Put Up Thy Sword: Phinees's Zeal, the Garden, and the Patience of the Saints
Old Testament: Numbers 25:7-8, 11
And when Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest saw it, he rose up from the midst; of the multitude, and taking a dagger, Went in after the Israelite into the brothel house, and thrust both of them through together ... And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel. ... Phinees the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned away my wrath from the children of Israel: because he was moved with my zeal against them.
Old Testament, also: Jeremias 15:2
And if they shall say unto thee: Whither shall we go forth? thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord: Such as are for death, to death: and such as are for the sword, to the sword: and such as are for famine, to famine: and such as are for captivity, to captivity.
New Testament: Matthew 26:51-52; Luke 22:51; Apocalypse 13:10
And behold one of them that were with Jesus, stretching forth his hand, drew out his sword: and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear. Then Jesus saith to him: Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword. ... And when he had touched his ear, he healed him. ... He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
The connection
When Israel fell into the idolatry of Beelphegor, Phinees the priest took a dagger and ran the sinners through, "And the scourge ceased from the children of Israel" (Numbers 25:8). God praised his zeal and gave him "the covenant of the priesthood for ever" (25:13). Jeremias heard the other side of the sword, the judgment of a people that would not turn: "such as are for the sword, to the sword ... and such as are for captivity, to captivity" (Jeremias 15:2). In the garden Peter drew his sword for his Master "and striking the servant of the high priest, cut off his ear" (Matthew 26:51). St Ambrose says Peter knew "that it was counted righteousness in Phineas that he had killed the sacrilegious persons". But Christ said, "Put up again thy sword into its place: for all that take the sword shall perish with the sword" (26:52), "And when he had touched his ear, he healed him" (Luke 22:51). He had come to be the sacrifice, and He would not be defended by the sword. John hears the same words when the beast makes war on the saints, joined to Jeremias's: "He that shall lead into captivity, shall go into captivity: he that shall kill by the sword, must be killed by the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints" (Apocalypse 13:10). St Augustine says Peter "was to be admonished to have patience: and this was written for our learning", and St Bede, "While they are bringing death upon the righteous, He heals the wounds of His persecutors." The Catechism teaches that Christ asks His disciples to love their enemies, did not defend Himself, and told Peter to leave his sword in its sheath (CCC 2262).
Moral sense
Peter's sword took the ear off; Christ's hand put it back. The zeal that reaches first for the sword is not yet the zeal of Christ, "Who, when he was reviled, did not revile: when he suffered, he threatened not" (1 Peter 2:23). "Revenge not yourselves ... Revenge is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord" (Romans 12:19). The same Peter who cut off an ear was later beaten for the Name and went away "rejoicing that they were accounted worthy to suffer reproach" (Acts 5:41).
Anagogical sense
The beast copies the Lamb: one of his heads is "as it were slain to death: and his death's wound was healed. And all the earth was in admiration after the beast" (Apocalypse 13:3), as the Lamb stands "as it were slain" (5:6). St Hippolytus warns that "the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God". The saints do not answer him with his own weapon. At the end the only sword Christ draws is the one that comes "out of his mouth" (19:15), and St Hilary says that is why He sheathed Peter's: "He would destroy them by no weapon of man, but by the sword of His mouth."
The Fathers
St Ambrose, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 22:47-53: "For Peter being well versed in the law, and full of ardent affection, knowing that it was counted righteousness in Phineas that he had killed the sacrilegious persons, struck the High Priest's servant." St Augustine, in the Catena Aurea on John 18:10-11: "Our Lord condemned Peter's act, and forbade him proceeding further ... He was to be admonished to have patience: and this was written for our learning." St Bede, in the Catena Aurea on Luke 22:51: "For the Lord is never forgetful of His loving kindness. While they are bringing death upon the righteous, He heals the wounds of His persecutors." St Hilary of Poitiers, in the Catena Aurea on Matthew 26:51-54: "The Lord then bids him return his sword into its sheath, because He would destroy them by no weapon of man, but by the sword of His mouth." St Hippolytus, On Christ and Antichrist 6: "For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God ... The Saviour was manifested as a lamb; so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf."
Warrant
Patristic. St Ambrose sets Peter's blow beside the zeal of Phinees (in the Catena Aurea on Luke 22:47-53); St Augustine reads Christ's command as a lesson in patience written for us, and St Bede the healing of the ear as mercy to persecutors (Catena Aurea on John 18:10-11 and Luke 22:51); St Hilary joins the sheathed sword to the sword of His mouth (Catena Aurea on Matthew 26:51-54), and St Hippolytus names the beast's imitation of the Son (On Christ and Antichrist 6). Checked in the Greek: Apocalypse 13:10, ei tis eis aichmalosian, eis aichmalosian hypagei, takes the Septuagint of Jeremias 15:2, eis machairan, eis machairan ... eis aichmalosian, eis aichmalosian, and joins it to Christ's word in the garden, en machaire apolountai, perish by the sword, with its own en machaire apoktanthenai. The beast's head is hos esphagmenen at 13:3 and the Lamb hos esphagmenon at 5:6, the same words. Luke's healed, iasato, is not the word for the beast's healed wound, etherapeuthe, so the contrast of the two healings is the entry's own, as is the pairing with Phinees's covenant. Phinees is not faulted: God praised his zeal (Numbers 25:11-13). The entry follows how Christ fulfils zeal for God's house by suffering rather than striking. Dunk found the entry by setting the healed ear of Malchus beside the healed wound of the beast.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 2262.
The verses
Numbers 25:7 · Numbers 25:8 · Numbers 25:11 · Jeremias 15:2 · Matthew 26:51 · Matthew 26:52 · Luke 22:51 · Apocalypse 13:10
