Jerome

[Daniel 7:9] "I beheld until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of days took His seat. His garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was composed of fiery flames and its wheels were set on fire. From before His presence there issued forth a rushing, fiery stream." We read something similar in John's Apocalypse: "After these things I was immediately in the Spirit, and lo, a throne was set up in heaven, and one was seated upon the throne; and He who sat upon it had the likeness of jasper and sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne like the appearance of emerald. Around the throne there were twenty-four other thrones, and upon the twenty-four thrones there sat twenty-four elders, clothed in shining garments; upon their heads was a golden crown, and lightning flashes issued from the throne, and voices and thunder. And in front of the throne there were seven torches of burning fire, which were the seven spirits of God. And in front of the throne lay a glassy sea like unto crystal." (Revelation 4:2-6) And so the many thrones which Daniel saw seem to me to be what John called the twenty-four thrones. And the Ancient of days is the One who, according to John sits alone upon His throne. Likewise the Son of man, who came unto the Ancient of days, is the same as He who, according to John, is called the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, and the titles of that sort (Revelation 5:5). I imagine that these thrones are the ones of which the Apostle Paul says, "Whether thrones or dominions..." (Colossians 1:16). And in the Gospel we read, "Ye yourselves shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28). And God is called the One who sits and who is the Ancient of days, in order that His character as eternal Judge might be indicated. His garment is shining white like the snow, and the hair of His head is like pure wool. The Savior also, when He was transfigured on the mount and assumed the glory of His divine majesty, appeared in shining white garments (Matthew 17:2). And as for the fact that His hair is compared to perfectly pure wool, the even-handedness and uprightness of His judgment is shown forth, a judgment which shows no partiality in its exercise. Moreover He is described as an elderly man, in order that the ripeness of His judgment may be established. His throne consists of fiery flames, in order that sinners may tremble before the severity of the torments, and also that the just may be saved, but so as by fire. The wheels of the throne are set aflame, or else it is the wheels of His chariot which are aflame. In Ezekiel also God is ushered on the scene seated in a four-horse chariot (Ezekiel 1:4-28), and everything pertaining to God is of a fiery consistency. In another place also a statement is made on this subject: "God is a consuming fire" (Deuteronomy 4:24), that we might know that wood, hay and stubble are going to burn up in the day of judgment. And in the Psalms we read: "Fire goeth before Him, and He shall set aflame all His enemies round about Him" (Psalm 97:3). A rushing, fiery stream proceeded from before Him in order that it might carry sinners to hell (Gehenna).

What is meant is the same as the Apostle writes to the Colossians: Let no man seduce you, willing in humility, and religion of angels, walking in the things which he hath not seen, in vain puffed up by the sense of his flesh, And not holding the head, from which the whole body, by joints and bands being supplied with nourishment and compacted, groweth unto the increase of God (Colossians 2:18-19). We approve that which we frequently say: And if I should be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge (2 Corinthians 11:6), this, we now declare, is what Paul said, not concerning humility, but of the truth of conscience. For language does not explain profound and hidden feelings. And although he feels himself what he says, he cannot express in words, pure enough for the ears of others, what those feelings are. When he tries to interpret himself, who had been very eloquent in his native language (for he was a Hebrew, born from Hebrews and educated at the feet of Gamaliel, the most learned of men in the law), he becomes entangled. However, if this happens to him in the Greek language, which he had imbibed from his childhood while being raised in Tarsus of Cilicia, what should be said of the Latins who, attempting to express word for word, make his thoughts more obscure, and like weeds growing, stifle the abundance of fruits? Therefore, we will try to unfold the meaning in a paraphrased way, and bring back the tricks of the involved language to their order and connection, so that the threads of words run on a simple warp: and under a plain cover, the texture of the Apostolic speech may grow. Let no one surpass you, that is, let no one take the prize from you: this is said in Greek, καταβραβευέτω when someone who is in the contest, due to the unfairness of the judge or the tricks of the masters, loses the prize and the palm that is due to him. There are many words that the Apostle uses in a more familiar manner according to the custom of his city and province. From these (for example) a few should be mentioned. But to me it is a small thing to be judged by (1 Cor. 1), that is, ἀπὸ ἀνθρωπίνης ἡμέρας: And, I speak in a human sense (Rom. 6), that is, ἀνθρώπινον λέγω: And, I did not burden you (2 Cor. 12): and what is now said, μηδεὶς ὑμᾶς καταβραβευέτω that is, no one take the prize from you. They use these and many other words up until today, the Cilicians. We should not be amazed by this in regard to the Apostle if he uses the customs of his language, in which he was born and raised, since Virgil, the other Homer among us, following the customs of his homeland, called the wicked chill (Georgics 2). So let no one surpass and conquer you, willing to follow the humility of the letter, and the religion and culture of the angels; so that you do not serve spiritual intelligence, but rather the examples of the future, which he, who wants to surpass you, has neither seen nor perceives (for both are held in Greek), especially when he walks arrogantly, and walks puffed up, and exhibits the pride of his own spirit in the gesture of his body, for this is what ἐμβατεύων signifies. But in vain, he is inflated and swells with the sense of his own flesh, understanding everything carnally, and seeking the delirium of Jewish traditions, and not holding the head of all the Scriptures, that which is written: The head of the man is Christ (1 Cor. 2, 3; Eph. 1, and 4 and 5; Coloss. 1). But the head and beginning of the whole body, and of those who believe, and of all spiritual understanding. From which head the body of the Church takes the vital juice of heavenly doctrine through its connections and joints, so that all its parts may gradually be enlivened, and through the secret channels of its veins, the exhausted blood of foods is founded, ministered, and increased; indeed, so that temperance of the body may be maintained, so that the members, watered from the source of the head, may grow into the perfection of God, and the prayer of the Savior may be fulfilled: "Father, I will that they may be one as we also are one" (John 17:21), so that when Christ has delivered us to the Father, God may be all things to all men (1 Cor. 15:28). He writes such things, both in words and in meanings, and in the style of speech most obscurely to the Ephesians. But speaking truth in love, let us grow in all things into him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body is joined together, and connected by every joint of supply, according to the working in its measure of each individual part. It makes increase of the body for the edifying of itself in love (Ephesians 4:25, 16). And we have said more fully about this subject even in his Commentaries on the same Epistle. But he speaks throughout against those who, believing in Christ the Savior, desired to observe Jewish ceremonies. About this matter, a not insignificant controversy was raised, not even in the Acts of the Apostles (chapter 15). Whence Paul also says above, concerning those who boast that they are teachers of the Law: Let no one judge you in food and drink (Colossians 2:16), as if some were clean and some unclean; or with respect to a part of a festival day, as if some days were festivals and others not. For us who believe in the risen Christ, there is a judgment and an eternal festival. Or in the part of the new moon, that is, of the calendar, and of the new month, when the waning moon ends, and is covered by the shadows of the night. For the light of Christians is eternal, and is always illuminated by the rays of the Sun of righteousness. Or on a part of the sabbaths, so that they do not do servile work and do not bear burdens, because we have been given the liberty of Christ, and we have ceased to bear the burdens of sins. All these things," he said, "are shadows of things to come, and images of future happiness, in which the Jews hold fast to the letter and are bound to the earth; but we, according to the spirit, shall pass over to Christ who is now called the body in contrast to the shadows. For just as in the body truth is and in the body's shadow there is falsehood, so in spiritual understanding all food and drink and all festivities and perpetual calendars and eternal rest are to be expected. We seek to know what he meant by this, either in the humility and religion of the angels or in what sense. "From where the Lord spoke to the disciples: Rise, let us go hence (John 14:31): And, Your house shall be left desolate to you (Matthew 23:38): And, The place where the Lord was crucified, is spiritually called Egypt and Sodom (Apocalypse 11:8), all the customs of the Jews are destroyed and whatever they offer in sacrifices, they offer not to God, but to fleeing angels and unclean spirits. Nor is it surprising if they do this after the passion of the Lord, since it is also said to them by the Prophet Amos: Have you offered me victims and sacrifices, O house of Israel, forty years in the desert, and have you taken up the tabernacle of Moloch, and the star of your god Rempham, figures which you have made to adore them (Amos 5:25-26)?” Moreover, Stephen the martyr expounding more fully in the Jewish congregation and reviewing the old history, spoke thus: And in those days they made a calf, and offered sacrifices to the idol, and were rejoicing in their works. But God turned, and delivered them up, to serve the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets. (Acts 7:41-42) But the host of heaven is not only called the sun, and the moon, and the stars that glow; but also includes all the angelic multitude and their armies who are called in Hebrew Sabaoth, meaning powers or armies. As we also read in the Gospel according to Luke: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will. (Luke 2:13-14) For God makes His angels spirits and His ministers a flaming fire. (Psalm 103:4) And in order that we may know that they who worshiped idols, although they seemed to offer sacrifices to God in the temple, did not offer them to God, but to angels, more fully we learn by Ezekiel: I gave them bad precepts and judgments (Ezek. 20. 25). For God does not seek the blood of goats or of bulls; but a contrite spirit, a contrite and humble heart O God you will not despise (Psalm 50). And therefore, they who made the calf in Horeb, and worshiped the idol of Rempham, of which we shall speak more fully in the prophet Amos, worshiped the images which they had made; and God delivered them up to the service of the host of heaven, which is now called the religion of angels by the Apostle. For humility is read in Greek as ταπεινοφροσύνη, that is, humility of mind or sense. For truly humble sense, and pitiable superstition it is, to believe that God delights in the blood of goats and bulls and the smell of incense, which we often shun. But what follows: If you have died with Christ from the elements of the world, why do you still decree as if living in the world? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle: all which things are unto destruction by the very use, according to the precepts and doctrines of men, having indeed a show of wisdom in superstition, and humility, and not sparing the body; not in any honor for the satisfying of the flesh (Colossians 2:20 and following). It seems to us that this is the meaning. Let us run through all things and, with Christ disclosing, reveal the darkness of perceptions and words. If you have been baptized in Christ and buried with Christ in baptism, dead to the elements of this world, why do you not say to me, but far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world (Galatians 6:14)? And have you not heard the Lord saying to the Father: They are not of the world: just as I am not of the world, and the world hates them because they are not of the world; just as I am not of the world (John 17:16 and 15:19). But on the contrary, as if living in the world, you decide [to] not touch [the] body of a dead man, nor [their] clothing, nor bench on which [a] menstruating woman has sat, nor taste pork, hare, cuttlefish, squid, moray, eel, and all fish which do not have scales and fins. All these, by their use, are corrupted and pass into decay and waste material. For food is for the belly, and the belly for foods; and God will destroy both it and them. But the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. And, "Every one," says He, "shall give account of himself before God" (Rom. 14. 12) . "But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. And the Lord rebukes the Pharisees, saying: You have made void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition. For Moses said: Honor thy father and thy mother; and He that shall curse father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, if a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban, (which is a gift,) whatsoever is from me, shall profit thee. And further you suffer him not to do anything for his father or mother, Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition." (Matthew 15:8-9, Mark 7:4-6) I cannot unroll how many traditions of the Pharisees there are, which today they call 'δευτερὼσεις,' and how many old wives' tales; for the bulkiness of the books does not allow it, and most of them are so disgraceful that I am ashamed to say. However, I will say one thing to the dishonor of the hostile nation. They put in charge of the synagogues whichever wise men they select and delegate unsavory work to them, like proving (or tasting beforehand) whether the blood of a virgin, whether menstruating or not, is clean, or unclean, if they cannot tell by sight. Furthermore, because it has been ordered that on the Sabbath each person should sit in his own house and not go out (Exod. 16. 29), or walk from where he lives; if we ever find it necessary to restrain them according to the letter, so that they do not lie down, do not walk, do not stand, but only sit, if they want to observe the precepts, they are accustomed to reply and say: Barachibas, Simeon, and Hellel our masters taught us that we should walk two thousand feet on the Sabbath, and other such doctrines, preferring the teachings of men to the doctrine of God. Not that we say that we must always sit on the Sabbath and not leave the place where one was occupied; but that that which is impossible in the Law, in which it is weakened by the flesh, must be fulfilled by spiritual observation.

It follows: Which things indeed have the reasoning of wisdom. In this place, indeed, the conjunction is superfluous: which we find the apostle to have done in most places because of his lack of skill in the art of grammar. For it does not follow but, or another conjunction, which is accustomed to respond to the preposition wherever it may be placed. Therefore, Jewish observations seem to have an image of reason and human wisdom among the unskilled and vulgar population. Hence, their teachers are called σοφοὶ, that is, wise. And if at certain times they expose their traditions, they are accustomed to say to their disciples "οἱ σοφοὶ δευτερῶσιν", that is, wise men teach the traditions. "Superstition" is derived from the Greek "ἐθελοθρησκεία" and means false religion, and for "humility" or "ταπεινοφροσύνε", which usually sounds like virtue rather than vice, it must be understood as feeling lowly and earthly. On the other hand, "Ἀφειδία" regarding the body, whose Latin name the language does not explain, is called in our language not sparing one's body. The Jews do not spare their bodies in taking food, sometimes despising what they have and seeking what they do not have, from which sometimes they become weak and contract diseases. And they do not honor themselves, when all things are clean for the clean (Tit. 1.15), and nothing can be polluted, which is received with thanksgiving, and therefore created by the Lord, to nourish and sustain human limbs with satiety and fullness of flesh. But the elements of the world, by which, or rather by which we are dead, the Law of Moses and every old Instrument must be understood: with which, as if with elements, and beginnings of religion, we learn about God. For just as the elements are called letters by which we combine syllables and words, and proceed with long meditation to weave a speech: so music also has its elements, and Geometry begins with the elements of lines, and Dialectic and Medicine have their introductions: thus with the elements of the Old Testament, that it might come to the fullness of the Gospel, the holy infant is educated by learned men. Whence the one hundred eighteenth Psalm, and all the others that are marked with letters, lead us from Ethics to Theory, and cause us to pass from the elements of the western letters, which are destroyed, to the vivifying spirit. Therefore, those of us who are dead to the world and its elements, should not observe those things which are of the world, because in one there is a beginning, in the other there is perfection.

Verse 1. "In the third year of the reign of Joacim (Jehoiakim) king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Jehoiakim, son of the Josiah in whose thirteenth regnal year Jeremiah began to prophesy, and under whom the woman Hulda prophesied, was the same man as was called by the other name of Eliakim, and reigned over the tribes of Judah and Jerusalem eleven years. His son Jehoiachin surnamed Jeconiah, followed him in the kingship, and on the tenth day of the third month of his reign he was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar's generals and brought to Babylon. In his place his paternal uncle Zedekiah, a son of Josiah, was appointed king, and in his eleventh year Jerusalem was captured and destroyed. Let no one therefore imagine that the Jehoiakim in the beginning of Daniel is the same person as the one who is spelled Jehoiachin in the commencement of Ezekiel. For the latter has "-chin" as its final syllable, whereas the former has "-kim." And it is for this reason that in the Gospel according to Matthew there seems to be a generation missing, because the second group of fourteen, extending to the time of Jehoiakim, ends with a son of Josiah, and the third group begins with Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim. Being ignorant of this factor, Porphyry formulated a slander against the Church which only revealed his own ignorance, as he tried to prove the evangelist Matthew guilty of error.

Verse 2. "And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." The fact that Jehoiachim is recorded to have been given over shows that it was not a victory for the might of his enemies but rather it was of the will of the Lord. "...and some of the vessels of the house of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and he conveyed them into the treasure house of his god" (Gen. 11). The land of Shinar is a region of Babylon in which the plain of Dura was located, and also the tower which those who had migrated from the East attempted to build up to heaven. From this circumstance and from the confusion of tongues the region received the name Babylon, which, translated into our language, means "confusion." At the same time it ought to be noted, by way of spiritual interpretation, that the king of Babylon was not able to transport all of the vessels of God, and place them in the idol-house which he had built himself, but only a part of the vessels of God's house. By these vessels we are to understand the dogmas of truth. For if you go through all of the works of the philosophers, you will necessarily find in them some portion of the vessels of God. For example, you will find in Plato that God is the fashioner of the universe, in Zeno the chief of the Stoics, that there are inhabitants in the infernal regions and that souls are immortal, and that honor is the one (true) good. But because the philosophers combine truth with error and corrupt the good of nature with many evils, for that reason they are recorded to have captured only a portion of the vessels of God's house, and not all of them in their completeness and perfection.

Verse 3. "And the king said to Ashpenaz the overseer of his eunuchs, that he should out of the number of the children of Israel and, of the royal seed and (the seed of) the rulers bring in some young lads who were free from all blemish." Instead of Ashpenaz ("Asphanez") I found Abriesdri written in the Vulgate edition. For the word phorlhommin which Theodotion uses, the Septuagint and Aquila translated "the chosen ones," whereas Symmachus rendered "Parthians," understanding it as the name of a nation instead of a common noun. This is in disagreement with the Hebrew edition as it is accurately read; I have translated it as "rulers," especially because it is preceded by the words "of the seed royal." From this passage the Hebrews think that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were eunuchs, thus fulfilling that prophecy which is spoken by Isaiah regarding Hezekiah: "And they shall take of thy seed and make eunuchs of them in the house of the king of Babylon" (Isaiah 39:7). If however they were of the seed royal, there is no doubt but what they were of the line of David. But perhaps the following words are opposed to this interpretation: "...lads, or youths, who were free from all blemish, in order that he might teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans." Philo supposes that Chaldee is the same thing as the Hebrew language, because Abraham came from the Chaldeans. But if we accept this we must ask how the Hebrew lads could now be bidden to be taught a language which they already knew; unless, perchance, we should say, as some believe, that Abraham was acquainted with two languages.

Verse 1. "In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar saw a dream and his spirit was terrified, and his dream fled from him." If the three lads had entered before him at the end of three years, as he himself had commanded, how is it that he is now said to have seen the dream in the second year of his reign? The Hebrews solve the difficulty in this way, that the second year refers here to his reign over all the barbarian nations, not only Judah and the Chaldeans, but also the Assyrians and Egyptians, and the Moabites and the rest of the nations which by the permission of God he had conquered. For this reason Josephus also writes in the tenth book of the Antiquities: After the second year from the devastation of Egypt Nebuchadnezzar beheld a marvelous dream, and "his spirit was terrified and his dream fled from him." The impious king beheld a dream concerning things to come, in order that he might give glory to God after the holy man had interpreted what he had seen, and that great consolation might be afforded the captive (Jews) and those who still served God in their captive state. We read this same thing in the case of Pharaoh, not because Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar deserved to behold visions, but in order that Joseph and Daniel might appear as deserving of preference over all other men because of their gift of interpretation.

Verse 2. "Wherefore the king commanded that the soothsayers, the magi, the charmers, and the Chaldeans show the king his dream. And when they came, they stood in the presence of the king." Those whom we have translated as "soothsayers" (harioli) others have rendered as epaoidoi, that is, "enchanters." Well then, it seems to me that enchanters are people who perform a thing by means of words; magi are those who pursue individual lines of philosophic enquiry; charmers are those who employ blood and animal sacrifices and often have contact with corpses. Furthermore the term "astrologers" among the Chaldeans signifies, I believe, what the common people call mathematicians. But common usage and ordinary conversation understands the term magi as wicked enchanters . Yet they were regarded differently among their own nation, inasmuch as they were the philosophers of the Chaldeans, and even the kings and princes of this same nation do all they can to acquire a knowledge of this science. Wherefore also it was they who first at the nativity of our Lord and Savior learned of his birth, and who came to holy Bethlehem and adored the child, under the guidance of the star which shone above them (Matthew 2:1-12).