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Commentary on Zechariah, Chapter Two
- The Catholic University of America Press
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COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH, CHAPTER TWO I lifted up my eyes and saw and, lo, a man with a measuring cord in his hand. I said to him, Where are you going? He replied to me, To measure Jerusalem to see what its breadth and its length are. Lo, the angel speaking in me was at hand. Another angel came to meet him and said to him, Run and say this to that young man, Jerusalem will be inhabited as fruitful on account of the number of people and cattle in its midst. For it, I shall be, says the Lord, a wall of fire round about, and I shall be as glory in its midst (vv.1–5). HE FACT THAT the sharpened horns were not against Israel but rather against those who captured and plundered Jerusalem and Judea the above vision would indicate, and rightly so. The prophet, note, raises his eyes again, not at all those of the body—the kinds of things in the vision are not visible to eyes of the flesh—but the interior and spiritual eyes, namely, those in the heart and mind.1 He then says he saw someone in the form of a man holding a measuring cord, and in turn he asked him where he was going and what he intended. When he replied, To measure Jerusalem to see what its breadth and its length are, another angel in turn bade the former angel go and tell him, Jerusalem will be inhabited as fruitful on account of the number of people and cattle in its midst. You see, since Jerusalem had been devastated,2 the divine Temple itself burned down, and the houses throughout the whole of Judea and the cities overthrown, hope that it could ever be restored had vanished. God makes plain, however, that with the sharpening of the horns—that is, the nations or kingdoms— and their waging war on one another, Israel would be restored, 108 1. Cyril seems to be adopting the position of Didymus that such visions were interior only rather than physical. 2. This clause and the preceding sentence Joannes Aubertus (in the sixteenthcentury edition adopted by Migne for PG 72) found missing from the manuscript he was using. COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 2 109 and Jerusalem given increased population and fortifications by divine power, and saved by benevolence from on high as though by an invincible flame. So the angel runs to measure Jerusalem, and, as it were, determine its width and breadth. While this is the factual sense, it would seem that the (304) vision could rightly be taken to refer also to the Church of Christ.3 Satan, you see, had ruled as a tyrant over all beings on earth, and we were in thrall to him, subject to his yoke. But the grace of the Savior had smashed his horn in pieces and crushed his arrogance; he triumphed over the rulers, the powers of the cosmic authorities, and opposing forces.4 He rescued us and loosed the devil’s bonds; for us he raised up the Church, the truly holy and celebrated city in its breadth and length, which we have inhabited fruitfully, men and beasts together—that is, those already exercising reason and those not yet at this stage but in readiness and preparing for admission. We have inhabited the city which Christ himself fortifies, consuming the adversaries with flames of unspeakable power and filling it with his own glory; standing in the midst of its inhabitants, as it were, he gave this promise: “Lo, I am with you all days even to the end of time.”5 The prophet Isaiah also made mention somewhere of this holy city in the words, “Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a wealthy city, with tents that will never be shaken; the pegs of its tabernacle will not be moved, nor its cords broken.” He also says to it, “Broaden the place of your tent and your courts; set it firm, show no hesitation, extend further to right and to left.”6 The Church of Christ is in fact expanded and extended to limitless dimensions, always admitting those who adore him beyond number. O, O, flee from the north, says the Lord, because I shall gather you from the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. Escape to Zion, you inhabitants of daughter Babylon (vv.6–7). He expresses sorrow, as it were, for those experiencing captivity because of their suffering intolerable hardship, and...