Chapter 5

Chapter Four

¹ And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established upon the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills. Having spoken of the things that would befall the Jerusalem of old, and the temple in it, he now prophesies concerning the Church of Christ, which he calls a mountain, as one that minds lofty things, and is lifted above all the matter of this life, and leads up to the heavens, and makes godlike. For its doctrine is true, rendering honor not to idols, not to creatures, but to the true God; and its life is immaterial, achieving possessionlessness and dispassion. This mountain, then, has become manifest to all men. For the Gospel was proclaimed in the whole world, and the sound of the apostles went out into all the earth. But also “established” — that is, firm and unshaken; for the Church being founded upon the confession of Peter, namely, You are the Son of God, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. But some have understood “established” as meaning “not hindered from being seen.” For nothing shall be set before it, but it shall lie ready, to appear to all. And its being exalted above hills and mountains signifies, even according to the simpler sense, that, the Church of Christ being spread out everywhere, the divine houses raised up both in cities and in villages, conspicuous in beauty and greatness, shall be more notable and more illustrious than the very highest mountains. But if you should understand by mountains and hills the places set apart of old to the demons for altars and sacred precincts, this too is true; for the former are not deemed worthy even of a bare word, or of remembrance, while the houses of the true Church imitate both the multitude and the beauty of the stars of heaven. Mountains and hills seemed to be also the doctrines of the philosophers among the Greeks — hills, the ethical and the physical; mountains, the mathematical and the theological; but above all of these was lifted up the doctrine of the Church.

² And peoples shall hasten to it, and many nations shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. By “peoples” are meant those of the Jews who from time to time believed; by “nations,” those of the Gentiles. And all are seen to have recognized the groveling lowness of their former religion and polity; and for this reason they say: Let us go up, running back from certain low places to the heights. But first one goes up to the mountain, and then to the house of God. For if one does not receive the lofty doctrine of the Church, how shall he attain to becoming a house of God? And he fittingly makes mention of Jacob too, who, having left his father’s house, and removed to another land, and become full of toil, and served as a hireling, especially obtained the help of God, and from being obscure became most notable; just as the Church also, having left behind the doctrines of her fathers, and living as a citizen of the things above, and on this account persecuted, and becoming full of toil, attains to the glory that is with God.

³ And they shall show us his way. Who shall show it? The apostles, to whom it was said, Make disciples of all the nations. What way, but Christ, who said, I am the way?

⁴ And we will walk in his paths. That is, in the deeds worn smooth by him, moving according to the footstep of the citizenship of Christ. For on this account he did not die for us straightway upon being born, but after so long a time, that, among other things, he might also show us the ways of the best citizenship, which the prophet now seems to call “paths.” Many, then, seem to know the way, and to believe in Christ, yet they do not walk in his paths. But the word demands both — both knowledge of the divine way, and movement in the life according to it; and that, so that those who have achieved so much should not stand still, but ever walk on, advancing, and not in one path, but in all the paths of Christ, who said, He who serves me, let him follow me. And in another way: the way of the life according to God is one, in that it looks to one aim, to please God; but the paths are many, in that there are many choices of life, and various branchings.

⁵ For out of Zion shall go forth a law, and a word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. Those who exhort one another to go up tell also the cause of the going up, the going up to the Church of Christ. For no longer, he says, the old law, but another goes forth out of Zion. And there went forth out of Zion the law of the Spirit of life, and out of Jerusalem the word of the grace of the Gospel; inasmuch as the Lord too taught in Zion in the temple, and the apostles, sitting in the city of Jerusalem, received the grace of the Spirit. “Law,” then, as teaching what must be done; and “word,” as introducing right doctrine. And first “law,” then “word”; since action too comes first, then the word of theology. Many laws have what is irrational in them; but here the law has the word contemplated within it; for nothing of the Gospel is irrational. There went forth also out of the Zion and Jerusalem above the Only-Begotten, who is also “law,” as apportioning to each according to his worth — for he does not demand the same things from everyone — and “word,” as defining all things.

⁶ And he shall judge among many peoples. These things were fulfilled in Christ at many and various seasons and places: when he taught as one having authority, and when he pronounced woes upon the lawyers, and scribes, and Pharisees; and when he said, If the truth does not set you free, you shall die in your sins. He judged among many peoples also when, making the distinction concerning the eunuchs, he said, Not all receive the word; he who is able to receive it, let him receive it. For he made a distinction between those capable of virginity and those of marriage. He judged also the ruler of this world, and gave sentence for those held fast by him, and condemned him, because by him he was put to death, though he was without sin. And in the final judgment too, the word, he says, which I have spoken shall judge them; and from time to time the word of the Gospel judges the peoples in the Churches, prescribing to some what they must do, and chastising others who sin.

⁷ And he shall rebuke strong nations. For in setting forth his own laws, full of all purity and uprightness, he rebuked the nations, which used unclean laws, and persuaded them to despise these, showing that they had been deceived in vain; and yet the nations were strong — that is, not light and easily deceived, so as readily to be removed from their own religion, but noble and steadfast: such as was in the Acts the proconsul, a man of learning, such as Dionysius the Areopagite, such as the many in Corinth, such as Clement the Roman. And in another way, the savage and beast-like nations, strong also in wars, were subjected to the Gospel even unto a far land; for not as the Mosaic law was confined within Palestine, so too was the evangelical law shut up in one place, but, beginning from Jerusalem and Samaria, it passed even to the uttermost part of the earth, and laid hold of the islands beyond our sea — for such are the British isles. Hear, everyone who seeks to give laws and to teach others, that out of Zion goes forth the law, and the word out of Jerusalem. If, then, you have not yet scouted out yourself, nor attended to yourself; but neither have you yet seen peace in your soul, but have wars and confusions and disorders — neither lawgiving befits you, nor the ministry of the word; for you shall judge others and rebuke them then, when Paul cannot say against you, In that wherein you judge another, you condemn yourself.

⁸ And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; and nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Before the coming of Christ, frequent risings of the nations against one another took place, inasmuch as the kingdom was divided among each nation; but after the coming of the Lord, the whole sovereignty having been transferred to the Romans, a deep peace held the inhabited world; so that the instruments of war too were refashioned into the implements of farming. And in another way: since Christ commands not to demand back our own from him who takes it, and to offer to the one who strikes the right cheek the left also, and the like — what war is not done away with? And what peace is not implanted in those who cherish these divine ordinances? Therefore he also said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you, and, by this all shall know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. But where there is love, how is there war there? The Greek disputations, then, having contradictions and strifes, fittingly gave birth also to wars; but the faith, doing away with all inquiry, ends in a peaceful and uncurious assent. Therefore the tongues too, formerly sharp as swords for word-battling to no useful end, to the destruction of the hearers, are then refashioned into teaching plowshares, working fallow ground in the souls of the hearers, which were formerly hard and packed together, and they are cut open to receive the seed, which the sower went forth to sow; and the spears, by which souls were put to death, are refashioned into pruning-hooks, by which they are cut off from the earth, so that those who have already borne fruit worthy of the storehouses above should not be rooted in it. Such a plowshare was the tongue of Paul, working fallow ground, when he said, Having put off the old man, and having put on the new; and again, Put on the new man. Such a pruning-hook was it, cutting off from the earth, when he said, Put to death your members that are upon the earth; and, Our citizenship is in the heavens; and let us mind the things above, where Christ is.

⁹ And each shall rest under his own vine, and each under his own fig tree; and there shall be none to terrify them. A vine is the Lord, as having brought in a more austere and laborious law; for the ordinances of the Gospel are more toilsome than those of the law. But the same is also a fig tree, as a king, giving in return adoption as sons as well, in hope of which we are sweetened. Resting, then, under him, there shall be none to terrify us, neither demon nor man; for he has given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and he taught us not to fear those who kill the body.

¹⁰ For the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these things. The prophet adds the trustworthiness of the speaker, that you may learn that nothing of the things said is false. Each of us has also a vine, the irascible faculty, as astringent; and a fig tree, the desiring faculty, as sweet. When, then, we have the peace of Christ, then, if we come to be under the irascible faculty — that is, are angry — such anger is a rest. For it is not from passion, but from divine zeal, such as was that of Moses, who said to the Levites, You have filled your hands today to the Lord, when they slew those who had committed idolatry; such as was that of Elijah, when he slew the prophets of Baal. And if we desire as David did, longing and fainting for the courts of the Lord, and toward the God, the strong, the living, and as Daniel, the man of desires, and Christ himself, with desire desiring the Passover — we shall rest under our fig tree. And since among teachers the gifts are diverse, likewise also among disciples the dispositions are diverse: one rests under a teacher more severe in judgment, and another under a gracious teacher. So too among the apostles: Peter was abrupt and fervent; Paul more gracious and more pleasant; and, even more than Paul himself, Barnabas, who is also called a son of consolation. For this reason John, who is also Mark, rested under the fig tree of Barnabas, when, leaving Paul, he journeyed abroad with him; but Titus and Timothy under the vine of Paul.

¹¹ For all the peoples shall walk every one in his own way; but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever, and beyond. Those who go up headlong to the mountain of the Lord promise to be subject to God to the end. For the other peoples, he says, as many as have not come to the faith, following the self-rule of error, shall walk every one in the way which he himself devised and chose, having gone astray of his own accord; but we will walk, and will move with the movement toward the good, having named upon us our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and being called Christians, and that not unto the present age, but yet much more; and “beyond,” that is, unto the age to come. For then, when Christ, who is our life, is made manifest, we shall always be with him, and shall enter in with him into his joy, having his name; for we too shall be sons, and gods. But some have understood this thus: that, there being a deep peace, as was said before, some shall look to farming, and certain others shall walk another way of life; but we, who are devoted to God, such as the monks and the priests, shall choose the way that is in the name of the Lord God. In the name of the Lord God walks he who carries out every deed and every movement worthily of the calling with which he was called, and who has not mammon as lord, and the belly as god, but who also gains his living from the work of his hands, and whether he eats or drinks, does all things to the glory of God.

¹² In that day, says the Lord, I will gather her that is crushed, and I will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected. And I will make her that is crushed a remnant, and her that is cast off a strong nation; and the Lord shall reign in Zion from now and forever. The Jews say that the things from “The mountain of the Lord shall be manifest in the last days” up to these words are spoken concerning their condition and polity after the return from Babylon; but they are plainly convicted of deceiving themselves. For what nations, whether near or far, ran together to the temple in Jerusalem after the return from Babylon, receiving the law and word that went forth thence? And among what peoples or nations did this word judge, rebuking the things done ill by them? And how did they have a deep peace, seeing that, when they returned, the Idumeans warred against them, and the Ammonites, and the Moabites, and the Samaritans, and Gog and Magog the Scythians, and the Macedonian and the Antiochene evils came upon them? And how does each rest under his fig tree and his vine, seeing that they became sojourners and wanderers? And how do they walk forever in the name of the Lord, who have a temporary polity and kingdom? Not here, therefore, does he signify their crushed and rejected generation, but that of the nations, which, being crushed by ungodliness, and on this account rejected, was received by him who came to call not the righteous, but sinners. But also among the Hebrews themselves he healed those thus crushed and sick in their souls, and received those rejected — tax collectors, and harlots, and a robber — and he reigns over all those thus received eternally in the Zion above; for where now is the Zion below? So that you should take the “rejected” to be the Church from the nations; but “those whom I rejected,” understand of those of Israel. And what is the “remnant”? That is, unto existence and subsistence; for they shall not be brought to nothing, he says, but shall be left behind, a relic of salvation. And in another way the “remnant” signifies the election. For God rejects some and hands them over to vanishing and non-existence, but chooses others and leaves them remaining to himself, even as he says, I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And Paul calls those worthy to believe a remnant according to the election of grace. And the Church from the nations became a strong nation, able to do all things in Christ. Let these things build up the souls of the hearers also toward despairing of no one.

¹³ And you, O squalid tower of the flock, daughter of Zion: upon you it shall come, and there shall enter the first dominion, a kingdom out of Babylon for the daughter of Jerusalem. That he spoke the foregoing things concerning the Church from the nations is plain from these: for here he foretells gloomy things to Zion, and the construction of the discourse shows this. For observe: “And you, O tower of the flock.” For he says all but this: These things I spoke concerning another person; but you, O daughter of Zion, upon you the dominion shall come, and shall come upon the daughter of Jerusalem. Then, that you might not suppose that he means some satrapy that leads in wars, he says that This is the first kingdom, which holds the first place over all the other dominions and kingdoms — that is, Nebuchadnezzar. But some have said that the prophet spoke of a “dominion” and “first kingdom” on this account, because straightway in the beginning of his reign Nebuchadnezzar marched against Jerusalem. The Lord, then, said in Isaiah, I planted a vineyard, and dug a wine-vat, and built a tower, signifying thus the temple, by which he seemed to guard the vineyard. And he makes mention now too of this tower, which he calls the tower “of the flock” — that is, the dwelling-place of the sheep set apart to him — now become squalid, because those who were in it would not drink the living water, but acted impiously toward the Lord. Or he calls “squalid” the lightless and dark; for those who dwelt in it would not have the law, as a lamp shining in a squalid place. Every ruler and teacher, then, is set as a tower, as appointed for the security of the flock. But when the water fails it, which the Lord gives to those who believe, springing up unto life eternal (and this is the grace of the Spirit), and it becomes squalid, there comes upon it the dominion out of Babylon — the ruler of the confusion of this world, the first kingdom, which it reigned through sin before the coming of Christ, in our mortal body. But some have taken “the dominion and first kingdom” to be Christ; for he is the beginning of all things and the first king; he, out of Babylon — the confusion of this world — having put on the man, came to Zion, that he might win her for himself. For I came not, he says, except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

¹⁴ And now, why have you known evils? Was there no king in you? Or has your counsel perished, that pangs as of a woman in travail have seized you? “Knowing” signifies also knowledge simply, as in, They did not know, neither did they understand; and it signifies also the marriage-union, as in, Adam knew his wife; and it signifies also the loving relation, as in, The Lord knows the way of the righteous; like to which is, “He loves and looks graciously upon her”; and, I know you above all, and the like. And in a special manner it signifies also the disposition that comes from experience, as in, Reveal yourself to me, that I may see you knowingly; and, a tree known of good and evil; for the word makes plain the disposition that came to Adam from the experience of the tree, and Moses too sought the active experience of the contemplation of God. Thus, then, here also the Lord says to Zion: Why have you known evils? — that is, Why have you experienced afflictions? Whence came upon you this experience and partaking of tribulations? Was it that you did not have a king who ought to fight on your behalf? Was it that you did not have counselors, and on this account were handed over to toils of such bitterness, that you seem to have pangs, like a woman in travail? And indeed you did have a king; for I gave you one, just as you also asked, that he might go before your face, and war against your enemies. But also your counsel did not perish — that is, you had counselors. And these things he says by way of irony. And since they trusted in these — in the power of the king, and in the prudence of the counselors — Know, then, that neither king nor counselors are of profit, apart from my help.

¹⁵ Be in pain and be strong, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail. With the same character he says these things too. For since, he says, you were thus helped by your counselors and by the king, henceforth prepare yourself to have pangs, and be strong, so as to endure them; for do not expect release from them. And he hints that the evils are also near; for she who is in travail draws near to giving birth. Therefore he adds:

¹⁶ For now you shall go forth out of the city, and shall encamp in the plain, and shall come even to Babylon. You, he says, dwelt in the city of Jerusalem for security; but now — that is, after no long time — this city Jerusalem shall be taken, and you shall be led captive, shall be brought out of it, and shall encamp in the plain, being led away to Babylon.

¹⁷ From there shall the Lord your God deliver you, and from there shall he redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. He had not yet ceased speaking the harsh things, and straightway he adds the things of consolation. For from there, he says — that is, out of Babylon — the Lord your God shall redeem you, when you have already come under the hands of your enemies, and are securely held fast by them. These things it is likely should be understood as spoken also with respect to human nature, which, from eating the tree that is known of good and evil, knew evils — that is, came into the experience of wickedness, and was disposed toward it — though it had the mind as king, and was able to take counsel that one must not disobey God and obey the serpent. For this reason it heard, In sorrows you shall bear children; and from then it had pangs; and, cast out from the city above, in this plain, the place of corruption, it pitched its tent — its passing and unstable polity. And it came even to Babylon, and to the utter confusion of the divine properties. For it lost that which is according to the image, being compared to the senseless beasts, and to serpents, and to leopards, and becoming more senseless than the ants and the sparrows of the field, as the prophetic word sets forth; but he delivered it from there — that is, out of such incurable corruption; and he redeemed it, who laid down his own blood as a ransom for it, the Lord our God. And we are instructed also in character through these things, that we should trust neither in royal powers nor in wise counsels, but in God, who is able to deliver one who is in the very midst of dreadful things. And a deliverance and ransom laid down for us shall be our hope in him; for as he handed those who sin against him over to dreadful things, so, receiving in turn their conversion toward him, he will release them from fearful things. And to whom shall he pay the ransom, but to his own righteousness, by which we were also chastised?

¹⁸ And now many nations are gathered together against you, who say: We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Zion. He makes his discourse concerning the Scythian nations, which after the return from Babylon marched against Israel, as about to destroy them utterly, and to look upon them — that is, to be gladdened in seeing what they wished.

¹⁹ But they have not known the reasoning of the Lord, nor have they understood his counsel, that he has gathered them as sheaves of the threshing-floor. They, he says, shall thus come upon you, the daughter of Zion, to do harm, and for this reason were gathered, one from one place and another from another. But they did not understand that my providence concerning you permitted this to happen, that they themselves might rather perish together. And for this reason he gathered them, that they might both pay the penalty for their other vices, and be crushed as sheaves on a threshing-floor. And God gathers, not compelling, nor forcing, but permitting by their self-chosen impulses, and yielding to free will, and thus bringing on the penalty.

²⁰ Arise and thresh them, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horns iron, and your hooves bronze. Since he said sheaves, he fittingly adds these things in keeping with the figure: Arise, you who seem to be dead, and tread them down and crush them. For enjoying my help, you shall have an unconquerable power, like some bull having horns of iron, so as by them to ward off those who come against you, and hooves of bronze, so as to trample down and crush them.

²¹ And you shall melt down nations in them. “In them” — that is, in the horns and the hooves — that is, you shall melt down nations, which now seem to have such power.

²² And you shall grind many peoples small. As chaff, evidently; for he still abides in the figure of threshing.

²³ And you shall dedicate their multitude to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. Not to your own power, he says, ought you to ascribe the achievement, but to me, the Lord of all the earth, ought you to dedicate the trophy, which has come to pass over their multitude and their strength. For not only were those warred down by you many, but they were warred down not by human power, but plainly by divine. The word “you shall dedicate,” then, is hortatory, according to the idiom of Scripture, standing for “dedicate,” as in, You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve, standing for “Worship and serve.” And Scripture does this, using the indicative instead of the imperative, in order to show that the matter is acknowledged, and must necessarily come to pass. And some have taken these things to refer to what happened in the case of Sennacherib, when a hundred and eighty-five thousand were slain in one night, and the wonder plainly appeared to be divine.

²⁴ Many nations were gathered together also against the Lord, raging against him — both the Roman soldiers and the Jews, who rejoiced at his crucifixion. But they did not know that, having risen, he would thresh them. For if they had known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Arise, then, O God-bearing flesh, which came forth from the ensouled Zion, Mary, whom the Lord chose, and preferred for a dwelling-place for himself, and thresh them: some unto wheat, as many as shall receive the faith; but others unto chaff, to be winnowed into every place, and to be burned up with unquenchable fire. For you have horns of iron, the power of the cross, and hooves of bronze, the feet of the apostles, who like horses went upon the much-billowed sea of the nations, troubling many waters, by which horns and hooves of bronze the fleshly grossnesses of the nations were melted down, and were ground fine, so that they became lighter and more spiritual, and were then dedicated to the Lord. For no one gross, and unmelted, and unground, is dedicated to the Lord; for God is Spirit. And when we are anxious for our soul, what we shall eat, and for our body, what we shall put on — which things are sought by the nations — many nations are gathered against us, gentile thoughts, I mean, which distract the watchtower of our mind, so that we trust not in God, who feeds and clothes, but in our own devices and cares. But when the word of the Gospel shows us that all these things the nations seek after, and we recognize such thoughts to be gentile, God is said to gather them as sheaves of the threshing-floor, that they may be trodden down by us, who have risen from the groveling mind that asks for such things, and have looked away to the lilies of the field and the birds, to which God grants shelter and food. And horns of iron are set upon him who minds the good; for the horn is of the head, in which is the governing faculty; and hooves of bronze upon him who moves firmly and powerfully, so as also to work what has been conceived. And how are the multitude of such thoughts, and their strength, dedicated to God? For when, leaving the many things aside, we seek one thing only, the kingdom of the heavens, then all these things are added to us, which those thoughts seemed to have power over.