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| Of the Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.
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Chapter 21.—Of the
Babylonish Captivity, and the Things Signified Thereby.
37. “Howbeit, after the lapse of
some generations, another type was presented, which bears very
emphatically on the matter in hand. For that city1451
| 1451 Or = community,
civitas. | was
brought into captivity, and a large section of the people were
carried off into Babylonia. Now, as Jerusalem signifies the city
and fellowship of the saints, so Babylonia signifies the city and
fellowship of the wicked, seeing that by interpretation it denotes
confusion. On the subject of these two cities, which
have been running their courses, mingling the one with the other,
through all the changes of time from the beginning of the human
race, and which shall so move on together until the end of the
world, when they are destined to be separated at the last judgment,
we have spoken already a little ago.1452
That captivity, then, of the city
of Jerusalem, and the people thus carried into Babylonia in
bondage, were ordained so to proceed by the Lord, by the voice of
Jeremiah, a prophet of that time.1453
And there appeared kings1454
of
Babylon, under whom they were in slavery, who on occasion of the
captivity of this people were so wrought upon by certain miracles
that they came to know the one true God who founded universal
creation, and worshipped Him, and commanded that He should be
worshipped. Moreover the people were ordered both to pray for those
by whom they were detained in captivity, and in their peace to hope
for peace, to the effect that they should beget children, and build
houses, and plant gardens and vineyards.1455
But at the end of seventy years,
release from their captivity was promised to them.1456
All this,
furthermore, signified in a figure that the Church of Christ in all
His saints, who are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem, would have
to do service under the kings of this world. For the doctrine of
the apostles speaks also in this wise, that ‘every soul should be
subject to the higher powers,’ and that there ‘should be
rendered all things to all men, tribute to whom tribute (is due),
custom to whom custom,’1457
and all other things in like
manner which, without detriment to the worship of our God, we
render to the rulers in the constitution of human society: for the
Lord Himself also, in order to set before us an example of this
sound doctrine, did not deem it unworthy of Him to pay tribute1458
on account
of that human individuality1459
| 1459 Pro capite
hominis, literally = "on" account of
that head of man, etc. | wherewith He was invested. Again,
Christian servants and good believers are also commanded to serve
their temporal masters in equanimity and faithfulness;1460
whom they
will hereafter judge, if even on to the end they find them wicked,
or with whom they will hereafter reign in equality, if they too
shall have been converted to the true God. Still all are enjoined
to be subject to the powers that are of man and of earth, even
until, at the end of the predetermined time which the seventy years
signify, the Church shall be delivered from the confusion of this
world, like as Jerusalem was to be set free from the captivity in
Babylonia. By occasion of that captivity, however, the kings of
earth too have themselves been led to forsake the idols on account
of which they were wont to persecute the Christians, and have come
to know, and now worship, the one true God and Christ the Lord; and
it is on their behalf that the Apostle Paul enjoins prayer to be
made, even although they should persecute the Church. For he speaks
in these terms: ‘I entreat, therefore, that first of all
supplications, adorations,1461
| 1461 Instead of orationes; the
better authenticated reading is adorationes. | intercessions, and givings of
thanks be made for kings, for all men, and all that are in
authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life, with all
godliness and charity.’1462
Accordingly peace has been given
to the Church by these same persons, although it be but of a
temporal sort,—a temporal quiet for the work of building houses
after a spiritual fashion, and planting gardens and vineyards. For
witness your own case, too,—at this very time we are engaged, by
means of this discourse, in building you up and planting you. And
the like process is going on throughout the whole circle of lands,
in virtue of the peace allowed by Christian kings, even as the same
apostle thus expresses himself: ‘Ye are God’s husbandry; ye are
God’s building.’1463
38. “And, indeed, after the lapse
of the seventy years of which Jeremiah had mystically prophesied,
to the intent of prefiguring the end of times, with a view still to
the perfecting of that same figure, no settled peace and liberty
were conceded again to the Jews. Thus it was that they were
conquered subsequently by the Romans and made tributary. From that
period, in truth, at which they received the land of promise and
began to have kings, in order to preclude the supposition that the
promise of the Christ who was to be their Liberator had met its
complete fulfillment in the person of any one of their kings,
Christ was prophesied of with greater clearness in a number of
prophecies; not only by David himself in the book of Psalms, but
also by the rest of the great and holy prophets, even on to the
time of their conveyance into captivity in Babylonia; and in that
same captivity there were also prophets whose mission was to
prophesy of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Liberator of
all. And after the restoration of the temple, when the seventy
years had passed, the Jews sustained grievous oppressions and
sufferings at the hands of the kings of the Gentiles, fitted to
make them understand that the Liberator was not yet come, whom they
failed to apprehend as one who was to effect for them a spiritual
deliverance, and whom they fondly longed for on account of a carnal
liberation. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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