Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 14/23

How he hears the voice of the Lord has often been explained: namely, that the ruling faculty of one deemed worthy of such grace, by a certain ineffable power, has an image formed within it of the word of God, the divine power resounding in the worthy—not by way of bodily hearing, but by itself shaping the ruling faculty of those purified in mind, and as it were inscribing the thoughts in them in a silent manner;

which is analogous to what happens with us when the sense of hearing, struck by an audible voice, conveys it to the perception of the soul.

He heard, then, an intelligible voice, arising within the heart—which is also what happens in dreams;

for we seem to hear, though no one is speaking, and though it is not a sensible voice being carried through the air to the passages of hearing.

Thus, then, does God speak, and thus do the Saints hear.

"Go," He says, "and say to this people:"

"You shall indeed hear, but you shall not understand; and you shall indeed see, but you shall 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, clearly and indisputably applied to the times of the Lord's coming, the blessed Paul quoted in the Acts, when reasoning with the Jews in Rome:

"For well did the Holy Spirit speak through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying:"

"Go to this people and say..." and so on.

And this saying, above all, sets forth the Prophet as one uttering things from God;

for indeed the people heard the word of Jesus and did not understand it, and though seeing the marvels done by Him, they did not truly see.

For the saying, by turning toward a future time, shows the bearing of the prophecies upon later times, and in this the reasonableness of God's judgment is made manifest.

For when Isaiah said, "I have unclean lips" (and added, concerning the people as well, "I dwell in the midst of a people having unclean lips"), to him indeed the grace of forgiveness and purification through one of the Seraphim was given, but to the people it was not;

since the Prophet and the people did not have a like disposition.

For the one indeed saw the Lord of Sabaoth seated upon the throne, and believed what he beheld;

but those who saw the Lord dwelling among them did not believe;

and the one who heard the Seraphim understood their doxology;

but those who heard the words of the Savior did not accept them;

and the heart of the one, having been pierced with compunction, perceived his own sin; therefore he said:

O wretched man that I am, for I am pierced with compunction;

but the heart of the others was made thick and dull, so that they took no thought of the sins they were committing, nor drew near to him who was able to forgive them their sins.

Perhaps someone among you will object to this statement, because it is said:

"Say to this people" — not admitting that this was prophesied concerning the times of the Savior

For if the word "this" is a demonstrative, and none of the people thereby indicated was going to hear the Savior or see his wonders, how does "to this people" fit those who came so long after the Prophet? Let us then devise, from other prophetic sayings, an easy solution to the problem.

...my [people], what have I done to you? Or how have I grieved you? Or how have I troubled you? Answer me.

and the things prophesied come to pass for it in the generation of the Lord's manifestation.

It is also the custom of ordinary usage to employ such an expression, which some are wont to call by the same name even when it undergoes alteration.

For example, when men think of the same chorus, the one composed of so many men;

then, when one withdraws and another fills his place, the chorus is said to remain the same.

And even if a second should withdraw, and a third, and this should go on for a long time, with another being brought in to replace each one, the chorus being gradually altered — the individuals have each in turn been exchanged, yet the same name for the chorus is preserved.

Thus also a city is said to be the same, and an army the same, not because each individual remains, but because the same name is preserved for the collective body.

Thus nothing prevents the people demonstratively pointed to in the time of Isaiah from being the same also in the time of the Lord — not by the persistence of each individual, but by the common name of the nation.

"How long, O Lord?" And he said:

"Until cities are made desolate for want of inhabitants, and houses for want of men, and the land is left desolate."

"And after this God will remove men far away, and those who are left will be multiplied upon the earth;"

"and there is yet a tenth part upon it;"

"and again it shall be for plunder, like a terebinth and like an acorn, when it falls out of its husk."

"The holy seed is its stock."

Since the things related by the Lord were grievous, [the prophet], considering the judgment inescapable, at least asks to be taught how long a time it is in which this condemnation shall be laid upon them.

Clearly these things refer, then, to the times of Roman dominion.

For after they refused to hear the words of the Lord and were unwilling to behold with grateful eyes his wonders that surpass human power, the cities were made desolate for want of inhabitants, and the houses for want of men, and the land was left desolate, its inhabitants having perished by famine, flight, and captivity.

And what follows, that "after this God will remove men far away," seems to me to refer to the estrangement of the Jews from God, upon whom a hardening in part has come, that the fullness of the Gentiles might come in.

But "those who are left" (he says) "will be multiplied."

Who then are these? Are they not those of whom the Apostle spoke, that "a remnant has come to be according to the election of grace" — who indeed will be multiplied upon the earth, since now those made disciples of the Gospel of Christ are found throughout all the earth? For even though all Israel did not obtain what it sought, yet the election obtained it, concerning whom he says to Elijah:

"I have kept for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent the knee to Baal."

These, then, are they of whom it is said:

"And there shall yet be a tenth part upon it."

And the words, "And again it shall be for plunder, like a terebinth and like an acorn, when it falls out of its husk," seem to me to signify the gradual change from Jewish customs to the manner of life according to the Gospel.

For again these will be gathered as plunder, just as the fruit of the terebinth is gathered, and as the acorn, already ripe for gathering.

For then, having already been ripened by time and brought to completion, it is loosed from its bond to the husk.

And perhaps also, because they have fallen away from the Jewish land and come to be in the dispersion, it is likened to an acorn falling out of its husk.

...among the Seventy, a noteworthy sense, as it bears a connection with the sequence of what was previously given.

For these are gathered like a terebinth and like an acorn, in becoming a holy seed through their own steadfastness and firmness.

And, in accordance with what is set forth in many places in Scripture, here too the beneficial outcome appears of those who are chastised for their own good.

"For I will strike" (he says), "and I myself will heal."

And he himself causes pain, and again restores.

Those, then, who formerly, hearing, heard but did not understand, and did what followed, to such a degree that cities came to be uninhabited and they came to be in dispersion, so that scarcely a tenth of the people were preserved — these will again be multiplied and again bear fruit, in like manner to the terebinth and the acorn, bearing a holy seed, by standing firm and unmoved, and being rooted in love.

CHAPTER 7. And it came to pass in the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin king of Aram went up, and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, against Jerusalem to make war on it, but they were not able to besiege it.

"Aram made an alliance with Ephraim."

"And his soul was dismayed, and the soul of his people, as when a tree in a forest is shaken by a wind."

The sense of the passage is as follows:

The name of the king of Syria was Rezin, and that of the king of Israel, Pekah.

And messengers came, reporting to the royal house the alliance of the kings, both of the Syrian and of Israel.

For the Syrian is called Aram in the language of the Hebrews;

and Israel is called Ephraim, because it was from that tribe that Jeroboam, who from the beginning wrought the apostasy, arose.

The king, then, and all the people were struck with amazement at the report, and were so shaken and disturbed that their commotion was likened to a tree of the forest, shaken by the most violent blast of the winds.

This, then, is the simple narrative sense of the words.

But if one should examine the text closely, one would find in the things narrated a certain relevance to us and to the edification of the Church.

Who then are the kings who came to an agreement with one another? Let us examine this to the best of our ability.

I consider, then, that by Aram is signified the reasoning that is exalted by the wisdom of this age against the knowledge of God;

for Aram is interpreted "lofty."

Such is the reasoning of the rulers of this age, who attend to astronomy and the movements of the stars, their conjunctions and configurations, and who say that the causes of human affairs depend on these.

It is "lofty" also on account of its self-conceit and its boastful arrogance, which the Holy One alone knows how to cast down by the words of truth, casting down by the power of the Spirit every height that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

And the so-called knowledge that arises from the acceptance of the divine Scriptures, yet turned aside from the straight path and falsely named, we consider to be called Ephraim,

who also fashioned the golden calves, and instituted feasts out of his own heart.

Yet indeed it does not attain its purpose.

for it will not be able to take it by siege, because of the Lord who defends it.

And perhaps these cannot even come to agreement, unless our sin should abound;

since indeed also those who, according to the history, came to agreement in the days of Ahaz displayed their mutual agreement because of the sin of Ahaz, who did not do what was right before the Lord, but made his son pass through the fire and burned incense on the high places.

But nevertheless the God who loves mankind, healing their disturbance, sends a prophetic word, driving out the fear from the hearts of the people, by saying:

"Do not fear, nor let your soul grow faint because of these two smoking firebrands."

See whether you can also take occasion from the interpretation of the names to perceive still more clearly the matters concerning this passage.

For Ahaz is interpreted "possession";

and Aram (as we said before) is "lofty."

But the son of Remaliah [signifies] one exalted in circumcision.

The lofty reasoning, then, agrees with the reasoning that professes to be an expositor of the divine Scriptures.

For this is what Phakee signifies, being interpreted as 'opening,' as though promising through himself to disclose the sealed testimonies of Scripture.

And that the alliance of the two kings against Jerusalem—the one who prides himself on the wisdom of the world, and the one who promises to unfold the hidden things of Scripture—consists in doctrines and words opposed [to the truth], while they expect to bring under their power those who have been taught the things of the Church, is demonstrated by what follows.

For Aram and the son of Remaliah took evil counsel, saying:

'Let us go up against Judea, and having conferred with them, we will turn them to ourselves,'

and they also promise to establish as king the son of Tabeel:

and Tabeel is interpreted 'God is good.'

It is characteristic of those who set themselves against the Church to promise to hand down teaching concerning the Son of God, and by such fair speech they deceive the more simple-hearted.

That these things are riddles, bearing through the historical narrative upon the present condition of the Churches, the passage, as it proceeds, clearly lays bare, saying:

'If you do not believe, neither will you understand.'

And the Lord said to Isaiah:

'Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Jashub, who was left, your son, to the pool of the upper conduit, by the road of the fuller's field, and you shall say to him:'

'Take heed to be calm, and do not be afraid, neither let your soul be weakened before these two smoking firebrands of wood.'

'For when the wrath of my anger comes to pass, again I will heal.'

And [as for] the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah, because they took evil counsel concerning you, saying:

'We will go up against Judea, and having conferred with them, we will turn them to ourselves, and we will make the son of Tabeel king over it'—

'This counsel shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass:'

'but within sixty-five years more, the kingdom of Ephraim shall cease to be a people:'

'and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.'

'And if you do not believe, neither will you understand.'

I consider, then, that the prophets did not understand the word of God by means of sensory hearing, with the air being struck [to produce sound];

but since there are ears of the intelligible soul, the things signified reached those [ears], bare of [audible] speech.

And this came about for them, as the radiance of the true light reached their governing faculty, and ministered to the illumination of the prophets.

hastening toward the departure from the body

For when the soul comes to be occupied with the contemplation of divine things, gathering itself together from its entanglement with the body, it is said to 'go out';

but when it is engaged with human affairs, either owing to the necessity of tending the body, or because it is unable to extend itself further toward higher things, it comes, as it were, from outside into what is within—as into some house, or into a city—turning back toward its sympathy with the body.

Since, then, the prophet needed to hear the words of God, for this reason it was said to him, before all else: 'Go out, you and your son.'

Something of this sort is also what is said in Genesis, at the first divine communication to Abraham:

'Go out from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father's house.'

For the most perfect departure is the ascent away from all bodily things, which are called 'land';

and the flight from the senses, which are named 'kindred';

and the turning away from the guilty life, in which one was formerly made familiar with contrary practices, which is called 'the father's house.'

And shortly afterward, it is written concerning this same Abraham:

that 'God led him out, outside.'

For since He saw his eagerness to go out, He Himself led him by the hand toward the perfection of that action.

For he by himself was not able to accomplish it;

for this reason, at the first command, if he should go out, he received a promise of enjoyment [of blessing].

But when God led him out, He was teaching him to seek the things above, where Christ is.

Moses too, when he came to be outside of human affairs, devoting his mind at leisure to the contemplation of the oracles, pitched his own tent far outside the camp.

Thus the one who has advanced further away from human things will pitch his tent outside, so that, once fixed and firmly established, his life may remain unshaken.

and not he alone, but also Jashub, who was left, his son.

It is indicated, as far as one can gather from the text, that of many [sons] only one son had been left to him, and the text intended that he too should not be left behind from his father's disposition, but should go out together with his father unto the things to which God was summoning him.

And since Jashub is interpreted 'one who turns back,' Scripture shows to all of us who wish, through repentance, to go out from the passions of the flesh, that it is possible—by coming to be with the prophet—to accomplish that departure successfully.

And he is commanded to go up to the upper road, which leads to the pool of the fuller's field.

Now this place is, according to the historical [literal] sense, indeed a notable place;

for it is written that the king of the Assyrians sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem with a great force, and he stood at the conduit of the upper pool, on the road of the fuller's field.

Perhaps the passage also contains something instructive for the training of character—namely, that one must withdraw from things lowly and lying on the ground, and press on toward the things above;

where, for those who arrive there, water for cleansing will be found, and the fuller's field belonging to him who cleanses away filth;

which serves us in accordance with the precept of Ecclesiastes, who says:

'At every season let your garments be radiant.'

And He who spoke to Moses also commands that the one who is about to hear God should wash his garments:

'Go down, solemnly warn the people, and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day.'

And whoever arrives there will also have the wedding garment ready, so as not to be bound hand and foot and cast out of the bridal chamber into the outer darkness.

'Say, then' (he says) 'to Ahaz:'

This too is useful for us, so that we may keep our own heart with all vigilance;

[free from] passionate fear, no longer weak in soul, but armed with the spirit of strength.

'Nor be timid before these two smoking firebrands of wood.'

It is a command to us not to be timid before the plausible arguments of the Greeks, and the slanders of the heterodox—which are the two pieces of wood, or rather two firebrands, having lost the vitality of the living plant and the strength of the wood, and possessing not the brightness of fire, but being smoking firebrands, blackening and staining those who touch them, and causing the eyes of those who draw near to shed tears.

But if you wish to understand the harm arising from smoking firebrands, produced by the smoke within them, remember Solomon, who says:

'As the unripe grape harms the teeth, and smoke the eyes, so does lawlessness harm those who practice it.'

For I think that by 'the unripe grape' is meant the sin arising from wicked deeds, and by 'smoke' the harm arising from falsely-named knowledge, which confounds the discerning faculty of our soul.

'But when' (He says) 'the wrath of my anger comes to pass, again I will heal'—that is, after the corrective blows, when I see that the correction has been sufficiently accomplished, I will not leave them in the more grievous state, just as a physician might say to those who are ailing:

'When I cut, and when I cauterize, I will leave neither the incision nor the sores from the cauterization untended.'

For once that has been accomplished, for the sake of which the painful measures were undertaken, then, applying the remaining treatment, I will restore them to health.

And [as for] the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah, because they took evil counsel, saying:

'We will go up against Judea, and having conferred with them, we will turn them to ourselves, and we will make the son of Tabeel king over it'—

Thus says the Lord of Sabaoth:

'This counsel shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass.'

Since, then, two reasonings agree together—both outside the truth—against the Church: when the son of Aram (the lofty, self-exalting reasoning that rises up against the knowledge of God) and the son of Remaliah (the reasoning that arises from a vaunted circumcision), who, under the pretext of knowledge and the show of teaching about loftier matters, draws men away from the truth of God that resides in the Church—

These men, then, devised an evil plan, namely, that by conversing with those in Judea — that is, with the soul that confesses (for Judea, translated, means "confession of God") — we might, through the persuasiveness of dialectic, turn it aside to ourselves, promising to set over it no other king than the son of Tabeel, that is, of the good God;

Whom they call the son of the good God, but do not themselves call good, thereby making abusive use of the voice of the Gospel:

"Why do you call me good? No one is good but One, God."

So whenever you see heterodox men professing knowledge, bringing in the wisdom of the nations, and marching in arms against the Church of God, consider that even now the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah are devising an evil plan.

Against the evil plan of the son of Aram and the son of Remaliah, as we have explained, the Lord says this:

that the counsel of God stands and remains, but that of those who strive against the truth shall not stand, but shall lie fallen and overturned.

Sackcloth, then, is a symbol of repentance;

but that which is stained with blood is not clean.

"But yet within sixty-five years" (it says) "the kingdom of Ephraim shall cease from being a people;"

The kingdom of Ephraim, then, is a certain dominion of the heterodox, because the one who split Israel off from Judah was of that very tribe.

The head of Ephraim, then, is Somoron, that is, Samaria.

And Samaria is the region of certain enemies who have counterfeited sound doctrine, because the Samaritans turned away from Judaism.

Certain intensifications and excesses of evils are handed down to us through this word, so that it is not possible for the agreement made by such men to prevail, nor to have any strength against those whom they attempt to plot against.

"And if you do not believe, neither shall you understand."

One must, however, believe the Scriptures, as containing a divine meaning, and thus come to the understanding of what is written.

For first one must believe the Scriptures with simple faith, that they are God-inspired and profitable;

and then to search out, subtly and with careful examination, the meaning laid up within them.

"And the Lord spoke again to Ahaz, saying:"

"Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height."

In the preceding passage, Ahaz is taught through Isaiah what he must do — to keep himself quiet and not to be afraid of the two smoking firebrands.

But now, as one who has obediently received the teaching given through the Prophet, he himself is deemed worthy of divine oracles;

"For the Lord spoke again to Ahaz."

And perhaps we are taught by this, that one who has been discipled through someone who serves the divine will, will later, as he advances, be able himself also to receive the oracles of the Lord.

There are, however, some who, without having first been discipled to God through men, have from the beginning been able, as being pure, to receive the manifestations of the Spirit.

Such were Abraham and Moses and Elijah and Jeremiah, and any others like them.

"And the Lord spoke again."

The word "again" joins this discourse to what precedes it.

And it was indeed fitting that, after the prophecy concerning the failing of Ephraim — that is, of the apostate Israel — it should then be prophesied in what manner Emmanuel would come to dwell among us through the undefiled Virgin.

What, then, is it that the word commands Ahaz? "Ask," (it says) "for yourself a sign from the Lord your God, in the depth or in the height."

A sign, then, is a manifest thing which contains in itself the disclosure of something hidden and unseen, just as the sign of Jonah presents, to those able to grasp the mystical sense of what occurs, the descent into Hades and, again, the ascent from the dead.

and the thing signified by it is often shared out among the three tenses of time;

for there are also present signs of present things, as the smoke going out from a house is a sign of a fire burning within;

There are also present signs of future things, as the gathering of clouds that is seen is a sign of the rain that will come upon the earth;

And there are also present signs of things past, as the remnants of embers are a sign that a fire has burned upon that spot.

Scripture, however, calls "signs" those extraordinary things which represent some mystical meaning.

In the ordering of the world, then, the earth is that which by nature has obtained the lower region;

while heaven is the highest of all visible things.

Since, then, the Word became flesh, the prophecy, by the phrase "in the depth," signifies the earth, and the Flesh taken from it;

and by "in the height," the supracelestial Word, who is above every rule and authority, who was in the beginning with the Father, and who was God the Word.

as the Apostle sets forth for us, saying:

"Do not say in your heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? — that is, to bring Christ down;"

"or, Who shall descend into the abyss? — that is, to bring Christ up from the dead."

Since, then, He who descended is the very same as He who ascended, the sign "in the depth" and "in the height" would be spoken concerning the descent of the Lord;

"And He who ascended is the very one who is far above all the heavens."

"I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord."

The gift of God, then, is great and rich and abundant;

but Ahaz, as one not yet taught to ask for great and heavenly things, declines to seek a sign, either as being something greater than human nature, or as being about to act contrary to the commandment which says:

"You shall not tempt the Lord your God."

And it is necessary that these words concerning such great matters should be addressed to the king who then held power, so that through him the things prophesied might be reported to all.

For Isaiah might perhaps have been disbelieved (either through the envy of the men of his own time, or through his general lowliness in life) as one who had not received from the Lord an oracle concerning the coming of Emmanuel, but had rather fashioned the message out of his own heart.

But Ahaz received the prophecy concerning the things to come, just as Laban did, as Abimelech, as Nebuchadnezzar, as Pharaoh, and finally as Caiaphas — not on account of the worthiness of his life, but on account of the credibility that attached to him from his rank.

For indeed Ahaz did not decline the request for the sign out of any reverence;

for if it had not been to his advantage, God would not have commanded it in the first place.

But another version brings out this meaning somewhat more clearly, saying:

"Is it too little a thing for you to weary men, that you weary God as well?" But how does a man cause struggle to God, if such struggle is the fear of failure? Rather, this does not speak of any passion in God, but through the term "struggle" it represents the opposing disposition of those who resist His commands.

"And even to those who do not ask" (it says) "He will give."

And even if He does not find one worthy to receive it, nevertheless, on account of the foreordained dispensation of the Lord's birth in the flesh, "the Lord God Himself" (it says) "will give a sign."

For Ahaz ought to have understood that human affairs admit of no other correction except through the coming of the Word of God alone among men, and he should have asked for the sign "in the depth" or "in the height."

But since he judged himself unworthy (being untrained in the asking of great and heavenly signs), for this reason it says:

so that from this the greatness of the thing given might be made manifest.

For the Law He ordained through angels, by the hand of a mediator, Moses;

"Behold, the Virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel."

The Jews oppose the translation of the Seventy, saying that in the Hebrew it is not written "the virgin," but "the young woman," since "young woman" can be applied to one in the prime of her age, not necessarily to a woman without experience of marriage.

To them the reply is easy and ready at hand.

Let the birth also be extraordinary.

But if the manner of the child's birth were ordinary, then it should neither be called a sign, nor should he be named Emmanuel.