Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 2/23

For just as the one being perfected stretches forward to what lies ahead, so the one who sins retreats backward, distancing himself from the Lord and therefore perishing.

'For behold' (it says) 'those who distance themselves from you shall perish.'

Let us, then, so live that the things past may never be better than the things to come, or than the things present.

For this is also what Ecclesiastes forbids:

'Do not say that the former days were better than these;'

'for it is not in wisdom that you have inquired about this.'

You have suffered so many things in vain, since the good things are obscured by the negligence that comes afterward.

'When the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity according to all the lawless deeds that the lawless one has done, none of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered;'

'in his transgression by which he transgressed, and in his sins by which he sinned, in them he shall die.'

'Why should you be stricken any more, adding lawlessness?' What is meant is something like this:

'On account of your sins, in disciplining you I kept scourging you.'

To those not repenting, but still sinning further, I kept continually inflicting and adding blows, so that every part of the body has been overtaken by the blows meant for admonition.

To those who sin in curable ways, the word threatens 'to visit their lawless deeds with a rod, and their iniquities with scourges;'

but to those who are incurable, it says:

'Why should you be stricken any more?' Having gone through every kind of blow, you have despised all the corrective scourges.

This is the voice of one who is at a loss and despairing of correction, as in Ezekiel:

'My zeal shall depart from you, and I will no longer be angry with you.'

Now of the things that happen by way of circumstance, some occur because of sins, others for the correction of the character of those being tested, and others for the utter destruction of those who have been given up, as in the case of Pharaoh.

To these, then, as ones given up, no longer are blows or scourges threatened, but utter destruction is threatened.

'Every head is for pain, and every heart for sorrow.'

'Why should you be stricken any more' — you whose bodies and souls have been scourged, and yet nowhere is there correction, every head being in pain and every heart downcast? He does not mean by 'head' simply the bodily member, as though the pain were fixed upon it alone;

but 'every head' stands for 'each individual person,' according to the customary usage of Scripture;

'Take a census of the whole congregation of Israel, by families, by clans, by ancestral houses, by number, by name, by head.'

For since the whole nation is sinful, and all the people are full of lawlessness, therefore punishment has come upon all, and every heart is grieved, as the people are being led into captivity on account of their sins.

'From the feet even to the head, there is no soundness in him — neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore.'

The word 'head' is taken here for the whole man.

'From the feet even to the head, there is no soundness in him — neither wound, nor bruise, nor festering sore' — because of the scourges inflicted for each sin by the one who cares for them.

Now since a wound is a breach in the continuity of the body, a small portion of its connection being cut through; and a bruise is likewise, as it were, a bloodshot trace of a blow, the body having been crushed by the resistance of the striking object, and this too is localized to a certain part; and inflammation is a fiery swelling, occurring when the fluids flow together upon the weakened part and, by heat contrary to nature, inflame the afflicted spot — what then does the text say concerning those who are wholly, entirely, overtaken by weakness? That your sickness has not affected you as a wound, nor as a bruise, nor as a festering sore, but the affliction lies upon you as a united whole, so that everything is confused together, and is at once wound, and bruise, and sore.

'There is no poultice to apply, nor oil, nor bandages.'

Since the sickness is beyond wound and bruise and inflamed sore, it is not possible to apply a poultice, as for the sore, nor oil, as for the wounds.

"There is no need," he says, "of the help that comes from these things;"

for the symptoms are too great to yield to such remedies.

Wounds, then, are the schisms within the Church;

bruises are the hearts that fester beneath the surface;

and the inflammation is the swelling of the soul, puffed up by irrational self-conceit, and on account of this exalted against the knowledge of Christ.

The poultice, then, is the word which, with gentleness and fairness, humbles vain self-inflations;

which, by compassion, smooths out the deceit, the festering malice, and the harshness of those who speak falsely in hypocrisy;

and the bandage is the word that holds together the things that are rushing toward division.

"Your cities are burned with fire;"

"Strangers devour your land before your eyes, and it has been laid waste, overthrown by foreign peoples."

Since he despaired of their amendment, he threatens them with utter destruction.

Now these things did not happen in the days of Isaiah;

but it is customary for prophecy to speak of things that are yet to happen as though they had already come to pass, as in the saying, "They gave gall for my food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink."

Now these things came to pass at the captivity into Babylon: the land was emptied of its inhabitants, the cities were burned down, and the land was devoured by settlers sent from Media, while those who were left behind looked on;

when the whole land indeed became "overthrown by foreign peoples."

But according to the higher meanings, which make the ancient things pertain to ourselves, whenever we depart from our God and stretch out our hands to a strange god, we are handed over to strangers who lay us waste and overthrow us.

For it is possible to observe all the things that were threatened coming to pass upon sinners.

In many places Scripture calls the soul "earth," the soul that receives the seeds of the word, as we have been taught in the Gospel through the Lord's parable, that some seed fell on the good earth, that which is receptive of divine teachings and well disposed toward bearing fruit.

And desolate is the soul that has neither wisdom nor reason, that does not live according to righteousness, nor walks in truth.

"Your cities are burned with fire."

A city is a community of people, formed of various occupations, banded together for a common life;

and because it has much vanity in its works — wood, hay, and stubble — it is burned up in the day of judgment, and the communities of the impious become burned with fire.

"Strangers devour your land before your eyes" whenever, after the soul has been filled by a former life and good conduct with the fruits of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness), alien thoughts fall upon it and consume what had previously been labored for.

But if, in the conduct of our life's affairs, we also give over the practical faculty of the soul to unclean demons, our land becomes "overthrown by strangers."

For we are God's tilled field, God's building.

As long as we are branches abiding in the vine, bearing for Christ the fruits that befit us, we have God as our husbandman;

but if we depart from the life-giving root, which is faith in Christ, we wither, are cast out, and are burned.

And the building that comes from teaching is thrown down, when we live contrary to what is fitting.

For if we do not remain upon the foundation of the Apostles, building thereon what is precious, then, as having no foundation, we are broken down, and our fall becomes great;

for licentiousness, as it were, devours self-control;

and love of money devours simplicity in giving, and love of strife devours the loving disposition.

It is a pitiable thing, then, that the soul which was flourishing with the fruit-bearing of good works should become food for its adversaries, who are not content with our desolation unless they also bring about our destruction.

For destruction comes about through evil teachings, as it were the souls of those who fall away being razed to the ground;

but desolation is the deprivation of what had previously been practiced in one's manner of life.

This readily happens with regard to the human soul.

Consider for me some young man, reared from childhood in a reverent life, diligently attending the houses of prayer, not neglecting good works to the extent of his ability, mindful of the eternal judgment, holding fast to the word of teaching —

yet finally his complete ruin follows.

His evil conscience does not lead him to the place of prayer, because he no longer stands in the rank of the faithful;

nor does he stand in the place of those who weep, for he is ashamed.

From this arises a reluctance toward prayer, devising fabricated excuses for those who inquire after him.

"Such-and-such a person," he says, "is pressing me, and I cannot wait for the assembly."

And for this reason he again slips away before the prayer of the faithful, having contrived whatever excuse happens to come to hand.

Then, out of this gradually formed habit, a practiced tendency toward apostasy arises in him, and he is led round into complete perdition.

In general, it is characteristic of the evil powers that, after they have shown men to be devoid of the fruits of righteousness, they do not withdraw until they have also enveloped them in errors concerning true knowledge.

"The daughter of Zion shall be abandoned, like a hut in a vineyard, and like a watch-hut in a cucumber field."

The repaying of like with like affords proof of God's righteous judgment.

She forsook the Lord; therefore the daughter of Zion shall be forsaken.

Yet He still holds fast to loving-kindness: He calls her "daughter," recalling her by the former name that she bore before she was estranged.

"She shall be abandoned like a hut in a vineyard."

Huts are set up for the guarding of the fruits in vineyards.

So then, whenever the vine flourishes with its own fruits, the hut is tended with diligence and reckoned worthy of every care, so that the watchman may keep watch from it, lest those passing by the road should pilfer it;

but whenever it is unfruitful, the guard-posts of the vine are necessarily neglected.

Let us fear, then, being unfruitful, lest we be abandoned by the visitation of God.

That which guards us is the Holy Spirit.

So then, whenever the soul bears fruit worthy of the eternal storehouses, He remains and guards it, and from afar wards off the plots of the wild boar.

But whenever it cultivates a grape of gall and brings forth a cluster of bitterness, He abandons the unfruitful soul, and then it is trampled underfoot by every beast-like thought and every irrational desire.

In many places Scripture figuratively calls Israel a vineyard, as in, "You transplanted a vine out of Egypt;"

and, "A vineyard belonged to the beloved;"

and, "I planted you as a fruit-bearing vine, wholly true."

But if Israel is the vineyard, then the hut of this vineyard is perhaps the house of the temple.

For it was called "the tabernacle of glory," and "the tabernacle in which He dwelt among men."

So then, as long as it was bearing much fruit, the hut also stood, for the guarding of the fruits.

But since he who planted it waited for it to produce a grape, and it produced thorns instead (with which they crowned the Lord), and the whole was turned to bitterness — for it produced a grape of gall and a cluster of bitterness (for which reason too they gave the Lord gall for food) — for this reason the hut of the vineyard was abandoned.

"For behold," He says, "your house is left to you desolate."

Then this threat was fulfilled;

for it was abandoned "like a hut in a vineyard;"

and from that time on He also commanded the clouds not to rain upon the vineyard.

And even if they perform anything according to the Law, it tends toward destruction.

"And like a watch-hut in a cucumber field."

For the guarding of cucumbers, watch-huts of the fruit-harvest are constructed.

A cucumber-field, then, is a place productive of temporary and short-lived fruits, which afford some delight rather than benefit.

Such also is the Law, having a short-lived use.

For the worship was temporary and flourished but for a little while;

according to the Gospel it handed over its manner of life to a [new] teaching.

Zion, then, will be abandoned, and like a fruit-watcher's hut, the guard-post of the fruit-harvest.

But the fruit-harvest is not solid and lasting food, but tender and temporary.

Such is the Law, having an imitation of worship, not the truth itself;

because it is an example and shadow of heavenly things.

Since each individual soul is also compared to a vine, as in the Psalm:

"Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine;"

and the Lord says, "I am the vine, you are the branches;"

lest the things threatened should also reach us, whenever we do not render the fruits that are incumbent upon us.

For perhaps the body is a tent in which the Holy Spirit dwells,

"Do you not know that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit that is in you?" And the soul is a vineyard, being required to bear fruit worthy of its original planting and of God's cultivation.

For it was planted as a true [vine], having come to be according to the image of the true God;

and it is cultivated by the particular cares of the Creator, who prunes what bears fruit, that it may bear more fruit.

For if we devote ourselves to purity of life, God cooperates with us toward the purification from the passions, perfecting our zeal and eagerness for what is good.

Just as, then, a vine is pruned and restrained from excessive growth, so too we cut back the soul's zeal for vain things, husbanding all its power for the fruit-bearing of earnest works, lest, running rank with foliage in ostentatious display, it should pour out all its strength toward pleasing men, occupied, as it were, with leaves and tendrils — the outward show of the world.

But the soul is also dug about entirely for its own nourishment, appropriating to itself the things that lie near it, and thus preparing itself for the reception of the teachings of the Spirit.

For just as a vine that has not been dug about cannot breathe and, because of the compactness of the surrounding soil, cannot receive the benefit of water, so the soul that has not cast off bodily things and has not caught its breath from their weight remains barren, compacted by the weight of material things, and for this reason, not receiving the help from above, remains fruitless.

From the fruitless soul the Holy Spirit withdraws;

and the fences fall — the helps of the Angels;

and the strangers burst in, those who trample through us — the active powers of the sins pertaining to knowledge.

And the passions, having seized [the soul] beforehand, ravage it, like a pig rushing about thoughtlessly and wallowing in foul stenches.

And then upon such a soul is fulfilled: "The daughter of Zion shall be abandoned like a tent in a vineyard."

But also "as a fruit-watcher's hut in a cucumber field."

Those who do not bear fruit worthy of the divine storehouse, but exult in the easily-perishing fruits of this world; those who trust in wealth; those who are puffed up by glory; those who think highly of themselves on account of the nobility of their ancestors or of bodily well-being — resemble a cucumber field, cultivating unnourishing fruit, which fills [them] up with arrogant swelling and prepares the soul to be inflated with vain conceit and to be puffed up beyond measure.

Desiring these things, the lustful people were buried in the wilderness.

"For they wept," it says, "remembering the cucumbers and the melons" — the foods of Egypt, which an Israelite, nourished by the heavenly bread, the manna, ought not to have eaten; yet those of that time despised it and craved onions instead.

May we too not suffer the same, preferring the life of pleasure to the rational life.

For the pleasures through the body truly resemble onions and garlic: they offer much sharpness and irritation, but leave behind a harsh and hard-to-wash-off stench deep within whomever they enter, and procure an abundance of tears for those who receive them.

Among the threats is also this — that [Zion] would be abandoned like a besieged city.

The enemies encamp around us, watching for our relaxation, that they may attack us when we are unguarded.

...watchmen keeping vigil upon the walls — so also the soul, once it has been emptied of the treasures that belong to it by the divine gift, is thereafter, as unworthy of divine guardianship, looked upon with disregard.

Toward such watching and sobriety, then, we pray, that by ourselves also keeping vigil we may seek for our protection, that he who keeps Israel may neither slumber nor sleep;

"For unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps vigil in vain."

But whenever, on account of the barrenness of good works, He abandons our garrison, we are then laid open, ready for plunder, captivity, and abduction by the enemies.

"And unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom, and would have been made like Gomorrah."

If the whole nation was sinful, and the whole people full of iniquities, and all the sons lawless, what seed then was left within Israel that prevented it from undergoing the sufferings of Sodom and Gomorrah? For the seed inherently present in Israel was an evil seed, not a cause of salvation, but deserving of destruction.

What, then, was this [seed]? Is it not, perhaps, the one concerning which it was said in the promises to Abraham, "To you I will give it, and to your seed"? For it does not say, [Scripture states], "and to seeds," as of many, but as of one:

"And to your seed," who is Christ.

This seed, then, by its own presence prevented those who, as far as the merit of their manner of life was concerned, owed a debt to suffer the fate of Sodom and to be destroyed by fire and brimstone on account of a wickedness reaching the Sodom-like measure.

But nevertheless, even after the sin against Christ, "the remnant was saved according to the election of grace;"

but the rest were hardened, who were also given over to destruction, as Amos says:

"For I overthrew you, as the Lord overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah;"

"and even so you did not return to me, says the Lord."

And yet, though He often threatened, He often spared;

but afterward He brought upon the unrepentant heart the sufferings deserved by their deeds.

For in a certain Prophet, He indeed inclines toward vengeance because of the people's unrighteousness;

but He restrains Himself on account of His own loving-kindness;

"What shall I do with you, Ephraim? What shall I do to you, Judah? I will make you like Admah, and set you as Zeboiim."

These are [cities] of the Sodomite Pentapolis.

Then, in an excess of loving-kindness, He immediately adds:

"My heart is turned within me, my compassion is stirred up together."

"I will surely not act according to the fury of my wrath."

But nevertheless, when they fell into the ultimate lawlessness, the Temple was burned down, the whole city was consumed by fire, and they were wasted away by famine, pestilence, civil strife, and plots against one another.

That part, however, of those who believed in Christ was saved out of all Israel, the election being found among the few;

which, becoming like leaven to the nations, drew all toward its own likeness, so that from it too [the nations] came to be called Israel and the people of the Lord, and the one who is a Jew in secret, and heir of the spiritual promises, is the one who has believed from among the nations.

Since Sodom is interpreted "turning aside," and Gomorrah "rebellion," the interpretation of the names suggests to us something of this sense: that if the promised seed had not come, nothing would have prevented us from falling into utter destruction, having turned aside from God.

And if peace had not appeared to us from on high — the peace "which surpasses all understanding" — each of us would have been consumed by his own rebellion and by the war dwelling

within him.

for the passions of sin and all irrational movements are, by nature, apt to produce unceasing turmoils and irreconcilable strife in souls.

Perceiving, then, the benefit that came from the presence of the Savior, who, like a tiny seed, entered into our life through human flesh, the Church says these things in the manner of thanksgiving:

"Hear the word of the Lord, rulers of Sodom;"

"give ear to the law of God, people of Gomorrah" — in order to show that the presence of the seed left to her by the Lord of Sabaoth became for them the cause of salvation.

He calls them "rulers of Sodom" and "people of Gomorrah" on account of a wickedness surpassing that of [ordinary] rulers, since Sodom was, as it were, the mother-city of wickedness, and yet the rulers surpassed it in the excess of their wickedness.

"You came in to sojourn — must you also play the judge?" So also these men refused the righteous Judge, crying out:

"Away with such a one from the earth!"

But here the wickedness is far greater;

For some acted licentiously against strangers who had done them no wrong;

but others acted so against Him who had shown them exceedingly great benefits.

and those against strangers, but these against Him who came unto His own.

and those against angels, but these against God.

But nevertheless, doing good to these, God summons them to hearken to His beneficial words; while the people ruled by them, who because of their wicked teachings are called the people of Gomorrah, He turns back to attentiveness to the law, commanding the more discerning to "hear," and the unintelligent to "attend" or "give ear," as others have rendered it.

And as great as the difference between reason and law, so great also is that between hearing and giving ear.

for the law is a rule of what is just and unjust, prescribing what must be done and forbidding what must not be done, which the majority observe even though they are ignorant of the benefit contained in it;

but reason also gives an account of the cause according to which such things have been ordained.

And especially our own mode of reasoning, which expounds the law in a lofty and spiritual manner, is more honorable than the bare observance according to the letter.

How does "hearing" differ from "giving ear"? Because "hearing" belongs to the understanding, as the Lord shows when He rouses us to perceive intelligently the intent of what is said: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear;"

but "to give ear" is merely to let the bare sound enter into the ears.

"All that God says, we will do, and we will hearken."

(And yet it would have been more logical to say, "let us hear and let us do.")

But "to do" belongs to anyone of the coarsest understanding — such as to observe the Sabbath bodily, and to abstain from foods, and to circumcise on the eighth day, and to appear in the temple three times a year;

but to grasp the reasons of these things belongs already to one who is perfect and has advanced far in knowledge.

They say that this was one cause that stirred those of that time to the plot against the Prophet.

But if it had been passed over in silence concerning the people, perhaps the ambiguity might have had some room to stand;

but now, since the people has been named "the people of Gomorrah," the text shows that the people is less blameworthy than their rulers — because Sodom, as presiding over the Pentapolis, held as it were the headquarters of wickedness, and was deemed worthy of pre-eminence in all evils.

But history has not handed down the names of the rulers of Sodom, except the kings who were defeated;

yet on account of the outspoken rebuke of these wrongdoers, the Apostle says concerning Isaiah:

And he who holds sound doctrines and lives an irreproachable life will one day use these words against rulers of the Churches who live lawlessly, and against a people that goes astray and lives uselessly.

"What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?" says the Lord.

One of the things that ought to be heard by the rulers and observed by the people is this: "What are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?" "The sacrifices of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord."

But how, through sacrifices offered in multitude without notable repentance, do you hope to find some redemption for your souls? For God is propitiated not by the blood of animals, nor by slaughters upon altars, but by a contrite heart.

The same thing will also fittingly be said to those who are lavish in expenditures but do not repent through their works.

"For what," he says, "are the multitude of your sacrifices to me?" And so the multitude is dismissed;

let each one offer himself to God, presenting himself a living sacrifice, well-pleasing to God, offering to God, through reasonable service, a sacrifice of praise.

Since, then, the multitude of sacrifices according to the law has been rejected as useless, one sacrifice has been accepted, offered up in the last of the ages for the abolition of sin;

for the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world, offering himself up as an offering and sacrifice for a sweet-smelling savor.

Here it is well to limit the reading, and to begin what follows from another starting point.

For to be filled with one's own blessedness and to be self-sufficient without need is most fitting for God;

but to say that He is filled from the savor of burnt-offerings and the blood of slaughtered animals is unworthy of God.

He is therefore full — He from whose fullness we have all received, and "in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."

For they are wholly nourished throughout by vapors, not through chewing and a stomach, but as the hairs of animals, and nails, and such things, receive their nourishment into their whole substance.

And perhaps there is in animals a certain affinity with the particular properties of demonic bodies.

And those who have discerned their will offer this victim to that demon as being more suitable for its nourishment.

But the utterance fitting for God is, "I am full."

I desire nothing, then, for all things are mine.

For the good is that which all things desire.

And God is truly good.

"Do I not fill heaven and earth?" says the Lord.

And "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof."

From me the saints are filled.

"Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people."

And Paul, after coming to full knowledge, full of the Holy Spirit, returned to Jerusalem.

From this fullness Abraham also was "old and full of days."

And among the returning people, full days will be found.

"Burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of lambs, and the blood of bulls and goats, I do not desire."

And these things belong to the word that is heard, and to the law that ought to be received by the ears.

But consider whether these things do not legislate against, and stand arranged in opposition to, the things given through Moses;

if indeed there, in the law, He requires them, but here He turns away from them.

And how then shall "not one iota or one tittle pass from the law, until all things be fulfilled"? Or does the text not rather show that it sets forth the bodily sense of the law, while it was fitting to expound it spiritually and loftily, with greatness of mind? For "it is not the animal, the ram, that I sought at all," He says, "but the ruling mind of the soul, undivided by earthly cares, purified as it were by fire and proven approved — this whole I seek to have offered up to me."

Nor do I seek the fat of lambs to be singed by fire down to the finest portion, but the simplicity of character offered to me from a guileless soul.

And not that the blood of bulls and goats be poured out at the base of the altar;

but that the desiring and the passionate parts of the soul be consumed through diligent prayer and through assiduous attendance upon holy things.

But observe that He did not say He did not desire all blood, but this particular blood, that from these particular animals.

...which speaks better than the blood of Abel — He would not have said He did not desire it, but rather He transfers the sacrifices to the spiritual, since indeed a change of priesthood was about to take place.

For if He rejects the bodily sacrifices, He clearly also rejects the high priest according to the law.

For how shall the high priests according to the law have their hands consecrated, when the ram of burnt-offering, upon which they used to lay their hands, is no longer offered? And how shall those be sprinkled who are no longer sprinkled with the blood? Thus, then, the case stands on both counts: both the law according to Moses, and the introduction of that which is better.