Verse 9
Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron, and shalt break them in pieces like a potter's vessel.
Reges eos in virga ferrea, et tamquam vas figuli confringes eos.
Here is indicated the highest and most just power of Christ in the Church and over all men, meaning he is as easily able to reward the good and to punish with torments the wicked, as a potter can break with a rod of iron clay vessels newly formed. In the first part of the verse, the height of Christ’s power is likened to an iron rod, that is, to unbending and most righteous judgement, which no-one can withstand; in the second, the men subject thereby in relation to Christ are likened to clay vessels recently formed by the potter. And so, the word
confringes (shalt break) does not refer to
Christ’s action but to His power; that is, it is not meant that Christ will beak all men into pieces, but that all peoples will be subject to Him so that He can break them into pieces as He judges, whether mercifully breaking in them their infidelity and sin, and from vessels of reproach forming them into vessels of honour; or justly and strictly breaking them with eternal punishments in accordance with their desserts. For
confringes ut vasa figuli (thou shalt break them in pieces like a potter’s vessel), should also be read as
reges in virga ferrea (Thou shalt rule them with a rod of iron): for these words do not refer only to the punishment of the wicked but to just and all-powerful governance of the whole Church. This is clear from the version of the Septuagint Translators who render the Greek word as
pasces (thou shalt nourish) which is also how St. John renders it in Greek in chapters ii and xix of the Apocalypse; again, it is clear from chapter v of
Micheas where, speaking explicitly of Christ, who is to come forth out of Bethlehem, it says : “ Thou shalt rule them in power,” and the same word is used as here, governance,
raha.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
No comments:
Post a Comment