The Earthquake in the Days of Josiah
Regarding his mountains, the prophets have said in accordance with the subject that there is a height belonging to them not only of knowledge and wisdom, but also of the application of practical life. For concerning these things, the hymn-singer spoke of the origin of all: 'You shine wondrously from eternal mountains' (Ps 103:2). How could they not be eternal mountains, from which God wondrously illuminates the knowledge of the truth and broadly the knowledge concerning the Trinity, those who gaze upon unseeing eternal things according to the apostolic exhortation (2 Cor 4:18)?
The abyss of the depth of the obscurity of those things spoken in enigma is a gorge of these mountains, which he who came to fulfill the law and the prophets (Matt 5:17) has unblocked, having leveled with his own teaching and presence the rough and uneven ground of those things spoken with concealment, so that it might appear easy to traverse through smoothness. This having happened, the gorge of the mountains was joined to the text through the appearing of harmony, up to Asaph, who was called 'deaf to the feet' because of the speed of his walking, according to the sharp-seeing gaze; for this animal is perceptive, as the appellation itself shows from the word 'gazing'. Therefore, up to Asaph, the connection of the mountains will be known to the discerning.
In the same way, the obstruction of the mountains has occurred as in the days of the earthquake, which existed in the days of Uzziah, the king of Judah. We have not found a perceptible earthquake having occurred at all while Uzziah was reigning, neither in the Kingdoms nor in the Chronicles; therefore, what is written about him must be understood allegorically. And see lest a shaking occurred during Uzziah, intending to seize the priesthood for himself. For having entered into the temple of God, and having approached the holy altar, he attempts to offer sacrifice through himself and not through the priests (2 Chron 26:16). The daily priest, most boldly asserting this transgression, while coinciding with the others, saying: 'It is not yours, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but that of the priests,' he was distressed, and he stretched out his hand with anger to be seized by the guards to harm them; but immediately his hand was struck, as if to cast the tyrant out of the temple instantly, having been struck by the holy place as far as the porch, because of his insolence.
[...] having taken a practice not fitting for another except for the priests presiding in the temple. 5.62 Regarding the encounter with that which it is determined to draw to itself, the works of the kingdom were hindered by the unclean leprosy, while he was performing them, the rest of his son who was about to receive the rule. 5.63 In the days of the earthquake from the commingling, a precipice became attached to the mountains, in the days of Judah, while Ozias was reigning. 5.64 The earthquake now being declared lies also at the beginning of the prophet Amos: 'For words,' says Amos, 'which came from Tekoa, two years before the earthquake in the days of Ozias,' the earthquake being said here, according to the circulating Jewish tradition, of the vision appearing to Isaiah, concerning which it has been written thus: 'It happened in the year in which King Ozias died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a high and lifted-up throne, and Seraphim were standing around him, six wings to the one and six wings to the other' (Isa 6:1-2), and after a little: 'And the other cried to the other: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth, full is the heaven and the earth of his glory' (Isa 6:3).
5.65 Full is the heaven and the earth of the glory of God became, after the death of Ozias with which he practiced lawlessness. For how could there not be a shaking of change toward the better having happened by the seeing of God, so that the heaven and the earth might be filled with his glory, and a removal might occur of the lawlessness of the one discovered in seeing the divine vision, and a remission of the sins of all the people? 5.66 In the days of the death of Ozias, who desired to plunge the divine laws, desiring to seize for himself the priestly service not fitting to him, there was attached that which he had newly cut through by a cleavage of the laws, so that the priest might again unhinderedly perform his own things in the temple, and the king, attending to the protection of those in authority, was no longer touching the priestly things because the care of the holy things was not to be held by him. 5.67 Or is Asael here a name of a place; let him be heard by the one having circled the places of Judah, having grasped something that seems accurate. 5.68 And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with him. In that day there shall not be light. And there shall be frost and ice one day (Zech 14:5-7).
Greek
5.57 Ὄρη αὐτοῦ κατὰ ἀπόδοσιν μίαν λεχθεῖεν οἱ προφῆται διὰ προσ̣ὸν αὐτοῖς ὕψος οὐ μόνον γνώσεως καὶ σοφίας ἀλλὰ καὶ διάρματ̣ος πρακτικοῦ βίου. Περὶ τούτων γὰρ πρὸς τὸν τῶν ὅλων γενεσιάρχην ἀνεφθέγξατο ὁ ὑμνῳδός· «Φωτίζεις σὺ θαυμαστῶς ἀπὸ ὀρέων αἰωνίων.» Πῶς γὰρ οὐκ αἰώνια ὄρη ἀφ' ὧν θαυμαστῶς φωτίζει Θεὸς τὴν γνῶσιν τῆς ἀληθείας καὶ ἁπαξαπλῶς τὴν περὶ τῆς Τριάδος καταλάμπων, οἱ τὰ μὴ βλεπόμενα αἰώνια ὄντα σκοποῦντες κατὰ τὴν ἀποστολικὴν προτροπήν; 5.58 Τούτων τῶν ὀρῶν φάραγξ ἐστὶν τὸ βάθος τῆς ἀσαφείας τῶν μετ' αἰνιγμοῦ εἰρημένων, ἥνπερ ἐνέφραξεν ὁ ἐληλυθὼς πληρῶσαι τὸν νόμον καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, ὁμαλίσας τῇ ἑαυτοῦ διδασκαλίᾳ καὶ παρουσίᾳ τὸ τραχὺ καὶ ἀνώμαλον ἔδαφος τῶν μετ' ἐπικρύψεως λελαλημένων, ἵν' εὐδιάβατον ἐκ τῆς λειότητος ὀφθῇ. 5.59 Τούτου γεγενημένου, ἐνεκολλήθη διὰ τῆς φανείσης συμφωνίας ἡ φάραγξ τῶν ὀρῶν ἕως τοῦ Ἀσαήλ, τοῦ διὰ ταχύτητα ποδωκείας «κούφου τοῖς ποσὶν» εἰρημένου κατὰ τὴν ὀξὺ καθορῶσαν δορκάδα· διορατικὸν γὰρ τὸ ζῷον τοῦτο ὡς αὐτὴ ἡ προσηγορία δηλοῖ ἀπὸ τοῦ δέρκειν εἰρημένη. ∆ιὸ ἕως Ἀσαὴλ ἡ προσκόλλησις τῶν ὀρῶν ἔσται, γινωσκομένη τοῖς διορατικοῖς. 5.60 Τῷ αὐτῷ δὲ τρ̣όπῳ ἡ ἔμφραξις τῶν ὀρῶν γέγονεν ὡς ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ σεισμοῦ, ὑπάρξαντος ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ὀζίου, τοῦ βασιλέως Ἰούδα. Σεισμὸν̣ αἰσθητὸν οὐδαμῶς̣ ηὑρήκαμεν γενόμενον, βασιλεύοντος Ὀζίου, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς Βασιλείαις, οὐδὲ ἐν ταῖς Παραλειπομέναις· ὅθεν κατ' ἀναγωγὴν ἐκλημπτέον τὰ περὶ αὐτοῦ γεγραμμένα. 5.61 Καὶ ὅρα μὴ κλόνος γέγονε̣ν̣ ἐπὶ Ὀζίου ἐπισπᾶσαι εἰς ἑαυτὸν θέλοντος τὴν ἱερωσύνην. Ε̣ἰσελθὼν γὰρ εἰς τὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ ναόν, πλησιάσας τε τῷ ἁγίῳ θυσιαστηρίῳ, δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ οὐ διὰ τῶν ἱερέων ἐπιχειρεῖ θύειν. Τὴν παρ' ὁρισμὸν ταύτην τόλμαν ἐρρωμενέστατα̣ συγχῶν ὁ κατ' ἐφημερίαν ἱερεύς, 152 συμπνεόντων καὶ τῶν ἄλλων θεραπευτῶν φήσας· «Οὐ σοί, Ὀζία, τοῦ θυμιάσαι τῷ Κυρίῳ ἀλλ' ἢ τῶν ἱερέων», ἐφ' ᾧ δ̣υσχεράνας ἐξέτεινε τὴν χεῖρα μετὰ θυμοῦ ἐπὶ τῷ συλληφθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν δορυφόρων τοὺς ἱερέας ἵνα αὐτοὺς κακώσῃ· ἀλλ' εὐθέως ἡ χεὶρ αὐτοῦ λελέπρωται, ὡς παραχρῆμα ἔξω τοῦ ναοῦ βαλέσθαι τὸν τύραννον, μιανθέντος τοῦ ἱεροῦ ὅσον ἐπὶ τῇ προπετείᾳ καὶ ὠμότητι αὐτοῦ σφετερίσασθαι θελήσαντος τὴν μὴ προσήκουσαν ἄλλῳ πρᾶξιν ἢ μόνοις τοῖς προσεδρεύουσι τῷ ναῷ ἱερεῦσιν. 5.62 Πρὸς τῷ ἀποτετευχέναι ᾧ εἰς ἑαυτὸν ἐπισπάσασθαι βεβούληται, καὶ τῶν ἔργων τῆς βασιλείας ἐκ τῆς ἀκαθάρτου λέπρας ἐνεποδίσθη, ἐκτελοῦντος αὐτὰ λοιπὸν τοῦ μέλλοντος διαδέξασθαι τὴν ἀρχὴν υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ. 5.63 Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ ἐκ τῆς συγχύσεως σεισμοῦ, φάραγξ γέγονεν ἐγκολληθεῖσα τοῖς ὄρεσιν, ἐν ταῖς τοῦ Ἰούδα ἡμέραις, βασιλεύοντος Ὀζίου. 5.64 Ὁ νῦν δηλούμενος σεισμὸς κεῖται καὶ ἐν ἀρχῇ Ἀμὼς τοῦ προφήτου· «Λόγοι γάρ, φησίν, Ἀμώς, οἱ γενάμενοι ἐκ Θεκουέ, πρὸ δύο ἐτῶν τοῦ σεισμοῦ ἐν ἡμέραις Ὀζίου», σεισμοῦ λεγομένου ἐνταῦθα, κατὰ περιφερομένην παράδοσιν ἰουδαϊκήν, τῆς φανείσης ὀπτασίας τῷ Ἠσαΐᾳ, περὶ ἧς οὕτω γέγραπται· «Ἐγένετο τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ, οὗ ἀπέθανεν Ὀζίας ὁ βασιλεύς, εἶδον τὸν Κύριον καθήμενον ἐπὶ θρόνου ὑψηλοῦ καὶ ἐπηρμένου, καὶ Σεραφὶμ̣ εἱστήκεισαν κύκλῳ αὐτ̣οῦ, ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνὶ καὶ ἓξ πτέρυγες τῷ ἑνί», καὶ μετ' ὀλίγα· «Καὶ ἐκέκραγεν ὁ ἕτερος πρὸς τὸν ἕτερον· Ἅγιος ἅγιος ἅγιος Κύριος σαβαώθ, πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ.» 5.65 Πλήρης ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ τῆς δόξης τοῦ Θεοῦ γέγονεν τεθνηκότος τοῦ Ὀζίου μεθ' ἣν ἔπραξεν παρανομίαν. Πῶς γὰρ οὐ κλόνος μεταβολῆς εἰς τὸ κρεῖττον γέγονεν ὀφθέντος Θεοῦ ὅπως πληρωθῇ τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ἡ γῆ, καὶ ἀφαίρεσις γένηται τῶν ἀνομιῶν τοῦ κατανυγέντος ἐν τῷ ἑωρακέναι τὴν θείαν ὀπτασίαν καὶ ἄφεσις τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων τοῦ λαοῦ παντός; 5.66 Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τοῦ θανάτου Ὀζίου τοῦ βαραθρῶσαι θελήσαντος τοὺς θείους νόμους, σφετερίσασθαι θελήσαντος τὴν μὴ προσήκουσαν αὐτῷ ἱερατικὴν λειτουργίαν, ἐνεκολλήθη ἣν ἐκαινοτόμησεν διάσχισιν τῶν νόμων, πάλιν τοῦ ἱερέως ἀκωλύτως τὰ ἴδια ἐν τῷ ναῷ ἐκτελοῦντος καὶ τοῦ βασιλέως τὴν τῶν ἀρχομένων προστασίαν περιέποντος οὐκ ἐφαπτομένου τῶν ἱερατικῶν ἔτι διὰ τὸ μὴ αὐτῷ ἀνακεῖσθαι τὴν τῶν ἱερέων θεραπείαν. 5.67 Ἢ τὸ Ἀσαὴλ ἐνταῦθα ὄνομα τόπου ἐστίν, ὁ τοὺς τόπους τῆς Ἰουδαίας περιαθρήσας ἀποφηνάσθω, τὸ δοκοῦν ἀκριβές τι κατειληφώς. 5.68 Zach. XIV, 5–7: Καὶ ἥξει Κύριος ὁ Θεός μου καὶ πάντες οἱ ἅγιοι μετ' αὐτοῦ. Ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρᾳ οὐκ ἔσται φῶς. Καὶ ψύχη καὶ πάγος ἔσται μίαν ἡμέραν.
About this text
Didymus the Blind on Zechariah.
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Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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