Commentary on Zechariah

Commentary on Zechariah 11

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 11 he godly sage who has an intellect that is developed and very focused “understands a proverb, obscure discourse, sayings of clever men, and riddles.” Words that make announcements in a hidden manner are riddles . The text of the prophet before us, for example, is phrased in the manner of a riddle and proposes an obscure teaching .l.l. There is a riddle in the phrase Open your doors, Lebanon (Zec 11.1): it is not to the material mountain, lifeless as it is, or the trees on it, removed from sense and imagination, .l.l. that the command is given for the doors of Lebanon to be opened and the pines to lament the fallen cedars, but to proud and arrogant men fallen into unlawful idol worship of “the rulers of this age.”1 The incorporeal powers .l.l. the rational mortal beings and the other rational beings guided by reason. When, on the other hand, trees and wild .l.l. the human being, in the image and likeness of God, enjoyed a dignity from the creator compared with the unintelligent cattle .l.l. Of such creatures the prophetic text says, “They became like stallions in a frenzy for females, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife” .l.l. and the divine command, “Be not like horse or mule that has no understanding ,”2 since in a spiritual sense the man who wrecks others ’ marriages and in a frenzy mates with others’ wives is a horse. Mule is the name given to the one proven to be without issue, sterile in what is good, and especially the soul who makes promise of virginity without God-given intelligence; such a person is stupid, even if seeming to be pure in body, being a mule and not a bride of the Word. There are many names of animals that are applied pejora1 . Prv 1.6; Zec 11.1; 1 Cor 2.8. This page of the text has suffered the ravages of time. 2. Jer 5.8; Ps 32.9. 253 tively to human beings, asses and camels being the terms rightly used of those who bear the burdens of vice, loaded down by vengeful demons and hostile powers. Of such people the great prophet Isaiah, who was divinely possessed, .l.l. said that the offspring of asps carry “their riches on asses and camels,” a statement that is not literal, having rather a spiritual sense. The savior , too, in directing his disciples “not to give what is holy to dogs or cast pearls before swine,” gives the direction in allegorical fashion, dogs and swine being the flatterers and pleasurelovers who take satisfaction in the impure mire.l.l.l.3 The dog, remember, is a low-slung animal given to intemperate leaping when enraged by a wasp, fawning and barking. Does not the person bark who abuses his neighbor, as it were deafening him with his accusations? Of such people the loud-voiced Isaiah cries out, “They are all dumb dogs, ignorant of sound thinking, evildoers.” As such people are dogs, then, returning to their vomit in addition to their other vices, those people would be swine who, after being cleansed of the mire of their passions, once more wallow in them. In reference to those of this attitude , that mighty disciple of Christ, Peter, writes, “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment passed on to them. The proverb has proved true in their case, ‘A dog returns to its own vomit, and a sow is washed only to wallow in the mire.’”4 The savior forbade the giving of what is holy to such people on account of their returning to the evil they had vomited up, because after seeming to repent they returned to the sin they had rejected. Just as one should not share with such people by communicating to them the holy knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, so one should not cast before swine the divine pearls which are the words of the sages, the ornament of the interior man and his sense of hearing. Do not these pearls adorn the person who believes in the one who says, 254 DIDYMUS THE BLIND 3. Is 30.6; Mt 7.6. Predictably, Didymus is not in accord with the opinion of a modern commentator like Petersen, who writes, “It would be...