Argument Concerning Chapter 3
Whereas in the preceding chapter one might have expected that, after Jerusalem’s downfall had been foretold and its moral corruption exposed, the discourse would end there, the Prophet now exhorts the people to remove from their own throats the sword of divine severity that is hanging over them by a change of life. He then proclaims the destruction of those surrounding provinces whose peoples had either formerly acted with hostility toward the Jewish nation or even now secretly harbor such designs in their hearts. Among these are the Philistines, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Ethiopians, and finally the Assyrians, whose sins—by which that ruin was brought upon them—he recalls. In describing, moreover, the overthrow of Nineveh, which he treats last, the Prophet is particularly full and striking.
“A place of refuge.”
Zeph 2:3: “Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have carried out His judgment. Seek justice; seek meekness.”
The Lord was speaking to the crowd, which He nevertheless foresaw would prove rebellious to the calling and ungrateful for the benefits bestowed upon it. He therefore turns His discourse to the few who, within so great a multitude, clung to God and reverently observed His sacred laws—those whom He knew would be attentive to the divine admonition.
Where the Vulgate reads meek (mansueti), the Hebrew has עֲנָוִים (ʿănāwîm, “the humble, afflicted, meek”), a word which is variously rendered by others—and even by our own Latin version in different places—for they are sometimes called humiles (humble), sometimes modesti (modest), sometimes mansueti or mites (meek and gentle). Yet these qualities are so closely related that they are rarely separated from one another. Such persons readily show themselves obedient; they easily restrain eyes and hands from greed and injustice.
To these, therefore, it is proclaimed that while others have adopted a way of life that will cause them to find God severe and harsh, they themselves are to conform their life and morals to the divine law and will, so that they may find Him gentle and just, and finally kindly disposed toward their cause, so that they may fear nothing from His wrath. For just as they themselves have been meek and just—since they are said to have “practiced judgments”—so they will find God to be just and meek toward them. They will, in other words, have One like themselves. For soldiers are not accustomed to wound or harass fellow soldiers, but rather to love them and, as far as possible, to adorn them with benefits. That oft-quoted saying of Aristotle is well known (Ethics VIII): ὅμοιον ὁμοίῳ φίλον, that is, “like is loved by like.” He taught the same truth sufficiently by fitting examples in Rhetoric II.
The rich, moreover, are inclined to place their hope in their riches, and more rarely in God. Hence Paul earlier commands that the rich be admonished not to hope in the uncertainty of riches, but in God, who abundantly provides all things for us. What the Prophet here says will be done by the poor: “And they shall hope in the name of the Lord.” That those who returned from exile were poor and needy is beyond doubt. For although they brought back many silver and gold vessels and other ornaments besides, most of these were sacred items.
Argument Concerning Chapter 3
Zeph 3:12: “And I will leave in your midst a poor and needy people, and they shall hope in the name of the Lord.”
He gives the reason why thereafter no one in the city will be boastful, no one proud: because no one will possess wealth capable of nourishing pride, wealth which by a kind of spurious right—though not a sound one—drives the tongue to speak loftily and immoderately about anything whatsoever.
Augustine spoke excellently on this point in Sermon 5 on the Words of the Lord. After citing Paul’s words to Timothy (1 Tim 6), “Charge the rich of this world above all not to be high-minded,” Augustine notes that in the common Latin reading it is “not to think loftily.” He then adds: “There is nothing that breeds pride so much as riches. Every fruit, every grain, every tree has its own worm: one worm for the apple, another for the pear, another for beans, another for wheat. The worm of riches is pride.” Therefore, “Charge the rich of this world not to think proudly.”
I am aware that many who returned from Babylon did not return altogether destitute, but brought with them no small amount of property, as is clear from Ezra 2:68, where some are said to have freely contributed money toward the building of the Temple according to their means. Yet that “something” was small—such as could be acquired by captives and servants—and from it arrogant spirits could not be inflated so as to speak or think proudly of themselves, unless they had first cast aside both shame and soundness of mind.
These things aptly apply to the Jews restored to their homeland, but far more so to the Apostles and apostolic men, who were poorer than they and who expected a happy outcome of events solely from the kindness and fatherly care of God.
Zeph 3:13: “The remnant of Israel shall not commit iniquity, nor speak falsehood,” and so forth.
They are called the “remnant of Israel” who survived the slaughter or the exile, which had consumed by far the greater part of the Israelite nation. These, however, will abstain from the vices on account of which the others perished by sword, famine, pestilence, and finally long exile. What those vices were has been repeatedly stated by this Prophet and others, and we hear them again here: iniquity, falsehood, deceit—diseases to which almost all public and forensic activity is especially prone.
“For they shall pasture and lie down, and there shall be none to make them afraid.”
If the word for (quoniam) is taken causally, the sense will be quite fitting to the text and weighty for moral instruction. Those who seek the necessities of life from their own resources and industry are accustomed to devise plans and to apply daily, diligent effort to increase their wealth and possessions, lest anything be lacking for their convenience and use. Whether this is done lawfully or not scarcely concerns them. Therefore they devise unjust schemes, use deceptive words, spread deceitful nets, and in order that the prey they have marked out may not escape, they lay hidden snares everywhere.
Not so those who look to God in all things and hope from Him for food in due season. For when they strive to render Him benevolent and favorable toward themselves, they abstain from those dispositions and vices which separate them from God. And since by experience they know that all things are prepared for them by divine providence, they despise all human schemes that do not proceed from right reason, and they consider it sufficient that they have entrusted their whole care to divine providence.
Because, then, they are fed by God as by a provident shepherd, and having been fed are led into the folds and enclosed within secure enclosures for rest and peace, and are brought to a place where there is no fear from beasts and no harm from the harshness of the heavens, they themselves lay no snares nor weave deceits—because they fear neither snares nor deceits from others.
These things both do and ought to characterize those who live in monasteries or who are sustained by the goods and patrimony of the Church, that is, of Christ: namely, that since they experience God to be so liberal and prompt in generosity, they themselves should dare nothing that He would reprove or condemn.
But if for (quoniam) does not give a causal explanation—which often happens in Scripture according to Hebrew usage, and which seems to me very probable—then God is showing what kind of indulgence He will display toward His people when, after the dross of vices has been burned away in the furnace of tribulation, they have returned to their homeland and, as it were, to their ancient pastures.
For just as a provident shepherd, diligent and loving toward his flock, seeks suitable and abundant pastures and a convenient fold, and keeps constant watch to ward off ambushes, so God will arrange all things favorably for the restored people and will ensure that no fear from hostile arms or secret plots disturbs their peace and rest. As if God were saying: henceforth they shall abstain from those things which sharpened my wrath against them, and I will take care that they lack nothing, whether for comfort and use or for rest and tranquility.
God promised this same thing many times to the returned people, as in Zechariah 3 at the end and Micah 4: “Each man shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” And we know that this was fulfilled in the time of the Maccabees (1 Maccabees 14:8): “Each cultivated his land in peace, and the land of Judah gave its fruits, and the trees of the plains their fruit.” Behold, pastures prepared by the Lord for the restored people. Immediately the same author teaches of secure repose and rest without fear: “And each sat under his vine and under his fig tree, and there was none to terrify them.”
These things are far more fittingly and justly applied to the joyful, abundant, and peaceful age of the Church, in which the true worshipers of God, formed by evangelical teaching and discipline, restrain themselves from all deceit and falsehood. These are fed by God, the Good Shepherd, who so willingly and generously gave His life for the flock; He leads them to rich pastures and to salutary, ever-flowing waters, and He Himself keeps perpetual watch lest they suffer anything from diabolical snares.
Indeed, concerning the head of the Church, the Shepherd Himself declares (Luke 22:31): “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail.”
CONTINUE
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