His world by number ...

... and the prophet set forth for examination ...

... having lifted up his eyes ...

... of the true light, he has beheld ...

He put forward an inquiry, wishing to know what ever they are.

And the horns are the four kingdoms set over the citizens of Zion and Jerusalem.

They are none other than those enemies concerning whom the Apostle and the rest ...

The hymn-writer somewhere says to the one rising up against the enemies:

You shall tread upon the asp and the basilisk, and you shall trample the lion and the dragon. And since each of the evils mentioned exalts itself tyrannically, it is said to reign lawlessly.

These horns, proclaimed by way of a riddle, the prophet beheld when he lifted up the eyes of his understanding, that from having contemplated their preparation and power he might put on the invincible whole armour of God.

And who are the craftsmen sharpening the aforesaid horns? This may be learned from what follows, which stands thus:

These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israel and broke them.

The answering angel, showing the prophet the four horns that had been made plain, and showing the one being enlightened the work and the purpose for which they were brought in, says that the horns were brought in for no other reason than to scatter Israel and Judah from the holy city, so that, dispersed into captivity, they might come to be apart from unity and concord.

It has been said before that Judah means 'confessing';

and he who sees God with the mind is called Israel.

And the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

What are these coming to do? And He said to me:

These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israel and broke them, and none of them lifted up his head;

and these came to sharpen them in their hands—the four horns, the nations that lift up a horn against the land of the Lord to scatter it.

Cheering the one who beheld the multitude of enemies that was coming, He shows him those called to help, equal in number to the adversaries, being craftsmen worthy of praise;

for not all who craft the works proper to them are praiseworthy, but some are also blameworthy, whom the proverbial oracle distinguishes from one another, saying:

The good craft mercy and faith;

the craftsmen of evil do not know mercy and faith. This most wicked workshop of the craftsmen is none other than the four horns, being the perpetrator of all faithlessness and cruelty.

Those whom God shows coming are craftsmen and artisans of mercy and faith, through mercy accomplishing the practical virtue toward their neighbours, loving their neighbours as themselves, and crafting faith through a pious and knowledgeable contemplation.

These are led and shown to the one who has lifted up the eyes of the soul by none other than God, who summons for benefaction those able to help the oppressed.

Having seen those shown to him and coming from God, he asks the one who showed them what they will do when they have come; and God answers him that they are coming to sharpen the four nations that rise up against the land of God, in order to take away those handed over into captivity, so as to scatter Judah and break Israel, so that none of those being ill-treated may lift up a head able to look back and vie in glory with the enemies pressing upon them.

The account presents a still greater weakness of the horns, in that even after being sharpened they were not able to drag down those handed over to them, though the craftsmen sharpening them were present.

The account makes clear that the one being scattered is broken, undergoing a crushing similar to that which the man who went down from Jerusalem endured, falling among spiritual robbers so that he was left half-dead by them, especially when they stripped off from him the divine raiment which he had while dwelling in the holy city, a raiment equal in power to armour;

concerning which the Apostle writes to those who are being roused to make war:

Put on the armour of light. In some copies there is found, instead of 'they broke Israel,' 'they brought Israel down,' it being shown also through this expression that the one who sins is carried from on high downward.

And there are many scriptures presenting this, such as also:

How is Lucifer, who rose in the morning, fallen from heaven? and:

the lowest parts of the earth. And there are ten thousand other expressions making it plain that the zealous man ascends and is lifted on high, while the pleasure-lover and the one who has a materialistic disposition goes downward, so as to become carnal, sold under sin.

I have read an interpretation of someone who took the four craftsmen to be the four evangelists.

Whether it is so, let those who come upon the one who wrote thus judge.

It is possible to say that the four craftsmen are the angels sent forth to gather the elect of God from the four winds, that is, from the four quarters of the inhabited world.

In whatever way the four craftsmen may be understood, they are shown and led by God, the provident of all things, against those who are exalted in boldness and arrogance, against those who have fallen under them by the judgement of God—neither the one taking captive nor those taken captive lifting up a head, the sacred craftsmen being arrayed against them.

It is worn into common usage that those who fare ill do not lift up their head.

But if the mind is ever signified by the name of the head, neither is this exalted when someone is given over to a reprobate mind, not having approved to keep God in his knowledge.

For how shall the one held fast by a reprobate mind still set his thoughts on things above, or have his heart in heaven, not having stored up treasure in heaven? In accord with Israel's being scattered—broken or brought down—is what is proclaimed with lamentation by those who were dispersed at the hands of those who overpowered them by force:

Our bones have been scattered beside Hades. But since the prophetic saying seems to be confused because of the incongruity of its composition, it must be recast thus:

In the land of the Lord, Israel and Judah faring well had their dwelling; but having slackened from attention to the law and from meditating on it day and night, they inclined toward evil, so as to fall under the sentence of the One who providentially assigns them to four nations, called horns because of their tyrannical character.

These horns that have been mentioned, by reason of cruelty and arrogance, rose up against the Israelites and Judah, so as to bring down and break the people of God—God being angered but a little—while there conspired together in evils those who, like vessels of wrath, were sharpened by the good craftsmen already made plain, in order that, being shown to be weak and defeated even after the whetstone itself, they might no longer hold fast strongly those handed over to them.

The four horns that have been interpreted, being of one mind against those who were captured, are said to be one horn lifted up against the land of the Lord.

And there are many scriptures signifying kings and kingdoms by means of horns, and especially in the prophet Daniel, as will be clear to you when you have read it.

And I lifted up my eyes and saw;

and behold, a man, and in his hand a measuring line.

Where are you going? And he said to me:

To measure Jerusalem, to see how great is its breadth and how great its length.

It has already often been shown how one lifts up the eyes of the inner man to the perception of the appropriate visions.

In the same manner as the aforesaid, now too the prophet, having lifted up his eyes, saw a man holding in his hand a measuring line, in order that, like an excellent master-builder, he might measure how great is the breadth and length of Jerusalem, so that, once the foundations were laid, its rebuilding might come to pass, since it had suffered demolition at the hands of enemies.

And who is the man seen by the prophet—it is time to consider.

And consider whether he is not the same as the one who mounted the red horse, standing between two shaded mountains.

According to one of the interpretations already given, this is the Saviour, whom the prophet Jeremiah pointed out when he said:

'Behold a man, the East is his name.' And he is called the East because he is the true Light.

And John the Baptist too spoke concerning him:

Having earlier established and laid down her foundations, and after the demolition which she endured when enemies came upon her and took her captive, he measures out her breadth and length, so that in due proportion and good order he may lay the footings in the places where they are required, upon which it was fitting that her walls should be raised.

It was shown to the prophet that he held a geometric measuring line, woven together out of various architectural principles, that what had been foretold might be fulfilled in the saying:

'And a measuring line shall yet be stretched out over Jerusalem.' Nor is it unlikely, since the Saviour is the Architect, in keeping with what is said concerning the city of the Lord of hosts:

'God has founded her for ever'—the apostle Paul writing in harmony concerning this divine city, awaited by all who through faith have been well-pleasing to God, thus:

'For they were awaiting the city that has foundations, whose designer and maker is God.' The angels and holy men who build together with him, being as it were the most excellent craftsmen, hold that aforementioned geometric line in his practical power, which is called his hand.

Paul, at any rate, writes concerning himself:

'As a wise architect I laid a foundation.' Furthermore, in Ezekiel a man is seen holding a builders' line and a reed to measure and to lay the foundation of the holy temple of God.

In what manner he measured out and skilfully wrought the building, it is possible to learn by reading the prophet.

Since, therefore, the Saviour has been shown to be the builder of the Jerusalem that is above and spiritual—and he will be shown still more clearly, since the Father points him out and says:

'This one shall build my city'—and the angels and men who contribute to the rebuilding of the city; according to all the explanations that have been given, we must take the man pointed out by Zechariah the prophet, who says:

'Behold a man, and in his hand a geometric measuring line,' and:

'Where are you going?'—that he might receive an answer from the one who holds the geometric line, to measure out how great the breadth and length of Jerusalem is;

for one intent on building well takes care to know the layout of the site and the suitability of the ground, so that each of the parts of the city, when a corresponding breadth and length has been apprehended, may set in harmonious order its sacred precincts and temples, its lanes and streets and squares, so that in these squares the wisdom of God may act with boldness, being proclaimed upon the tops of the walls of the city, according to what is philosophically taught in Proverbs; so that God himself says to those who guard this sacred city that they should proclaim in her and upon her walls, day and night, in no way keeping silent, but always speaking the things that make for the salvation of her citizens.

Since Jerusalem has often been expounded in three ways according to the anagogical sense—as the virtuous soul, as the glorious Church that has neither spot nor wrinkle through the fullness of holiness, and as the heavenly city of the living God—in every one of these senses the breadth and length of Jerusalem must be understood as measured out by the man who holds the geometric line in his hand, by one who possesses a word of wisdom and knowledge.

℞: 'And behold, the angel who spoke in me stood there.'

'And another angel went out to meet him, and spoke to him, saying:'

'Run and speak to that young man, saying:'

He says that he saw the angel who spoke in him standing there, and another angel going out and saying to him:

'Running, say to this young man the things that it is the time to say.'

It has been explained above in many ways what it is that is spoken in the prophet by a divine angel, and how this is made manifest, especially when the announcement comes about through another angel who goes out.

For it is not possible for the things announced to be heard while he remains within and by himself, but only when he goes out by way of condescension.

Indeed, at any rate, the things of the mystagogy come about not toward a man but toward one pointed out as a young man.

For in relation to the divine angels the holy man is a young man, especially when he has put on the new man, so that what is said of him in the divine Proverbs, which runs thus, may apply:

'A young man with a holy one, and his way is straight.' For how is the way of him who walks with holiness not straight? Concerning those who thus have a share in virtue, John, addressing them in the epistle bearing his name, said:

'I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and have overcome the evil one.' Everyone, and he alone, who thus grows young in mind is instructed by the angel who goes out to speak the things declared in what follows.

And consider whether the angel's going out is of the same force as what was said by the choir of the saints:

'You went forth for the salvation of your people, to save your anointed ones,' and with:

'I came forth from God and am here.' For salvation and a divine oracle come to the race of men that was cast out of paradise for having transgressed the divine laws, when the Angel of God's great counsel goes forth in order to bring back the one who was cast out, through obedience and divine instruction, saying:

'Today you shall be with me in paradise.' The one who goes forth promises to show great things concerning the spiritual Jerusalem, which the following text signifies, running thus:

℞: 'Jerusalem shall be inhabited fruitfully, from the multitude of men and cattle in her midst; and I will be to her, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I will be for glory in her midst.'

In the very manner that all the trees in paradise bear many fruits, so too the holy city Jerusalem is inhabited fruitfully, having a multitude of men and cattle in her midst;

for it is neither fitting nor possible for anyone to be unfruitful in the divine and holy city, since the unfruitful tree is cut down and delivered up outside to the fire.

Such was he to whom the holy one, crying out, said:

'Therefore God shall bring you down to the end; he shall pluck you out and remove you from your dwelling, and your root from the land of the living'—while everyone who abides in the house of God says with thanksgiving:

'I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of God.' For how does he not bear fruit—that fruit which is nourished by the divine light—who dwells in the house of God, in doing what is required and holding godly doctrines? Such a fruitful tree was the man pronounced blessed in the first Psalm:

'He shall be like the tree planted by the streams of waters, which shall yield its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off.' In like manner the word says in Jeremiah:

'Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord;'

'and the Lord shall be his hope;'

'he shall spread out his roots toward the moisture, and shall not cease to bear fruit.' Then, since through the great goodness of him who settles together the holy city Jerusalem, she is inhabited not only by men—these being those who are moved practically and with prudence according to reason—but also by the simpler and those who have but a deficient understanding, she is fittingly inhabited fruitfully from a multitude of men and cattle in her midst.

For how are there not in her midst men and cattle, concerning whom the psalmist says to God:

'You shall save men and cattle, O Lord.' Now men are those who receive eternal salvation from God, each of whom can say:

'The word of the Lord came to me, saying.' And the cattle that are saved are the sheep that hear the voice of Jesus.

To those who are men in this way, acting and thinking with reason and knowledge, the Lord Jesus says:

'You call me the Lord and the Teacher, and you say well;'

'for I am so, since you genuinely serve me, doing what you must and being instructed in what it is good to know.'

Among men thus interpreted, who dwell fruitfully in Jerusalem, are those who can say concerning him who reigns over the heavenly city Jerusalem:

'He himself shall shepherd us for ever.' Concerning God's flock that is thus, the one wise according to God says:

'The Lord shall stand and see and shepherd his flock in strength,' so that each of those tended may cheerfully say, in the manner of hymnody:

'The Lord shall shepherd me, and I shall lack nothing;'

'in a place of green pasture, there he has made me dwell; by the water of rest he has reared me.' Of the Jerusalem that has borne fruit from the multitude of men and cattle in her midst, there shall be no other guard and watchman than the Lord, who himself becomes round about her like a wall of fire, at once warming and burning;

for those within the guarded city he enlightens and warms, that they may be prepared to be fervent in the spirit, concerning whom it is written:

'As it were fervent in the spirit.' But those coming from outside to do harm he burns up, being a consuming fire—especially of those who bear thorns and thistles as fruit, and who moreover are cut down and cast out because they produce no good fruit but destructive and poisonous.

In like manner concerning the holy city, and the people, the Lord is said to be round about, in one of the songs of ascents:

'The Lord is round about his people.' And just as he became a wall of fire round about the fruitful Jerusalem, and has come to be for glory in her midst, those who dwell in the holy city encircled by God being glorified with divinity and blessedness—concerning which the psalmist, singing, said, or rather said to her:

'Glorious things are spoken concerning you, O city of God,' and again:

'Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, his holy mountain.' And it shall belong to us also, by the grace of God the benefactor, to bear the fruits of the Spirit, that round about us the Lord may become as it were a wall of fire, enlightening and guarding us, but consuming the enemies who come to bring us down, so that in victory we may cry aloud, pointing to the impregnable city:

'Behold, a strong city, and our salvation.'

℞: 'Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, says the Lord;'

'for from the four winds of heaven I will gather you, says the Lord;'

'be saved to Zion, you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon.'

The word, rousing those who have been scattered in the north—from whose face evils are kindled upon those who dwell in the land—wishing the flight from the worse things (which are signified by the name of the north) to come about intensely, redoubles the watchword of exhortation, saying:

'Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north.' And he flees from the worse things and from those productive of punishment who, by ready repentance, comes to be outside of wickedness.

Equivalent to fleeing from the land of the north is:

'Turn aside from evil,' and:

'Cease from your wickednesses.' And this is accomplished when there comes about an abstention from every kind of evil, while only what is choiceworthy and praiseworthy is held fast, according to the exhortation of the apostolic admonition:

'Test all things, hold fast what is good, abstain from every kind of evil.' And he alone, and wholly, flees the harmful things who deems the good to be choiceworthy and does it.

The flight from the north becomes unhindered when the Benefactor and Provider of all things gathers together, out of the four winds, the citizens of the fair city Jerusalem who had been scattered among them.

Having granted the flight to be easy, He makes clear where and in what city salvation comes to those who flee from the north, the harsh and cold wind;

For it is written concerning it:

'The north wind is a harsh wind'; and again:

'The north wind, a cold wind, shall blow.' Now sacred Zion is the place where those who formerly dwelt in the daughter of Babylon can be safely brought to salvation.

Her daughter is the multitude of those who dwell in her.

The word means 'confusion': everyone who is troubled and confused in mind is a Babylonian, from whom the one who has the longing to be brought to safety in Zion ought to make himself a stranger both in relation and in disposition, that he may sing hymns and psalms to God—since there it is fitting to sing a hymn to God, and to make melody to Him is harmonious.

'To Thee, O God, praise is fitting in Zion'; and:

'Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion.' And since it is not possible for one who dwells in the daughter of Babylon and in the north to sing hymns and psalms to God, the Holy Spirit cries out as a herald, saying:

'O, O, flee from the land of the north,' says the Lord;

'flee for safety to Zion, you who dwell in the daughter of Babylon, for I will gather you out of the four winds'—that is, from all the regions of the place above the earth.

'Out of the four winds I will gather you'—which the Savior spoke of in the Gospel, that the angels would be sent to gather together the elect from the four winds.

Now that Zion and the daughter of Babylon have been interpreted allegorically, we must also raise the winds to a higher meaning: either as bodiless powers, or as the various winds of falsely-named teaching, which toss about and carry away those childish in understanding—not in a praiseworthy sense—into godless thoughts and unstable deeds.

The Apostle, then, writes concerning such a condition:

'That we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, in craftiness.' The winds are sometimes taken to mean trials and adversities, as in the Gospel they are mentioned as coming with rain and rushing torrents to beat and blow violently upon the houses of those who heard the words of Jesus—yet unable to harm or overturn those who turned the Teacher's words into deeds, since he had laid his foundation upon the saving rock; but pulling down the building of the one who heard the divine words and did not do them, since he laid its foundation upon the sand.

The winds having been interpreted in so many ways, God gathers from all of them those who flee from the north and dwell in the daughter of Babylon, that they may be brought to safety in Zion, concerning which the Apostle writes:

'You have come to Zion, the mountain and city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.' For only in this way will the prophecy set before us also be understood in a lofty sense.

For thus says the Lord Almighty:

'After glory He has sent me to the nations that plundered you; for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye.

For behold, I will bring my hand upon them, and they shall become plunder to those who served them; and you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.'

The Lord God the Almighty gives the reason for His being sent 'after glory' to the nations that plundered the true Israelites;

and since it is God Almighty who speaks these things, the 'after' and 'before' must not be understood in a bodily sense.

For the things 'behind' God must be understood as those that come after His antecedent existence.

For being unoriginate and eternal, He exists before all things, while those things conceived in relation to created beings and to His governance come after Him and behind Him; among these are His incarnation and His sojourn, which the men wise in God are able to picture and to have a conception of—one of whom is the hierophant Moses.

Having therefore entreated God that he might see Him with understanding, when God Himself manifested Himself, He who was thus entreated says:

'You shall see my back parts, but my face shall not be seen by you, once I have first passed by in my glory.'

In accordance with the sojourn of God the Word, His becoming flesh and being seen in flesh is 'after His glory'—that glory before such a manifest one being the glory of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

'Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer'—the first glory of the Son being that according to which He is the Only-begotten God the Word, while that according to the incarnation is second and comes after the first, according to which He was sent to the nations that plundered the people of God;

and the nations that plundered those who had been made God's own were those who took Him captive.

And this comes about through great goodness;

for if God, being eternal and unoriginate, were to judge the ungodly, the whole would be brought to nothing;

but by condescending and not scrutinizing all the lawless deeds of those under judgment, He does good rather than punishes.

And this very thing—to threaten beforehand and to announce in advance the painful things to those being punished, through kindness and long-suffering—grants a place of repentance to those who are willing to come out of the ungodliness they have committed.

By the same goodness and love for mankind the descent of the Savior also came about, when He was seen according to the flesh, that afterward there might be seen the glory of the Son from the Father, full of grace and truth—that in a way and in burial He might be manifested in flesh, justified in spirit, seen by angels;

for having thus been seen in the world, preached among the nations, He shall be taken up in glory.

Consider whether the saying of Jeremiah, which runs thus, suggests this same understanding:

'This is our God; no other shall be reckoned in comparison with Him.

After this He was seen upon the earth and lived among men.' For such a manner of life, coming to be together with men, is a sending 'after the glory' of the One theologically declared to be Almighty;