Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 13/23

And one is "knowledgeable" according as he has comprehended the necessary contemplations that lead to blessedness, in that he now holds them together within himself as a settled habit, and firmly.

As for "wisdom," he says it is knowledge of divine and human matters, and of their causes.

But since Christ himself is Wisdom-itself, we shall call "wise" the one who has been perfected through participation in Christ, in respect of that whereby he is wisdom.

And "the one who has understanding" is understood according to the perfecting of the seeds of understanding within us.

And "the one who has knowledge," according as he has comprehended the necessary contemplations for blessedness, together with already holding them together within himself as a settled and fixed habit.

We have found in Exodus the divine oracle, speaking concerning the master-craftsmen:

"I will fill them with a divine Spirit of understanding and knowledge."

Let no one, then, appropriate such things to himself, calling himself neither knowledgeable, nor understanding, nor wise,

and of human matters—but let him ascribe the cause of these to the Holy Spirit;

"For a rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise up from the root."

"And the Spirit of God shall rest upon it, the spirit of wisdom and understanding," and so forth.

"Woe to those of you who are strong and drink wine, and to the rulers who mix strong drink."

And the law forbids the priests, when entering the holy place, to make use of wine and strong drink, and likewise those called Nazirites, as it is said in Numbers, in this manner:

"For the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:"

"Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them:"

"Whatever man or woman shall solemnly vow a vow to purify himself with a purity to the Lord, he shall keep himself pure from wine and strong drink."

And in Proverbs Solomon says:

"Rulers are prone to wrath; let them not drink wine, lest, having drunk, they forget wisdom."

For it is fitting that those who serve the divine word, and those entrusted with the care of men, should altogether abstain from things that produce clouding of the governing faculty.

For when much unmixed wine rushes in, it is like some tyrant who has run up to the citadel and, from the very summit, produces unceasing tumults in the soul, sparing no lawless command, but first enslaving the reasoning faculty itself, and confounding and overthrowing the whole order that exists from education, stirring up unseemly laughter, a tumultuous voice, headlong angers, unbridled desires, frenzy and madness for every unlawful pleasure.

For such men, being by nature easily provoked to anger, when they also take on the kindling of wine, raise it up to a great blaze, like a flame supplied with an unstinting abundance of burning fuel.

The least is deserving of pardon and mercy;

"but the mighty shall be mightily tested."

"For to whom much has been entrusted, of him they will require the more."

If, then, the stewardship of the mysteries has been entrusted to you, the word of wisdom, the power of knowledge, but you go about carrying a soul steeped in wine, how shall the prophet not justly lament over you? For though you possess spiritual strength, you make it weak through the immoderate use of wine.

And whoever is overcome by any passion of the soul whatsoever, as though led into drunkenness by the derangement produced in him by that passion, is said to "drink wine" and to "mix strong drink for himself"—which, when interpreted, we recognize means intoxicant;

for loss of self-possession comes upon the soul equally from grief, from fear, from pleasure, and from desire, when the reasoning faculty is overpowered by the passion.

So that we who are rulers, entrusted with the leadership of the people, even if we are held in check by such passion only to a degree, and seem to temper it by reason, curbing it with the word and restraining it, we are not exempt from being pronounced wretched on account of such things.

For a terrible intoxication is love of glory and love of rule;

envy is a terrible intoxicant, hypocrisy is terrible, and so is slander of one's neighbor;

by which, when the soul is made drunk, it forgets wisdom.

For nothing so confounds the perceptions that come from wisdom as this passion and every sin.

But how is he who has wisdom prone to anger? (Because he is not yet speaking of the one free from passion, but for now is discoursing concerning the one who moderates his passions.)

In accordance with which he also says elsewhere:

A fool declares his anger on the very same day, but the wise man dispenses it sparingly, part by part.

He says, then, that the one who governs his passion by reason brings forth his anger in a measured and stored manner, according to what is said:

Be angry, and do not sin.

But the Lord, ordaining the more perfect precepts, commands us to cut off the passion entirely, not merely to chastise it.

Woe to those who justify the ungodly for the sake of gifts, and take away the just claim of the righteous!

...calling the ungodly righteous, and condemning the righteous man as guilty of injustice.

For a reasoning faculty preoccupied by love of money is like a balance that brings the beam's inclination down on the heavier side.

Let us therefore attend to ourselves more carefully, lest we ever justify some ungodly person or word, being led by favor shown to us into agreement with them, lest we fall under the woe pronounced against such.

For they were not willing to have the law of the Lord of Sabaoth, but provoked the oracle of the Holy One of Israel.

The word threatens that the roots of sinners will be burned up together and reduced to fine dust, and that their flower will rise up like dust.

In keeping with what has already been set forth, let us now understand what follows.

For having previously discoursed about those who use wine immoderately, and having censured those who take gifts in judgments, he now says that their roots will be burned together, like stubble by a fiery coal.

Now the reed is a plant standing on a weak root, smooth in its outer surface but hollow within, and uneven in its growth, divided by frequent joints, because the power by which it grows, being weak, is not able to make the plant grow evenly, but needs some resting-point in between.

For whenever it puts forth a little, it then stops, and thus, by persisting longer at that point, it forms the joint.

Then again, using the joint as a kind of base and foundation, the power puts forth growth again, and thus, always resting, it completes the plant.

Such are those who are notable on account of the affairs of this world, standing upon a rotten foundation, hollow in their inner man, living together with the unevenness of the affairs of this world.

A coal is earthy fire, remaining in the denser matter after the passing of the flame.

Since, then, those who live under the sway of passion have within them the fire of the passions as their own (just as the rich man had within himself the cause that scorched him with thirst), for this reason the text threatens those who drink wine, as drunkards, with destruction by burning.

And since they also pervert justice for the sake of gifts, he says that their root will be burned together by a kindled flame (meaning by 'root,' clearly, the love of money, concerning which the Apostle also declared, that 'the love of money is the root of all evils').

And from such a root, what flower is it likely to send up, but one resembling dust, unstable in nature and scattered into the air? Or is it not the case that, just as dust, hindering the breath, plots against our life, so also the flowers of love of money — greed, acts of injustice, falsehood, false accusations, and all the other shoots that spring from that wicked root — are destructive of our life, hindering the purity of the spirit?

And it was with great precision that he did not say 'and their fruit,' but 'their flower.'

For the shoots of wickedness are unfinished, vanishing at the very moment of their sprouting and first flower;

For I saw the ungodly exalted on high,

and I passed by, and behold, he was not.

The righteous man, then, is like the tree planted by the streams of water, continually watered by the flowing of life;

but the root of the sinner will be burned together.

And their flower shall go up like dust.

By 'law' and 'oracle' he refers to different designations of the Lord;

for this reason the Prophet speaks of the oracle as of something animate:

They provoked the oracle of the Lord.

For the living Law and Word of God is the Only-begotten Son, through whom are all things.

And the Lord of Sabaoth was angered with wrath against his people, and he laid his hand upon them and struck them,

the mountains were provoked, and their carcasses became like dung in the midst of the road.

And in all this his wrath was not turned away, but his hand is still raised.

The sin of the powerful and of the mighty made way for the wrath that was stirred up against the people by the Lord.

'And the Lord was angered with wrath against his people' — clearly meaning that the people too, in imitation of their leaders, had fallen into sins, and was deserving to suffer the effects of the wrath and anger of the Lord.

Now wrath (thymos) is a boiling of the blood around the heart, named as it were from the swelling that forms around the heart out of the vapor arising from the bodily humors;

but anger (orge) is a desire to inflict pain in return.

So that the one has a sudden movement of passion, while the other exhibits a more lasting and protracted fulfillment of the desire for retribution arising from grief.

As regards God, however, it is pious to admit that neither of these terms is spoken properly of him, but that these expressions are figurative.

For it is not a passion of God, nor something that accrues to his very essence;

but such an operation directed toward us is called 'wrath.'

And perhaps painful discipline is called 'anger';

while the rebuke that produces disturbance in our reasonings is called 'wrath.'

For by wrath God disturbs, not yet deeming worthy of speech those with whom he is wrathful, according to what is said, 'In his wrath he will trouble them';

but those who are being disciplined are deemed worthy of instruction in anger, according to what is said, 'Then he will speak to them in his anger.'

For the one who is merely rebuked for his sins has not yet been disciplined;

but the one who is being disciplined already shows a certain closeness to knowledge.

If, then, anger disciplines, while wrath merely rebukes, anger is more effective than wrath.

Discipline us, O Lord, but with judgment, and not with wrath,

For he did not say, 'and not in anger'; rather, the discipline that comes from judgment is more benevolent than that which comes from wrath and anger.

For the one who is disciplined with judgment, being illuminated by the word, will be benefited by the judgments of God so as to do nothing without judgment, but to accomplish everything with sound judgment, so that his very reasonings too may be well-judged, according to what is said:

The thoughts of the righteous are judgments.

Yet at the time of judgment, when he lays his hand upon the people, it is said that even the mountains will be provoked, the text showing that all creation joins in the punishment of sinners.

For just as, in the case of the Egyptian plagues, war came upon them from every side (from the air, from the earth, from the water), so also now, when the Lord lays his hand upon the people to strike it,

the mountains too will be provoked, and the carcasses of the people, lying in the midst of the road like dung because of their dishonor, will be trampled underfoot.

Understand by this those who have fallen into sins, who remain fixed on the affairs of this life and are trampled underfoot by the hostile powers, concerning whom, because of their impenitent heart, the word of the Lord says that his wrath will not be turned away, but that his hand still remains raised, that is, lifted up for vengeance (calling 'hand' the power that chastises, in accordance with Job:

'for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me').

And in this connection also the devil, at the time of punishment, speaks of a 'hand':

'But indeed, stretch forth your hand and touch his bones.'

Therefore he will lift up a signal among the nations, both those far off and those near, and will whistle for them from the end of the earth,

and behold, they come swiftly and lightly.

According to the literal sense, the text will seem to prophesy the Roman power that came upon Jerusalem in its final siege.

For at that time the military rolls were being filled up, both from the nations far off and from those nearby — those around Syria and Arabia — and other nations, as many as bordered Judaea, were being levied by the Romans.

The signal, then, was lifted up among the nations — that is, the sign of the cross that had been made manifest.

And the nations were called to the faith, while Jerusalem was given over to destruction.

...such eagerness for warfare that they even forget food, and do not wait for their rations, nor need rest, nor lay aside the guise of those making war.

These were reckoned as a solid rock, and their chariots as whirlwinds;

like lions in strength, and like lions' whelps in onrush;

whose roar is like the surging sea, when the people under attack saw nothing else but harsh darkness upon the earth.

CHAPTER 6. And it came to pass in the year in which King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord

And one of the Seraphim was sent to me

To the saints, from the creation and foundation of the world, divine powers are ever sent, to set right what is unsound in human nature.

So one was sent also to Isaiah, to take away his sins and to cleanse him.

He was sent because he heard him lamenting his own miseries, and confessing the sin within his own thoughts.

For he said, 'Woe is me, for I am pierced with compunction, because being a man of unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.'

Paul too said these things:

'Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?' Then he too, as one who has obtained divine help, adds:

'I thank God through Jesus Christ.'

He said, 'Woe is me,' having come with clear perception to the concept of the kingdom of God, who sits upon a throne high and lifted up, and who has filled so vast a world with his glory.

For before conceiving of God, he does not appear to have said, 'Woe is me.'

Since Abraham too, when God appeared to him, is then recorded as having said, 'I am earth and ashes.'

So too Moses, though instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and, as is likely, surpassing all of them in natural talent and understanding, was not aware that he was slow of speech or slow of tongue;

but when he heard him who was giving the divine oracle, then he perceived his own inarticulateness and the slowness of his tongue.

And in his hand he had a live coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth.

He who interprets the saying in the Jewish manner will say that the Lord was seen at the place in Jerusalem, sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, with the Seraphim standing around him;

and the fire, taken by the Seraph from the altar of burnt offerings, was applied to the mouth of the Prophet, for the cleansing of his lips.

But we who believe that the things pertaining to the Law are a kind of example and shadow of the heavenly things, call the house the whole system of intelligible and sensible creation, and the throne lifted up the sovereignty and lordship of God over all;

and the Seraphim are the powers above the world.

For if — as some have imagined — the two hemispheres of heaven appear alternately above the earth, each employing six parts, as it were certain wings, for their swift motion, how was one of them sent, or how was it torn away from the other, seeing that the nature of heaven is a continuous whole? But, as I said, they are powers above the world, deemed worthy of the nearest station because of the height of their holiness;

one of whom came to the Prophet.

For as God who is over all does not disdain to bend down from heaven for the care of mankind, so also the particular powers do not refuse the ministry for the benefit of mankind.

So the Seraph took from the altar with the tongs.

Consider how great the altar is, how inaccessible, such that the Seraph does not dare to touch it with the hand, but takes the fire into the hand by means of the tongs.

He takes the fire into his hand.

Does he cleanse? Or is this perhaps akin to that of which it is said, that 'He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire'? Since the coal is fire that has already remained in denser and more earthy matter (for after the bright flame has passed by, the fire's continuing presence in the dense matter is called 'coals'), it perhaps therefore signifies the Lord's sojourn in the flesh.

and the flesh, having received the illumination from the Godhead, is according to its bodily aspect perceptible to sense, but according to its union with God, translucent and radiant.

And that flesh took away the sins of the world and thoroughly cleansed away our iniquities;

which prophecy presented to us by way of a riddle.

For Nadab and Abihu were burned up, having used strange fire;

but the Seraph took the coal from the holy fire that was on the intelligible altar of the true whole burnt offerings, not with itself, but with the tongs.

But in order to show that the heavenly fire does not burn but cleanses, having received it into his hand, he thus applies it to the lips.

Akin to this fire also was that on the bush, which Moses saw resting upon the plant, yet not consuming the bush.

Perhaps the tongs are the fitness existing in each person for the reception of the good things given by God, in proportion to the affinity for the good existing in each.

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying:

'Whom shall I send? And who will go?' He does not ask Moses, but, as having him already prepared, he says, 'And now, come;'

'I will send you to Pharaoh, king of Egypt.'

But to Isaiah he says:

'Whom shall I send? And who will go?' What then is the reason? Because there Moses was being sent for the good and benefit of the people, but here a ministry of grim, gloomy matters lies before him.

And that there was need of the mission, he showed;

but the person fit for the ministry he wishes to appear precisely from his own readiness of spirit.

'Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and bring the people out of the land of Egypt?' And again:

But Isaiah, hearing nothing of the kind, but taught only the need of the mission, willingly gave himself and entered into the midst of terrible things by the excess of his love, taking no account of what would come upon him from the people.

Observe the precision and circumspection of the Prophet.

For to two questions he makes one answer:

'Whom shall I send? And who will go?' 'Behold, here am I;'

For to accept the mission lies within our power;

but to be empowered for the journey belongs to God, who gives the grace out of his strengthening.

So that, what belonged to free choice, he stated:

'Behold, here am I; send me;'

but what belonged to grace, he left to the Lord.

For he did not promise that he would go, because he was conscious of his own weakness.

And he too hears the voice of the Lord who is not struck in his bodily hearing, when his ruling faculty is impressed by God, to whomever God wills to make his purpose manifest.

For those who keep their mind undistracted and pure, having it impressed by a certain ineffable power, possess the word of God as it were resounding within themselves, even if the air does not receive the impressions, nor conveys them to the hearing.

For God, as it were upon a certain book, inscribes his own will upon the soul of the Prophet;

and he who receives the divine thoughts in his soul is said to hear.

The promise is greater and beyond himself.

What he did not take for himself, this the Lord graciously granted.

'Go and say to this people.'

'Behold, here am I' — now emboldened, as one who has partaken of Him Who Is, he ventures to number himself among the things that truly are;

and he said this after his lips had been cleansed.

But he who is in a state of lawlessness and is not deemed worthy of the knowledge of Him Who Is, cannot testify of himself, 'Behold, here am I.'

And since God appointed first Apostles, second Prophets, for this reason Isaiah too receives first the gift of apostleship.

And Moses too belongs to the Apostles;

And Jeremiah too hears, 'To all to whom I shall send you, you shall go.'

'Go and say to this people:'

'You will indeed hear, but you will not understand; and you will indeed see, but you will not perceive.'

"For the heart of this people has grown fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I should heal them."

This saying Luke recorded in the Acts.

"And there was sent to me one of the Seraphim."

That it is a certain supra-cosmic power, purifying of iniquities, entrusted with a ministry, is what what is written about the Seraphim sets forth.

These ministering spirits, then, have been sent to us who are about to inherit salvation.

But they come to visit us not on their own authority, nor of their own independent will;

for indeed their primary and natural life is to gaze intently upon the beauty of God and to glorify him unceasingly;

but their turning and care toward us human beings is a certain occasional activity, arising from circumstance.

The Prophet seems, when he saw the activity of the Seraphim doing nothing else than sanctifying God, then to have come to an awareness of the impurity of his own lips, because he too speaks human things, and had often defiled his own tongue with words concerning the vanity of the world.

Being struck with compunction, then, by comparison with those beings (both because they utter nothing else than crying out the sanctity of the Godhead, whereas his own voice for the most part has been occupied with human affairs), for this reason he said:

"Woe is me, wretched man that I am, for I am pierced with compunction, because being a man and having unclean lips, I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips."

So also Moses for a long while did not perceive that he himself was slow of speech and slow of tongue, though he had been educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and surpassed them all in natural ability and understanding;

but when he heard the One speaking to him, then he saw his own weakness.

And Abraham, when God appeared to him, then called himself earth and ashes.

Likewise, then, Isaiah too, after seeing the One seated on a throne high and lifted up, and beholding the glory that filled the whole house of the world, and the Seraphim round about Him uttering that cry with astonishment, then called himself wretched, then recognized the impurity of his own lips; wherefore he was also deemed worthy of the purification effected through the Seraphim.

But observe that his transgressions had not spread over every deed and activity, but were confined only up to the lips and words.

"And in his hand he had a coal, which he had taken with the tongs from the altar, and he touched my mouth."

According to the literal sense, the word seems to concern the altar in the temple, from which the Seraph took a coal into his own hand from the altar of whole burnt offerings;

but according to the truth, since the Jewish worship serves as a pattern and shadow of the heavenly things, one must understand a certain heavenly altar—that is, a place of the purification of souls—whence the purifying fire is sent forth to the powers being sanctified.

With such fire are their hearts warmed who are fervent in the Spirit;

such fire did Jeremiah receive, wherefore he also said:

"And there was fire in my inward parts, and I am spent/undone on every side."

It shows great honor and reverence toward the altar, that the Seraph did not presume to touch it with his own hand, but made use of the tongs as a kind of mediator.

Let us understand, then, the coal as the true word, which fervently and by way of reproof purges away falsehood in whomsoever it is applied by that effective power.

For one must understand the hand of the Seraph as an activity that bestows good things.

"Behold, this has touched your lips, and it shall take away your iniquities and shall cleanse away your sins."

One must not suppose this was spoken to Isaiah alone, but also to all whom the fiery and true word lays hold of, taking away what is done outside the divine law and purifying them from the things done sinfully.

Not implausibly will the coal be understood as signifying the nature of the word, according to the testimony of the psalm which says:

"Your word is tried in the fire exceedingly, and your servant has loved it."

"And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying:"

"Whom shall I send, and who will go to this people? And I said:"

It is worth inquiring why on earth Moses, when sent, refuses and for a very long time contends against the mission, declining it;

whereas Isaiah so readily offers himself.

For Moses is not asked, "Whom shall I send?" but he himself is confronted in his own person with the command:

"I will send you to Pharaoh in Egypt, and you shall lead my people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt."

But in Isaiah's case, since the word was indefinitely seeking one who would serve the mission, he put himself forward.

What then shall we say? Are not the dispositions of the Saints, holding contrary positions to one another concerning the same matter, at odds with each other?

No; rather, Moses knew the undertaking for the sake of which he was being sent, and for this reason he hesitated, having regard both to the unyielding hardness of Pharaoh's heart and again to the disobedient and intractable nature of the people.

For he had experience of the ingratitude of the Jews, in that even after being benefited by him, they drove him into exile,

when, under the pretext of shepherding flocks, he was fleeing the tumults of cities and of great numbers of people.

"Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should lead the people out of the land of Egypt? For neither does Pharaoh let the people go without great evils, nor is the people easy to deal with, always resisting those who care for its salvation."

For when, after the making of the calf, God, having granted grace to his servant for the forgiveness of the people's sin, says at last:

What, then, is the man's meaning? That the people is sinful and stands in need of the One who forgives sins—which is impossible for angels.

Angels are avengers of sins committed, but forgivers of transgressions—that they are not.

"Choose another whom you will send"—that is, let the true Lawgiver come, the mighty Savior, the only One who has authority to forgive sins.

But since the fullness of the times had not yet come, and mankind needed first to be accustomed to it through the types, for this reason the Prophet's request was not granted.

Isaiah, however, after his own sins had been forgiven—since he had said, "I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips"—then heard:

and that they too needed to be benefited, that one was being sought to be sent; out of great joy he put himself forward, so that for them too their sins might be forgiven.

So that both the former's refusal and this one's readiness are reasonable.

Sure and confident, moreover, is the holy man's answer, since he had already been benefited by the purification effected through the coals.

For when the Lord said, "Whom shall I send, and who will go," to the "I will send," he answered, "Behold, here am I";

but to "who will go," he no longer said, "and I will go";

for he knows that the cooperation of God is needed for the accomplishment of the work;

that which he needed from the One who completes it, this he passed over in silence.