Bible Verses and Early Church Commentary | Historical Christian Faith

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 20:27-29:29

(Verse 27, 29 onwards) Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them: Thus says the Lord God: Moreover, your fathers have blasphemed against me and have treated me with contempt, even as they spurned me. And I brought them into the land that I had lifted my hand to give them ((Vulgate adds: that land)): they saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices and presented there the irritation of their offerings, and they placed there the fragrance of their sweetness, and they poured out their ((Vulgate is silent on this)) libations there. And I said to them, 'What is the high place to which you are going?' And its name was called the High Place until this day. Therefore speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God: As for your fathers, they have provoked Me to anger by their iniquities, by the fact that they have fallen away from Me. So I brought them into the land that I had lifted My hand in an oath to give them.' They saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices. They also presented there the provocation of their gifts, and they set there their pleasing aroma, and they poured out there their drink offerings. And I said to them: What is abbana, because you enter there? And they called its name abbana until this day. I wanted, he said, to scatter them in the wilderness, and to give them not good precepts, so that they would sacrifice to idols what they should have offered to me, and consecrate all their first-fruits to them by fire, so that I might kill them and destroy them. But when he says, I wanted, he shows that he did not do what he wanted. And that which follows: 'And they shall know that I am the Lord,' is not found in the Septuagint. For it did not seem fitting to them to know after their destruction that he himself is the Lord. But you, son of man, speak again to them, that is, to the elders of the house of Israel, who have come to inquire of you: Your fathers, from whom you have descended, have also blasphemed against me and held me in contempt; after I brought them into the land which I had given them to possess, they turned against me to provoke me. For when they saw every high hill and leafy tree, they would sacrifice on the mountains and in the groves and thickets, and offer victims to the idols, and pour out libations. And when I saw this, I said to them: What is this, Bama? for it is called high: or why do you enter into such a place which you have chosen for yourselves in all the hills, so that even today these places are called Bamoth, and the ancient error retains its original name? Regarding Bama, which we translate as excelsum, there is an error in the Septuagint edition, where it is written as ἀββανὰ, which does not resonate in the Hebrew language. Bama can mean 'in which' if the two syllables are divided into two words, but in the present context, that sense does not fit. However, wherever it is written in the Books of Kings and Chronicles: 'The people still sacrificed and offered incense on the high places,' Bama in the singular and Bamoth in the plural mean 'high places.'

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 20:35-36:38

(Verse 35, 36, and following) And I will bring you into a desert of peoples, and there I will judge you face to face. Just as I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, says the Lord. And I will subject you to my scepter, and I will bring you into the bonds of the covenant, and I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked: from their place of residence I will bring them out, and they will not enter the land of Israel, and you will know that I am the Lord. Thus says the Lord: I will do for you who are in Babylon, and now serve idols, what I did for your ancestors in Egypt. I will lead you into the desert of the peoples, and there I will judge you face to face, just as I contended with them in judgment when they came out of Egypt. And after I have judged you, I will subject you to my scepter and rule, and I will make a covenant with you and bring you into your land with the bonds of love, so that bound by my love, you will never be able to depart from me. But I will choose from among you the transgressors and the wicked, who persist in the hardness of their hearts in evil deeds, not for possession, but for rejection. And I will indeed bring them out of the land of their dwelling, so that when they are brought out, they will not enter the land of Israel; but they will perish in various regions. And by the distinction between good and evil, you shall know that I am the Lord, who judges all things. The rest of the discourse hastens, and we briefly go through each point, in order to provide only the meaning to the readers.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 29:1-2

(Chap. XXIX.—Vers. 1, 2.) In the tenth year (or according to the LXX, the twelfth), in the tenth month (or, according to the Hebrew, the twelfth), on the first (or one) day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him, and against all Egypt, and say: Thus says the Lord God. After Sidon, which is also situated on the coast of Phoenicia, the word of the Lord came to the prophet in the tenth year of the captivity of King Jehoiachin, in the twelfth month, and on the first day of the month, that he should set his face and strengthen himself against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and speak concerning him, and concerning all Egypt, against all of Egypt province. And prophesy regarding what will happen to them. But if we must say something about the numbers, which place does one hold among ten days: hence, at the beginning of Genesis, it is not said: There was evening and morning, the first day, but one day (Gen.1), in order to teach that the same day is always repeated: the tenth number holds the same order among ten decades, which is a hundred, and this number is taken up by the sacrificial lamb, so that it is sacrificed on the fourteenth day, and in this way it continues through its decades, with the order of its numbers proceeding to a thousand and ten thousand, and one hundred thousand, and beyond. But after the tenth year, the twelfth month is placed, so that the perfect number of twelve apostles and prophets (who are contained in one volume) may be shown. Moreover, according to the Septuagint, the tenth month, which is called Tebeth in Hebrew (), and in Egypt týbi, is called January by the Romans, because among them it is the door of the year: with all heat removed, it contains the beginning of winter cold. Let it suffice to have spoken about numbers. Moreover, that must be especially sought after, whether the Pharaoh referred to in Exodus, and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and many other places, and in the Song of Songs is the same person or different individuals. And it seems to me that this word does not refer to a single person, but rather signifies the royal dignity among the Egyptians, like how the Romans called their emperors and kings from the first Caesar, Gaius Caesar, and the second, his adopted son Octavian, who was later named Augustus. And among the Syrians, there was Antiochus, among the Persians, there were the Arsacid kings, among the Philistines, Abimelech, and after Alexander, in Egypt, there were the Ptolemies until Cleopatra, who, when defeated at Actium, made Egypt a Roman province. Therefore, in the present time, the word of the Lord is directed against every king of Egypt, who is interpreted as the destroyer, the slayer and maimer, cutting and dividing all things with a sword. This is to be understood in a mystical sense referring to the power to which Egypt is subject. For no man would dare to say: 'The rivers are mine, and I have made them,' nor would the great dragon be called, sitting in the midst of its rivers; but Egypt is called Mizraim in Hebrew, and it is translated into our language as afflicting and troubling, narrowing down and oppressing those who are subject to it, and not lifting its eyes to heaven but, according to the Gospel and the example of that woman whom the devil had bent double for eighteen years, always sinking down to earthly things (Luke 13).' Let us therefore see what is the threat against Pharaoh and all of Egypt.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 29:3-7

(Verse 3 onwards) Behold, I am coming to you, Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, the great dragon, who lies (or sits) in the midst of your rivers, and you say: The river is mine, and I have made it for myself (or them). And I will put a bit (or a snare) in your jaws, and I will stick the fish of your rivers to your scales (or feathers), and I will draw you out of the midst of your rivers; and all your fish will cling to your scales (or feathers). And I will cast (or put) you out swiftly (or into the desert), and all the fish of your river will fall upon the face of the land (or your field). You shall not be gathered together, nor shall you be assembled; I have given you to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the air to be devoured. And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord; because you have become (or were) a staff (or reed) of the house of Israel, when they took (or he took) you with their hand ((Vulgate is silent on his hand)), and you were broken, and you bruised their every shoulder, and those leaning on you were shattered, and you broke (or shattered) all their loins. We combine both editions of brevity, where they do not differ much from each other. Otherwise, when there is a great difference, we present both. However, it speaks against Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, and under his figure it speaks to great power, to which Egypt is given to govern, and nevertheless it boasts against its Creator, claiming dominion over the land for itself, and entrusting itself to be worshipped by the Egyptian nations. And it speaks according to the location of the province, as if to a king, relying on the flood of the Nile and not greatly desiring rains from the sky, and thinking itself to be the author of itself, or of the rivers, that is, the canals and streams of the Nile made by itself. No, he said, I will not send an Angel, but, O great dragon, who lie and dwell in the middle of your rivers, I myself will come to you for punishment. For you have dared to say: The Nile river is mine, and I am its creator: or, I have made the river by which all Egypt is watered. And when I come, I will put a bridle in your jaws: or I will bind your mouth with reins, with which you boasted so mightily, and I will make all your allies and leaders, whom you call fish, cling to your feathers or scales, so that you are dragged out of the river and thrown out or cast down. For you have exalted yourself excessively in the desert. And you shall fall on the face of the field, or of your land, because Egypt is a flat province. Your body will not be gathered, nor will you be gathered, that is, you will not be buried, but I will give you to be devoured by beasts and birds of the sky, so that when the inhabitants of Egypt see these judgments executed upon you, they may know that I am the Lord. But these things shall happen to you because you have deceived my people Israel with your false aid, so that they would not trust in their God and Creator, but in you. You were a reed staff to them, according to Isaiah (Isa. XXX), or an empty rod, and a very fragile reed, which, when they leaned on it, proved to be useless, so that when they leaned on it, it would break and tear their shoulder, and the hand with which they held on. And while they trusted in you, all the loins of those who fell to the ground would be broken, and those who received help from you would be wounded. But these things are said metaphorically as if to the king of Egypt, because even the province itself was not an adversary to Israel, but while it made great promises, it would separate them from God's help. But according to the anagoge, we often read about the opposing power of the dragon. Therefore, Pharaoh is called the scatterer, because he separates and disconnects from God, and Egypt, that is, Egypt (), is turned into a tribulation and affliction for those whom it can subjugate. This dragon is a transgressor, of whom Job speaks very fully (Job 41). And in the Psalms it is written: You have broken the heads of the dragon, and have given him as food to the people of Ethiopia (Psalm 74:14). And the great dragon is said to be compared to the smaller dragons, of which it is sung in the psalm: You have broken the heads of the dragons in the waters (Ibid.). And in another place: This great and spacious sea with hands. There are reptiles there without number: small animals with large ones, there the ships will pass: This dragon which you have formed to mock him (Ibid., CIII, 25 seqq.). As it is said in another place: He is the king of all that are in the waters, and the beginning of the representation of the Lord, who was made to be mocked by his angels (Job. XLI, 24, sec. LXX). But he sits, or lies down, in the midst of his rivers, not of one river, but of many, which we receive in various heresies, through which he flowed into Egypt of this age, and watered the souls of the deceived, not with rain from heaven, but with turbid waters from the earth, which Jeremiah does not forbid to drink, saying: What to you and the ways of Egypt, that you drink the water of Geon (Jerem. XI, 18) ? For which it is written in Hebrew Sior (), which word is translated into turbid and muddy waters. But so that we may understand what the rivers of the Egyptian dragon are, we will be able to know from their opposites. The Lord speaks of his rivers: Whoever believes in me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37). And to the Samaritan woman: Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14). These are the rivers coming from heaven, of which David sings: The stream of the river makes the city of God glad (Psalm 46:4): undoubtedly it signifies the Church. Therefore, let us consider what is the punishment or penalty of the dragon. It follows: And I will put a bit or a noose in your jaws. This is similar to what Job says: You will draw out the dragon with a fishhook, and put a bridle around his nose. He trusts that the Jordan will enter into his mouth; he will receive it in his eye. However, a hook will pierce his nose, and a ring will be in his lips (Job 40:19). The Lord puts a bit in the jaws of this dragon, and pierces his lips and binds them with a ring. This happens when He silences him through Ecclesiastical men who are well-versed in the Holy Scriptures, and all the teachings of wickedness are dissolved. And the fish of its rivers agglutinate with its own wings, or scales, with which the heretics, through pride, hasten to high things, so that they themselves, bound together with the dragon, may become one body with it, and may be united to it either in the fellowship of error, or in the likeness of punishment: just as one who cleaves to the Lord is one spirit (I Cor. VI, 17). And indeed, the Egyptian dragon does not have one river, but many rivers, with which it waters humble and lowly Egypt, which has nothing in itself of mountains: nor the waters of Siloam, which flow silently, but turbid and muddy (Isa. VIII). And the Lord will remove him from the midst of his rivers, so that he does not incubate over them, nor sit upon them: and all the fish will adhere to his scales, according to the quality of his vices, throughout the body of the dragon, either to the head, or to the belly, or to the tail, and to the extremities sticking to it: so that when the dragon is removed, the fish also, which adhere to him, be likewise removed. And I will cast you, he says, into the desert, so that you will never find anyone to deceive. Surely, I will cast you down from the summit of your pride, and I will cast you down swiftly, according to the words of the Apostle: 'The God of peace will quickly crush Satan beneath your feet' (Rom. XVI, 20); so that the dragon, broken and cast down, the fish of that river may also be cast down, and the author of crimes may fall, who previously thought he could stand and run throughout the whole world. Let him fall upon the face of his own land, to which he was precipitated from heaven, so that he may no longer be gathered or congregated in the heretical Churches, nor buried among those who believed in him when they have been freed from him, but let him be given over to be devoured by the beasts of the earth and the birds of the sky. Regarding the beasts, it is written: 'Do not give the soul confessing to you to the beasts' (Psalm 73:19). And the birds of the sky, which eat the seed along the path, are interpreted to be the devils by the Savior (Matthew 13). For not only the prince of evil, but also his disciples are called devils, according to what is said of Judas: 'Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?' (John 6:71). The birds of the sky are called birds because they promise themselves things that are lofty, so that after the dragon with its fish is cast down and handed over to be devoured by the beasts of the earth, which have no gentleness in themselves, and by those who are blown about by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4), then all the inhabitants of this world may understand that he himself is the Lord. But the whole reason for punishments is that Israel sought help in vain, and it was a rod or reed staff, empty and void, having nothing of fullness in itself, because it could not say: But we all received from his fullness (John 1:16); when the Scripture commands: You shall not appear before the Lord your God empty or void (Exodus 23:15). And that we should not seek help from Egypt, Scripture elsewhere testifies: Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help (Isaiah 31:1). He taunts King Hezekiah with a reed staff like this and Rabsaces in vain, saying: Behold, you trust in a reed staff and in this broken staff, over Egypt: on whom if anyone leans, it enters his hand. Thus is Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to all who trust in him. And indeed, he lied about the righteous king, mentioning these things, who is interpreted as 'multus poculo'. For he was intoxicated with the golden cup of Babylon, and therefore he fed his own people to the Lord who they confess. But here the pharaoh is reproached because he made the house of Israel to trust in a rod or reed, which promised them vain and fragile help, quickly to be broken. But that we may know what the reed rod is, on which the house of Israel ought not to trust, we may understand from the opposite rod and staff of the Lord, of which it is said to the Lord: Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me (Psalm 23:4). Aaron also had this rod, which devoured the Egyptian serpents, and when he struck the banks of the Nile, mosquitoes were generated in the whole of Egypt (Exodus VII, VIII). Moses also, according to the Septuagint, extended this rod and raised it to the heavens, and the Lord brought a south wind upon the land all that day and all that night, and in the morning the wind lifted locusts and brought them upon all the land of Egypt. I think that this rod is also mentioned in the Book of Numbers, that it blossomed and bore nuts or almonds (Numbers XVII). The Apostle had this when he said: What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod? (I Cor. IV, 21). And those who celebrated the Passover held staffs in their hands, without which they could not support the weakness of the human body and eat the flesh of the lamb. This is the rod from the root of Jesse, upon which the seven spirits rested. But not like Pharaoh, nor like the staff of Egypt and the reed rod that deceives those who grasp it and tears their shoulders, that is, their strength. And whoever leans on it, his loins are loosened and he cannot stand; nor can he celebrate Passover, girded with his loins. This is fitting for those whose hearts and kidneys God examines.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 29:8-16

(Verse 8 and following) Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and will cut off from you man and beast. And the land of Egypt shall become a desolation (or destruction) and a wilderness: and they shall know that I am the Lord: because he (or you) said, My river is mine, and I have made it (or My rivers are mine, and I have made them). Therefore behold, I am against you and against your rivers: and I will make the land of Egypt desolate, cut off by the sword from Migdol to Syene (or from Migdol to Syene and beyond) to the border of Ethiopia. The foot of man shall not pass through it, nor shall the foot of beast tread upon it; it shall not be inhabited for forty years. And I will make the land of Egypt a desolation in the midst of desolated countries, and her cities shall be desolate for forty years. And I will scatter (or disperse) the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them among the countries. For thus says the Lord God: After the end of forty years, I will gather Egypt (or the Egyptians) from the peoples (or nations) among whom they were scattered. And I will bring back the captivity of Egypt, and I will place them in the land of Phatures, in the land of their birth (or in the land from which they were taken). And there they shall be in a humble kingdom (or principality), among the other kingdoms it shall be the most humble (or lowest). And they shall no longer be elevated above the nations, and I will diminish them so that they will not rule over the nations (or so that there are not many among the nations). And they shall no longer be a confidence (or hope) to the house of Israel, teaching iniquity in order to flee and follow them (or in order to remember the iniquity and follow them). And they shall know that I am the Lord God. You were a reed staff to the house of Israel, and not only were you broken in his hand, but according to Isaiah (Isa. XXXVI), you pierced his hand, and now you have torn his shoulder, and you yourself are broken, and you have loosened the loins of those who leaned on you. Therefore, I will bring the sword of the enemies upon you, and I will devastate both men and animals, and the land of Egypt will be reduced to desolation, and the Egyptians will know for the second time that I am the Lord. But I will not be content with this; but because he burst forth into such great blasphemy, that he said his own rivers were gods, and all the abundance of Egypt: therefore I will take away him who said he was the Creator, and the rivers which he had boasted were created by him, and I will reduce the land of Egypt to a long wilderness, and it will be destroyed by the sword, from the tower of Syene to the borders of Ethiopia. They called the tower, which in Hebrew is called Magdal (), 'the tower of the LXX,' so that they would write Μαγδαλὸν. However, the tower of Syene still stands today, a fortress subject to Roman rule, where the cataracts of the Nile are located, and up to which place our sea is navigable. Therefore, he says that the whole of Egypt must be depopulated until the borders of Ethiopia, where the outermost region of Egypt is joined, so that the chief priests may not cross into Egypt, nor may any animals be found there, and it may not be inhabited for forty years. For Egypt is spared, and because the Israelites were once guests there, the punishment is of shorter duration. Tyre celebrated its sabbaths for seventy years, and thus it was restored to its former state. The captivity of Judah and the destruction of the temple lasted for seventy years, until the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia. For the mighty will endure mighty torments (Wisdom 6:7). And when it says, 'I will make the land of Egypt a desolation, in the midst of desolated countries,' it refers to the Philistines, Edomites, Moabites, and all the other regions against which the prophecy of the prophets was given. Then he will scatter or disperse the Egyptians into nations, and will scatter them into lands. Because the Lord is merciful and compassionate, patient and full of mercy, after forty years the restoration of Egypt will occur, and all the captivity will be brought back to the ancient land, and will be placed in the metropolis city, which is called Phaturos, where it originated and from where it set forth: but only in such a way that it loses its ancient pride for its own benefit, and becomes a humble kingdom, or rather the humblest of all nations: so that it does not elevate itself above other peoples, nor have dominion over them; but reduced to a small number, it will by no means deceive the house of Israel with its confidence, nor teach them wickedness; whether it brings them to remembrance of their wickedness, that they sought the aid of Egypt by abandoning the help of God. And all these things will happen so that the Egyptians may know on the third day that He Himself is the Lord. We have briefly explained these matters, laying the foundations of history. Now the cloud of allegory must be discussed, and we will try to avoid both brevity and the lengthiness of this explanation. This is a discourse about the dragon, who said: 'The rivers are mine, and I made them.' (Above, same.) May the Lord Himself bring a sword upon him, as it is written in Isaiah: 'My sword is intoxicated in the sky; now it will descend to the earth to destroy humans and animals from it.' (Isaiah 34:5) Whatever the dragon seems to possess, whether of reason or simplicity, should be destroyed, not absolutely, but by the dragon itself, so that the dragons may perish and God may live, and the land of Egypt may become a wasteland, according to the higher understanding, whatever the dragon may perish by, and after its destruction, be reduced to solitude, ceasing to have the worst guest. And then shall men and beasts know, and the earth, being ruined, that He is the Lord, in that sense in which it is written in the seventy-seventh Psalm: When He slew them, then they sought Him (Ps. LXXVII, 34). For everyone who seeks, finds. It is indeed an act of God's mercy that the abundance of this world perishes, and the rivers of Egypt are dried up, and even their land becomes a desert, and the purpose of the Lord is scattered from the Tower of Syene, which means a circle, so that it may not have any righteousness in itself, even to the land of the Ethiopians, who are called the humble ones, so that every pride that had exalted itself against the knowledge of God may be destroyed and humbled for its own salvation. Neither the foot of man, that is, anything rational, passes through Egypt, nor does the foot of an animal walk in it: so that it does not hold even the simple ones, whom Pharaoh desired to keep in Egypt after dismissing the people, Moses objecting, and desiring that even the animals be liberated from the captivity of Egypt. And it shall not be inhabited for forty years, which number is always one of affliction and punishment. Hence Moses, and Elijah, and the Savior himself, fasted for forty days and nights, and the people were in the wilderness for forty years, so that afterwards they would be freed in Gilgal, having been circumcised, from the reproach and shame of Egypt (Exod. XXXIV; III Reg. IX; Matth. IV; Num. XIV). In the sacrament of this number, the prophet of the tribe of Judah also slept on the right side for forty days, and it was announced that the people would serve in Egypt for four hundred years (Gen. 7). They make forty decades, or four hundreds. The rains of the flood last for forty days and bring shipwreck to the world. For it was just that the one who offends God by loving and cherishing the four elements of the world, which are said to constitute everything, should be punished in that very number. And Israel, who sinned on the Sabbath, would endure the punishment of seventy years, which is the punishment of seven decades. And the barren land of Egypt is given, and its cities in the midst of the lands and of the subverted cities, which are not built of stones, but of mud and straw, so that Egypt, which was joined together poorly, may be dispersed and scattered into the lands, and so that the wheat may be separated from the straw, and when the completion of forty years is reached, there may be restitution of Egypt, and its captivity may be brought back, and it may be placed in the land of Phatures, which is interpreted as trampled bread; where that bread which said, 'I am the bread that came down from heaven' (John 6:5), was trampled upon by heretical wickedness: so that when they come to the Church, they may dwell in trampled bread, and may not be lifted up in pride, but may be in a humble kingdom. And also, when they are restored to their previous state, they should humble themselves, because they lived in Egypt and built brick cities, and among many kingdoms they should be humble in the Church, and they should know whom they have sinned against, and Egypt should no longer be exalted above the Churches throughout the divided world, but should be reduced to a few, and only a few should remain among the nations, according to what is written: Give them, O Lord. What will you give them? Give them a barren womb and dried-up breasts (Hosea 9:4), so that they may not rejoice and exalt themselves in the multitude of deceivers, but be reduced to a few: For many are called, but few are chosen (Matthew 20). And let them no longer deceive the house of Israel, that is, the Church; nor promise them vain hope and confidence, teaching iniquity, so that they may avoid the discipline of the Church and pursue Egyptian pleasures. But these things will happen so that the Egyptians may know for the third time that He Himself is the Lord. This, it seems to me, is said for this reason: that the first knowledge of the Egyptians is in the flesh, the second in the soul, the third in the spirit. First, upon the earth; second, after the completion of the conversation of this world; third, after the resurrection.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel

[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 29:17-21

(Verse 17 onwards) And it came to pass in the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon caused his army to serve a great service against Tyre; every head was made bald, and every shoulder was rubbed bare; yet he had no wages, nor his army, for Tyre, for the service that he had served against it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will give Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon the land of Egypt; and he shall take its multitude, and take its spoil, and take its prey; and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt for his labor that he has performed for me, says the Lord God. On that day the horn of the house of Israel will sprout, and I will give you an open mouth in the midst of them, and they will know that I am the Lord. It is asked how after the tenth year of the previous discourse, immediately the twenty-seventh year is placed, and in the following years the twelfth and the thirteenth, and in the final description of the temple, the twenty-fifth. But the solution is easy. Because both the prophecy about Egypt and the previous one, and the one that is now being spoken, are covered, although they have been made at different times: yet they are joined together because they prophesy about one province. And we often read in Jeremiah, that times are described in a preposterous order. For the deeds of Zedekiah are reported first, and then those of Joachim who came before him. But in the Psalms, because it is a lyric poem, the order of the events is not sought. So let us speak first according to the letter. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre, and because it was surrounded by the sea, he could not join the rams, machines, and vineyards to the walls, he ordered an infinite multitude of the army to carry rocks and mounds, and when the middle sea, or rather the narrow strait, was filled, he made the neighboring shore an uninterrupted island. When the Tyrians saw that the city was now completely finished and that the foundations of the walls were being shaken by the battering of the rams, they loaded onto ships whatever precious things they had in gold, silver, clothing, and various furnishings that the nobility possessed, and carried them to the islands, so that after capturing the city, Nebuchadnezzar found nothing worthy of his hard work. And because he had obeyed God's will in this matter, after a few years of captivity in Tyre, Egypt was given to him; and Tyrus was much more cruel to Egypt. For she was attacking Jerusalem; this one was promising empty assistance. Indeed, it is one thing to deceive weakness with hope: it is another thing to fight against the people of God. Therefore, this is what Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, says: in the siege of Tyre, he made his army serve me, so that I may fulfill my will. Every head is shaved, and every shoulder is made hairless, carrying baskets of earth and stones with which shoulders are shaved, and the head is shaved; and yet neither he nor his army found anything worthy in Tyre. And when he served me in this way, and fulfilled my will against Tyre, therefore I will give him the land of Egypt. Some say that this was accomplished under Nebuchadnezzar; others say under Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who devastated Egypt as far as Ethiopia, to the extent of killing the sacred bull Apis and destroying all their statues. For this reason, they believe that he was turned mad by the chance of a horse and killed himself with his own dagger. Herodotus recounts this history in great detail, describing all of Egypt through its villages, castles, and towns, and revealing the origin of the Nile and the people of that land, as well as the measurement of the land around to the desert of Ethiopia and the shores of the Great Sea, bordering Libya and Arabia. But the cause of the Lord's anger against Egypt is that it deceived His people by not allowing them to hope in God and by provoking Him to anger. On that day when Egypt is captured, the horn of the house of Israel will sprout: undoubtedly indicating a royal lineage. Some refer this to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, who was descended from the line of David through Jeconiah, while others refer it to the ultimate time, when they believe that Elijah will come. But we, by understanding the Lord's horn to be Christ, interpret the present history. And when, he says, this has been accomplished first, then your mouth will be opened, and your prophecy will not hang on uncertain promises, but it will be seen accomplished in action: so that all who hear may know that I am the Lord, of whom it has been said and done. These things, according to the letter, indeed according to the truth, have been spoken as prophecies. Furthermore, from the fact that Nebuchadnezzar received a reward for his good work, we also understand that even the Gentiles, if they do something good, are not overlooked by God's judgment without a reward. Therefore, through Jeremiah, Nebuchadnezzar is called the dove of God because he served the will of God against the sinful people. 'And I will bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar' (Jeremiah 25).' From this, it is clear that we are condemned in comparison to the Gentiles if they follow the natural law, which we also neglect even though it is written. Paul the Apostle discusses this matter at length in his letter to the Romans. And lest we seem to overlook anything according to spiritual understanding, we inquire where we find this number, that is, the twenty-seventh. In the book of Genesis, Scripture testifies (Gen. VII) that in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the waters of the flood came upon the earth, and after seven months of the same year, which is near the Sabbath, and on the twenty-seventh day of the seventh month, the waters of the flood ceased, and Noah's ark settled on the mountains of Ararat, which are interpreted as Armenia. From this we understand that the number is average and can be applied to both, when in this and the anger of God begins from the flood, and his mercy is shown in the seventh month on the same day. And because among the Hebrews the month, which with us is measured by the Kalends, Nones, and Ides, is calculated according to the course of the moon: whence also in the Greek language it has received the name μήνη, that is, moon, it is said that on the twenty-seventh day of the moon there remained little light, so that his anger may not be without mercy. But when the whole orb of the moon is filled up, then both Easter is celebrated and all the greatest solemnities. Which we have set down strictly, so that we may know that in this number, both good and evil are contained equally. Good for Nebuchadnezzar, to whom his labor is rewarded; evil for the Egyptians, whose destruction is announced.

Source: Commentary on Ezekiel