Spiritual Multiplication and the Seed of Abraham
The practice of contemplation is especially brought forward in the Gospels; for Jesus, desiring to give rest to souls, says, 'Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and you will find rest for your souls; and take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; for my yoke is good and my burden is light' (Matt 11:28-30). By saying, 'Come to me and I will give you rest,' he signifies how he judges them worthy to receive him into himself so that they might lift off his yoke, which is good, and the light burden.
This divine exhortation is also brought forward in Isaiah, with the Holy Spirit crying out: 'Shine, shine, Jerusalem, for your light has come, and the glory of your God has risen upon you. Behold, darkness and gloom will cover the earth, but upon you the Lord will appear' (Isa 60:1-2). He emphasized as a sign that it is fitting to be enlightened by the existing true light: 'But upon you the Lord will appear, and the glory of your God will be seen,' signifying how the royal souls, held by the King of all, go forth by the light of the one receiving them, and the called nations into the gospel by the brightness of the glorious Church, as Jerusalem is being led upward, since one sees 'the peace of God surpassing all understanding' (Phil 4:7) through perfect height and royal eminence.
For whose sake does he signify and receive them, saying in harmony: 'Because I will redeem them and multiply them, because they were many' (Hos 2:23)? He redeems them from the law of captivity of shoulders and unclad tyrants who had led them away from their own commonwealth.
The manner and how the restoration to liberty is exalted lies in other writings. Indeed, one of the saints cried out to the benefactor: 'My joy, redeem me from those who persecute me'; and again: 'Redeem me, Lord God of truth.' Peter, the foremost of Christ's disciples, makes manifest a turning away of those who had rushed from their former wickedness, writing to the faithful: 'You were not redeemed from your futile, ancestral way of life with corruptible gold or silver, but in the precious blood of Christ, the lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Pet 1:18-19). The Savior, having redeemed, promised this.
The statement, 'I will multiply them because they were many,' is necessarily relevant; it refers not only to a multiplication in number, but also to an excellence in honor, similar to the blessing spoken by God toward Abraham: 'I will increase him, and I will multiply him, and I will bless him, and he shall be a blessing; a father of many nations, being revealed as a gift of God.' He becomes a father of many nations not merely according to the flesh, but according to the intelligible, clearly meaning that his children and sons are those who do his works and possess faith.
Indeed, the Savior himself, most strongly rebuking those who claim to have Abraham as a father according to the flesh, said: 'If you are children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham' (John 15:16). By this understanding, 'the vessel of election,' the apostle Paul writes to the Church, clarifying how the holy patriarch is a father of the nations, asserting: 'As many as are of faith, these are sons of Abraham, being blessed with him' (Galatians 3:7). The same view is proposed by that prophecy brought forth in Isaiah: 'The few shall become thousands, and the least a great nation' (Isaiah 60:22).
Taking these things in a sensory way provokes laughter, since many saints did not bear children at all: namely Elijah and Elisha, and John the Baptist, of whom no one greater was praised in deed or holy knowledge; they in no way bore children, so it is appropriate to understand the multiplication of those possessing such promises spiritually, 'because they were many.' For the righteous did not begin to multiply and become many only in this present life, according to the assigned understanding; for they were many even before this present life.
These, being many, were like seeds that he sowed among the peoples so that they might partake of their virtue. Just as seeds thrown into the earth transform the lying soil to become offspring and fruit, so those sown among the peoples and the nations bring those whom they have sown into their own quality, as if becoming imitators of their virtue. No one errs in saying that those who heard were sown by Jesus, saying: 'Go and make disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:19); and even to the same in the Gospel according to John: 'For this reason I said to you,' that is, I appointed and demonstrated, 'that you might go and bear more fruit' (John 15:16), and the fruit...
Greek
ἡ θεωρία ἐν Εὐαγγελίοις μάλιστα φέρεται· ἀναπαῦσαι γὰρ τὰς ψυχὰς ὁ Ἰησοῦς βουλόμενος, «∆εῦτε, φησίν, πρὸς ἐμὲ πάντες οἱ κοπιῶντες καὶ πεφορτισμένοι, καὶ εὑρήσετε ἀνάπαυσιν ταῖς ψυχαῖς ὑμῶν· καὶ ἄρατε τὸν ζυγόν μου ἐφ' ὑμᾶς, καὶ μάθετε ἀπ' ἐμοῦ ὅτι πραΰς εἰμι καὶ ταπεινὸς τῇ καρδίᾳ· ὁ γὰρ ζυγός μου χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον ἐλαφρόν ἐστιν.» ·····ως εἰσδέξασθαι αὐτοὺς πρὸς ἑαυτὸν κρίνας ἵνα ἄρωσιν τὸν ζυγὸν αὐτοῦ χρηστὸν ὄντα καὶ τὸ ἐλαφρὸν φορτίον, σημαίνει αὐτοῖς φάσκων· «∆εῦτε πρὸς ἐμὲ κἀγὼ ἀναπαύσω ὑμᾶς.» 3.282 Ἡ θεία αὕτη προτροπὴ καὶ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ φέρεται, τοῦ ἁγίου Πνεύματος βοῶντος· «Φωτίζου, φωτίζου, Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἥκει γὰρ τὸ φῶς σου ἐπὶ σέ, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐπὶ σὲ ἀνατέταλκεν. Ἰδοὺ σκότος καὶ γνόφος καλύψει γῆν ἐπ' ἔθνη· ἐπὶ δὲ σὲ φανήσεται Κύριος.» Σημάνας γὰρ ὡς προσήκει φωτισθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ὑπάρχοντος φωτὸς ἀληθινοῦ, ἐπενήνοχεν· «Ἐπὶ δὲ σὲ φανήσεται Κύριος, καὶ ἡ δόξα τοῦ Θεοῦ σου ἐπὶ σὲ ὀφθήσεται», ὡς πορεύεσθαι τὰς βασιλικὰς ψυχὰς ὧν κρατεῖ ὁ παμβασιλεὺς τῷ φωτὶ τοῦ εἰσδεχομένου καὶ τὰ κληθέντα ἔθνη εἰς τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῇ λαμπρότητι τῆς ἐνδόξου Ἐκκλησίας, κατ' ἀναγωγὴν οὔσης Ἰερουσαλήμ, ἐπείπερ ὁρᾷ «τὴν Θεοῦ εἰρήνην πάντα νοῦν ὑπερέχουσαν» διὰ τέλειον ὕψος καὶ βασιλικὴν ὑπερ̣οχήν. 3.283 Τίνος δ' ἕνεκα σημαίνει καὶ εἰσδέχεται αὐτούς, ἁρμονίως ἐπιφέρει φάσκων· «∆ιότι λυτρώσομαι αὐτοὺς καὶ πληθυνῶ αὐτοὺς καθότι ἦσαν πολλοί.» Λυτροῦται δ' αὐτοὺς ὠμῶν καὶ ἀτέγκτων τυράννων νόμῳ αἰχμαλωσίας ἀπαγαγόντων αὐτοὺς τῆς οἰκείας αὐτῶν πολιτείας. 3.284 Κεῖται ἐν ἑτέραις γραφαῖς ὁ τρόπος καὶ πῶς ὑπῆρκται ἡ εἰς 109 τὴν ἐλευθερίαν ἀποκατάστασις. Εἷς τις γοῦν τῶν ἁγίων πρὸς τὸν εὐεργετήσαντα κέκραγεν· «Τὸ ἀγαλλίαμά μου, λύτρωσαί με ἀπὸ τῶν καταδιωκόντων με»· καὶ ἔτι· «Ἐλυτρώσω με, Κύριε ὁ Θεὸς τῆς ἀληθείας.» 3.285 Φανεροῖ τη`̣ν ἀποστροφὴν τῶν ῥυσθέντων ἀπὸ τῆς πρότερον κακοπραγίας̣ ὁ κορυφαῖος τῶν Χριστοῦ μαθητῶν Πέτρος, γράφων τοῖς πιστοῖς· «Οὐ φθαρτοῖς χρυσίῳ ἢ ἀργυρίῳ ἐλυθρώθητε ἐκ τῆς ματαίας ὑμῶν ἀναστροφῆς πατροπαραδότου, ἀλλ' ἐν αἵματι τιμίῳ ἀμνοῦ ἀμώμου καὶ ἀσπίλου Χριστοῦ.» 3.286 Λυτρωσάμενος ὁ τοῦτ' ἐπαγγειλάμενος Σωτὴρ ἀναγκαίως ἐπιφέρει τό· «Πληθυνῶ αὐτοὺς καθότι ἦσαν πολλοί», οὐ τοσοῦτον πλήθει καὶ ἀριθμῷ ὅσον τῇ κατὰ τιμὴν ὑπεροχῇ, παραπλησίως τῇ πρὸς τὸν Ἀβραὰμ εὐλογίᾳ λεχθείσῃ ὑπὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ· «Αὐξανῶ αὐτόν, καὶ πληθυνῶ αὐτόν, καὶ εὐλογήσω αὐτόν, καὶ εὐλογημένος ἔσται, πατὴρ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν δωρεᾷ Θεοῦ ἀναδεικνύμενος.» Γίνεται δὲ πατὴρ πολλῶν ἐθνῶν οὐ κατὰ σάρκα μόνον, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸ νοητόν, δηλονότι τέκνων καὶ υἱῶν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ ποιεῖν αὐτοῦ τὰ ἔργα καὶ τὴν πίστιν ἔχειν. 3.287 Αὐτὸς γοῦν ὁ Σωτὴρ τοῖς αὐχοῦσι κατὰ σάρκα τὸν Ἀβραὰμ ἔχειν πατέρα ἐρρωμενέστατα ἐλέγχων ἔφη· «Εἰ τέκνα τοῦ Ἀβραάμ ἐστε, τὰ ἔργα τοῦ Ἀβραὰμ ποιεῖτε.» Ταύτῃ τῇ νοήσει, «τὸ τῆς ἐκλογῆς σκεῦος», ὁ ἀπόστολος Παῦλος ἐπιστέλλει τῇ Ἐκκλησίᾳ, σαφηνίζων πῶς πατὴρ τῶν ἐθνῶν ὁ ἱερὸς πατριάρχης ὑπάρχει φάσκων· «Ὅσοι ἐκ πίστεώς εἰσιν υἱοὶ Ἀβραάμ εἰσιν, σὺν αὐτῷ εὐλογούμενοι.» Τὴν αὐτὴν θεωρίαν ὑποβάλλει τὸ προφητικὸν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἐν Ἠσαΐᾳ φερόμενον· «Ὁ ὀλιγοστὸς ἔσται εἰς χιλιάδας, καὶ ὁ ἐλάχιστος εἰς ἔθνος μέγα.» 3.288 Ἐπὶ αἰσθητῶν ταῦτα λαμβανόμενα γέλωτα κινεῖ, πολλῶν ἁγιωτάτων οὐδ' ὅλως τεκνούν̣των· Ἠλίας γοῦν καὶ Ἐλισαῖε καὶ ὁ βαπτιστὴς Ἰωάννης, οὗ μείζων οὐδεὶς κατὰ πρᾶξιν ἐπαινετὴν καὶ γνῶσιν ἁγίαν, οὐδαμῶς ἐτέκνωσαν, ὥστε πνευματικῶς ἐκλαμβάνειν προσήκει τὸ πληθύνεσθαι τοὺς ἔχοντας τὰς τοιαύτας ἐπαγγελίας «καθότι ἦσαν πολλοί». Οὐ γὰρ ἐνταῦθα ἤρξαντο οἱ δίκαιοι πληθύνεσθαι καὶ γίνεσθαι πολλοὶ κατὰ τὴν ἀποδοθεῖσαν νόησιν· ἦσαν γὰρ πολλοὶ καὶ πρὸ τῆς π̣αρούσης ζωῆς. 3.289 Τούτους τοὺς ὄντας πολλοὺς οἷα σπέρματα ἔσπειρεν ἐν τοῖς λαοῖς ἵνα μεταλάβωσιν αὐτῶν τῆς ἀρετῆς. Ὅνπερ γὰρ τρόπον τὰ εἰς γῆν βαλλόμενα σπέρματα μεταποιεῖ τὴν παρακειμένην χθόνα ὡς γενήματα καὶ καρπὸν γενέσθαι, οὕτως οἱ ε᾿̣πισπειρόμενοι τοῖς λαοῖς καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, εἰς τὴν ἰδίαν ποιότητα φέρουσιν τοὺς οἷς ἐπεσπάρησαν, μιμητὰς τῆς ἀρετῆς αὐτῶν ἐσομένους. 3.290 Οὐχ ἁμαρτήσοι δέ τις λέγων ἐσπάρθαι ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ τοὺς ἀκούσαντας· «Πορευθέντες μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη»· καὶ ἔτι πρὸς τοὺς αὐτοὺς ἐν τῷ κατὰ Ἰωάννην· «∆ιὰ τοῦτο ἔθηκα ὑμᾶς», τοῦτ' ἔστιν ὡρισάμην καὶ ἀπέδειξα, «ἵνα ὑπάγητε καὶ πλείονα καρπὸν φέρητε», καὶ ὁ καρπὸς
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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Khazarzar scan
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- 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.