Commentary on Isaiah 1 part 5/23

How great a harm it is not to remove the lawless from mingling with the holy members of Christ, the Apostle made clear, rebuking the Corinthians because they had not mourned, so that he who had done the evil deed might be removed from among them.

"And I will restore your judges as at the first."

Either because the polity under the judges was more free, existing for them according to nature, the people being self-governed and acknowledging God alone as king;

whereas the establishment of kings came about later, out of their own poor counsel.

It was fitting, therefore, that those receiving benefit should return to that blessed condition.

"For there was no king in Israel, but each one did what was right in his own eyes."

Or else, since it was no longer the time for kings after the coming of the true King, he promised to provide judges similar to those of former times — the disciples of the Lord, concerning whom it is said, "You shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

"And your counselors as at the beginning."

Here again, preserving their free will, he said he would provide them not one who commands, but one who gives counsel;

for it is the counselor's task to persuade, concerning what is advantageous, those who take counsel.

For not everyone is self-sufficient to discover on his own what is needful.

So let each of us also account himself not as a ruler, but as a counselor given by the Lord to the people.

All the Prophets, then, who exhorted concerning what is beneficial, are counselors;

"But I give my judgment, as one who has received mercy from the Lord."

Great is the benefit of the presence of a prudent and well-disposed counselor, who supplies what is lacking in understanding for those who take counsel.

How great a benefit comes from counsel, Moses shows above all — he who was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, who conversed with God as one friend speaks with another.

He took counsel from his father-in-law Jethro, so as to appoint captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, and captains of tens to judge the people.

And altogether counsel is a sacred thing: a union of minds, a fruit of love, a proof of humility.

For it is a terrible arrogance to suppose that one needs no one, but to rely upon oneself alone, as though one alone were able to deliberate the best course.

But we hesitate to submit ourselves to those who propose what is needful, and we are ashamed to acknowledge those who are wiser than us in life.

Moreover, he who waits for a counselor also gives time to his own reasonings, to trace out over a longer period, with testing and attentiveness, what is needful.

"And after these things you shall be called the city of righteousness, the metropolis, faithful Zion."

He showed to what end the particular benefits lead.

For instead of being a city of murderers, it becomes a city of righteousness;

and instead of a harlot city, a metropolis — that is, one that also leads other cities toward temperance.

And again faithful, which it was before it was profaned by fornication.

The Church in Christ, therefore, adorned with the ornaments fitting for herself — counselors and judges — might well be called a metropolis, as though sending forth from herself certain colonies of the life lived according to God.

"For her captivity shall be saved with judgment, and with mercy."

Having said nothing above concerning perceptible enemies, nor concerning captives, but calling the restoration of her captivity "release," he suggests to us that we should understand that each of us falls under sin whenever we are mastered by the enemy, becoming as it were prisoners of sin, and being led away by the wicked one to present our members as slaves to lawlessness, unto lawlessness.

For this is what it means to be saved "with judgment," that is, judiciously and after careful examination.

Then, since if he should mark iniquities no one could stand, he joined mercy to judgment, so that the exactness of judgment might be tempered by the admixture of mercy.

"And the lawless and the sinners shall be crushed together."

After those worthy of restoration to their original condition are saved with judgment and with mercy, those who are utterly lawless, and those who persist in sin, "shall be crushed together";

the former, because "they became futile in their reasonings";

the latter, because through transgression of the law they dishonor God.

Now the lawless are those who are altogether unheeding of the divine laws — either having apostatized from them, or not even having approached them from the start;

but sinners are those who sin willingly after having received the knowledge of the truth.

that they might walk in newness of life, he crushes their old man.

For the spirit of the world, which had wrought sin, is crushed, so that a right spirit may be renewed within.

And the arm of the sinner is broken — that is, the operative power of sin — so that his sin might be sought, and not be found.

Such also is the meaning of "I will kill, and I will make alive;"

For he will kill him who lives wickedly, so that after the purification of the worse life, he may grant him the new one.

And those who have forsaken the Lord shall be utterly consumed, as though the sin of forsaking the Lord would no longer be actively committed.

Such also is the saying in the Psalm:

"Let the wickedness of sinners now come to an end."

Just as if one were to urge a physician to bring the sickness of the ailing to an end, or to have the spread of corruption checked by his skill.

The word "completion" does not always signify total annihilation, but rather the checking of the activity of those who act in a given way.

For Paul also, prophesying to the Thessalonians concerning the son of perdition, said:

"whom the Lord Jesus shall consume with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his coming."

For if the consuming were total annihilation, how could he who no longer exists be "brought to nothing"? But clearly it is the falsehood in the lawless one that is made to vanish by the breath of the mouth of truth, and thus he will be brought to nothing at the manifestation of the coming of Christ.

In many places, moreover, we have observed that it is the evils that vanish, not the very substances to which they have attached, as in the verse: "And he will make the way of sinners to vanish";

and "The way of the ungodly shall perish."

It is a great benefit even to be ashamed of a thing in which one formerly gloried, when through insensibility one had been unable to perceive the shame in it, but instead had his glory in his shame.

Therefore, being made ashamed of idols works for the good of those who are ashamed.

And this comes about in no other way than when those who formerly practiced idolatry come to a knowledge of the true God.

For then he is covered with shame, having come to a realization of the absurdity of praying to lifeless things as though they had power to save.

And every lover of pleasure, to whatever forbidden thing he has become enslaved, having deified it, keeps it like a kind of idol enshrined in the profane temple of his own heart, always dwelling with it in his imagination and carrying about within himself the images of the thing desired.

As, for example, the lover of wealth, who, having his heart where his treasure is, serves the idol born of covetousness.

The glutton, enslaved to desires for food, has his own belly as his god.

"Cursed is the man who makes a graven or molten image, an abomination to the Lord."

Blessed are those who, following the counsel of Jacob, put away from themselves strange gods, and change their garments, going up to Bethel — that is, to the house of God — to build an altar there to God.

Let us, then, put away the idols that are foreign to God, and change our garments, putting off the old man;

and even before that, let us put away the earrings in our ears, that is, the old teachings with which we used to adorn ourselves.

This is on account of [the verse]: "They shall be ashamed of their idols, which they themselves desired."

For no one possesses the idols we have described above unwillingly;

rather, because we have desired the passions, we thus make gods of them.

"And they were ashamed of their gardens, which they desired."

We find the term "garden" used in both senses, as in Genesis, according to Aquila:

"And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden."

Again, the land of Egypt, when spoken of disparagingly, is called a "garden of herbs,"

as when Ahab desired the inheritance of Naboth the Jezreelite, to make it into a garden of herbs.

Ecclesiastes, however, mentions it approvingly, saying:

And the garden is blessed in which is the tomb that received the temporary dispensation of death in the body of the Lord.

Here, however, it is spoken of disparagingly, as bringing shame upon those who desired it.

And it seems that here he means the groves that were planted around as an adornment for idols by those who had been deceived — which we must understand to signify the erroneous practices and outward pretenses by which we conceal our passions,

as, for example, if someone wallowing in pleasures should feign gravity;

and if someone enslaved to money should affect to appear magnanimous;

of these things those who desired them will be ashamed, when the counsels of our hearts are revealed.

"For they shall be like a terebinth that has shed its leaves, and like a garden that has no water."

As to the literal sense, he seems to speak of the gardens desired by the idol-worshippers, meaning that they will be more joyless than a terebinth stripped bare, and than a garden dried up through lack of water.

But as to the moral sense, it means that those who hunt after glory from men through outward pretense, once hidden things are made manifest — when all things become naked and laid bare, and no creature is any longer hidden — will present an even more unseemly spectacle, once the deception now surrounding them has vanished, so that their case may be likened to an oak.

For this is how the other translators have rendered "terebinth," since in Genesis too we have learned that the same tree is called both an oak and a terebinth.

They will therefore be like a terebinth, or rather an oak, which, after shedding its foliage, displays openly what had until then been concealed by its leaves.

For it is adorned with a dense growth of leaves, and by their fair color the roughness of its branches is shaded and concealed.

So, he says, they will be more joyless than this tree, once the reproof of the life they have lived is exposed.

"And like a garden that has no water."

Such also would Israel be, having leaves like an oak — the shadow that comes from the Law — which he cast off from himself in the fullness of the times.

And like a garden planted by the Lord, on account of the creation from the beginning, but dried up, because he had lost the life-giving element in his teachings.

We must therefore be zealous to believe truly in Christ, so that spiritual rivers may flow from our belly, allowing us to become neither joyless nor unfruitful.

"And their strength shall be as a stalk of tow, and their works as sparks of fire."

From this it is clear that for each one his own works will be the cause of the torments in punishment, since we ourselves render ourselves fit fuel for the burning, and the soul's passions are brought in like sparks of fire to kindle the flame of Gehenna — just as the rich man, who was being parched in the flame, was scorched by his own pleasures.

For in proportion to the arrows we receive from the evil one, we shall have a share in the burning, whether greater or lesser.

"And the lawless and the sinners shall be burned up together, and there shall be none to quench it."

"And the lawless and the sinners shall be crushed together;"

Let no one deceive himself with untutored words, saying, "Even though I am a sinner, yet I am a Christian."

"Therefore I shall not fall into Gehenna, where the idolaters are;"

"the very name of Christian will help me, even though I have transgressed his commandments."

For hear this: "The lawless and the sinners shall be burned up together."

For both, the causes of the burning are the same.

In both there is a stalk of tow, that is, a life easily set on fire and receptive of the flame.

A spark rightly sets the soul ablaze, both in the one case and in the other.

Now it lies hidden as though covered with ash, insofar as it is concealed beneath the coverings of the flesh;

but it will be kindled by the divine judgment, fanned into flame and set ablaze by the accusations on the day of vengeance.

CHAPTER 2. "The word that came to Isaiah, son of Amoz, concerning Judea and concerning Jerusalem."

After the conclusion of the former vision, this word came to Isaiah, son of Amoz.

(For "knowledge" is the awareness of things unknown, which comes into being in the hearts of the saints through revelation and illumination);

but according to the difference of the matters involved, that which is revealed is called either knowledge, or vision, or word.

For there, the things present were shown —

the wickedness of the people, their estrangement from God, their ingratitude toward their benefactor;

but here, that which is to come is foretold.

"That it shall come to pass in the last days..."

Yet neither was that vision perceived through the eyes, nor is this knowledge perceived through the ears;

but it is an illumination in the heart from the Spirit, either showing forth things present, or announcing beforehand what is to come.

Again, however, here too it concerns Judea and Jerusalem.

For he is about to relate something also concerning the other nations;

for God is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the nations;

since God is one, who will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith;

yet primarily, and in the first rank, he makes mention of his own portion.

You may inquire—unless it be a matter requiring no examination at all—why in one place the words 'of the Lord' are added to the phrase, while in another place they occur without the addition 'of the Lord';

as, for instance, 'The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri';

'The word that came to Isaiah.'

And concerning the 'vision,' in Ezekiel it is said:

'The heavens were opened, and I saw a vision of God';

'The word that came to Jeremiah.' Because they were speaking to a people that was disobedient and contentious and had wholly apostatized from God, they kept silent concerning the name 'of the Lord,' so arranging matters that their words might be accepted.

'All the day long I continued to be mocked.'

'For it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord shall be made manifest, and the house of God upon the tops of the mountains.'

The 'last days' are so called as those that draw near to the consummation of this present age.

For the nature of flowing time reaches its completion together with this corruptible world.

For it stands in a proper and kindred relation to the things that are seen;

passing away together with the things that perish, coming to be together with the things that are becoming, and being anticipated and hoped for together with the things still to come.

Since, then, days and nights, months and years—the intervals of time—derive their origin from the sun and moon and the motion of the firmament, it is necessary that, with the destruction of these, the end of time also should follow.

At the consummation, then, of this world, the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God upon the tops of the mountains.

And he who is not enslaved to the mere wording, nor stands upon the bare letter, will be compelled not to remain fixed upon things perceived by the senses.

For how then will the mountain of the Lord be manifest? And how will the house of God come to be upon the tops of the mountains? For fleshly Israel awaits neither the coming into being of another mountain, nor the construction of a second house upon other summits that is yet to be.

But Mount Zion and the temple were already visible even in the times of Isaiah's prophecy.

What, then, is meant? Not that these things will become manifest in the last days in that literal sense;

but that in the last days, for the abolishing of sin, the great and lofty dispensation concerning the salvation of mankind will be made manifest.

For the mystery that had been hidden from the ages was manifested at the consummation of the times.

And the flesh (that of the Lord), though earth by common nature, was exalted through its conjunction with God.

And the house of God upon the tops of the mountains is the Church, according to the word of the Apostle.

For he says, 'that you may know how one ought to behave in the house of God, which is the Church of the living God,' whose foundations are on the holy mountains;

for it has been built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets.

Peter also was one of the mountains, upon which rock the Lord promised to build His Church.

For lofty and exalted minds, which rise above earthly things, are fittingly called 'mountains.'

And the soul of the blessed Peter was named a lofty rock, because it was firmly rooted in faith, and remained solid and unyielding against the blows brought on by trials.

All, then, who make room for the knowledge of the Godhead—because of the greatness of their mind and of the deeds proceeding from that mind—having been perfected by a wholesome life, are the tops of the mountains upon which the house of God is built.

'And it shall be exalted above the hills.'

And the 'hills' are certain earthen mounds, having a well-defined elevation from the ground, exceeding the low places, yet falling short of the loftiest [mountains].

Since, then, the pre-eminence of the Lord according to His humanity is beyond comparison with all together who have shone forth in whatsoever achievements, for this reason it was said that the mountain of the Lord which is to become manifest is above the hills.

For He has been counted worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who has built the house has greater honor than the house itself.

And how much greater than Abraham? 'Abraham,' it says, 'rejoiced that he might see the day' of the incarnation;

and Abraham gave a tenth to Melchizedek;

but Melchizedek was a type of the Lord.

These things [I say] in order that we might set forth His bodily [i.e., human] pre-eminence.

For may it never be that we glorify the Godhead on the basis of its pre-eminence over things that are servile [i.e., created].

For the dispensation according to His humanity is above the righteous among men;

for He alone committed no sin;

but the majesty of His Godhead has been lifted up above the heavens.

'And all the nations shall come to it.'

As the discourse proceeds, it discloses the prophecy more openly, revealing the gathering together of the nations that would come to be unto the knowledge of Christ.

For all the nations, having been called through the preaching, shall come to the faith;

'For this Gospel shall be preached in the whole world';

and 'into all the earth' the evangelical 'sound' of the Apostles 'went forth.'

'And many nations shall go,' it says.

Do not pass over the precision of the wording without careful examination.

How is it that in 'they shall come' it is said 'all,' but in 'they shall go' it no longer says 'all,' but 'many'? It is because 'they shall come' is set with reference to believing;

whereas 'to go' is with reference to right conduct of life.

Since, then, we all confess the faith, but not all of us conduct our lives according to the Commandments, for this reason all the nations shall come, but many shall go.

And that 'to go' is taken with reference to living according to the law [is shown as follows]:

'Blessed,' it says, 'are the blameless in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.'

But how, when the Lord said that few are those who find the way, do we say that many nations shall go? Because all the nations, reckoned according to their own number as nations, are easily numbered;

but the individuals among the nations are many.

Here, then, the text means that many nations do accept to live according to the Gospel—not all—even though all of them call themselves by the name of Christ.

Yet it is not the case that, because many nations are so numbered [as accepting the Gospel], the individual persons also, as many as are comprised under the common designation of the nation, necessarily follow that number in every instance;

nor do the persons contained within each nation accept the aim of right conduct in one accord.

Whatever [nations], however many, are numbered throughout the whole inhabited world, many of them are those that walk the journey of [right] life;

but in relation to the whole number of men upon the earth, few are those who are saved;

thus both the Gospel speaks truly, and the prophecy does not conflict [with it].

'All the nations shall serve him,' but of the many, few shall worship;

'All the kings of the earth,' it says—

they shall come to serve Him under one yoke.

Those who advance in knowledge, as though having taken possession beforehand of the things above, call forth to a like ascent, as their own, those who still linger about the things below and continue occupied with the lowly cares of life.

He who has been raised together with Christ and seeks the things above, let him call those who mind earthly things, and let him lead their thoughts by the hand toward the things above.

Since there is a twofold bodily relation to a mountain—at one time people ascending from the foothills to the summit, at another descending from the mountain-top to the base—according to this difference of the body's position, our activity too is carried out differently.

Perhaps this twofold notion may also apply to the economy of the incarnation, so that we understand the mountain as the incarnation: at one time the flesh being raised up to heaven through its union with God, at another the divinity coming down to those here below through its communion with what is human.

Let us ascend to the height of theology, beginning from the Passion.

"And to the house of the God of Jacob."

Above, the house was spoken of simply as "of God," but here it is "the house of the God of Jacob."

What, then, is the reason? For either something is lacking there, or something is superfluous here.

But nothing belonging to the Spirit is idle.

But the precision of the faith is perfected, being now made clear in the hearts of those who are advancing toward the knowledge of the distinctive property of God.

"For I (he says) am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."

"This is my name forever."

For in order that he might make the honor shown to the saints forever memorable, he joined to himself the names of his servants;

so that as often as there is remembrance of God, so often is the remembrance of them too brought up together with it.

To those, then, who have already drawn near, he added, as it were, the identifying mark of God, saying:

"And to the house of the God of Jacob."

But since "Jacob" is still the name of one who is a supplanter and a contender (for Jacob is called "supplanter" on account of his wrestling against adversaries, but afterward, after the victory, he received as a prize to be named "Israel"), the one who is still advancing meanwhile learns [only] the house of the God of Jacob—the lesser things, those within his own reach;

but later, at some point, he will also be taught the God of Israel, once the more perfect traditions are administered concerning him in due way and order.

"And he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it."

If we do not go up to the mountain, he will not declare to us his way.

If he does not declare it to us, how shall we walk in it? That is to say:

if we do not receive the Gospel, how shall we live according to it? Now those who seek to learn a way evidently did not know it before.

However, this does not yet show the attainment of the things desired.

For let us suppose that some of those now hastening toward the faith address and urge one another:

"Come, let us depart from the things that grovel on the ground;"

"come, let us set our minds on heavenly things, let us enter into the house of God."

There we shall learn the way, through which, by means of perfection, we shall arrive at the goal set before all in common.

"For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

Concerning what law does he speak, and what word? The law given through Moses? But let them show how this could be from Zion.

For Moses did not enter into the land of possession, whereas Zion is in Judea.

Then, according to them, Scripture has erred, naming one thing instead of another:

for instead of Sinai or Horeb, it has said Zion.

But it speaks concerning a holy law.

Which one? Given when? Written where? "And a word out of Jerusalem."

But it has come to pass throughout all Judea, not in Jerusalem only, and throughout Israel;

but also in the captivity, and in Nineveh, and in many places of the earth.

Let them, then, be constrained by the truth and accept the legislation of the Lord, which comes forth from the watch-tower—from the God-bearing flesh—from which he oversaw the affairs of humankind.

"And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

For beginning from there, the proclamation was sown into all the world.

"And he shall judge between the nations."

God, standing in the assembly of gods, distinguishes the gods;

but among the nations, "He shall judge between the nations."

For to the saints belongs "being distinguished," unto the recognition of their worth;

but to those who have lived in vain belongs "being judged."

Perhaps, then, it is shown from this that the punishment of the nations outside piety is not one and the same, but varies;

for insofar as they have fallen away from the knowledge of God, all are worthy of torments and punishments;

but insofar as their practices in life differ, both in the passions of dishonor and in the wickednesses committed against their neighbors, there is need of a judgment against the nations that deals particularly with the wrongs done to those nearby.

In order to show us the justice and incontestability of the righteous judgment, he added, "And he shall reprove many people."

"For I will reprove you (he says), and I will set them before your face."

Here, then, the accuser presents witnesses for the conviction of the accusations against the accused; but in the tribunal of hidden things, the very deeds themselves are presented to us in their own form, each sin being set before those who committed it.

There, then, reproof is undertaken for the establishment of righteous judgment, but here it is undertaken for the correction of the things for which one is reproved.

For this the Apostle exhorts Timothy to make use of.

Indeed, every reproof, clearly laying hold of the one reproved, torments him strongly, setting forth the shame of his sin, so that it greatly benefits the one insensible to his own faults, leading him to awareness and true repentance.

For what bodily wound causes so sharp a pain as the torment a piercing word causes the soul, striking the conscience of those bound by the shame of their evil deeds? "And they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles."

This is the beneficial end of reproofs: to change those who love war and are turbulent into a peaceful condition;

so that both the Jews and those from the nations, laying down their weapons of war—both those for close engagement in hand-to-hand combat (which he called "sword") and those prepared for defense from a distance (which he says are spears and javelins)—

these the word from Jerusalem transforms into the tools of agriculture:

so that the destructive sword becomes productive of life-giving seeds, which arise from wisdom in rational souls;

becoming a plough, it softens what has been hardened, uproots thorns, and produces receptacles for heavenly grace.

But the javelin, which strikes from afar and repels, is transformed into that which gathers together from close at hand and binds together in fellowship.

For such are sickles: gathering together what has been scattered, and binding the ears of grain into the fellowship of a sheaf.

The harvest, for which suitable instruments are needed, concerning which it is said, "Lift up your eyes and see that the fields are white [for harvest]."

No maker of war, therefore, is fit for the harvest.

But he sent his own disciples for this harvest, concerning whom he also said:

"The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

To these harvesters, then, because they had no instrument of war in their hearts, he gave the power to leave peace in the houses into which they might enter.

"And nation shall not lift up sword against nation."