Didymus the Blind: Commentary on Zechariah

by Didymus the Blind

Publisher:

Catholic University of America

, 2006

Overview

The book of Zechariah is “the longest and most obscure” of the Twelve Minor Prophets, Jerome remarked. That may have been the reason why in 386 he visited the Alexandrian scholar Didymus the Blind and requested a work on this prophet. Though long thought to be lost, the work was rediscovered in 1941 at Tura outside Cairo along with some other biblical commentaries. As a result, Didymus’ commentary on Zechariah enjoys particular distinction as his only complete work on a biblical book extant in Greek whose authenticity is established, passed down by direct manuscript tradition, and critically edited. Thus it deserves this first appearance in English.

A disciple of Origen—whose own work on Zechariah reached only to chapter five—Didymus’ commentary on this apocalyptic book illustrates the typically allegorical approach to the biblical text that we associate with Alexandria. Didymus alone offers his readers a wide range of spiritual meanings on the obscure verses of Zechariah, capitalizing on his extraordinary familiarity with Holy Writ, and proceeding on a process of interpretation-by-association, frequently invoking also etymology and number symbolism to plumb the meaning of the text. No wonder he remarks, “The reader who understands it is a seer;” such is the richness of the hermeneutical offering.

Key Features

• Presents the only complete extant work of Didymus the Blind on a biblical book with established authenticity
• Provides the first English translation
• Includes an introduction with background information on the author and era

Contents

Top Highlights

“This sevenfold efficacy of the seven lights on the lampstand is nourished and increased from the oil running through the seven spouts bringing oil to nourish and maintain the flame. Now, the oil is nothing other than meditation on the knowledge of the truth;⁸ from meditation we gain remembrance and a more powerful insight.” (Page 86)

“‘the angel speaking in him’ is either the angel in charge of prophecy or, in another interpretation, the savior himself, of whom the prophet says, ‘His name is angel of great counsel.’²⁴ The teacher speaks in the listener when he has some share in him or he is in him by disposition. A text illustrating the former is this: ‘Christ lives in me,’ and again, ‘Christ speaking in me’; in the same sense also the psalmist said, ‘I shall hear what the Lord God will say in me,’ and Habakkuk, ‘I shall be on the alert to see what the Lord will say in me.’” (Page 35)

“We have Jerome to thank for the Commentary on the prophet Zechariah by Didymus, composed at his request by the illustrious Alexandrian scholar a decade before his death in 398.” (Page 3)

“the stone of that inheritance which is filled with those who are godly in every respect” (Page 91)

“two sons, one becoming so by circumcision, the other according to the Gospel of Christ” (Page 99)

Product Details

• Title: Commentary on Zechariah
• Author: Didymus the Blind
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Series: The Fathers of the Church
• Volume: 111
• Publisher: Catholic University of America
• Print Publication Date: 2006
• Logos Release Date: 2014
• Pages: 383
• Era: era:nicene
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Zechariah › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9780813201115, 081320111, 081320111X
• Resource ID: LLS:COMMONZECHARIAH
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2024-03-25T19:28:29Z

About Didymus the Blind

Didymus the Blind (c. 313 – 398) was a Coptic Church theologian of Alexandria, whose famous Catechetical School he led for about half a century. He became blind at a very young age, and therefore ignorant of the rudiments of learning. Yet, he displayed such a miracle of intelligence as to learn perfectly dialectics and even geometry, sciences which especially require sight.