That upon you may come all the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the just, even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Barachias, whom you killed between the temple and the altar.

“A tradition has come down to us, that there was one place in the temple in which virgins were allowed to worship God, married women being forbidden to stand there. And Mary, after the Saviour’s birth, going into the temple, stood to pray in this place of the virgins. And when they who knew that she had borne a Son were hindering her, Zacharias said, that forasmuch as she was still a virgin, she was worthy of the place of the virgins. Whereupon, as though he manifestly were contravening the Law, he was slain there between the temple and the altar by the men of that generation; and thus this word of Christ is true which He spake to those who were standing there, whom ye slew.a”

“Concerning the Abel here spoken of, there is no doubt that it is he whom his brother Cain murdered. He is proved to have been righteous, not only by this judgment of the Lord, but by the passage in Genesis, which says that his offerings were accepted by God. But we must enquire who is this Zacharias, son of Barachias, because we read of many Zachariases; and that we might not mistake, here it is added, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Some say that it is that Zacharias who is the eleventh among the twelve Prophets, and his father’s name agrees to this, but when he was slain between the temple and the altar, Scripture does not mention; but above all, in his time there were scarce ‘even the ruins of the temple. Others will have it to be Zacharias the father of John.”

“It should be enquired too how He says, to the blood of Zacharias, since the blood of many more saints was afterwards shed. This is thus explained. Abel a keeper of sheep was killed in the field, Zacharias a priest was slain in the court of the temple. The Lord therefore names these two, because by these all holy martyrs are denoted, both of lay and priestly order.”

“Behold, I. In this part he sets forth their cruelty, and adds the temporal punishment. And first he does the first; second he adds the punishment. And first he sets forth the benefit; second the fault; third the magnitude of the punishment. Hence he says, "Behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men and scribes," and so on. And it can be referred to that which immediately follows, or to that whole which follows. If to the whole, then it has a plainer sense. Thus I say that you are about to fill up, and that you are serpents, and so on. Hence, "I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes," and some of them you will kill, because you are such as have been accustomed to kill. Or otherwise, so that it is referred to the whole. The Lord wills that judgment be not only just, but that it appear just, so that others may take examples from it. Hence if someone has a good purpose, the Lord rewards him for the good purpose, and thence gives him the will to carry out a good work; so on the contrary, when someone has an evil purpose, and is full of evil will, according to what is said in Hosea 2:6: "I will hedge up your way with thorns," he stirs up the wrath of God, and from the wrath of God it comes about that his malice is made manifest. Therefore, "I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes"; and you will kill them. And he says "behold," because it is at hand, because he sent the apostles; hence Acts 1:8: "and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth." But note that in this, that he says "I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes," he signifies the various gifts of the Holy Spirit. To one is given the gift of wisdom, to another kinds of tongues, and so on. 1 Corinthians 12:10. The apostles had all these gifts. They had the gift of prophecy in telling future things; Joel 2:28: "I will pour out of my spirit upon all peoples, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Likewise wisdom, because they knew all things; Luke 21:15: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to resist and contradict." Likewise they were scribes, because they had understanding of Scripture; Luke 24:45: "he opened their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures." And why does he foretell this? So that the disciples, thinking on what they have heard, might more easily endure it. Likewise, to convict their malice, because just as their fathers killed the prophets, so these would kill the apostles; hence "some of them you will kill," as is found in Acts 12:2, because Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword, seeing that it pleased the Jews. Others were crucified; hence also "you will crucify." For this was the vilest death, therefore they killed Christ by this death, according to that saying of Wisdom 2:20: "let us condemn him to a most shameful death." And "you will scourge." Acts 5:40 says that, having beaten them, they charged them that they should not speak at all in the name of Jesus. And "you will persecute." This is evident from how they persecuted Paul. And above, chapter 10:23: "if they persecute you in one city, flee into another." Further, the punishment is set forth, which, because it seemed grave, he therefore confirms: "Amen I say to you, all these things shall come upon this generation." He says: that upon you may come all the righteous blood, from the blood of Abel the just even unto the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah. Who this Abel is, is known, because he was killed by Cain his brother. But who this Zechariah was is not established. It is read that there were three Zechariahs. One the son of Barachiah, who was the eleventh among the prophets. But it cannot be understood of this one, because there was not yet an altar. Another was the father of John, and whose son he was is not found; but Chrysostom says that he was killed on account of Christ, because in the temple there was a place of the virgins, and when the Virgin Mary was sitting in the place of the virgins, the Jews wanted to expel her from the place; which Zechariah forbade, defending her, and on account of this he was killed. Another is said to be the son of Jehoiada, whom Joash killed in the court of the temple, therefore "between the temple and the altar"; hence the place agrees, but the name is discordant. But yet Jerome says that it is interpreted "blessed of the Lord," and the holiness of his father Jehoiada the priest is thereby designated. And he says that he himself saw the Gospel of the Nazarenes, and there it was contained, "the son of Jehoiada." But why it begins with this Zechariah can be a question of the letter. The reason, however, seems to be that although the preceding [killings] were more frequent, yet these were the ones found in Scripture. Or otherwise, that Abel was a shepherd, Jehoiada a priest; therefore by these two are signified the laity and the clergy. Hence every punishment for the killing of men shall come upon you. Or otherwise, because some are active, some contemplative; hence both are signified by these two. But "amen I say to you, that all these things shall come upon this generation." But how can it be that all these things come upon this generation? Is one punished for another? Ezekiel 18:20: "the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father." How then upon this generation? Jerome solves this, [saying] that it is customary in Scripture that the whole generation of the good is taken for one generation, concerning which in Psalm 111:2: "the generation of the upright shall be blessed." Concerning the generation of the wicked, above, 12:39: "an evil generation seeks a sign." Chrysostom says thus: some sin, but God does not immediately avenge; hence in Psalm 7:12: "does he grow angry every day?" But some, when they sin, are never corrected, but change for the worse; 2 Timothy 3:13: "but evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse"; and then the Lord waits until their malice is completed. Hence these, in whom the malice will be completed, bear the weight of the whole as regards the temporal punishment, yet as regards the eternal punishment, each bears his own. Hence it will be so great that it will seem that they suffer for all; hence Exodus 32:34, it is said that this sin is reserved until the day of vengeance. Just as there was a fullness of good things for those who believe in Christ, so a fullness of evils for those who killed Christ; therefore he says, "all these things shall come upon this generation." But what is this punishment? The destruction of the city of Jerusalem. And since he intends to speak of the destruction of the city, therefore he turns himself to the city, saying, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem." And first he sets forth the offense; second he commemorates the benefits; third he foretells the punishment. The second is there: "how often would I have gathered your children ... and you would not?" The third is there: "behold, your house shall be left to you desolate." He says therefore, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem"; and this doubling designates the affection of one who pities; hence it is said in Luke 19:41, that seeing the city he wept over it. "You who kill the prophets"; Acts 7:52: "which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?" And he says "you who kill," not "you who have killed," because they were still persevering in malice. This is that Jerusalem, of which it is said in Ezekiel 5:6: "this is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries around her, and she has despised my judgments." They could excuse themselves: "we had no one to tell us"; therefore he says, "and you stone those who are sent to you"; hence "I sent prophets and many helps, and you did not recognize [them]." "How often would I have gathered your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not?" In this is designated the perpetuity of his divinity, according to what he himself says, John 8:58: "before Abraham was made, I am." Hence Christ himself sent prophets, patriarchs, and angels. Whenever he sent, he willed to gather, and so on. Those are gathered who are converted to the Lord, because in him sinners are united; those are scattered who are separated from unity. Hence, "I would have gathered [you] as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." It is said that there is no animal so compassionate to its young as the hen. The hen defends [them] from the kite, and exposes her life for them, and gathers them under her wings. Thus Christ has compassion on us: "surely he himself bore our infirmities," Isaiah 53:4. Likewise he exposed himself to the kite, that is, the Devil; Deuteronomy 31:27: "while I am yet living and going in with you, you have always acted contentiously against the Lord." But against this: the Lord willed, and these did not will: therefore their evil will prevailed over the will of God. Hence it must be said: as often as I willed, I did it, but with you unwilling, I did it when I did it; hence your will hindered it, so that I did not do it. Or, that he sent prophets was a sign that he willed to gather [you], and you were unwilling. Then follows the punishment: "behold, your house shall be left to you desolate." The whole people was honored on account of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem on account of the temple; therefore it is said, "your house shall be left," that is, the temple, or the dwelling; Psalm 68:26: "let their habitation be made desolate." Or the house is called desolate when it lacks its proper inhabitant; Psalm 10:5: "the Lord is in his holy temple." Hence it is said "to leave" with respect to the indwelling; therefore, "you shall not see me henceforth," etc., because I was with you through the power of my divinity, and afterward I was [with you] bodily, but I will withdraw from you. But now "your house shall be left to you desolate, and you shall not see me henceforth," neither bodily, namely after the Passion, nor spiritually. But is this true, that none of the Jews saw him, since nevertheless many were converted to him? Therefore he says, "until you say: blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord," because when you shall confess [him], then you will see through faith. Or otherwise, he secretly designates the second coming: they saw him in the body, but they did not have this seeing until the second coming, in which you will be able to say, and you will recognize, that I am he who is blessed who comes in the name of the Lord.”

“That upon you may come , &c., righteous blood. That is, of the righteous men who have exhorted others to live justly and holily, both by word and example. Whence S. Luke has, the blood of the Prophets ; for a Prophet in Scripture frequently denotes a just and holy man. S. Austin gives the reason for what Christ says in this verse, “ Because the imitation of wicked men causes people to obtain not only their own deserts, but the deserts of those whom they imitate.” Moreover S. Chrysostom says, “ Even as the rewards which all the preceding generations deserved were bestowed upon those who received Christ, so what their wicked ancestors merited came upon the latest Jews.” Which was shed, &c. Because, although Cain, who slew his brother Abel, was not a Jew by race, yet by his wickedness in killing righteous Abel he afforded an example to the Jews, who were most prone to follow it, in killing the holy Prophets. Thus Cain the fratricide was not the natural, but the symbolical father of the Jews who slew their brethren, Christ and the Prophets. By a like analogy the devil is called the father of all the proud and the wicked. The Jews, even though they knew the Divine vengeance which pursued Cain’s fratricide, not only imitated it, but far transcended it by slaying Christ, the Son of God, and His Apostles. We may THE CATNTTES. 49 add, that although Cain was not a direct forefather of the Jews, he was one of their collateral ancestors. He was the brother of Seth, from whom Abraham and the Jews were sprung. But the posterity of Seth married the daughters of Cain, as Abulensis saith (Quast. 260) (see Gen. vi. 2). This is probable, but not certain. All that Scripture says is, that from them the giants were sprung, who were the cause of the Deluge, in which they perished. But it does not say that other children were not sprung from them. There were persons who praised this fratricide of Cain, and for that reason were called Cainites, as S. Augustine says (lib, de harts, c. 18), “The Cainites are so called because they honour Cain, saying that he was a man of the greatest virtue.” They also think that the traitor Judas was something divine, and account his wickedness a benefit They assert that he knew beforehand how great a benefit the Passion of Christ would be to the human race, and for that reason betrayed Him to the Jews to be put to death. They are also said to honour the Sodomites, and those who made a schism amongst the ancient people, Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Zacharias the son of Barachias. You will ask who was this Zacharias? There are three opinions. The first that of S. Chrysostom (Horn, de Joan. Bapt.), Vatablus, Arias Montanus, &c. They think that he was the Zachariah, the last but one of the twelve minor Prophets. For he was the son of Barachiah, but we nowhere read that he was slain between the Temple and the altar. The second and more probable opinion is, that he was the Zachariah who was the son of Jehoiada, who, with base ingratitude, was slain in an awfully sacrilegious manner by King Joash in the most holy place, — that is to say, in the court of the Priests, which was between the Temple, or the holy place, and the altar of burntoffering; for this altar was in the court of the Priests (2 Chron. xxiv. 21). So Abul. ( Quasi . 215), S. Jerome, Bede, Tertullian (Scorpiace, c. 8), “Zachariah is slain between the Temple and the altar, marking the stones with indelible spots of blood.” For although there were other Prophets slain by the Jews after Zachariah, he is the last whose murder is related in Scripture, vou in. d 50 Add to this that Scripture makes mention only of the blood of Abel and this Zacharias as crying for vengeance. Of Abel’s it is said (Gen. iv. io), “What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground.” And of Zacharias (2 Chron. xxiv. 22), “Who, when he was dying, said, ‘The Lord look upon it, and require it.’” Chrysostom says, “ He makes mention of Abel to show that they would kill Christ and His Apostles out of envy, as from envy Cain slew Abel; of Zacharias, because the holy man was slain in the holy place.” You will say, this Zacharias was the son of Jehoiada, not of Barachias. S. Jerome answers that Jehoiada was also called Barachiah, perhaps because Barachiah in Hebrew signifies “the blessed of the Lord.” And it is plain that Jehoiada, who was a very holy man, was such. S. Jerome adds, “ In the Gospel which the Nazarenes make use of, we find, instead of the son of Barachias, the son of Jehoiada.” The third opinion is, that this Zacharias was the father of John the Baptist, concerning whom there is a tradition that he was slain by the Jews because he proclaimed the advent of Christ, saying in his Canticle, “ And thou, child, shalt be called the Prophet of the Highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways and because he had hidden his son John from Herod, the murderer of the innocents, who sought to kill him on account of the miracles which happened at his birth. For this Zacharias was the last of the Prophets. For John, his son, was rather an index to a present Christ than a Prophet of a future one. Again, that this Zacharias was the son of Barachias is attested by S. Hippolytus, the martyr, who is cited by Nicephorus (H. E. ii. 3). S. Jerome rejects this as apocryphal; but the same thing is asserted by S. Cyril, against the Anthropomorphites, Peter of Alexandria (in regula Eccles . can. 3), S. Epiphanius (lib. de vit. et obit. Prophet.), Baronius (in apparat. Ann.), S. Thomas (in Catena). Origen, Theophylact, Euthymius, and S. Basil (Horn, de humana Christi general .) add that this Zacharias was slain by the Jews because, after the birth of Christ, he placed the Blessed Virgin as a virgin among the virgins ADDRESS TO JERUSALEM. 5 1 in the Temple. But this is difficult to be believed, for reasons given by Baronius and Abulensis”

“Verily I say unto you,.... An usual form of introducing something of moment to raise attention to it, and to ascertain the truth of it: all these things shall come upon this generation; all the things which Christ had foretold should come to pass in the present age; as that the apostles and ministers of the word he should send to them, some of them they would kill and crucify, and others they would scourge in their synagogues, or persecute from place to place; and all the horrible murders and bloodshed in any age, committed by that people, would be placed to the account of the men of that generation; and the guilt of them imputed to them, and the punishment due unto them be inflicted on them. And which came to pass, and had its full accomplishment about forty years after this, in the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and the whole nation; so that many now living were personally involved in that temporal ruin, as well as escaped not the damnation of hell, Mat 23:33.”

“From the blood of Abel, &c. Not that the Jews, to whom Christ spoke, should be punished for crimes which they themselves did not commit nor be more severely punished than they themselves deserved; but he speaks of the Jewish people which, by putting to death their Messias, should shortly fill up the number of their sins; so that God would destroy their whole nation, as if the blood of Abel, and of the prophets unjustly murdered came upon them at once. See Maldonatus. — Of Zacharias, the son of Barachias. [2] Some think this was Zachary, numbered among the lesser prophets, whose father’s name was Barachias; but we do not read of his being murdered in this manner. The more common opinion is, that here is meant Zachary, who, preaching to the people, (2 Paralipomenon xxiv. 20,) was stoned to death in the very place where Christ was now speaking. But there he is called the son of Joiada, and not of Barachias. Some conjecture his father might have had both names; and St. Jerome tells us, that in an ancient copy of St. Matthew, called the Gospel of the Nazarenes, he found this Zacharias, of whom our Saviour speaks, called the son of Joiada. (Witham) — St. Jerome gives another reason why he might have been called the son of Barachias, and not the son of Joiada, and this is to commend the sanctity of the father; for Barachias is interpreted the blessed of the Lord. Others suppose that he was the 11th of the 12 prophets; but it is not mentioned that he was slain between the temple and the altar. Some surmise that it was the father of the Baptist, collecting from the apocryphal writings that he was killed for preaching the arrival of the Redeemer: but that he was the son of Joiada, otherwise called Barachias, is the common opinion. (St. Jerome) — That upon you may come, &c. Not that they should suffer more than their own sins richly deserved; but that the justice of God should now fall upon them with such a final vengeance once for all, as might comprise all the different kinds of judgments and punishments, that had at any time before been inflicted for the shedding of just blood. (Challoner)”

“This is thought by some to be Zacharias son of Baruch, whose eminent integrity, mock trial, and atrocious murder in the midst of the temple are recorded by Josephus, Jewish War, 1. 1, c. 1. Our Lord is supposed to speak prophetically, pointing to him as the last of just men who should fall before vengeance would overtake the guilty city. Many, however, refer it to a past event. II. Par. xxiv. 22.”