Epiphany

“Ecce enim ego adducam servum meum orientem” (Zec 3: 8 Vulgate)

The verse above reads “for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the branch” in KJV. Branch is an important word, alluding to such verses in the prophets as Jeremiah 23:5 and Isaiah 11:1. The Douay Rheims translation substitutes “orient” for “branch”. The word “orient” became very important in apocalyptic spirituality, so which is right?

The Hebrew word is “tsemach”, to which “branch” seems a more appropriate translation than “orient”. The KJV is right in this regard, at least insofar as the main manuscripts are concerned. But there is something nice about the traditional catholic use of the word orient, which to me speaks much about links between scripture, tradition and the practice of Christians in the church, especially in the feast of the Epiphany. So what  does this passage tell us about epiphany?

The feast of epiphany details the coming of the three wise men from the east, guided by a star,  “quam viderant in oriente” – “which they beheld in the east” (Matt 2: 9 Vulgate) (again the use of the word orient). Zechariah 3 is full of rich references to Jesus, and to the epiphany. Zechariah 3 is one text where the KJV translators take more liberties than the vulgate translators (for those who do not know me, the vulgate and the KJV are my “gold standard” translations). In the KJV, the translators make “Yeshua” “Joshua”, whilst elsewhere it is “Jesus”. The Vulgate uses Jesus. Zech. 3 is suggestive of Jesus, who is clothed in poor garments, stands before an angel (Zech 3: 3) and clothes tose before him with fine garments (Zech 3: 4) – a parallel to the wedding garment of righteousness imputed by His crucifixion (Matt 22: 11-13; Rev 19: 8), which when the word Orient is used, almost instantly associates this Jesus, in Zechariah, with the actual Jesus, who arose east of the three wise men in Matthew 2, and drew them to himself; a symbol of the expansion of the church to gentile lands. And the three wise men, were drawn by the star, the light from the east (“ex oriente lux“).

Jesus is the sun, which is a star, which rises from the east. Rising parallels light coming into the world, the Resurrection and by extension the righteousness imputed therein. The sign of the light from the east, the star, to the wise men, shows the nations to whom this light will finally go out. None of these associations are as easily drawn from the KJV text of branch, therefore the traditional use of the word “orient” in Catholic translations had enormous merit, being as it drew so many Christians to traditionally associate the sun or star in the east with the promises held in Christ’s Resurrection.

Therefore when I read the story of the three wise men at epiphany it is one of the few passages of scripture which I prefer to read in Latin, so that I might read of the light from the east, which is Jesus, whose imputed righteousness we here see testified to in Zechariah 3, which I remember every-time I see a combination of the words “ex oriente lux“.