The Trampling of False Horses and the Opening of Eyes

Having been nourished as if no longer having a land or a place of their own, the lands are being plundered everywhere.

Concerning this wrath having reached its end so quickly in Judea and those dwelling in it, the writer of their sufferings himself composed a very large collection, describing both them and their places, so as to see unceasingly how fully what the Savior and Zechariah had said prophetically was fulfilled, beginning from: 'I set Jerusalem as a shaking threshold' (Zechariah 11:1). Having set its gates to be shaken, with a surrounding region also shaking it, all the uncircumcised nations, having mounted upon it, trample it contemptuously like an unclean stone, no longer coming as to a temple and a holy ground, unprotected and not with the proper cleansings and purifications. Therefore, mocking, they mock it like a ruin, with all others mounting upon it 'as a field to be plowed' (Psalm 10:9).

Regarding the spoken word, let that which is toward the intellect also be spoken; all the heretics through whom they think badly and act, 'build Zion in blood and Jerusalem in iniquity' (Isaiah 1:7). For how is it that they do not build Zion in blood, causing scandal and pouring out the blood of those whom they deceive? Therefore also they build Jerusalem in iniquity. That those being deceived are wronged by the deceivers, the Scripture of the divine Proverbs declares most clearly concerning such things, saying thus: 'They shall be filled with their own impiety; for because they wronged the helpless, they shall be slain, and the scrutiny shall consume the impious' (Psalm 10:9).

The Word of God sets the shaking thresholds for the city being built by hand, so that they might be overthrown by strong reproof, so that it might be trampled by the surrounding peoples, the pseudo-Jerusalem having been shown to be trampled like a defiled stone, so as to mock those who mock the pseudonym, those having known its illegitimacy and uncleanness, who ambassador the truth and the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.

And since not a few are mocking, but all the nations, in the falling into poverty, it was rightly said that all the nations shall be gathered against it. Jerusalem is trampled like a stone when the sun of righteousness has risen, making a mental day, which has already been much remembered. In that day, says the Lord of all (Zechariah 12:4)...

I will trample every horse in frenzy and its rider in folly; and upon the house of Judah I will open my eyes; and I will trample all the horses of the peoples in their blindness.

In the things foretold by the prophet, regarding horses and their riders, a clarity has come in many ways; wherefore most of them are now keeping silence, only remembering for the present need of how this has been seen. Deceitful men, established by lying words, exist as 'false horses for salvation,' having riders and passengers who are deceptive spirits and hypocritical, lying-speaking demons of whom they act as ambassadors for the teaching, putting forward 'the wisdom of this age and of its rulers.'

Those having horses thus, God tramples on the day which He Himself makes, according to what was said in the manner of blessing toward the one being dazzled: 'The Lord shall be to you an eternal light' (Isa 60:19). And God tramples the false horses not because they do not exist at all, but so that they may not perceive concerning those things of which they speak and are being confirmed, with the destruction of their wisdom and the nullification of their understanding; which happening, the rider of each such horse will be in folly.

This economy having been worked out, God will open His eyes upon the house of Judah, being the 'Church of the living God' (1 Tim 3:15), reigning in it by the Savior having risen from the tribe of Judah, toward whom the theosophists say: 'Judah, your brothers have praised you; your hands are upon the loins of your enemies, and the sons of your father shall worship you' (Isa 60:3).

Upon this house of Judah, the Benefactor opens His eyes, the overseeing and watchful powers, as each of those receiving the illumination and the grace says in the manner of prayer: 'Look upon me and have mercy on me.' And all the righteous enjoy the gift of the Great King, 'having His eyes upon them and His ears toward their prayer' (Ps 34:15).

Regarding the trampling in frenzy of the returned horse and in folly of its rider, and all the horses of the peoples being trampled by the Forethinker of all things in their blindness. These are those who lust adulterously and fornicatiously, concerning whom the prophecy says: