Zechariah 10:3

Observe, you who are our beloved sons, how merciful yet righteous the Lord our God is, how gracious and kind to humankind. And yet most certainly “he will not acquit the guilty,” though he welcomes returning sinners and revives them, leaving no room for suspicion to such as wish to judge sternly and to reject offenders entirely, and to refuse to grant them exhortations which might bring them to repentance. In contradiction to such, God by Isaiah says to the bishops, “Comfort you, comfort you my people, you priests; speak comfortably to Jerusalem.” It therefore behooves you, upon hearing those words of his, to encourage those who have offended, and lead them to repentance, and afford them hope, and not vainly to suppose that you shall be partakers of their offenses on account of such your love to them. Receive the penitent with alacrity and rejoice over them, and with mercy and bowels of compassion judge the sinners. For if a person was walking by the side of a river and ready to stumble, and you should push him and thrust him into the river instead of offering him your hand for his assistance, you would be guilty of the murder of your brother.… You ought rather to lend your helping hand as he was ready to fall, lest he perish without remedy, that both the people may take warning and the offender may not utterly perish. It is your duty, O bishop, neither to overlook the sins of the people nor to reject those who are penitent, that you may not unskillfully destroy the Lord’s flock or dishonor his new name which is stamped upon his people, and you yourself be reproached as those ancient pastors were, of whom God speaks thus to Jeremiah: “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have polluted my heritage.” And in another passage, “My anger is waxed hot against the shepherds, and against the lambs shall I have indignation.”

(Verse 3 and following) My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the goats; for the Lord of hosts will visit his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like his majestic horse in battle. From him comes the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the bow of battle; from him every oppressor comes forth together, and they shall be like mighty warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord is with them. (Septuagint: My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the lambs; and the Lord God Almighty will visit his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like his majestic horse in battle. From him he looked upon, and from him he set, and from him the bow in wrath will come forth; from him every one who brings forth together, and they shall be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle, and they shall be prepared, for the Lord is with them.) And in this place there are two explanations of the Jews. For some believe that everything will be accomplished in the coming of Christ: others believe that it has already been accomplished under the Maccabees. And this is the explanation of what the Lord promises: The Lord is angry with the shepherds, rulers, and priests, and with the goats, and he visited the people, according to what is written: My people have become lost sheep, the shepherds have driven them away (Jer. L, 6), so that the disciples would be punished for the fault of their masters: not by the injustice of the judge, who renders the sins of the fathers onto the children; but because, when they sinned, the people applauded them together: and at that time, the Lord visited his goats, or the fattest lambs, and made them, according to the Septuagint, dry with drought. But afterwards the Almighty Lord visited his flock, the house of Judah: for he raised up Judas Maccabaeus, and others with him, against the leaders of Antioch, and he set them up like horses of his glory in battle, that is, those who were born of his lineage: for they oppressed the Macedonians for a long time. And what follows: From him comes the cornerstone, from him comes the peg, from him comes the bow of battle, from him comes every tax collector together, which metaphorically they understand, interpreting the cornerstone as royal power, because it encompasses the very walls. And from it, he says, comes the staff, that is, the priesthood. Read Isaiah, in which Eliakim is depicted in the temple of God as a staff (Isa. XXII). From it comes the bow of battle, the strong for war: from it also comes every exactor, which in Hebrew is written as Noges (), and Aquila interprets it as εἰσπράσσων: so that not only the strong and good, but also others unworthy of their own kind. For Judas Maccabeus and all who were leaders of his people from his lineage were angles; for they held the people in royal power, and they were the staffs themselves, and as bows of battle, because they were the strongest men, not only to arrange the army and battle line, but also to be the first to leap into battle. We can gather from this that: From him will come every exactor together (for whom the seventy were transferred): From him will come everyone who brings out together, and this means: There will be no dignity in the army that is not determined by his judgment. And there will be mighty men, trampling the Macedonians like mud on the roads in battle: they will indeed be mighty, and they will fight, because the Lord is with them. Our people refer these things to the time of persecution, because frequently even the people are handed over to the adversaries for the fault of the priests: and yet the Almighty Lord visits afterwards his flock, the house of Judah, who confesses God both in words and in heart: and he makes them like a horse of his glory in war, of which the saints say: Mount your horses, and your riding is salvation (Hab. 3:8). He himself will be both the bow and the fury of the Lord, of which it is said: I will make my arrows drunk with blood (Deut. XXXII, 42) . And again: My arrows will consume them. Concerning this bow and these arrows, we read in the seventh Psalm (Vers. 13, 14) : He stretched out his bow and prepared it; and in it he prepared vessels of death, he made his arrows burn like fire. And they will trample on their adversaries, crowned in martyrdom, and they will say: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I fear? When those who do me harm draw near to devour my flesh, my enemies who trouble me shall stumble and fall. Even if armies camp against me, my heart shall not fear. Even if battle arises against me, in this I will trust. (Psalm 27:1-3) When will this saying be fulfilled: one of you will chase a thousand, and two will put ten thousand to flight? (Deuteronomy 32)