Zechariah 2:14-17
Third vision: the measurer
[13] Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy
dwelling.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
2:1-13. What the prophet now sees and hears concerns the city of Jerusalem. It
is going to be remodeled as an open city, without walls; its defence will be provi-
ded by God himself and therefore more people will be able to live there. The man
with the measuring line is an angel, as are the other two figures mentioned. The
idea of measuring the city in order to rebuild it is also found in Ezekiel 40-42 and
Jeremiah 21:38-40 and, later, Revelation 11:1.
The vision is followed by an oracle (vv. 6-10) in which the Lord speaks through
the angel. He invites the Jews to leave Babylon and return to the holy land. This
is a call that is also found in Isaiah and Jeremiah (cf. Is 48:20); Jer 50:8; 51:6). It
could be that some were reluctant to move. God promises that in Judah they will
be safe from other nations because they are his beloved people, the “apple of his
eye” (v. 8), and his angel will defend them. Moreover, he will settle there, and ma-
ny nations will become his people (vv. 10-11).
Presence of the Lord, security against enemies and a way for the nations to be-
come people of God – these are the features that Judah and Jerusalem will have
following the return from exile. In this sense, they prefigure the Church. Com-
menting on v. 4, St Jerome points out: “Reading in a spiritual sense, all of these
things are to be found in the Church, which is ‘without walls’, or, as the Septua-
gint puts it, ‘katakarpos’; that is, filled with an abundance of fruit and a great mul-
titude of men and asses […]. The men and the asses [cattle, animals] stand for
the two people, the Jews and the Gentiles; those who came to faith in Christ
through the fulfillment of the Law are called men; we, however, who were idola-
trous and lived as though in a wilderness, being far from the Law, and alone, be-
cause of our distance from the prophets who suffered, are the asses […]. But
these animals hear the voice of the good shepherd, and know him, and they fol-
low him” (Commentarii in Zachariam, 2, 4).
2:10. This call for rejoicing, similar to that made by the prophet Zephaniah (cf.
Zeph 3:14) and one made later (9:9), is repeated in the angel Gabriel’s greeting
to the Blessed Virgin when he tells her that she is to conceive the Messiah (cf.
Lk 1:28). That event will truly bring about what is said here, for Mary is “the mo-
ther of him in whom ‘the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily’ (Col 2:9)” (”Cate-
chism of the Catholic Church”, 722). Bl. John Paul II sees Mary, the Mother of
the Redeemer,prefigured in the title “daughter of Zion” found here: “Her presence
in the midst of Israel — a presence so discreet as to pass almost unnoticed by
the eyes of her contemporaries — shone very clearly before the Eternal One, who
had associated this hidden ‘daughter of Sion’ (cf. Zeph. 3:14; Zeph. 2:10) with the
plan of salvation embracing the whole history of humanity” (”Redemptoris Mater”,
3).
2:13. The “Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 2143, interprets the silence as
one “of loving adoration”. This is the attitude that all will have when they see what
God will do for Judah and Jerusalem; for Christians, it is the attitude they will have
towards the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of our Lord and towards
what God does for his Church.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Revelation 11:19a; 12:1-6a, 10ab
The Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet
The Woman Fleeing from the Dragon
[10] And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come.
*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:
19. The seer introduces the heavenly temple (the location par excellence of God’s
presence), paralleling the earlier mention of the temple of Jerusalem (cf. 11:1-2).
The opening of the temple and the sight of the Ark of the Covenant show that the
messianic era has come to an end and God’s work of salvation has been comple-
ted. The ark was the symbol of Israel’s election and salvation and of God’s pre-
sence in the midst of his people. According to a Jewish tradition, reported in 2
Maccabees 2:4-8, Jeremiah placed the ark in a secret hiding place prior to the
destruction of Jerusalem, and it would be seen again when the Messiah came.
The author of the Apocalypse uses this to assure us that God has not forgotten
his covenant: he has sealed it definitively in heaven, where the ark is located.
Many early commentators interpreted the ark as a reference to Christ’s sacred
humanity, and St Bede explains that just as the manna was kept in the original
ark, so Christ’s divinity lies hidden in his sacred body (cf. “Explanatio Apocalyp-
sis”, 11, 19).
The heavenly covenant is the new and eternal one made by Jesus Christ (cf. Mt
26:26-29 and par.) which will be revealed to all at his second coming when the
Church will triumph, as the Apocalypse goes on to describe. The presence of
the ark in the heavenly temple symbolizes the sublimity of the messianic king-
dom, which exceeds anything man could create. “The vigilant and active expec-
tation of the coming of the Kingdom is also the expectation of a finally perfect
justice for the living and the dead, for people of all times and places, a justice
which Jesus Christ, installed as supreme Judge, will establish (cf. Mt 24:29-44,
46; Acts 10:42; 2 Cor 5: 10). This promise, which surpasses all human possibi-
lities, directly concerns our life in this world. For true justice must include every-
one; it must explain the immense load of suffering borne by all generations. In
fact, without the resurrection of the dead and the Lord’s judgment, there is no
justice in the full sense of the term. The promise of the resurrection is freely
made to meet the desire for true justice dwelling in the human heart” (SCDF,
“Libertatis Conscientia”, 60).
The thunder and lightning which accompany the appearance of the ark are remi-
niscent of the way God made his presence felt on Sinai; they reveal God’s migh-
ty intervention (cf. Rev 4:5; 8:5) which is now accompanied by the chastisement
of the wicked, symbolized by the earthquake and hailstones (cf. Ex 9:13-35).
1-17. We are now introduced to the contenders in the eschatological battles
which mark the final confrontation between God and his adversary, the devil. The
author uses three portents to describe the leading figures involved, and the war it-
self. The first is the woman and her offspring, including the Messiah (12:1-2); the
second is the dragon, who will later transfer his power to the beasts (12:3); the
third, the seven angels with the seven bowls (15:1).
Three successive confrontations with the dragon are described—1) that of the Mes-
siah to whom the woman gives birth (12:1-6); 2) that of St Michael and his angels
(12:7-12); and 3) that of the woman and the rest of her offspring (12:13-17). These
confrontations should not be seen as being in chronological order. They are more
like three distinct pictures placed side by side because they are closely connec-
ted: in each the same enemy, the devil, does battle with God’s plans and with
those whom God uses to carry them out.
1-2. The mysterious figure of the woman has been interpreted ever since the time
of the Fathers of the Church as referring to the ancient people of Israel, or the
Church of Jesus Christ, or the Blessed Virgin. The text supports all of these inter-
pretations but in none do all the details fit. The woman can stand for the people
of Israel, for it is from that people that the Messiah comes, and Isaiah compares
Israel to “a woman with child, who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she
is near her time” (Is 26:17).
She can also stand for the Church, whose children strive to overcome evil and to
bear witness to Jesus Christ (cf. v. 17). Following this interpretation St Gregory
wrote: “The sun stands for the light of truth, and the moon for the transitoriness
of temporal things; the holy Church is clothed like the sun because she is pro-
tected by the splendor of supernatural truth, and she has the moon under her
feet because she is above all earthly things” (”Moralia”, 34, 12).
The passage can also refer to the Virgin Mary because it was she who truly and
historically gave birth to the Messiah, Jesus Christ our Lord (cf. v. 5). St Bernard
comments: “The sun contains permanent color and splendor; whereas the moon’s
brightness is unpredictable and changeable, for it never stays the same. It is quite
right, then, for Mary to be depicted as clothed with the sun, for she entered the
profundity of divine wisdom much further than one can possibly conceive” (”De
B. Virgine”, 2).
In his account of the Annunciation, St Luke sees Mary as representing the faithful
remnant of Israel; the angel greets her with the greeting given in Zephaniah 3:15 to
the daughter of Zion (cf. notes on Lk 1:26-31). St Paul in Galatians 4:4 sees a wo-
man as the symbol of the Church, our mother; and non-canonical Jewish literature
contemporary with the Book of Revelation quite often personifies the community
as a woman. So, the inspired text of the Apocalypse is open to interpreting this
woman as a direct reference to the Blessed Virgin who, as mother, shares in the
pain of Calvary (cf. Lk 2:35) and who was earlier prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 as a
“sign” (cf. Mt 1:22-23). At the same time the woman can be interpreted as stan-
ding for the people of God, the Church, whom the figure of Mary represents.
The Second Vatican Council has solemnly taught that Mary is a “type” or sym-
bol of the Church, for “in the mystery of the Church, which is itself rightly called
mother and virgin, the Blessed Virgin stands out in eminent and singular fashion
as exemplar both of virgin and mother. Through her faith and obedience she gave
birth on earth to the very Son of the Father, not through the knowledge of man
but by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, in the manner of a new Eve who
placed her faith, not in the serpent of old but in God’s messenger, without wave-
ring in doubt. The Son whom she brought forth is he whom God placed as the
first-born among many brethren (cf. Rom 8:29), that is, the faithful, in whose ge-
neration and formation she cooperates with a mother’s love” (Vatican II, “Lumen
Gentium”, 63).
The description of the woman indicates her heavenly glory, and the twelve stars
of her victorious crown symbolize the people of God—the twelve patriarchs (cf.
Gen 37:9) and the twelve apostles. And so, independently of the chronological
aspects of the text, the Church sees in this heavenly woman the Blessed Virgin,
“taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and
exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, that she might be the more fully
conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords (cf. Rev 19:16) and conqueror of sin and
death” (”Lumen Gentium”, 59). The Blessed Virgin is indeed the great sign, for,
as St Bonaventure says, “God could have made none greater. He could have
made a greater world and a greater heaven; but not a woman greater than his
own mother” (”Speculum”, 8).
3-4. In his description of the devil (cf. v. 9), St John uses symbols taken from the
Old Testament. The dragon or serpent comes from Genesis 3:1-24, a passage
which underlies all the latter half of this book. Its red color and seven heads with
seven diadems show that it is bringing its full force to bear to wage this war. The
ten horns in Daniel 7:7 stand for the kings who are Israel’s enemies; in Daniel a
horn is also mentioned to refer to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, of whom Daniel also
says (to emphasize the greatness of Antiochus’ victories) that it cast stars down
from heaven onto the earth (cf. Dan 8:10). Satan drags other angels along with
him, as the text later recounts (Rev 12:9). All these symbols, then, are designed
to convey the enormous power of Satan. “The devil is described as a serpent”,
St Cyprian writes, “because he moves silently and seems peaceable and comes
by easy ways and is so astute and so deceptive [...] that he tries to have night
taken for day, poison taken for medicine. So, by deceptions of this kind, he tries
to destroy truth by cunning. That is why he passes himself off as an angel of
light” (”De Unitate Ecclesiae”, I-III).
After the fall of our first parents war broke out between the serpent and his seed
and the woman and hers: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, be-
tween your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise
his heel” (Gen 3:15). Jesus Christ is the woman’s descendant who will obtain vic-
tory over the devil (cf. Mk 1:23-26; Lk 4:31-37; etc.). That is why the power of evil
concentrates all his energy on destroying Christ (cf. Mt 2:13-18) or to deflecting
him from his mission (cf. Mt 4:1-11 and par.). By relating this enmity to the be-
ginnings of the human race St. John paints a very vivid picture.
5. The birth of Jesus Christ brings into operation the divine plan announced by the
prophets (cf. Is 66:7) and by the Psalms (cf. Ps 2:9), and marks the first step in
ultimate victory over the devil. Jesus’ life on earth, culminating in his passion, re-
surrection and ascension into heaven, was the key factor in achieving this victory.
St John emphasizes the triumph of Christ as victor, who, as the Church confes-
ses, “sits at the right hand of the Father” (”Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”).
6. The figure of the woman reminds us of the Church, the people of God. Israel
took refuge in the wilderness to escape from Pharaoh, and the Church does the
same after the victory of Christ. The wilderness stands for solitude and intimate
union with God. In the wilderness God took personal care of his people, setting
them free from their enemies (cf. Ex 17:8-16) and nourishing them with quail and
manna (cf. Ex 16:1-36). The Church is given similar protection against the powers
of hell (cf. Mt 16:18) and Christ nourishes it with his body and his word all the
while it makes its pilgrimage through the ages; it has a hard time (like Israel in
the wilderness) but there will be an end to it: it will take one thousand two hun-
dred and sixty days (cf. notes on 11:3).
Although the woman, in this verse, seems to refer directly to the Church, she
also in some way stands for the particular woman who gave birth to the Messiah,
the Blessed Virgin. As no other creature has done, Mary has enjoyed a very
unique type of union with God and very special protection from the powers of evil,
death included. Thus, as the Second Vatican Council teaches, “in the meantime
[while the Church makes its pilgrim way on earth], the Mother of Jesus in the glo-
ry which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning
of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines
forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 Pet 3:10), a sign of
certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim people of God” (”Lumen Gentium”, 68).
10-12. With the ascension of Christ into heaven the Kingdom of God is estab-
lished and so all those who dwell in heaven break out into a song of joy. The
devil has been deprived of his power over man in the sense that the redemptive
action of Christ and man’s faith enable man to escape from the world of sin. The
text expresses this joyful truth by saying that there is now no place for the accu-
ser, Satan whose name means and whom the Old Testament teaches to be the
accuser of men before God: cf. Job 1:6-12; 2:1-10). Given what God meant crea-
tion to be, Satan could claim as his victory anyone who, through sinning, disfi-
gured the image and likeness of God that was in him. However, once the Re-
demption has taken place, Satan no longer has power to do this, for, as St John
writes, “if any one does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous; and he is the expiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the sins of the whole world” (Jn 2:1-2). Also, on ascending into heaven, Christ
sent us the Holy Spirit as “Intercessor and Advocate, especially when man, that
is, mankind, find themselves before the judgment of condemnation by that ‘accu-
ser’ about whom the Book of Revelation says that ‘he accuses them day and
night before our God”’ (Bl. John Paul II, “Dominum Et Vivificantem”, 67).
Although Satan has lost this power to act in the world, he still has time left, be-
tween the resurrection of our Lord and the end of history, to put obstacles in
man’s way and frustrate Christ’s action. And so he works ever more frenetically,
as he sees time run out, in his effort to distance everyone and society itself from
the plans and commandments of God.
The author of the Book of Revelation uses this celestial chant to warn the Church
of the onset of danger as the End approaches.
*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.