The Restoration of Peace and Prosperity
Of the one going out and coming in, of men being sent against one another, while he rules peacefully, 'each against his neighbor,' always killing and troubling one another. The hymnodist describes such a wild state in Psalm 11: 'Each spoke in vain in his heart; deceitful lips in heart, and in their heart they spoke.' Similarly, Jeremiah says concerning those lying in wait against one another: 'Do not trust in friends, and upon brothers do not rely, for every brother flutters and every friend will act deceitfully; they will not speak truth, their tongue has learned to speak lies.' Concerning such things also the psalmist David cries out: 'To me they spoke peaceful things, but in themselves they deliberate words of wrath.' And the prophet again says: 'He speaks peaceful things to his neighbor, and in himself he holds enmity,' making the treacherous and deceptive man manifest.
Of those striving thus and doing 'the works of the flesh' (Galatians 5:19), even if they seem to be men, the reward will not be to beasts, nor will the reward of the more beast-like exist. Cattle are to be rebuked in these things, the lovers of pleasure and lovers of passion, but men who profess the pseudonymous knowledge and 'the wisdom of this age and of its rulers' (1 Corinthians 1:20), having no profitable reward, are to be destroyed and not remain after this age and the life according to it. For when the light of the true one appears in the coming age, every deception having sophistry and irrational pleasure will be dissolved, so that their reward, which until now seemed to be, will no longer have or be to beasts, the one going out and coming in having no peace at all from the exhausting tribulation, each man being sent against his neighbor, so as to pursue and harm him.
And now I do not do according to the days that are before for the remnant of this people, says the Lord of all, but I will show peace; the vine will give its fruit and the earth will give its generations and the heaven will give its dew, and I will bequeath all these things to the remnant of my people (Zechariah 8:10-12). Having flowed into blessing, the cause of all good things promises no longer to do...
He says to those left of the people, as in the former days when the enemies ruled, having survived those whom they had captured, that he grants peace, and there will be prosperity and abundance, with the vine-bearing plants bearing much fruit, and the earth producing generations in abundance, and the sky giving dew, as God will inherit all things for the survivors of this people.
As a spoken word, the preceding things were promised at the time of the return of the captives, according to which the well-off, giving thanks, said: 'When the Lord turned the captivity of Zion, we became like those who are encouraged' (Psalm 126:1), when God no longer does to the survivors of the chosen people what happened in the former days when Jerusalem was desolate, but instead provides the peace of God, for which they sent up a prayer saying: 'Lord our God, give us peace.'
But the things of the bright restoration have surpassed this intellectually when he came, the one saying: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach to the poor, he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and sight to the blind, to heal the crushed in heart' (Luke 4:18). The same is promised also in the prophet Amos, saying: 'I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they shall build the ruined cities and replant them' (Amos 9:14-15).
Of these graces and gifts given by the Magnanimous, there will be peace, having risen with righteousness, in the days of the visitation of the one receiving from God the judgment of a king, concerning whom it is said: 'Justice and an abundance of peace shall rise in his days' (Micah 5:4), so that his peace shall have no limit, since it is not for one nation but for all the nations and the whole inhabited world being ruled by him, having spoken to those known to him and those wishing to serve under him: 'My peace I give to you,' he said, with much tranquility prevailing; and not doing only what happened in the former days to the survivors of Israel, he will prepare an exceeding abundance, giving the fruit of the vine and the native generations of the earth, and the appropriate dew of the sky.
But the spiritual theory of the truth is a vine of the soil of its own fruit, and that which...
Greek
τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου καὶ εἰσπορευομένου, τῶν ἀνθρώπων ἀποστελλομένων πρὸς τοῦ εἰρηνικῶς βασιλεύοντος «ἕκαστον ἐπὶ τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ» κατ' ἀλλήλων ἀεὶ φονώντων καὶ ταραττομένων. 2.325 Τὴν τοιαύτην ἀγρίαν κατάστασιν ὑπογράφων, ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς ἐν Ψαλμῷ ἑνδεκάτῳ φησίν· «Μάταια ἐλάλησεν ἕκαστος ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὐτοῦ, χείλη δόλια ἐν καρδίᾳ καὶ ἐν καρδίᾳ αὐτῶν ἐλάλησαν.» Ἰσοδυναμούντως καὶ ὁ Ἰερεμίας περὶ τῶν οὕτως ἐπικειμένων κατ' ἀλλήλων λέγει· «Μὴ καταπιστεύετε ἐν φίλοις, καὶ ἐπ' ἀδελφοῖς μὴ πεποίθατε, ὅτι πᾶς ἀδελφὸς πτέρνῃ πτερνιεῖ καὶ πᾶς φίλος δολίως πορεύσεται· ἀλήθειαν οὐ μὴ λαλήσουσιν, μεμάθηκεν γλῶσσα αὐτῶν λαλεῖν ψεύδη.» Περὶ τῶν τοιούτων καὶ ὁ ἱεροψάλτης ∆αυὶδ βοᾷ· «Ἐμοὶ μὲν εἰρηνικὰ ἐλάλουν, καὶ ἐπ' ὀργῇ λόγους διαλογίζονται.» Καὶ ὁ προφήτης πάλιν λέγει· «Τῷ πλησίον αὐτοῦ λαλεῖ εἰρηνικά, καὶ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχει τὴν ἔχθραν», ὁ δολερὸς καὶ ἀπατηλὸς δηλονότι. 2.326 Τῶν οὕτω σπουδαζόντων καὶ «τὰ τῆς σαρκὸς ἔργα» πραττόντων, κἂν ἄνθρωποι δοκῶσιν εἶναι, ὁ μισθὸς εἰς ὄνησιν οὐκ ἔσται οὐδ' ὁ τῶν κτηνωδεστέρων ὑπάρξει. 2.327 Κτήνη ἐν τούτοις ἐκλημπτέον τοὺς φιληδόνους καὶ φιλοπαθεῖς, ἀνθρώπους δὲ τοὺς πρεσβεύοντας τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν καὶ «τὴν σοφίαν τούτου τοῦ αἰῶνος καὶ τῶν ἀρχόντων αὐτοῦ», ὀνήσιμον μισθὸν οὐκ ἔχουσαν τῷ καταργεῖσθαι καὶ μὴ μένειν μετὰ τὸν αἰῶνα τοῦτον καὶ τὴν κατ' αὐτὸν ζωήν. Φανέντος γὰρ κατὰ τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα τοῦ φωτὸς τοῦ ἀληθινοῦ, λυθήσεται πᾶσα ἀπάτην ἔχουσα σοφιστεία καὶ ἄλογος ἡδονή, ὥστε μηκέτι τὸν μέχρι τοῦ δοκεῖν ὄντα μισθὸν αὐτῶν ὄνησιν ἔχειν ἢ ὑπάρχειν, τοῦ ἐκπορευομένου καὶ εἰσπορευομένου οὐδαμῶς εἰρήνην ἔχοντος ἀπὸ τῆς καταπονησάσης θλίψεως, ἑκάστου ἀνθρώπου ἀποσταλέντος κατὰ τοῦ πλησίον, ὥστε πορθεῖν καὶ κακοῦν αὐτόν. 2.328 Zach. VIII, 11®12: Καὶ νῦν οὐ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν ἐγὼ ποιῶ τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου, λέγει Κύριος παντοκράτωρ, ἀλλ' ἢ δείξω εἰρήνην· ἡ ἄμπελος δώσει τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς καὶ ἡ γῆ δώσει τὰ γενήματα αὐτῆς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς δώσει τὴν δρόσον αὐτοῦ, καὶ κατακληρονομήσω τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ λαοῦ μου πάντα ταῦτα. 2.329 Ῥέψας εἰς εὐεργεσίαν, ὁ πάντων ἀγαθῶν αἴτιος ἐπαγγέλλεται μηκέτι ποιήσειν τοῖς ὑπολειφθεῖσιν τοῦ λαοῦ κατὰ τὰς πρότερον ἡμέρας, ὅτε ἐκράτουν οἱ ἐχθροί, περιγενάμενοι ὧν ἐξῃχμαλώτισαν· εἰρήνην χαριζόμενος, ἔφη, εὐετηρία καὶ εὐθηνία ἔσται, τῶν οἰνοφόρων φυτῶν καρπὸν πολὺ φερόντων, καὶ τῆς γῆς γενήματα ει᾿̣ς π̣λῆθος καρποφορούσης, δρόσον τοῦ οὐρανοῦ διδόντος, ἅπ̣ερ πάντα κληρονομήσει ὁ 75 Θεὸς τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ λαοῦ τούτου. 2.330 Ὡς πρὸς ῥητόν, ἐπήγγελται τὰ προκείμενα τῷ καιρῷ τῆς ἐπιστροφῆς τῶν αἰχμαλώτων, καθ' ὃν οἱ εὖ παθόντες, ε̣υ᾿̣χ̣αριστοῦντες εἶπον· «Ἐν τῷ ἐπιστρέψαι Κύριον τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν Σιών, ἐγενήθημεν ὡς παρακεκλημένοι», ὅτε οὐκέτι ποιεῖ Θεὸς τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ ἐκλεκτοῦ λαοῦ κατὰ τὰς ἔμπροσθεν ἡμέρας, ὅτε ἠρήμωτο ἡ Ἰερουσαλήμ, λοιπὸν εἰρήνην Θεοῦ παρέχοντος, καθ' ἣν ἀνέπεμψαν προσευχὴν φάσκοντες· «Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς ἡμῶν, εἰρήνην δὸς ἡμῖν.» 2.331 Ὑπῆρκται δὲ τὰ τῆς λαμπρᾶς ἀποκαταστάσεως νοητῶς ὅτε ἐλήλυθεν ὁ λέγων· «Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπ' ἐμέ, οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέν με, εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέν με, κηρῦξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν, ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν.» Τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπαγγέλλεται καὶ ἐν Ἀμὼς τῷ προφήτῃ φάσκων· «Ἐπιστρέψω αἰχμαλωσίαν λαοῦ μου Ἰσραὴλ καὶ οἰκοδομήσουσιν τὰς πόλεις τὰς ἠφανισμένας καὶ καταφυτεύσω αὐτούς.» 2.332 Τούτων τῶν χαρίτων καὶ δωρεῶν θείων δοθεισῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ μεγαλοδώρου, εἰρήνη ἔσται, ἀνατείλασα μετὰ δικαιοσύνης, ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς ἐπιδημίας τοῦ λαβόντος παρὰ Θεοῦ τὸ κρίμα βασιλέως, περὶ οὗ εἴρηται· «Ἀνατελεῖ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις αὐτοῦ δικαιοσύνην καὶ πλῆθος εἰρήνης», ὡς μὴ εἶναι ὅριον τῆς εἰρήνης αὐτοῦ, τῷ μὴ ἑνὸς ἔθνους ἀλλὰ πάντων τῶν ἐθνῶν καὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης πάσης βασιλευομένων ὑπ' αὐτοῦ, εἰρηκότος πρὸς τοὺς γνωρίμους καὶ ὑπ' αὐτῷ στρατεύεσθαι βουλομένους· «Εἰρήνην τὴν ἐμὴν δίδωμι ὑμῖν», ἔφη, πολλῆς ἀταραξίας ἐπικρατούσης, καὶ μη`̣ κατὰ τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς ἔμπροσθεν ποιῶν τοῖς καταλοίποις τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, παρασκευάσει ὑπερβάλλουσαν εὐκαρπίαν, διδούσης τῆς ἀμπέλου τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς καὶ τῆς γῆς τὰ οἰκεῖα γενήματα, καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὴν κατάλληλον δρόσον. 2.333 Ἄμπελος δὲ οἰστικὴ τοῦ ἰδίου καρποῦ ἡ πνευματικὴ θεωρία τῆς ἀληθείας ἐστίν, καὶ ἡ κατ' αὐτὴν
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.