The Shortening of the Days
Regarding the house raised in Jerusalem after the descent of the captivity while in Babylon. Even if these things are said about the sensible building, they reveal the prototype of the visible, being something intelligible, like an idea shaped in resemblance. It was said previously that just as the tent and the vessels in it were constructed according to the pattern of an invisible tent shown on the mountain, that is, of the height of the archetype, so the bodily house raised from sensible stones is a copy and an image of that shown to the prophet Zechariah by way of vision, but not by a collision of the senses.
The hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation of this archetype, and its active powers shall complete it. When this happens, you will know toward whom the promise is, that 'The Lord of hosts has sent me to you' (Zech 4:6), so that you may be enlightened and intelligently contemplate the things established through divine seeing. And the prophet before us might say the same things as he who speaks in Christ, Paul, having this: 'I will come into revelations and visions of the Lord' (2 Cor 12:1). In agreement with the one speaking in revelations to those who are discerning according to the inner man, the hymnist in the Psalms says: 'Then you spoke in vision to your sons' (Ps 89:1), not in ears nor by voice to those who have the spirit of adoption speaking the Word of God.
For as a true light, it enlightens the intellect of those whom it wishes to receive its divine conversations; it speaks in vision rather than in ear. Immediately also, regarding Isaiah speaking of God thus: 'The vision that Isaiah saw' (Isa 1:1), it is not visible things, but words are brought forward. For how is it visible: 'Hear, O heaven, and listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken: I have begotten and exalted sons, but they have rebelled against me' (Isa 1:2)? Similarly also concerning the fifth of the Twelve Prophets. For after saying: 'The vision of Habakkuk' (Hab 1:1), there is no sight...
Not through sensation, but through words they are brought forward, having such words: 'Thus says the Lord to Edom: I have heard a sound from the Lord, and I have sent a signal to the nations; you are being punished exceedingly,' and the following. 1.320 Zach. IV, 10: 'Why is it that one has made the days small?' And they shall rejoice, and they shall see the tin stone in the hand of Zerubbabel; these seven are eyes looking over all the earth. 1.321 'Why is it that one is making the days small?' These are the days with which the restoration takes place, of those descending to their own fatherland by the law of the captivity having happened in Babylon. And small days are those which are few in number, especially also those which are cut short, not remaining long while the sun is in the upper hemisphere above the earth; the former meaning is more likely to be meant, because the revelations were shown to the prophet in the seventieth year of the captivity, as to say to the prophet himself toward God: 'How long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you see this seventieth year?'
1.322 This theory agrees with that in the Gospel said by the Savior: 'If those days had not been cut short, all flesh would not have been saved.' The cutting short of the days of tribulation signifies that the afflictions will not remain for a longer time, ceasing quickly, so that the strength of those being afflicted may endure for the purpose of bravely contending to obtain prizes and crowns. 1.323 For one should not believe Tatian the heretic, erroneously saying that the former days had become fewer than the present ones, because the hours of the day and night were briefly contracted, due to it being announced by the singer to God: 'By your ordinance the day remains.' 1.324 But since it is impossible according to history for the days to be cut short in this way, one must recover the Gospel teaching concerning the cutting short of the days and that which is lying concerning the small days in the prophetic text.
Greek
ὄντος ἐν Βαβυλῶνι ὁ ἐγερθεὶς οἶκος ἐν τῇ Ἰερουσαλὴμ μετὰ τὴν κάθοδον τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας. 1.315 Ἀλλ' εἰ καὶ μὴ περὶ τοῦ αἰσθητοῦ οἰκοδομήματος λέγεται ταῦτα, ἀλλά γε δηλοῦται ὑπ' αὐτῶν ὁ πρωτότυπος τοῦ ὁρατοῦ, νοητός τις ὑπάρχων καὶ ὡσανεὶ ἰδέα τοῦ πρὸς τὴν ὁμοιότητα αὐτοῦ κατεσκευασμένου. Εἴρηται καὶ πρότερον ὅτ̣ι ὥσπερ ἡ σκηνὴ καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ σκεύη κατὰ τύπον ἀοράτ̣ου σκηνῆς φανείσης ἐν τῷ ὄρει, τοῦτ' ἔστιν τοῦ ὕψους τῆς ἀρχετυ´̣που, κατεσκευάσθη, οὕτω ὁ σωματικὸς οἶκος ὁ ἐξ αἰσθη̣τ̣ω῀̣ν λίθων ἐγερθεὶς μίμημα καὶ εἰκὼν τυγχάνει του῀̣ δειχθέντος Ζαχαρίᾳ τῷ προφήτῃ ὀπτασίας τρόπῳ, ἀλλ' οὐ προσβολῇ αἰσθήσεως. 1.316 Τούτου τοῦ ἀρχετύπου τὸ σύμβολον αἱ χεῖρες Ζοροβάβελ ἐθεμελίωσαν καὶ αἱ δραστήριοι δυνάμεις αὐτοῦ ἐπιτελέσουσιν. Οὗ γενομένου, γνώσει, ὡς πρὸς ὃν ἡ ἐπαγγελία, ὅτι «Κύριος παντοκράτωρ ἀπέστειλέν με πρὸς σέ», ὅπως φωτισθῇς καὶ ἐπιστημονικῶς θεωρήσῃς τὰ θεσπισθέντα διὰ θεοπτίας. 1.317 Εἴποι δ' ἂν καὶ ὁ προκείμενος προφήτης τὰ αὐτὰ οἷς ἔγραψεν ὁ ἐν Χριστῷ λαλῶν Παῦλος οὕτως ἔχοντα· «Ἐλεύσομαι εἰς ἀποκαλύψεις καὶ ὀπτασίας Κυρίου.» Συμφώνως τῷ ἐν ἀποκαλύψεσιν ὁμιλεῖν τὸν Θεὸν τοῖς διορατικοῖς οὖσιν κατὰ τὸν ἔσω ἄνθρωπον, ὁ ὑμνῳδὸς ἐν Ψαλμοῖς· «Τότε ἐλάλησας ἐν ὁράσει τοῖς υἱοῖς σου», οὐκ ἐν ὠσὶ οὐδὲ φωνῇ τοῖς τὸ πνεῦμα τῆς υἱοθεσίας ἔχουσιν λαλοῦντος τοῦ Θεοῦ Λόγου. 1.318 Ὢν γὰρ φῶς ἀληθινόν, φωτίζει τὴν διάνοιαν ὧν θέλει δέξασθαι αὐτοῦ τὰς θείας ὁμιλίας· ἐν ὁράσει μᾶλλον ἢ ἐν ὠσὶ λαλεῖ. Αὐτίκα γοῦν καὶ τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ οὕτω λαλοῦντος Θεοῦ, τῷ· «Ὅρασις ἣν εἶδεν Ἠσαΐας», οὐχ ὁρατά, ἀλλὰ λόγοι ἐπιφέρονται. Πῶς γὰρ ὁρατὸν τό· «Ἄκουε, οὐρανέ, καὶ ἐνωτίζου, γῆ, ὅτι Κύριος ἐλάλησεν· Υἱοὺς ἐγέννησα καὶ ὕψωσα, αὑτοὶ δέ με ἠθέτησαν.» 1.319 Ἰσοδυναμούντως καὶ περὶ τοῦ πέμπτου τῶν ∆ώδεκα Προφητῶν. Μετὰ γὰρ τὸ φάναι· «Ὅρασις Ἀβδίου», οὐδὲν θέαμα αἰσθητόν, ἀλλὰ λόγοι ἐπιφέρονται, οὕτως ἔχοντες· «Τάδε λέγει Κύριος τῇ Ἰδουμαίᾳ· Ἀκοὴν ἤκουσα παρὰ Κυρίου, καὶ περιοχὴν εἰς τὰ ἔθνη ἀπέστειλα· ἠτιμωμένος σὺ εἶ σφο´̣δρα», καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. 1.320 Zach. IV, 10: ∆ιότι τίς ἐξουδένωσεν εἰς ἡμέρας μικράς; Καὶ χαρήσονται, καὶ ὄψονται τὸν λίθον τὸν κασσιτέρινον ἐν χειρὶ Ζοροβάβελ· ε῾̣πτὰ οὗτοι ὀφθαλμοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐπιβλέποντες ἐπὶ πᾶσαν γῆν. 1.321 ∆̣ιότι τίς ε᾿̣στιν ὁ ἐξουθενῶν τὰς ἡμέρας τὰς μικράς; Αὗται δέ εἰσιν μεθ' ἃς ἡ ἀποκατάστασις γίνεται, τῶν εἰς τὴν Βαβυλῶνα γεναμένων αἰχμαλωσίας νόμῳ κάθοδον λαμβανόντων εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν πατρίδα. Ἡμέραι δὲ μικραὶ τυγχάνουσιν αἱ ὀλίγαι τῷ ἀριθμῷ, μάλιστα καὶ αἱ συντετμημέναι, οὐκ ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦ ἡλίου μένοντος ἐν τῷ ὑπὲρ γῆν ἡμισφαιρίῳ· τὸ πρότερον μᾶλλον ἐκλημπτέον, διὰ τὸ τὰς ἀποκαλύψεις δεδεῖχθαι τῷ προφήτῃ ἐν τῷ ἑβδομηκοστῷ ἔτει τῆς αἰχμαλωσίας, ὡς αὐτὸν τὸν προφήτην πρὸς Θεὸν εἰπεῖν· «Ἕως τίνος οὐ μὴ ἐλεήσεις τὴν Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ τὰς πόλεις Ἰούδα, ἃς ὑπερεῖδες τοῦτο ἑβδομηκοστὸν ἔτος;» 1.322 Συνᾴδει τῇ 32 θεωρίᾳ ταύτῃ καὶ τὸ ἐν Εὐαγγελίῳ λεχθὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος· «Εἰ μὴ ἐκολοβώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι, οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ.» Τὸ κολοβωθῆναι τὰς ἡμέρας τῆς θλίψεως δηλοῖ ὡς οὐ παραμενεῖ τὰ θλιβερὰ ἐπὶ χρόνον πλείονα, ταχέως καταπαύοντα, ἵνα διαρκέσῃ ἡ ἰσχὺς τῶν κακουμένων πρὸς τὸ γενναίως ἀγωνίσασθαι ἐπὶ τῷ βραβείων καὶ στεφάνων τυχεῖν. 1.323 Οὐ γὰρ πειστέον Τατιανῷ τῷ αἱρετικῷ ἐσφαλμένως λέγοντι ἐλάττους γεγονέναι τὰς προτέρας ἡμέρας παρὰ τὰς νῦν, βραχὺ συσταλεισῶν τῶν ὡρῶν τοῦ νυχθημέρου, διὰ τὸ ἀπαγγέλλεσθαι ὑπὸ τοῦ ὑμνῳδοῦ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν· «Τῇ διατάξει σου διαμένει ἡ ἡμέρα.» 1.324 Ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ ἀδύνατον καθ' ἱστορίαν οὕτω τὰς ἡμέρας κολοβοῦσθαι, ἀνακτέον τὸ εὐαγγελικὸν περὶ τῆς κολοβώσεως τῶν ἡμερῶν καὶ τὸ περὶ τῶν μικρῶν ἡμερῶν κείμενον ἐν τῇ προφητικῇ
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
Original English Translation — new OET from PG Greek.
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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