Commentary on the Twelve Prophets, Volume 3

Commentary on Zechariah, Chapter Eleven

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH, CHAPTER ELEVEN Open your doors, Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars. Let the pine lament because the cedar has fallen, because the mighty were in severe difficulties. Lament, oaks of Bashan, because the dense forest has been felled (vv.1–2). E SHIFTS the drift of his words, then, to another line of thinking. Having delivered in excellent fashion an adequate account of the calling of the nations in Christ through faith, he clearly forecasts the future disbelief in him by the people of Israel, that is, at the time of the Incarnation, and the fact that this was the reason for the burning of the Temple and the city of (446) Jerusalem, the taking of the other cities of Israel, and the extermination of their inhabitants. This was done by the hand of the Romans at the time when Vespasian and Titus were in control. It would probably be unnecessary to recount in detail all that happened to the cities or communities of the Jews on account of their fury against Christ; those interested can read it in the works of Josephus and gain a close knowledge of whatever they wish.1 He therefore shifts his attention to those of the line of Israel , comparing Judah to Lebanon. On what basis? Lebanon is a mountain with many trees and covered in dense forests, while the country of the Jews is well populated, with a mass of inhabitants beyond number, more famous than others, like very tall cedars or pines, by which I mean the priests and kings from the tribe of Judah at the time, who excelled for the glories of leadership and were known throughout the land for having a 210 1. Attentive though Cyril is to the historical situation of the author, and also to future developments in New Testament times predicted in the text (as he sees it), he does not go into details on the latter. Instead, he suggests the reader may wish to find these in the works of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus. See note 13 below for Cyril’s depending on Jerome for reference to Josephus. COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 11 211 high reputation. They acted in impious fashion towards Christ, however, “taking away the key of knowledge, not entering themselves or allowing entrance to those coming in,” and finally crucifying him, even despite acknowledging that he was the heir.2 Consequently, it was right that they should perish along with their homes, cities, and loved ones. By Lebanon, therefore, he makes an obscure reference to Judah, likening those in it to the tall trees in being higher than the others and very elevated. The fact that it was destined to be captured easily (447) and as an unwalled city to admit the Roman army flooding in, and thus to be consumed like a forest when set alight, he suggests in the words, Open your doors, Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars. Let the pine lament because the cedar has fallen. The verse employs a metaphor; by using the term Lebanon or likening the country of the Jews to a mountain, he necessarily compares those in it to a pine and forest.3 The fact that it refers to people is not difficult to see; he said at the outset, because the mighty were in severe difficulties, and the way the difficulties are to be taken he demonstrated by saying, Let the pine lament because the cedar has fallen. In other words, when the power of the Romans devastated the cities of Judea, it was a daily event for their prominent citizens to be taken; those who had not yet met this fate lamented those taken, directing the lament also to themselves, being dispirited and fearful that they too would very shortly become victims. This in my view is the import of the clause, Let the pine lament because the cedar has fallen. By oaks of Bashan he possibly refers in generic fashion to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Bashan being a region of Judea, fertile and productive , where very tall trees grow. Since the inhabitants of Jerusalem were more famous than the others, by which I mean priests and leaders of the people, he calls them oaks of Bashan, which were rightly lamenting, doubtless because the dense forest has been 2. Lk 11.52; Mt 21.38. 3. Not finding (in this apocalyptic material) a reference to the time of Zechariah , Cyril perceives an historical reference to the...