Commentary on Zechariah · §89 · Didymus the Blind

The Divine Archer and the Arrows of Love

Because the body was separated from the soul by the transgression of the first man, the body was being distressed as if to undergo a long-lasting sojourn; instead of existing for one day, God has doubly repaid by raising and giving the soul its body, so that it does not merely receive the same thing, but instead of a corrupt and dishonorable and weak and psychic body, an incorruptible, strong, and glorious body, and this very body is spiritual.

The one paying attention to the reading of the God-breathed oracles and many other things will understand how God doubly repays the one having been relocated for one day. Regarding what is explicitly said: the people, having been taken into the captivity of enemies, were not only redeemed, but also ruled over those who had seized them; when this happened, those who had been slightly afflicted had joy.

Zechariah 9:13-14: 'Because I have bent my bow against you, Judah, I have filled Ephraim, and I will raise up your children, Zion, against the children of the Greeks, and I will touch you as a warrior's sword. And the Lord shall be over them.' The Father bent a bow for Himself for the Savior rising out of the tribe of Judah, from which He releases arrows aiming at salvation. And see the difference: the destroying bow of Ephraim is named after being used against the enemy. For it is said in Psalm 78:9 regarding satanic powers of enemies and all the heterodox: 'Ephraim, bending and shooting with the bow, how were they turned in the day of battle,' having grown weak and being overthrown, clearly showing the shattering of the shields? For it is said: 'Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be shattered.' The shattering of the bows is the ruling principle of the combatants, from which evil words are sent, the judgment of unheeded arrows about which the divine word says: 'Their tongue, shooting a missile, is deceitful, their words...'

The words of those promising false knowledge are full of the venom of a serpent, killing those who receive them.

But such are not the arrows of the powerful Savior, about which it is said in the forty-fourth Psalm regarding the blessed and excellent archer: 'Your arrows are sharp, mighty' (Psalm 45:5), which instills divine love in those struck by them, as if speaking like a blessed bride possessing divine love: 'I am pierced by love.' And behold the paradox: the same Savior is the bow, the archer, and the arrow. For in the present prophetic word spoken to Him by God, it is said: 'I have bent you, Judah, as my bow' (Zechariah 9:13); but in the Psalm, those praising Him say: 'Your arrows are sharp, mighty' (Psalm 45:5); and He Himself says about Himself in Isaiah: 'He has made me like a chosen arrow; He has hidden me in His quiver' (Isa 49:2). For how could the one fashioning those who are being pierced as chosen not be a chosen arrow, hidden in the quiver which He possessed from the flesh of Mary?

Once this divine bow is bent, from which the arrows that strike are released into divine love, Ephraim is struck, being overturned and shown to be weak, according to what was said by the sub-text of the Psalm: 'The sons of Ephraim, bending and shooting the bow, how were they turned back in the day of war' (Psalm 78:9), when the great God, bestowing grace, raised up 'the children of Zion against the children of the Greeks' (Zechariah 9:13)? The generations of Greeks are signified in these things: those advocating false knowledge and all those having impiety, by which the impious send out destructive arrows against those who have not taken up 'the door of faith.' The children of Zion are those advocating the truth, being raised up by God who reigns over them. What then is Zion, the mother of the children being raised up by God, or the one previously clarified a little, whose...

Greek

διεληλυθότος τῇ παραβάσει τοῦ πρώτου ἀνθρώπου, διελύθη ἀπὸ τῆς ψυχῆς τὸ σῶμα· ὡς εἰκὸς δὲ ἐθλίβετο τὸ πολλῷ χρόνῳ συνὸν ἀποβαλοῦσα, ὡς παροικεσίαν ὑπομεῖναι· ἀντὶ ταύτης ἐπὶ μίαν ἡμέραν ὑπαρξάσης, διπλᾶ ὁ Θεὸς ἀνταπέδωκεν ἐγείρας καὶ ἀποδοὺς τῇ ψυχῇ τὸ σῶμα αὐτῆς, ὡς μὴ ἀπειληφέναι μόνον αὐτό, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀντὶ φθαρτοῦ καὶ ἀτίμου καὶ ἀσθενοῦς καὶ ψυχικοῦ σώματος, ἄφθαρτον, ἰσχυρόν τε καὶ ἐπίτιμον, καὶ αὐτὸ τοῦτο σῶμα πνευματικόν. ‹3.184› Ὁ προσέχων τῇ ἀναγνώσει τῶν θεοπνεύστων λογίων καὶ ἕτερα πλεῖστα νοήσει εἰς τὸ διπλᾶ ἀνταποδίδοσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ τῷ μίαν ἡμέραν μετοικισθέντι. ‹3.185› Πρὸς ῥητὸν καὶ τόδε ῥηθείη· μετοικισθεὶς ὁ λαὸς εἰς ἐχθροὺς αἰχμαλωσίας νόμῳ οὐ μόνον ἐλυτρώθη, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῶν κρατησάντων ἐκυρίευσεν· οὗ συμβάντος δ̣π̣ῆν θυμηδίαν ἔσχον οἱ πρὸς ὀλίγον κακωθέντες. ‹3.186› Zach. IX, 13®14: ∆ιότι ἐνέτεινά σε, Ἰούδα, ἐμαυτῷ τόξον· ἔπλησα τὸν Ἐφράιμ καὶ ἐπεγερῶ τὰ τέκνα σου, Σιών, ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα Ἑλλήνων καὶ ψηλαφήσω σε ὡς ῥομφαίαν μαχητοῦ. Καὶ ἔσται Κύριος ἐπ' αὐτούς. ‹3.187› Τὸν ἐκ τῆς φυλῆς Ἰούδα ἀνατείλαντα Σωτῆρα, τόξον ἑαυτῷ ἐνέτεινεν ὁ Πατήρ, ἀφ' οὗ ἀπολύει τὰ εἰς σωτηρίαν τιτρώσκοντα βέλη. Καὶ ὅρα γε τὴν διαφοράν· τὸ ὀλοθρευόμενον τόξον τοῦ Ἐφράιμ πολέμιον ὠνόμασται τῷ πολεμίους αὐτῷ χρᾶσθαι. Εἴρηται γοῦν ἐν ἑβδομηκοστῷ καὶ ἑβδόμῳ Ψαλμῷ περὶ πολεμίων σατανικῶν δυνάμεων καὶ πάντων 98 τῶν ἑτεροδόξων· «Υἱοὶ Ἐφράιμ ἐντείνοντες καὶ βάλλοντες τόξῳ, πῶς ἐστράφησαν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου», ἀσθενήσαντες καὶ ἀνατραπέντες, δηλονότι συντριβέντων τῶν ἀμυντηρίων; Εἴρηται γάρ· «Ἡ ῥομφαία αὐτῶν εἰσέλθοι εἰς τὴν καρδίαν αὐτῶν, καὶ τὰ τόξα αὐτῶν συντριβείησαν.» ‹3.188› Συντριβόμενα τόξα τὰ ἡγεμονικὰ τῶν μαχίμων ἐστίν, ἀφ' ὧν λόγοι πονηροὶ πέμπονται, ἠκονημένων βελῶν δίκην περὶ ὧν ὁ θεῖός φησιν λόγος· «Βολὶς τιτρώσκουσα ἡ γλῶσσα αὐτῶν, δόλια τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν.» ∆ηλητηρίου γὰρ ἰοῦ πλήρης εἰσὶν οἱ λόγοι τῶν τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν ἐπαγγελλομένων, θανατούντων τοὺς παραδεχομένους αὐτούς. ‹3.189› Οὐ τοιαῦτα δὲ τὰ ἀκόντια τοῦ δυνατοῦ Σωτῆρος, περὶ ὧν ἐν τεσσερακοστῷ καὶ τετάρτῳ Ψαλμῷ λέγεται πρὸς τὸν μακάριον καὶ ἄριστον τοξότην· «Τὰ βέλη σου ἠκονημένα, δυνατέ», ἅπερ ἔρωτα θεῖον ἐμποιεῖ τοῖς βαλλομένοις ὑπ' αὐτῶν, ὡς τὴν θείαν νύμφην μακάριον ἔρωτα σχοῦσαν λέγειν· «Τετρωμένη ἀγάπης εἰμί.» ‹3.190› Καὶ ὅρα τὸ παράδοξον· ὁ αὐτὸς Σωτὴρ τόξον καὶ τοξότης καὶ βέλος ὑπάρχει. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ τῷ προκειμένῳ προφητικῷ ῥητῷ πρὸς αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ λέγεται· «Ἐνέτεινά σε, Ἰούδα, ἐμαυτῷ τόξον»· ἐν δὲ τῷ Ψαλμῷ οἱ ὑμνοῦντες αὐτὸν λέγουσιν· «Τὰ βέλη σου ἠκονημένα, δυνατέ»· αὐτὸς δὲ περὶ ἑαυτοῦ φησιν ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ· «Ἔθηκέν με ὡς βέλος ἐκλεκτόν, ἐν τῇ φαρέτρᾳ αὐτοῦ ἔκρυψέν με.» Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ ἐκλεκτὸν βέλος ὁ κατασκευάζων ἐκλεκτοὺς τοὺς τιτρωσκομένους, κρυπτόμενον ἐν τῇ φαρέτρᾳ ᾗ ἔσχεν ἐκ τῆς Μαρίας σαρκί. ‹3.191› Ἐνταθέντος τούτου τοῦ θείου τόξου, ἀφ' οὗ ἐντείνεται καὶ ἀπολύεται τὰ πλήττοντα εἰς θεῖον ἔρωτα βέλη, ἐμπίπλαται ὁ Ἐφράιμ, ἀνατρεπόμενος καὶ ἀσθενὴς ἀποδεικνύμενος, κατὰ τὸ λεχθὲν ὑπόγυον ἀπὸ τοῦ Ψαλμοῦ· «Υἱοὶ Ἐφράιμ ἐντείνοντες καὶ βάλλοντες τόξον, πῶς ἀπεστράφησαν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ πολέμου», ἐπεγείραντος τοῦ μεγάλα χαριζομένου Θεοῦ «τὰ τῆς Σιὼν τέκνα ἐπὶ τὰ τέκνα τῶν Ἑλλήνων»; ‹3.192› Ἑλλήνων δὲ γενήματα ἐν τούτοις σημαίνονται οἱ πρεσβεύοντες τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν καὶ πάντες οἱ τὴν ἀσέβειαν ἔχοντες, καθ' ἣν τοὺς δυσσεβεῖς λόγους ὀλεθρίων βελῶν δίκην πέμπουσιν κατὰ τῶν μὴ ἀνειληφότων «τὸν τῆς πίστεως θυρεόν». Τέκνα Σιὼν τυγχάνουσιν, ἐπεγειρόμενα ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλεύοντος αὐτῶν Θεοῦ, οἱ πρεσβεύοντες τὴν ἀλήθειαν. ‹3.193› Τίς δ' ἡ Σιών, ἡ μήτηρ τῶν ἐπεγειρομένων ὑπὸ Θεοῦ τέκνων, ἢ ἡ μικρῷ πρότερον σαφηνισθεῖσα, ἧς

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About this text

Didymus the Blind explains Zechariah verse by verse, from the measuring of Jerusalem and the high priest's filthy garments to the lampstand and flying sickle.

Didymus the Blind (c. 313–c. 398) was a Christian theologian in Alexandria who lost his sight at about age four and nevertheless became head of the city's catechetical school. He remained a layman and an ascetic scholar, deeply influenced by the work of Origen. He wrote this commentary for readers seeking a Christian understanding of the prophet Zechariah.

Jerome visited Alexandria in 386 and asked Didymus to write on Zechariah because Origen's own commentary had stopped at chapter five and Zechariah was considered the longest and most obscure of the Minor Prophets. Didymus composed the work shortly after that request and delivered it to Jerome by 393. The commentary survived in a single papyrus codex found in 1941 at Tura near Cairo, copied in the late sixth or early seventh century.

The commentary moves verse by verse through all fourteen chapters of Zechariah. Didymus reads the prophet's visions and oracles as prophecies of Christ's incarnation, the calling of the Gentiles, and the spiritual restoration of Jerusalem, understood as the Church or the purified soul. A reader will meet Zechariah himself, Joshua the high priest, Zerubbabel, the interpreting angel, and the devil, and will hear Didymus argue against heretics such as Tatian, Paul of Samosata, Photinus, Marcellus, Artemas, and Theodotus. To follow the work, know that Jerusalem and Zion are spiritual realities, the Dawn is a title for Christ, and the author quotes the Septuagint, so Psalms are numbered one lower than in many modern Bibles and books such as 1 Kingdoms are cited as 1 Samuel.

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