OT § 113

(Verse 18, 19,.) And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace. LXX: And the word of the Lord Almighty came to me, saying: Thus says the Lord Almighty. The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Judah, joy and gladness, and good festivals (for this is the Hebrew word Tobim (), meaning good), and be happy, and love truth and peace. To the question that Sarasar and Rogommelech asked through messengers, whether they should fast and mourn in the fifth month and the seventh month, as it is written in the Septuagint, or whether they should end the fast and put away mourning after the completion of the temple, with many things being set forth in the midst of what they would do and what they would hope for, the Lord responded through the person of the prophet: the fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth month, and the fast of the seventh month, and the fast of the tenth month (for the month is understood) shall be turned into joy and gladness for the house of Judah and Jerusalem on the appointed feasts. God alone seeks the truth and peace. In this place, many of our people have said many different things, and there is disagreement among them. Some, professing obscurity, have passed over the deepest pit in their commentaries: thinking it better to say nothing at all than to say too little. Therefore, we are compelled to turn to the Hebrews and seek the truth of knowledge from the source rather than from the streams: especially since there is no prophecy about Christ, where they often twist and conceal the truth with lies; but rather the order of history is woven from what comes before and what follows. On the seventeenth day of the month of July, which is called Julius in Latin, it is believed to commemorate the moment when Moses came down from Mount Sinai and threw down and broke the tablets of the Law (Exodus 32), and when the walls of the city were first breached, according to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 52). In the fifth month, which is called Augustus in Latin, when a rebellion arose among the people because of the spies of the Holy Land, they were commanded not to ascend the mountain; but for forty years they wandered in the wilderness, with the exception of Caleb and Joshua, until they all perished (Numbers 14). In this month, both by Nabuchodonosor (Jer. LII), and many centuries later by Titus and Vespasian, the temple in Jerusalem was burned and destroyed, the city of Bether was captured, to which many thousands of Jews had fled, the temple was plowed in disgrace by the Roman governor Turannius Rufus. In the seventh month, which is called October among us, as we have said above, Godolias was killed, and the tribes of Judah and the remains of Jerusalem were scattered (IV Reg. 25). We read Jeremiah (Chapters XXXIX and XLI). In the tenth month, which is called January among us, because it is the door of the year and the beginning, Ezekiel, being in captivity, heard that the temple was destroyed in the fifth month, which we fully know from the same prophet. Therefore, this is all that is said: The days of mourning and fasting that you have had until now for sorrow, you shall know that I planned to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah, to turn them into joy and gladness and festive occasions, if only you love truth and peace. According to interpretation, because then we fast when the bridegroom is taken away from us (Luke 5), and we do not deserve to have his presence when the Lord returns to us and decides to bless us, all sorrow will turn into joy; and the previous hunger for the word of God, the presence of his teachings, and the satisfaction of heavenly bread, will be weighed.

Therefore, when we come to the feast, we must not treat it as the shadows and pictures that Israel had, for they are fulfilled. Nor should we come to it as we would any ordinary secular feast. Oh, no! Let us go quickly to the Lord, who is himself the feast. We must not look at the feast as a time to delight the appetite and overindulge but as a display of virtue. The feasts of the heathen are made up of laziness and greed. They think idleness is the mark of a feast, and when they feast they do the despicable acts of death and hell. Our feasts, on the other hand, are scenes of virtuous activities and the practice of temperance. The prophetic word says it very clearly, "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months shall become feasts of joy and gladness for the house of Judah."

(Verse 21, 22.) Thus says the Lord of hosts: How long will the people come and dwell in many cities, and the inhabitants go from one to another, saying: Let us go and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts. I myself will also go, and many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the face of the Lord. LXX: Thus says the Lord almighty: Yet many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will come; and those who dwell in cities will gather in one city, saying: Let us go to entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the presence of the Lord almighty. I will also go, and many peoples and numerous nations will come to seek the face of the Almighty Lord in Jerusalem, and to supplicate the face of the Lord. The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be changed into the best festivities, to the extent that the cities of Judah, which were previously deserted, will be celebrated with abundant inhabitants. And one city shall go to another, and they shall encourage one another and say: Because for seventy years the ways of Zion had been desolate, since there was no one to go to the feast, all its gates were deserted, and its priests were lamenting. Now that peace has been restored, let us go to Jerusalem, where it is commanded by law that we offer sacrifices, and let our every male appear before the Lord three times a year (Exod. XXIII). And one city will say to another: Let us go and supplicate the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Almighty Lord. The other city will reply: I will also go. At that time, many peoples and innumerable and powerful nations will come to offer sacrifices to the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem, and to supplicate His face. For the Lord is near to those who do not test Him, and He reveals His face to those who are not unbelieving. Whoever sees the Son, sees the Father as well; and the Son is the image of the invisible God, not because the Son is visible and the Father invisible, but because when the Son is mentioned, the Father is felt. For the Father does not exist without the Son. Therefore, He Himself speaks in the Gospel: Father, I have manifested Your name to men. What we have said about Jerusalem and Zerubbabel, or after Zerubbabel, is more accurately and fully applied to Christ and Jerusalem, which is understood as the Church: and then concerning the whole world and peoples and nations coming together to offer sacrifices in the temple of the Lord. Also during the time of persecution, as we have mentioned before, the teachers and priests of the Church boldly promise to the captives and believers that the parishes will be rebuilt and peace will be restored, and the face of the Lord is to be sought in the Churches. We pass by in order to dwell in the more obscure things.

The whole life of a good Christian is a holy longing to make progress.

(Verse 23) Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days, when ten men from all the languages of the nations take hold of the garment of a Jewish man, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' LXX: Thus says the Lord Almighty: In those days, if ten men from all the languages of the nations take hold of the fringe of a Jewish man, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' Certain Jews say that these things were completed under Zerubbabel, and after Zerubbabel. Others differ, expecting Christ to come in the future. But we understand more correctly and truly in the coming of the Lord and Savior, when He was born of the Virgin Mary. Finally, it is written: 'How long will the peoples come?' (Zech. VIII, 20) When it is said, 'How long,' it does not signify the present time in which Zerubbabel and Joshua were, but the future, when many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the face of the Lord. At that time, therefore, and in those days, ten men from all the languages of the nations will take hold of the edge of a man who is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And in Isaiah we read: Seven women will take hold of one man, saying: We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothing, only let your name be called upon us: take away our disgrace (Isaiah 4:1). Therefore, the seven women who are called there, that is, the Churches, whose number is also mentioned in the apostle Paul: for he writes to seven Churches, to the Romans, to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, to the Thessalonians. And in the Apocalypse of John, in the midst of the seven candlesticks (Apoc. I), that is, of the Churches, of the Ephesians, of the Smyrnians, of the Pergamenes, of the Thyatirians, of the Sardisians, of the Philadelphians, of the Laodiceans with variety (or truth), the Lord enters girded with the purest gold. Now in the prophet Zechariah, ten are mentioned, whom the Lord also inquired about, that if He found them in Sodom and Gomorrah, He would deliver them from destruction. For the letter Iota , from which the Savior's name begins, signifies not only the number ten among the Greeks, but also among the Hebrews. And by this mystical discourse it is shown that all those who are considered by the name of Christian, whom the Lord Himself says have left seven thousand in the time of the persecution of Jezebel and the flight of Elijah, who have not bent their knees before Baal (III Kings XIX), and who have come to the measure of a perfect man from all languages and nations, will grasp the fringe of the Jewish man, that is, of the Lord and Savior, about whom it is also said in the Psalms: 'Judah, my king' (Ps. LIX, 9). And: Judas, your brothers will praise you. And again: A ruler will not fail from Judah, and a leader from his loins, until the one to whom it belongs comes, and he will be the hope of the nations (Gen. XLIX, 8, 10): For he will be the offspring of Jesse, and the one who rises to rule the nations, in him the nations will hope (Isai. XI, 10). And when they take hold of him, they will desire to follow in his footsteps; for God is with him. Indeed, from all languages and nations, whoever believes will take hold of the Jewish man, the apostles who are from the Jews and they will say: Let us go with you, for we have heard through the prophets, and we have known by the voice of all the Scriptures, that the Son of God, Christ, is God and Lord with you. When the most manifest prophecy is fulfilled, and the coming of Christ and his apostles is preached, and the faith of all nations, we do not seek anything more. But what we said about the number seven thousand belonging to the name of Christians, calculate in Greek έπτα χίλια και Χριστιανους, and you will find the same number and sum, that is, one thousand nine hundred and forty-one. But also the parable of the ten virgins in the Gospel (Matt. XXV), which we interpret in the senses of the flesh and the spirit, if they have prepared oil of good works for their lamps, and have doubled the number five, so that they may be holy (according to the Apostle) in body and spirit, refer to the sacrament of this number. He will also receive in the future ten cities, the best governed by those who have the most excellent control of their senses (Luke 16).

God will make the return of the remainder so conspicuous that many people who are from different nations and have shared that calamity will perceive God's care for the people. They will lay hold of any one of them and use him as a guide for a return to Jerusalem, since everyone is sufficiently stirred up to that end from the clear realization that God is with them on the basis of the incredible deeds done for them. The phrase "ten men," note, here too refers not to number but has the meaning of many.